Sunday there will be the second edition of a wargame convention organised by my mate Narciso, “La Storia per Gioco” (History for games). It will be during a local country festival about asparagus agricultural production. We have programmed a mega-game for Of Gods And Mortals, and other games will be played. I hope to visit some archaeological and historical sites too. Food will be not a problem…

A full report on these pages. More information here:
https://www.legiopalatina.it/lastoriapergioco/index.htm

My third time in Pa.Bo.Gel., a food fair for restaurateurs. I have got a free access but the entrance was 30 euro. Ovens, exposition fridges, pizza, fried, croissants, ice creams, beer, main dishes,… The great thing was the free great food for everyone at bulimic rates!!!

A pizza association without interruption took out pizza of the oven. Many other stands produced pizza for free. But you could find other food kinds. They were advertising ovens, schools, supplies for restaurants or restaurateurs associations.

The quality was overall because they are from the top of their class. Some contests were in action, like this one with a quaint quality jury.

Some chaps just entered in the fair saw this automatic machine for pizza and said:”great, a pizza to eat now for only one half euro”. They still didn’t know that in the fair they could take a bath with pizza…

A couple of elder people systematically filled up three bags with free food for the following days. Likewise I was with a mate of mine, eating what we could. But at the end, when people offered spontaneously more food to us, we declared a defeat. More and we could collapse.

Although it’s been more than a week that Northstar began to mail the copies of A Fistful of Kung Fu to customers, the official release date is the 18th of this month. Now I start a short countdown showing some photos about the playtest sessions happened more than a year ago.

This time an adventure among Chinese restaurant dishes. It was occurred in a pause of a more canonic playtest with miniatures and terrain. Playing a Kung Fu ruleset, what could be better than eating Chinese?

Unfortunately a form of food poisoning emerged from this playtest session. A specific ingredient used in this restaurant (maybe a preservative?) sends my immune system into haywire. My body was covered with a rash and an extreme itch impeded my normal activities. I needed more than a week, and lots of medication, to restore my skin to normality.

Another moment from the annual DBA Italian tournament “Dionigi Ioghà”. This time we were in Arezzo. A day trip to this Etruscan city, fighting with our 15mm miniatures. The theme was about Communal Italian Wars. We tested some rules from the beta of the new version. We used the terrain displacement and armies with 3 allies from another list. Well, I don’t like this terrain thing. You can obtain a casual terrain but some results are not practicable. About the allies, we would see the final list to give a verdict.

The people from Arezzo are unbeatable. Especially Marco Gasbarri. So the final result is fixed before the roll of dices. However is fun to discover who can reach lesser positions in the highest-ranking. The stars were right, so I reached the 4th position on 16 players. No prize for me, but honour for my Papal colours.

The usual fun, chatting with friends, competition, tiredness at the end the night at home. And here a photo of the lunch: soft drinks and cheap beer for traditional Pakistan and Near East food. In Tuscan country! A blasphemy…

This year we had two Romics. It is the main comics fair in Rome. It is always nice to walk around huge piles of comics and gadgets. Together with Andrea (Ganesha Games) we came here for a full day (10.00-19.00), watching stands and buying stuff. We met some people too, and we had interesting chats with a medieval style fencer and with a games vendor. It is a 4 days long fair, but I visited it the first day because I will be very busy for work in the weekend. Moreover the fair is pretty overcrowded the other days.

A blast from the past: once upon a time comics fairs were populated mainly by middle age people.

Nowadays this kind of fairs are full of young people with costumes. And half naked young girls with exhibitionism symptoms.

I like so much this world of cosplayers, a touch of colour in life, comics and animes in the real world.

A big organised group is the 501th Legion, local imperial forces inspired by Star Wars.

The usual Nintendo stand with young girls as hostess.

Among comics a huge presence is for gadgets and statuettes. These are very nice!

A choice of pillow-cases for lone people pillow to hug during the night.

More gadgets and another kind of pillow among them: the pizza pillow!

The food choice in the fair were good but we opted even for a more exotic flavour as these Japanese sweets.

Really a beautiful day, the time fled away smoothly and we had fun.

Narnia is not only a matter of chronicles. It is the old name of a city exactly in Italy geographical centre. It is a beautiful little town on a hill and inside walls, with a distinct medieval appearance, and now it is called Narni. Fun fact: the coat of arms of the town is not a lion but a red griffon!

This is the 8th edition of Narni Fumetto, a nice convention about comics. And this one is the access to the town council inside a ancient stone building raised on the more ancient Roman forum of the town. In the atrium there was the games section of the convention.

I stayed two days with Andrea to playtest some new rules, to assist
him with free game session, to visit the town and the convention. In the background a well and along the wall some volumetric food measures carved in stone.

We tested some new ideas for BattleSworn future supplements. I think that it is better to work on the rules that Andrea have to complete, but in the meantime more games are in our minds.
In the background our friends of “La locanda dei giullari”, a live roleplay group. Very gorgeous girls inside!

On the table, to assist our creative efforts, another weird soft drink that resemble a more famous one: the Ben Cola!

Archery is another passion for Andrea. He diverted attention from games to assist people using his long bow.

The main comics area was inside a deconsacrated church now a cultural centre. You could find vendors, authors and some presentation.

A weird view. An altar transformed in a comic vendor stand. And some iconic images from cinema and comics are superimposed on saints on the walls.

The church is huge. Frescos remains on columns and cellars.

Accidentally blasphemy! The central figure is watching a comic on the upper shelf on the left. A Totem comic magazine with a sex scene just on the cover.

More accidentally blasphemy! A Crucifixion scene and on the left a soft sex scene on a comic named “the wait”.

There was another vendors space for comics and some games in another pavilion along the road. Wonderful food at bargain prices was sold at the convention and in shops in the town centre.

Cosplay is a vital component of comic conventions of the last 15 years. But I was amazed of the large wings of this chap. Not very handy to have a walk along the narrow streets of this town.

Sparkling colours add a tone to the white stone walls of the town.

Photo sessions around the town for cosplayers. Here they can use an unique location for their costumes.

A cosplay contest was held inside a theatre built in 1856 among medieval buildings. A real gem! Pity, I didn’t take a photo of the inside.

Gundam is always a classic. There is a young man inside. An heavy costume, movement is very demanding with it.

Well, two relaxing days while living a little but international comic convention. And more holidays will follow in the next days…

I’m decisively busy these days. My two jobs and other things keep me outside the blog and the miniatures. However the 3th of July was even my birthday time! 44 and more on arrival…

Among various celebrations (at home with my family, at main job with colleagues, at home with friends) I went to Terni to have a “miniature” party with Andrea and Sergio, together with Diego that celebrates his birthday the day before mine. An entire day with some playtests for Ganesha Games’ next releases. And pizza at bargain prices that only in Terni you can find. For dinner we eat more pizza along the main road, bought from a really gorgeous girl!

Samurai Robot Battle Royale is not dead. A year after we thought it is finally almost ready. You have only to wait after the Summer.

More games with the game of the moment. I know what it is but I cannot say what it is because it is a secret.

Almost a week after, today, it is my parents’ golden wedding. A marriage for 50 years and still on. Tonight we are going to have a party with relatives. Here my mum and dad during a holiday in Venice, 46 years after the honeymoon.

I’m so tired and replete! Sunday I was in Canino (VT) for a wargame convention organised by Narciso, my wargame club mate who lives there. The opportunity was a countryside festival about asparagus. The municipal authorities gave us a building in the town centre to place our tables. So some demonstration games ran all the day.

The Napoleonic rules by Di Bartolo in a mastered battle. Only for grognards.

The Clan Conan of LuccaGames fame was there. Romans versus late Macedonians with easy rules: Battle of Cynoscephalae (364 BC).

The best demonstration table. Diego has got a real feeling for children. So he took Song of Blade and Heroes, mastered and simplified the rules to baby level, and a lot of fun were spread.

Vlad the Impaler always by Clan Conan. Playable by common men.

Another preview for Of Gods And Mortals. In these days I’m studying the rules to build a new mythological pantheon expansion.

This is a demonstration game season. So I was there with my Ferrum et Gloria. Now I’m writing the rules, at last! In this phase I’m editing all the game mechanics to add more fluency to the play and to clarify some situations. The goal is to have the published version in the late 2013.

Narciso is an artist too. His first attempt to make something about miniature sculpting: two 75mm gladiators that he sculpted with Milliput and realised with resin. I think that they are great! Remember, his first attempt…

And now, back to the countryside festival. Part of the long historical parade. Sorry, I didn’t captured the feeling of the thing, it was better than what you can see here. There were three horses too. Canino is a little town, so it is a big effort to have a lot of people with medieval costumes.

Asparagus, oil and artichokes, sold at bargain prices, especially the asparaguses, something like one euro for one bundle! This place has got an agricultural vocation, and they are famous for high quality oil and early production of asparagus.

All wargamers together for the lunch. And a multi courses menu exclusively based on asparagus recipes: with oil and vinegar, with pasta and fish, with potatoes and meat, with calamari, au gratin. Two hours and half for this duty. The ladies around the table (girlfriends, Andrea’s mother and Di Bartolo’s wife) went in the morning to visit an ancient Longobard stronghold in the surroundings, in a trip leaded by Narciso among tuff rocks and high grass. Narciso is the chap with sideburns.

In the main square of the town, the traditional Guinness omelet with asparagus, the topic moment of the festival. An eggs massacre for the joy of people.

And here a close-up on my slice of omelet. A great day, fun with friends and some dices rolled around. Later, after the greetings to the wargamers, we reorganised the place and the materials. After we take the dinner with some Narciso’s friends, again asparagus, but on pizza this time.