I thought it was simpler to make. Now, after 4 months of work, Zen Garden is ready at last. I’m only waiting the pressing of the rules, but for this I have to wait Andrea. And you can buy it, even if I must calculate the price, because the sum of all materials do it not so cheap. Two editions. The red one (8 boxes) is without glued materials, the black one (22 boxes) has glued materials. Here is the red box number one. Limited editions of course.

Some materials ready to be put in the boxes: soldiers, measuring sticks, dices. In the other photo the black planks with drying glue.

Today (even yesterday in some part of the city at north) was the day with snow upon Rome. It is a rare event, but not so rare as before, because weather is changing. Now the snow is almost melted, but it is night so temperature is low again, but the sky is free of clouds, we had a sunny afternoon. We were waiting the snow since a week but our wonderful mayor Alemanno is like Schettino on Concordia, only unclear orders, no real countermeasures, to accuse others to save himself, and a policy over all:”save yourself if you can, it is snowing, it is the end of the world!”. Rome blocked by only 3.5 cm of snow…

In this moment of the year we count the passed years and think to future years. This is also the moment to set our projects for the new year. Here I only speak on things related to this hobby even if there are other (and sometimes more important) things in my mind…

Let’s start with the projects of the past year:

– Ferrum et Gloria:
to complete the rules with all typology of fighters; full testing of the rules; to put ‘em on paper; painting of a lot of fighters; building of a huge arena.
Undone!
I’m studying fencing styles from books and reenactors to add realism. I revised the rules with new ideas but now I have got only a lot of gladiators ready and other almost painted. No rules and arena obviously. I’m putting my efforts to give life to this project. I want it ready quickly, it is a three year old project now!

-Flyton:
building of the city and playing with it (with Flyin’ Lead I suppose); it is the space for VBCW, civil war among Daleks, Superheroes, Chtulhu rising, violent penguins, and so on…
Undone!
Flyton is empty. The viaduct is still missing. I hope I build the city this year. In MDF I suppose.

-Anticamente:
to win more games I can; to built two armies, Republican Roman & Punic scum with their friends.
Almost done!
I played in tournaments but I hadn’t the great results of the first year. A Roman army is in the painting process. I don’t know if I will buy another army in short terms.

-DBA:
to participate to some tournaments, but only in my region.
Done!
DBA is still my favourite ruleset. I entered in three competitions and we organised a great tournament in Canino.

-SDS:
to compose two squads with a high killing factor; painting of all the pieces.
Almost done!
I didn’t play SDS games or tournaments in 2011. But now I have all my soldiers painted.

-Ganeshas:
to test with Sergio and Andrea the new rules about Napoleonics, Space Battles and Giant Monsters.
Done!
I almost played only playtesting games for Ganesha Games, and in Lucca I participated at the Ganesha demonstration stand. And a lot of the new games have some ideas from me inside. Napoleonics and Giant Monsters are out, Space Battle have to wait better moments.

-Miniatures:
I have a backlog to fill up, a lot of paint to spread on my lead friends, I don’t want to have so many unfinished pieces, even if more reinforcement will arrive during the year.
Done!
The lead mountain is now just a hill. The backlog is now affordable. I’m very happy!

And these were the hypothetical projects for the late 2011 to 2012:

-Zen Garden:
a 6mm Japanese skirmish inside a zen garden!
Done!
Now it is a real game from Ganesha, but in 10mm. In February it will be out for all in a limited version all handmade.

-WWII tanks:
a battleground in 15mm with German and Soviet tanks around.
Undone!
I don’t know what to do. Maybe I will change for a smaller scale (1:285) because of the higher cost of 15mm pieces and the great details of the smaller ones. This year Sergio from SDS will put out his tank game, but I’m not so sure it is what I want.

-Big battle with ancients:
I have some hundreds of Late Roman 28mm, almost all painted, they want to fight!
Undone!
They are ready to fight but no plan to play were done. Other things to play with…

-Hoplites:
a game with 28mm in hoplite formation, without boring yourself, it can be possible?
Done!
Now it is called Song of Spear and Shield and it is a game created by Andrea but with my inputs and ideas. Paolo Blasi participated with other seminal ideas. It is still in playtesting. Out in 2012.

-Street demonstration:
cops against angry people, with my rules.
Undone!
I impose myself to don’t start another ruleset developing process because I have to work on Ferrum et Gloria!

New projects for the future from my sick mind to add to the old projects:

-Temple:
I want an Etruscan temple as scene for Song of Spear and Shield and I have got columns and schemes for the building. Statues are on arrival.

-Song of Void and Stars:
A naval game set among stars from Ganesha Games. I want to play a naval and I want space vessels, but the rules are still to be entirely playtested, as I said before. I read them but more work have to be done.

-Play:
I play only for playtests or tournaments! I want to play more!!!
Some days ago I saw these words on a public building built in fascist era. They say: “It is necessary to win, it is more necessary to fight”. My motto for 2012!
Well, with these type of propaganda words we lost a war, so what must I do?

I’m for an unconventional Christmas because I don’t like fake affectedness. I pass these days with my family since I was a child so I like this moment of the year but I can’t forget reality. The world is not a Christmas advertising!

I’m used to listen to hardcore punk and this attitude is part of me. So I remembered this Christmas song from the disgraceful land of samba by Garotos Podres, a seminal Brazilian oi! band from the eighties and maybe still active in these days even if the singer belly seems big as the Father Christmas one.

Do you know that Father Christmas was created by Coca Cola as a character for Christmas advertisings? They are not the colours of Christmas, they are the colours of Coca Cola! In this song is said that Father Christmas is a son of bitch, a capitalist pig. He send gift only to rich children. If you know Portuguese you would appreciate it more.

And now something different. Well, it is not so true, because it is another report from the Fair of Rome. In the past I had delight you with other fairs as Hobby Show or Pabogel. They aren’t fairs about games but I have a special pass for a free entry even in business fairs for selected people, so I sometime go to see what seems interesting.

This fair was about bar & beverages opened only for operators of the sector. It could be an opportunity to eat and drink a lot for free! The plan was to impersonate restaurant owners to taste food. So I called some friends of mine and we went to this place. But none were around. The moon landscape of the Fair of Rome seemed empty. The pavilion was proposed with a dark atmosphere, with only big screens to light the scene. Some extremely beautiful hostesses were walking around in their mini-skirts with nothing to do. Some waders and jugglers played for a few people. Only a couple of stands or a little more had something to taste. Some stands were abandoned to their own because of the fiasco. To scrounge a Carlsberg from an annoyed person was not a decent thing to do, so we quickly leave the fair for our homes. Pity!

I haven’t photos of the hostesses so I propose this one about Smurf popcorns! I took it in a cinema. It is weird enough. I don’t know the taste.

What can you do when you have to eat and other 155000 want to eat too? You remain hungry. Dinners, the moment of main meal for a fair vendor, are a desperate search for a restaurant with empty seats. Years ago a pizzeria in Lucca told to Andrea:”we have ended wheat”!!! This year we eat always but the quality was not the best.

One thing that resolved our lives was ramen. I didn’t believe in this type of meal for Japan fashion victims but now I converted myself to ramen! The meal is very cheap but the price is cheap too. The great thing is that if you have hot water you can cook ramen in 2 minutes and so eat something cold. Moreover you have got a hot broth to drink, a great thing if you are dehydrated because the queue for water is so long. Volunteers sold ramen at industrial rates. At the end of the fair hungry people bought even ruined packs of ramen because it was running out!

A pause with ramen. After the first cup I remembered as use chopsticks, an art that now I can master.

We tried Barilla pasta to cook with microwaves. More than 2 minutes to heat it (5 at least), no broth, higher price, overcooked pasta, blobed sugo, a long queue. No more pasta for us, we are devoted to ramen now.

In the Japan Palace there was a Japan restaurant. This photo was taken at 9 in the morning, at lunch hour there was a total mess. Prices as the food was really brought from Japan that morning with a special delivery.

Lucca Comics and Games (October 28th to November 1st, Lucca, Italy) is one of the major geek-cons in the world, covering anything from comics, manga, action figures, anime, undressed girls (cosplay), RPGs, miniature wargaming, gothic lolitas, modelling, junk food, medieval arts, videogames, cardgames, aikido, boardgames, and so on.

I will be with the Ganesha Games crew (Andrea Sfiligoi and Sergio Laliscia) in the Historical Island wargaming area. There will be demo tables of Flashing Steel (pirates and privateers fighting over treasure on a beach), Mighty Monsters (monsters fighting on Monster Island as a volcano erupts), and Drums and Shakos – Large Battles (an army-level Napoleonic scenario played in 15mm scale). I will demo Zen Garden, the world’s smallest wargame (a small, handmade, play-right-out-of the box, super-condensed version of Ganesha’s core rules, played with 10mm samurai which I will sell only at conventions).

If I find a wi-fi point there will be some twit. See you here after the show with a full report and ton of photos!!! I hope I survive!!!!!

Do you remember my magic card for the fair of Rome? Even this time I went to a convention with free entry just for me. I was waiting for this event since last year because I never saw it and it is about bricolage, so I hope there were some interesting things for modelling and our little world of 3d wargame.

I made a mistake indeed. This is not a fair about “hobbies” but a fair about “women hobbies”. So you could find all about DIY necklaces, blankets, bags, decorations and all these sort of things. Last time I controlled I was a man, so all were a little boring. I looked for something for miniatures, but I couldn’t find something to buy. There were some things to watch, interesting techniques for decoration, paints with special properties, but I didn’t find them useful for me. The weird thing were decorations with a food appearance and food with a decoration appearance, so you didn’t know if some stuff were edible or not. There were even edible colours in a form of pen you can utilise to write on cakes.

The only thing that really struck me was a sculpt demonstration for fairies statuettes. She made its with the same production process of a miniature, adding a sort of green stuff (more like clay I think) on a skeleton made of soft iron wire. Great artistic work but for a wrong cause: fairies are for puffs, we want warriors instead!

I travelled with my sister to the fair, after two hours I left while she remained for other four hours. I took the train alone, but four ladies from other cities in the south of Italy were frightened by how to travel toward home so I escorted them for an hour. In the meantime, in another part of the city, someone was thanking our government for its work…