I was thinking in these days about the cups I have got on the upper shelf of one bookcases of mine. I have got other prizes for my miniature battles but the cups are 5. And 4 of these are from Bologna. A very strange thing! The best cup of my life was this one from 3/4 years ago, my first cup. I cannot forget that moment.

I found I’m the seventh on the standing of the 2010 Italian wargamers league! It is a league organized by FIW (Italian Wargame Federation). You can find more here about this thing, even if every circuit works alone and it isn’t organized by this federation. And on the next issue of Dadi & Piombo magazine there will be a mini interview about me like wargamer.

Well, I’m number 7 of all tournament men of Italy, and this one was my worst year… The events of life sometime are very strange…

Finally I have got the chief of Axis. For Allies you have to wait. I’m building an army for VBCW but nothing is ready. I hope in the following months we will have more light to make finishing touches on a lot of miniatures. I have got almost 50 pieces (or are they more) that wait this process and their place on the fields of battle. I look at the pile of lead to paint and I think there is too much work to do. But I need some reinforcements. I’m waiting to know what to do for Salute. In the meantime I wrote a long wish list…

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…

Well, let’s start on what this 2011 will bring (maybe) on my wargame table:

– 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.

-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…

-Anticamente:
to win more games I can; to built two armies, Republican Roman & Punic scum with their friends.

-DBA:
to participate to some tournaments, but only in my region.

-SDS:
to compose two squads with a high killing factor; painting of all the pieces.

-Ganeshas:
to test with Sergio and Andrea the new rules about Napoleonics, Space Battles and Giant Monsters.

-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.

And there are projects to start, but maybe this is not their year:

-Zen Garden:
a 6mm Japanese skirmish inside a zen garden!

-WWII tanks:
a battleground in 15mm with German and Soviet tanks around.

-Big battle with ancients:
I have some hundreds of Late Roman 28mm, almost all painted, they want to fight!

-Hoplites:
a game with 28mm in hoplite formation, without boring yourself, it can be possible?

-Street demonstration:
cops against angry people, with my rules.

Too much for only a year? Well, Today is only the first day of 2011, why think about it? Happy new year!

I want to close this year with the image of the best mayor of Rome: Gianni Alemanno. You can see here his concept about recycling. He took off bins to streets so now people have to throw away their litter (inside paper bags!) only in (secret?) selected open areas on the street where a dustman collects them, when he is present obviously. This service is activated only in determined hours in the morning, during the day is impossible to throw away your litter. So lazy people throw away their litter everywhere, even in the bins for plastic or glass (the ones that remained at their place). But there is also people unable to reach dustmen, even because people work in the morning. And if you buy a slice of pizza there isn’t a place where to put the envelope.
The recycling fact is only an excuse for some matter of money. I think all this thing costs more than before, and there is no more recycling. The upper picture explain all the situation on the new service to a cleaner Rome. It was took under my house in a normal day.

I could say more on this great mayor and his great management, his scandals and his inefficiencies, but I think you can just see this photo where our mayor is doing one of his habitual activities. With a free translation, the surname Alemanno can be interpreted something like “Oi! I eat!”.

In this night there is the tradition to throw away the old things that you don’t want in the following year. I’m thinking about someone…

It is Christmas! And this year I want to offer this card from a Micronauts collector friend of mine.

I want to show to you my personal painting service: my father!

He is the man that paints all my miniatures, free of charge. He is guilty of the passion of mine for modelling , because when I was a child he built some airplanes from a modelling encyclopaedia. After his example I started to build my models, and in my later age I found out that I could put my passion to the plastic soldiers in my little age together with modelling, playing with them in a smart way too.
He is not the skilled painter of the world but he is my father and he paint for the love that he has towards me, and this means he is the best painter in the world!

Here we are together at Paris, last year. I was the one with the shirt I will wear when I won the Anticamente championship.

Today is his birthday! Happy birthday dad!

After the heavy rain, now the hot and a clear sky. Here you cannot see the sky but you can taste the atmosphere. We are near the Exposition Palace, in the Umbertine (last years of ‘800) part of the city. Almost all the pics you can see in this blog are took with my new camera, a camera bounded with my new smartphone. This picture was took with free hand, I only press the button. In other times I couldn’t do these things!

In the last weeks I didn’t go for a walk because of bad weather. This afternoon (and evening) instead I met one friend of mine. She is pretty, isn’t she? We went around even in the bookstore of the palace. She gifted me two funny things: one big soft dice (I think we use it for dice fighting in a future game reunion of my mates at my home) and a pencil with a metal Traex helm (there is a griffon on the crest, so the traex has got a sica supina as sword) on the top. Thank you!

+ Libri + Liberi (more books more freedom) is a manifestation about books from small publishers. They are almost 6-7 years that this manifestation is holding in Rome. It is an occasion to know publishers out of their regional borders (there is always a interesting Sardinian presence, but they aren’t the only ones) and buy a pile of book that you cannot easily find in bookshops. And for publishers an occasion to meet readers and know the tendency of the market. This is the first time with a section on ebooks. The world is changing…

I spent half of the day with my friend Franci (she is pretty, isn’t she?) along the shelves. I bought a book with photos of Gladiator relieves and one about an Italian medieval treatise on sword fighting. I even added two small books on the underground Pitagoric temple in Rome and on Costantine’s arch.

This building was intended for the universal exposition of Rome in 1942 (EUR1942). Wrong year to organise something. It maintains the architectural style of Fascism together with the later ’50 style.

In the evening there was another presentation (with buffet) of a book on vegan recipes written by two friends of mine: Paolo e Alessandra, just married a year ago!

Some food before hungry devastated all! All you can eat for only 10 euros. And the evening went on chatting with friends.