We are at the last editing phases of my rules for gladiators. Another trip to Terni for two days, tweaking the text, realising the gladiators sheets, hunting mosquitoes that infest the area around the computer (personally I kill more than ten in these days). Here a photo with the celebration of the realisation of the index. At home I reread the book (53 pages) and I found a lot of errors! Than Diego reread the text and he found some misunderstanding in the phrases. I thought that I ended the editing duty… So now I have to work again at the keyboard. But every step is one step on the road to the book publishing.

The editing phase for my gladiatorial game is longer than I presumed. I spent almost a full week on it in Terni with Andrea. After illustrations and schemes now it is the turn for data sheets. The sad thing is that edit programmes aren’t so smart to take a table on Word and to convert it easily in their format. So you have to compose tables as an illustration. It is a stressful work especially for Andrea’s right hand affected by carpal tunnel syndrome. And it takes a very loooong time. In my game there are a lot of tables… And now we have to finalise them.

The editing of Ferrum et Gloria first book carry on. I spent two more days in Terni with Andrea to realise more illustrations. Here some gladiators, three thraeces kinds in the making.

With this illustration style we need to change the previous cover. Here some moments from the start to a preview.

After this test we changed something for better as some details, the background colours and the myrmillo legs.

Realised the illustrations, now we are working on schemes, tables and sheets. Here my sketches as guide to the real ones. Still in working…

More work is needed. Andrea is editing the text and the book but I think that I must visit Terni another time, maybe at the end of the month.

Gladiators in 1/6 dimension are one passion of mine. I own two of them but the high prices keep me away from new purchases. In the meantime two new products are on the market. The first one is a delicious dimachaereus (a fighter with two curved swords) by ACI, the best maker for this kind of figures. Moreover it is almost historically correct. The only evident (and common) mistake is the metallic junction at the elbows. And the points of the swords aren’t inside as sabers but external as hooks. But you can just turn them and all is fine. The right sword could be more long than the left one, but you can be satisfied the same. Quality of the finish is awesome indeed. Available in two versions that are different as colours of metal parts. A really great piece!

I’m less pleased by the other gladiator by CMTOYS. It is simple: it is neither a gladiator as fight category, nor a Roman as dress. It is sold as “Roman Gladiator Coach”. I think it is a transposition of a character from that TV series that I dislike called “Spartacus”. A fantasy item, then.

Last Saturday I went to Terni to assist Andrea with the drawing of gladiators, illustrations for the edit of Ferrum et Gloria. He draws them on his graphics tablet. In the first stance he drew a retiarius. He started it with rough sketches and after he coloured and defined it.

The final result was good but for only this figure we spent 2 hours. And all is not so perfect as it can be. Two more hours on it? No! So he tried another way: building from free forms, adding layers of colours over layers of colours.

Well, it was good too but a little mixed. So another way, always with this composition way but utilising a limited range of tones.

This was the right way! The look is more immediate, the key aspects are evident. The drawing session ran smoothly and all was rapid, almost 30/40 minutes for figure. After a working day we have: retiarius, provocator, myrmillo, secutor, scissor, gallus. Andrea is refining them. Among other things we had a brainstorming about Ganesha Games in 2015, 2016 and more. Today more time is scheduled for other gladiators available on the first part of the rules. I’m on the way to Terni again, and this time we will spend some days in Umbria for an holiday together with Diego.

My Italian holidays for 2014. This time in Trieste. I never stayed here before, it is a little far from Rome and no miniature or musical event was here, so I think to visit one for all this city on the sea, embedded among Alps, Venice and Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The architectural style is a mix of imperial gravitas and Slavic gusto, with some Art Nouveau added, proposed with an almost Venetian taste. A lot of faces and bare-chested women on building façades.

This is the villa just outside Trieste built by Mexico emperor. He died executed by firing squad in Mexico only a short time after he arrived in the place.

Under the unused throne room. After him, the villa was inhabited by a Savoia prince that after died in a prisoner camp in Africa during the WWII. I don’t want to live here!

Trieste is a multi-ethnic ex-imperial city. This is one of the two orthodox churches, the Serb one. Before I never visit a church of this kind. It is different than ours. A great atmosphere, cants, candles, kissed icons.

This was the empire harbour but, after the WWI, Italy occupied the place. This is the dock where docked the first Italian vessel.

The main square on the sea with the light of sunset on the windows.

The same place, the night with artificial lights.

The canal inside the city.

The old double church on the hill built inside the Iovis temple using even other pieces of Roman buildings and monuments.

The ground part of the Roman basilica. At the bottom the double church.

The Roman theatre. Well, but where is the arena?!?

The Roman arc along the cardus.

Roman eagles that were on the top of the Iovis temple.

Roman dices and pawns. No, you can’t play with them, it is not allowed…

Pontiarii low relief. You can view the retiarius on the top of the bridge with a stone in the hand. A secutor is approaching towards the other fighter. Wonderful!

More on part 2…

Last day and half to the end of this Kickstarter project. They have improved the look of their modules to compose the arena. In this way you can obtain an arena with a real decent look! I suspect that they showed before only rough prototypes. Bad move in my opinion. Now it express more potential.

An “only walls” version is available too. In this way is more easy to play because with all the full structure it is difficult to move the miniatures. In this way the arena seems a biscuits tin arena, even if larger but more frangible.

There a lot of stretch goal still locked. They aren’t unnecessary, they are necessary to give a better look at all! So if they will be locked how could we see them realised? Here the modules available to compose your mdf arena. I only disagree with the rough form of wooden terraces and with some other aesthetic and not so historical choices.
Pledge here before it will be too late: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hurlbat/28mm-modular-gladiator-arena-and-accessories

Another Kickstarter proposal: a modular gladiator arena! You can add which modules you want. The choice is among wooden or stone terraces, and some modules have doors or peculiar features. There is an imperial podium too. A 8 section arena, a circular one, is labelled 60 quid, an elliptic one made by 10 section is 75 quid, a longed one by 12 section is 90 quid. The ground is available with patterns according to popular gladiatorial game rules. I remember you that with Ferrum et Gloria you don’t need hexagonal or squared ground because there is free movement in the style of other Ganesha Games rules.

MDF is the new material for scenic objects on wargame tables. It is lighter and cheaper than resin, and the objects are not a single closed block but something that you can handle inside. So this proposal is something that follow actual tendencies. It is good, so you can have your huge arena for 28mm figures at a reasonable price. My only concern is about the style of some modules: they don’t know how a real arena was, indeed. Moreover, I wish a step system for the terraces but here there are only unnecessary doors and decorations. Pity! The idea is really great, the realisation is not so great. A more detailed study and attention on real arenas and this stuff would be the definitive arena. However now is maybe the best area that you can buy on the market. After some customisation it will be better. Pledge here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hurlbat/28mm-modular-gladiator-arena-and-accessories