This Fall I have a very busy season about conventions, tournament and fairs. I play in tournaments or I run some demonstration games. In 3 months a total of 14 full days of wargames. You must add the necessary days for preparation, journey, rest. And remember that I have two real life jobs too. Well, this is like a third job, but without monetary earnings. This is the calendar:
7-8 Sep – Narnia Fumetto
21 Sep – DBA Rome
13 Oct – DBA Arezzo
31 Oct / 3 Nov – Lucca C&G
10 Nov – DBA Terni
16-17 Nov – GiocaPerugia
29 Nov / 1 Dec – Ludica Roma

Some news about OGAM. Andrea sent to people the pre-ordered books, signed with his autograph and seal. He started a little promotional tour together with 2 tournaments. The first will be played the 16th of November in GiocaPerugia, the latter the 30th of November in Ludica Roma. I have ready lots of miniatures for Greek and Norse armies, but more armies are on arrival as Irish Celts and Egyptians, and I have plans for Sea People and Sumerian armies. At the moment we don’t know how the book is selling, but if we receive the green light from Osprey, new official armies will be developed. I’m thinking to a Roman army too, because there is a difference between Zeus and Iuppiter. However we will support the game. And now is available an official XLS spreadsheet for Of Gods and Mortals to build the armies that are in the book.

In the meantime, a work in progress image from the illustrations inside Ferrum et Gloria. Too many events these days and too much work. So I haven’t the right attention to examine the text after the first editing. I have to add some paragraphs too. I’m working on the second book yet. My father is involved with the building of a small arena and two vessels for gladiatorial naval fights. On these pages you will follow the development of these things.

Song of Shadows and Dust is a standalone miniatures wargame based on the award winning Song of Blades and Heroes rules engine. The rules reflect the gritty reality of urban violence while preserving the keep-it-simple, play-as-you-want, no-book-keeping-required spirit of the Ganesha Games family.

Original: An unique setting among ancient Roman life, the real completion for the background on my gladiator fights by Ferrum et Gloria upcoming rules.

Flexible: Inspired by the break down in civil order which plagued the great cities of the Mediterranean in the first century BC, these rules are suitable for any pre-modern setting from Babylon to Bruges.

Expansive: Includes 57 unique character profiles with whom to populate your faction or guild – from henchmen, assassins and punch-drunk boxers, to street urchins, elder statesmen and courtesans. Players are also free to create their own custom characters choosing from among 46 defining special rules.

Variable: Eleven different faction objectives allow for 121 different tabletop scenarios.

Easy to learn: The elegant core rules are easy to learn in just one game.

Fast to play: Games are designed to be finished in under an hour allowing small campaigns to be completed in a single sitting.

Expandable: Easily supplemented by special rules and scenarios drawn from the other rule books produced by Ganesha Games.

It is available now as downloadable pdf for only $8, next in book format too. And this one is the blog of the author.

Last days to OGAM’s Nickstarter! This is the last chance to pledge for miniatures of the upcoming Of God And Mortals. You can watch the available range on this post.
Osprey is shipping rules copies too. I touched a preview copy a month ago but now I can have mine.
On past posts you can follow some development phases of them, published more that a year ago. As here when it was only an idea, or here where is concealed under the name “One Game About Miniatures” (=”OGAM”).
Have fun with this game!

The editing phase for my rules is proceeding. Andrea drew the logo and the cover in his new illustration style. Now he has to draw more gladiators. We are thinking about the page layout. The book will be in full colour and in the BattleSworn same format. However we are still in the initial phase of the text editing in Italian language. And after we have to translate the book in English. Maybe an Italian rough draft will be available for Lucca Games. But the final release will be ready by March 2014…

Samurai Robots Battle Royale is a stand-alone set of miniatures rules for mecha battles. Based on the award-winning Song of Blades engine, it allows to refight the wild, imaginative battles seen in the classic Japanese anime series. It also includes rules and guidelines for more realistic science-fiction military game, or even with steam-powered engines of destruction. You can play quick mecha vs mecha duels, or larger battles where each player controls 3-6 giant robots for a two-hour game.

Build your mecha from the ground up with a point system, choosing Quality/Combat scores, armor, weapons and special rules for each part of its body.

Samurai Robots Battle Royale and our kaiju game Mighty Monsters are compatible, so you can run mechas vs giant monsters battles.

Samurai Robots Battle Royale can be played on an average dinner table using any models you already own, including toy robots and paper figures, in any scale.

I am involved in this project as usual (I am one of the main playtesters) and I hope you like it!

You can order it on Ganesha Games website or on Amazon website.
Moreover I want to remind the Of Gods And Mortals’ Nickstarter. It still runs for a couple of weeks. Now it has raised more than £3000. Make your pledge!

This is not a regular Roman arena like one of those that usually I propose but I think that it is interesting for gladiator games too. It is more a fighting pit arena than an amphitheatre, made of wood, where two opponents destroy each other like savage beasts. They haven’t a place where flee or take a break, it is to the last man standing without mercy. Some gladiatorial fighting styles don’t fit in this pit but other do. It is so beautiful and accurate that it deserve attention.
To know more go to Iron Mammoth’s Studio.

I’m not capable to play with something other than Ganesha Games’ new projects because I haven’t the time to do more. Andrea is very happy about our dedication to the cause to better rules for better wargames. The Roman playtest team (me, Diego and Diego the other) did a lot of trips to Terni but this time Andrea came to Rome in the ARSM club. Sometimes I can’t speak about what I played because they are games that have to be secret. It is not a matter of secret service: publication dates are so far that it is better to not speak about them or contracts are signed to maintain the silence. So here no details and no specific photos. The 1st of September we played 3 matches with this new game. It was fun and credible, and we pinpointed some weak elements to improve the set. You could play with it in 2015?

This morning I’m leaving for a full week holiday to Lisbon, the first one not related to miniature games since time. A full report when I return, but a DBA tournament in Rome will take my attention the 21th of this month. Where is my luggage? I have to go!

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…