Since the explosion of the fair in the streets of Lucca (before it was inside an indoor sports arena, then with some pavilions added out of it) we have a palace dedicated to Japan stuff. It is called Japan Palace and this is the queue to enter in it!

Thanks to organisation I had a staff pass so I could enter quickly. Inside, on courtyards and two storeys, various stands related to Japan in various ways. Here a view at the 9 o’clock in the morning, at the opening. After It was almost impossible to walk.

A well known vendor specialised in kwai dresses.

More traditional stuff, but with a sexy touch. Japanese people love Italy, Italians love Japan.

Kokeshi. They are very cute.

Traditional Japanese curtains but with cats instead of humans.

Japanese sexuality is more complex than Italian and Occidental ones. They seem as perverts to us.

However these paintings are very beautiful. Next year we will have something different for this place because of overcrowding. Maybe there will be even a Japan district…

Let’s start again with Lucca Comics and Games report! Yeah, I know: all this was two months and half ago. But it is still interesting according to me. To restart we can begin with a photo of the evening before the fair, the stands set up.

Then a view on the public crowding that was for the 4 days after.

The fair was mainly held inside pavilions around the city of Lucca. A map and a printed guide (or an app for tablets) was needed to find all the numerous places where something was. You had to show your ticket every time you entered a pavilion.

Someone could share one ticket with a friend, to see the fair one a the time. Very hard, especially for some larger areas! Some are free areas, like cosplay and music ones or live roleplay pavilion. So you could live the fair for a day without paying at all. A lot of things to see around.

A couple of churches were used as exposition area or as auditorium, like this one.

Cinema was present too, especially for anime or sci-fi films. Guess which preview was held in Lucca…

Instead only a teaser for the new Godzilla flick. Look carefully: Godzilla is the monster behind Andrea, it is not Andrea’s new career as actor…

When stands and pavilion were not enough: temporary stores! Some were empty for the economical crisis, others were converted only for those days. A sign said: “we will return as usual after the fair”.

This one is the biggest pavilion, the games pavilion! We were inside this one at the other end. Look carefully, it is composed by two large tents, a double structure.

An inside look. A bit crowded. Think, we lived in this mess for 4 days!

Outside the pavilion there is this traditional illegal market. Magic cards at most. The walls of Lucca on the right part. And on the walls other pavilions. In the bottom the stage for cosplay contest and for music spectacles.

Lucca was initially only “Comics” and a few of people. After some years they thought to add another area, the “Games” one. At that times this meant few tables and stands more. 20 years after, in the 2013, the fair is exploded so games are not so crucial but part of a great mess. And the Games pavilion is huge.

As usual no photo of comics in my reports. Sorry, but I am attracted by unusual things while shooting photos. Like this one, a 3D advert for books about zombies.

Last year that was a exhibition on Diabolik. This character is an institution in Italy. Today you can have even its umbrella…

Some originals could be found in the fair. These ones are from the States. I like Ashley Wood very much but these are doodles sold as precious things. 100 US dollars for something that he drew in 10 minutes with a marker pen is too much.

An usual feature was the presence of vendors with gadgets. A very coloured view.

Sometime instead of common gadgets there is something more creative and handcrafted as these puppets.

What remains after 4 days. Boxes on the way for home. However it seems that business went very well for vendors, better than the previous year.

Obvious presence in the fair for something related to Go Nagai creations. This year there was the preview of a new line of models available in newspaper kiosks. They are in metal, previously painted and almost 14 centimetres high.

More detailed these plastic models. I like the flying fists a lot. I don’t know well the Mazinger with bat wings, more modern and demoniac versions of the old classics.

Gashapons are an easy and cheap gadget that you could find in the fair. Here some of Go Nagai’s giant robots. I wonder about all the female ones variations. I have to watch more anime and read more manga to know better…

The Lucca C&G report will follow the next year with 93 more photos!

Gunplay is the Bandai division for the promotion of Gundam modelling. In Lucca there is always an huge space for kit vendors and for a modelling contest.

Previously coloured versions. This is the weathered one. So it appears more as a real life model than a toy.

More versions of the hero. Always the same but different. You must have all…

Gloss metal finish…

Well, this is too much…

If the white fighter is the hero, I prefer the green enemy…

ZAKU is the best!!!

Part of its original family.

Here a Zaku involved with a big gun.

Scions of the original design, with the evolution for the neo Zion times, nazi helmet wearing…

Kit evolution, from 1980 to 1999. Better sculpt, better plastic models technology.

These Zaku were part of an exhibition about Gundam kit evolution during 30 years. Always the same design that evolve through times. Here in the red dress, but I ever prefer the green one, the trooper proud of Zion warriors.

This modelling contest by NKGC is always engaging. Here a diorama with the use of small figures from railway modelling.

One of the latest designs for the 0080 war. I like bulk mechas so much. I love it!

In the end, a war scene in the snow, like war on trenches, but with Zaku.

These days I’m thinking to buy a new desktop computer because mine is more than 10 years old. It still runs but it is a little slow and problematic at start and to manage graphics. So I need a trustworthy beast for the next 10 years. I like modding, so I want something with an aggressive look in addition to power. And in Lucca there was the usual modding contest.

Well, these things are a little too much radical for my taste of home. However I need neons. A computer with neons works better!

A cabinet wash and a sort of flower…

Water cooling is so sexy but maintenance problems are time exhausting.

Another area was devoted to vintage gaming. Do you remember mr. Pac Man?

Where real money is in gaming industry: videogames. Here the little space owned by the preview of Playstation 4.

Another little space, always in the Games pavilion, a stage only for an online game that I ignore because I pass my free time only with little soldiers made of lead.

After only 2 months I came here to report the BIG event of 2013, the Lucca Comics and Games convention of 2013. In these days an official report by organisation gave the real numbers of the fair. They sold 217646 tickets. You have to add all the people that worked in the fair, as vendors for over 700 stands, volunteers that managed the masses of people, all the people involved in spectacles and events, press and all kinds of operators, citizens of Lucca and neighbouring. 40000 square metres of exposition area. To complete the numbers I can add that you could not find a room to sleep on all north-west Tuscany. During the 4 days I was in my area but I found some time early in the morning to watch the fair. Well, I reached to see all stands only one time, and no show, spectacle, event, film or exhibit. It was impossible, I could reach places only because I had a staff pass. In the next year they are thinking to expand the fair area because of the blocked streets of the city even for walkers and the long queues to enter in pavilions. So more Lucca C&G for 2014!

And now my report. I have over 100 photos to post. It is difficult to manage all this so it will be a little jumble. To start, a couple of photos about Doctor Who. Tonight will we watch the end of the 11th Doctor. Those days we were waiting for the 50th anniversary. A cosplayer meeting based on this saga was held. Huge numbers I heard.

Last but not least, the part dedicated to Ganesha Games of the Ludica Roma 2013 full report.

Space is not a big problem in the pavilions of Ludica. So we obtained lots of tables to show rules and games. A DBA in 1:72 scale was organised by Diego.

On your wargame tables in 2016! One of the first playtests of some new ideas for a game by Andrea.

The first public preview of A Fistful Of Kung-Fu. Out by Osprey Publishing in February…

A photo from the first day in the fair. Building modular walls for my arena.

And after the masonry work, a chocolate snack. The candies stand poisoned the air with a terrible stench of chocolate. You couldn’t resist it for long. So I bought my waffel stick!

And here my arena. A lot of people appreciated it.

Those days my father was painting more spectators. However these are just all very active.

Among reenactors there were some involved in gladiatorial fights. A nice chap illustrated to people the specific disciplines of arena. I took advantage of the situation to brandish weapons and touch helms. So I could have a direct experience of what I studied and applied in Ferrum et Gloria.

Do you recognise the different kinds of helms? In Ferrum et Gloria you can understand why these are made in every specific way.

Shields and greaves. Due to hits, you can see as these are used in real fights.

In front of you an arbelas, with its crescent blade.

Back to Ganesha Games space. On the right a preview of the second volume of my rules: gladiatorial fights with ships.

A more detailed view.

An OGAM tournament was held the Saturday. I was very nervous because I only play it in playtests with Andrea mastering. Moreover I didn’t know the final version and how to build a winning strategy. Indeed this is my year: another great result, the third place! A Ludica gold dice and a book from Osprey as prize.

Another preview. I’m planning another game after Ferrum et Gloria. With this photo I suggest the topic of it. We knew in Ludica a reenactor of this historical period that is even a wargamer. An interesting meet.

Now we are waiting for Ludica Rome 2014. And the organisers are waiting for an analysis of the fair that I have to write to them. And you are waiting for other fair reports that still I have to write. In the meantime: Merry Christmas!

Still the Ludica Roma 2013 report. Aiming to our real interest: wargame.

Well, the thing that you can easily note on the photo is the candies stand. However we were there. Ganesha Games was situated where is the bunch of people at the extreme bottom, on the left part of the photo.

Another view. The previous photo was took on the balcony where are the escalators. The moment is dramatic: a lamp on the roof turned off so they are working on it.

A dream that we realise was the Samurai Robots Battle Royale game. Instead here we have a wargame by Bandai in the Gundam universe. The Italian Gundam club organised this display with gashapons, among other games and things. I’m almost thinking to join this club…

Two-dimensional wargame goes 3D! There was a large display with two-dimensional wargames like this.

Samurai. We all need some bamboo fences, Japanese houses and other related things: we have to be ready for a Japanese wargame, ever.

The last production by Torriani: rules for western battles with miniatures.

A huge scenario by Games Workshop staff. The colours of water were amazing.

Di Bartolo’s Napoleonic rules made their debut in Ludica, published by Chillemi editions. Here while a game was held.

Look at this vineyard!

Some time ago I saw the huge Napoleonic miniature collection by Di Bartolo’s club. Every time I wonder for their beauty.