When I was a child I was used to play with soft plastic soldiers. Now I am older and I play with lead soldiers. I’m not so interested in plastic soldiers and I haven’t got them. I have got the new rigid plastic 28mm soldiers, but they are a bulk version for the lead ones when you have to built masses of pieces, and they are compatible with the standard corpse structure of the lead ones. Because I want to offer an overview of miniatures available for use as gladiators, I have to speak about plastic gladiators, a world that I know little. To accomplish the task I utilise the experience of Plastic Soldier Review, where you can go to read more about these pieces. I’m utilising here photos taken from that website too. Here you can find my personal brief reviews based on my knowledge of gladiators.

These are the soldiers of my childhood. I loved them so much. Only today I realized that their classic range was based on a confused knowledge of the period. Not only these gladiator are based on personal fantasies of the sculptor, but all the range was a farce. When I saw them today I thought that you can use them as Red Martians in a John Carter set… Moreover I wonder on which use you can do of the Christians…

I’m sure, the sculptor had seen the “Gladiator” film. And that film is not a film about historical gladiators but on what Hollywood believe is Rome and gladiators. So, if you want to play with film character these pieces are good, otherwise you can put them in a bin. Well, you can save something, but only a little. The fun part is the joke in the box, where you can find a gladiator with a pistol and a Wehrmacht helmet and another one with the right arm raised. Hail Caesar!

At last, something with a tentative of historical carefulness. You have to put away the axes, but the content of the box resembles gladiators. Add some shields, and with some work you can obtain some right pieces. But if we are honest, the only right pieces are the retiarii. The piece that stands out is the chariot, for a fantasy essedarius proposal. Beautiful, but nothing more.

If you want plastic gladiators you have to buy this set! Beautiful poses, right armours, various types of fighters, a scissor and two dwarfs! There are even some inaccuracies, gross ones, but the overall aspect is great. I suggest to add the right shields (you can made them with cardboard or green stuff) and change some head to obtain something better.

And now some spectators, but only in 20mm format, while as general use in plastic soldiers world you can find the same proposal in 20mm and 54mm sizes. If you have got the right arena, this maker provides two sets of people to populate it.

WWII tanks are very beautiful, especially the German ones. I like bricolage tanks (old or foreign tanks recycled for new roles with new armour and weapons) and late war tanks. Moreover there are so many project for future tanks that you can design your fictional tank of 1946 or 1947. These are called paper panzer because they existed only on paper.

The E series was the attempt to build a standardized series of tanks, from light ones to heavy ones. The E-10 was a jagdpanzer between 10 and 25 tons. I like its low profile and its flat top surface. I build even a E-10 panzer with a Leopard turret, just an historical extrapolation than a real project.

My tanks are resin models with late war colours and camouflage. They are in 1/56 scale because I wish to use them with 28mm soldiers. A King Tiger or a Maus tank could be just a little bigger for a table. If you want to play tanks in 28mm, a realistic table have to be big as a swimming pool.

I have miniatures stuffed inside all available space in my house. But here on this blog you can’t find them enough. So, after photos of vacations, conventions and playtests, something more oriented to the world of 28mm. These are my Sherman V, with two of them in Firefly version. Resin models and turnable turrets.

Another edition of Roma Wargame convention at Angelicum.

Mixed with a periodic fair for postcards, coins, medals collectors.

Even for us wargame collectors there was something. As painting services, miniature vendors.

Soldiers but of a different kind: 54mm for collectors. Wonder how they don’t think to play with them.

Even bigger: customised 1/6. I understand why they don’t think to play with them.

Something that we are used more: wargame tables.

A big, and partially playable, Ostia scenario.

Even in a convention based on boardgames, and games in general, you can find something different as mecha models made by artisans as Kallamity. Moreover this was the first time that I saw Dust models in a stand. I like 1946 concepts, even if I dislike historical WWII vehicles with legs added. Some of their mechas could be useful for wargame in 28mm, but soldiers are bigger. On the other things, there were a lot of great and extremely big Gundam models but I haven’t the right photos about them to show to you.

Now I’m in Lucca Comics & Games. A report will follow. But on this photo I was behind the candy store on the left. After two years I was in Modena Play again.

Every edition is better than before. This convention is the best for boardgames, and games in general, in Italy. You can came here to play with new proposal from editors. The modelling area is growing as the miniatures one. For children a pavilion was built. Other areas were for roleplay and 2D wargame. In the open there was space for food, beverages, music and cosplay. I think I will be here for all next editions. In this post a photographic overview of the fair. More next days.

Some close-ups on miniatures in Lucca Comics & Games.

Up there is Nano Nefasto with his bust before his 5 days live painting session during the convention.
Below there is the glass showcase for the painting contest.

Torriani’s WWII game and its delicious setting.

Miniature displays.

Andrea’s things.

Miniatures from an Andrea sketch that were realised with the Fungi kickstarter. The character, but not the pig, resembles Andrea when he was young. Other people that run a miniatures demonstration space in Miniature Island liked the miniatures and created a game with some of them: a fantasy medieval race. They didn’t know that we were the maker of them.

A close-up on Star Eagles.

Two playable mascots of Miniature Island and a cake in Orti di Elisa restaurant. This year restaurant theme for the convention was Mario Bros.

In Lucca Comics & Games all is so big that some miniatures that you can view on wargame tables were a little bigger than usual.

Again in Empoli for one of the best historical wargame convention. Two days of wargame in September 2017.

Here our Ganesha Games big table with some books of ours. We showed Sellswords, Palaeo Diet and the upcoming fantasy big armies game.

Some pics about other things around. The tables quality is rising in these years.

And now a display of costly things in an unreal set, however a beautiful view.