This year we had two Romics. It is the main comics fair in Rome. It is always nice to walk around huge piles of comics and gadgets. Together with Andrea (Ganesha Games) we came here for a full day (10.00-19.00), watching stands and buying stuff. We met some people too, and we had interesting chats with a medieval style fencer and with a games vendor. It is a 4 days long fair, but I visited it the first day because I will be very busy for work in the weekend. Moreover the fair is pretty overcrowded the other days.

A blast from the past: once upon a time comics fairs were populated mainly by middle age people.

Nowadays this kind of fairs are full of young people with costumes. And half naked young girls with exhibitionism symptoms.

I like so much this world of cosplayers, a touch of colour in life, comics and animes in the real world.

A big organised group is the 501th Legion, local imperial forces inspired by Star Wars.

The usual Nintendo stand with young girls as hostess.

Among comics a huge presence is for gadgets and statuettes. These are very nice!

A choice of pillow-cases for lone people pillow to hug during the night.

More gadgets and another kind of pillow among them: the pizza pillow!

The food choice in the fair were good but we opted even for a more exotic flavour as these Japanese sweets.

Really a beautiful day, the time fled away smoothly and we had fun.

My mates and I have organised the local DBA tournaments of the national championship since 2004. I was 9 years younger at the time. I can see myself year after year on the photos of these tournaments. Giovanni, the child in the photo, was just born when I started to play DBA.

This time we played in Solo Giochi shop at the north of Rome. It is far from my house so I stayed here only for two tournaments. It is a weird thing: I have an history miniatures shop in my city and I never “use” it. However the owner was very kind: the left over money that we raised for prizes was donated by him as gift certificate for shop items.

The usual group photo. Trophies and medals for few, smiles for everyone.

I’m just returned from Portugal! A full report will follow before or later, but now we will have a DBA tournament in Rome:

Tomorrow, the 21th of September, our club Legio Palatina, together with DBA Italia organisation, will hold a tournament based on the situation around the Kadesh battle. More informations on the specific website:
https://www.legiopalatina.it/kadesh/index.htm

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…

The 16th of June a new wargame convention was held in Rome. It is called Roma Gioca (Play Rome). It is even relatively near to my home, but in a new built zone, among camps. A chess club with a wargame appendix is located inside a technical school. In a dungeon inside this huge structures amalgam, in the middle of nowhere, these chaps roll their dices.

Almost only a grognard convention because of the location, but full of tables. Every wargame club in Rome was here. We had a lot of space, three full rooms was used. My photos cannot give a real idea of the event because I was too much involved with my play. However from the first photo to the third one, you can see the room development of the convention, room by room.

During the day even an Operation Overlord tournament was played. Boardgames were there thanks to Tana del Goblin staff.

As Ganesha Games we were there in a full formation. Sergio played a Drums and Shakos Large Battle game, organised by Diego.

Here a participation game (before the participation) with an exciting helicopters charge of Apocalypse Now style.

A snapshot of what Andrea was playing, as you can see on the first photo. A dungeon, some green monsters, dices with 12 faces. And nothing more, it is a secret. And a playtest, indeed.

Always on the first photo of this post you can see the full table of the new naval game by Sergio. Here something more near to our eyes. It is called “Aye aye sir!”: Drums and Shakos goes naval…

Victory! The 9th of June I win a DBA tournament here in Rome. It wasn’t an official one, but an event only for Romans to show rules and tournament formula to not “professional” DBA players. So I had less competition from hard gamers, however my victory was a real one. A 30€ gift was the prize. I spent them quickly for a Vallejo matt varnish can and for a photographic book about local fallschirmjäger reenactors.

The tournament theme was Caesar and his enemies. Obviously I brought a Roman army. These are my troops after the aristocrats defeat, 5 bases destroyed against nothing for me.

In the upper photo you can see my first game. I’m the reflexive chap in the centre. On the right upper corner there is Andrea, in Rome from Terni because the day before we passed all the time together playtesting his latest new game.

We were in SoloGiochi, a wargame shop in the north of Rome. I never stayed there before, because the city is pretty big and I live far from here. However we like this location very much so we will organise the official Roman DBA tournament here in September.

Our national DBA tournament circuit is based on groups of friends that live in cities in the north and centre Italy. Some new DBA player entered this event, so we hope they will be here the next time, and in the other tournaments. The photo of an happy day with miniatures.

After the overall review of Dadi.Com, now we are going to see the Ganesha Games presence. We were at full force, with me, Andrea, Sergio and Diego. Among other things, we spent a lot of money in the Bring & Buy, but we offered some demonstration games too. Andrea was in the convention with an OGAM preview. In the meantime he organised a brainstorm for the boardgame that he is writing in these days, as you can see in the photo. Instead Sergio took a pause from his new games and were inspired by Bizio’s work for an entirely new game.

The new edition of Zen garden is ready! It is the white one, after the black and the red. The final edition indeed. Better than before, with reorganised rules, more pagodas, white sand glued on the board and more sand available to add a real zen garden feel at the scenery. Gualtiero Grassucci is a fan and a promoter of the game: he play it to show wargame mechanics to children! Thank you!

This was the opportunity to show the last developments of Ferrum et Gloria to grognard public. I run some demonstration games trying new tweaks. A game with 4 people divided in 2 squads (retiarii versus secutor and scissor) was held. The fight became very hard and participant. It was a real challenge! A lot of blood was spread on the sand. During these days I tried a sagittarii fight and in another game I put 3 equites versus 3 equites. To adapt the core rules to these two gladiatorial categories I had to study something to reflect their specific methods of fight, because they use bows or mount horses.

Now my arena is better too. I put some spectators on the bleaches and some improvement was done. I have got rules for referee too…

Herat was a game about Italian development in Afghanistan based on Flyin’ Lead rules by Ganesha Games. It was a valid scenario with a lot of models, houses and a bazaar. It won a prize. I wish a modern Italian army too, but these miniatures are out of commerce.

Another club chose OGAM for a demonstration game. The scenery was better than those made by Andrea. He is always focused on mechanics and the scenery is pretty scarce. These chaps instead have found a game that can substitute other fantasy games. So they have cured the aesthetic aspect too. OGAM will be out towards October, so you have to wait some months to read the rules. Here a game with Vikings versus Greeks. On the book you will find Egyptians and Celt too. If I would find some free time, I have to develop Sumerian and Shardana lists for future official expansions.

So, this was Dadi.Com, the wargame convention of South Europe… I don’t know if the next year I will present here my finished gladiatorial rules or if I will be in San Marino again. In the meantime this year we will have two big convention in Italy, Lucca Comics and Games in November and Ludica in December. And for the 16th of June a new wargame convention will be held in Rome. On these pages the future reports.