Archive for September, 2014

Carnivorous plants

Something that I like to show you even if it is not directly related to miniatures. Carnivorous plants are common in pulp or sci-fi on jungle planets, indeed. But how they are? During a really recent trip to Padova I went to the Orto Botanico di Padova. Founded in 1545 by the Venetian Republic, it is the world’s oldest academic botanical garden that is still in its original location. In the new wing of this garden, inside a new greenhouse building, there was a convention about carnivorous plants organised by Associazione Italiana Piante Carnivore. I’m used to miniatures or comic conventions and I found this one with the same spirit. So I could admire these strange plants that drink distilled water and eat rotten insects. Lots of kinds of carnivorous plants exist. I show here some together with their trap system.

It is like a beartrap, and it uses the same activation method. Every pair of closed leafs is a victim more.

Small spheres made of glue along leafs. And insect that slowly are absorbed on them.

The following three are based on the same principle: one way cones or recipients where insects are attracted and cannot escape, plunged into a sticky liquid.

Bigger recipients. They remind me a vagina. Attraction and death.

Dangling recipients big as 1/2 litre bottles! They seems threatening…

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Final edit

Sunday and Monday I went to Terni for another editing session on Ferrum et Gloria. I reread all the rules four times tweaking some parts as language and content. I stole the computer for almost two full days, so Andrea could only draw a couple of illustrations, for a game scheduled for 2016, and prepare something for RomaGioca, the Rome wargame convention that will be held this Saturday. With my OGAM scenario called Ragnarok an a preview of FeG.
So now I think this is the final edit session. Andrea is working on the new cover. Here a draft preview on the screen.
On a printed draft copy a dry blood sign near the logo. It is my and Andrea’s blood mixed on the paper: another mosquito splattered. This time I killed 7 mosquitoes. I gave my blood for these rules! There is blood on the arena! Blood for the Blood God!

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DBA in Rome – PGV

The 12th official DBA tournament in Rome for the Italian Championship, the 11th organised by me and my miniature club chaps, Legio Palatina. However during the years we go from 6 members to 2 members involved, indeed. But children and distances (London, Switzerland, Canino) made the difference. Maybe this will be the last official tournament in Rome because we are a little tired of the same old thing. Even if we like this same old thing.

The set was Popoli del Grande Verde, that is the SeaPeople migration wars in 1200 b.C.
If you want to know more on this championship go to:
https://www.dba-italia.org
If you want to know more on this special scenario go to:
https://www.legiopalatina.it/grandeverde
If you want to know more on Legio Palatina go to:
https://www.legiopalatina.it

A beautiful day full of friends. These events are just an excuse to meet friends playing with miniatures. I won 2 and lost 2, the norm. At the end of the day I won a prize with a draw, 40€ to buy something in the shop where we were playing. I chose these second hand WWII American soldiers. The next DBA tournament will be in Arezzo at the begin of October.

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We have got an index

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.

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Data sheets for gladiators

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.

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Power Legion is published

Power Legion is a fast-playing tabletop wargame ruleset. Each player controls a team of heroes or villains, each with their own Attributes, Traits, and Tricks.
Create any hero from comics, animation or film with a flexible point-based system;
Use 3 to 5 figures per side or play larger games;
Playable on a 3’x3′ table using any figures you already own;
A game lasts 45 minutes to one hour.

Rules include:
Unique initiative system;
91 Traits;
17 Ace cards;
34 character Profiles;
Three scenarios;
Play all power levels; from street-level vigilantes to cosmic menaces;
Use advanced supertactics like Human Cannonball, Armor Bounce, Dive-Bomb, Sweep, Twin-Head Clonk to ensure that all Supers in play have their own distinct fighting style and signature moves;
Alter the terrain in Super ways; throw cars, destroy buildings, smash down walls, and send your enemies flying across the tabletop;
Use walls of ice, barriers of fire, forcefields, and more to protect your team or attack the enemy.
The powers is yours. What will you do with it?

To play this game, you need a set of polyhedral dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20) and 3 or more figures per player. You’ll also need to print out the cards included in the game.

You can buy now the pdf on Ganesha Games website for just $8, next as ebook or book on Amazon or Lulu as usual.

And now introducing Saturday Supers. Every Saturday Andrea will post a statted-up superhero as a free pdf on ganeshagames.net. Initially, these will be public domain supers and supers of his creation.
If you know someone who publishes an indie superhero comic (free, digital, pay, print, chiseled on marble slates, whatever) who could be interested in free cross-promotion of Power Legion and their comic, please tell them to get in touch with Andrea.

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Playtesting Project A

A full Sunday of August spent for a playtesting about new rules from Ganesha Games that I call here as Project A. And an opportunity to take this beautiful photo about Andrea with a stack of notes.

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