La stanza degli orchi

When I first approached De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) in the late '90s, online trading was uncommon and local stores had choices limited to Romans/Celts/Carthaginians and Napoleonic 15mm miniatures, even in a big city as Milano. I bought a pair of Punic lancers, Celtic warriors and Balearic skirmishers units but I soon realized I couldn't spend so much money to build armies and so much time to paint them. I was playing by myself, totally unaware about other gamers or clubs or 'online resources' and I was also trying to push my friends into DBA (which resulted in a total failure). I needed something cheap, easy to produce and generic so I turned to paper armies. My sister Gabriella was at the time graduating in Fine Arts so I asked her to draw some simple icons. I copied those icons with a Xerox machine, cut out, coloured with markers and glued them to cardboards bases. I could then produce all the armies I wanted:   30a. Tullian Roman  35. Gallic ...

This morning the postman rang once and, after a week in Malpensa's dungeons, more infernal servants answered the call and joined the hordes of the Necromancer from Musocco . Now my HotT's Undead Army is almost complete, only the God element is missing. I couldn't wait a minute so I took pictures of them before any cleaning, sorry for that. The minis are from Splintered Light Miniatures' 15/18mm Undead range. I already love them. Zombie Infantry 1 Two elements of Hordes. Vampires These came in pairs, for a total of six minis. I'll build an element os Assassins and I'll keep the other three for skirmishing and role-playing. Dave was really kind to mix half a pack of Vampires (six) with half a pack of Spectres (six). Spectres I've got six of these. I'll build an element of Lurkers and I'll keep the others for skirmishing, role-playing and scenery. These are Barbara's and my favorite ones. Skeleton Catapult Togethe...

I asked Barbara which kind of character she would like to play in a single-player Pathfinder game. There will be one master and one player only, so we could play whenever and wherever we want and I could "turn the cards" whenever I want. She replied: "a shield maiden, my Jarl! As in the tv show". Northern setting wasn't my first choice, as twenty years ago I run a very long and epic AD&D norse campaign, full of giants, trolls, witches, ice, evil christian knights, etc... But this could be chance to tell some Norse tales to my beloved, taking inspiration from the Edda and the sagas. So "magic" as in standard fantasy games there will be none, as there will be very few "monsters". There will be feuds, treacheries, fighting , a lot of norse mythology and raidings, of course. The character was named as a well-known girl from a '70s anime and is a 16-years-old girl living in a scattered farmland; her father is a farmer and her mother ...

So I bought a copy of Song of Blades and Heroes and, using this useful tool I quickly set up two warbands. Undead vs. Wood Elves. Here they are: Undead Lich - Personality : Points 86 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules: Magic-User, Terror, Undead   Wraith : Points 72 Quality 3+ Combat 4 Special Rules: Flying, Free Disengage, Undead   Mounted Skeleton : Points 38 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules: Mounted, Undead   Skeleton Standard Bearer : Points 26 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules: Standard Bearer, Undead   3x Skeleton Warriors : Points 26 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules: Undead   Wood Elves Elven Druid - Personality : Points 95 Quality 2+ Combat 4 Special Rules:  Forester, Magic-User   2x Wood Elven Archers : Points 63 Quality 2+ Combat 3 Special Rules: Forester, Shooter: Long   Elven Scout : Points 42 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules: Forester, Stealth   Elven Warrior : Points 36 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules: Fore...

Chariot Miniatures' EEC8 Scythe Armed Skeletons Here are two elements of scythed skeletons from Magister Militum I finished some days ago. Useful as Blades or Spears for my growing HotT's Undead Army. Bwahahahahahahaha!

Here's a Metal Magic dwarf I bought in the nineties and never painted. I finished him last week and it made me understand a little more about inks and washes, things I didn't know 20 years ago. He could represent my Dwarven 4th level Cleric of Pharasma (Death/Repose) in the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder's campaign I am currently playing with my mates. I think he needs a shield, it could be a chance to use those shield transfers I got two months ago.

Finished, at last! Built from scratch using bits of a roman siege tower from Atlantic I used to play with when I was a child and Ral Partha's AD&D Battlesystem Iron Dwarf Ballista bought fifteen years ago. This is the first finished element of my HotT's Dwarven Army.

Barbara is the woman I love. She often helps me with modelling advices, she's a talended photographer and traditional artist and she's very fond of Vikings . Tonight I've succeeded in pulling Barbara to the tabletop to play a Hordes of the Things test game. Undead vs. Dwarves. I was Undead, she was Dwarven. The ground area was highly irregular and we played with these armies: She didn't like it. She says there's no clashing, no blood, no magic: it's boring. So I bought a pdf copy of Song of blades and heroes . I think we'll both like it!

I've spent a nice Saturday's afternoon playing Tercios at ARES, in Cesano Maderno (MB). The place is wonderful (two large tables in two separate rooms, lots of minis and props) and the people is nice, welcoming and well experienced. Minis are top-level, especially the ACW ones which were deployed in the first room. The only drawback is that the place is not exactly "around the corner" and moving in the Metropolitan Area during evenings could take two hours to get back. I knew very little about Tercios before playing, I just took a look at the Brevis Editio and tried to remember Pike and Shot Campaigns' golden rule: never send Mounted vs. Pikes. The game rules are quite simple and I understood them in half a round. Cards for orders, alternate activation, reactions, etc. You shoot with 4d6 and hit with 4+, your opponent rolls 4d6 and saves with 5+ etc. Quick and easy. The match opposed a Swedish army vs. an Imperial army. I was recruited by the Swedish and ...

I was walking back home today, when something pulled me inside a classic chinese warehouse. Amongst the pile of items I'd like to buy, I found these... I think they fit perfectly Hordes of the Things' basing. I just need to spread their wings a bit and maybe paint them: the Blue, the Red on the right and the Babies are already well painted for such a product.

The Magician is from Ral Partha's AD&D Battlesystem. Base terrain is made of Fimo Air. The fence is Noch's Garden Fence . The tombstone is made out of cardboard. To do: second tombstone, broken slab for the first grave, weeds and... the raised!

Skeleton Standard Bearer - C1036E (Hobby Products/Metal Magic) I painted this model and then I kept it on a shelf for years. Few weeks ago I used a smoking paper and some vinyl glue to make the standard.