Sunday 27 February 2011

Vampifan's Views 08 Dadi e Piombo

In my last editorial, posted just before Christmas of 2010, I mentioned a secret project that I was working on and I rather cryptically called it "the Italian Job." Now, I can reveal just what that project is. I have had an article published in the prestigious Italian wargaming magazine, Dadi e Piombo. Dadi e Piombo stands for Dice and Lead. The article, you won't be at all surprised to learn, is a primer into the world of 28mm scale zombie miniature collecting, gaming and a brief look at zombie literature and films. I've printed the front cover of the mag and the first page of my article to the left of here to give you a flavour of what to expect. The magazine is printed quarterly and is in full colour throughout, printed on very high quality paper.
I will admit, that until I was contacted by Lorenzo Sartori, the editor, I had never heard of the magazine. But, then again, that is hardly surprising as it is outside of my sphere of interests. Lorenzo contacted me late last year, having seen my size comparison photos of zombie miniatures on my blog, and asked me if I'd like to contribute an article to his magazine. I immediately said yes and so our collaboration begun. Lorenzo chose a number of photos from my blogsite that he wanted to use - stuff from some of my batreps and all of the size comparison photos. I typed in a new article for him, which was approved after a few minor changes.
I then eagerly awaited the publication of the magazine. A week or so ago I was contacted by Lorenzo to say that the mag was ready and that I could have up to seven free copies. This was very gratefully accepted by me. Yesterday, the parcel of magazines arrived. My immediate reaction upon seeing my article in print was one of immense pride. It is very rare to see your work in print and I feel very lucky that this is the second time it has happened to me (the first time being with me illustrating the vampire anthology Darkling, I Listen.)
In addition to my intro on collecting zombie figures, Lorenzo has included a very simple set of rules that he has devised for a zombie skirmish game, which is illustrated with more photos of mine from some of my zombie batreps. So that gives you another reason to be interested in this magazine.
I am the wrong person to give an unbiased opinion of the content of this issue because of my involvement but even so, the over-riding impression I have of the magazine is one of respect for its high quality. This is no cheap fly-by-night fanzine but a very serious and noteworthy wargaming magazine. The fact that it is printed in English and Italian can only help boost its sales, seeing as English is such a popular language spoken all across Europe. Also, the fact that this is issue 44, meaning it has been going for eleven years, surely indicates how popular it must be.
When Lorenzo offered me the opportunity of receiving seven copies of the magazine it really thrilled me as I knew what I wanted to do with the extra copies. I'd like to offer five of them up for grabs to anyone who'd like a copy. Obviously, to be fair, this has to be done on a first come, first served basis. If you genuinely want a free copy (yes, it will be free, and I'll pay the postage) just e-mail me at vampifan@talktalk.net with your name and address and I'll send you a copy. This offer is open to overseas followers, not just those residing in the UK.
For those of you who aren't among the lucky first five, here are the web addresses where the magazine can be bought -
In the UK contact www.caliverbooks.com
In the USA contact www.onmilitarymatters.com
In Germany and Austria contact woreanshop@aol.com or www.worean.eu
In Spain contact www.atlanticajuegos.com
In Italy contact www.dadiepiombo.com
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Lorenzo for the chance to spread the word about why zombies are cool and for the copies of the magazine he sent me. Lorenzo, if you're reading this, you have my heartfelt thanks!
Normal service will be resumed with my next post, in which I will, hopefully, be reviewing a bunch of 28mm scale zombies by Recreational Conflict, a company whom I've never mentioned before.

37 comments:

  1. Good job Bryan! You're Zeds are taking over the world! I knew the epidemic would keep spreading.

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  2. Thanks, Willy. I figured some extra exposure couldn't do any harm. New followers to the site are always most welcome.

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  3. Congrats Bryan, also email sent hopefully I am one of the lucky 5 to get a copy.

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  4. Don't worry, Doug, your bid was in time and I will be sending you a copy. Thanks for responding. At the moment there are still two more copies up for grabs.

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  5. Hi, As an Italian wargamer and long time lurker of your excellent blog, I'm really really happy to read about you in an Italian magazine. I'll try to buy this number and I'll spread the news among my friend (some of them have a subscription to D&P.
    Good work!! ;)
    Fabio DF

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  6. WANT! Hehe... Good work on spreading the zed knowledge. You were the one who inspired me to do my zedblog.

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  7. The zombi plague is all other the world, but with your collection alone, the UK seems to be the most threatened country. And thanks again for the magazine.
    Karl aka Jérôme

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  8. Congratulations my friend, you of anyone I know deserve to have your opinions in print, good job, I got this too late been zombie gaming with the rejects. Will check the magazine out.

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  9. Hey Bryan, forgot to ask are they going to be signed copies? LOL

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  10. I hope there is a copy left, mail sent.

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  11. @Gnotta. Many thanks for your kind words. It is good to know I'm spreading the zombie goodness in Italy.

    @Lord Siwoc. Thanks and congrats on making it to number four in the list.

    @Karl. An even bigger thanks to you as you were the first to respond. Congrats for being so on the ball, my friend!

    @Angry. Listen, Fran, if you still want a copy, let me know as there is still one more up for grabs. Seeing as you've already contacted me I can put it aside for you. Otherwise, it goes to the next person to get in touch.

    @Doug. If you want your copy signing, I'll gladly sign it for you. That goes for anyone else. Just let me know.

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  12. @Ulu. I've just seen your post. You sent it whilst I was typing my previous response. Okay, I'll let you have a copy.

    @The Angry Lurker. I was going to keep two copies for myself but if you really want a copy, contact me and you can have my spare copy. I'd hate to let anyone down.

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  13. Not only you are spreading the "zombie fever" in my mind but in my entire gaming group!! ;)
    If you can spare 5 minutes, please go check my humble little blog and click on the "Progetto Z" label.. Everything is written in Italian but you can look at some of the Star wars prepainted miniature I've converted to use as survivors...
    Let me know if I may publish my blog address here...
    Cheers! :)

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  14. @Gnotta. I've just been looking at your blog and I'm very impressed with all of the work you've done. There are some very impressive figures you've painted and converted. There was a Google translation feature, which allowed me to read some of your articles in English. I'd like to go back and read more of them. I like your blog so much that I'm going to add it to my list of favourites. Hopefully, that will attract more viewers and followers for you. Very nice work, Gnotta!

    @Lord Siwoc. Okay, it looks like I'll be signing the freebie mags.

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  15. Yeah as Siwoc said. They all must be signed, so that when you are rich and famous we can eBay them for millions and millions of Pounds/Dollars/Euros/Yen/etc... Then we can buy all the Zombie minis in the world that we could want and buy a Chinese sweatshop to paint them all in the hidden Underground Zombie painting sweatshop set up somewhere in middle of nowhere (aka Canada, LOL).

    Actually if its signed it would be cool, but its not a top priority, sign them if you want, I will leave it up to you.

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  16. Looking at the picture of page 31 that I've shown, there is a lot of empty space on the road of my introductory photo, which is just crying out for a signature. Mind you, I can't imagine why any of you are deluded enough to think that my signature is going to be worth anything in the future... unless we all travel to Bizarro-world, LOL!

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  17. Congratulations! Richly deserved attention.

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  18. Bryan, I was initially being a smart @$$ about you signing them. Though since it is an article you wrote you should feel proud to sign them, especially since out of all the copies that will be out there world wide only a small handful will be graced with your signature.

    I know if I ever had an article or even some photos of mine published in a magazine or book and they sent me a couple copies for free, I would sign the copies I give out to friends an family, I would probably even sign the copy I keep for myself just to have a signed copy, LOL, because I would be proud to have my stuff in print.

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  19. You're right, Doug. I am proud to have my article published and, all joking aside, I'll happily sign the article with pride as well. You make a good point about why I should sign my own copy. Hmm, something to ponder there, my friend!

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  20. Congratulations Bryan! That's excellent news. Too bad I only read the post this morning. Anyway, (positive) exposure is always a great thing, and you definitely deserved this.

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  21. Congratulations Bryan! Thats wonderful news, although it looks like I'll have to buy mine, lol.
    But it will be well worth it.

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  22. Mikko and Roger, I'm really sorry that I don't have more magazines to give away. You've both been supporting my blog for a very long time and it's bad news that you missed out. I had a sneaking suspicion that this would prove a popular offer to my followers and so it has been proved.
    To anyone else who has logged in late and missed out, I can only apologise but as we Brits say, the early bird catches the worm. To those lucky ones, you'll be pleased to know that I'll be posting the magazines this afternoon.

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  23. Hi again,
    just bought the magazine in one of the very few wargame shops here in Rome, pity I can't have my copy signed!!!! ;)
    cheers

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  24. Hi! I'm one of Gnotta's friends, he paint survivor, I paint Zeds and buildings ;)

    My Blog is primary about my games, but I'll be glad if you can see the Project Z section.

    Regards!

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  25. Just catching up with the news... Congratulations! You should be very proud! You've inspired so many of us you really deserve all this recognition. Keep up the good work. The plague must advance!

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  26. @Gnotta. Well done on tracking down a copy. I hope you enjoy reading it.

    @Zerloon. That's a nice arrangement you have there, sharing painting and modelling duties. I've had a look at your Project Z stuff and it looks great. I also think it's great that you are both producing your own blogs. Well done!

    @PDoid. Thanks for the congrats. Have no fear - the zombie plague WILL spread. Europe today, the world tomorrow!

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  27. No problem, Bryan, I searched down the us seller and it should be no problem getting hold of one.
    I'm really glad for you getting published you certainly earned it. Nicely done :)

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  28. Thanks, Roger. I'm so glad to hear that you've been able to find a seller of the magazine. Once again, many thanks for your continued support. It means a lot to me.

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  29. Great magazine! I read some of the articles and it was kind of interesting!

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  30. Hey, that's great! I'm glad you liked it, Disser2.

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  31. This is way cool Bryan! Congratulations on being published! It is a thrill when it happens!

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  32. Thanks, Colin and welcome back! It sure was a thrill... a big thrill!

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  33. I completely missed this post. Congratulations Sir, fantastic news. You've earned it. Gutted I missed out on your generous offer but will try and pick one up.

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  34. Ah, Adam, I'm sorry you missed out. I wish I had more copies to give out but sadly, they've all gone now, including the copy I was going to keep spare, so that was 6 I gave away. Nonetheless, thanks for your comment.

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  35. Bryan- My copy just arrived with the mail 2 minutes ago. Have only had enough time to pull it out of the envelope. Will be reading it here in a few.

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  36. Congratulation Bryan !
    I'm italian too and I follow your blog in the last months :) I'll try to get a copy of the magazine :)

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