MINIACS WEEK MILAN is coming! September is approaching and it’s time to start preparing to be there! Don’t you know what Miniacs Week is? I’ll explain it to you in two words: the event that was missing and that I have always been waiting for, that is, a fair dedicated solely to our hobby from every point of view: artistic, playful, modeling, collecting. I talked about it with one of the creators and organizers, Gulio Taddei!
Interview with Giulio Taddei: creator and organizer of the Miniacs Week Milan
Let’s start with the presentations: who is Giulio Taddei and what is Miniacs Week?
Hi Stefano, my name is Giulio and I am a huge fan of miniatures. I am 33 years old and I have been playing “with puppets” for more than 20 years. My playful life began in the early 90s when I discovered the world of miniatures (mostly Citadel at the time) thanks to HeroQuest. It was immediately an incredible passion, which combined two enormous factors: a heroic-fantasy setting and a “miniature + character + dice” game model that fascinated me a lot. Shortly thereafter, let’s say the late 90s, I started playing WARHAMMER FANTASY with HIGH ELVES and WOOD ELVES as first armies.
Shortly it was a succession of systems, armies, games, events, known people, memories and passion. Ranging through many settings from those GAMES WORKSHOPS, to those of the most varied American and European houses, I can honestly say that it is a passion that overwhelms and motivates me for over 20 years and that has found solid roots at LUDIC INCOMING ROMA and LUDIC INCOMING MILANO (of which I am the current president). Two twin gaming clubs that actively promote playful culture on the national territory.
MINIACS WEEK MILAN, better known as MINIACS, whose first edition will be held in Milan from 1st to 5th September, was created precisely to be a multipurpose format designed to stimulate social relations through a playful-recreational area of ​​aggregation. Its goal is to disclose and tell the different faces of the hobby that revolve around the concept of miniature, expanding the current proposal and addressing with particular attention to a heterogeneous public and not only to the public of enthusiasts who are already actively part of this world. The MINIACS wants to be the perfect opportunity to create a showcase of our hobby life aimed at the outside world that does not know us.
How did the idea come about and what are the objectives of achieving this new event?
MINIACS was originally supposed to be called CLASH TOURNAMENT. It was supposed to host a series of organized play tournaments from major Games Workshop systems. Together with Graziano Pimpolari, companion of this incredible adventure, we realized that bringing a format so focused on competitive gaming and so vertical on Games Workshop would not do justice to this opportunity.
Hence the idea, also helped by other collaborators who have joined such as Mattia Coen, to transform CLASH TOURNAMENT into a multi-brand event, which would show the world of the hobby at 360 ° with thematic areas for everyone. industry enthusiasts. Thanks to this turning point, it was possible to create the first real Italian fair dedicated exclusively to the world of miniatures. When asked what do we set ourselves to achieve? We can answer without any hesitation, that MINIACS inaugurates its first edition in 2021 and was created to share the passion for the world of BOARDGAME and WARGAME, leaving room for COMMUNITY and GAME and making MINIATURE its leitmotif.
Miniacs Week: Milan, from 1st to 5th September
A somewhat provocative question: I saw that you have put together a lot of collaborations with more than renowned and well-known brands in our sector, yet Miniacs Week is only in its first edition. In your opinion, what has determined the trust and willingness to participate of so many brands?
We are very happy and amazed at the same time. We are strongly convinced that the secret lies in promoting such a vertical exhibition event, unique of its kind, which makes the miniature not only its distinctive trait but also its particularity, differentiating itself from any other playful event in the sector.
Take for example The Army Painter, one of the most important international companies for the production of colors and materials for the hobby. When we got in touch with them asking to sponsor us for the late CLASH, their response was positive but lukewarm. When we returned to them to present the fair evolution of our project, the story was completely different. While not coming to exhibit in this first edition of MINIACS WEEK, The Army Painter was thrilled to join such an innovative project that it wants to take the old fair model, transforming it into a festival dedicated to enthusiasts and not.
Adam, media director of The Army Painter, immediately saw the potential for spectacularization within this event and decided to invest heavily in it. It is useless to tell you how grateful we are to them for the support but above all for the trust, that we do not want to fail them in the slightest.
The program is really full of events, which ones excite you the most?
Can I be honest? The demo area. Knowing that there is an area entirely dedicated to the public who does not know this wonderful world, with trained staff ready to assist, let them try and guide in initial purchases is something exceptional for me. For years I have been looking for such advice in person, having to settle for those few fragments of forums, social networks and advice from the most varied shopkeepers. Today the new generation of players will find themselves in front of a trained but above all passionate staff, ready to guide them in this incredible world step by step.
Miniacs Week: events, courses and tournaments
How to blame you … I also saw that you have dedicated a lot of space to painting, with different courses at different levels. What are you organizing in detail?
6 painting masterclasses, which start from basic levels such as those on “FASTPAINT” to those on targeted techniques such as “SKINTONES, OSL, NMM, CHIAROSCURO” and much more. National and international painters of the caliber of Vincenzo Celeste (Miniatures’ Den), Eugenio Favaretto and Marco Pinamonti, Pietro Bertolotti, Fausto Palumbo and Mirko Cavalloni. The desire arises from making it clear how MINIACS wants to address all fans of miniatures, be they gamers or hobbyists, and especially to the latter it wants to offer two special sections: the MASTER area dedicated to painting master classes, and the ARTS area dedicated to the exhibition of their dioramas, models and hobby projects.
The calendar is really rich, and I can’t tell you so quickly. I invite all the curious to see the link on eventbrite accessible through our site to see the entire agenda.
Wow, amazing names! On the other hand, as regards the game, are there different tournaments? What will the more experienced and less experienced visitors find?
The game areas are not really based only on tournaments, but there will be 3 different levels. National and international tournaments, free play areas with objectively “beautiful” tables left at the disposal of playful patrons, and finally the demo area dedicated to product presentations aimed at new and curious audiences.
Regarding the tournaments, the subject of your question, just think that we are organizing events of the caliber of the single and team Age of Sigmar World Tournament. The X-Wing Miniatures Games European Championship (we won at Wembley why not repeat it in Milan too?) and Star Wars Legion. If this were not enough, there will also be many minor local events of the most varied game systems, just to guarantee fun at any level.
Fantastic! Listen, tell us the truth … when do you still find time to sleep following an event like this ?! 😁
You know Stefano, in all this I’m about to become a dad, and if today the time was short, tomorrow it won’t exist at all! I admit, I like to complicate my life …
MY BEST WISHES GIULIO !!! I understand you perfectly … but let’s get back to us. I always hope for a Roman edition, am I just a dreamer?
Absolutely not! If on the one hand it is true that MINIACS WEEK wants to be a resident fair format in the Milano area, on the other hand it wants to introduce a mobile format. In this way we want to go and work on targeted presences within already consolidated exhibition centers. A great playful future awaits us in Italy, you can rest assured Stefano!
I expect Games Workshop to be among the sponsors next year …
Unfortunately it is a dream that is unlikely to come true. We have collaborated in the past with Games Workshop by hosting some Italian exclusive targeted events. But after having contacted them again between COVID and BREXIT, they showed no interest in participating in events on the European territory. On the events sector, they have decided to shift their attention to the USA and Australia. We hope there will be changes of course, but we are not confident. It is really a pity that the company we are most committed to is the big absentee.
Conclusions
To find out more about Miniacs Week Milan, visit their official website. The only problem this fair has is that I won’t be there (SIGH!). Unfortunately September and October will be months of fire for me and getting away from my family is totally impossible for me in that week. However, I am enormously pleased to know that finally there is an event so structured and organized solely dedicated to miniatures, painting, games as I have always lived it. I have rarely had a chance to share it with so many people, at least in adolescence. So I send all my best wishes to Giulio and I can’t wait to see the many photos and videos that will be shot in those days, surely with a tear …
