Monty on Tour: Crisis 2012 - Part 1

As I told you last week I visited "Crisis 2012" yesterday. The convention was organised by the "Tin Soldiers of Antwerp" (Link) and took place at a hall near the port of Antwerp. I went to the event with my fellows from the "THS - Team for Historical Simulations" (Link) and we (mainly Robert) prepared a nice 15mm / 18mm fantasy game, but more at that later.

The trip started on Friday around half past eleven and firstly I picked up Robert and Michael. Afterwards we set sail for Antwerp. Fortunately traffic wasn't to dense and so we reached our destination at half past three. After a little search we found our dwelling where we meat Achim and Eymard two other mates of our team. Axel, Bernhard, Holger and Heinz, the remaining members of our party arrived later and we met them at the hall.

The quarters itself was the first highlight of the trip. We booked some cabins on the houseboat "Hannus". All was tidy and comfortable and we were absolutely satisfied. The only disadvantages were the narrowness and the loud wooden planks which were quit noisy when anyone went through the ship.

Unfortunately I've got only blurry and dark pictures from the ship which I took with my cell phone. But this one gives some an impression:

The cabin which Axel and me shared.

After we dropped our luggage on the ship, we went to the convention hall and started to prepare the gaming table for the next day:

The first hall before anything started, It was really large...

A view of the second (smaller) hall...

Robert and Achim get a general idea of the location and our table.

The board is set. Only terrain and miniatures had to be placed on Saturday morning.

When we had finished our preparations for Saturday, we had dinner in a small pub near our ship and enjoyed some pints of Belgian beer. A pleasure which was only excelled by the nice chat we had.


After a rather short night we had a quick breakfast and the left for the main event. Robert and Michael prepared the remaining terrain parts and we discussed the procedure for the day:

Robert and Michael setting up the terrain details.

The table in all its beauty. A great job by Robert !

The scenario which we presented was a kind of "Prelude to the Battle of the five Armies" described by J. R. R. Tolien in his "Hobbit". It's a little skirmish between some roaming orcs and goblins which meet with some elvish and dwarven troops. Please look at the THS homepage for a more detailed description (here).

Some more views of the miniatures and terrain:

A hardworking peasant which is heading for the market in the village

The village with its busy market. All buildings scratchbuilt by Robert.

The blacksmith at work.

The elvish troops on their way towards the Lonely Mountain. In the background are the dwarves waiting for the to unite for the battle.

The villainous orcs looking for loot.

Close-up of the dwarven command. Remember: They are 18mm scale!

The elvish cavalry on photo which Axel took.

 Although a lot of people were interested in our game, each and every of us was able to take a walk or two through the halls. There were a lot of great tables set up and a lot of interesting traders. I'll post a short review in an additional post, since this one became rather larger by now.