Monty on Tour: Crisis 2013 survived ! - Part 1

Thirtysix hours, about 600 kilometres to drive, an overnight stay, a stressful game to manage, lots of interesting traders and excellent presentations to view, some nice people to meet and a price to take home...

Crisis 2013 was brilliant !

But first things first... As last year I want to present you the event in a two part coverage. First part will be mostly about my trip and our game and in part two I'll show you some of the gorgeous games other groups presented on Crisis.

To begin with our trip started about 10.30 on friday. My mate Robert picked me up and we headed to Marl to pick up Michael as well. After having achieved this first task we headed to Antwerp and were rather lucky with little traffic. Fortunately we didn't cross the way of too many holiday shoppers. Since All Saints' Day is a public holiday in Belgium and Germany but not in the Netherlands a lot of people seemed to be heading there to do some shopping. I don't think that it was too relaxed...

Anyway we arrived in Antwerp about two o'clock and checked in at the hotel. The nicely renovated Antwerp Harbour Hotel provided some proper rooms for a good rest. At least for some of us...

Our comfotable hotel room. Much more comfortable than the houseboat last year...

Afterwards we went to the hall were Crisis should take place the next day. Some nice guys of the T. S. A. ("Tin Soldiers of Antwerp" - the organisers of Crisis) showed us the place for our tables and we started arranging everything for our AWI presentation game:

The tables prepared, hight leveled and terrain tiles laid out.

The board comes to live under Bernhard's watchful eyes.

Everything prepared and hidden for the great day...

Time for a break, a beer, a burger, a bed...

Well satisfied with the progress of friday afternoon and evening we headed to the hotel and the cinema center nearby to have dinner. Not an easy task with nine people who want to be seated together. Fortunately we found a table in some kind of American bar whose menu looked surprising. Although food wasn't bad there I wasn't too delighted either. Maybe Schnitzel is just something too un-Belgian to order in Antwerp. Anyway we satisfied our hunger and most of the fellows were lucky with their burgers and fries. Although the music was a bit loud in the bar we stayed there for a few drinks since our hotel didn't maintain a bar by itself. Major fault! Afterwards we returned to the hotel and most of us spent a good, recreative night there.

On saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel early and left for the hangar soon. Fortunately we found everything as we left it and were able to let the board come to live without any delay:

Maybe the Hessian commander in Fort George is a bit too relaxed...

... since the French are preparing their attack rather early...

... while the Hessian relief force is still having breakfast.

Even the continentals look rather adventurous...

So with the gates opening for the croud we took a short walk through the halls while Kalle and Bernhard finished the last preparations. When we returned a little earlier everything was sorted for us and we started to play a few turns to entertain the visitors and give them a chance to get in impression of how our scenario worked.
An excellent chance to get in touch with a lot of nice and interested people. Luckily several people took the chance and had some nice chats there. Anyway the game turned rather the same way as it did when we really played it during our summer event (report here and here).

The British storm the continental fortifications with all their power...

... and send further reinforcements by sea.

Heinz's cavalry is able to go round the entrenchment and heckles the rebels.

The Scots are coming !

And Hessian Jägers are protecting the flanks.

Although the French and continentals manage to capture Fort George by sending out a force of bloodthirsty Indians who were able to fight their way into the heavily besieged fortress, the British and Hessian relief forces overrun the American blocking position finally.

The American position is taken and the Scottish brigade advances under the sound of their bagpipes.

Meanwhile the leading British forces march strait towards the fort to release their comrades.

Although we weren't able to bring the game to its ultimate clash it was rather likely that the British would be able to re-conquer Fort George. But for which price...

Mischief makers on the rebel side have their own opinion who might have lead to the final British victory:

Your name is what? Benedict who? Arnold?

Anyway it was great fun to play our very own Penobscot scenario once more and meet so many interested people. It was unforgettable to meet Dave Bodley from Grand Manner who is a great guy and have a chat with him about the game we played with the excellent scenery he designed. It was awesome to meet people from Belgium, Germany, England and althrough Europe who liked the stuff we presented and it felt good to get such a positive feedback.

And in the end the T. S. A. jury elected our game the best presentation game of Crisis 2013. Not the most important thing on this extraordinary day but a perfect crowning of course:

Our team with the cup.

But that's really enough about us and our game. In my next post I'll present some pictures of the unique table other groups resented. So stay tuned !