Monty on tour: Crisis 2015 (1) - Our Plancenoit game

What a weekend! What a show!

Last weekend Crisis 2015 in Antwerp took place and the organisers from the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp performed an excellent job once more. The show itself was organised as perfect as ever and it seems that it has grown once again. The selection of traders and clubs who gave themselves the honour of occuring there was even better than the years before. Although some traders avoided the journey to Antwerp their places where taken by interesting newcomers without loss of quality.

Once again yours truly had the chance to be part of the show again since our club was presenting the Plancenoit game we've been preparing for more than a year under guidance of my chaps Bernhard and Holger. Alltogether we had a L-shaped table of about 5m x 4m on which we created the small village where French and Prussians clashed in June 1815.

The table in all its finery. Please ignore the folder on the field on the right.

We employed more than two dozens of buildings and roughly 1,500 figures to recreate this epic afternoon. Everaything is in 28mm scale and most figures are from the ranges of Perry Miniatures, Calpe and Front Rank.

The centre of the battlefield: The church of Plancenoit.

The buildings were a mixture from different manufacturers or buildings. Some are from Grand Manner's and Hovels's excellent ranges and some from a WW2 range with pre-painted buildings. Unfortunately I don't remember the company that made them. Some buildings came from a Canadian modeller who is specialised on 28mm wargaming buildings, others were made from MDF kits and two were built from the scratch by our club's most talented architect Michael. Yours truly was lucky enough to contribute two ruins from Stronghold Terrain and a converted estate by Grand Manner.

A wonderful vignette by our fellow Michael.

The figures were from the different collections of nearly all our team members. Unfortunately I didn't have the honour to put my very own figures on the board but neither French nor Prussians are my cup of tea and our club fellows Bernhard, Holger, Axel and Heinz have decent collections for both sides. As icing on the cake: They even provided the correct regiments!

For centre of the board itself we used a hill made of styrofoam by our talented modeller Robert. Then we covered the remaining parts of the table with painted cloth. In my opinion an excellent alternative for bulky board pieces.

The French trying to set up a defensive position.

Close-up of the same scene.

During the set-up we tried to build up some scenes here and there. It was wonderful to find some of the idea my fellows created and capture them on photos.

A French soldier hiding in a ruined building recharging.

A French voltigeur firing at the Prussian attackers.

Alltogether we went to Antwerp with four cars. Nine chaps had to be transported and the whole stuff for the game. It was a logistical challenge but especially Georg and Kalle directed it to a more or less relaxed loading concept.

"An ideas?"

French troops on their way to the front.

Burning down the house.

To recreate the burning buildings we used coloured cotton wool and small LED candles. In the rather dark hangar they gave a nice reddish flickering.

Heavily hit by howitzers I asume.

Orders from Blücher.

Advance !

Alltogether it was a great experience to stem such a large presentation game. It was wonderful to see how everything game together after a long preparation phase that wasn't easy the whole time. Somehow everyone of our club contributed something and that made Plancenoit for a very special project for myself.

But most important our trip to Antwerp was a great 'trip with the boys'. We had a lot of fun, many good chats and a couple of glasses of excellent Belgian beer. Really an experience we needed after a stressful year which had some trip hazards within and beyond our hobby.

After featuring our game in part one of my Crisis report I'll bring up some pictures of the other tables next time. And be sure that there are some really excellent pieces as well.