Monty on tour: Crisis 2015 (2) - Gorgeous tables and charming encounters

Missed part 1 of my review?

Look here.

 

Of course our table wasn't the only one in Antwerp. This year the show was again larger than the year before and there were countless clubs bringing excellent table for nearly each and every period and kind of warfare. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take pictures of all the tables and unfortunately not all the pictures I took turned out well but here's a small selection that might give you an idea how many efforts our hobby fellow put into their boards:

30-years-war in 20mm from the Hamburg Tactica club

Alde Garde with 28mm 9-years-war

20mm Operation Market Garden

A view to one of the landing zones.

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.

Crisis coming! Estate finished... Finally!

Two days until Crisis 2015... Huzzah!

Yours truly is keen on this show. A trip with some good friends, good Belgian beer and the most important wargames show on the European continent. I'm really looking forward to see some chaps from the UK who are coming over. Mostly traders but some other hobby fellows as well.

As I mentioned a couple of time before our club is preparing a 28mm game featuring the battle of Plancenoit meaning the Prussian advance towards Waterloo in June 1815. Since neither Prussians nor French are my cup of Napoleonic tea I agreed to prepare a couple of buildings for the table. Now I finished the largest one... Finally:

The model itself is by Grand Manner. A wonderful piece from Dave Bodleys gifted hands but rather too modern since it came from his WW2 range. Thus I removed some parts of the estate as mentioned earlier here.

Last weekend I painted roofs and sealed my humble work with two coats of varnish. Afterall I'm really satisfied with the result. It was an excellent chance to improve my building skills and thus I'm planning to make more terrain during winter time.

In case that you'll be in Antwerp please let me know or just come by our table. We'll be near the main entrance just behind Magister Militum and Caliver Books.

Our game for Crisis: The battle of Plancenoit

Last week we had an extraordinary club meeting and had the blocking rehearsal for our rather large presentation game for Crisis 2015 in Antwerp. It covers the final episode of the battle of Waterloo taking place in the village of Plancenoit. Our fellows Bernhard and Holger conceived an L-shaped table of around 3m x 5,5m which came into being with the help of the whole team. The humble author is contributing three houses and a couple French figures as you may have recognised as attentive readers of this blog.

So here are a couple of pictures from the great day. Some of them are rather blurry since I had to use my cellphone and lighting is rather subjar in the club HQ. The few better pictures are by our friend Holger. Please klick onto the pictures to enlarge them:

Overall impression of the whole table. Some houses (e. g. mine as well) still WIP.

Prussian messanger delivering Blücher's orders to advance.

And so they do...

Frenchmen hastily moving through the village.

Prussian artillery support.