Category: Events

Crisis 2019

It’s that time of the year again: Crisis! For many years this has been a staple in my event calendar so I was happy to visit again.

With the date set after the original date for the Brexit, I feared a lot of traders would stay away from the journey to Antwerp. Maybe some of them anticipated this and stayed away, but most of them were there. However I felt there were less visitors than last year, although this is difficult to gauge in an event of this size. I heard some German among the crowd, but not so much English than the past few years. We’ll see what next year will bring when the Brexit *might* have happened 🙂

Most traders are the same than the previous years, although there were some eye-catching booths: Wargamer’s Games’ 1666, Ouroboros Miniatures, Discworld, and speaking about staples: Freebooter Miniatures of course 🙂 But the personal highlight for me was Atlantis Miniatures. It was there first time at the show and they caught a lot of attention! They have been running a bunch of kickstarters in the past (I’m not a fan of those so that’s probably why I don’t know them), to build the line of miniatures and planning a skirmish ruleset next year. I resisted in buying some of their stuff, but will probably order some when I have a bit room in my painting schedule.

I bought some brushes, paints, nothing out of the ordinary. So that left me with plenty of time for photo’s and videos, the results of which you can see below:


Crisis 2017 event coverage

Crisis 2017 was held on Saturday 4 November. You can check out a set of pictures I took:

With some small alterations here and there, this show was similar to last year’s. But there were plenty of new games and miniatures to check. And the 11 meter long table which featured a version of a huge Age of Sigmar battle was really an eye catcher.

Last year I bought a small cardboard KR Multicase box there, but in the meantime my expanded Mordor army needs something bigger. For a special show prize I bought a large bag, containing two large cardboard boxes each filled with foam. This should really take me a long way and its extra bags are very useful to carry my rulebooks, dice, etc around. Apart from the bag I bought some brushes, paints, drill bits and the new Rathcore miniature holder.

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Scale Model Challenge 2017 event report

I was not able to attend last year’s Scale Model Challenge, but the 2017 edition was marked in my calendar well up front. Since I’m still knee-deep in several tabletop quality painting projects I did not participate in the painting competition. But a show like SMC is very exciting even without the thrill of competing.

The two major factors to add to this excitement are probable the show’s size: over 6.500 square meters, more than 3000 visitors, 120 traders, 50 clubs and the overall quality (and also size with 2000 entries) of its painting competition. The entire show spans two days, but I only visited on Sunday, arriving around 11h. I went straight to the painting competition area to start taking pictures, assuming it would be calmer in the morning instead of in the afternoon. Afterwards it seemed the afternoon was calmer, but anyway I managed to get good pictures of most of it. I had plenty of time so I just went with the flow of the crowd. What I didn’t like was a guy from the organization shouting at me to remove my shoulder bag (which I took with me because I know backpacks are prohibited in the contest area), instead of politely asking. Overall the crowd was very respectful towards the pieces on display so this kind of behaviour is not necessary in my opinion. Anyway my photo tour took me about 1.5 hour. You can see the results in one of the image galleries linked below or some highlights further in this post.

After lunch I decided to see the rest of the show and having a chat with my painting friends & acquaintance, some of which I did not see since my previous visit to SMC, two years earlier. Only then did I began to grasp how immensly the event has grown. I forgot to mention that the painting competition is now hosted in a separate hall, but the other areas have spilled into neighbouring rooms and halls as well. More or less the same traders were present in the dedicated hall, but the main room had a mix of clubs, traders and exposition, which really resulted in a nice buys atmosphere with lots of variation. On the far side of this hall there were more tables for clubs lined up, maybe this was a bit too far away from the main action because it was quieter there.

Some of the eye-catchers (for me at least) include Kimera Models, Figone, Scenery Workshop and Michael Kontraros. It was also nice to meet Tim again, the guy behind Orobourous Miniatures, I think I last saw him 10 years ago 🙂

So the afternoon was mainly taken up by a lot of nice conversations. I went to the contest area again to have another again. Somebody told me “everytime you go there you see something new”, this is definitely true! Around 16h the prize ceremony started. As usual it was fun, but very long, I didn’t manage to catch the end since I had to leave at 17h15.

I went home with a very satisfied feeling. Although I did not compete in the competition this time I had a great day. Did it inspire me enough to enter the competition next time? Maybe, when my current projects are finished it would be great to take part in this huge event again.

I hope to see some of you at Crisis 2017 next week, or else at Scale Model Challenge 2018!

The full image gallery can be seen on:

I also compiled this video:

A selection of pictures:

D1 (21) D1 (38) D1 (46) D1 (54) D1 (57) D1 (58) D1 (73) D1 (85) D1 (93) D1 (115) D1 (148) D2 (31) D2 (56) D2 (69) D2 (74) D2 (137) D2 (153) D2 (159) D2 (167) D2 (209) D2 (270)


Crisis 2016 event report

This year’s Crisis was pretty similar to last year’s event, with some minor differences. If you’re not interested in my write-up but want to see the full set of pictures right away, then you can check them out here:

The show when I entered, I arrived rather late (about 14:30h I think), so there were already a lot of people leaving but it was still very crowded inside. I made a quick sweep through the two halls, occasionally stopping for a chat with the many known faces (good to see you all again btw). Then I took my camera out and went for a detailed tour.

As you can see from the haze the air was still infused with hot-dog cooking fumes 🙂

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Most traders were in the exact same position as last year, for example Warlord Games, one of the first booths I encountered.

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Traditionally, Crisis is still a show which mainly relies on historical miniatures.

 

 

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Pretty impressive 40k table:

 

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As always, a good mix of weird miniature lines were available, like these ghostbusters from Studio Miniatures:

 

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Or these clowns:

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Another game system which keeps intruiging me is Dropfleet commander. Check out these cool new modular space stations they are releasing:

 

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Sagas is also a very popular game:

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View from the second hall:

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The Guild Ball booth was one of the eye-catchers in last year’s show. It was crowded and they were constantly selling deals. Guild Ball was the hot new thing in fantasy football town.

This year however the stand looked a lot more empty. Not sure what caused this, but it was very apparent if you ask me.

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Of course many clubs were present. Some of them simply presenting their miniatures and tables, other giving participation or initiation games.

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I was very surprised to see some Darklands miniatures at the show. With their amazing miniatures and skirmish-sized armies this is really the game a painter like me would like. Good to know a Belgian group is now actively promoting the game. I made a long chat with Kristof from Darklands Wargamers and it really sparked my interest.

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Another HUGE table:

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The only thing I really planned on buying at the show (yes I resisted buying actual miniatures!) was a transport system for my little LotR Mordor force I am currently painting. I bought a small box from KR Multicase:

 

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Apart from that, a new brush and some brush soap…

As usual great show, great atmosphere and great people. See you in 2017 😀


Crisis 2015

 

It’s already been 3 years since I last visited Crisis (you can read my 2012 report here). The past few years I focused more on the figure painting side of the hobby, with Crisis being a wargaming event. But this year’s list of traders and clubs was so impressive that I decided to visit once again.

If you don’t know Crisis, it’s a yearly event now held for the 20th time. It’s organised by the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, a local wargaming club. The focus has always been on historical wargaming, but there’s plenty to see for sf & fantasy fanatics. I’ve been visiting since 2003, during those years they also held a painting competition at the show. But the last 5 editions or so didn’t have a painting competition and the show was also moved to a bigger venue, the Waagnatie in Antwerp.

The report below contains a selection of pictures. To see the full set of pictures please visit the image provider of your choice:

The entrance fee is still a bit on the steep side: 10 EUR, when comparing this to for example Scale Model Challenge which is similar in size and is being held in a nicer venue. But then again, what is 5 EUR more or less in this hobby? 🙂

 

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I arrived around 14-14.30, when a lot of people were leaving already. But inside it was still very crowded.

 

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I started my tour from the right. First booth to catch my attention was the one of Warlord games, displaying their SF game Beyonod the Gates of Antares. The box and rulebook looks nice, but the sprues which were on display failed to impress me. The plastics looked thin and the details a bit fuzzy.

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A bit further I encountered Crooked Dice, a game studio which I don’t know very well, but they had some nicely painted miniatures on display.

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It was beg news earlier this year when it was announced that Games Workshop and Forgeworld were visiting. Forgeworld brought a nice stock with them, a lot of people were buying.

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On the other hand I failed to grasp the meaning of the Games Workshop booth. One display cabinet had the Age of Sigmar starter set miniatures on display. And then in the center of the booth there was a display of Sigmar vs Chaos with some scenery. Three representatives were having a chat with visitors. You couldn’t buy anything at the booth, nor was there any information on their other games, such as 40K.

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Of course there were a lot of nice historical tables:

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Custom made dice bags by the Dice Bag Lady:

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Dropzone Commander had a nice booth as well, with box-art quality figures on display and a participation game:

 

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Special guest at this year’s show: the Perry brothers!

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Then it was time to check out hall number two. There was  a bit more room and fresh air there, this was also the hall where most of the clubs were giving their demos.

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But traders as well, like Studio Miniatures. They had their box art zombies on display, paintjobs which I always liked a lot and which are a big influence to my way of painting nowadays.

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But the eye-catcher this year was probably the Guild Ball booth. Their painted miniatures on display were simply stunning. Every single miniature they had was on display (including the alternative Kickstarter exclusive miniatures), all of them with a jaw-dropping paintjob. There were 3 tables with demo games, and they had some awesome show-deals. The little booth was always very crowded. I happened to be at their booth when a delegation of TSA members visited to give them a special trophy for the most innovative game on display. I don’t know how the game plays, but it was certainly very well presented!

I decided to buy one miniature to paint for fun, so expect to read a bit more about Guild Ball on this website in the future.

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Can you recognize the miniatures below? Does Anastyr ring a bell? When Rackam’s Confrontation disappeared it was one of those miniatures lines which seemed to aim at filling the gap, but it never succeeded in producing only a few miniatures. The line looks unfinished, but the few sculpts they have are very good and I was happy to see these miniatures in real life.

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Scale 75’s booth, where I bought some paints 🙂

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One of the clubs present was Conect’r Team, this zombie-infested lighthouse was one of their games they were demoing.

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The big table below was also a project by Conect’r in association with another Belgian club: De Witte Ridder from Leopoldsburg.

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After having a chat with some people I decided to complete my tour of the second hall. Alkemy was here as well, although the miniatures on display weren’t the box art ones, in fact they weren’t all that well painted. I think this game has lost a lot of it’s magic since it first appeared years ago.

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Another French company: TGCM Creation, displaying their Briskars line of miniatures. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you might remember I painted some of their pig models last year 🙂

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Mantic Games’ booth was rather small this year, they clearly focused on Dreadball, although they had some stuff for sale for their other game systems as well.

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Black Scorpion games, good quality miniatures for a good price:

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Warploque Miniatures’ figures on display. I don’t quite get why you want to display so much unpainted figures, and put all the information on hand-written papers, but considering this company is basically run by one young guy it’s still great to see he made it to the show and put up a collection like this.

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Another company I’m not familiar with: Prodos Games. But they had some nice aliens on display 🙂

 

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That’s all for this report!

I was very happy to have visited the event, since it allowed me to see a lot of nice miniatures in real life for the first time. Especially the Guild Ball game really caught my attention, I will probably buy some more of their figures in the future.