Hamburg Tactica 2023

After 4 years, we're back at TACTICA in Hamburg! Our last visit was back in 2019.

TACTICA is Germanys largest wargaming convention and usually held in february (this varied in the last years a bit) in the Wilhelmsburg Community Center. I'll talk about how to plan a trip and combine the show with other things in Hamburg in a separate post. The show is open two days, Saturday and Sundays and usually the first is the more crowded one.

TACTICA covers trade stands and participation / demo rounds of various games, in different scales and settings. You'll find historical as well as ficitional setups, with detailed tables and many wargaming clubs work all year to prepare their demos for the show.

As it is a large show, it attracts a bandwidth of traders, for example Shifting Lands / GeBoom, who are well known for their foam products and tools. You can for example buy accessoires for your Proxxon saw, or final products in various stages (unpainted, finished etc.).

Najewitz Modellbau is in the 3d printing game for quite some time now, probably one of the first adapters of this technology in Germany for wargaming. He covered multiple crowdfunding campaigns and offers printed terrain pieces in different scales at the show. That London Bridge would be a great addition to a Warmaster table.

An interesting community project is Kreativ ADHS, where they help children suffering from ADHD with painting sessions etc. to unwind. There a various groups, using parts of our hobby, for example painting or model building to compensate various (mental) health issues, for example Models for Heroes. Kreativ ADHS was gathering funds by selling dice, and I participated.

Now for some of the various demo tables. The asymmetric rule set of 02 Hundred Hours - usually set in world war two - was used as a framework by Gunnar from Hamburg Wargamers (who gave me a demo of Action Stations at Conflict last year) to cover exactly this kind of asymmetric combat in Star Wars setting, to cover the battle of Endor, between Imperial Stormtroopers and the cruel war bear faction of the Ewoks.

In the same room was a elaborate table covering the Boxer Rebellion, hosted by Sweetwater legends DonVoss and Arne. You can see a lot of work in progress pictures over here.

The Main Hall of the community center is split 60/40, with the larger part for trade stands and the smaller one for gaming tables. A broad variety of different traders was there, like PK-Pro, Miniaturicum and Micro Art Studios.

One of the centre pieces was this Napoleonic Battles table in in the russian winter, using the Muskets & Tomahawk supplement Shakos & Bayonets rules and Perry Miniatures.

One of the things that I was really looking forward, were the Spectre Operations tables by Ivan and Torsten. Torsten from the CONflict Rheinland (Wardogs Rheinland) brought his 20mm setup, for a modern combat setting in the middle east.

And using the same rules, Ivan covered Operation Alligator, CIA Special Activities raid on a Cartel narco outpost in the swamps of Val Verde, and they went the full nine yards for immersion. With a lot of movie money and even a big pack of coke.

Upstairs a few rooms are usually dedicated for painting and showcases. And once again the Pigment Pirates hosted a few sessions, displayed their painted miniatures and were eager to have a chat with you about all kind of topics regarding painting miniatures.

A regular at the show and pillar of the wargaming community, Wraith's Crypt, offered an impressive table using the Swordpoint ruleset. He recreated the Siege of the Hammaburg, in the 9th century, the early name of Hamburg. So a very fitting demo for the Hamburg Tactica.

A well organised show, with lots and lots of things to see. We all had a blast with the all the differernt options to choose from, different tables to see and broad variety of traders on site.

Tickets were 7 EUR for Saturday, 5 EUR for Sunday, or 10 EUR for both days. The event miniatures were 3 EUR (Zitronenjette) and 12 EUR (Don Quixote & Sancho Panza), with the cheaper one being included in the two day ticket. For some time now, there is an official Tactica miniature as well as a Perry sculpted bonus miniature available for the show. I'll cover these in my haul post. The show being hosted in Hamburg, has its advantages, and even with using the community centre in the southern part of the city, it is still very easy to reach using the public transport. Which is highly recommended, as parking around the community centre is an issue.

Visiting Tactica is highly recommended and if you get a pal or two to join you, it is easier to arrange than you might think. I'll write something up for different suggestions how to do a Tactica weekend in Hamburg.

Did you went to Tactica? What did you enjoy most? If not, what was the reason that kept you from going? And what was your loot? Let us know!

Link: Hamburg Tactica