TabletopWelt Paint Meeting 2024
For the third time, Robert aka Grinsemann of Wolpertinger Miniatures organised the TabletopWelt Maltreff (Painting Meeting), and this time - after some mild persuasion by Dino - I joined in.
The venue is a youth hostel, located within an old manor in the Eastern part of Germany, in Thuringia about half an hour north of Erfurt. But more on that later.
Crisis 2024 – Part 1
It is finaly back - Crisis could again hosted in 2024, after the last instalment in 2019.
The break had multiple reasons, and after the forced break due to Covid, the aftermaths of Brexit made organizing an event quite difficult, especially as one of the unique aspects of Crisis was the large amount of british manufacturers and traders at the show. In 2022 and 2023 there was a smaller convention at the club rooms of the Tinsoldiers, with support of the Lardies, creating LARDwerp, which we visited as well back in 2022. And due to scheduling conflicts with the new venue, it had to be moved from the first weekend in November towards September.
What is new about Crisis? First of all, it is not just the Tinsoldiers of Antwerp hosting the show, but they joined forced with the HQ Gaming Club and used the 't Bau-huis in Sint Niklaas as the new venue. While it might (currently?) not be the at Waagnatie in Antwerp anymore, the new venue is a proper alternative for the restart. About 15 minutes outside of Antwerp, you can easily get there by train from the Central Station (with the IC-line you can drive every half an hour, and it's about 7 EURs for a weekend ticket), as the venue is just 500m from the local train station. For those of you arriving by car, there are is a parking lot and even some charging stations for BEVs.
The tickets were 12 EURs (dropped to 10 EUR, due to some last minute cancellations of vendors) and visitors under the age of 14 had free entry. Due to keeping the risk and costs as low as possible for the restart, there wasn't a show miniature this year, but that might be for the reason as well, as the show didn't have a topic this year, unlike it did in the past. So we might see that return in the future.
Crisis 2024 – Part 2
Now that we have finished the traders in part 1 of our CRISIS 2024 coverage, let us move on towards the clubs and gaming systems.
A very special guest at the show was Tuomas Pirinen with Trench Crusade. I follow this system for a while now, as they have a very active facebook group, with various conversions and I was excited to see the miniatures at show.
The setup was a bit spontaneous, as Tuomas had little time to prepare much more, as he basically finished his regular work day as Game Designer for Sony Playstation and directly jumped into a plane towards Belgium, grabbing just the few items that fit into the luggage.
FeenCon 2024
Last weekend Dino and I went to the FeenCon, a convention hosted in Bonn, which went through a couple of changes over the last few years - one of them moving from the old location of Bonn Bad Godesberg towards Bonn Beuel, from the town hall to the comprehensive school.
And across the venue, the tabletop area was the smaller gymnasium, with the trade stands and board games and pen & paper in the other areas.
The tabletop area was hosted by three clubs, Bedburger Tabletop Freunde, Privateer Poza Boyz and the Tabletop Community Bonn. You might know the Bedburger Tabletop Freunde from our visit to their club house.
The other side of the Con
The Chaosbunker had a historic moment at CONflict Rheinland, where Dennis and I each gave demo games for the first time. In my case, it was the historical game Mortal Gods.
My first event on the other side of the demo table was a good experience. I think that has to do with the fact that I went into the demo day with a good concept and I want to share it. This article is therefore very text-heavy - you've been warned.
What should be shown?
Before I even actively made the first preparations for the demo, I had a few basic thoughts about the game itself. Every game has a few characteristics that will distinguish it from others and that should be reflected in a qualitative way. I came up with the following points:
- Historical setting, Greece
- Simple mechanics, yet strategic
- Easily accessible and available
Setting
It was clear to me that I had to show a credible historical context in the demo. Mortal Gods is set in the Peloponnesian War, which I solved by painting the armies differently. One side represented the city-state of Thebes (allied with Sparta), the other Plataiai (allied with Athens). This served history well enough.
In general, you can paint ancient Greeks however you like, because there was no uniform back then. In the spirit of the demo, however, I gave both armies a uniform main color.
Internal CONflict Rhineland 2024
The Internal CONflict is actually the first wargaming event I participate in this year. Due to multiple schedule collisions I wasn't able to visit any shows early to this date, as you can see from my event schedule. What does Internal mean regarding the CONflict? Well, it is not an open event, but internal affair and you have to be invited to tag along.
But (!) this is the first time, that I will host a demo table as well and I'm really looking forward to it. And obviously, we wouldn't show up empty handed, so we packed the car with some snacks (make sure those are non-greasy, as you don't want Orange Cheeto Dust on your miniatures) and drinks, as well as gaming materials. I'll go into that later, what my essentials for a convention are.
Regular readers know - no event report without a proper parking lot picture, and as the CONflict is held at the clubhouse of a local rifle club, parking is not an issue. Beside that, the hosts provide us optionally with a full catering, (breakfast, lunch and dinner from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning, along with a broad variety of drinks).
SzenarioCon 2024
My first visit to SzenarioCon in Hackenheim was just a year ago and yet the event has managed to become one of my favorites in a very short time. The reason for this is obvious, the range of gaming tables is very extensive and the gaming clubs really go out of their way to offer something special. Together with Jens, the head honcho of Chefoberboss, I visited Szenario again this year and would like to share my experience a few of the tables that were on display at the con. For a general look and a few more nice impressions, you can also take a look at Jens' YouTube video or directly go to the Szenario Facebook page.
We were there quite early and so I managed to take a snapshot in good time, when the hall wasn't filled to the brim. The number of registered guests and latecomers was between 250 and 300 people.
You can already see here that the many panels only allow a little more space for further exhibits. However, as the con has grown very steadily and, above all, successfully, an additional hall will be opened for exhibits next year.
SPIEL 2023 – Recap
After a 5-year pause, we return for the Internationale Spieltage, or how it is more commonly known as SPIEL 2023 in Essen.
And quite a few things have changed since the last time. This is the first show under the new ownership, as the Friedhelm Merz Verlag, who is the organiser of the show, was bought by the Spielwarenmesse eG, who hosts the International Toy Fair Nürnberg. This means, both events, the largest show for consumers and largest show for traders, belong to the same company.
Other things have changed as well. The ticket to the last show I visited in 2018 were 13 EUR, and now you have to pay 22 EUR for a day ticket. And I remember that in the past, you were able to park near the show, but that's off the table if you don't have access to an exhibition parking ticket. You are redirected to a park & ride parking lot, that is handled incredibly inefficient, park your car, stand in line to pay 8 EUR, get a token, that you hand back once you leave the parking lot after the show. Usually, you pay when you enter the parking lot, or when you leave it, without the additional queuing in front of a container. Never the less, the park & ride shuttle was on a good schedule, yet adding further 10-15 minutes each way to your travel.
9th Rhein Main Multiversum 2023
Hessen is calling! The 9th Rhein Main Multiversum was hosted by the Tabletop Club Rhein-Main in Nidderau.
The Multiversum is back, with traders and at a new location. The venue was moved from the Willi-Salzmann Halle to the Kultur- und Sporthalle Heldenbergen within the same city, but different districts. This venue is part of a small shopping park, which meant that not only parking was available abundant, but discounters and drink cash & carry were nearby as well.
Throwback – RPC 2010 Cologne Tabletop Demo Area
I somehow missed the proper opportunity for this throwback in 2020, as it would have fit the 10-year anniversary.
During my studies, while I was editor-in-chief for a German wargaming portal, I was approached by Michael Kränzle, back then with Leuchtameisen and owner / editor-in-chief at GamesOrbit, before being head of marketing at Pegasus Spiele and now fulfilling this role at Heidelbär. GamesOrbit was one of the media partners of the RolePlayConvention that moved from Münster to Cologne in 2009, and the show had its troubles to integrate tabletop wargaming into its portfolio.
Michael has a soft spot for miniature wargaming and wanted to push that hobby within the spectrum of tabletop games and was looking for somebody who could support that vision. And for that reason, he got in touch with me. He thought of some kind of christmas market, with small booths and lots of space for participation area. And that was kind of a problem, because usually you book a booth at a fair and depending on the pricing or the size of your booth, the venue may give you some space for that kind of activity. But it's usually pricy.
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