Kick Off 2021
I gave the indication in the holiday wishes, that I'll do another Kick-Off this year.
A few (or a lot?) of the things that were planned for 2020 had to be put on hold and are still the goals for 2021 - which was primarely having a good time. But let's talk about this in the usual format, answering a few questions.
What was the biggest challenge of 2020?
Well, yeah, the plans for the last year had a full schedule of events along with weekend trips to a couple of cities, picking up on culture and some museums. That obviously didn't happen, turning the vision of 2020 from this:
To this:
spiel.digital and throwback to Spiel 2010
Like many other shows, the large toy and game fair SPIEL in Essen went digital this year to accomodate the needs of the current situation. A good reason to take a look on how they handled the transition from physical show into a digital one and a great invitation for a throwback!
In October 10 years ago, the I was quite busy, we just came back from our Nottingham tour (read about our throwback here), we went to one of the last DUZI shows and the Games Day Germany was just last week (throwback on that one is in preparation). So towards the end of the year and tour season for us, we went to the largest toy fair in Europe, SPIEL in Essen.
Back in the day, due to their size and to safe on marketing costs, Warlord Games and Mantic shared a booth (and Alessio joined in with Riverhorse as well to present Shuuro and support Kings of War), and the old set up of hall 6 at the show took not only a bit of preparation to avoid missing out on some wargaming or tabletop booths. It was great fun to drop by, as we met most of the lovely people just a few weeks ago on their home turf.
A comment on “Is Historical Wargaming Dying Out?”
The US-american wargaming channel Little Wars TV asked the question, "Is historical wargaming dying out?"
It feels like an rather odd question to ask, for one thing at the current time, with a completely empty event schedule accross the board of wargaming, not just historical. But not that, but a rather enthusiastic article on The Economist about the lead belt booming - not just Games Workshop.
12 years of “professional” wargaming
Due to the lack of conventions and events this year, I had a look through my archives to see if there would be content that would be interesting for a throwback. While looking through the documents and pictures, I noticed that I have my 12th anniversary of "professional" wargaming this year.
(Left: 1999 Warhammer Store Opening in Party in Darmstadt, Germany,
Middle: Mike McVey at Salute 2012 London, UK
Right: RPC 2012 Kick-Off in Cologne, Germany)
What do I mean by that? I am wargaming since 1996, but in 2008 I got a trade licence to run a blog. A trade licence for a blog? Seems a bit oversized, don't you think? Well, it depends on what you're going to do.
Event Schedule for 2020
A brief overview of the events that are on my radar for this year.
Update: September 2020 due to COVID-19
Kick-Off 2020
As promissed, instead of closing the year with a summary, I want to look ahead into 2020 with a proper Kick-Off.
I could begin with the usual new years resolution, setting unrealistic goals like not buying any new miniatures before the others are painted and such. But I want to focus on activities that are fun, that are pro-active. And as such, I want to have a good time in 2020. The goal is not necessarily to have a better time, but to keep on having a good time with(in) my hobby. As pictures speak more than words, more of this:
Crisis 2019 – Part III
Let's start with the last set of pictures in part III of the Crisis 2019 coverage.
Naval wargaming, even with the recent introduction of Cruel and Black Seas is still rare, the more I was happy to see this ancient table by the La ligue des Gentlemen Civilisateurs.
Crisis 2019 – Part II
Continuing the coverage on Crisis with another set of 50 pictures in part II.
The League of Augsburg showed The War of Three Kings on a proper teddy-bear gaming mat. I like the different heights, with hills and valleys, they included ins this battlefield.
Crisis 2019 – Part I
Not the usual first weekend in November, but the second was the date for Crisis this year, due to the holidays and a Halloween Party at the Waagnatie. So Crisis 2019 was held on the weekend of November 9th in Antwerp.
Clear blue sky over Flandern. My 7th Crisis and Dino's first one, so headed over to the show and were excited about this years tables, offers and novelties. We were there a bit early, so we got lucky in the parking lot and the queue.
Crisis 2019 haul
Back from yet another successful show - CRISIS 2019! It was amazing short weekend in Antwerp, great company, enjoyed a lot of good chats. The show managed to withstand the troubles of Brexit, include lots of traders from both sides of the channel and a pretty filled Bring & Buy.
I'll cover the show itself in a couple of articles of their own, as usual and as in the past. But this one, is about my haul from the show.
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