Prelude to Crisis 2024
While I already covered the visit to the actual show of Crisis 2024 in Antwerp, I'd like to give an additional insight on a few bits around it, just like I did in the past. And pardon the delay, the trip to Berlin and preparing for the Battle for Uulda postponed the release of this article.
As usual I travel to Antwerp by car, but as I drive an EV now it requires a bit more planning. But Belgium has a proper grid of ev charger stations, so that was not an issue. Others, especially the British got there by train or plane, as you can get to Brussels quite easily and then grab a connection train from there to Antwerp (and arrive at a very impressive central station).
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.
LARDwerp 2022
November 5th, Saturday morning, 10 am - LARDwerp starts. I should be around2 pm that we arrive at the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp club house, in a northern suburb of Antwerp itself. And as you know from our event coverage, we start with a picture of the parking lot.
Properly filled with various gaming tables, the club house even covers a licensed bar, so beverages and food were secured. This is off for a good start!
Arriving in Antwerpen for LARDwerp 2022
Last weekend it was once again time to travel to Antwerp for the first Saturday in November - but not for Crisis, as it was unfortunately cancelled, so we went for LARDwerp instead. An alternative gaming event, hosted by the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp and the TooFatLardies.
For a while now, we prolong our stay at Antwerp, not only going for the show itself, but having a guy's weekend in the city. And this meant for me, starting on friday around early noon my roughly 3-hour ride to the north of Belgium.
Due to further inconvenient circumstances during the week, I was the only one arriving from our area, so I used the time to listen to the Mechanicum audio book and caught up with our remaining motley bunch of wargamers from the UK, France, Italy and Northern Germany at our usual spot for Friday evening - the Bier Central.
Throwback to Crisis in Antwerp
Under different circumstances, I'd be psyched the whole week, with anticipation of driving to Antwerp, meeting with a lot of people that I wouldn't have seen since Salute (yeah, that didn't happen either). I had quite the plans for this year, as you can read in the Kick Off from back in January. And Antwerp would have been the guys weekend, the final show before a Brexit would make a lot of things in Wargaming a lot more difficult.
At the very first show I went to in 2011 I was driving in the early morning, but very soon we realized, Antwerpen is a city that offers that much, that you need more time. So our schedule for the weekend shifted towards an arrival on friday early afternoon, to have time for a proper tour of the flemish city.
Dino(‘s) Crisis 2019
Two weeks ago, on November 9th and 10th to be exact, Crisis took place in Antwerp, hosted by the Tinsoldiers of Antwerp. Dennis had already visited Crisis many times and delivered a good coverage in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of his article series. For me, on the other hand, it should be a premiere, both for the event and for the city. Therefore you'll only get a subjective view of the weekend from me.
I've been to Belgium before, but that was more than 20 years ago and back then it was a visit to the capital Brussels. We arrived one evening sooner in order to save ourselves as much stress as possible on the trip there, but also in order to take some impressions of the city with us. We also took part in a small tradition that I didn't know it was bound to happen until I was right in the middle of it.
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.
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