Another year, another Crisis in Antwerp!

Another year, another Crisis over in Antwerp! Out of all the wargames shows we visited, this is perhaps our favourite. Perhaps it’s the fantastic location of the Belgian city of Antwerp which makes the weekend, or the fine food and wonderful beer. Perhaps it’s the fine quality of the Crisis show, which brings gamers, hobbyists and traders from all around Europe for the one-day show in a venue which is truly enormous. Or perhaps it’s the warm welcome we enjoy every year from the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, the organisers and heroes of the Crisis show, and everyone we meet at show and afterwards. Whatever the reason, it’s a very fine wargaming event indeed, and this year was no exception.

Many, many thanks to everyone who dropped by the TooFatLardies game set in the Western Desert 1941 to play, say hello, or just to chat. It was great meeting everyone, old friends and new ones. I met so many people over the weekend that I know I will forget someone – but here goes: a big hello and thank you to Jur, Peter, Michael, Jakob, Rob, Rene, Suchet, Gilles, Richard, Stephen, Jim, Derek, Dave, all of the Gentlemen from SESWG in Edinburgh, Martin, Leon, Neil, Dave, Chris – OK, OK….so there were a few, and doubtless I have forgotten many. It was great seeing you all. I hope you enjoyed the two days as much as I did.

I thought I’d spread the photos over two days. So today, here’s the photos from our game and the evening entertainment. I’ll post the photos from the many other great games tomorrow or Wednesday.

So, on to the game. We decided to put on a game of “Chain of Command” in the Western Desert. When you’re running a participation game at a show, and trying to sell some copies of the rules on Richard’s behalf, travelling light with minimal terrain is the way to go. Sadly, the madness of carting twelve terrain boards half-way across Europe is, well – simply madness. So we opted for a simple, but hopefully effective terrain using some of the desert scenery we’ve built up over the years and a large box of sand and gravel from B&Q!

No Western Desert game is complete without figures and vehicles, and yes – of course there’s a Rolls Royce armoured car. And, as an empty desert isn’t much fun for anyone, we built some ruins of an ancient temple and a dry wadi (the “Shawadi-wadi”) to centre the action upon. 

We played three games during the day. Embarrassingly, I have only the haziest idea of who won each game. I dropped in and out, mainly chatting with the players about the game and the rules as opposed to tactics and strategy. Most of the time I spent with people dropping by the game, chatting about the hobby and just about every topic under the sun. 

And here’s one of my favourites - a great and very fine photo of Michael, myself, Jakob, Rob and Rene. Good meeting you chaps!

And, always well deserved, Rich collected another “Best Participation Game” award from the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp.

The Antwerp evenings are always a highlight of the Crisis show. Nothing too strenuous this year, but a couple of very good meals and some fine Belgian beer, including a visit to the wonderful Peerdestal restaurant off Hoofdkerk Straat.

Hope you enjoy the photos, and I’ll post the photos I managed to take of the other games tomorrow or Wednesday.