Monday 9 November 2015

Monty on tour: Crisis 2015 (1) - Our Plancenoit game

What a weekend! What a show!

Last weekend Crisis 2015 in Antwerp took place and the organisers from the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp performed an excellent job once more. The show itself was organised as perfect as ever and it seems that it has grown once again. The selection of traders and clubs who gave themselves the honour of occuring there was even better than the years before. Although some traders avoided the journey to Antwerp their places where taken by interesting newcomers without loss of quality.

Once again yours truly had the chance to be part of the show again since our club was presenting the Plancenoit game we've been preparing for more than a year under guidance of my chaps Bernhard and Holger. Alltogether we had a L-shaped table of about 5m x 4m on which we created the small village where French and Prussians clashed in June 1815.
The table in all its finery. Please ignore the folder on the field on the right.
We employed more than two dozens of buildings and roughly 1,500 figures to recreate this epic afternoon. Everaything is in 28mm scale and most figures are from the ranges of Perry Miniatures, Calpe and Front Rank.
The centre of the battlefield: The church of Plancenoit.
The buildings were a mixture from different manufacturers or buildings. Some are from Grand Manner's and Hovels's excellent ranges and some from a WW2 range with pre-painted buildings. Unfortunately I don't remember the company that made them. Some buildings came from a Canadian modeller who is specialised on 28mm wargaming buildings, others were made from MDF kits and two were built from the scratch by our club's most talented architect Michael. Yours truly was lucky enough to contribute two ruins from Stronghold Terrain and a converted estate by Grand Manner.
A wonderful vignette by our fellow Michael.

The figures were from the different collections of nearly all our team members. Unfortunately I didn't have the honour to put my very own figures on the board but neither French nor Prussians are my cup of tea and our club fellows Bernhard, Holger, Axel and Heinz have decent collections for both sides. As icing on the cake: They even provided the correct regiments!
For centre of the board itself we used a hill made of styrofoam by our talented modeller Robert. Then we covered the remaining parts of the table with painted cloth. In my opinion an excellent alternative for bulky board pieces.
The French trying to set up a defensive position.

Close-up of the same scene.
During the set-up we tried to build up some scenes here and there. It was wonderful to find some of the idea my fellows created and capture them on photos.
A French soldier hiding in a ruined building recharging.

A French voltigeur firing at the Prussian attackers.
Alltogether we went to Antwerp with four cars. Nine chaps had to be transported and the whole stuff for the game. It was a logistical challenge but especially Georg and Kalle directed it to a more or less relaxed loading concept.
"An ideas?"

French troops on their way to the front.

Burning down the house.
To recreate the burning buildings we used coloured cotton wool and small LED candles. In the rather dark hangar they gave a nice reddish flickering.
Heavily hit by howitzers I asume.

Orders from Blücher.

Advance !
Alltogether it was a great experience to stem such a large presentation game. It was wonderful to see how everything game together after a long preparation phase that wasn't easy the whole time. Somehow everyone of our club contributed something and that made Plancenoit for a very special project for myself.

But most important our trip to Antwerp was a great 'trip with the boys'. We had a lot of fun, many good chats and a couple of glasses of excellent Belgian beer. Really an experience we needed after a stressful year which had some trip hazards within and beyond our hobby.

After featuring our game in part one of my Crisis report I'll bring up some pictures of the other tables next time. And be sure that there are some really excellent pieces as well.

45 comments:

  1. Excellent looking game, I have seen this and yourself on several blogs Stefan!

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  2. Stunning Stefan -a real Napoleonic battle and love the figures and terrain -also the Gourmandaise vignette . Brilliant .You and your group should be extremely proud of it .May I ask did you get any purchases there :-)))))))
    Peter (Cork,Ireland)

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    1. Many thanks!
      Of course I purchased a couple of things. The mandatory picture of the prey will close part 2 of the report. ;-)

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  3. Great and stunning dio, my own pictures were really bad so I couldn't use them :-( It was also great to finally meet you in the flesh. See you next year Stefan!

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    1. A pity that your pictures didn't work. There were a lot of tables worth taking pictures of.

      Meeting you was without any doubt one of my highlight! It was really nice to meet you. Next year's Crisis is already written into my schedule.

      Cheers
      Stefan

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  4. A stunning demonstration game! You guys really put on a great show every year it seems!

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    1. Many thanks, Samuli. We always do our very best. :-)

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  5. Amazing pictures, thanks for sharing!

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  6. Looks great, it's a pity I could not make Crisis this year.

    However I take issue with "Alltogether we went to Antwerp with four cars. Nine chaps had to be transported and the whole stuff for the game." Four cars!!!! That is a luxury, James and I took the mountain in a Mini last year :)

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    1. It makes things easier that we don't have to take the ferry. But when you told me that last year I guessed that one of you must have been tied to the carrier. ;-)

      Especially those myriads of miniatures needed so much space. Especially those larger things like vignettes, wagon, limber teams...

      But however I'm glad you like our humble piece!
      :-)

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  7. I have heart about your mountain folding system :-) It must have been brilliant. As nice our terrain looks, we are less brilliant in good transportation systems. We literally travelled with the boxes on our knees. Well part of us ... Would be happy to meet you next year at Crisis or at Tactica. I saw your game last year and found it in every aspect outstanding!!

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    1. Many thanks. I'm looking forward to Tactica 2016 and Crisis 2016 as well. Both fixed in my schedule already.

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  8. Brilliant looking table Monty! Very nicely done by your club.

    Christopher

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  9. Fantastic, one of the best, if not the best, table I've seen.

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  10. A gorgeous display, as was to be expected from you guys!

    And great to chat with you once again!

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    1. Many thanks, Burkhard. Indeed wonderful that we met again!

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  11. Oh my goodness, what a splendid table! You must be so proud of this wonderful achievement.

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  12. Great stuff indeed. Thanks for sharing Stefan!

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  13. That is one great display game! Very impressive. Love the attention to detail including the recognizable setting for Northern's classic painting of Prussians storming down a Plancenoit street. All really really good! Thanks for sharing such eyecandy. /Mattias

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  14. That is a fantastic display of many different talents at work. Well done to all involved!!

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    1. Many thanks, Rodney. Indeed we all delivered some minor or major part for this team project.

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  15. Its a beautiful looking game, that's for sure!

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  16. That is really one of the finest looking 1815 games I've ever seen - hearty congratulations to you and everyone at the club, Stefan.

    Best wishes

    Giles

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    1. Many, many thanks for your kind words, Giles. Especially Bernhard and Holger will be glad to hear this.

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  17. Looks like all your hard work paid off Stefan, a glorious looking table and sounds like you had a great time.

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  18. Fantastic. What a super effort. cheers

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  19. What an outstanding table! A shame I wasn't there to see it in the flesh but the pictures are simply breath taking. Must have been a joy to walk by and marvel at the fantastic sight.

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  20. Stefan - all very impressive indeed- what manufacturer is the surgeon and wounded soldier on the table from please ?

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    1. Many thanks.

      I'm not sure which surgeon you mean because we had two or three of them on the board. But we had the French ambulance by Perry miniatures on the board for sure:
      https://www.perry-miniatures.com/images/Amb%20complete.jpg

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  21. http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=404185

    Stefan the picture of the surgeon and casualty is here. Grateful to know if you can remember the manufacturer of surgeon and casualty. Thanks for your patience.

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    1. Oh... This one. It's a piece of Old Glory's 4 wheeled ambulance set:
      http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=FXE-24

      Cheers
      Stefan

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  22. Stefan, thanks for your kindness much appreciated and congratulations on a fabulous exhibit

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