Part of a Skirmish force I`m building for once clublife picks up again after Covid-19, these 4 Rebel Troopers are the first models I painted for the game.


I got no idea how it plays or so, I just allowed myself to be sucked in and we'll see from there though.

But I made an army list and slowly my models are arriving by mail, so I might actually get gaming before summer brake as a result.  I picked the Rebel faction (as if these guys weren`t a dead giveaway) as such, and no light-sabre's in my list.



I also printed out a Cargo sled, which makes some good scenery for the game and a nice little vehicle to display the models on for now, alongside some crates I also printed up.




So, let's call this a decent start.  I`ll paint the rest of the boxed set in the future, but first my priorities now are all the models for all the forces in all the leagues I registred in for 2020...

Well, it was to be expected of course...



From our chairman
 
We have waited as long as possible, but we have had to make the decision to cancel Crisis 2020. With a possible second and third wave on their way and the closing of the borders and a lot more uncertainties, we no longer could defend spending a lot of money to prepare for a show, that might not happen. 

Believe me when I say, this is with great regret. as it would have been the next big show, after Salute being cancelled and I know everybody was hoping that things would be back to normal by november. It may/may not be the case. 

A show like Crisis is something that needs to be prepared by us, but also by those who wish to attend or trade. Hotels may not be open yet, will there be enough space , will we be able to travel etc. We are thinking about you, the loyal (or maybe new) friend who likes to come to Crisis from all over Europe if not the world. 

We don't want to be responsible of any of you catching anything that could get you ill or worse. The same is of course true for our dedicated clubmembers who work their behinds off to get this show working. We also have to think about them. 

We try again next year on november 6th 2021. 

Keep safe. 

Johan, President of the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp

One of the fun things of Challenge Island this year, is you can get to any grid by making use of Lady Sarah's Balloon Service.

And as I have completed the Path of the New Shiney, I`m doing just that, and taking an airlift to Fran's Fjord.

But to make use of the Balloon Service, there is a fee: paint a female figure entry.  My first fee, as I`ll be making use of the balloon quite a bit, is one of our Crisis wargame show entrance figures: Queen Mathilde van Vlaanderen, wife of William the Conqueror.


Sculpted by Paul Hicks, she was handed out to the first 1000 visitors during the show's 2016 edition.


Now, for those intrested in obtaining a copy of her, she is still available on my ebay page, as the responsibel board member of TSA, tasked with selling the older figures to help pay for the new editions, and can be found HERE.

And so we take to the skies, and prepare ourselves for the next Path of entries in the challenge, adding these 5 points to our tally for a single 25mm figure, as well as the 30 points for making use of the service for the very first time.

So, it seems I created a monster x-D

Bringing back in club League play during 2019 for Warhammer 40k in the club, I stated at the beginning it would be a one time thing for me to run.  Someone would have to take over the mantle for 2020.

Little did I know, people really seemed to enjoy the League playing, and as such it spawned no less then 4 leagues of Fantasy / Science Fiction for the coming year.

And even though realising I won`t be able to play enough games to content for the top spots this year, with the baby due in two months and all, I decided to join them all none the less.  Out of sympathy, but also to make sure that whenever I will be able to go, I can get games in to avoid a year like the past one (more on that in a future post).

As such, I registered for the 40k League with my T'au Empire, of which only a third is about painted at the moment.  For the 9th Age, I will be running my beloved Abyssal Dwarves, though also here, only 2 figures of the force are done.  But it gets better, as both for the Star Wars Legion league and the Blood Bowl league... my models haven`t even arrived yet x-D

So that will mean a LOT of painting marathons during the AHPC, let's keep telling ourselves that this might mean more points overthere hehehe...

But first, time to paint an Underworlds warband, because next week I`m getting a crash course in order to learn the in and outs of the game (it has been almost 1.5 years, and only with the starter bands, that I played it), becuae in the beginning of february I`m going on a tournament.

What paint queue pressure?

Months, I know. It has been months since I was able to go to the club, but as I managed at last past friday, I snapped in good tradition pictures of the games being played.

And it is still a wide and varied bunch of games taking place, so let's have a look...

Fantasy was very present tonight, with a game of Frostgrave being fought out,

While at the same time, two battles of The 9th Age raged on the tables.


The Warhammer 40k League saw it's final game taking place as Sisters of Battle took on Salamanders.

While in a non-league game Orks and Deamons clashed.

As always, there was a variety of boardgames taking place, catering both young and the, erm, not so young.




Patrick and Liam gave Cruel Seas a try.

While our cyclists tried and dominate the road.

In the far west, posse's held a shoot-out.

And while Patrick guided his brave dungeoneers through an adventure,

Albert worked slinetly on in his little painting corner.

And so the year ends for me as I won`t be able to make it the next two weeks, but I`ll try and bring as many reports as possible again in the new year!

The die has been cast, and the bolters have silenced.

A new champion has been crowned for the TSA club league 40k, and the winner is:

Tom Jacobs with the Adeptus Custodes.


In a league which saw most action in the months april to july, with at a certain moment 7!!!! battles on a single friday evening, he stood against all his challengers and walked away victorious.

As player tiredness set in from september, with even a 5 week draught in that time, he could slowly and surely consolidate his position, going into november with an 8 point lead on the second place, and only a minimal mathematical chance for the places 3 to 5 to threaten him.


Some "shadow favorites" like myself and Nemesis ended in the belly of the league, due to various reasons called real life (renovations and a baby on the way for one, an epic thinking he is still 20 for the other), others lived up to their reputation and fought on until the end to try and take the prices.

And Mike just swarmed everything with his Orks, ending in the top ranks under the motto that quantity is a quality in itself in played games, challenging a hefty 19 out of 28 players this league.

In the end, 222 battles have been fought, with 28 players taking the fight to the table.  That means an average of 7.92 games per player has been fought over the 11.5 month period.

Of those 28, 16 players managed to claim the painting points, a heavy 5 point bonus of fielding a painted army at least once.

Here is as such the full table of results:

1. Tom Jacobs - 57 ptn
2. Jo Strubbe - 45 ptn
2. Mike Snelders - 45 ptn

4. Wim Discart - 39 ptn
5. Tom Van Riel - 36 ptn
6. David Nicolas - 34 ptn
6. Cedric Snelders - 34 ptn
8. Guy Vandenbrande - 31 ptn
9. Kristof Van Riel - 27 ptn
10. Marc Jacobs - 26 ptn
10. Steven Groffy - 26 ptn
12. Tomsche Murrath - 25 ptn
13. Kristof Moorkens - 20 ptn
13. Tom Degendt - 20 ptn
15. Albert Van Looy - 18 ptn
15. Dimitri Van Der Straeten - 18 ptn
17. Bart Depaemelare - 17 ptn
18. Jelle Rombouts - 16 ptn
18. Sven Naudts Haemels - 16 ptn
18. Tom Lambotte - 16 ptn
21. Tonny Bert - 13 ptn
22. Sven Somers - 12 ptn
22. Pierre Lambotte - 12 ptn
24. Filip Claes - 8 ptn

25. Jurgen Buys - 6 ptn
25. Iwan Beckaert - 6 ptn
25. Dennis Van Sprengel - 6 ptn
27. Peter Geentjes - 5 ptn



Thanks all for participating, and good luck to the person who will take on the mantle as club league 2020 organiser, in whichever game system it may be.  It is a rewarding and fun thing to do as a TO, but take into account the paperwork pressure!

The prices will be handed out during the new years reception at the club.

It's november again, and that means it's time for our annual wargames show, Crisis.

Taking place once again in the Waagnatie venue in Antwerp, it was a bit of a special show for me, resulting in this "light" edition of a show report.

You see, I'm a bit on two minds for this year.  I spend most of the day in the Bring and Buy section, dumping models at fleamarket prices in order not to have to move them next week to the new appartement.
But that also meant unfortunatly that by the time I could do a tour, Ipsqueek was making Noshi very, very tired, so I did my shopping, snapped some pictures, and then went home already at 16.00, so I don't have pictures of all the games as usual, nor of the big picture of the show.


Though I'm quite sure our appointed photographer took more then enough,so you'll see them pop up on the net in the coming days.

But let's have a look at the thingies I did see this year, and some words to go with them of course...

As always, there was a large variety of traders and games on show, though the Brexit ghost has caused a shift towards more "continental" traders as some regulars from the UK didn't make it this year.  A pity though, as I really wanted to go heavy "in" at Baccus 6mm.

Now, on the level of the games, I noticed two trends continuing from previous years:

1. World War 2 is by far the most demonstrated / played period, as can be seen from this variety of pictures.






2. Small scale skirmish games seem to be the other big popular item, games requiring a handfull of figures and can be played on the kitchen table.







Of course, there where some other games that caught my intrest but as I said in the beginning, I probably missed a heap, and did not have time to make long picture series for each of them.





It seems long gone are the days of the mass battles, though it is still around as rank upon rank of gorgeous uniforms march over the battlefield, but it is becoming less with the year it seems...








And then there was this gem:




One other thing I saw at the convention, but didn't buy just yet, was this mdf rack for paints, which might be my saviour for the newer, smaller paint desk in the new place.

So to round this short report of this year's show out, here are some more random snapshots of things that caught my eye, and drop by monday to see what the loot of the show has been...











Until next year, where I can be more involved again in the whole show, from the organisation to the build up and break down, and the day itself of course!