Crisis 2019: Impressions

For pictures, see here
For my loot, see here

Another Crisis went by, and as usual, it provides an opportunity to write down a few observations on the hobby and my own opinion about the state of affairs. These are of course entirely subjective. It's also interesting to reread my impressions from last year, most of them which still hold ;-)

• As has been the case for many years, the show is very well organized. An event of this size takes a good team and Tin Soldiers Antwerp again have done an excellent job.
• It seemed there were fewer visitors compared to last year. I have no idea what the actual numbers say, but there simply seemed less of a crowd. Other visitors I talked to had the same impression as well. But perhaps this is due to the fact that visitors tend to spend less time at the con, and hence, everyone is more spread out over the entire day.
• There is a definite "Crisis reek": the catering-service provides a fatty-hamburger-smell in Hall 1, while in Hall 2 the smell is dominated by MDF buildings. It was the first year I felt the MDF smell was very pronounced.
• As I observed last year, it becomes more and more difficult to engage visitors at the gaming tables. Many visitors simply want to take pictures and move on, and most quickly pass by. The trend of CRISIS becoming a shopping mall is reinforced, but again this is a subjective impression.
• As for the games themselves, there is a certain "sameness" setting in. All games look very similar, and none of the games struck me with a big "WOW" experience. Perhaps we are getting spoiled, but I think it might have to do with the continuing evolution of wargaming becoming more a consumer rather than a DIY-hobby. With DIY-games, there's always a level of being unique, but with more and more games being in scripted formats, it's harder to see the wargamer who presents his own never-before-seen-game and his own unique take on the hobby. We did a WW2 game this year, and one conversation I had illustrates this trend: one visitor was surprised we mixed and matched figures, vehicles and buildings from all sorts of different manufacturers, and that we sort of winged it when it came down to rules. That was not really a proper wargame, in his opinion. He felt we should strictly adhere to a given ruleset, and only use figures designed for that ruleset. Remember we are talking about a generic period such as WW2!
• Perhaps it's just me getting old, but there are more and more "systems" and "settings" I am totally unfamiliar with. I am subscribed to Miniature Wargames and Wargames Soldiers & Strategy, but even then, there are games being sold (and being played) that I had never seen before. Now, you might say this is a good thing, but these games are set in settings and worlds that don't appeal to me at all. Weird fantasy settings, strange scifi universes, ... invented only to serve as a gaming universe. I do like fantasy and scifi wargaming, but I always felt the settings should be grounded in literature, movies, or common fandom. Now the games are becoming more and more self-referential.
• Strolling through the 2nd hand market, but also browsing some of the trade stalls, also made me a little sad seeing all those miniatures from yesteryear piled up, without anyone still showing an interest. Sometimes these are even the "shiny and new ranges" from only 5 or 10 years ago. Many in worn blisters, bearing the title of a range or game no one still remembers. I even saw a trader with big container boxes full of plastic sprues, all thrown together in a big pile of plastic. That is a big contrast to the "oohs" and "aahs" heard around the trade stalls looking at the new figures just released this year. 5 years from now, they all will end up in big piles in the 2nd hand market, many of them bought but never used or played with.
• One last thing: wargaming seems to become more and more expensive every year. I was really astonished by some of the prices that were charged for rulebooks (old or new), or figures (old or new). I do have a comfortable budget hobby-wise, but I simply will not pay 12 euro for a single 28mm figure, or 40 euro for 50 page soft-cover rulebook, no matter how hip and trendy the rules are.

But anyway, did I have a good time? Of course I did! Having a chat with many wargamer friends is still the best part of any convention. So I'm definitely looking forward towards CRISIS 2020! We already agreed we will run a game using my 42mm imagination figures!