Tactica... 2019... The Show.

Greetings...

After our adventures in Denmark we returned to Hamburg for the show...


This year the theme of the show was Sci-Fi... but this doesn't mean that there were no historical games... there were plenty.
This is one of the things that I love about Tactica... It is (in my opinion) a fully rounded wargames show... you see historical games of all periods sat side by side with all the different flavours of fantasy and sci-fi plus some wonderful weirdness that is impossible to fit into any pigeon hole.


There is plenty food ... simple but well made fair... and of course beer and soft drinks.


On the Saturday night there is a barbeque...


Customers and vendors hang around into the evening... it is as much a social event as it is a wargames show and shopping trip.


Here are some pictures... unfortunately not as many as I would have liked to take... Phone battery issues(again)... I think its trying to tell me something...

A lovely naval game... The Battle of St Lucia.

Shootout at Dingstown... Wild West with a touch of Dalek...

Somewhere in Tennessee... This is the game that our friends Stefan and Bernhard were involved with... I joined them for a bit... but my bad dice luck infected Bernhard... so I left him to get defeated using his own skills...

The Siege of Neuss 1474-75... very pretty.

Who are you going to call?...

A rather nice Star Wars game... complete with lighting effects and motorized turrets.

Another nice Star Wars game... by Frank Becker and friends.

I think these guys were impressed...

A modern skirmish game... 20mm using Spectre Miniatures rules.

Star Trek...

Masters of the Universe...

Peter Dennis's Paper Boys... WSS... Buildings by Florian Richter.

As well as Great War Miniatures I took the chance to show of some new Shiny Toy Soldiers... that were inspired by the book Florian showed me last year...


                                              

This year Florian brought along some full sized prints from the book... seeing them full size did nothing to deter me from continuing with this little piece of madness...

The books that I managed to fit in my rucksack... There appears to be a theme.


I also bought some lovely miniatures from Schilling-Figuren..


https://www.schilling-figuren.de/produkt-kategorie/1-72/napoleonik/frankreich-1812-1815/franzosen-napoleonische-epoche/

I have no idea what I am going to do with them... I just NEEDED them.


I thoroughly enjoyed my visit this year... A big thank you to all my friends and everyone evolved in the show...


Here's to next year...


Some links to other blogs and sights with lots more pictures than I took...


 https://www.hamburger-tactica.de/?lang=en


https://tabletopdeutschland.com/


http://thrifles.blogspot.com/2019/02/tactica-2019.html


https://en-gb.facebook.com/perryminiatures/




All the best   Aly

Tactica... 2019... Dybbol.

Greetings...


This week Alan and Michael Perry, Peter Dennis and myself made our now annual pilgrimage to Hamburg Tactica...
The plan was to make a short visit to Denmark and visit Dybbol.


Dybbol was the site of a major battle in the 2nd Schleswig-Holstein war of 1864...


http://www.military-history-denmark.dk/Slesvigske-krige/ENG/ENG_Belejringen_ny.htm


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Schleswig_War


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dybb%C3%B8l


This of course is the same area that was fought over during the first war in 1848-51...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Schleswig_War


A period which I am rather interested in...

Gratuitous images of 'Shiny' 1848 Danes...


We were picked up by our friends Oli, Marcus, Frank and Frank (yes it does get confusing ) and whisked north... For a barbeque and beers...


The next day...

Danish Pastries .... in Denmark...


Once we had eaten we headed to Sonderborg Castle...


https://www.visitsonderborg.com/ln-int/sonderborg-castle-gdk611093

When you enter the castle... there are some cannons....
And what do grown ups do when they see cannons?...

Well... Behave like big kids ... of course.

These guns are from the First Schleswig-Holstein War...

When you enter the castle you are greeted by some very nice armour...

Followed by some very nice models showing the development of the castle over the years...

We moved on to exhibits showing uniforms and weapons from both the first and second Schleswig wars...

There is an excellent collection of prints and paintings... again from both wars...

There is a lovely diorama showing the advance of the Prussians towards the Dybbol redoubts...

My favourite painting is this...


Royal Horse Guards at Korsor on the way to the front line in Schsleswig during the First Schleswig War in 1848. Painting by Otto Bache...


There is so much to see in this painting... and it is beautifully executed ...

There are of course many other exhibits covering many periods... I have only covered the things I like the most....


After the castle we went wondering over the redoubts...

Marcus ... who is not short... demonstrates how steep the sides of this defence are ... and this is the inside.

Looking over to the Sonderborg visitors centre and the Dybbol Mill shows how small this battlefield actually is...

These aren't tramps!... they are my friends!


We then went on to visit the Sonderborg visitor centre where we were given an excellent tour, saw some very good film presentations and even got a chance for some dress up... for the show offs among us...
My phone of course ran out of battery... first world problem or what...


 https://www.visitsonderborg.com/ln-int/1864

Afterwards... some delicious local fish...and beer.

  In a bar with some Danish Guard accessories

Home for a wargame... Waterloo.


Rather surprisingly the French won... it was an unlikely victory by one point... but going on my record I am taking this one with both hands...


Next up I will post some images from the show...


As my lovely friends post their own accounts I shall add links to this post...


All the best   Aly