Last Saturday, Bart and myself went to Crusade 2005 in Leopoldsburg. It’s a smaller convention, organized by the local club ‘De Witte Ridder’. Being small, it’s fairly easy to talk to different people, and to make a tour of all games on display.

There was the usual mix of games being demonstrated and dealers. Bart and I used our Darkest Africa game, and we did try out our Free Kriegsspiel system we intend to use in full at CRISIS. We concluded it works pretty well. We got a few people involved in the game, and they seemed to like it.

One of the players was a 7 year old enthusiastic player, who asked us whether he could put his figures on the table as well. Never missing an opportunity to convert the young and innocent, we soon saw a 19th century dhow sailing down the mighty Congo river, sporting a mixed crew of an Arab captian, some Askari sailors, a Bretonnian bowmen and an Eldar Scout wielding a lasergun taking shots at some Congo tribes hiding in the jungle. The kid seemed to like the game so much that later on he asked to pose next to the table for some pictures. He even went to the speed-painting table to paint his new figures right there, and I think he even asked Bart for some painting advice! Nice to see a young player so enthusiastic. Sadly, however, I saw him also being shooed away at some other tables.

As for loot, I must say I haven’t been buying lead during the last 2 years, thinking I have enough figures already. The only exception is prepainted and ready to play stuff. So I got some boosters for Axis and Allies Miniatures, a dungeon exploration game called Dungeon Twister, and a new piece of scenery from the German modelbuiders that are also at Crisis every year (with the big Minas Tirith model), but whose name I cannot remember right now.

A nice and small convention, definitely worth visiting!