Prelude to Crisis 2026

The days are getting shorter, the evenings at the painting desk longer, and there is one date in November that has been marked in my calendar for quite some time now. On Saturday, November 7th, the Tinsoldiers of Antwerp and HQ Gaming open the doors for Crisis 2026, and of course we will be there.

Here are the key facts for the show:

• Date: Saturday, November 7th 2026, 10:00 to 17:00
• Venue: 't Bau-huis, Slachthuisstraat 60, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
• Admission: 15 EUR
• Organisation: Tinsoldiers of Antwerp and HQ Gaming
• Traders: more than 40 exhibitors
• Floor plan: available as PDF on the event website (subject to changes)
• No event miniature and no bring & buy this year

Crisis has been a fixed point in my event year for a long time. My first visit was back in 2011, when I still drove to Antwerp in the early morning and back home the same evening. It did not take long until we realised that a single day is simply not enough, and the show turned into a proper guys weekend with an arrival on Friday, a tour through the Flemish city and the traditional evening at the Bier Central. If you want to dive into that history, have a look at my Throwback to Crisis in Antwerp from 2020, a year in which the show was cancelled like so many others.

The years after were not easy. Covid forced a break, and Brexit made things a lot more difficult for the British manufacturers and traders, who used to be one of the defining features of Crisis. In 2022 we went to LARDwerp instead, a smaller convention at the club house of the Tinsoldiers, organised together with the TooFatLardies. And in 2024 Crisis was finally back, with HQ Gaming joining the organisation and a new home outside of Antwerp.

For many years, Crisis meant the Waagnatie at the docks of Antwerp, and for a lot of us the show is still tied to that city. So here is the most important thing to know when you plan your trip: Crisis is not in Antwerp anymore. The show has moved to 't Bau-huis in Sint-Niklaas, about 15 minutes outside of Antwerp, so don't set your navigation to the Waagnatie out of habit. The venue offers plenty of space for traders and gaming tables, and it is easy to reach, no matter how you travel.

You find 't Bau-huis at Slachthuisstraat 60, and if you come by public transport, you are in luck. The train station of Sint-Niklaas is within walking distance, and the IC line connects it with Antwerp Central every half hour. For those of you arriving by car, the venue is close to the E17 and the N70 on the ring road of Sint-Niklaas, and there are three larger car parks nearby: Noordlaan right next to the venue, the covered Stationsplein parking and the Siniscoop parking, with around 850 spaces in total.

Another welcome change concerns the date. The restart in 2024 had to move to September due to scheduling conflicts with the venue, but Crisis 2026 is back on the first Saturday in November.

This year we keep it a bit more compact. Instead of a long weekend in Antwerp, we arrive in Sint-Niklaas on Friday and stay for one night, so we can start Saturday early and well rested, with just a short walk to the venue. I am looking forward to seeing a bit of the town on Friday evening, which is home to the largest market square in Belgium, and to finding out where the locals go for a proper Belgian beer.

And I will be in good company. Team Würfelkrieg is joining me, along with Torsten, the host of CONflict, and Florian, who you might know as celebration_parallax on Instagram. A good crew for a day full of tables and traders, and for an evening with plenty of hobby talk.

Two things you should know before you pack your bags: there won't be an event miniature this year, and there won't be a bring & buy either. So if you hoped to dig for second hand bargains or to get rid of a few kits from your pile of shame, you have to find another way this time, and plan your budget for the traders instead.

The trader list is a nice mix from all over Europe. Warlord Games is there with its historical ranges, Freebooter Miniatures brings Freebooter's Fate, and Deepcut Studio has its gaming mats on board. From Germany you will find Hagen Miniatures, Heer46/Ambush Miniatures with Air Raid 36/46, Stronghold Terrain, Najewitz Modellbau, Worean and Würfel-Meister, while Belgium is represented by Van Dyck Models & Figurines, Black Mushroom Workshop and War House Games, among others. Brother Vinni, May '40 Miniatures, TGCM Création with Briskars, Gravity Bay with Rapture and the Polish shops Warfactory and Wargamer round it up, along with plenty of terrain makers and 3D printing services.

Next to the traders, the clubs with their demo and participation games have always been the heart of Crisis. In 2024 that even included a rather spontaneous visit by Tuomas Pirinen with Trench Crusade, so I am curious which tables and surprises await us this time.

And for those of you with a longer stay, Crisis doesn't end on Saturday evening. On Sunday the venue hosts a couple of tournaments, among them the Crisis Clash, a NAF approved Blood Bowl tournament, and the first Trench Crusade European Open Championship. Quite fitting, considering Trench Crusade had its first appearance at the show back in 2024. So if you want to bring your team or your warband along, have a look at the event pages for registration and further details.

As usual, you can expect a full report here on the blog after the show, and if you are around on Saturday, come over and say hello. See you in Sint-Niklaas!