Show report: VIVAT 2014

comment: By "Tabletop" German speaking peeps usually mean "miniature wargaming". 

I'm back from VIVAT and brought a bunch of pictures!

VIVAT is Austria's only wargaming event which is all about historical wargaming. The community is somewhat fractured and not too huge so it's great that we got this event for many of us to meet up once a year. As last year, the location was Zinnfigurenwelt Katzelsdorf and was offered for free by the museum's director who in return got a t-shirt.

We had quite a lot more space this year around due to also having access to a room in the neighboring school. But let's start at the museum itself, with the American Civil War table, run by Christoph and Victor (both of whom also helped me hauling my stuff around, mainly the glass cabinet!):

 

(Christoph made some snazzy QR codes for each one of the tables. My name - appropriately underlined - is on the sheet because I contributed some of the figures and terrain for the table)

Some of you might recognize the barn, some of the fences and so on...

Approach...

...fire...

...*insert your interpretation of the rebel yell here*.

I droned on about it last year but here are some actual pictures of the set pieces displayed in the museum:

This isn't a painting (well, the very farthest layer is of course with the shapes of the farthest hourses and the sky), it's all models of houses and flat miniatures. They are presented in a very clever way, with most of the showcases being "taped off" so you have to look at the pieces from a certain angle which makes them look their absolute best. A closer look:

Same here:

A little medieval scene:

Where's Waldo?

Somehow there is something extremely endearing about this sort of modell vignettes, don't you think? I'd love to do some flats some day.

Of course there also were some non-flat figures on site as well. And look, someone even snuck in some 40k stuff. ;)

A scene from the 17th century. Possibly from the TYW?

Here's the table of the Österreichische Gesellschaft für historische Simulation (Austrian Society for historical simulation):

including some issues of their magazing Manöverkritik. ;)

...as well as a game of Wings of War they set up:

On the day we had four vendors on the site (not counting myself because, hey, I'm your artiste-pal-next-door who's just playing) - Silent Night Games, the guy who does the meeples and markers, s-games.at and Chris Figurenshop. Here's the latter's stand (including a happy customer of mine. He'd just given me a bunch of his ACW models to paint for him.):

Sandwiched in between the two WW1 tables there was the Napoleonics table, showcasing General de Brigade:

On  the upper level some of the guys gave demo games of Operation Squad (featuring the Germans I painted for one of the guys in summer):

The ww2 table of the Wiener Planspiel guys has become a fixture of the show:

You can't see them in the picture, but the table is divided into squares. Saves a lot of time arguing about movement allowances and whether or not these guys are it to this spot and so on. A mechanism which recently got picked up the Mantic's Deadzone for instance.

Not quite appropriately in the "creepy dolls section" I was to be found with my painting table:

Speakig of creepy dolls, this was my view for most of the day (unless there were people dropping by for a chat, ask questions about my services or to watch me paint stuff):

You may have seen this glass cabinet (dubbed "the snowwhite coffin" and following that my car was dubbed "hobbit hearse" due to the way I transport the thing :p ) before. I haul it with me to shows. And of course many will know it from their homes too because it's from IKEA. ;)

So far I often forgot taking pictures of my own stuff when I was at shows so this time I took the time and made some more pictures of the stuff I put on display, going from bottom to the top:

Some 28mm WW2

American War of Independence and Dark Ages Saxons

American War of Independence and Dark Ages Saxons

American Civil War

American Civil War

A the very top I got a single showcase box for the Napoleonic Austrians and some of the 15mm Persians in the front:

Just in case you ever wondered what a HUGE picture of my 15mm Persian light infantry looked like.

A bit further down the hall: The Saga table.

...as well as the fantastically painted ship models for his Trafalgar game:

A look into the other room across the yard:

In this one we had two WW1 themed tables. The first one used Bolt Action rules with a few fan-made amendments for WW1. It's the usual Late War Western Front thing:

I possibly chose the worst time of the day to take these photos but oh well. This way you got the rather comical lighting of the sides, with the British side drenched in searing light while the Germans lie in the shadows.

In the same room a game with a theme which is especially close to my heart took place - Thirty Years War, the Battle of Lutter at Barenberge 1626 where Tilly's and Danish king's Christian IV's troops met on the battlefield. Shame it's all 15mm and not 10mm, so not compatible with my minis. Still, absolutely stunning work. They used the Field of Glory Renaissance rules set.

Then there was the other WW1 table. This time 20mm and it's Austrian-Hungarian troops, facing off against Russian troops.

The attention to detail on this table is great. There even are some orthodox priests.

...and here we got some k.u.k. troops:

In the end the winners of the vote for the best tables of the show were announced. Both WW1 tables won along with I think the TYW one, but I'm not sure to be honest. Sorry. :/

Well, and that's that. I was dead tired when I arrived home but it was a great day out. It's nice meeting the people, old and new, picked up some new commission projects, had a ton of good chats with the guys and so on. Good stuff, good day. Thanks to the organizers and the owner of the location and thanks to everyone who dropped by to say hello. :)

Oh, and I didn't buy all to much either. Believe me, I tried, but I couldn't find anything and I already have unhealthy amounts of models lying around at home. So all I picked up (except for the show-only miniature which you'll see later at some point) was a blister of Soviet scouts from Warlord Games and a baggy of 15mm light cavalry who might fit my Persians.

Thanks for reading, I hope that you enjoyed the report. If you're in the area definitely pay a visit to VIVAT2015!