World of Tanks Model Building Event & Anglerfish Festival in Ōarai

Tank Commanders!

Wargaming participated in the "Anglerfish Festival," a town festival held in Ōarai, Ibaraki, a small fishing town featured in Girls und Panzer.

Girls und Panzer fans as well as military enthusiasts from all around Japan, and some even from outside Japan gathered for this event, and the small town suddenly became busy with action.

We'll bring you news of the "World of Tanks: Plastic Model Club" held on the day before "Anglerfish Festival" as well as highlights of the Anglerfish Festival itself!

15 November: Modelers and Visitors Pack the Event Hall!

This is the first time the Plastic Modeling Event is held outside Tokyo, and it took place in the Ōarai Culture Center, the civic hall next to the town office. Although the event was held in a rather rural area, many participants arrived from early on in the morning! A lot of participants even decided to Ōarai after the event to stay for the main events of the Anglerfish Festival on the next day.

There was even one player who came to all the plastic modeling events, since it started!

We, once again, had Ichiro Yoshida, a professional modeler who makes World of Tanks vehicle models for the Armour Modelling magazine. Some of the participants applied as a group, and users cheerfully chatted about World of Tanks as they made plastic models.

This event was open to the public, so visitors and townsfolk in Ōarai came to join in the fun.

Many Ōarai tourists as well as locals visited the booth. Some young tank commanders enjoyed a few games together with the community staff.

Talk Show on Japanese Heavy Tanks

From 14:00 there was a talk show featuring the guest modeller Ichiro Yoshida, militar advisor Tadamasa “WG_Phalanx” Miyanaga and the community staff kats_jp.

Mr. Yoshida talked about World of Tanks from a model and diorama building perspective, and the difficulties he faced when making World of Tanks models for the Armour Modelling magazine.

In the second half of the show, military advisor Tadamasa Miyanaga and kats_jp talked about the thing everyone wants to know about -- tanks. The development history of the relatively unknown Japanese heavy tanks were discussed in the talk show, and a concept image of a bizarre tank destroyer that never made it into production was shown during the show, bringing laughter to the hall.

• Folks from around town gathered to watch the talk show!

Plastic Model Contest & Model Display Area

Many model masterpieces gathered in the contest and display area at one corner of the vent hall. Contest winners got Gold as well World of Tanks goodies.

Manga artist Mikado Muramasa, who illustrates a World of Tanks column in the Weekly ASCII magazine provided us with a BT-7, although the artist himself was busy and could not make it to the event.

Many of Mr. Yoshida’s works featured in the Armour Modelling magazine was on display as well! Many great model works gathered even though the event was held in a rather remote town. Since it was in Ōarai, there were several Girls und Panzer themed models on display!

Wargaming Prize Wargaming Original Hoodie + 1000 Title: Sea Camouflage Type 10 Tank IGN: Aizer

Armour Modelling Prize Armour Modelling Publication Set + 1000 Title: Tamiya BT-7 IGN: Jyounz

Honorable Mention

World of Tanks Original Poster + 500

Title: FT-17 IGN: ina_suke	Title: St. Gloriana Academy’s Infantry Tank Churchill Mk.VII IGN: katokei
Title: Tamiya Mark IV MALE IGN: GAO_FCMA	Title: Tamiya LRDG Command Car IGN: taunban2000

Participants gathered for a group photo with the models they finished (or didn’t finish) they made at the end of the day, and the modeling event held at Ōarai, the town featured in Girls und Panzer, ended on a high note!

This was the first Plastic Modeling Event held away from the urban centers, but thanks to participants from far and near, the event was a great success!

16 November: Another Great Year at the Anglerfish Festival!

The day after the Plastic Model Event was the Ōarai Anglerfish Festival!

100,000 people participated in the event last year, and Wargaming put up a booth this year as wel! On the second floor of the Maiwai Ichiba at the Ōarai Resort Outlet where visitors were able to play World of Tanks as well as see the a large model of the Type 89 medium tank, recently given to the town of Ōarai by Wargaming. Many Girls und Panzer cosplayers came to take photos with the tank.

• Fans lined up from early in the morning to visit the booth!

At the booth, visitors could play World of Tanks PC version with the special Girls und Panzer MOD as well as the mobile version, World of Tanks Blitz.  Some avid fans came around to play the game multiple times!

• Some Ōarai towners came and played World of Tanks for the first time!

Outside, tank girls handed out copies of the WoT x GuP tutorial comic “Hajimete no Senshado: WINTER EDITION” ! Many Girls and Panzer fans as well as visitors of the Anglerfish Festival grabbed their copies of the book.

• The main stage area of the Anglerfish Festival was filled with people.

Exhibition of Handmade Tanks

Various homemade tanks made by devoted tank and model building fans gathered in town for this event!

• The highlight this year were the working model of a Wiesel 2 LeFlaSys created by the “Let’s Make a Full-scale Model Club” and the handmade Italian tankette Carro Veloce CV-33. Both were amazingly realistic and many tank fans gathered around to take a look at them. The CV-33 was created by Ōarai towners. Awesome work!
  

• There were even displays of an Italian P40 heavy tank turret as well as a replica Goliath tracked mine. What is going on in this town?

With the powerful support of tank fans and Girls and Panzer fans, all the events in the small town of Ōarai during the 15-16 November ended in a high note.

Hope to see you again next year!

Panzer Vor!!