The "Action 2007" in Rheindahlen
19.03.2007 Deutsche Version bitte hier klicken:
"Improvise, Adapt, Overcome"
Despite the doors opening an hour later than in recent years, the frantic preparations for „Action" 2007 in NATO Joint Headquarter’s Rheindahlen Rooms near Mönchengladbach took up to the last minute. As the first visitors came in, the last tables and chairs were arranged for a gaming event that challenged its organizational staff even more than usual.
Being personnel of the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), many members of the Rheindahlen Wargames Club (RWC) returned virtually at the last minute from a deployment in Afghanistan to take part in the club event of the year. Accordingly, preparation time was quite short, after a wargame convention in the Netherlands taking place at the same time had already led to less clubs and dealers than planned attending to the show.
Adie Russell, Warrant Officer in the Royal Corps of Signals and Chief Stewart of the „Action“, nevertheless remained calm and confident: "That’s nothing we can’t deal with", he stated, pointing out that every year something get’s in the Action’s way. Besides, being Military personnel, the club members were trained to deal with any kind of obstacles – or, in other words: "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome".
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But it’s not only the military background that makes the „Action“ a very special wargame convention. For many visitors, the show is a „social event" that can easily last until three or four in the morning. And though living only a 15 minute walk from Rheindahlen Rooms away, Adie Russell’s wife won’t see her husband for the time of the show: "If she wants to see me, she has to come here", he leaves no doubt that his priorities for the weekend are set.
Even some visitors from outside JHQ stay for the whole weekend. Depending on personal preference – an physical fitness - they can spend the night either inside the Rheindahlen Rooms or in special accomodations on the grounds of the ARRC facilities. But even though the odd case of beer hints early in the day at what is come during night time, the „Action“ probably follows a stricter set of rules than any other gaming convention.
For the RWC this means for example that no admission fee may be charged, so noone really knows how many visitors find their way to any given „Action“. But even that is no concern for Adie Russell: „As long as enough people turn up, we don’t care about numbers“, he says. And „enough“ means to him and his fellow club members that also the traders enjoy the show and sell enough to make the trip to Rheindahlen worthwhile. When they succeed in this, every „Action“ is a success.
The "Action 2007" in Rheindahlen
