Many Polish airsoft players already know how strict is German law concerning our hobby. Let’s be honest – it’s even worse than in England, where the players have to use transparent replicas. However it would not be truth to say that the Germany does not play at all. Yes, they do! It is also possible to buy a replica, and there are many airsoft teams in Germany. Moreover, one of events for German players took place just a few days ago. The article, which you are reading, concerns this event. This text will tell you also about the fact, that if you want, you can force the barriers on our way to get what you dream of.
NOTE: The English version of this text was made separately and so the translation can differ slightly in few parts. Those of you, who know both: English and Polish languages – please enjoy finding differences.
Few words on German restrictions
It would be not enough to tell, that German law concerning airsoft is strict. According to this law, it is allowed to sell replicas which power is lower than 0,5 J. However, only a person who is over 14 years old can buy one of them. All replicas of over 0,5 J are treated as a weapon and can be sold only in shops which are allowed to sell real guns. Even though they are just toys, they can be used only by players over 18 years old and have to be marked with special emblem called ‘F-pentagram‘ as well as the caliber of the replica – 6mm. Finally, we have to remember that all airsoft replicas are allowed with semi tribe only. If you have enough of restrictions, maybe it’s not a good idea to mention about ‘some problems‘, which you can come across while using tactical lights or laser sights.
Due to all those restrictions you could hear that there are no airsoft events in Germany. I have to say, that there is some truth in this opinion. In past few years some people tried to organize events, but there were just few of them, dedicated to small and selected group of players, and plenty of restrictions concerned the event. Anyway the idea of organizing airsoft plays was left probably because of the Germany law mentioned before, and all problems concerning airsoft in Germany.
French paradise for German "soldiers"
After reading previous part of this article, many of you would probably ask how it is possible to organize any event for German players and what kind of event I am going to describe. Here I go with explanation that nothing happened in Germany! The event took place in Veckring, a city situated only 20 km south from French and German border. A long time ago the terrain was used by French soldiers, nowadays is a paradise for... paintball players! From time to time – although not to often – it is also a place of airsoft game. That is why during OPDS event, you could find hanged papers informing about prohibition of using paintball weapon.
Terain (click to enlarge)
As you can see on the map of the terrain, it seams to be very interesting. It covers 12 hectares of forests and fields. There is also 20.000 square meters of buildings, so everyone can find something interesting – those who prefer black tactics as well as the green tactics ‚lovers‘. It is also nice to know, that after all day of playing you can wash away the dirt in one of the showers supplied by the owner of the field. Even though in Poland we create plenty of funny stories about being dirty, and covering the body with mud to get a ‘natural camouflage’, I believe that many of our players would appreciate the possibility of taking the shower (and practice some ‘blue tactics’ of course ;) ). If you enter the web page of the place, you will surely find out, that it was created not only in French, but also in German language. That can suggest, that a big amount of German people spend their spare time there.
Organisation
The event called „Operation Dragon Sword“ took place between 6th and 7th of June 2008. It was organized by German shop „Sniper Airguns“ which is cooperating with the company already known by Polish players – ASG A/S from Denmark. There were also two airsoft teams helping them: Team Red Dragon and Team 10th Mnt. Div. LI. As I’ve heard, both teams are sponsored by shop mentioned before and so they get discounts for purchases of airsoft guns and equipment. It shouldn’t be surprising that they were quite enthusiastic in creating the event.
All preparations for the event started a long time before the term settled. The registration was possible on the web page of Team Red Dragon. On the same page the players could find all important information – concerning the plan of the event, playing and people coming. The organizations expected about 130 to 150 people, and it seems they were very close in predicting, as the final number of participants was 144. If we compare this to Polish airsoft meetings, it’s not a big amount. In big cities like Warsaw, Wroclaw or Lodz, we can meet even 200 guys on usual weekend play. However we have to remember that our hobby is almost forbidden in Germany. Moreover, some of the players had to drive even 500 km to get to the place, and as for German airsoft, this event was big and significant.
When talking about OPDS, another important thing to mention is the number of people organizing the event. There were 30 people for 150 participants. The number is huge if we compare it to Polish events – not to mention CAMO 3, where only 3 guys tried (or maybe not tried) to handle 400 people. The cost of OPDS depended on preferences of the players. The amount of two days play (including 2 nights) was 54 Euro. However you could choose also to participate in one day of play and pay 15 Euro only.
The Game
All participants were divided into two groups and labeled with red or yellow bracelets. Primary division was supposed to reflect uniform kind, but in the end it came out to be impossible to achieve. Player distribution was performed according to personal preferences. Hence I’ve heard many statements about good cooperation of some groups caused by their experience in playing together on previous events. Before beginning of the game each player had to check the power of his/her weapon. No exceptions! The result of chrono-check was thoroughly noted down next to the player's nickname and the team name. Moreover, everyone had to sign the rules of the game. It was seen very positively. As it is written in one of the event reports: "Another advantage were the rules, which had to be signed. This ended traditional, senseless discussion just before the game. Rules signing should be done on every event...". I guess it would be very useful as well in Polish case, where we have too often and too many cases of misunderstanding, or creating the rules caused by incomplete knowledge of rules or play scenario. Do I have to remind you all those explanations as: "Oh God…. Really? I didn’t know..." ?
Talking about the rules I have to mention the paragraph concerning checking weapons. In Poland we had already some ideas of making some limitations of using stronger replicas. However in most of the cases these rules were written on paper only. In practice things were different and no one obeyed created rules. It was quite different in OPDS. The rules said:
- replicas up to 330 FPS can be used in buildings
- replicas between 330 and 360 can be used in buildings only with 'semi' mode
- replicas between 360 and 400 can be used in building, but the minimal distance to target is 10 meters
- replicas between 400 and 450 FPS cannot be used in buildings and the minimal distance is 15 meters
- replicas between 450 and 500 FPS cannot be used in buildings and the minimal distance is 30 meters
- CO2 replicas cannot be used in buildings at all
- Maximal power of the replica allowed during the play is 600 FPS
- It is not allowed to use masks made of glass, ceramic, metal
- The tolerance of chrono is +/- 10
We have to say that above statements seem to be very developed for a Polish player but they were respected in OPDS. Maybe the clue was in marking replicas with color badge according to the power. It really helped to verify if a guy’s way of playing respects the rules or not.
As I wrote before, all German replicas are being sold with ‘semi’ option only. And there comes the surprise… after crossing the German border, almost every single one changed into a real, full-option airsoft gun. Of course it took a bit of time, and was connected with looking inside of replicas. But after all some people will do a lot to have just few hours of a good time.
According to the players, the event was well organized. All parts of the schedule were realized with accuracy and discipline of which German people are known all over the world. The airsoft part of OPDS was prepared for whole day: starting from early morning, and ending when the sun went down. It would be hard to believe, but the play did not end after lunch – what we will come across quite often during Polish plays. Maybe it’s all about Polish way of seeing airsoft – as a chance to meet our friends: not only play with them, but also talk with them. Still we have to remember, that we have more occasions for playing, and that can be the reason why we are not so dedicated to the game.
The play of OPDS was a bit different from what we are used in Poland. There was no long and complicated scenario. It was divided into short scenarios which were settled for 2-hours each. Each of them concerned a separate task, such as taking an important object from place to place, rescuing the pilot, or covering a place for a period of time.
Sponsoring the Game
To fulfill the description of the event, I have to add few words about sponsors. There were two of them: ASG - the Danish company represented on OPDS by Pawel Migala (whom we already know from Polish beneficent event “WOSP Airsoftowy” which took place in Czenstochowa 13 Janary this year), and the shop “Sniper Airguns”. Bothe of them gave a lot of prizes… pellets, scopes, gunbags, and many more. But the most important and valuable were: CA M15 VN from “Sniper Airguns” and M15 R.I.S. given by ASG A/S. Those who were not too lucky in the lottery, become happy anyway due to the special Classic Army T-shirt promoting M15 A4 C.Q.B. The T-shirt was given by ASG A/S to every single player, and I’m sure that it was really ‘a big thing’ for anyone interested not only in airsoft, but in guns in general.
The End
OPDS – the German event on French land – happened to be very successful, and everyone went home fulfilled with good impression and with a smiling face. That is what we can see in Poland too, but I guess there was something more important in German event than this. First of all, Dragon Sword is a proof that much can be done just to play, and that only a bit of good will, put together with a bit of work is enough to realize dreams of many people. Maybe it would be a good idea for us – the Poles – to think for a while about how much opportunity we have, and how simple is making an event in our country. Not only for 150, but 300 people… 400… or more.
Pawel Migala and I, we talked with people, which organized the event. They told us that they would be very glad to have the chance of playing with Polish airsoft fans. We have to remember, that we’d already played with other nations before – we went to Swedish Berget, participated in Lithuanian play, but also invited some friends from Ukraine, Lithuania, Sweden… There were already some plans of making events for German players in Poland, so maybe it’s time to do something about it?
Useful links:
Report from event (German): http://www.blowback.de
Web page of the place (French/German): http://www.paintball-veckring.fr
Team Red Dragon (German): http://www.team-reddragon.de
Team 10th Mnt. Div. LI (German): http://10thmnt.us
Shop: http://www.sniperguns.de
I would like to thank guys from Germany for giving much data which I used to write this text, Pawel Migala for telling his impression of the event, and ‘Kret’ (Polish airsoft player) for checking the part concerning German law.
