Its recently been brought to my attention that ASS has been around for FOUR years. During that time we've had lots a new faces join and some old ones leave. As such, a great many people may not know the history of their Clan.

To rectify that, I present to you the History of Your Clan...

The Time Before The Beginning...

In that sad, dark time before ASS existed, there were two groups of people who had not yet met. To properly understand ASS, a little light needs to be shed...

Weapon Tactics Force (WTF)

Harking back to the BFV days there was a Clan known as WTF. They were a solid outfit and had a decent reputation. It was within WTF that our first group of people formed. Serving in this colourfully acroynmed Clan as Captains were the likes of Mudsy, Commy and Ghosty along with several other gamers that were destined to form the core of ASS (you know who you are). Despite appearing to be a well orgainised Clan on the outside, WTF was in turmoil. Innocent gamers were chafing under the oppressive heel of a dictator. Though they struggled for their Clan valiantly, it was the arrival of two new recruits that would forever change the face of Australian Video Gaming...

The Ronin (TR)

Which leads us to the second group of people. TR, one Clan out of hundreds competing in the BFV ladder, was itself formed out of a desire for change. Founded from the elite of Australian Forces (AF), including your humble author, two now lost to WoW mates in Bobalot and Sanker, and a couple of fake accounts created to meet the minimum number require to compete, TR was born. Despite a start seemingly guaranteed to lead to success, a lack of warm bodies threatened to be the end of TR. The final straw seemed to be when a pair of gamers that had been there from the start got enticed to join a larger Clan, namely WTF...

The Genesis, or How We Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the ASS

It was only a short month later that the down trodden legions of WTF, along with the two former TR members, dumped their tags and went in search of better, greener pastures. It was at the same time that TR, despite a decent 25th Ranking, was in the market for more players. It was then that our two groups first met, brought together by the link of poached players, and began discussions. The WTF ex-Captains brought with them a swag of long serving troops, the TR Captains had a ranked Ladder Team and a solid core of experienced gamers. Both sides wanted what the other had, so a merger seemed obvious.

In a tense discussion on a TeamSpeak server, mainly consisting of Commy and Bobalot yelling at each other, resulted in neither side wanting to budge. The ex-WTFers didn't want to join TR, and the TR-ites wouldn't accept their team to be taken over. The creation of a completely new Clan, headed by equal amounts of TR and WTF captains was the only way to go. It was then, a certain gamer with a thing for Fallout uttered those immortal words...

"We should call ourselves the Australian Strike Soldiers...ASS!"

And thus it was so...

The Early Days...Crawling before You Walk Kid

Despite the immaculate conception of the Clan known as ASS, it was not all smooth sailing. The first hurdle to jump was several larks claiming that our Clan name was offensive! In what undoubtedly helped solidify the new-born Clan as a united front, several assaults against our name were repelled, including a few insulting remarks of simply being WTF reborn. This culminated in getting the GameOps opinion, and thus we were vindicated. As ASS was not in any way a rude word in the Australian vocabulary, we were in the clear.

If only it were just a name that stood between us and Global Domination. These were troubled times for ASS, for it was still two distinct teams attempting to fight under one banner. It was always going to be difficult, and those of us still with ASS will remember the hardships faced. They served to harden the Clan as a whole, and its current form started to take shape.

After several difficult months, ASS was beginning to leave its mark. Opponents on the BFV ladder fought against a solid side that lived by its sportsmanship. Members of the Clan ran a community Point of Existence mini-comp whose pre-game smack talk threads entertained all. There were still kinks to iron out however.

Based on the experiences of the former WTF members, and the few vets from AF, it was certain that we did not want ASS to become a dictatorship run by a few power hungry individuals. It was a lofty goal at the time, to create a Clan that ran for the members not over them, from the group we had available. Some people did not like the direction it was taking, and left. Others persevered. More people joined, attracted by the name, but staying for the Clan. By the time Season 1 of BF2 started, ASS was ready to take it on.

It was also this time that ASS started to branch out. We had several members who also liked playing CSS, and would wear their tags in servers proudly. This in turned attracted CSS specific recruits. Before we knew it, ASS was a multi-game Clan. When a certain nut bag known as Hill Billy Stomp was promoted to lead the division, both BF2 and CSS had become independent of each other. To this date our CSS division has been very successful, and laid the groundwork for other divisions. This of course leads us to...

And Now on Today Tonight, Shonky Builders, Fat Kids, and a Group of Gamers Called ASS

And so here we are. After two years of learning and growing, ASS is still going from strength to strength. Our member base is so strong that not only do we have a dedicated website, but our own TeamSpeak server and own dedicated games server, all paid for by the donations of our members, who have raised over $2000 in total. We have Four active divisions, Battlefield 2 led by Dobbo, Invader, Coaching and ICE; Counter Strike Source led by Hill Billy Stomp and Bucka; Call of Duty 4 lead by Antipodean and Invader and finally TeamFortress 2, lead by Crusty, Aussie Templar and nexe. We age from as young as 14 to as old as 50, from as far East as New Zealand and as far West as England. We are scattered across the county so much that it would be hard not to travel to a capital city and not be able to meet up with a fellow ASS. Hell, we have even had t-shirts made up to show our team colours in public.

So know this, for all you recently reborn ASSes. This is your Clan's history. We hope you stay a part of our future as well. Viva la ASS!

Original Members of ASS

Ambush - Retired (ex WTF)
aN1MaL - Retired (ex WTF)
b.c. - Retired (ex WTF)
Blackdog - (Probably our first recruit!)
Bobalot - Retired (ex TR)
Commy- (ex WTF)
CrAkAwOoDy - Retired (ex WTF)
Devastator - Retired (ex TR)
Dragon - Retired (ex TR)
Egghead - Retired (ex WTF and TR)
evo7 - Retired (ex WTF)
Ghosty - Retired (ex WTF)
Goldie - Retired (ex WTF and TR)
Hill Billy Stomp (ex TR)
ICE - (ex WTF and TR)
Inline - Retired (ex WTF)
Jilhad - Retired (ex WTF)
Mefusta - Retired (ex WTF)
Mudsy - (ex WTF)
Nightwolf - (ex WTF)
Ravanor - Retired (ex WTF)
Sanker - Retired (ex TR)
Satyr - Retired (ex WTF)
Vanquisher - (ex TR)
Xhale - Retired (ex WTF)

FOUR YEAR UPDATE?!

Yes dear readers, since this document was first gloriously penned, our Clan has survived a further two years! An incredible feat in the Internet Era, I've been in this Clan longer than I've held honest employment! What as occured in this time?

The Great Steam Debacle...We Are Not American!

In a nostalgic trip back to our founding year, our great Clan ran into another issue in regards to our name, or more specfically, our Tag. You see, in Valve's infinite wisdom, they had prevented the inclusion of 'swear words' in the Tag section of ones user profile. Obviously this has some moral benefits. Unless your Tag happens to be ASS. Thankfully a quick-witted member had an epiphany and the Tag was changed to A$$, thus fooling the filter and no doubt thwarting the evil machinations of those that would oppose us. The new format spread to sigs and non-Steam Divisions and brought about a refreshing change to servers Australia wide.

Gaming, New and Old

Over the years we've had new games released, old games retire. Obviously being a gaming Clan this is a pretty pivotal point! For a run down of the last two years...

Battlefield 2

The great grand-pappy of A$$, BF2 had quite a fun ride since the last update. The team forged in the fires of war made good progress, tightning teamwork under both verbal abuse and helo rocket fire. Then came the revelation of ProMod. Geared towards even competitive play, as well as the firey deaths of tanks, ProMod headed a resurgence of play among both A$$ and the Gamearena ladder as a whole, leading to a narrowly missed finals in season 1. However new games tempted the weak and once again BF2 was on shakey ground, leading to the downsizing of the 16v16 team into the 10v10 ladder. Under the new management of Dobbo and Invader, taking over from the retired Jay and Mos, the BF2 Division once again pounded forward, competing in both the GameArena and GameSpace ladders with a brief foray into Special Forces. As the sheep were seperated from the wolves over a further two seasons of gaming, the BF2 Div entered the CyberGamer 6v6 ladder as two teams, and with it a new frontier in the Battlefield style of play. With Team 1 being led by Invader and Team 2 by coaching, our two competing task forces are continuing to hone thier skills. BF2 is an old tiger to be sure, but always maintaining a low cunning and sharp teeth!

Battlefield 2142

We had a division. Even played some games. I think Mudsy ran it.

Battlefield 2 - Battleracer!

With the foundation Division of our Clan aging gracefully, a wave of excitment blew through the Clan upon our invitation to *AUS*'s Battleracer championship. Our wannabe Schumachers Nightwolf and Antipodean gunned thier engines and demonstrated the sort of off-road insanity typical of A$$ members. Though not coming home with the prize, a closely contested 4th place in an extremely harsh competition is none too shabby, and I'm sure the NOS is being carefully brewed for Season 2!

CounterStrike: Source

If BF2 was the grand-pappy, then CS: S was the crazy uncle. The kronic team under Hill Billy Stomp continued its fine tradition of ninja like performance, only emerging from the dark with its silenced M4 when mundane matters like server resets or promotions were required. Oh, and beat-boxing in TS.

Day of Defeat: Source

Initially the love child of Ghosty and Nightwolf, the DoD: S Division was one of the first 'new' games to enter the A$$ fold. Fighting to the last in a quite competitive community, the DoD: S Division was nearly undone by real life commitments. Riding to the rescue were two veteren members Blackdog and Thal, the DoD: S Div gamely noodled its way forward, ever stoic in the face of both support spam and gamer frustration. Earning an invition to both the IAL League and the SAW competition, the Divison bravely fought in an exceptionally hard environment. Combined with the Gamearena ladder, well over 3 seasons worth of World War 2 was re-enacted. With the birth of new games however, support dwindled and the old girl was finally laid to rest November of 2008, to be missed by all. (With the exception of your humble author's ulcer, but thats another story!)

Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare

Coming over the horizion like a beacon of hope for those tired of Battlefield 2, CoD4 came blazing in with support from a dozen A$$es. With public play frantic and deadly, the Clan was eager for competitive play and a divison formed. Participating in multiple ladders, most notably Cybergamer with its brilliant PAM mod, A$$ CoD4 lead by Antipodean carved a swathe with their M-4s, even featuring in several Shoutcasted matches. With the second Season of Cybergamer in full swing, the Division is set to remain a cornerstone of our Clan.

TeamFortress 2

And old classic reborn with Source, TF2 was hotly anticipated by several of the more old-school members. With a start typical of our Clan, the Division went through a few mangement changes and birthing pains, until arriving in its current incarnation. Lead by Crusty, the division rocket-jumped, minigunned and hoovered its way through many games across a few leagues, most noteably Ozfortress's offering. This culminated in one of the best performances of an A$$ Division yet, with a shiny Div2 Trophy now sitting in the Pool Room of A$$ HQ!

Its like Plastic Surgery, but for your SOUL

If you read this two years ago, crawled under a rock and only emerged due to the sweet scent of an update, you would have hopefully noticed one rather obvious detail. Leading up to our Clan's fourth Birthday our resident coders Greenstuff and ICE overhauled our entire website, giving us an entirely new modern look. Full of PHP, Flash and other funky goodness, we now have a home worthy of our members ability!


So ends the 2009 Update! Here is to another 2 glorious years!

A long read, but a good long read. Well done in writing this up Vanq, learnt a little bit more about this clan

nice work Vanquisher

Good work Vanq, nice addition and a good read.
Favourite bit:

I'm shocked!

lol WTF? reading this while listening to the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack made this history lesson cool

Interesting read. Did WTF have other divisions too?

http://www.oznetgamer.com/index.php?page=wtf

In the history we are known as The Heart of Darkness


I remember I slept in till past midday, woke up, went into IRC and it said the division was disbanded. Like WTF then commy set me on the path to enlightenment again.

It been a fun ride. Our logo is way better than theirs

WD and thanks for the story, interesting!

YAY! I got to read it! Well done Vanq thats an awsome job

They forget to mention the full on dictatorship by the division leader (Hakenspit) who basically had a god complex, which is common in serious "top 10 clans". Sure me, commy and ghosty were captains but everything good we tried to do was overthrown by this nazi. Me being the diplomat and good guy, I tried many times to get thru to Hak the importance of having fun and of others having a say in things, especially captains and I never really got it through to him.

Then one day he pissed me off so much I said to commy (half joking half not), "we should leave and start new clan, I could do a web site you could recruit people, I'm sure lots of the member would follow us". He suprised me and was keen to do it (commy was always very loyal to WTF) and after we spoke to ghosty and he agreed too, we decided to actually do it. What followed after was a weeks of turmoil that spawned ASS.

To this day we have always put having fun and everybody being a part of the direction of our clan first and foremost, and it is this that has been largely responsible for the great bunch of people that are now the members of ASS.

Personally I would like to thank all the people that stuck it out with us and all the people that joined after and stuck with us and made this clan what it is today, a great bunch of mates having fun doing what they love, gaming.