HOT CHOCOLATE, Foreign Affairs – Hello everyone! Welcome to the first edition of This Week in CP Armies. This series of posts will cover numerous moments of the army community since its beginning to the present days.
This week, we will look into the three first ever Club Penguin World Wars. World Wars I, II & III were crucial to the development of warfare in CP Armies. Find out more about these wars, each one covered by one of us (df44, WWI; Chey, WWII & Claire, WWIII). And check out the special interview with an army veteran that participated in World War III.
World War I
The World War I was the first known war to occur on Club Penguin. It is also referred to as the Color Wars, since it consisted of several fights between penguins of different colors, something akin to clans instead of armies as we know today. There was no chain of command, no websites, nor Discord servers like nowadays. Warfare in Club Penguin was at its very own beginning and the battles, that started to happen in 2005, were mainly snowball fights.
The most famous room to battle was the Dojo, and the two most dominant groups were the Reds and the Blues.
Color War
The war continued steadily for several months, but it changed in August 2006 during the release of the Sports Party. This party made red and blue hockey jerseys made available for the first time, heating the conflict between Reds and Blues.
Color War in 2006
World War II
Looking back, the World War II started in late 2006 and ended in early 2007. This was the time when clans were slowly replaced by actual armies by creating structure, names for themselves, and uniforms, rather than just simply colors.
During this time period, most new Club Penguin users came from Miniclip; the Miniclip Forums were the center of Club Penguin culture.
It became the new trend, where possibly hundreds of armies were created. Armies like the Army of Club Penguin (ACP), Romans, Underground Mafias Army (UMA), Nachos, Vikings, Pirates, Penguin Secret Agency (PSA), Club Penguin Army (CPA), and Club Penguin United Nations Space Commission (CPUNSC) would all battle during this time.
Nachos during WWII
Many battles took place but, unfortunately, most of them were not recorded to be remembered by. What we do know is that Romans had invaded most of Club Penguin since the start of the Roman Helmet in October 2006. The Romans stopped being a simple clan after Explorer7777 created an organized center for them on Miniclip forums within a few days after Oagalthorp’s creation of ACP on September 29, 2006. These two armies were very powerful and it didn’t take long before they went to war.
One of the Romans vs ACP battles in WWII was recalled in The ACP Saga:
“On Friday the 13, the Romans marched onto our battlefield. This was the first formal battle any of us had ever fought in, and marked the beginning of WWII. We waited on the right side of the battlefield while the massive Roman army advanced. At 3:00pm PST (though PST was not established yet), I fired the first shot, and all Hell broke loose. We had fought for half an hour, and neither side was starting to give. […]
[…]
Finally, half an hour later, enough Romans had retreated for us to declare victory. A few of the enemies failed to accept defeat, but most of them did. The first and last major battle of WWII was through. We had defeated the Roman Army, which vastly out-manned us, and upon their destruction most of their soldiers joined the ranks of the ACP. Though WWII raged on, it was isolated to Dojos throughout CP, especially on Mammoth. The Army didn’t give up, and allied with the Vikings and Nachos, who helped us in our fight against the Roman Clans that continued to stream into the peaceful servers of CP.”
~Oagalthorp
The war ended with Mammoth being captured by ACP in early 2007.
Picture from a World War II Battle
World War III
The World War III took place in 2007. War broke out between Underground Mafias Army (UMA), Club Penguin United Nations Space Commission (CPUNSC), Army of Club Penguin (ACP), Rebel Penguin Federation (RPF), Club Penguin Air Force (CPAF) and Nachos.
It started on the 20th of March, 2007 when ACP went to a war with CPUNSC, and ended on 23rd of June, 2007 with the surrender of UMA. The first tensions happened when the leader and creator of ACP, Oagalthorp, was searching information about a mysterious army who just had raided ACP on Mammoth (the capital of ACP at the time). The commander found out UMA was attacking Mammoth frequently. He then asked them to stop attacking, or else ACP would declare war. UMA replied saying “Bring it on.”
After that, UMA quickly allied with Nachos and CPNUSC for their first war battle on Mammoth in the Dojo, where, after a tough battle and UMA having a ratio do 6-1 penguins, ACP surrounded and Oagal offered Pink Mafias (UMA founder and commander at the time) an alliance! The request was turned but they agreed to a ceasefire. With that, ACP moved their base from Mammoth to Breeze and began their efforts to grow their army.
As soon as the ceasefire was over, ACP attacked Mammoth and UMA; and although UMA had the upper hand the first time, this time was different. Oagalthorp found out that UMA was hacking Club Penguin in order to gain coins and rare items and denounced Pink Mafias to CP which quickly got his account banned, making him leave Club Penguin Armies. After that sequence of events, UMA was weakened and moved to Wool Socks (a server in the original Club Penguin) under the leadership of Mpenguin.
In sequence, Commando707 created RPF and led them to rebel against UMA, which weakened UMA even more. Now ACP, RPF and CPAF were allied against UMA to what would be the final battle of this war. On 23rd June, 2007 they attacked Wool Socks in order to attack UMA and, after a rough battle, Mpenguin surrendered, therefore the Army Of Club Penguin victorious.
UMA troops during WWIII
The Ocean Oracle reached out to Coolster114, an army veteran who fought for UMA during WWIII, to get more information about that war.
What do you remember of the battles?
As a veteran I look back fondly on WW3. It was a clash of titans. Pink Mafias was a famous blogger so UMA was massive, while Oagalthorp’s ACP came into the war having just pulled off a stunning victory over the Romans.
I came across Pink Mafias quite a few times. Whenever he logged on, he would have a huge entourage following him, similar to what happened (or still happens) with Rockhopper and other Club Penguin mascots. Almost all of his followers were in UMA uniform, trying to friend request him, interact with him, that kind of thing.
I was actually a UMA rogue then, in the sense that I wasn’t formally inducted on the UMA ranks or anything. Very few people had their comments on Pink Mafias’ site approved, and even fewer got added to the ranks page. I wasn’t added to the UMA ranks page until January or February 2008. But in WW3, UMA was humungous and even being associated with them and wearing the uniform was a lot of fun. I remember fighting against troops of different armies, mostly ACP but sometimes their smaller allies as well. I would chase them across Mammoth, and I learnt all the tricks like spamming the T and click snowball button and hiding in the corner of rooms.
The army community was gigantic then. Getting into rooms where the largest battles were taking place was hard work. The Dojo and Ice Berg were full a lot of the time meaning I had to either log in early, or spend a lot of time waiting for someone to leave. And once I got in, Club Penguin would lag like crazy, sometimes resulting in my computer crashing. I think it was the same for everyone else.
How did the army react after winning the first war battle in the dojo?
I think you’re referring to the famous Battle of Mammoth in mid-April? That was when Oagalthorp surrendered to Pink Mafias and negotiated a ceasefire. I cannot really remember if I participated in that specific battle, but it certainly was not the first clash in the war. I recall quite a few fights between the two armies in which UMA completely dominated ACP.
I do remember a point when ACP were basically wiped out of Mammoth – that would have been right after the battle you’re referring to. The general feeling among UMA troops was one of pride. We basically owned Mammoth, we were the strongest army around, and there was no one to challenge us. So we were on a high, and we were really popular among the regular CP players who logged on to Mammoth. Our spirits did not last forever though because ACP ultimately returned after a month and ended up winning the war.
How did UMA fare after Pink Mafias left?
Pink Mafias was an icon and an insanely popular figurehead, not just in the UMA but in the wider community as well. He was basically the people’s champion, so when he retired obviously UMA took a hit.
That said, there’s a lot of misconceptions about the state of UMA after the war. Before and during WW3, UMA was the sole superpower and the biggest army at the time. Once Pink Mafias fell, ACP surpassed them and took the number one spot. However, UMA was still a world power and that remained the case for quite some time.
If you don’t believe me, just remember that UMA was one of only few armies that was invited by Watex to fight in the Tundra War (November 2007). That proves they were still a force to be reckoned with. In fact, UMA was referred to as one of the ‘Big 3’ by Collinzfresh in December 2007. Between 2008-2009, they played a leading role in major conflicts like Order 67 and World War IV. And even during the army’s first ‘dark age’ under Lots of Pie, Potatoes4 and Wurburt45348 in mid-2009, they were ranked as the 5th largest army in Tom Yellow’s rankings.
My point is, Pink Mafias’ legacy lived on even after his first retirement in June 2007. His army was undeniably feared and revered, and his earliest successors including Angel G8i, Abercombe29, Mpenguin123, Hero12985 and Batista1822 were greats who shaped the direction of CPA as a whole. People fondly remember UMA’s glorious history and all of that can be attributed to Pink Mafias.
What are the major differences between a battle in those days and a battle nowadays?
Things have changed a lot. Battles back then used to last hours, sometimes the whole day. People would log on in the morning or after school and fight it out in the Dojo, Snow Forts, Ice Berg, Docks and other popular rooms. Reinforcements would come every so often so when people got tired they could log off and let the new faces do the work.
You have to bear in mind that a lot of the battles were spontaneous. If you spotted someone from an opposite army, a snowball fight would break out and things escalated from there. Sometimes leaders of the more popular powers like ACP or UMA would schedule a fixed time to hold a battle (like armies do today) and those sorts of events tended to attract the most people.
In terms of strategies, there were some tactics but nothing like the advanced formations and emote bombs we have today. The most common tactic deployed back then was a ‘hit and run’ attack. Basically, you would attack an enemy army and then run to another room, forcing them to chase you across the server. Eventually, their forces would scatter so you’d end up having the upper hand when you returned to the room you originally attacked them in. Oagalthorp was probably the greatest exponent of this strategy and it worked wonders against armies that were twice your size.
I should point out that chatting platforms (like Discord) weren’t really a thing during WW3. Most commands were relayed by leaders or HCOM figures on Club Penguin itself. XAT was adopted much later on in the year, probably around late 2007, and even then didn’t gain traction until 2008. The reason for this is because initially there were limits on the number of people allowed in a XAT room, plus a lot of players were cautious about moving over to a third party platform.
What are your final thoughts on the war?
WW3 holds a lot of sentimental value in ACP, RPF and UMA. It was undoubtedly the biggest conflict in CPA history. For that reason I’d argue it was probably the greatest war of all time. A lot of people share my opinion because during a CPAC community vote in March 2017, WW3 was ranked as the second most popular war to have taken place.
Finally, as we know, ACP and RPF won the war. So I think WW3 marked a monumental shift in the power structure in Club Penguin armies. Oagalthorp became the most powerful leader and was able to influence every other army more easily. If ACP didn’t come out on top, the community may have gone in a completely different direction than it eventually did – who knows?
What do YOU think about this wars? And what do you think about this interview? Share YOUR thoughts in the comments below or on discord!
Chey
Second In Command & OO Skald
Claire
Third In Command & OO Skald
df44
Third In Command & OO Editor-In-Chief
