The THS was founded in 2004 with a project called Code-Ronin, Zen’s new Tactical Realism project “Bloodlines” is the first project with details to try and understand how Tactical rules came to be and how the first clans formed around this very unusual rule set.

Me: Who did you create THS with?
Zen: The THS has been created entirely by myself, however I have gathered information about the history or Tactical gaming from hundreds of people.

Me: What are your goals for THS?
Zen: The THS has the same goals that my earliest projects had along with a few minor goals.
1st. Provide a running history and information outlet for how tactical began, grew, and how it impacts gaming today.
2nd. Provide a meeting place and contact point for the countless tactical vets who made this what it is, and to re-connect the tactical clans to their history. Establish a working system for record keeping. Create an atmosphere that is fun and carefree enough to develop a gathering point for Tact gamers. Substitute the “Stress” gathering points like the TCC and the CoDTRA with a much more open, no restriction membership Tactical hub.

The Tactical Historic Society “Bloodlines” Project may be viewed at www.tactical.clanguide.net

After Online Tactical Realism League’s downfall in October 2005, OTR League is finally back with the new release of Pheonix CS a new Competition Managment System that is rated #1 Unreleased CMS. With the addition of a website design team that will be coming up with the release of OTRL V.2.0 Website with all new Tactical Realism functions and programing. The details of this project is currently hidden from the public but the estimate release will be sometime in late July.

OTRL will begin it’s first season with Battlefield 2 (FH2 Mod), Call of Duty 2 (WRM Mod), and Red Orchestra.

“Online Tactical Realism League is not trying to seperate TR gamers from other leagues, or trying to be the best our goal is to unite all TR gamers into one community, for too long has there only be one TR league for only one game. OTRL is hoping to revolutionize that style by expanding into the popular TR games, each season there will be a addition of a new game depending on the popularity level of the games within the TR community.”

OTRL will be released sometime late in december.

Been a long time since I’ve updated this blog.  But i still feel passioniately about TR gaming and would like to see this site live on.

I’m looking for writers/authors/admins to continue bringing TR related news and discussion to this blog.  Please use the contact form to voice your interest.

Demo is out now - get it here.

I recently talked with Ben Goldberg, point man on the Resistance and Liberation mod team about their upcoming WW2 shooter. RnL is being built on the HL2 engine and plans to take realism to the next level: the creators of RnL are calling the mod a “world war two infantry simulation”.

TR: Why make Resistance and Liberation?
Ben Goldberg: Well firstly we are making RnL because it is the game that we have all wanted to see. The team is striving to make RnL the most realistic experience possible because it is the game that we have all envisioned and want to play.

TR: Why focus on the 82nd airborne in Normandy?
Ben Goldberg: At the time the team started development there were several other mods basing their gameplay around the Army, so naturally we choose to do the airborne. In addition using the 82nd airborne also opened up possibilities of using the 101st as well, this allows us to look at some of the other areas of the war that have not been touched or not been done realistically.

TR: What modding experience does the RnL team have, and what are some games or mods that have influenced them?
Ben Goldberg: Our development team as a whole has been modding for years on many different engines, several of the team actually do their respective jobs full time. As for influences RnL will be a game unlike any other, we are not aiming to be like any other game out there. However the team has been influenced by games such as Day of Defeat, World War 2 Online, and Brothers in Arms just to name a few.

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Posted by Rocky on Saturday, April 22 2006
GR:AW PC could be on your PC sometime next week according to a post by a moderator in the French Ubisoft forums. The best translation I can come up with at this time is…

“Well, the demo is out next week! One of the folks that were at the fan’s day yesterday asked the question and one said for them that the demo is due out next week but no exact date was specified.”

Keep your eyes peeled on the official sites for the exact date and content of the demo. Forum discussion here.

The long long long awaited multiplayer patch for CoD2 as well as a badly needed map editor, have been released! The patch includes punkbuster support and two new maps (actually one new map ‘Rhine’ and one updated map ‘Harbor’). The map editor features Radiant as well as Maya plugins.

Get the patch here.

Get the tools here.

Tactical Gamer has released a mod for BF2 that intends to provide emphasis on team-based execution of strategy & tactics:

Selected Feature List:

• Changes to soldier classes and vehicles that promote strong teamwork
• Balances air power and ground forces
• Supports high quality custom maps, including maps from the TotalBF2 Map Packs
• Balances and adds ticket bleed to all maps
• Increased bullet and anti-tank missile damage
• Blood effects for bullet impacts
• Improved smoke grenades for most soldier classes
• Increased vehicle wreckage and soldier bodies on the battlefield
• Locked armor and aircraft for own team
• Removed Artillery and UAV
• Tactical Mod: Special Forces includes enhanced grappling hooks and zip lines on all maps, including original BF2 maps

Locking vehicles to the owning team will go a long way towards cleaning up the gameplay in BF2 imo.

Read more about the mod here. Download the mod here.

The Firing Squad posted a late but well thought out review of Red Orchestra. It’s interesting how many reviews end up comparing RO to BF2 and this review is no exception. They give RO a 75%, which is a little low in my opinion, however they do recgonize where it beats games like BF2 in terms of TR play.

As a consequence of these gameplay decisions, Red Orchestra does play out fairly realistically. Unlike the Battlefield games, there are fairly clear lines of battle and no enemies spawning behind you just because they captured a flag thirty seconds ago. Objectives tend to be captured in some fashion resembling order – perhaps you may rush up a bridge and capture both sides of a river before securing your own side all along the river, perhaps not, but there’s little incentive to rush behind enemy lines since spawn points are fixed.

Read the full review here.

The team over at Badge of Blood have posted an update including the first soldier model. I still have hopes that this game is being developed with some realism components and that the full featured class and campaign system will adapt well for TR play. Time will tell.