Fortressmen of the Month #3 brings together two competitive veterans who were rivals across two different Team Fortress games, yet companions at the same international LANs, 15 years after standing at the top of the European scene. Coinz competed for ECA in Enemy Territory Fortress and later for YoYoTech/TCM Gaming in Team Fortress 2, while Moose played for Clan United (ETF, TF2) and then for Crack Clan/Power Gaming (TF2). Both came to TF2 from the short-lived but competitive tournament scene of the still-young ETF, joining a wider migration that saw entire clans from games such as Team Fortress Classic make the same transition.

For Coinz and Moose, however, the move was far more than a passing fad. They remained at the forefront of TF2 as the game’s competitive domain evolved from humble beginnings into a major scene with multiple leagues featuring several hundred teams each season.

In this interview, they look back at the online ETF competitions, discuss TF2’s unique gameplay and their adaptation to it, revisit the major European TF2 LAN tournaments where their paths crossed, and recall TF2’s early prospects as a major esport—including the first attempts to engage Valve on the game’s competitive future.

Team Fortress turns 30 years old this week, and so far, we have received three presents. The first and the biggest one came from the developer team behind Team Fortress 2 Classified (TF2C), a.k.a. Eminoma, who released the Team Fortress 30th update. The update introduces a holiday feature to TF2C that will be active every year from August 23^rd to 25^th. During those three days, features like ported old-school maps will be available in the game. This year we got Fortress Forever’s Dustbowl, QuakeWorld Team Fortress’ (QWTF) Canal Zone, and two more maps from Team Fortress Classic. The update also introduces the Classic Vision feature, allowing players to see all the classes and Sentry Guns using their QWTF models. Unlike the holiday, this feature is not time-limited, and can be enabled at any point from now on.

Perhaps even more intriguing, especially for the romantics and the historians, is the masterfully created update page. Its timeline takes you through almost all the major Team Fortress mods. It is reminiscent of what united.tf hoped to achieve with The Wall, but Eminoma’s timeline comes with the team’s usual level of visuals and presentation– makes it genuinely difficult to believe that this is the work of a non-commercial mod rather than an official sequel. And then there are the old teamfortress.com-styled links at the bottom of the page– a small detail, but an absolute delight to see. TF2C takes one for the whole team, honoring the 30^th anniversary by releasing a major update packed with phenomenal content and paying the utmost respect to the legacy on behalf of us all.

30 years of TF is actually 30 years of QuakeWorld TF. And if hard forks are set aside (MegaTF, CuTF, AGR etc.), the only active public (casual) game community that has survived around it is QWTF.RU. They gather every Tuesday and Thursday night in the European time zone; follow their Discord server for notifications. HaMMeR and other members of the community prepared a delightful article with a special focus on the Moscow TF League that lasted longer than other local efforts. The article also points to other worthwhile pieces of TF history, so you can dig even deeper.

The final surprise is a genuine public game session in QWTF Live (formerly known as FortressOne), a 2019 fork of QWTF. Modernized, fast-paced, and enhanced with anti-lag tech making intercontinental play smoother than ever. These days, QWTF Live is organized only around pickup games (competitive sessions) through its Discord server, but the young folks at Old Fortress Collective (OFC) Discord server have decided to change that for one day: September 5^th. To join, mind that you first need to obtain a token from the QWTF Live Discord server and associate it with your FortressOne client before connecting the server. Any technical or gameplay questions can be directed to the OFC or QWTF Live Discord servers. They hope to see you there– in the game that started the saga 30 years ago.

Every year since 2018, “Snoozer” LAN brings players from all over Australia together in Sydney for QuakeWorld competitions across its various modes including Team Fortress. This year, held on 7-9 August with sponsorship and prize pool provided by Scorptec Computers, the LAN celebrated the 30^th anniversary of Quake with 21 attendees competing in Duelmenia (1v1) and Team Deathmatch (4v4) tournaments. Although TF could not be included in the last two years, the LAN featured some of the best QWTF players, including wm and Wolverine.

Two of the attendees flew more than five hours from the other side of Australia, while the captain of the winning 4v4 team, Mortuary, drove ten hours from Melbourne. The winner of Duelmania, meanwhile, was Reload. The live streams of both Day 1 and Day 2 are available on Youtube, showcasing some top-class Quake gameplay.

TloFly from European TFC community and pick-up game (PuG) server compiled twenty minutes of Team Fortress Classic action from numerous top players, and named it The Wizards of TFC. It is a free masterclass in conc-jumping and flag running, topped off with an elite frag show. European players from ETFC PuGs make up the majority of the footage, with North and South American and Australian players featured as well. Last year, Manu’s Joga Bonito and rk’s 22^nd in the editless montage series, summer air, made their impact. This year, TloFly’s The Wizards is arguably the best release so far.

Another great movie of the year has come out of Team Fortress 2. deli’s montage showcases frags performed at poLANd.tf 2026, a top-level invite LAN in Łódź, Poland, organized annually since 2018. Just as Fireside Denver 2025 in Colorado hosted the best teams from Europe and Australia, and brought the three-continental LAN competition back to TF2 after eight years, poLANd 2026 brought an intercontinental competition back to Europe after four years, with an American mix team flying overseas to challenge the winners of Denver. The frags, as well as deli’s editing, match the quality of the competition.

Although they are not stacked montages, Enemy Territory Fortress recently produced some valuable media as well: recordings from the EU vs. US matches held on 27 July and 5 August. Thanks to the initiative of the European players who still queue up for the pick-up games every day on the Discord server, ETF is played again after several months. grome has recorded his POV from etf_schtop and etf_japanc maps played on 27 July, while Tulkas has full stream replays from both 27 July and 5 August. If you missed some ETF action, have fun watching them.

The Gang Garrison 2 community and community modders are preparing behind closed doors for something big. Something Super big. As we stand on this doorstep, let’s take a look back at the road that brought us here with a special focus on its development struggles and the community efforts in the final stretch, and then let’s catch a glimpse of what is being cooked behind the door.

If you haven’t played Gang Garrison 2 but have heard of it, what you heard was most likely faint praise, like, a “neat” little game, lumped together with the novelty freeware that had its time from late 2000s to early 2010s–perhaps a school computer game. It’s unlikely that you’ve heard about it by someone like me, for whom it has become his favorite game, and only around 2020. So what I am going to tell you not only has deeper and more recent insight, but also is not colored by nostalgia.