Welcome to the first edition of A Look Ahead, a brand new column showing the forecast of armies based on their current status. In this week, we will examine the Army of Club Penguin, an army known for being one of the greatest armies in our community. We have to wonder, will we see present day ACP go back to their prime? Let’s take a look ahead.
History
The Army of Club Penguin is a well-recognised army throughout the whole community. They are known for their great heights across several years, toppling giants through history, and striving for justice and honour. We have seen the Clovers conquer many recent years, achieving Army of The Year in 2023 and 2024. Wars also wouldn’t be as exciting without the presence of ACP, as seen in recent great wars like World War IX and the many wars against the Elite Guardians.
There have been many rising threats that faced the Clovers throughout history. Formidable opponents such as the Underground Mafia, Nachos, Ice Warriors, Water Vikings, and recently, the Doritos. What the Army of Club Penguin was significantly great at was the ability to end up victorious in almost every conflict against their various arch-nemesis’. Despite all the challenges ACP faces, we can notice great perseverance and persistence in how they operate.
Current Day
Today, the Army of Club Penguin sees the usual dilemmas they face nearly every year. With the growing competition in the major side of the community, the Clovers are trailing behind slightly. Despite the decent maxes the army sees through Club Penguin Journey, they fall short in many of the one-on-one battles when pitted up against strong opponents. In most tournaments, anticipation towards an ACP win quickly diminishes.
The overall redundancy of events is not only a trait by ACP, but seems to be a common theme in today’s landscape. What used to be a consistent motion of events loses most of its hype and excitement now. Furthermore, the bureaucracy within major armies seems to be leading to a slow death. Present day elements such as splits in the community and overall lack of interest have had a deepening effect. Additionally, the lack of political involvement of ACP in many wars we saw this year caused them to slightly lose influence within the community.
More recently, the Army of Club Penguin saw many of its key high commanders retire. This includes Chkn, Sanya, Amelia and, most recently, Noa. During December of last year, ACP stood at 8 HCOM, with a vast staff team of around 15 individuals. The numbers have seen a significant decrease throughout this year, with only 2 of the total tally from December still active in the ranks today.
In terms of war, we have not seen ACP take on many armies. Due to the current standards of warfare in the major side, this appears to be the norm. The nearly nonexistent opposition to ACP could be one of the reasons for the lack of activity in some regard. Having an enemy leads to significant direct back and forth competition. We saw this loss for ACP with the shutdown of Doritos earlier this year. The only war we have seen them take on in a while was a declaration of war against the Aliens, which sadly they couldn’t win many battles in and ended up losing overall.
Nonetheless, despite everything we’ve mentioned, ACP continues to operate moderately. Their recent event maxes show overall stability in the army, though they are not very consistent. Statistics in the recent monthly Top Tens show a peak max of 63 in November and another with only 16. Despite that, the Army of Club Penguin have achieved great feats in the Top Tens, remaining a competitor for #1.
A Look Ahead
Usually this time of the year, the Army of Club Penguin would see a significant rise in a lot of aspects. We have seen this before many times, such as the late 2022 great revitalisation, and the 2024 winter post-war successes. The community could potentially see a huge uplift in CPAB maxes within ACP, as the army books a bid to participate in the Christmas Chaos. However, ACP could possibly fall short in the tournament due to the participation of strong opponents like the Rebel Penguin Federation and the Aliens.
The Army of Club Penguin will most likely face the Dark Warriors in the Quarter Finals, followed by the RPF right after as seen by the bracket. ACP has clear records of being an underdog in a lot of tournaments, and displaying a big performance out of nowhere is not unprecedented. It could be a close battle between ACP and RPF, though with a logical consensus, RPF could comfortably win the Semifinals.
After a loss, ACP would once again have to face a January drought as we saw this past year. With the exams coming close, and the hype within the community in a general decline, maxes could go down to around 15-25. This could also be around the same time a new ACP opponent starts making moves. With the removal of 1v1 rules in CPA, and ACP having alliances and good ties with every current major army, we could see a lot of ally turnout if any army declares war on them.
With this forecast, ACP could potentially be comfortable in their position externally. Though, internally, it could be a difficult situation to overcome. January is a month where changes would have to take place so the army could secure another resurgence and return back to #1. With the long tenure of Roxy as a leader in ACP, we could see her retiring very soon in retrospect to previous leader terms. As there has been a lot of instability within the HCOM team, it is unlikely we see a new ACP leader anytime soon, meaning Daniel could solo-lead for a while in 2026, beginning yet another era in the Army of Club Penguin.
Overall Forecast
Medium to Positive, Semi-Unstable.
With all being said, armies like the Army of Club Penguin are pretty difficult and unpredictable to really give a clear forecast on. There have been many instances where ACP unexpectedly goes from the bottom back the the top before anyone realises, either from a tournament like 2023, or a war like 2024, and so it is up to ACP today to find their next big breakthrough.
What do you think ACP would be like in 2026? Let us know your own forecast in our Discord community chat!
