The Vicious Vikings
The first Norwegian Quake clan, and one of the most influential.
Information
- Founded: August , 1996 by
BM
- Nationality: Norwegian
- Clan prefix: <VV>
- Clan colors: 1 2
- IRC channel: #vicious_vikings (QuakeNet)
- Website: http://web.archive.org/web/19991127170041/http://www.vv.no/
The Vicious Vikings was Norway's first Quake clan. It was formed by a small group of Norwegians, led by BM. Most of them had grown up in the same neighborhood, and had been playing Quake via LAN since the test-release. BM took the initiative to form the clan after hearing about clans being formed abroad.
The Vicious Vikings was never the best or the most successful Norwegian clan. Usually it was rated as third best in Norway, behind Carnage Clan and Spawn Clan, who later merged and formed Game Over. Still, VV was one of the most active and influential Norwegian clans, the latter mainly because they were arranging the infamous AskerLANs. VV was probably also the biggest clan in Norway, with more than 30 members at one point.
In the most active period, from the summer of 1996 to the fall of 1999, The Vicious Vikings played more than 200 clan matches. Unlike todays TB3, back then the matches were decided over a two-legged tie, the winning clan being determined by aggregate score.
VV had the unusual map choice of E4M3 (The Elder God Shrine), which often proved a big advantage against better clans. This is a fairly easy map to control if you know it well. By assigning each player to key points on the map, you can keep time of and control all four (!) Quads and at the same time RA, YA and GA fairly easy. In addition, you have a fair chance to control the two RLs and LG most of the time. There are also few spawns, so a total map lock can make the frag count pretty high, which of course was essential to winning clan matches back then, as it was decided on aggregate score. VV perfected the E4M3 team play, making it possible to win against clans who's players were of individually superior skill, but not used to playing E4M3.
This quote from a match report after VV had met the swedish clan Seven Deadly Sins in July 1997 is very telling: «This was just a friendly match, and at this point there were really few norwegian clans who dared playing against us, and we had to look in Sweden for worthy opponents. [...] It did not look like 7DS had ever played E4M3 before; most of the time they were either lost or without weapons, which made them easy targets to us.»
The Vicious Vikings' most notable wins came against the legendary danish clan Nasty Beasts Inc and the short-lived danish clan Color Web. Color Web was starring Cataclysm, who had won the FFA tournament on COTS LAN 1998 ahead of players like DOOMer and Nikodemus the previous year. Both clans were well above VV's skill level, but didn't cope on E4M3. In fact, the defeat to VV was Color Web's last match, as their players got into an argument after the match and dissolved the clan shortly after.
The Vicious Vikings peaked in 1999, finishing 3rd in the North-European Clan League (NECL) Division A, won by Clan Z. VV's activity slowly declined during 2000, along with the general QuakeWorld scene, after the releases of Counter-Strike and Quake3Arena. The clan hasn't been active since late 2000, though some of its members - most notably Rikoll, then known as Zyntifox, and Trygve, then known as Leon, made combacks some years later.
The Vicious Vikings' old web page can be viewed here.
AskerLAN
The AskerLANs, at one point the heart of the Norwegian Quake scene, were arranged by The Vicious Vikings in Asker, close to Oslo. The first LAN-party, held from February 14th to16th 1997, (more on AskerLAN I here) turned out to be a huge success and spawned about 10 more LAN-parties over the next couple of years, with visitors also coming from Denmark and Sweden.
For more information, see these pages about AskerLAN I, AskerLAN III, AskerLAN V, AskerLAN VI, AskerLAN VII and AskerLAN VIII. (The reports from AskerLAN II and IV seem to be lost.) Most of the participants at the earliest AskerLANs were members from The Vicious Vikings and the other three big Norwegian clans at that time, Carnage Clan, Dead Presidents and Spawn Clan. Members from the latter have also written reports from AskerLAN I and AskerLAN 3.
Achievements
- 1999: 3rd in NECL (North-European Clan League) Division A (won by Clan Z)
Members
Original members
Other members
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