It's that time of year once again! This time the elite speedrunners within the Hogs community will be battling it out across the island of Trotsville to see who can bring home that 1st place finish! The community has managed two previously successful GPs on Hogshead and Saustralia, with Candyman and adb95 taking the wins there respectively.
You can expect to see them both and a whole host of other runners taking part in the Grand Finals this year, however this time around the livestream for the Final will take place over on the Hogs of War League Channel on the 3rd March, so feel free to tune in! Want to get involved in future GPs or the Hogs Speedrunning scene? Check out the Hogs of War section of the official speedrun website, link below! Good luck to all runners in this years GP, its gonna be a blast!
Once again throughout the months of October and November our community was graced with more competitive hogs of war. Season 2 of HoWL kicked off with some surprises, as some of our veteran players receiving early wake up calls from the fresh blood making their first appearances in the Pro League. Despite the shaky start, both Group A and B started to take the shape many had expected from the get go.
By the end of the Final week we saw a comfortable 1st place finish for adb95 and Castor within their respective groups, with some close fought matches for the remaining qualification spots. In the end we had adb95, Herpderp, Mascettino and Axby94 making it through to the Playoffs in Group A, while Castor, Irn Fox, Angurio and Darrot joined them from Group B. It was only adb95 who went into the Playoffs upbeaten, having ended the seven weeks with 5 wins and a single draw (who could forget that crazy finish vs Axby94 on Bridge the Gap!). Perhaps the pressure of maintaining that record got the better of him, as the start of the first round matches saw him crash out against the dark horse Darrot.
Carried by his early success, Darrot pushed on into the Semi Finals. Unfortunately for him - his next opponent was to show no mercy. After dispatching Irn Fox 2-0 in his first round, Mascettino proceeded to make mince meat of Darrot, as he waltzed into the Grand Final with a 3-0 clean sweep. On the other side of the coin, the other first round matches saw Castor managing to scrape past Axby94 with a tense 2-0 victory, while Angurio's matchup with Herpderp came right down to the wire, eventually ending in a 2-1 victory to the Italian. The 2nd Semi Final then saw Castor show us why he is the best of the best, as he kept his cool and took care of Angurio in a 3-1 win to make it to the Final.
Now, if you haven't watched the Grand Final yet - please, go and watch it! It was honestly one of the most insane matches of Hogs of War I've ever witnessed, as a fan, a player and a commentator. Castor vs Mascettino will forever go down as one of the craziest League Final matchups in Hogs history, and it was simply a joy to watch. From poison counters, to blimp disruption, to jetpack crashes - it has everything. If you don't want any more spoilers then stop reading... now. Are you still reading? Ok, well if you are then you'll know that Castor eventually took the win and maintained his crown for the 2nd year running after a ridiculous 150HP damaging shrapnel shot on Skulduggery to win the Final 3-1. I'm still getting over that shot by the way...
This year has been another tough one for all of us, but we've pulled through with another successful League campaign and shown once again why this game is so great. I would like to give a personal shout out to Angurio for his strength in fighting on during tough times, J.Warren, Pekkiz and Darrot for showing us what the Grunt League has to offer, to the League Admin team made up of adb95, Fab, Axby94, Castor, Herpderp and Crumble for yet another successful year and of course - you, the community, for watching and supporting us this year. Here's to Season 3, here's to Season 2 of the Grunt League, and here's to you. Merry Christmas everyone! (Don't forget to check out the Playoff Streams below!)
Its that time of the year again. The 2nd season of the Hogs of War League will be commencing from the 4th October, and with it we have a whole host of new and old players who are ready to battle it out for the bacon! Last season the league had one giant system, consisting of 10 players in a single group. This time round however we've increased the number of participants to 14 and have split them into two groups of 7. Progression remains the same, with the top four players from each group going through to the Live Playoff Finals, which by rough calculations will take place sometimes in November.
Splitting the players into two separate tables has helped reduce the feeling of fatigue, as last season it was 9 straight weeks of hosting, organising, playing, recording and uploading the matches. With this new format we have reduced that time down to 6 weeks, with an added rest week for all players.
Alongside a new format - we have also made some changes to the map pool for this season. There were four maps in particular that seemed to be stuck in the same 'basic' category, in that they had very little to offer the player in the way of crates, environment hazards and spawn placement. Wasteland, Porkchop Temple, Headquarters and Hilltop all suffered from non-slippery tiles, meaning that all pigs could walk on any part of the map without falling off, and in competitive that can cause several issues when it comes to balancing. I mean first off - it can be pretty boring to watch, and second - the player who ends up going first will usually always have the advantage.
The hope with these map changes is to provide a more dynamic approach for competitive players, rather than starting a match and immediately being able to walk up to your target without having to think about the terrain around you. Maps are incredibly important to both players and viewers of the league, and I feel we take a good deal of pride and effort in choosing the map pools. At the end of the day we just want to provide the best experience for everyone, for everything to feel fair and ultimately - to have fun.
So feel free to join us over on the Hogs of War League channel for the upcoming Season 2 fixtures, of which you can check out over on the League's toornament page which lists everything you'll need to know. Castor is of course the raining champion from Season 1, so the big question this time around is whether he can maintain his unbeaten run going into Week 1!
Alternatively you can also check out the League section of this site to get involved in upcoming competitive events, and if you feel like playing like the Pros do - you can download the updated Hogs League ISO as well. Good luck to all participants, I'll be seeing you on the battlefield!
