ASE was formed in early
1998. Along with Delta Force, we started playing
CounterStrike and Rainbow 6.One of the add-on packs
for Rainbow 6 was Rogue Spear. Rogue Spear made ASE
a clan officially.
ASE originally stood for ApeSquad East. We decided
on ApeSquad as a name for a couple reasons. First
of all, "Ape" was
Widow's nickname at work. We're also both fans of the "Planet
of the Apes" movies. (The originals of course, not the
Marky Mark fake stuff).
We decided to switch to playing RS for the fact that DF and
CS had way too many cheaters. We started running ASE servers
for sniper matches as well as Co-Op games. We didn't do to
well as a clan because we were out-classed by the other players.
We didn't even consider ladder play. We picked up a few members
along the way. One was Magua who is still with ASE today.
We really enjoyed playing the Co-Ops once we started finding
the cool mods. We started running servers with T88 and Fear
mods which made Co-Op a lot more challenging. Once we got our
cable Internet access around 1999 or 2000, things started to
grow. We could run a good 12 player server with little lag,
and that server would be standing room only until we logged
out for the night. This went on for about a year.Just a little
side note. The original ASE website is still out there somewhere.
Widow stumbled across the address accidentally and told me
about it. I looked it up, and sure as can be, there it was.
Unfortunately neither of us remember the address. If we come
across it again we will share it with everyone who is up for
a good laugh!
A new game came out late 2001 called Ghost Recon. Me being
a big fan of Tom Clancy, I had to have the game. ASE wasn't
too strong in Rogue Spear matches, so it started slipping
into the background while we played GR. WidowMaker likes
to play the missions solo to learn the game. I get bored
playing solos; for me it's more exciting playing against
real people who are less predictable. While we were doing
our own thing, the ASE Rogue Server was hardly up, the
website never really got finished, and ApeSquad appeared
to be a dying monkey.
One night while looking through Ubi for a game to join, I met another
player named Impact. He asked if I was in a clan for GR. I told him
no, but also explained to him about ASE and Rogue Spear. That's when
we decided we would try to start recruiting a new team and bring
ASE into Ghost Recon.
That night we recruited a few players, one of which is still with
us (Skip). The next day when I got in touch withWidowMaker and told
him of this new move, he was interested in making the transition.
So we started on a new website and recruiting campaign. Within two
weeks, ASE had more members for the Ghost Recon team than it ever
had for total members for the year and a half to two years it was
an active Rogue Spear and Delta Force Clan. Some of those members
are still with us, some are long gone. I told SilentRecon about this
game at the time the Island Thunder Expansion came out. That's when
he came to ASE. After that, ASE continued to grow into the force
it is now.
Most of you can finish the story from here. ASE has seen some rough
times over the last two years, but we have always prevailed. We have
had quite a few members come and go. At one point we had almost 50
active members. We have less now but we are a much tighter group.
ASE is now a recognized clan in the gaming community. It has come
a long way -- from a two man hit squad (as Widow and I used to call
it) to a well-respected clan that upholds a fine standard of morals
and fair game play. It has become much more than WidowMaker and I
could have imagined 4 years ago.
