The Small Medium community is often the more volatile part of the overall community, with the Major one being more stable. Recently, there have been many discussions of the shape of the current SM community, which this post aims to analyse.

A Brief SMall medium Community Analysis

The Top 3

Starting from the strongest, based on the Top Ten of the Month, we have the Shadow Legionnaires. It has been a consistent SM army, holding events on a regular basis. It usually maxes around 10-15, making it a solid army. A few months ago, it managed to win a war against the Fire Vikings and the Abyssal Tides of Club Penguin. Additionally, it won the SM section of the Around the World Cup III last month. Overall, a solid SM army, with the most presence on the map among the SM armies.

Following it, there is the Fire Vikings. It is an army that has large ups and downs and struggles to keep a balance. A cause for this is its multiple leadership changes within the past few weeks. In order to understand the magnitude of the problem, there was a point FV had no leaders, so the FV creator, YellowTyper, had to return and lead it. After that, the formerly couped Klombe was reinstated in the leadership. Despite that, the army has tried its best to stay open and has had maxes mostly around 7-12 recently. FV also hosts events on a week-by-week basis, about 2 per week. It also participates on the map, even though it was kicked out of it once by SL after its defeat.

The third largest SM, based on the Top Tens, is the Star Force. It is a wildcard army, as it hosts one or two events per week, and they are in Club Penguin Journey. It also hosts events less regularly, so in some weeks there are no events. Despite that, it sometimes reaches major maxes, even though it doesn’t reach major requirements since it does not host enough events. As it has not participated in any wars, tournaments, or battles at all, so far, no one knows for sure how it will perform in one.

Lesser SMs

Coming up next, there is the Fire Warriors. The historical army only recently reopened and has only participated in two Top Tens. So far, it has mostly hosted events on CPJ and has not made any significant diplomatic moves, and has not had a battle yet. So far, it has maxed similarly to FV, but it is still too early to make any conclusions about it.

The Pizzaioli of Club Penguin, which is next, started as a meme army, only to become a formal one later on. It has had fluctuating maxes, between 5 and 10 usually. Its activity is also inconsistent, having gone a few weeks without events at times. Despite starting as a meme army, it has left some impact on the overall community, being active on the map and having conquered much freeland.

Next up, we have 2 armies that are in a similar situation. The Romans, SnowWalkers of Club Penguin. Both lack consistency when it comes to hosting events. SWCP is probably in the best situation. The army came back very recently, after undoing a merge with the FV. It usually maxes around 4, but has also been active in the map at times, being able to gather larger maxes at times. On the other hand, the Romans have been around for a while, reaching glory at times and being influential. Lately, they have not held events occasionally, only appearing in one Top Ten last month, receiving eleventh place. Despite that, they could probably grow more easily, as they have done again in the past, and they also have a small veteran pool.

Meme Armies/One Time Appearances

This section covers even smaller armies. That hosted events during the month. The first one is the Shreks of Club Penguin. This meme army has been around for a while, hosting events once in a while. It is mostly famous for its theme, and it just likes to do events when it feels like it, being a very casual army. The other three are the so-called “max 2 armies”.  These armies have a very small lifespan, usually two or three weeks, and have been criticised by many people. They usually max as low as possible, so even 2, which is why they are called like that. Sometimes they engage in wars against each other, bringing some activity and drama into the community, which is missing. At times, those armies manage to rise up and prolong their lifespan while growing larger. This has been the case with SWCP and the Abyssal Tides, for example.

How Does An Army end Up Being Small-Medium?

There are two ways an army can become a Small-Medium one. Either it can drop, after being a Major army formerly, or never make it to the Major category at all. There are many reasons why this can happen. Below, I will name them without much detail, so as not to deviate from the post’s purpose.

First of all, one of the main reasons why an army can be SM is that they are more casual than competitive. While Major armies are usually competitive, some SM ones choose to run casually. They don’t bother much about recruiting or retaining new troops, but rather than purely having fun. These armies maintain their numbers by having a small loyal member core and visitors who enjoy spending time in them. Another reason can be the lack of a large enough staff team. Especially armies that open from scratch, so non-revivals, do not have veterans, and often advisors too, to support them in the beginning. Thus, these armies start with a smaller staff team, which makes it more difficult for them to become a major. Still, under great leadership, much effort, and some luck, even those armies can become Major ones over time. On the other hand, incompetent leadership can doom the army and make it an SM one. In the current SM community, there are armies of all of these types.

The Community’s Opinion

There have been various opinions about the current state of the Small and Medium community. People’s opinions seem to be conflicting at points, which is why I decided to interview some vocal people.

Kath, WV HCOM: I think currently we have a lot of small/medium armies that are somehow ”sleeping”, there is a lot that could be a major army, but I know having a solid and full team to deal with what a major army is can be very challenging for the majority. But at the end of the day it could be fun to see how things would turn out for them if they joined the “big leagues”. Small/medium armies have a lot of potential, they are the ones who kinda keep CPA alive with some “random” wars just because they wanted. Without them, I don’t think we would have much going on.

Mz, Community member: The S/M community currently faces a significant decline, with only three legitimate armies remaining. The absence of emerging S/M armies is particularly concerning. A primary reason, I believe, is that major armies do not focus on recruiting new members; the concept of establishing new armies is a primary factor in why no major armies have undergone substantial changes—they are overly preoccupied with maximizing their own capabilities. A major concern within the S/M community is the lack of effective leadership, with the community being disenfranchised. Furthermore, without a designated S/M governing body, such as SMAL, which exclusively prioritizes S/M interests, the community risks becoming inactive. Currently, major armies appear more engaged in forming alliances among themselves rather than advancing the community’s activity in warfare or active conflicts. S/M requires a dedicated governing organization. Given the recent shutdown of most prominent armies, I don’t believe this comment will extend beyond its current length.

Eden, Community member: The SM community currently is small, there isn’t many new SM armies being made. Decreasing the minimum size cap to become a league army has proven to be ineffective at boosting SM army numbers up but rather has instead, led to artificial inflation of max 2 armies that are the same people consistently in constant rotation.
SM army warfare however, is more alive and active than major army warfare. Standout armies such as Shadow Legionnaires and Fire Vikings are showing the army community that there are still armies out there that want to be armies.
Roughly 70% of SM armies are doing one event a week. The outliers from this statistic being Star Force, Shadow Legionnaires and Fire Vikings. Since SM armies are meant to be the foundational lifeblood of CPA, this is not a great state of things.
There needs to be a renewed focus on SM army growth and not just growth, but quality too. Raising the minimum size for a league army up to 5 is a first step towards the goal of less quantity and more quality in our SM armies.

Mashu, DW Advisor: To answer the elephant in the room, we gotta look into the purposes of three communities: CPAL, SMAL and CPA. All three communities have wonderful and talented people from what I’ve seen unlike previous years.
• Club Penguin Army League from my perspective believed in the spectrum of an alternative voice. Think of it as racing for example. We can choose Formula 1, Le Mans, Indycar as primary examples. All have their styles and differences. As for that, CPAL focused on a retrospect about giving another community a run for its money. Some say it’s “second rate” and others say a decent alternative to current outlets. Whichever it is, I believe CPAL stood for its purpose as another news outlet we could trust when people should’ve given involved a chance.
• Small Medium Army League was probably the last represent an era of S/M armies, faithfully speaking. I don’t know how they operated before my return from armies since December. I believe SMAL really stood its agenda and vestige “for the S/M community, always the S/M Community.” Nowadays, it’s a far cry of these past months been. It’s been rough for the smaller/medium community not setting up standards by often overlooked individuals w/ influence. Lack of visibly, effort and ill-will cost its own decline tremendously. Not until there’s another representing S/M, there’s nowhere else to go but operate “underground” with no distinct voice.
• As described by many, CPA became the Monégasque of the army community. Many names and individuals from different sectors of our community “volunteer” for its sake. The problem surrounding CPA is the preservation of armies itself. Where do they stand? For what purpose does it attain the long round? These are questions needed to be addressed by the larger cast. Everything all needed and army related news is here, probably. Now, with these mention, where does the S/M community stand in 2026? As of this moment, it’s close to nil. Everyone rang with political drama and forgot a community that represents a minority and stomping grounds for future leaders and legends. I think it’s time to change the mindset and revert to zero. Start with an era where we left off. This is not a warning; it’s an urgency. A plea for S/M Community to rise again. Potential being wasted over petty drama leads to further decline.

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removal of registration

Some people accuse the removal of the registration system as the reason for the current state of the SM community. Registration was removed back on November 5, 2025, with an announcement. Before its removal, it served no real purpose, as armies would have to sign up for tournaments and league events anyway. They were also covered in the Top Tens and the news posts regardless of whether they were registered or not. There was also a case, with the Arctic Vikings, of being unable to register within the league as they could not reach the minimum threshold of 10 people online, which was the required number to get registered at that time. Thus, all these led us to take the necessary decision of removing registration.

Since that moment, armies have been automatically covered by Club Penguin Armies, as long as they hold a successful event. For league events, armies choose whether to sign up or not, as they also choose whether to participate on the map or not. This change brought a freer system, which resembles more of what existed in the original armies of the Club Penguin Army Central era. This also brought more smaller armies, as more meme armies. New people were more willing to try their luck with opening their own army than before. Characteristically, last year, 56 armies hosted an event, 22 more compared to 2024, while this year there have already been 48. 

The Outcome of the Change

While the change brought more armies, those often did not end up going well. Many times, they were not able to max double-digit numbers, while sometimes they shut down after two weeks of activity. Despite that, new army members were given the chance to open a new army. At times, though, these armies engaged with the overall community. We saw them joining wars and invading land on the map. The Pizzaioli is an example of that, having 8 freeland currently. In recent times, when major conflict is mostly absent, these armies have kept fighting each other, being the only ones that keep the army spirit alive.

Complaints

Some people from the community have complained about the existence of these armies as a whole, claiming that they are not “real armies”. The truth is that despite maxing low and having fewer members, they act more like armies than the larger ones of the community. Take Dark Warriors, for example. They have not had a war so far this year. Their last one was in November 2025, so it has been about 8 months. Additionally, based on the Club Penguin Army Judges’ requests, they have only had one practice battle this year. Any other battles they have had were part of a tournament. The Rebel Penguin Federation is in a similar situation, with its last war being in September 2025. I will not even discuss the Help Force and the Star Force, which are even in a worse situation in this matter. There are also claims that these “max 2” armies have led the Small Medium community to its demise.

The New Small Armies Effect in the SMall-medium Community

In the paragraph above, I mentioned that these armies act more like armies. To put that into perspective, since the beginning of April, there have been 6 wars exclusively between these very small armies. Occasionally, they also teamed up to face each other in alliances, as in the example in the pictures above. At the same time, there were only two wars within Major armies, with one of them being a raid war. The rest of the SM armies also had a war, the one that was mentioned earlier between SL and FV, with the Abyssal Tides also joining. From this, it seems like these armies have driven the warfare in the community lately, as the rest have mostly abstained. Apart from wars, we see some of them, mainly those who manage to rise up, attempting to join the map or tournaments. Apart from the Pizzaioli, the Abyssal Tides and the Snowwalkers also appeared on the map periodically.

Aside from that, they have not really affected the SM community much. They have not been able to contest any SM titles in tournaments, such as the March Madness XI tournament SM trophy. They have also reduced the Top Ten average and median points, but that is mostly aesthetic damage.

Overall, I would say their appearance has done mostly good. Even though it is not much, they have partially boosted the community and supplied it with some wars in the absence of major ones. At the same time, they have not caused harm to anyone. In my opinion, if someone wants to have fun without hurting others or the overall community in any way, it should not be denied to them.

Not a First Time Appearance

It should be noted here that these “max 2” armies and very small armies overall are not a thing that has only appeared in modern armies. After a quick research in the Small Medium Army Central, I found some similar cases from the original armies’ era. For example, in 2016, an army named the Club Penguin Emperors was short-lived and averaged just 3 troops. It also had a revival later on, which was followed by a lockdown right after. Even during the armies peak in 2012, there were armies like this. An example would be the Sun Troops, who, as this post claims, were initially maxing 2-3 before finally rising up and reaching maxes of 8. Another post from the same year talks about an army, the Arctic Warriors, who had a large drop and went from maxing 10 to 3-6. It also highlights a battle between them and an army named COBRA, which was a 3-versus-6 battle. This shows that armies and wars like these have always been a part of armies, and it is not anything new. The removal of registration paved the way for their comeback.

There are huge differences between that era and the modern era, though. I will not go into many details, but in short, communication is now easier between armies and troops through Discord. On the other hand, the general player base is much smaller compared to 2012 and even 2016, given that any remaining players are mostly gathered in Club Penguin Journey nowadays, compared to the original Club Penguin back then.

Before the Removal Of The Registration Requirement

Even before the removal of registration, these armies had made their appearance. The example of AV was mentioned above, where they failed to register. At the same time, Special Weapons and Tactics, a formerly major army that had normally registered, was dropping in numbers. Around the beginning of this year, it had reached a point where it maxed 2 in some events, having no real difference from the armies that joined after the registration removal. Even if there is a requirement for the opening event for the armies to be considered armies, they can surpass it, using visitors, and then go back to maxing low. This will not be a permanent solution, but there is not even an actual problem.

The “problem” seems to be mostly aesthetic, with people not liking others avoiding putting effort into their armies and still being featured in the Top Tens or posts (the latter has been decreased, though, as posts about “max 2” armies get merged). The only way this could be tackled is by increasing the required number for a meetup to be considered as an event. It is currently set at 2 and cannot go above 5. Historically, even significant SMs have found themselves maxing between 2-5. For example, during the 2024 war between the People’s Imperial Confederation and the Winged Hussars, there were moments in the battles where the armies maxed below 5. Through that, the iconic “square” formation was made, which involves four penguins sitting in a square shape.

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The Ups and Downs of the SM Community – Historically
from a Top Ten View

Moving on, I wanted to compare the shape of the Small Medium community, mainly over the past few years, and some selected earlier ones.

From The Total Collapse of 2022

2022 began with the community being split between CPAHeadQuarters and CPANetwork. By the time they merged into CPA, the number of active Small Medium armies had already decreased. In the first CPA Top Ten, there were 6 Major armies present and 6 Small-Medium ones. This 2023 post perfectly describes the situation of 2022. Throughout the year, more and more armies were shutting down, rarely being replaced by new ones. Eventually, by December of the same year, the situation reached the worst point in recent history, with only one present SM army in the Top Ten, the Ice Warriors, along with 5 majors. At that time, there was also the Dark Vikings, an SM that was active, but did not host any event during that specific week.

To The Slow Rise of 2023

A few months later, the situation was much better. The SM community started rising once again, with some Small Medium armies opening and others reviving. In this Top Ten from May 2023, we see 11 armies in total, 6 majors and 5 SMs. Three of those armies had less than 20 points in the Top Ten. While the number of active SMs not that impressive, it is still a great improvement from the previous months. The same pattern mainly continued for the duration of the summer as well, occasionally with another SM showing up. The main difference from today is that armies at the time, even SM ones, hosted events in consecutive weeks, as opposed to some now, which host events once every two weeks.

As expected, the winter drop brought a small decrease in the numbers. Near the end of the year, in this Top Ten of December 2023, we see 6 Major armies and 4 SMs, with one not having hosted an event. Despite the drop, things were still better compared to the situation of one year earlier.

The Consistency of 2024

In 2024, as soon as the winter passed, there was a small growth in the community. In a Top Ten from March 2024, we can see that there were 7 Major armies and 5 SM having hosted an event. Out of those, four of them had less than 20 points. As the summer began, in a Top Ten from June 2024, we do not see any change in the number of armies, but only an increase in TT points. In this specific one, there was only one army with fewer than 20 points. By the end of the summer, there was another slight increase in the army points and the number of armies. Looking at the heart of the winter drop once again, in the middle of December, there were 11 armies in this Top Ten, with 6 of them being Major, 5 SM, and one army below 20 points. One army also had not hosted an event during that week.

and The Peak of 2025

Early in the year, in this March Top Ten, there were 12 armies showing up in the Top Ten. Three of them had less than 20 points, while three more did not hold any events. Out of the 12 armies, 6 were SM. This shows that the 2024 trend was continued, with more active armies but less consistency in events. The year continued with a large summer rise. The community reached over 20 active armies at the same time for the first time since the post-COVID drop. There were some Top Tens with more than 20 armies as well. Since there were more armies, there was an increase in smaller SMs with fewer than 20 points, too. In this specific Top Ten from July, we see 20 armies. Out of those, 12 have over 20 points, 2 have less than ten points, and 13 are SM. 2 armies were not present in the Top Ten due to not hosting events, so this gets the total number of active armies up to 22. This was probably the peak of the SM community in recent years, even though warfare did not follow along this peak.

A similar trend continued for the following months, with the Top Tens mostly ranging from having 15 to 21 armies, mainly around 17. The community held through the September drop. In a Top Ten from October, we see 18 armies. 14 of those have over 20 points, 3 have less than 10, and 13 of them are SM, the same number as July. There were also 4 armies that did not host an event, so this means a total of 22 active armies. However, the drop started being visible after that point.

In this Top Ten from December, amidst the winter drop, we see 16 armies. 12 of them have more than 20 points, 2 have less than 10, while 11 armies are SM. At that time, there were also 6 armies in that week that did not host an event, a concerning number.

Where are we now?

Early this year, the drop continued with this Top Ten from March having 14 armies in it. However, the issue is that only 9 of those armies have over 20 points, and 3 have less than 10. At the same time, 7 armies did not hold any events. So, despite there being 21 active armies, only 14 held an event, two-thirds. Half of those armies, 7, were SM. Despite the lower numbers, the situation was still a bit better than the one at the same time in the previous years.

Fast forward to now, in July, this is the newest Top Ten, at the time I am writing the post. In it, we see 12 armies, 7 of them being Major and only 5 SM. Additionally, out of those 5, only one has over 20 points, and 3 have more than 10. 5 armies did not host an event, and the number of active armies has also decreased.

This shows that in a time when there should be a summer rise, there is a summer drop instead. We are at a point where even the “max 2” armies have started to disappear. In the Top Ten above, there are none of them (I consider PiCP not to be one since they have managed to max 10, and are active on the map and tournaments). This situation, along with the recent general lack of wars, has led people to think that the community, and especially the SM part of it, is in a place it has never reached before. When it comes to wars and battles, indeed, the community evolves in a way that it is not familiar with, perhaps even estranging itself. When it comes to sheer army sizes and number of armies, the SM community has seen much worse days.

Despite its decrease, the SM community right now is better than that of late 2022 and what came in the years after it. It is probably most comparable to 2024. There are many reasons that led to the shrinking of the SM community. Former SM armies, the Templars and the Dark Warriors, have now become Major ones. Additionally, several notable SMs from last year have shut down. Some examples in this category are the Void Troops, Scarlet Republic, and even the Special Weapons and Tactics. There have not been enough new armies to replace them, with the only large enough SM that opened recently being the Fire Warriors. Even the “max 2” armies have slowly started disappearing, as it was expected that it would eventually happen.

The Rock Bottom

Aside from the 2022 low point of the SM community, it probably also had another low point even before Club Penguin shut down. Looking at the Top Tens of SMAC, I noticed this post, which is also accompanied by this Top Ten. Notice that there were different Top Ten formulas at the time. During that week, only one SM army managed to max more than 10, and that only in one of their events. In the weekly recap post, we see many armies having events with maxes between 1 and 4 and only a few being above 5. This was just two weeks before SMAC’s official shutdown due to the extreme shrinking of the SM community, when it was deemed that a merge with CPAC was necessary for the community.

WHat Comes NExt

The future of armies is usually unpredictable. The SM community size and dynamics change the most rapidly. The important thing for now is to put a stop to the constant shrinking. After that, it can start rising again. There are multiple factors that can affect that, though. Both internal, within the community, and external, such as the popularity of the CPPS. About the external ones, people in the army community cannot do much. When it comes to the internal ones, army leaders and future army leaders (people who wish to lead armies) have the most effect.

A small part lies with the organisations, but they alone don’t have the power to do enough. From our perspective, we will try our best in the CPA Administration. We have already begun brainstorming ideas for an SM tournament for a few weeks now (spoiler alert). We are also considering further actions and rulings to boost the Small Medium community. Recently, there was also a map change, with the Major armies now being denied from declaring a 1vs1 war against the SM ones, which could help the situation.

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The SM community seems to be on a downward trend. It has experienced both better and worse times in recent history. The question is, how can its drop be stopped and reversed? The answer to that may be very complicated and require multiple things and situations to take place at once. It is not the first time the SM community drops, though. It seems to be quite a frequent event, having happened several times in the past. Even the army community as a whole is repetitive in some parts.

Do you agree with the post? Does the SM community have a bad year? If yes, how can that be averted in your opinion? Can CPA even do anything to tackle this growing problem?

Chief Executive Producer
JojoTeri

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