RTS was the peak on the career history of Sarge Hawk and their heroes.

Army Men: RTS takes place Real World, where Tan and Green Army Men wage war across different house scenarios. There are other side mission in their native Plastic World. But RTS campaign only takes place in the Real World.

After the events of Portal Runner, this conflict centers around a house. It had been under control of a Tan military leader named King Plurtz 1. So the house fell into Tan hands, and Sarge was dispatched to terminate the Tan leader and regain total control of the region for the Green.

The military leader of the region, Colonel H.P. Blintz was seriously wounded on the battlefield, leaving him out of action. After that they lost one of the houses under the rule of this new military Tan leader, who made that house his personal fortress, launching attacks from that place that complicated the Green presence in the region.

One more day at work, sir

The interesting thing about this story is that it is nothing more than “just another day on the job,” as the Bravo Company described it (although it actually lasted a little more than a day).

Sarge is accompanied by the Bravo Company and the Bravo Company Commandos, being the debut of Bullseye, the new member of the group, an expert sniper. The Green Army previously secured the outskirts of the front yard, so the Boys started from there. After a quick front yard assault, they destroyed a garden light providing electrical energy to Plurtz’s factories, and leads an assault on the Tan held front door only to find it locked. Grimm contacts Sarge via radio, and tells him they can enter the house though a basement window. After destroying a base by the window, Sarge and the heroes jump down into the basement.

Once in the Basement Sarge, Riff, Scorch, Hoover, Thick and the newcomer Bullseye travel through the basement fighting giant ants. Grimm contacts Sarge and tells him Plurtz has sent bombers to kill them. They make it to the stairs and into the kitchen before the bombers arrive. In the kitchen, Sarge oversees the rebuilding of a non-operational Green base under the table and destroys Tan anti-air emplacements before being airlifted to the counter-top. He then leads the Green Army in an attack on a factory Plurtz built in the sink before moving into the living room.

Here, the heroes secure a PlayStation 2 (a karaoke machine on GameCube’s version) which the Tan were using as an energy source. Plurtz contacts them through the living room television and tells Sarge they are nothing but playthings. Plurtz destroys the PlayStation 2 in a bombing run. Bravo Company then moves to the foot of the stairs where they build another base and escort plastic villagers to safety across the living room.

Sarge and his heroes climb the stairs where they make their way across a bathroom sink whilst being ruthlessly pursued by ants. They jump from the sink only to be captured upon entering the next room. Only Hoover manages to evade capture and assists the Green Army in building a base and assaulting the Tan to free the heroes.

Bravo Company makes it into the attic, and destroys a model train bridge Plurtz is using to transport resources into his base for his army. They make their way farther into the attic to find Vikki is already there, having hitched a ride with the air cavalry. She tells them about a train they can take farther into the attic, and the heroes fight their way to the train. Sarge discovers the Tan are holding the ant queen, which explains why they were only attacking the Green Army. Sarge can choose whether or not to free her; either way, the Green fight their way to Plurtz’s main base. Here, Plurtz barricades himself in his fortress, and the Green Army must flush him out. In the ending, once Sarge found him, he beats the hell out of this Plurtz off “mano a mano” personally, and Grimm congratulates him via radio, promising “cake and ice cream” when he returns.

Resources & Technology

Commanding an army at this time was very practical and even easy if you had the necessary resources. It was the perfect moment in the delicate “balanced war” enjoyed by the Army Men of the past. It required the acquisition and control of the two main resources: plastic and electricity, which were necessary for the construction of buildings and combat units.

Plastic, the physical component of which all Army Men and their world are made, is necessary for all normal unit manufacturing operations. It was taken from everyday objects in the Real World, including Frisbees, dog bowls and toys. Additionally, when a unit or structure is destroyed, the resulting plastic remains could be recycled for a fraction of its initial cost. The plastic was “harvested” by the Dumpers.

Electricity, which is required for vehicles and radio operator equipment, is drawn from electrical objects, such as batteries, toasters and walkie-talkies. A particular structure, the resource depot, had to be built to collect the resources gathered by the Dumper and store them.

Commanders used their resources to construct buildings and units. Since the different warring factions have access to the same resources, most of the time neither side had a natural advantage over the other. Some buildings constructed new units, while others provided a base for defense. Building production could be upgraded to produce better units, both infantry units and vehicles. Infantry troops were cheaper to produce, but logically they were not as tough as vehicles, which is why they tended to be expensive.

The vehicles of those times were passive range vehicles (dump trucks, repair jeeps and base construction excavators), vehicles with aggressive purposes (tanks, helicopters and half-tracks) and with defensive purposes (mine layers). It is worth highlighting the suicide bombers-Dum dums (robots armed with firecrackers). Apart from soldiers and grenadiers, some other infantry units had special tasks: clearing mines, firing the highly deadly sniper rifles, using mortars to destroy buildings and defenses from afar, calling for airborne reinforcements, etc.

Due to the nature of each unit, commanders had to be able to counter what they were facing. A group of snipers could take out a force of soldiers with ease, but the same group of snipers was defenseless against a half-track. Countering a half-track required a tank or soldiers armed with bazookas, but leaving with a clear weakness against the choppers, which lost a lot of energy against the bazooka man.

Commanders had to balance both the strengths and weaknesses of their forces and their opponent’s forces with the cost of producing units.

The equilibrium level could be modified by other factors. Power-ups, which could improve the speed, health, or damage of whichever army encountered them first, causing a disparity between the parties.

Heroes, stronger soldiers and with better range than regular infantry versions, could cause great damage before being destroyed. Insects, mainly ants, free to act as units of the side that is allied with them.

Behind the scenes:

“I’ve seen plenty of action in my time. I’ve led troops into countless skirmishes, situations where we knew we could either make it back to fight another day or be reduced to puddles of plastic on the battlefield. But we’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. This mission is bad. Worst I’ve ever seen.

Not long ago, we had this region secure under the supervision of one of our own, Colonel Blintz. That changed when Blintz was injured in the line of duty. Medics did what they could, but he sustained a “massive, disfiguring head wound”. Long story short, there’s a chunk of plastic missing from the top of his head. “Disfiguring Head Wound”? He’s lost his mind…literally!

That was the last we’d heard of him. That’s when our reconnaissance got on the case and found… well, it ain’t pretty.

With the help of a bucket of paint, Blintz has gone Tan.

Our mission is to find Blintz and… terminate him. This will be the toughest mission I’ve ever had to lead. Blintz was famous for inspiring loyalty. His men would march across a grill if he ordered it. And there are a lot of them.

This won’t be easy.” – Sarge Hawk

In our story, Plurtz being Blintz was never know in a public way. The Green Army and the Green Government hide the true events.

About the game:

This is the Army Men game fans have always wanted to play! Army Men: RTS is a deep and strategic war game without the intimidation factor of other Real-Time Strategies.

Army Men: RTS is a real time strategy game in the Army Men video game series released on the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2002, and Microsoft Windows in 2004.

The game includes 16 campaign missions, 8 Special Operations missions (not present on the PC version), and 8 Great Battles missions. The game revolves around collecting resources (Plastic & Electricity) and using it to build structures, vehicles, and troops while fighting the Tan army. Each structure/soldier requires a certain amount of resources.

This was one of the last games released by 3DO before they filed for bankruptcy.
This is the last game of the series released by 3DO before Global Star Software bought Army Men though 3DO started work on Army Men Sarge’s War before going under.
Army Men RTS is one of only two Army Men game ever released in Japan, being published by Capcom as Totsugeki! Army Man: Shijō Saishō no Sakusen (突撃!アーミーマン史上最小の作戦, lit. “Assault! Army Man: The Smallest Strategy in History”). The game itself still enjoys a small, but loyal, fanbase in Japan and is possibly the reason why Army Men Strike was given a Japanese release.
The Campaign is a parody of the plot of the movie Apocalypse Now.

Gameplay:

Army Men: RTS’s gameplay requires the acquisition and control of two resources; plastic and electricity, which are necessary to construct combat units and buildings. Plastic, which is required for all normal units, is taken from everyday objects, including Frisbees, dog bowls, and toys. Additionally, whenever a unit or structure is destroyed, a chunk of plastic worth a fraction of its initial cost appears where it was destroyed. Plastic is ‘harvested’ by Dump Trucks. Electricity, which is required for vehicles and Radio operator equipment, is drawn from electrical objects, such as batteries, toasters, and walkie-talkies. A particular structure, the Resource Depot, must be built to collect the resources gathered by the Dump Trucks.

Players use their resources to construct buildings and units. Since both factions have access to the same buildings and units neither side has an innate advantage over the other. Some buildings construct new units while others provide defense for a base. The production buildings can be upgraded to produce better units. Units are either infantry or vehicles. Infantry troops are cheap to produce but are not as tough, while vehicles tend to be costly. Vehicles range from passive (dump trucks and base-building bulldozers) to aggressive (tanks and half-tracks) to defensive (mine layers) to suicidal Dum-dums, (robots armed with firecrackers). Aside from grunts and grenadiers, infantry units have a special task; minesweepers clear out traps, snipers are potent anti-infantry units, and mortar men can annihilate buildings from afar.

Due to the nature of each unit, players must be able to counter whatever they are facing. A group of snipers could wipe out a force of grunts with ease, but the same group of snipers would be helpless against a half-track. Countering the half-track with a tank would leave a weakness to choppers. Players must balance both the relative strengths and weaknesses of their forces and their opponent’s forces with the cost of producing the units.

Level balance can be changed by other factors. Power-ups, which can improve the speed, health, or damage of whichever side finds them first, cause a disparity between the sides. Heroes, powerful versions of the regular infantry, can cause great damage before being destroyed. Insects, chiefly ants, act as free units for whichever side is allied with them. The secondary objectives of single player missions often deal with one of these things.

Multiplayer:

Army Men RTS army colors — Available player colors from Multiplayer. Note the black button is used to indicate a color is selected, it is not a separate Black Nation.

The Windows version of Army Men: RTS allows for multiplayer with up to eight people. A copy of GameSpy Arcade was bundled with the game. Players can team up in multiplayer matches, or the battle can be a free-for-all. Victory occurs when the opposing side has no Headquarters and cannot build one in three minutes. Aside from GameSpy Arcade, offline connections can be made on a LAN or through a direct connection between players. Most people were part of a Clan when Gamespy Arcade was active.

The Steam version of the game has no functioning online multiplayer, and GameSpy has gone defunct. The Multiplayer can still be played offline, via LAN emulated connection Online, or with AI controlled enemies.

The Multiplayer is noteworthy as it marked the only time the previously unseen Orange Nation was ever depicted in the games as one of the eight playable factions present. In addition, three newly introduced nations are also playable in this mode, The Purple Nation, The Teal Nation and The Olive Nation, marking the only time in the games that these nations were ever mentioned or seen in any form. The 3 new colors coincidentally resemble Agent Cobra Blue and The Blue Spy from Army Men: Green Rogue and the Green Soldiers seen in Army Men: Sarge’s War.

MODs:

Army Men RTS 2

The unofficial desired sequel to one of the best Army Men games The idea is simple: The same Army Men RTS engine but with texture improvements (AI Upscale), 1080dpi resolution (or more), some more technical improvement, new CGI FMV cut scenes, all original content + extra content from the entire RTS community. An Army Men … Continue reading →

Army Men RTS TAN MOD

Yes, Army Men: RTS campaign, but with the Tan army like the playable faction, and the Green army like the antagonists. So… here Blintz lost is mind and go to the good side? lol