News

Watch AHH 2026 LIVE at twitch.tv/CappingTV!

If you're wanting to stream your POV, or cover matches CappingTV can't, see the Broadcasting Guidelines.

Playoff matches will have donation incentives, more information on which will be available soon.

Team Captains Discord (JOIN IT!)

ozfortress uses a Team Captains Discord for its seasonal and off-season competitions. This Discord server allows us to generate Discord channels for each team, as well as channels for each match, notifying you when a match has been generated or is ready to be played. This server makes communicating with the other team easier, and our staff are aware and are just an @AHH Staff ping away from being able to help you - with full context of what is going on. For this and many other reasons, joining the Team Captains Discord is required for captains of teams. Ideally, we would like two captains from each team to join!

Upon joining the Team Captains Discord, you will need to link your ozfortress account with your Discord account. See the On-the-Day Guide below for more information on how to do this.

Seedings

Seeding a competition with a widely varying band of skill across the globe is incredibly difficult, especially for a one-day event. Keeping games super competitive isn't always possible without multiple stages for each region, which is hard to do for an event running entirely in one day. We have chosen to run a Group Stage splitting teams into eight (8) groups, four (4) "OZF" (all Australian/New Zealand teams), and four (4) international groups. The team with the highest ranking after the three (3) rounds of Group Stage will proceed to Playoffs.

Seeding Metric Used

Because of the difficulty of knowing not only players on international teams as an AU/NZ staff team, but also how those teams compare to our OZF teams and vice-versa, we have opted to combine the total amount of logs per team, and use that metric to rank teams from 1-36. Using those rankings, we've split the seedings into two lists, "OZF" and "International". From there, we have split these lists into groups.

Tournament Format

AHH 2026 has two stages, Group Stage, and Playoffs.

Group Stage

The Group Stage will make use of either Round Robin or Swiss systems depending on the final size of each group, at this stage Round Robin will be used for all groups except for Groups A and B, but this may change if group sizes change. Round Robin has a distinct advantage of allowing us to generate matches all at once, as all teams will eventually play each other. Swiss is more ideal when we need to ensure a set amount rounds, but have too many teams in a group for all teams to be able to play each other within that amount of rounds.

Playoffs

Playoffs will use the Single Elimination system. The top eight (8) teams from the Group Stage will compete through the Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals and the Grand Final to decide a winner, with each round eliminating teams that lose.

Schedule

The schedule for Australian Hightower Highjinx 2026 is tight, and only allows for a small amount of time between matches, hence why we have given a little more time between Group Stages and Playoffs.

Please Note: The schedule is more of a loose guide - we will endeavour to keep everything on-schedule, but we will take time/reclaim time where we can and where we need. We will need a slight break between Group Stages and Playoffs to sort through technical limitations of the implementation we're using for Playoffs.

Match Procedure

When each round starts, teams will be pinged in their newly generated Team Captains Discord Match Channel. Teams will need to communicate who will be booking the server via your Captains Discord Match Channel, with the base expectation that the Home team will book the server. International teams will need to discuss and reach a decision on which server gives the best ping comparable ping between teams. Teams will need to both load the map and execute the config before playing. We have allowed for extra time between matches, but the scheduling is still tight.

Please start each game as soon as possible, as there is a tight schedule, and delaying will delay the entire event. If the other team has not shown up five minutes after the server has been booked, ping @AHH Staff to claim your forfeit win. Please DO NOT delay for the other team as a courtesy.

After the match is over, please submit and confirm the scores immediately. Posting of logs is mandatory. See the On-the-Day guide below for information on how to submit scores.

Score Tiebreaking

Please see 1.4. Match Win Conditions & Tiebreakers for information on tiebreaking for PLR (Payload Race) maps on the day. You will need to know this, so if you skip everything else, read over this please.

Forfeiting Matches & "No-Show" Teams

Any forfeit in AHH 2026 will result in your teams removal from AHH 2026, and your entire roster will not receive participating/placement medals. For more information, see our ruleset.

Servers & Reserving/Booking Servers

Our main provider for this event is au.serveme.tf. For international teams wishing to play on servers closer to them when playing against other international teams, na.serveme.tf (North America), serveme.tf (Europe) and sea.serveme.tf (Asia) all have the configs and maps for this event, and should work identically to au.serveme.tf (which is used as an example in the On-the-Day Guide below).

Server Selection

For Server Selection rules, see 6.1. Server Selection in our AHH Ruleset. To summarize though, if an OZF/Australian or New Zealand team is in a match, the default server of Sydney Australia (provided by au.serveme.tf) should be used. If two international teams are playing, they can discuss and find a ping-appropriate server through NA/EU/SEA serveme servers. If serveme servers are not working for you for whatever reason, notify/ping @AHH Staff via your Captains Discord Match Channel, and we may allow matcha.tf or TF2 Quickserver to be used.

au.serveme.tf Usage for Non-AHH Games

On the day, we will need all au.serveme.tf servers for AHH matches. As such, we will be closing any servers opened that are not for AHH matches. Please use matcha.tf or TF2 Quickserver for non-AHH games on Saturday.

Spring '26

The next season has sprung upon us and we are back with another season of Sixes. With our recent international event in AHH I would like to remind people that we have a ping limit of 180 for standard Seasonal Leagues.

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(art by dezi)

Spring '26 Sixes - Signups Open Now!

You can sign up for Sixes Spring '26 from Wednesday 16th of September 2026, up until Sunday 27th of September 2026. We aim to have the seedings out by Thursday 1st of October 2026. Round 1 of Spring '26 will start Sunday 4th of October 2026.

SIGNUP FOR SIXES · SIXES SEASON PAGE

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Map Pool Changes

Our map vote is still up for the time being so head over to the discord and vote if you haven't already. Having said that this season brings the return of something not seen in a while, regular season map selection. This will only be in place for Premier for this season but if all goes well it may be expanded to other divisions. Rules regarding it can be found here.

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Rules Changes

Whilst no rule changes are being made to specifically Sixes look out for an announcement regarding some global rules changes in the next few weeks.

Highlander Autumn '26 - Placements & Awards!

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Congratulations to Premier winners BRIANLANDER!

- BRIANLANDER
- Pending Disbandment
- Crylander
- Hubba Bubba

Grand Final Map Scores

• Vigil: 2 - 0
• Product: 3 - 0

⚔️ Match Page

Awards

Best Scout: tenous (7, 2fp), tom (7, 1fp), wils (6, 1fp)
Best Soldier: raelen (9, 3fp), snake eater (6, 1fp), gotaki (6, 0fp)
Best Pyro: brodie escobar (8, 2fp), hungry4eggs (7, 1fp), ziah (6, 1fp)
Best Demoman: glitchy (8, 2fp), matt (7, 1fp), akari (5, 1fp)
Best Heavy: typo (7, 2fp), takeyon (7, 1fp), jd (5, 1fp)
Best Engineer: silvo (9, 3fp), shadi (6, 1fp), sexy turtle (5, 0fp)
Best Medic: lau (9, 3fp), scarly (6, 1fp), shy (6, 0fp)
Best Sniper: trev (7, 2fp), nurf (7, 1fp), flow (5, 1fp)
Best Spy: robor (8, 2fp), andyroo (7, 1fp), onion (6, 1fp)

Most Improved Player: glitchy (8, 2fp), doc (6, 2fp), capulo (5, 0fp)
Most Valuable Player: trev (6, 2fp), glitchy (4, 0fp), tenous (3, 1fp) & wils (3, 1fp) & onion (3, 0fp)
Most Improved Team: brianlander (9, 3fp), hubba bubba (6, 1fp), pending disbandment (6, 0fp)
Friendliest Team: brianlander (9, 3fp), hubba bubba (6, 1fp), pending disbandment (5, 0fp)
Best Dressed Team: brianlander (9, 3fp), hubba bubba (6, 1fp), pending disbandment (6, 0fp)

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Congratulations to Intermediate winners Rich And Grootus!

- Rich And Grootus
- The Method
- Rat Children
- Six Seven

Grand Final Map Scores

• Ashville: 3 - 0
• Product: 3 - 1

⚔️ Match Page

Awards

Best Scout: titan (8, 2fp), funk (6, 1fp), reee (6, 1fp)
Best Soldier: klebs (9, 3fp), night (6, 0fp), emily (5, 1fp)
Best Pyro: jv (8, 2fp), froglvvr (7, 2fp), wungus (5, 0fp)
Best Demoman: juliangonzales (7, 1fp), apvc (6, 1fp), basic (6, 1fp)
Best Heavy: meanbug (9, 3fp), mr. venom (7, 1fp), april (5, 0fp)
Best Engineer: froggy (8, 2fp), paul (7, 1fp), olivergeeoz (5, 1fp)
Best Medic: pulse (7, 2fp) & silent (7, 2fp), arbabf (5, 0fp) & ham man (5, 0fp)
Best Sniper: luigisbigmac (7, 2fp), xiuh (7, 1fp), psyco (6, 1fp)
Best Spy: captain sigma (8, 2fp), cow (7, 1fp), boyfriend (5, 1fp)

Most Improved Player: myro pain (10, 2fp), mr. venom (5, 1fp), paul (5, 1fp)
Most Valuable Player: meanbug (5, 1fp), mr. venom (4, 0fp), juliangonzales (3, 1fp) & luigisbigmac (3, 1fp) & silent (3, 1fp)
Most Improved Team: rich and grootus (7, 1fp), the method (7, 1fp), rat children (5, 1fp) & six seven (5, 1fp)
Friendliest Team: six seven (9, 3fp), the method (6, 0fp), rich and grootus (5, 1fp)
Best Dressed Team: six seven (9, 3fp), the method (6, 0fp), rich and grootus (5, 1fp)

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Congratulations to Open winners 9 Reasons Not To Play TF2!

- 9 Reasons Not To Play TF2
- Meme Dream Team
- Highesthanders
- a playlist nintendo music that makes your morning work better

Grand Final Map Scores

• Ashville: 0 - 3
• Vigil: 2 - 0
• Borneo: 0 - 2

⚔️ Match Page

Awards

Best Scout: vincent (9, 2fp), sterzun (7, 2fp), aqua (6, 1fp)
Best Soldier: dr strangle (15, 5fp), eat ham (8, 0fp), bmo (4, 1fp)
Best Pyro: flor (9, 1fp), friendlypyromancer (8, 2fp), whitefang2360 (8, 2fp)
Best Demoman: han (11, 3fp), fleepfloopbipplebop (7, 2fp), jced (6, 0fp) & mgm (6, 0fp)
Best Heavy: teleporter bomber (9, 3fp), azzy (7, 2fp), tonio (7, 1fp)
Best Engineer: plasmatech8 (14, 4fp), verydarklord (8, 1fp), auroraechoes (7, 1fp)
Best Medic: peteydog (10, 3fp), crs (9, 1fp), spicyhipjesus (7, 0fp)
Best Sniper: comedy mode (10, 3fp), rill (10, 2fp), strafe (7, 1fp)
Best Spy: mrmonk (13, 3fp), trippycd (6, 1fp), chrystal (4, 1fp)

Most Improved Player: sstikky (10, 2fp), azzy (8, 2fp), jced (7, 1fp)
Most Valuable Player: crs (5, 1fp), fleepfloopbipplebop (5, 1fp), mgm (4, 1fp) & mrmonk (4, 1fp) & strafe (4, 1fp)
Most Improved Team: wizard hat (9, 2fp), memedreamteam (8, 2fp), 9 reasons not to play tf2 (6, 2fp)
Friendliest Team: wizard hat (11, 2fp), return of the paws (9, 1fp), 9 reasons not to play tf2 (7, 2fp)
Best Dressed Team: wizard hat (10, 2fp), 9 reasons not to play tf2 (7, 2fp), highesthanders (7, 1fp)

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Best Caster (all divisions): sylvie (19, 3fp), juliangonzales (16, 4fp), pulse (16, 2fp)

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