The Inner Circle presents:
=][= LOYALTY AND TREACHERY III - 2017 =][=
In this time of betrayal, when brother turns against brother and no one can be trusted… A time where heroes become villains and villains pass for heroes! This is the time to throw away the façade of the past and show your true colours!
In a Galaxy in Flames, are you a Loyalist or a Traitor?
Welcome to the third incarnation of “Loyalty and Treachery”!
Yes, it’s the third year of this event. What started off as an impulsive move out of the fascination with the new setting, now it appears to have a steady and increasing following!
The veterans of the L&T are well-aware of the workings of the event and many sport the badges of the Consul of their preference in their signature already! But will they be able to rise to the challenge again this year? Only time will tell!
For those who have not participated before, let me tell you a few things about the L&T and its aims:
I find it often to be the case that many projects that start with great enthusiasm tend to run out of steam and eventually lose momentum. The result is a unit here and a unit there and, despite the expense and the effort invested in said units, they cannot be put together to form a proper army on the table-top. So, they are shelved and doomed to gather dust or end up on ebay in an attempt to recover at least some of their cash value.
However, money concerns aside, it only takes a reasonably small effort to build a modest sized army, one you can still play a proper (if small) game with. The trick is to keep some discipline and not to let the project linger for too long, because new distractions will inevitably divert you to seek new endeavours.
“Loyalty and Treachery” is a motivational event aiming to help participants to build up of their Horus Heresy armies in a reasonably short time frame. I would like to stress here that this is NOT a competition. It’s an event where everyone who sees it through will end up with a significant number of units ready for the table top or even a whole playable army in its own right! So, those starting new projects and those building on existing ones are equally welcome and hopefully equally motivated!
Those who achieve their aim will receive the honorary title of “Consul of the Legion” and a badge to commemorate his/her efforts – see “Becoming a Consul” below.
“Loyalty and Treachery” is setting a target to build at least three (3) legal Horus Heresy units in the next 3 months.
This means on average 1 unit each month. However, this is not a strict limit but rather a good way to measure your progress. Obviously, the addition of a super-heavy for example may take more than a month to complete but this may be counterbalanced by painting two less demanding units in the next month. Also, it is possible to work on more than one unit simultaneously. There is no cap on the maximum amount of units that one can build – just manage your time wisely.
THE GRAND DESIGN
The “Grand Design” is the essence of the event. Although, at face value, this is about painting minis (and if you do just that, you’ll be eligible for the Titles and the badges as described below) the event tries to tie together the gaming aspect of the hobby and even the background!
The basic target of Loyalty & Treachery is to motivate people to build playable Horus Heresy armies. As such, participants are invited to present a legal army list highlighting the units they intend to paint during the event. You don’t have to paint all the units in your army list; indeed, you may have already started on your army and just want this extra push to finish it. But by displaying your entire army on paper will show how everything fits into the big picture and will help you to choose your units based on table top needs – not to optimize them for the event purposes.
The army list will also help participants stay on track, especially as new toys coming from FW (or other sources) may distract them. Having said that though, new toys may present a better fit to your army or a better painting challenge for you and you might want to alter your list during the event. That’s fine but the important thing is not to lose focus.
The size of the list is immaterial – points DO NOT MATTER in this event. You can work towards a kill-team sized force of just three units in total or an Apocalypse size army that will take Terra by storm! This is left on the appetite of the individual participant. However, participants should not feel restricted to a single Legion. The pledged units can be from different Legions/factions (could be part of an allied detachment, a shattered Legions’ army or it could be that you are working on two forces in parallel) but it’d be advisable to remain focused on playable force(s).
Of course, it’s also possible to just do whatever sparks your interest, building units here and there and not bother with a playable army at all - it’ll be a missed opportunity but lovingly painted miniatures will never be turned away on my watch!
As a last point, participants are invited to add further colour to their armies by providing a small background to their force or force commander. We’re not looking for extensive “Index Astartes” style articles here (after all this is still the Forge – not the Lore section) but something to give context to your project and let us share your vision. That way all the elements of the hobby (modelling/painting, gaming & background) will be tied together!
There are only three simple rules in "Loyalty and Treachery".
- PLEDGED UNITS: You must pledge to paint at least three units in the next three months. Each unit pledged must be a “legal” entry from an official list from a Forgeworld Horus Heresy series publication. This means that each unit must observe all the parameters of the corresponding entry of the official list such as minimum numbers, correct equipment, weapons etc. WYSIWYG should be observed to the best of one’s ability.
- PAINT QUALITY: It is expected that models will be easily recognizable as belonging to each participant’s Legion of other faction of choice; but this is not a Golden Daemon kind of contest. In fact it’s not even a contest, so all painting skill levels are very welcome. Having said that, participants are expected to paint to the best of their ability – besides the miniatures are far too expensive to consciously make a sub-par job on them! So make this effort a showcase of your abilities, no matter your experience or skill level!
- EVIDENCE OF PROGRESS: Participants must provide a starting picture and a finished picture of each unit they have pledged. They are also invited to provide WIP picture of their project regularly – just to keep things moving at a reasonable pace. At the end of the three months, you’ll be asked to provide a “group shot” i.e. a picture of your entire force that you painted during the event so that we can make a showcase with the outcome of the second L&T.
DURATION
The event will start on January 15th, 2017 and will end after a 3-month period on April 15th, 2017. Participants can join at any point during this period but the earlier one commits the more time to complete his/her project.
HONORARY TITLES: BECOMING A CONSUL
As an incentive, “Loyalty and Treachery” uses a system of “Honorary Titles”. The title can be carried in the participants’ signature in the form of a small banner. Note that there is no implied hierarchy between them and each has its own merit! Now the best part is that there is no penalty for failing! If a participant does not make it, he/she will not be awarded a title, and that’s all there is to it…
So what are the titles, and what does one has to do to obtain them? Well, here goes:
Legion Centurion: This title is awarded to anyone who makes the target i.e. to build at least 3 legal Horus Heresy units in 3 months. It shows a serious commitment to the Heresy setting and participants should be rightly proud to wear it!
Legion Champion: This is a title to reward output. Anyone who makes double the target i.e. paints at least 6 legal Horus Heresy units in 3 months will be awarded this title. The sheer size of minis painted certainly warrants this distinction!
Legion Chaplain: This is a title to reward zeal. Anyone who makes the target i.e. paints at least 3 legal Horus Heresy units in 2 months from the beginning of the event (i.e. until March 15th) will be awarded this title. This unrelenting single mindedness surely deserves the Crozius!
Legion Forgelord: This title is for the treadheads. Anyone who makes the target i.e. paints at least 3 legal Horus Heresy units in 3 months and includes at least 12 HP in their force will be awarded this title. Bring the tanks forth!
Legion Delegatus: This title is for the chosen of the Primarch! Anyone who makes the target i.e. paints at least 3 legal Horus Heresy units in 3 months and includes at least one Primarch will be awarded this title. For the Primarch and the Legion!
Magos: This is a title to reward the followers of the Omnissiah. Anyone who makes the target i.e. paints at least 3 legal Horus Heresy units in 3 months and includes at least 3 units from any Mechanicum lists will be awarded this title. For the Glory of Mars!!!
Legate Commander: This is a title to reward those among us that will take on the Solar Auxila cause. Anyone who makes the target i.e. paints at least 3 legal Horus Heresy units in 3 months and includes at least 3 units from the Solar Auxilia and/or the Imperialis Militia & Cults Army lists will be awarded this title. Go mortals!
Seneschal: This is a title for the Knights’ fanatics. Anyone who makes the target i.e. paints at least 3 legal Horus Heresy units in 3 months and includes at least 1 Knight will be awarded this title. Knights are large models and demand all the attention one can give them so building even one in the period of three months is a great challenge. Remember though, there should be at least two more legal Horus Heresy units in the pledge, and all must be competed to be eligible for the title.
Princeps: This is a title is for the for the Titan Legions! It is also the only type of entry that does not require building 3 legal units. If you paint a single Titan until the end of the event, you’ll be eligible for this most prestigious of awards and rightly so! Any kind of Titan qualifies!
It is possible that a participant may accomplish more than one of the above tasks and therefore to be eligible for more than one title. In that case he/she can choose which title to carry in their signature.
THE MORAL HIGH GROUND
As a new and fun element for this year, participants are invited to pledge for either the Loyalist or the Traitor side once they declare participation in the event. You can declare your allegiance irrespective of the Legion you’re painting as there were loyalist elements within Traitor Legions and traitorous elements within Loyalist Legions. So, all you need to do is decide which side you want to support and then try to become a Centurion!
The side with the most Centurions by the end of the event will be winning a moral victory, called: the “Moral High Ground”! Note that only the Centurion title will count, even if a participant is eligible for other Consul titles as well. The only exception to the above is the title of Princeps. Princeps’ will count as Centurions for the purposes of the “Moral High Ground”.
PARTICIPATION BADGE
All who participate (regardless of success) may wear the following badge in their signature if they so desire:
CAPTAIN SEMPER'S NOTES
I’m really happy to see the L&T catching on and people embracing the event. It’s first incarnation was back in 2013 but then, due to real life constraints, it fell silent for a while. It was reinstated in January 2016 and now we are keeping the date for a second year running. Our intention is to continue to keep our annual appointment so long as people are interested to play along!
I would like to draw attention to the “Moral High Ground” feature that we’re introducing this year. With this feature, we approach the Horus Heresy (for painting event purposes) not as a single faction but as a rich and complex background with many factions with different agendas. This move comes in the wake of the large amount of cumulative releases by FW and GW, that have, by now, eliminated whatever bias there was in previous years towards the Traitor faction. With the release of the Inferno imminent at the time of writing this, the ever-popular Space Wolves get covered (as well as the Thousand Sons of course), while the remaining Loyalists (White Scars, Blood Angels and Dark Angels) have upgrade kits and some Legion-specific rules already out there.
Going forward I cannot exclude the possibility to see this division taking shape in other events in the near future.
As usual, feel free to ask any questions regarding the event, publicly or through PMs – I’m notoriously fast in my replies! But remember: B&C & Forge rules must always, ALWAYS be followed. So be aware of that… *polishes his melta*
+++LASTLY I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE SHADOW GUARD, GRAND MASTER OF THE INNER CIRCLE, FOR HIS TIRELESS SUPPORT AND FOR PROVIDING ALL THE IMAGES OF THE EVENT+++
So, this is it! Now, who’s brave enough to take on the battlefields of the 31st millennium?
Captain Semper
Member of the Inner Circle
Master of Recruits
Edited by Captain Semper, 15 January 2017 - 09:54 AM.