ETL Motivation & Planning Thread

[StruManChu]

ETL is back! :D

 

Well, not quite yet. According to Captain Semper, we've got about a month to get our poop together.

 

For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, ETL stands for E Tenebrae Lux, or From Darkness, Light (High Gothic, yo!). It's the annual inter-forum painting competition, with each faction (Codex Marines, Chaos, Guard, BA/DA/Wolves, AoD, etc...) participating. Points are accrued per completed 'vow', with each vow made up of legal gaming units - i.e. a vow of 5 naked bolter veterans would give the AoD forum 100 points on completion.

 

I'm not exactly an old hand around here, but I've taken part in a few of these now, and it really brings the community together. It's great fun to be able to sit down and paint something and have the whole forum cheer you on, and also just to cheer on your Frater while they do the same. It's also really interesting how much improvement you see in your painting over the three months of the ETL. I definitely felt it when last year's was postponed!

 

So, with no authority or standing to do so, I issue a rallying cry to the Legions, the Auxilia, the Knight Households, the Taghmata, the Militias and anyone else who might be listening... Over the next month, BUILD. Build all your stuff, however many points worth you can manage, but NO PAINTING*! If you're thinking about stripping stuff to repaint it, you've got a month. I stripped about 4,000 points worth of Imperial Fists about three weeks ago, so I'm sitting pretty. Save the painting for May, and the ETL, where we can win glory and honour for the AoD forum!

 

*Well, maybe priming or basecoating. That's been allowed in the past. I'll check with the good Captain.

[lokkorex]

Good idea!

 

I hope to have my first vow consist of some terminator squads, a solar auxilia lasrifle section, and a dracosan, but i want to expand into more tanks and vehicles as i get the ball to start rolling.

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

For the Aett!

Wait, wrong sub-forum.

 

Sorry guys!

[Ramza]

Where can i find more information on the competition? I would like to know how long we have to get things painted.

 

I have a few models I can paint for my Iron Warriors. This would be a great reason to get them completed. 

[Supe robot gangster #1]

I picked just the right time to actually pool together all my sprues and spare bits and bobs to see what I can make for the heresy, and if it’s only the legions book we need to work out of (for heresy marines at any rate) I can almost pump out a unit per legion, at least, not including characters, dreads etc.

[Hellrender]

I will join in. I have about 2500 points to finish before mid may. Might aswell dump a good chunk of that in early may

Where can i find more information on the competition? I would like to know how long we have to get things painted.

I have a few models I can paint for my Iron Warriors. This would be a great reason to get them completed.

I think you can google etl 2016 to see how it wentthe last time.

That said.. In the past the ETL lasted 3 months.


Edit: for convenience: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/322374-e-tenebrae-lux-v/

[Dreagher]

I already stopped painting. :D

[Elzender]

Well, I've got a breacher squad, a land raider, two land speeders, two contemptors and a couple HQs at least partially built, so if I get to it I should have plenty of material to vow for this ETL (although painting all of this will be a completely different matter).

[grand_master85]

Really tempted to join this, I'm just a little undecided between working on Wolves, Fists or Alphas.

[Reyner]

I have a :cuss load of Ultramarines and Iron Warriors I should paint. I am terrible at getting motivated enough to paint though :( I could start small with a couple of Praetors and work up from there. 

[Hellrender]

Regardless of the size of your vow, i feel the ETL is always a good source of motivation and inspiration for painting :)

[StruManChu]

Good to see some enthusiasm!

 

A word on the size of vows for those who haven't done this before - A small vow you get finished is better than a big vow you don't. It's very easy to get caught up in the moment and think that you'll be able to get a load of stuff done over the summer, and for some of us that will be true. However, the way that the ETL works is that while completed vows get added to our points total, incomplete vows (or stuff we don't get finished) get wholly subtracted from our total. So if you vow 3,000 points worth of stuff, and get everything done but half of one squad, then all your work's going to count for less than nothing in the end.

 

However, historically we've been able to make up to 5 vows, so it's not like you need to knock over everything at once. For me personally, I've tried to get the small stuff out of the way early (Troops choices, transports etc.) so that I can spend more time later on doing the centrepieces or more interesting units. That said, I've got -

 

40 Breachers

20 Tactical Marines

20 Terminators of various type

15 Templars

10 Seekers

5 Phalanx Warders

A bunch of HQs

Dorn

1 Spartan

3 Mk IIB Land Raiders

2 Laser Destroyer Vindicators

4 Rhinos (inc. 1 Damocles)

 

- all in various stages of stripped/built down to NIB, so I have my work cut out for me. That said, I doubt very much that I'll be able to get through all of that mess (which adds up to about 7,000 points!) even though I've got an airbrush now and I'm fairly competent with it. Chances are that I'll actually leave Dorn and his party bus (the Spartan) until after ETL so I can work on those without the time pressure and take the time I need to do them how I want them.

 

It's decisions like that which will ultimately help us do well. In past events, a load of people have gone big early and fallen short, and that obviously has a negative impact on our tally. The AoD forum has done well in the past, and come close to winning a couple of times, but it's those big incomplete vows that have cost us the win. Vow realistically, and vow often.

[Hellrender]

I also got the following:

 

Things i need to finish mid may:

Vulkan

Praetor

5 Firedrakes

10 Pyroclasts

5 Support Tacticals

Rhino

5 Heavy Support Marines

Spartan

Land Raider Achilles

Predator Infernus

2 Contemptors

 

Slightly lower priority:

1 Apothecary

1 Primus Medicea

Legion Baneblade

 

Low Priority:

5 Custodes

5 Sisters of Silence

10 Tactical Marines

1 Terminator Forge Lord

1 Terminator Librarian

1 Chaplain

1 Praetor

Prometheum Pipelines

Aquila Stronghold with Macro Cannon

 

So plenty to do, but i highly doubt i will finish everything this ETL :P

[Supe robot gangster #1]

I have.

 

90 mk III marines, unassembled (mostly)

15 customers, as above

15 sisters of silence as above

30ish mk IV marines, various stages of completion

15 mk II assault marines, assembled

9? Jet bikes possibly 6, I don’t remember

Ahriman

The Wolf dude (Gregor, Geiger, greigor?)

Khârn

Typhon

Fulgrim

Mortarion

5 sekhmet assembled as a command squad

20-30 Tartaros terminators

20ish cataphractii

Bunch of characters (various consuls, praetors etc.)

Bunch of dreads, of all varieties (except leviathan, she’s already painted alas)

Storm eagle

Spartan

A handful of predators

A handful of rhinos

Some random mechanicum stuff

And a few knights.

 

I think that’s all

[Gorgoff]

I have.

 

90 mk III marines, unassembled (mostly)

15 customers, as above

15 sisters of silence as above

30ish mk IV marines, various stages of completion

15 mk II assault marines, assembled

9? Jet bikes possibly 6, I don’t remember

Ahriman

The Wolf dude (Gregor, Geiger, greigor?)

Khârn

Typhon

Fulgrim

Mortarion

5 sekhmet assembled as a command squad

20-30 Tartaros terminators

20ish cataphractii

Bunch of characters (various consuls, praetors etc.)

Bunch of dreads, of all varieties (except leviathan, she’s already painted alas)

Storm eagle

Spartan

A handful of predators

A handful of rhinos

Some random mechanicum stuff

And a few knights.

 

I think that’s all

[Supe robot gangster #1]

Puh, thanks brother.

It is not only me who has an unhealthy buy to paint ratio apparently. ;)

Haha yeah, it’s bad, and that’s just my heresy stuff...

Priorities yo

[StruManChu]

 

So, do you have to pledge unbuilt models only, or if you have them built but not painted does that count?

 

At the time of pledging models can be at an undercoated stage at most. So anything from being in the box up to fully assembled and undercoated is fine.

 

FYI - Get building, buy some spray, and leave it there for now. Coloured primer is probably fine because it has been in previous years.

[Elzender]

Well, I was just listing the minis I have at least started or that I could realistically get built for the ETL

The 3 knights, the magnetized shadowsword, the stormraven-to-storm eagle conversion, the 40-odd mkIII/IV marines from BaC and BoP, the rapier conversions from kataphrons, 15 mkIV/V/VI breachers, the tartaros termies, etc. are kinda out of the question unless I get a serious inspiration streak

I thank the Throne I've not been tempted by a thunderhawk or a titan (yet... )

PD: I forgot about the templars and the phalanx warders...Don't know why my parents haven't kicked me out yet .

[Trokair]

For the Glory of the Omnissiah!

 

I have been meaning to get my Taghmata of the ground for a few years now. I have been collecting units as and when Forgeworld has been releasing them since they started doing Mechanicum. When the Red Book came out I thought I finally get to the building, painting and playing stage but as I was getting further into 30k I got sidetracked into Marines which was reinforced by the influx of the two plastic ‘starter boxes’, as such I am still little further along.

 

So by the grace of the Omnissiah, the forge of the E Tenebrae Lux and the support of you all let’s make this year the year I finally get my Taghmata marshalled.

 

So far I have assembled 15 Tallax and 9 Ursarax* and am working on some Vorax (they just come out of their ‘bath’ and are now drying) as well as converting an Ordo Reductor artillery tank. I am also toying with conversion ideas for several HQ choices but am still unsure what to equip them with so as to finalise the concepts.

 

While I have a load more to build realistically I doubt I will be able to paint more than some of the Thallax during the ETL. I am going to start small and see where I end up as I haven’t even got a colour scheme finalised.

 

*Well technically the Ursarax are not finished as I have not yet done the cables between the claws and the body, however I think I am not going to bother with them and just smooth out the armour where the connecting points are.

[ninjasuperspy]

Nice nice. I'm planning a Blackshield force for NOVA so perfect timing for a new project! Looking at 1000 points for the ZM games & 300 for the Tactical Strike series with some overlap.

[Viridia]

I'm not looking at quite so weighty a contribution, but I'm looking to put forward a Deredeo dreadnought with a ten man tactical squad and two Apothecaries. Maybe a normal dread as well depending on whether I can get a BT Venerable dread magnetised in time for painting up as a VII Legion veteran.

[Captain Semper]

So the AoD mobilises.... Good!

 

I have to tell you that I was in two minds about including the AoD in the ETL this year given the fact that HH is still on 7th edition while 40k has moved to 8th. Also the there is a significant point discount for HH units from what I have worked out. So be prepared to have a built-in disadvantage on this front. The standard Tactical Marine for example costs 10pts in HH and 13pts in 40k - that’s a 30% disadvantage right there. And that bothers me because one of the main principles of the ETL is egalitarianism: for the same effort you should be awarded roughly the same points. Now to what extent that points’ discrepancy will make it unworkable for the AoD Remains to be seen.

 

I also thought that even if the AoD was excluded from the ETL as an official faction, the HH crowd could still enter the ETL from the window if you like, as most Marine stuff are available for 40k via the “relic” rule. But that has two drawbacks:

 

1. It will artificially inflate the Astartes faction (and maybe to some extent Chaos too) with people that have no intention of playing that faction at all - which kind of contradicts the spirit of the ETL.

2. It does not work very well with non-Marine HH sub-factions such as Mechanicum and Solar Auxilia....

 

And a third, more intangible drawback is the fact that the ETL has a B&C-wide reach and excluding one of the most vibrant sub communities doesn’t sit well with me.

 

So, if it turns out that due to systems’ incompatibility the AoD is penalised to the point that they cannot challenge the 40k factions (or more like to the point that it's no fun for the AoD crowd), I might consider upgrading the “Loyalty & Treachery” event to become more like a ETL-HH edition! Maybe a winter event to counterbalance the ETL summer event?

 

But for the time being, the AoD will have their chance to stand and fight against their 40k rivals and see where it gets us. :)

 

Where can i find more information on the competition? I would like to know how long we have to get things painted.

 

I have a few models I can paint for my Iron Warriors. This would be a great reason to get them completed.

 

  

 

A good place to start is to have a look at ETL V (link in my sig). But be aware that there are some changes made for this year. ;)

 

Really tempted to join this, I'm just a little undecided between working on Wolves, Fists or Alphas.

Well, you can go for all! Although, as I said, there will be some interesting changes made this year...

[Hesh Kadesh]

Seems simple, just up the AoD value by 30% due to the inherent discount/model bloat ;)

[Trokair]

That may work for Tactical marines and some other Legion stuff but it won’t work for units with no direct equivalent, such as most of the Mechanicum, some of the more unique Legion choice, most of the Custodes and I assume some of the Solar Auxillia and Millitia and Cults (I am not too familiar with the last few and how they compare to the nearest 40 counterpart).

 

I suppose one could add a set % to specific AoD pledges to make it more equal but that would potentially involve a lot of work.

 

Maybe the best way to do it is rather than a points total for each faction at the end is to also have a success percentage. So what percentage of pledged unites in that fact where actually completed. Example a big faction pledges 10,000 points and completes 7,500 (75%) while a smaller faction pledges 8,000 and completes 6,500 (81.25%). Then it would not matter that an AoD marine is worth less points than a 40k Marine.

[Dreagher]

If I remember correctly the last one multiplied your points with your completion rate, so that had an influence but presumably not enough to overcome some units being double the points.

 

We will just have to show the others that we will beat them in spite of that. ;)