+++Blood Angels Outpost+++

[Jolemai]

 

 

Section 1

[Jolemai]

Section 2 – ETL VI MAGISTER: Factions’ performance

As it is evident from the table in the previous post, in terms of Factions the ranking is the following:

• Adeptus Astartes – 89,747
• Age of Darkness (AoD) – 40,370
• Realm of Chaos – 37,614
• Forces of the Imperium (IFOR) – 30,072
• Xenos – 17,666

As such the Adeptus Astartes is the Faction to win the ETL and all participants in any of the constituent Forums who has completed all his/her vows may wear the Badge of ETL VI MAGISTER that can be found below:

It goes without saying that the Adeptus Astartes commands unapparelled resources within the B&C. This has to do with the general popularity of the Marines within the 40k hobby but also due to the B&C legacy of being initially a loyalist Space Marine Forum and later a “Power Armour” forum. Years of that legacy cannot be easily ignored and despite the fact that the Imperial Forces are a part of the B&C for years and most recently the Xenos were also added, the bulk of our members are Marine players and collectors! As such, even without the contribution of Deathwatch and the Grey Knights, the resources (participants and points pledged) of the Adeptus Astartes put them this, first year of the ETL’s new structure, in an unassailable position – or conversely, the ETL reflects the real fact that B&C members are overwhelmingly loyal Marine players/collectors. Is this going to be the case in the future? Will other Factions lure some of our members away from the Astartes making it a more balanced affair? Only time will tell.

ADEPTUS ASTARTES: ETL VI MAGISTER

All participants that vowed for the Adeptus Astartes Faction (i.e. Blood Angels) are eligible to wear the ETL VI Magister Badge in their signature:

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_ETL_VI_Magister_Faction_Astartes.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_04_ETL_Magister.gif

[Jolemai]

Section 3 – ETL VI Primus Inter Pares: Forums’ performance within each Faction

Irrespective of how the Factions faired in the ETL, within each Faction a silent war was taking place… The Forums comprising any given Faction were fighting each other for the top position and to gain the title of Primus Inter Pares! Let’s see what happened:

IMPORTANT NOTE: All graphs in this section are at the same scale so the relative performance can be visually relayed

Adeptus Astartes Faction:

• Blood Angels – 35,345
• Dark Angels – 20,941
• Space Marines – 20,260
• Space Wolves – 14,892

Winner of the Primus Inter Pares within the Adeptus Astartes Faction is without a doubt the Blood Angels! With an astounding completion rate of 87% and with adequate resources to begin with, they managed to deliver almost 15k pts of ETL Score difference to the second Forum in line, the Dark Angels. Third were the Space Marines (also known as “Codex” in previous ETL iterations) that despite their superior resources since the beginning of the event, having 67 participants vs. 44 for the BAs and 46 of the DAs and 54k pts worth of vows vs. 47k for the BAs and 42k for the DAs suffered from their chronic ailment, namely that of a low completion rate. Despite the last week’s pick up, the completion rate of the Space Marines’ Forum was 61.4% not only the lowest in the Astartes Faction but also pretty low by ETL VI standards (ETL average stood at 70%). As such the Space Marines could not exploit their resources’ advantage to establish themselves as the top dogs, not only missing the opportunity to become the Primus Inter Pares of the Astartes but also as the Dominus Exercitus – probably the most prestigious ETL award! Instead they finished in third position within their Faction with the Dark Angels getting the second place. Just.

So kudos to the brave Blood Angels that really managed to maintain their pace even during the difficult period of June and early July and delivering such solid results.

BLOOD ANGELS: PRIMUS INTER PARES – ADEPTUS ASTARTES

All participants that vowed for the Blood Angels Forum are eligible to wear the ETL VI Primus Inter Pares - Adeptus Astartes in their signature:

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_Primus_Interpares_Astartes.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_03_Primus_Interpares_01.gif

[Jolemai]

Section 4 – ETL VI Dominus Exercitus: Forums' performance across Factions

Apart from the strongest Faction and the strongest Forums within each Faction, the ETL VI recognizes the strongest Forum across all Forums irrespective of Faction! This is the closest comparable achievement vs. the previous ETLs Primus Inter Pares – although not exactly the same as the Forums/Factions have been modified and adjusted since.

In ETL VI, there are 20 Forums all competing for the top position! Yes, there is glory in becoming the first among equals i.e. the first within your Faction, but the glory of becoming the top among ALL 20 Forums is unparalleled! AND THIS GLORY GOES TO THE:

BLOOD ANGELS: DOMINUS EXERCITUS ETL VI

All Blood Angels’ participants who completed ALL their vows are eligible to carry the Dominus Exercitus badge in their signature!

It is easily understood that the Dominus Exercitus will be found among the Primus Inter Pares, i.e. the Champion Forums of each Faction. However, here are the rankings of all the Forums:

Here I need to focus on the top two. As you can see, the difference in score is just 343pts! And more to the point, Chaos Space Marines have completed more points in absolute terms. So that is as close as it can get. However, the Blood Angels high completion rate and fewer penalty points brought them to first position.

For all the collective distinctions, the ETL rewards team work and the completion rate is a massive bonus – a bonus designed to allow Forums that have less traffic to have reasonable chance, if they pull together, to challenge other, more popular Forums. But that also means that in order to make that theoretical chance a reality, the effort should exceed average performances and indeed stand out in achieving high completion rates above and beyond the call of duty!

And sometimes even that is not enough if it is not backed by substantial resources, i.e. a reasonably high number of participants and a reasonably high level of points pledged.

For example, the Space Marines had the most participants and the for the better part of the event they also had the most points pledged but with a completion rate of just 61% they had to settle for 5^thposition. On the other end of the spectrum, the Grey Knights with a magical 100% completion rate had limited chance of a good ranking as they only had two participants and only 2.7k points pledged between them.

In the case of the Blood Angels, well, they did have 44 participants – a decent amount but by no means the highest. The Space Marines had 67, the Chaos Space Marines had 55 and the Dark Angels had 46. So yes, they had a relatively strong showing, but certainly they did not look to be the favorites at the onset of the event. But boy, did they show discipline and drive! Not only they started declaring completions early, they started to re-vow and thus achieving a multiplying effect. The re-vowing rate (second or subsequent vows over first vows) of the Blood Angels reached 80%! If that is not a drive, I don’t know what is!

To cut a long story short, at the end of the event, before penalties of CR adjustments, they have managed to complete 41.6k points, some 9k points more than the Space Marines, the Adeptus Astartes Faction favorite. And the penalties of unfinished second or subsequent vows, although severe, were mitigated by the enormous completion rate of 87% leading them to a final ETL score of 35.3k.

Opposite them were the Chaos Space Marines. Chaos Space Marines is an ETL super power, winning the previous 3 consecutive events. There is a huge commitment and enthusiasm for the event, a lot of discipline (uncharacteristic for Chaos, I know) and fantastic artistic output. They were a favorite from the get-go but their participation, although strong for ETL VI standards, was not as strong as in previous ETLs. Still that was not that much of a limiting factor as they were still second in participation levels only to the Loyalist Space Marines.

And they did have a very strong performance! Fast-forward to the end of the event, they had completed, in absolute terms and before penalties and adjustments, more points than any other faction! They have achieved that in somewhat peculiar manner, as their completion rate among first vows was not that impressive at 67% (at least compared to the Blood Angels where completion rate among first vows stood at 88%) but their re-vowing rate at 91% sure was. Did you get that? 91% re-vowing rate... That means that relatively fewer participants carried most of the weight through frantic re-vowing. As such, their completion rate settled at a fairly high 77%.

And then the penalties struck! The Chaos Space Marines suffered 1,285 pts of penalties and Blood Angels suffered "only" 925 pts. That proved to be crucial as it meant that the completion rate (that is measured after penalties) retreated by two percentage points for both teams but ended up with Chaos Marines having a score of just 343 pts less than the Blood Angels! That’s 0.16% of the total ETL VI score! 0.16%!!!!! And just to demonstrate how close this was, if both teams had zero penalties, the Chaos team would have won by 28 pts!!!

This demonstrates that there is no such thing as a “small” vow and that it is extremely important to complete your pledge – especially if by failing to do so your previous completed vows will be also nullified!

Now that was the narrowest victory ever in an ETL, but a victory it is, so again congratulations to the Blood Angels that showed that perseverance and commitment can work wonders – even if the initial resources are not that high.

All participants that vowed for the Blood Angels Forum are eligible to wear the ETL VI Dominus Exercitus badge in their signature:

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_Dominus_Exercitus_Blood_Angels.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_06_Dominus_Exercitus.gif

Well that was the situation of the collective achievements. Now let’s move on to the individual achievements:

[Jolemai]

Section 5 - Custos Fidei and Oath breakers

 

The ETL does not only reward collective effort but individual effort as well! It doesn’t matter if your Forum / Faction did not perform well, as long as you have delivered on your promise, no matter the size of your vow, you will receive the fabled Custos Fidei – that most prestigious award, a proof that you successfully participated in ETL VI!

 

The Custos Fidei is available to all participants who completed all their vows during the lifetime of the event and even distinguishes the amount of vows that each participant made. If on the other hand, you have failed to complete even one of your vows, then the Oathbreaker Badge is for you, and you are required to wear until the year-end. Truth is, the Oathbreaker badge is quite nice, and many people wear it long after the required period!

 

So, with no further ado let’s award the Custos Fidei and the Oathbreaker badge (participants are presented with alphabetical order):

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: IF you think your name is in the wrong place, feel free to take the badge you deserve and notify me to change the location of your name

 

Participants with 5 vows completed:

 

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_03_Custos_Fidei_05_.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_01_Custos_Fidei_05.gif

 

Majkhel

Zebulon

 

Participants with 4 vows completed:

 

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_03_Custos_Fidei_04_.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_01_Custos_Fidei_04.gif

 

Mr Yellow

Spyros

 

Participants with 3 vows completed:

 

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_03_Custos_Fidei_03_.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_01_Custos_Fidei_03.gif

 

bushman101

Closet Skeleton

Jolemai

Slothysaur

Spagunk

 

Participants with 2 vows completed:

 

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_03_Custos_Fidei_02_.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_01_Custos_Fidei_02.gif

 

BluejayJunior

Brother Aether

Brother Lemartes

Kaese

Ornithologist

Silas7

The4thHorseman

Thoridon

 

Participants with 1 vow completed:

 

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_03_Custos_Fidei_01_.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_01_Custos_Fidei_01.gif

 

Brother Carn

brother_b

CaptainHelion

Chaplain Gunzhard

Charlo

Daemonifugue

Dont-Be-Haten

Ekfud

Grazcruzk

Indefragable

james71989

Lynnean

Paladin777

Soulhunter1995

Ultra kblock

Venerable Jazzman

Xenith

 

Oathbreakers

 

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_02_Oathbraker_.jpghttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_2018_Medal_02_Oath_Breaker.gif

 

Aothaine

Arkhanist

Bishoujo

Lord Ranulf

Mandaloriano

Mightykin

Schwills

sfPanzer

SM1981

Zeller

[Jolemai]

Also, continuing the tradition and some of you are following the ETL closely for a number of years, here are some medallions to denote the number of ETLs you have participated in:

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_Medal_01.gifhttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_Medal_02.gifhttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_Medal_03.gifhttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_Medal_04.gifhttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_Medal_05.gifhttp://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_Medal_06.gif

Section 6 - Badges of Excellence: Forum Champions and Collegia Titanica

Awarding the Custos Fidei is not the only distinction the ETL bestows on the participants. Some have delivered above and beyond the call of duty and therefore are eligible for badges of excellence.

The Forum Champion:

Each Forum has a Champion, i.e. the individual with the most points completed. Of course, those individuals must have completed ALL their vows, so participants that have outstanding vows at the end of the event are not considered (the order of the Champions mirrors the order the Forums are stacked in the main B&C page).

Blood Angels Champion:

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Badge_Forum_Champion_Astartes_BA.jpg

Mr. Yellow - 4,336

Collegia Titanica

Lastly, for all those who complete a Titan (of any size or affiliation) are eligible to the Collegia Titanica badge below:

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Badge_Titanicus.jpg

Section 8 - Badges of Excellence: Artificer

This is the badge that is awarded for impressive painting and modelling. Whereas all previous Badges of Excellence related to the quantity of the output of the participants, the Badge of the Artificer rewards quality. Unfortunately, this is subjective and there are no committees or joint bodies of decision-making. It’s effectively just me and the Shadow Guard. The only objective criterion, as you might have guessed is that the miniatures must be complete with basing an’ all and that the participant must have completed all his vows.

As such the Badge of the Artificer will be awarded to quite a few individuals, representing different styles of painting. There is no bias on larger or smaller models and no bias or whether it was part of a big or a small vow. The only criterion is whether it has a wow! factor – again based on subjective criteria.

However, only one Artificer will be awarded the title of Master Artificer. This will happen as a result of voting in a poll that I will set-up in the WIP Forum, allowing the B&C community at large to decide – not just the ETL participants – which is the participant that deserves the title of Master Artificer.

With no further ado, you can find below the names of the participants that will be awarded to the Badge of the Artificer:

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Badge_Artisan.jpg

Spagunk (BA)

All the above are entitled to the Badge of the Artificer. Congratulations gentlemen!

Now you all have three days to provide me with the best pics you can take of your vows (make them large-ish) so I can set up the poll for all the B&C members to vote. They do not have to be pics of the entire vow - it could be a select few models or even one model that you are most proud of! In fact I'd rather you do that, and get a clear image of your best work in the ETL VI than try to cram everything in a pic and lose focus. Just make sure it's work you did during the ETL!

In case you do not provide me with any pics, then I'll use the ones you posted in the completion declarations of your vows. But please make the effort - it'll be fun and your work will presented closer to your liking.

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_6_Poster_01_Announcement_V2.jpg

THE POLL FOR THE MASTER ARTIFICER IS NOW OPEN!

[Jolemai]

Jolemai's notes

 
Still smiling? Seriously this feeling isn't going to go away anytime soon. When Charlo said I was "chuffed" he may have understated it...
 
I don't remember the Librarium Painting Challenge. When I joined in 2011 I had already missed the the LPG'11 event (our last big win) and apparently I don't recall the existence of LPG'12 or LPG'13. I do, however, remember the first ETL in 2012 where I participated (and failed), and this led me to skip ETL II in 2013 as I didn't want to let anyone down again.¹ In both we had an OK-ish performance despite being bigged up due to our LPG exploits in the past. I was back involved in ETL III but there was nothing happening: no motivation, no desire, nothing. I made a couple of threads to rally the troops but it appeared not to work as we limped our way to the penultimate place. Just.
 
We were on our way to becoming a laughing stock.
 
Something had to be done. So like any decent BA general I assumed command of the situation and employed tactics which I'd used to good effect previously:² so we have the recruitment thread and build up thread which were loaded with information to generate interest. During the event itself participants are (genuinely) made to feel wanted and encouraged to participate. The RTS was revived and modified into an ETL-sequel event, whilst an ETL-prequel event (GBBO, B&Z) was created to keep people in the loop and on top form. ETL IV and V saw an improvement and the tactics were refined to become strategies. None of this is a secret btw, it's been quite obvious what I've been up to
 
Due to the break between ETL V and ETL VI, this victory has been two years in the making as the GBBO in 2017 and this year's B&Z got us ready to go from the off - but even then we were still a "sleeping giant",³ a "dark horse" for the title if you will. I've always said that in an online community, you get out of it what you put into it. What that means is, if you put the effort in it will be noticed and it rub off on others, who will do the same; thereby helping you and the community attain your goals together in unison and faster than you would apart. This has been evident in the ETL where those who have stuck around and checked the thread(s) have been driven on ever further but the success of others: for example, our two five vows Frater were egging each other on to do them and get them completed first.
 
Following the change to the format for ETL VI I stated from the off we were after the triple crown of awards - ETL Magister, Primus Inter Pares, Dominus Exercitus. The first was doable because we were "rolled" into a Faction with the other Marine fora; the second was a challenge as all three sister fora have been good competition over the last two ETLs; the third was merely a goal due to the resources available to the favourites were greater than ours: what we did have here though, was belief in abundance. In fact, come the end of the first month where were only able to register our third-highest participation (44 Frater), the bookies certainly wouldn't have given us good odds. However, the ball was rolling with early completions and high re-vowing rates (that kept out average high too) and we started to climb the table. We tackled the June grind well to move into the lead in our Faction and were gaining ground on the Forums in front as more and more completions came in. Start of July we had to push on hard and we were rewarded with a Week 12 highlight as we were 1 point clear of CSM on ETL score - and this set the stage for a frantic finish. Seriously, we wouldn't have been in this position without your folks so any and all plaudits are yours and yours alone.
 
A few stats of note:

• 35,345 is a new record score (29,116 was the previous in ETL V)
• 86.9 % is a new record completion rate (86.5 % was the previous in ETL V)
• 44 participants is the third highest number (84 is the record from ETL IV)
• 79 vows is the third highest number (130 is the record from ETL IV)
• 46,857 points pledged is the second highest number (63,653 is the record from ETL IV)
• 593 average vow is the third highest number (730 is the record from ETL II)

As you can see, we've still got records to break and goals to attain, as well as a crown to defend in ETL VII, one which will be extra special as it's the boards 20th year. I look forward to seeing you all there and keep an eye on the BA board for BA events (and everything else!) in the meantime :)

The final question is, does this still apply?
 
 
1) 2012 I had a newborn in March and was in my first year of a PhD, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. I really did feel like I'd let everyone down and there was no one to put an arm around me and say it was fine, so to speak - and this is something I strive to alleviate during our events. As for that vow, I actually submitted it for RTS'13 and failed it again, only to complete it during RTS'17 when I voluntarily joined the Death Company.
2) Prior to this, I had ~ 10 years as a Guild Leader on EQ2 whereby I took charge of guild recruitment and guild raids.
3) Sleeping giant is a term used in football to describe a team who were big in the past but aren't doing much right now. Such as Wolverhampton Wanderers who were the biggest team in the 1950s

[Jolemai]

The Lost

In the ETL if you fail your vows you receive the Oath Breaker banner, one which you are supposed to display until the year's end (or however you've pledged). However, Blood Angels don't fail. Instead, Blood Angels Space Marines fall to the Black Rage and join the Death Company whereby they are given one last hurrah at smiting the Emperor's foes. The following list are those who have now joined the B&C's Death Company:

• Aothaine
• Arkhanist
• Bishoujo
• Lord Ranulf
• Mandaloriano
• Mightykin
• Schwills
• sfPanzer
• SM1981
• Zeller

Instead of the Oath Breaker banner below (or even in addition to), you may take a Death Company banner (also below). Your chance to shake off the Rage and attain your Salvation will occur next month and as the steward of the B&C's Death Company, I'll be in touch with more information soon.

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Banner_02_Oathbraker_.jpg

Feast of Blades 2018

There is still spaces open for Feast of Blades, with preference going towards Characters/Sergeants painted during the ETL. follow the link if you're interested.

Basically it's an Arena of Death style event whereby you submit your Character to do battle with others in a pyramid style contest until only one remains. The battles are done by a Gamesmaster (Xenith) and posted up with an attached blow by blow account of the fight.

[Captain Semper]

A great report there Jolemai, a true leader of the denizens of Baal! The BAs had a fantastic performance and can be summarised in two main areas: 1) keep your promises and completed what you vowed, 2) you vowed again and completed again. And despite this phenomenal performance, you still only won by half the ETL VI average vow... A narrow victory if there ever was one. That means that no vow is too small or insignificant, you never know what the margin between the first and the second place may be! 

 

Also, and this shows how far the ETL has moved the needle on online events, the LPC 11 had 105 participants and the most any forum had (the BAs) was 24! He have gone a long way since... 

 

So thank you Reclusiarch for your commitment and your hard work, and again congratulations to all the BA team for a fantastic result! :tu:

[Zebulon]

Excellent summary Jolemai :tu:

 

In similar vein, I flunked ETL V (having vowed the Betrayal at Calth box) and out of shame I didn’t post here again for the rest of 2016!

 

The main reason, FWIW, was that pretty much as soon as I’d vowed I started going out with the woman who’s now my wife so hobby went on the back burner for a bit! :D

 

Anyway, the supportive atmosphere here among the Blood Angels does a lot to make this my favourite part of the forum now :tu:

[Captain Semper]

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_6_Poster_01_Announcement_V2.jpg

ETL VI MASTER ARTIFICER: 

KIZZDOUGHS

You can see the results here
 
Now the ETL VI is truly over. This thread will remain open for posting but will become unpinned. 
 
Until next year, farewell!
 
Captain Semper
Member of the Inner Circle
Master of Recruits

[Kierdale]

Hidden Content

Firstly let me congratulate you on your victory in ETL-VI! Kudos, sons of Sanguinius!
Secondly, as victors, I extend a special offer to you to embellish your fine models with fitting backgrounds...
For those who do not know it, Inspirational Friday is a (generally) fortnightly event within its home in the Chaos Space Marines forum, in which a topic is set for members to write short (or long if the muse takes you) fluff/fan-fic pieces about their war bands, characters and models.
And here begins our fourteenth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: ETL mini
ETL-VI ended with a victory for the sons of Sanguinius!
While I myself vowed for the lapdogs of the Corpse-God this year, I do know a great many fantastic models were painted for the Chaos forums.
We’ve seen them, now tell us who they are.
The 14th challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018 is to write a piece about models completed for ETL-VI.If you - like I - did not vow for Chaos (pray that the Call of Chaos is held this year so that you may seek redemption damnation!) then by all means give us a tale of models you completed for other forums,pitted against the forces of Chaos.
If you did not take part in this year’s ETL then focus on models you completed for a previous ETL...or simply completed recently ;)
Photos are not mandatory but are recommended (but your entry will not be judged on the models/photos). IF2018: ETL models runs until the 24th of August.
Let us be inspired.
The winner of IF2018: ETL-VI Models shall claim the Octed amulet:
...and the honour of judging the next topic.
Please post entries not here but in the main IF2018 thread in the CSM forum.

I don’t know if I can tempt any Angels, but the deadline for IF has been extended to 8/31. :)

[sockwithaticket]

Hello Frater, 

I've been much more intermittently involved in hobbying this year than I've become accustomed to and sort of tuned out from things like the ETL as a result, but our Reclusiarch called this monumental achievement to my attention, so belated congratulations to you all for such a sterling effort and your ultimate triumph. I'll enjoy going through the thread over the next few days to observe your collective output