The International 40k teams just announced that, through majority vote, they would be leaving the ETC altogether. Check out the latest.
If you don’t know what the ETC is or didn’t even know we had an international 40k team (Team America), then don’t worry. We’ll be explaining everything to you. But in essence, due to a lack of support, the international 40k teams themselves have decided almost unanimously to leave the ETC.
What is the ETC?
The ETC stands for European Team Championship and is responsible for bringing teams of players from each Country for different games to Luxembourg annually. Keeping the scope on 40k, team America, and a bunch of other teams has voted with a majority of 90% to leave the ETC and here’s why.
Coming from Neil Kerr on Competitive 40k’s Facebook, there is a long-written story explaining every last detail that we highly recommend you read. However, we’ll be pulling out the highlights for you here:
As many people are aware, the ETC 40k community voted overwhelmingly to break away from the ETC and start up their own 40k team tournament (90% to leave, 70% to leave this year).
Competitive 40k Leaves the ETC: Forms World Championships
After years of running into the same problems, many people began to realize that an organization built on “For the players, by the players” wasn’t true. And that the 40k side felt neglected. This had been going on for years… Problems ranging from overall neglect of basic supplies needed for hosting to functional terrain were just a start. And after players from each team make sacrifices and funnel money to fund their trip over to where the ETC is hosted, they always leave with underwhelming memories.
the ETC works thusly; proposals/bids to host the ETC are put forward by various people which are then voted on by the ETC captains. The winner becomes the ‘host organiser.’ This organiser is meant to then provide everything the ETC needs to run; said needs being dictated by the various individual systems. The problem is that in truth once a host organiser has been voted in they have total control, and everyone just has to hope that they deliver on what was promised and what is required. What has happened, time and again, is that organisers have fallen well short of meeting the requirements of the various systems, to flat out ripping off the attendees and not even bothering to provide the most basic things. So what we have is a tournament that is meant to be ‘by the players, for the players’ but is in reality ‘by some (often) random group of people, that hopefully won’t be a total disaster.’
The main reason why 40k was getting this neglect is that chairmen are voted on to “facilitate” the ETC. And through lack of interest on the 40k side of things, they have more or less failed to uphold a quality event for 40k players.
Neglect Was the Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back
…there is a group of Chairmen (normally about 5-6) who are elected by captains. Generally speaking, the individual chairmen are often a captain or person involved with one particular gaming system, and their individual focus more often than not focuses on a said gaming system with zero interest in any of the others.
Neil mentions some of the more memorable issues that players ran into through past ETC events due to the lack of interest for 40k players.
To name a few examples; in years past we have had organisers openly ripping teams off and cashing huge amounts of money, not providing even painted tables to play on, and my all-time favourite, not providing sufficient toilet paper (that year I ended up going and buying toilet paper for all the 40k players myself). Suffice to say, whilst the ETC positions itself as one of the world’s premier tournaments, the quality of the venue, terrain, and overall player experience, is often far from that.
Another final issue was raised by a player who knew what quality, functional 40k terrain looked like. He designed his own terrain and went on to make a business producing it. The terrain allowed for standardized games of 40k to be played at the ETC. The current ETC host group went behind the 40k player’s backs and commissioned a 3D printing company that gave up a product that in their opinion wasn’t worthy of functioning in 40k’s rules.
This apparently left a bad taste in a vast majority of 40k player’s mouths as an event that was “for the people, by the people” completely ignored their wishes.
Leaving the ETC Won’t Stop the 40k Competitive Scene
After the struggles that have been endured over the years from the ETC committee, the 40k competitive scene has decided to search for greener pastures. They’ve already announced that they have been looking into events that will be hosted later on this year. So if you were looking for a big 40k event, keep your eyes peeled for what this might be. While Neil didn’t give any specific details, he had this to say:
Change is inevitable and so the 40K community is now looking ahead to this year’s inaugural 40K World Team Championships – details of which will follow once all the captains and teams involved are in agreement. Until then, remember; it is a game about war, not war about a game.
Get ready for the Warhammer 40k WTC’s coming in 2020!
With all of this reaching the surface of the hobby community, what kind of event do you think we will see birthed next? Did you ever make it to an ETC event? What was your experience?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
