Throne Of Skulls. Your views.

[TauBoss]

Hi everyone

After my first tournament, I have caught the bug a little. But in my rush to play more 40k I rather stupidly booked myself a place in Throne of Skulls May 2014 in Nottingham. After doing this I did a little research and found 70% of the reviews are negative. Can anybody give me some ray of hope that I will enjoy this day?

I am taking Tau, and a list which I think is competitive and I am after some competitive gaming. But reviews saying out right cheating takes place are not putting my mind at ease at all.

Thanks everyone.

[Denzark]

Umm, where did you see the reviews, I would appreciate a link? I have been going to ToS since the back end of 4th Ed and have never had a bad time yet.

The atmosphere is great, 95% of the armies are full painted wonders with lots of conversions and the remainder are at least 3 colours and based. There are very few rules arguments, lots of good judges, a fair balance of terrain, a bar at hand.

Most of the people there are massive 40K fans with a minimal amount of beards - most there for the craic. The bigger the group you go with the better the experience, and you should drink heavily.

It is not all peaches, I have a few quibbles though. Firstly they USED to randomise the first game then move you up or down the tables according to your wins or loss - Swiss style. Now (I am given to understand) they randomise each game. Meaning you could be seal clubbed or seal club each game.

Next, the favourite game votes play heavily into the scoring system. The overall winner is predicated by the margin of points he scores compared to the average score of his race. The plus side of this is if everyone takes netlist wonders in a race (looking at you Eldar and Tau) then it is commensurately harder for them to win. The negative side of this is that you could table 5 opponents and still not be scoring as high as someone who got 4 wins, a loss and a favourite game vote cache with a less popular army.

These 2 things only really matter if you take some measure of self worth from how heavily you smash your opponents.

If you just want good games of 40K in awesome environment, do it.

PS don't forget to link those reviews could do with a laugh.

PPS I have not gone since escalation/Stronghold came in. There are lords of war - but the last winner was not using one. I have heard of games that ended inside 5 minutes in a hail of D. C'est La Guerre, if it ain't D its boring eejits with star lists.

[TauBoss]

Hi thanks for the reply. Here is the link. The guy does go on abit.

[url]http://sanguinesons.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/warning-rant-ahead-40k-throne-of-skulls.html?m=1[/url]

I have played tau for years, im not to worried about D. Well not much lol.

Annoyingly I am going alone it doesnt apeal to my other friends who play 40k. also im utter crap at painting and dont want this to Negatively impact on my experience and the people im playing against.

[RebelGrot]

We go a couple of times a year. Our group ranges from casual/fluff players to cheese-list wielding WAAC'ers: we all have a great time. Fri all day and Sat night is quite social, good chances for pick up games etc. We drink, we have a laugh.

Sure, the scoring is weird and there's always the chance of getting THAT guy but I think the blog review is very negatively polarised.

Regarding Escalation/Stronghold there is big stuff there. There's also fluff lists, net lists etc. It does lead to some mismatches but most will take those in their stride. The atmosphere is overwhelmingly positive. Of 5 visits I've come up against one cheat and one über-nerd - not 50% as mentioned in that blog.

A guy we know from the FLGS came alone in March and bumped into us - we had a pick up game with him and he had meals with us and chatted battle reports so it is OK on your own but, as with anything, it's more fun if you can rope.in some mates.

Enough waffle. We'll be going back probably Nov time as, overall it's mucho fun, though I'd maybe call.it a game.weekend than a 'proper' tournament.

[desert_hack]

I went once before and it was probably the best fun I've ever had playing 40k

[SephIOM]

Wowser that review was pretty harsh. I loved every throne of skulls I have ever been to. Hell I met denzark at the first one and he's coming to my wedding in September! So it can't be that bad. I have also never met a bad person there. Even the "nerds" he describes are sound enough. And the rest are there for a good time. Hell were just about regulars in the white heart now down the road we always go there. Lol. So if you go which you should keep an eye out for the squid badger(don't ask) lot.

[nurglez]

I've attended throne of skulls around 6 times over the last 3 years, I'm part of rebelgrot's group.

I've had good games and bad games, but generally it is a fun tournament at gw head office.

I quite like the scoring system, as people who take the flavour of the month codex get scored vs everyone using that same codex, also favourite army votes mean a lot too.


Many people go time and time again, and I do intend to go again (last went 2 weeks ago).

[chizal]

our group have always found ToS to be a fun event and apart from the saturday morning hangover hell we always seem to inflict upon ourselves we dont have anything negative to say about the event itself.

yes there are a few arsehats who turn up with netlists, act superior and expect to walk away with the best of race and overall win, but are pissed when they receive zero favorite game votes and get nudged off the top spot.

as for your painting dont worry, i've seen all sorts of skill ranging from barely base coated to works of art that have featured in white dwarf. anything is accepted and no one will insult you, its not that kind of atmosphere. (as long as your bases are painted, for some reason the event team really dont like unfinished bases lol)

On saturday nights theres also a pub quiz in bugmans bar, which has gotten stranger and more fun each time we have gone. it ends with a round of fights between made up characters using giant foam dice. the winners of which receive a free round of drinks and a special Bugmans Rangers award. (shame they took down warhammer worlds facebook page you could have seen our teams victory picture. catbum faces and all)

its a great event, our group has made some great new friendships with people all over the country who we keep in constant contact with, even so far as to make plans for our own small tourneys in each others home towns (aka week long piss ups away from work/family)

oh and yes, lords of war and deathstar units are always going to pop up, but that will happen no matter the event.

go have fun, drink far too much, scream at the victims chosen to fight in the pub quiz and make some new friends

James
The Squid Badgers

[Mr Mystery]

Top Tip for Nottingham.....

The Salutation Inn.

It's awesome.

[Denzark]

Interesting article by Jes Bickham in this week's White Dwarf, on January ToS which he competed in. Interestingly one comment was made about someone doubting escalation. They had first game against a revenant, but Mephiston killed it by end of turn 2.

Question - why was D not dropped on something as annoying as Mephiston in Turn 1 and who the hell lets him get close enough to plink a titan?