Here is the news release from the Games Workshop Newsletter -
Our Throne of Skulls Grand Tournaments are all about having a great time playing one of your favourite games. Over the years they have proved to be a huge success, and so we are now planning to run more of them, in more places round the world, than ever before. As part of this process we're updating the way we run our tournaments, to make it even easier for players have the best time possible. Our aim is simply to get people together so they can play games, meet up with their mates and immerse themselves in the hobby for a day or two.
Tournaments are not just about fighting battles; there are lots of other things to do as well. They offer an unrivalled opportunity to make new friends and see some really great armies. You're sure to come away with some new ideas for your own collection, and hints and tips on how to achieve the best effects. There are usually plenty of other activities to take part in too. You'll find that a Throne of Skulls Grand Tournament is a fantastic way to celebrate all aspects of the Games Workshop hobby.
Look out for details of Throne of Skulls Grand Tournaments to be held in your area in the pages of White Dwarf magazine and on the Games Workshop website at www.games-workshop.com shortly. We look forward to seeing you at a Throne of Skulls Grand Tournament soon!
Jervis JohnsonAnd here is the post leading into this announcement on the 'Whats New Today' section of the Games Workshop blog -
I caught up with Jervis briefly this morning as he was making the final adjustments to the new Throne of Skulls tournament pack, which will be available for you to download this summer - just in time for the new tournament season. I'll post a link to it as soon as it's online and from there you'll be able to find out exactly how our tournaments will work in future. Perhaps the coolest change to the way we run Throne of Skulls tournaments is that it will be the same rules system regardless of which country you're competing in. Each individual tournament will still have its own unique flavour but the core rules, scenarios and scoring system will be the same, which means you can spend more time practicing with your army and less time worrying about what might be in a particular rules pack. It also means that the tournament organisers can spend more time providing you with great gaming tables and scenery to fight over - sounds good to me!
To me it sounds like they are going to be doing a revamp that will be something along the line of the RTT tournaments that independent retailrs host, but on a larger scale - one big generic tournament packet. Here is what really makes me think that, from the above article -
Each individual tournament will still have its own unique flavour but the core rules, scenarios and scoring system will be the same, which means you can spend more time practicing with your army and less time worrying about what might be in a particular rules pack.I am wondering if this means that all of the larger tournaments across the US will need to use this rules/scenario pack in order to get any support from Games Workshop? On one hand this would be very nice - you would know what to expect when going in to the tournament, and the quality should be consistent across the entire US. On the other hand it has the potential to make all of the events the same.
Only time will tell on all of this and it looks like we don't have long to wait - the above articles mention this summer as the release date for the new packet. What do you guys think? Do you like the idea of a consistent event format, or do you think it will suck the color out of the events?