Throne of Skulls : Journal of a Novititate Warmaster

My good friend Tommo, a founding member of our gaming group, the League of Extraordinary Gentleman (the Gents for short); will be taking the plunge into his first tournament in a few weeks time at the Throne of Skulls and has taken time out from his preparations to share his thoughts on the upcoming challenge. I'm interested in how the whole thing goes, having also never played in a tournament and of course I'll be lending my support to his endeavours; but most importantly having him do a stint as a guest writer will allow me to crack open a cold stubby and go catch up on some 'Gods of the Arena' with the Missus.

Gratitude to Tommo...

The storm clouds are gathering over Nottingham as the Throne of Skulls tournament draws near. I cannot say, with my hand on my heart, that I am not looking forward to my first tournament, nay, game of Warhammer 40k, outside of my own circle of friends; Pestie, Bix, Weeeeel and Bisheh, in two weeks time very, very much indeed. It has been pointed out on a number of occasions in fact, as the weekend draws ever closer that specks of foamy saliva have been spotted on my lips!

In the evenings, I find myself scouring the Dakka Dakka forums trying to get idea of what I might be up against and often find myself wondering if I might turn traitor suddenly as I froth over list options that the other codices have to offer. I....must.....remain resolute.....must.....resist...the urge to turn to the dark forces of the Space Wolves, ‘Nids or Tau!

One of the problems I find myself facing, as I scrutinise these endless posts, is whether it is possible to strike a happy balance between competitiveness and poetic licence. I am very competitive in nature and have a tendency to place the blame on the dice gods rather than my own ineptitude as a general in battles when results go against me.

However I try to approach to list building in a narrative fashion, breathing life into my creations with back-stories which reflects the conversions of my miniatures rather than focusing necessarily on what might actually beat the living daylights out of my opponent. Reading the threads though, I can see that ALOT of folk take this tournament thing VERY seriously indeed and when tackling certain codices, there are certain list builds that are quite simply frightening!

With only two weeks to go though, I think I should probably cease tinkering with my list, especially given the fact that my best friend in the world and 4 times golden daemon trophy winner ‘Pestie’ Paul has been working tirelessly on painting my army!

On the day, I shall be fielding Chaos Space Marines. I have to say I've been corrupted by the insidious whisperings of the forums and have deviated from my original plan of fielding pure Thousand Sons and instead gone for a much more ‘prescriptive’ berserker list. That being said, I have resisted the two Daemon Princes and I may end up not using as many obliterators as might be recommended.

May the single great eye of Magnus watch over me as I enter the arena!

Pictures used 'Throne of Skulls Logo' copyright Games Workshop Limited 2000-2011, 'He Sits on his Throne' by Michael Whelan

Guest submission by Tommo