The dust has settled on this year’s Middle-earth Throne of Skulls. In what has become something of a tradition, fans of the Middle-earth™ Strategy Battle Game descended upon Warhammer World laden with beautiful armies, gorgeous display boards, and some frankly outrageous fancy dress!
Over the past few weeks we’ve been following members of the Specialist Design Studio – Lewis, Ash, Danny, and Tom* – as they prepared for the event. But the burning question is: how did they get on? And which of them gets bragging rights in the office?
Danny: I had a blast at this year’s event, and my Usurpers of Edoras did me proud! I had planned to see them rampage across the boards at Warhammer World, bringing death and ruin to every Rohan army I came up against – only to not face a single one throughout the entire event!
That was fine, as my real goal was to try and come ahead of the rest of the guys doing the challenge, and my Hill Tribesmen hacked and slashed their way to a respectable 18th place in the standings. I also managed to get the highest gaming score** out of the three of us, so I’ll take that!
Ash: Unfortunately, real life caught up with me a bit before the event, and I soon realised that I wouldn’t be able to get them finished in time. I had to make a quick choice to pivot my army into something I could do a lot quicker, whilst still taking part in the challenge. Step forward the Army of the Dead! A quick bit of aribrushing, washing and drybrushing and the bulk of the army was done. All I had left to do was Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, and then I could focus on the display board. Saying I was cutting it close would be an understatement – I was still painting it an hour before the event started! The Return of the King Army list is one of my favourite forces, and one I felt I could have a lot of fun with on the tabletop. Luckily, my opponents felt the same too as I was honoured to receive three favourite opponent votes out of five!
This helped boost my overall score, which was needed as unfortunately my army didn’t do quite as well as Danny’s or Lewis’ in terms of game results, and helped me finish in 34th place out of 80 – so I’m very happy with that!
Also, I pledge to finish the Arnor army by next year’s Throne of Skulls – that’s a promise!
Lewis: Throne of Skulls is my favourite event of the year. It’s an all-round hobby spectacle where I get to go a bit crazy with conversions and display boards and really let my imagination run wild! That’s very much what happened this year with my Realms of Men army, which has been fully converted to represent Gondor in the early Third Age. It’s an era I wanted to explore and give my own take on, and I’m really proud of the results!
My opponents seemed to love it too as I got a full five out of five favourite army votes (a massive thank you to each of my opponents!) and, although I didn’t do quite as well as Danny in the actual games, those votes helped me leapfrog him and finish in 14th place – office bragging rights are mine!
The overall winner of the event was Kalman Steels with his beautifully painted Defenders of the Hornburg army. Kalman is a veteran of Throne of Skulls, but this year he outdid himself by making a full display board depicting the Hornburg covered in snow and ice in the depths of the Long Winter. He also spent the entire weekend in full fancy dress as the epic Helm Hammerhand after he has been driven mad – a truly magnificent effort in every aspect!
Of course, Kalman wasn’t the only one to produce an excellent display board – the Middle-earth Throne of Skulls was full of them! Check out some examples below:
Thanks for the input, guys! If joining in with the fun of a Throne of Skulls event sounds like a great time to you – and it should – make sure to keep a regular eye on us here at Warhammer Community, as we’re always the first to let you know when new events are on the way.
*Tom wasn’t able to make the event in the end as he is currently away on paternity leave. A huge congratulations to him and his partner on their new arrival!
**At a Throne of Skulls event, your final score is based on your combined score for gaming, favourite opponent votes, and favourite army votes – making it a true test of every aspect of the hobby!
