The Horus Heresy

March 25th –26th

Welcome to Throne of Skulls

Welcome to Throne of Skulls: The Horus

Heresy – an ‘entry level’, non-competitive

gaming event for anyone who wants to play

fun games set during this age of darkness and

treachery. This event features a relaxed

atmosphere where players can focus less on

winning games and more on rolling dice,

killing Space Marines and enjoying

themselves. All the awards are based on

sportsmanship, painting, gentlemanly conduct

and having a good old laugh with like minded

people. If that sounds like something you

would like to take part in, then read on.

What’s the Horus Heresy?

The Horus Heresy is a story from the distant

past of the Warhammer 40,000 universe - a

galactic civil war that ended in the creation of

the Imperium as we know it today. It was a

time of legend, betrayal and strife and makes

an ideal battleground for our games.

At its most basic, this means we use a special

series of supplements produced by Forge

World designed to let you re-create these bat-

tles.

Event Essentials

Date: 25th – 26th March

System: Warhammer 40,000 - Horus Heresy -

The Age of Darkness (more details on this be-

low in the section titled – “Maelstrom of War

in the Age of Darkness”)

Points Value: 2,000-3,000 points (read more

on this under the “Army Size” section!)

Number of games: 5

Army Selection: Use the rules presented for

your army in the appropriate Horus Heresy

publication. See below under “Army Size” for

further details.

Scenarios in use: Maelstrom of War

(randomly determined) See below under

“Maelstrom of War in the Age of Darkness” for further details.

Publications in use: All Horus Heresy

publications from Forge World, including all

campaign books, experimental rules and event

programmes.

A note on painting and basing:

We will ask you during registration if you

have any unpainted or unbased models left to

finish. If you do, show us and we will tell you

what needs to be done in order to make the

models up to standard for the event. Then we

will do our best to give you the time and space

to get your models finished.

Planning something outlandish?

Many hobbyists take it upon themselves to

create truly incredible models, through kit

bashing, green stuff, and straight up weapon

swaps. While most of these are awesome,

there are some which are not suitable for use at

our events.

For example, any model that could be

confused as another, or one which doesn’t

accurately represent the original model

produced by Games Workshop. Examples of

this would be Fire Raptors being used as

“counts as” Storm Eagles, or Cataphractii

Terminators being used as Tartaros

Terminators. Though these might even seem

commonplace in your local gaming club, at a

Throne of Skulls part of your ticket is being

provided opponent’s who are using not only

fully painted and based models, but the correct

models as well. Using the right models adds

massively to overall feel and quality of the

event, and Horus Heresy events at

Warhammer World have always had an

exceptional quality which we are determined

to maintain.

Take a look at our handy chart below for our

rules on proxies and conversions.

Are you planning to use converted models or prox-

YES NO

Contact us at

whworldevents@gwplc.com or ring us 0115 900 4994 and check to make sure your conversion/proxy is appropriate for our events.**

Carry on.

Nothing to worry about ex-cept mould lines

and getting it painted on time.

*A proxy is when you use an unconverted model as a Warscroll/Datasheet entry different to the one it

normally represents. Examples include Arachnarok Spiders as Stonehorns, Cadian Shock Troopers as

Scion Tempestus’s, Skeletons as Grave Guard and so on.

**This is only for our gaming events, held at Warhammer Fest. This doesn’t count for your local

model shop, Games Workshop, Warhammer Shop, club or even a regular gaming evening at

Warhammer World. Get in touch with them to see what their standards are.

When you contact us, it would help a lot if you include pictures of the models in question.

Also, don’t panic. We are really nice and we LOVE cool hobby.

Note: Fully assembled means just that – fully assembled. Examples of models that are not fully as-

sembled are cavalry without riders, artillery pieces without crew, one Mangler Squig on a base rather

than two, half a skeleton representing a full one and so on. Please bear that in mind before deciding

what to bring along!

If you aren’t sure what you need to do, give us

a call on 0115 900 4994 and we will happily

talk you through what we look for.

A polite but very friendly warning; we will

have no choice but to disallow models which

aren’t suitable for the event, either by way of

conversion/proxy or by being unpainted or

unbased. We will do everything in our power

to get your army battle ready, but we can’t

allow your potential opponents to feel hard

done by after going to the effort of getting

everything ready and having gone to the time

and expense to get a full army ready for play,

only to find the “Grey Legions” arrayed

against them.

You’ve been warned – don’t risk it (Horus did,

and look where it got him)!

Registration

Before the event gets under way we need to

register you and your army. When you register

we will need to know what Faction you wish

to fight for (Loyalist or Rebel) and as well as

that we need to know what Faction your army

is, eg. Death Guard, Ultramarine etc. In order

to prevent confusion, this is referred to as

“Army-Type” throughout this event pack.

Note: In order to qualify as a particular

Army-Type, you must have that Army-Type as

your Primary Detachment, and spend the ma-

jority of your points on it for every game.

Also, you need to use that Faction in every

game you play over the weekend.

Once we have your details, we will ask if

every model you will use over the weekend is

fully painted and based, and then if the answer

is yes then you are good to go.

We’d recommend getting in as soon and regis-

tering as the door is open, so you can get a fa-

mous Bugman’s Breakfast in before your first

game!

The Schedule

Saturday

9:00am Warhammer World main doors open,

Registration begins.

9:55am Welcome and event briefing

10:00am- 12:30pm Game 1

12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch and the Primarch,

Hero and Artefact of Legend Painting Com-

petitions 1:30pm - 4:00pm Game 2

4:00pm - 4:30pm Break

4:30pm - 7:00pm Game 3

7.00pm - 7.30pm - Entries taken for the

Company of Legend Painting Competition 8:00pm Warhammer World closes

Sunday

9:00am Doors open.

10:00am - 12:30pm Game 4

12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch and voting for the

Best Army Competition 1:30pm - 4:00pm Game 5

4:00pm - 4:45pm Break

4:45pm- 5:00pm Award Ceremony

5:00pm Event closes

Army Size

Throne of Skulls is one of Warhammer

World’s best entry-level events. If you aren’t

sure you are ready to duke it out with the best

at a Grand Tournament, then Throne of Skulls

allows you to come along and take part in an

organised play event (note: Throne of Skulls is

really really not a tournament!) without any

pressure to win your games or squeeze the

most out of every unit.

Horus Heresy games tend to be played at

bigger points values, but not everyone has

3,000 points ready to go, so we use a “Flex”

system in order to make sure that everyone

gets to play a decent sized game, while

allowing anyone who wants to get into the

Horus Heresy the opportunity to do so.

The Flex System:

At this event, the minimum size army you

should bring is 2,000 points, but, if you

happen to have more than that, bring it along

and if your opponents are up for it, you can

play a larger game of up to 3,000 points. In

general, you should expect to play 2,000 point

games, and anything larger than that is a

bonus. A good idea is to write a separate army

list at 2,000, 2,500 and 3,000 points. That will

allow you to easily flex your choices between

games to suit your game.

Also, there are lots of exciting extras like Rel-

ics, Force Organisation Charts, Fortifications

and legendary characters available to players

that are specific to the Horus Heresy. These

are found across the various publications from

Forge World and all of them are fine to use at

our event!

If you see something and you are not sure then

just give us a call on 0115 900 4994 and ask -

we are more than happy to help.

Multiple army lists are allowed!

Please be aware that we don’t expect you to

stick to the same army all weekend. You are

more than welcome to bring a variety of

armies and units and change between games.

The only stipulation is that you stick to the

points values set down in each game. Please

bear in mind that if you wish to qualify for a

Praetorian award, you will need to use the

same Faction all weekend.

Maelstrom of War in the Age of Darkness

We will be using the Maelstrom of War

scenarios from the main Warhammer 40,000

rulebook to play our games over the weekend.

We will randomly select missions from the list

on page 148 to 153 of the Warhammer 40,000

rulebook for you to play in your games. Each

mission will only be used once, if we roll it

again, we simply re-roll it.

Unique Tactical Objectives Deck

Additionally, we are going to use a modified

set of Tactical Objectives to make the games

feel like they are happening in the Horus

Heresy. These cards will be made available to

each player on the day. They will contain

unique Tactical Objectives for the weekend, as

well as some of the standard ones found in the

rulebook.

Age of Darkness vs the 41st Millenium

Please be aware that gaming in the Age of

Darkness has a few extra rules that you ought

to be aware of. They are in pages 159 - 160 of

the Horus Heresy Book 5 - Tempest book pro-

duced by Forge World.

One of the biggest changes to bear in mind is

that only Troops count as scoring units in

Age of Darkness - and while the Tactical

Objectives in the deck of Objectives that we

will be giving you won’t exclusively deal with

capturing objectives at this event, there will be

some and they may feature extra points for

objectives that are completed by scoring units

so bear that in mind!

Secondary Objectives and Force Organisa-

tion Charts:

The Age of Darkness supplements list a series

of extra rules which are used in Horus Heresy

games. For clarity’s sake, overleaf is a

complete list of the standard rules that you can

expect to be used at this event.

Please note: These rules are presented in all

of the various Horus Heresy publications,

and the best place to find them are the most

recent ‘Army List’ Books. If you need

anything clarified, just ring us on 0115 900

4994 or email whworldevents@gwplc.com.

Age of Darkness Scoring Units

Age of Darkness Denial Units

Lords of War in Battles in Age of Darkness

Games (Updated Rules)

The Battles in the Age of Darkness Force

Organisation Charts

Battles in the Age of Darkness Alternative

Force Organisation Charts*

NO TITANS?!

*Please note that this does not include the

Leviathan Force Organisation Chart. We really

like Titans, but in games of this size the

addition of one of these behemoths means

there isn’t much else on the table! This often

means games are typically over very, very

quickly and tend to be quite one sided, one

way or the other, as the Titan either annihilates

everything, or miserably fails to get any

Victory Points as its accompanying forces gets

set upon by the other side. In our experience

this tends to be less satisfying than a really

close, two hour game of back and forth

carnage, so for this event we don’t allow their

use.

There will of course, be many other events

during the year you can use your beloved

Titans at, so if you are desperate to use your

God-Engine, then just keep an eye out on our

webpage!

Note that the Secondary Objectives for

Maelstrom of War are being replaced in favour

of the ones printed in the Horus Heresy

supplements as mentioned above. In other

words, First Blood, Warlords and Linebreaker

Secondary Objectives are not in use.

Finally, there are is list of errata and FaQ’s on

Forge World’s website at the following link so

check those out as well before the weekend!

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/

Downloads?_requestid=5204873#horusheresy

Tactical Specialities

Each Tactical Objective will be assigned to a

different army from the Age of Darkness that

specialises in that kind of warfare. If that army

completes that Tactical Objective, they gain an

extra Victory Point. The army that gains the

extra Victory Point will be listed on the

Tactical Objective cards.

Factions Upon registration, you will need to declare

your allegiance - will you fight for the

Emperor of Man, or the rebellious Warmaster?

Your Victory Points will go towards your

faction in order to see which side wins. Each

member of the winning faction will receive an

award to celebrate their victory.

In addition you will only fight members of the

opposing faction at the weekend.

Note: If you want to be able to choose your

Faction, then make sure to turn up early! If

you arrive later to the event, then we may have

no choice but to assign (read as: conscript)

your army to the Faction that needs more

numbers in order to make the event work.

Favourite Game votes Favourite Game Votes are simple - just pick

the game you enjoyed the most that weekend.

It’s a great way to acknowledge a really fun

game, an opponent with whom you had a great

rapport, or maybe it was just that their army

looked fantastic. Votes are taken at the end of

the weekend with the results of your final

game, so please show your appreciation of

your favourite opponent.

The Praetorian Awards

At Throne of Skulls, we also like to

acknowledge the outstanding hobby and effort

that goes into creating a perfectly themed and

well rounded army for the Horus Heresy, as

well as engaging with your opponent to make

sure they have a good time. These awards will

be given to the best players from each of the

factions listed below under the Awards

section. These awards are known as the

Praetorian awards and are awarded as follows:

You will be awarded a score based on your

total Victory Points and Favourite Game Votes

from the weekend. Your Victory Points and

Favourite Game Votes are already recorded so

all we need to know is what you think of your

opponent’s army in each of your games!

After each game you will be asked to hand in a

results slip from the game. This slip will detail

what you thought of your opponent’s army.

All you will need to do is tick the following

boxes:

Army Theme: How was your opponent’s

army themed?

Army Basing: How well was your opponent’s

army based?

Army Painting: How well was your

opponent’s army painted?

Additional Extras: Did your opponent go to

any extra lengths to make their army look

great or your experience enjoyable? Extra

basing details, custom objective markers,

themed giveaways or excellent conversions are

all examples of this.

Each of these is rated either Normal, Great or

Outstanding. For every “Great” you receive,

you get an additional 5 Praetor Points. For

every “Outstanding” you get an additional 10!

Your Victory Points will be translated directly

into Praetor Points.

Finally, for every Favourite Game Vote you

get, you will also get an additional 5 Praetor

Points.

You will then need to write down what Faction

their army was from. This is so we can make

sure that the player in question is using the

same Faction all weekend.

We will then sort all the players by their

Faction – which is decided by which Primary

Detachment you are using.

You must also have spent the majority of

your points on this detachment in order to

qualify for that Faction.

It would, after all, be very disheartening for a

player to win using just a minority of a Legion,

backed up by someone else!

How to win the Throne of Skulls

At the end of the weekend, we will call the

player (or players, if there is a tie) who has

earned the most Favourite Game votes to the

stage. If there is a draw between these players,

the one who has scored the most Victory

Points will be awarded the legendary Throne

of Skulls trophy. Only players who themselves

handed in a Favourite Game vote are eligible.

Other activities during the event

Legends painting competitions The Legends Painting competition gives you

the chance to show off your skills with single

models and units rather than with whole

armies. Simply enter the relevant category

when it’s open (see the schedule for these

times); once all the entries are in, we will ask

all the players to vote for their favourites. The

player that earns the most votes in each

category will win the relevant prize. (please

note: you may enter any Horus Heresy

miniature from your collection in these

competitions, not just ones from your

armies).

Hero of Legend: All types of Infantry,

Cavalry, Bikes and Jetbikes

Primarch of Legend: All of the Primarch

models

Artefact of Legend: Any unit not covered by

either of the above categories

Company of Legend: Any unit of 5 or less

Infantry or cavalry on 40mm bases or smaller

or 3 or less Cavalry, Bikes, Jetbikes or

Infantry on 50mm bases or larger.

The Best Army competition Every Legion had the utmost pride in its

heraldry and history and would go to great

lengths to ensure that their weapons and

armour were worthy of their Primarch’s

honour. Players are no different and many

armies at our events are truly spectacular.

To celebrate this, the Events Team will

nominate exceptionally well painted and/or

converted armies from the event for you to

vote on during the Sunday lunch break. The

team who receives the most number of votes

will earn the coveted Best Army award.

Awards:

The Throne of Skulls: This fabled award

goes to the player with the most Favourite

Game Votes from each faction as described

above. In the case of a draw, we will use

Victory Points as a second sorter.

The Best Army: This award goes to the player

who scores the most votes in the Best Army

Competition.

Primarch, Hero, Artefact and Company of Legends: These awards will to go the owners

of the entries that had the highest number of

votes from their respective categories.

The Warmaster’s Chosen: This is the player

from the Rebel Faction that scores the highest

Battle Points. We will determine your Battle

Points by multiplying your total Favourite

Game Votes times Victory Points.

The Emperor’s Champion: This is the player

from the Loyalist Faction that scores the

highest that scores the highest Battle Points.

We will determine your Battle Points by

multiplying your total Favourite Game Votes

times Victory Points.

Note: It’s quite likely that the player who wins

the Throne of Skulls will win either The

Emperor’s Champion or the Son of Horus

award. If this is the case, then we will award

the prizes to whoever is in second place from

that Faction as well.

Below are all the Praetorian Awards.

The Knight of the Order for the Best Dark

Angels player at the weekend.

The Wolf of Fenris for the Best Space Wolf

player at the weekend.

The Master of the Hunt for the Best White

Scars player at the weekend.

The Worldbreaker for the Best Iron Warriors

Player at the weekend.

The Ward of the Imperium for the Best

Ultramarines Player at the weekend.

The Tip of the Spear for the Best Sons of

Horus Player at the weekend.

The Butchers Nails for the Best World Eaters

Player at the weekend.

The Bearer of the Word for the Best Word

Bearers Player at the weekend.

The Blade of the Host for the Best Blood

Angels Player at the weekend.

The Prince of Crows for the Best Night

Lords Player at the weekend.

The Rage of the Gorgon for the Best Iron

Hands Player at the weekend.

The Exemplaris Legionis for the Best

Emperor’s Children Player at the weekend.

The Paladin of Terra for the Best Imperial

Fist Player at the weekend.

The Scourge of Worlds for the best Death

Guard player at the weekend.

The Lord of the Scales for the Best Alpha

Legion Player at the weekend.*

The Anvil of the Imperium for the best

Salamanders player at the weekend.

The Shadow of Terra for the best Raven

Guard player at the weekend.

The Lord of Sorcery for the Best Thousand

Sons Player at the weekend.

The Master of Mankind for the best player

of the Imperium (this award covers any army

of the Imperium that is not a Legion specific

force – Custodes, Questoris Knights, Adeptus

Mechanicus armies, militia and so on).

The Champion of the Warp for the best

player using none of the above. This award

covers armies that may come out in the future

that are not categorised above such as

Daemonic Hordes and so forth.

*Please note that only actual Alpha Legion

players will be considered for this award.

Armies bearing the heraldry, weapons and

units of other Legions will not be counted, no

matter how convincing their cover story, or

how sneakily the Alpha Legion infiltrated

them! Obviously.

Contact Us If you want to ask us questions, discuss the

models you wish to bring, or want to find out

more about Throne of Skulls, please feel free

to get in touch with us:

Phone: 0115 900 4994

Email: whworldevents@gwplc.com

Post: Warhammer World Events Team

Games Workshop

Willow Road

Lenton

Nottingham

England

NG7 2WS

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