Hardly a well-kept secret, but the Throne of Skulls is coming to North America. Here is GW official release.

The Tournament Circuit runs from June until May each year. The circuit is made up predominantly of Independent Tournaments from around North America which are put on by gaming clubs or groups.

2010-2011 SEASON
The current Circuit ends on May 31st, 2011, with the finals being held on June 18th and 19th in Las Vegas. This Circuit has been running for 18 months and will finish with the first North American Throne of Skulls Tournament in Las Vegas. The first Throne of Skulls Tournament is by invitation only as a Champion of either the Independent Tournament Circuit or Ard Boyz Events.

The Champion for each game system will be decided in the summer of 2011 in Las Vegas at a Games Workshop hosted final event – The Throne of Skulls Tournament. If you make it through to the Vegas finals you will need a fully painted and based Army for your particular game system.

The Throne of Skulls Tournament
June 18th-19th • Las Vegas

How do I get into the Vegas Throne of Skulls Tournament?
The top two finishing places in each game system in each Independent Tournament on the Circuit will receive an invitation to play in the Vegas Finals in 2011. The top three finishing places from each ‘Ard Boyz Finals will also receive an invitation.

2011-2012 SEASON
June 1, 2011 – May 31, 2012
Games Workshop is happy to announce the continuation of the Official Independent Tournament Circuit for another year.

The new circuit will begin on June 1st, 2011 and finish on May 31st, 2012.

The 1st place finisher in each system, at each Independent Tournament on the Circuit will receive free entry into the 2012 North American Throne of Skulls Tournament in Memphis on October 6th and 7th of 2012.

You will be able to enter the 2012 North American Throne of Skulls Tournament in one of three ways:

For FREE by placing 1st in one of the Independent Tournaments
For FREE by placing 1st in one of the Ard Boyz Tournaments
By PURCHASING a ticket when they become available in January of 2012

The North American Throne of Skulls Championship will follow this same format each year after 2012 in Memphis during the month of October.

Tournament Organizers:
If you are currently running an event that you would like to get on the Circuit for 2011-2012 please send an email expressing your interest to NAtournaments@games-workshop.com. We will send you an application to fill out.

Please bear in mind that your tournament must have at least 50 players to qualify, be a singles tournament, and must be organized and run by a gaming club or group.

There is no guarantee that your event will make it onto the Circuit as we evaluate all sorts of stuff, particularly the number of events in a given month, city, or state. There is also a limit to how many events we can have on the Circuit.

We will be accepting applications until December 31st 2010.

You will be informed as to whether or not your tournament has made it onto the Circuit no later than January 14th 2011. If your event is accepted onto the Circuit you will receive a package of information detailing how we support your event and you as the organizer.

Good Luck and we hope to see you on the 2011-2012 Official GW Independent Tournament Circuit.

Some interesting things of note about this release is there is no mention of format or missions only that armies must be painted and based. Which makes one wonder will there be changes from Jervis vision of 1500 point armies and random basic missions? As well does his weird comp system remain intact? The biggest news though is how things are going forward. There is some refinement in the sort of events allowed to give out tickets. Your event must have 50 players to qualify. I have to assume that the 50 means 50 combined players from all systems. Otherwise LoTR might have some problems. Looks like team events are out. What defines a gaming club or group as well? It also seems that GW does not want certain areas dominating the field. So if you represent a region that has a lots of events your chances of getting on the circuit shrink dramatically.

For the players some major changes are in store. First off, only the first place finisher will be granted tickets. As well only the first place Ard’ Boyz regional winners. This makes things much harder for players to get in. Of course this does not matter because GW (bone headed move) will allow players to pay to get in. Which begs the question what is the point? If this is the GW competitive event shouldn’t only proven winners be allowed in? Or if this is an event for anyone  shouldn’t the free tickets be thrown in as prize support that Indy GTs can decide how to give out? Of course everything is still a long way out so things can chance. If anything we have learned about GW North American operations is that they can change on whim.