Breakthrough of Bangor Podium Review

 

Last Saturday saw 14 generals gather to reignite the 2020 Irish Hobbit League at the Breakthrough of Bangor. I previously provided a rundown of most of the armies competing at this event (see here) but now let's take a closer look at which of those prevailed over all the rest. As before models or warbands within square brackets were only part of the 650 point army, not the 450 point version.

3rd Place
Micheal Bradford
Thranduil's Halls

Warband 1
[Thranduil on horse with sword, heavy arm and circlet
2x Mirkwood Rangers]
Warband 2
Legolas on Horse with Elven Cloak
3 x Mirkwood Rangers
Warband 3
Tauriel with bow
10x Mirkwood Rangers
1x Wood Elf Sentinel
1x Mirkwood Elf with shield and banner

Generally speaking I am not a fan of Elves, falling more on the Dwarven side of the debate (Never trust an Elf). However, of all the possibilities within elven armies the one that interests me the most is the Mirkwood Rangers. The 100% bow limit provided by the army bonus means that nearly every model has a bow giving this army a potent ranged threat despite it's low numbers. Despite this leaning towards bow fire, these Elves are also highly competent fighters thanks to their F5 and ability to gain extra attacks when fighting multiple foes. The three Heroes are also no slouches in combat and are well able to mix it up with the best of them at these points levels. The armies primary weakness is it's low Defence but if you can mitigate this it has proven here that it is a capable force.

2nd Place
Paddy McCormick
Riders of Theoden

Warband 1 (Leader)
Theoden King of Rohan
6x Rohan Royal Guard
[3x Rohan Royal Guard]
Warband 2
Deorwine, Chief of the King's Knights
4 Riders of Rohan
Warband 3
Dernhelm
3 Riders of Rohan
Warband 4
[Gamling, Captain of Rohan with Royal Standard
3x Riders of Rohan]

Riders of Theoden has been a regular feature of the top tables of the IHL since I began these podium reviews. The combination of tons of Might, highly mobile cavalry and the ability to deal plenty of damage made it one of the more popular armies on the scene here. A large part of that potency was built around the multiple free Might points that Gamling could spread around the Rohan Heroes. That ability has now been curtailed by the latest Errata and it should be noted that this change was not in effect for this event. Will this rule change knock the Riders of Theoden out of the top spots they've come to enjoy? Will this be Gamling's last hoorah? Or will we continue to hear the cries of Death! from the horselords upon the IHL's top tables? Only time will tell.

1st Place
Matt Hamill
Angmar

Warband 1 (Leader)
[Witch King on Horse with Crown (3/17/3)
4x Wild Wargs]
Warband 2
Barrow-wight
1x Dead Marsh Spectre
4x Orcs with shield
5x Orcs with spear
2x Orcs with two handed weapons
Warband 3
Barrow-wight
1x Dead Marsh Spectre
4x Orcs with shield
5x Orcs with spear
2x Orcs with two handed weapons
Warband 4
Barrow-wight
1x Dead Marsh Spectre
4x Orcs with shield
3x Orcs with spear
1x Orc with Banner and shield
Warband 5
Barrow-wight

Paralyze is one of the most powerful spells in the game, able to bring even the top class Heroes to their knees by preventing them from moving, making them automatically lose fights if they're without backup and causing them to be trapped when they inevitably suffer strikes. Luckily, few models have access to this powerful ability. This army however maximizes the potential for Paralyze by taking 4 Barrow Wights, which should enable them to stop any Hero in their tracks. Even just the Paralyze potential will be enough to frighten enemy heroes into playing very cautiously and hence not to their full ability.

So there's the podium winners, congratulations to all 3 players as well as to Stephen Devlin for winning best painted with his stunning Shire army.

Thank you to both Patrick McCormick for organizing this and to all the players for attending in these strange times. I'll leave you with some photos of the action on Saturday.