Last week I showed you all the army lists that would be competing at the Desolation of the North event. This was an 850 point Good vs Evil tournament with 14 players entered. So which lists came out on top? Let's take a look at the 3 podium positions.
3rd Place
Ivan Sheehan
Good – The Rangers & the Shire:
Warband One (Leader):
•Aragorn, Strider on horse with armour + Anduril.
•8 Dunedain.
Warband Two:
•Halbarad on horse with Banner of Arwen Evenstar.
•6 Dunedain.
Warband Three:
•1 Dunedain.
Warband Four:
•1 Dunedain.
Warband Five:
•Farmer Maggot.
Warband Six:
•Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.
Warband Seven:
•Bilbo Baggins with Mithril Shirt.
Evil – Serpent Horde:
Warband One (Leader):
•Suludan on armoured horse.
•18 Haradrim Warriors with spears.
Warband Two:
•The Betrayer on Fellbeast.
•15 Watchers of Karna with bows with poisoned arrows.
Warband Three:
•Harad Taskmaster.
•3 Haradrim Warriors with spears.
•3 Watchers of Karna with bows with poisoned arrows.
•2 Serpent Riders.
Warband Four:
•Raza.
•3 Haradrim Warriors with spears.
•9 Watchers of Karna with bows with poisoned arrows.
Ivan's Rangers is an army that I have been wanting to wanting to cover here after it helped him to become the 2019 League Champion last year. This army carries lots of might and managing that might is key to it's success. Knowing when to call Heroic Moves or Combats is important in order to avoid getting bogged down and achieving your objectives with this low model count army. Added in to a healthy supply of 2 Attack Rangers are 3 Hobbits from the Shire, all of whom add something special to the list; Bilbo has the One Ring which helps tackle big Heroes, Lobelia prevents standfasts for Warriors (which doesn't affect the Rangers as they are all Heroes) and Farmer Maggot has 3 fast moving dogs who are great for capturing objectives. And on top of all that is Aragorn who makes an excellent leader thanks to his combat prowess and free might points.
The Serpent Horde army that Ivan used on the Evil side makes full use of the shooting potential that this army posseses. 27 Watchers of Karna all with bows and poisoned arrows offers a frightening ranged threat especially when buffed by the Betrayer to allow a re-roll on all failed wound rolls. Anything that survives that hail of poisoned arrows then has Suladan and a Fell Beast to contend with, both powerful Heroes.
2nd Place
Dan Ahern
Good – Return of the King:
Warband One (Leader):
•Aragorn, Strider with Anduril and Elven cloak.
•1 Rider of the Dead.
•11 Warriors of the Dead: 3 with shield and 8 with spear + shield.
Warband Two:
•King of the Dead.
•2 Riders of the Dead.
•13 Warriors of the Dead: 1 with banner, shield + spear, 2 with shield and 10 with spear + shield.
Warband Three:
•Legolas with armour and Elven cloak.
Evil – Angmar:
Warband One (Leader):
•The Witch-King of Angmar on Fellbeast with Morgul Crown, Morgul blade, 3 Might, 3 Fate and 20 Will.
•1 Cave Troll with hand and a half hammer.
•1 Dead Marsh Spectre.
•2 Angmar Warg Riders with shield.
•10 Angmar Orc Warriors: 1 with banner, 4 with shield, 3 with spear and 2 with two-handed weapon.
•1 Wild Warg.
Warband Two:
•The Tainted on horse.
•1 Dead Marsh Spectre.
•1 Wild Warg.
•12 Angmar Orc Warriors: 5 with shield, 5 with spear and 2 with two-handed weapon.
Warband Three:
•Barrow Wight.
•1 Dead Marsh Spectre.
•6 Angmar Orc Warriors: 3 with shield and 3 with spear.
Warband Four:
•Barrow Wight
•5 Angmar Orc Warriors: 3 with shield and 2 with spear.o
The Return of the King legion is a really solid and dependable army. Warriors of the Dead are tough to kill thanks to them being D8 with shields and can hit hard despite only being S3 thanks to Blades of the Dead (especially when the enemy courage is lowered by the King of the Dead's Harbinger of Evil). Talking of the King of the Dead, he poses a threat to enemy heroes who will try to avoid him and not risk being killed by a single blow. Legolas meanwhile offers some ranged capability in an army that is otherwise lacking in this department. And then there's Aragorn again as leader who I've already covered up above.
I said in the Army List blog that Angmar is enjoying a lot of popularity at the moment. The magical potential of this list is immense with 2 Wraiths and 2 Barrow Wights. These work well together with the Wraiths able to Sap Will enemy heroes to set them up for the Barrow Wights to Paralyze them. The Cave Troll and Fell Beast provide hitting power, the Wargs offer mobility and a horde of Orcs form up the main battle lines (helped by the fact that they cause Terror when near the Heroes).
1st Place
Dave Coleman
Good – Rohan & Lothlorien:
Warband One (Leader):
•Galadriel with the Mirror of Galadriel.
•Mirkwood Sentinel.
Warband Two:
•Theoden on armoured horse with heavy armour and shield.
•8 Rohan Royal Guards on horse with throwing spears.
•2 Rohan Outriders on horse.
•2 Warriors of Rohan: 1 with bow.
Warband Three:
•Eomer on armoured horse with shield.
Warband Four:
•Gamling on horse with Rohan Royal Standard.
Warband Five:
•Dernhelm.
Warband Six:
•Deorwine on horse.
Evil – Barad-Dur:
Warband One (Leader):
•Sauron.
•20 Orc Warriors: 10 with shields, 9 with spear and 1 with spear + banner.
•2 Orc Trackers
Warband Two:
•Witch-King of Angmar on Fellbeast with Morgul Crown, 3 Might, 3 Fate & 16 Will.
Warband Three:
•Shelob.auseve has become something of an expert in a Good vs Evil environment within the IHL having won the last two of these style of tournaments with Rohan and Barad Dur.
Rohan is very good against Evil armies because of the hitting power provided by their numerous heroes. The change to the Royal Standard has curtailed this slightly but it still proved successful here. This time Galadriel was added to the list bringing the Mirror which helps to keep those Rohan heroes alive longer by restoring their Fate while also adding some magical support to the Horse Lords.
This Barad Dur army is built around the multiple threats of Sauron, the Witchking and Shelob. Each of these individually is able to inflict significant damage and when combined it creates a very potent force to be reckoned with.
Congratulations to all the winners; Ivan, Dan and Dave as well as to Patrick McCormick for winning Best Painted Army and Model.
And here's a few photos of the action last weekend.
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