War in the North - Podium Review

 

The weekend just gone saw the War in the North kick off the new IHL season. This was a escalation event ranging from 450-1000 points. Last week I brought you all the army lists that would be competing, so let's see which of them came out on top.

3rd place
Michael Bunting
Lothlorien, Rivendell, Misty Mountains and White Council

In 3rd place is a grand alliance of multiple Good factions. At the lowest points value this army offers a large number of high Fight troops that form the core of the army as the points increase. Leading this small army are the two brothers Haldir and Rumil who, while very competent heroes for the points level, are relatively cheap for elven heroes and so allow the numbers to remain respectable. Onto this core force each points increase adds in another big hitter in the forms of Glorfindel, Galadriel Lady of Light and finally Gwaihir. Whilst this means that the overall model only increased by 10 between the 450 point and 1000 point armies, having that core in place means that those hitters can be facilitated.

2nd place
Gary Doyle
Lake Town and Thorin's Company

As I said in the army lists blog, this was my favourite army of all the ones at this tournament. This is primarily due to my ongoing love of Thorin's Company, but also because I have also started a small Lake Town force to ally with the Company. The bulk of this army comprises of a lot of Lake Town Guard. These provide the numbers that are so crucial to so many of the Scenarios. They also aren't complete slouches in combat thanks to the Master's ability to buff them to F4. The area that Lake Town struggle the most is that, apart from Bard, they lack good combat heroes (2 of the main heroes in the list are unarmed for crying out loud). That's where Thorin and Co come in with Thorin and Dwalin offering some real punch. Bifur is a great pick thanks to ability to generate free heroic moves, and Gandalf's magic is always useful to have.

1st place
David Coleman
Moria and Mordor

Defending Champion David Coleman started his title defense with another victory, although this time with a new army. The primary focus of this Moria based list is the Watch in the Water. This monster is a very adept combatant with 6 Attacks at F6 and S6 and when paired with a Bat Swarm to lower the opponents Fight Value is able to threaten any enemy heroes with a quick death. On top of that it's unique deployment rule and ability to pull models into combat with it's tentacles mean that it's a difficult threat to avoid. The Watcher is supported by a swarm of Goblins, with a handful of Bat Swarms and Spiders who can all help capturing objectives and protecting the Watcher by tying up enemy models and giving the Watcher time to do it's job. The final addition of the Witch King on Fell Beast adds an extra measure of control with his spell casting ability and also an extra big threat for the enemy to deal with.

So there's the top 3 finishers from the IHL Season Opener. Also congratulations to Marty Metcalfe on winning Best Painted with his Rivendell Elves, Gary Doyle for winning Best Themed with his Lake Town and Thorin's Company and a special thank you to Paddy McCormick for being the Tournament Organiser.

And I'll leave you with some photos from the event.