Battle on the Plains of Lisburn Podium Review

Saturday saw 12 generals take to the battlefield to contest the Plains of Lisburn and see who would emerge victorious. As is fast becoming the custom, let's take a look at the three armies that took the top spots.

3rd place
Patrick McCormick
Return of the King

Warband 1:
Aragorn with cloak (Leader)
6 Warriors with shield
3 Warriors with Spear and shield
Rider of dead
Warband 2:
King of the dead
4 Warriors with shield
3 Warriors with Spear
Rider of Dead
Warband 3:
Herald with shield
3 Warriors with shield
1 warrior no upgrade
Warband 4:
Legolas with armour and cloak

The Return of the King Legion is a powerful army at this points level and returns to the IHL podium following another 3rd place finish at Gaelcon last year. Aragorn is one of the top heroes in the game and therefore makes an excellent Leader for the army. Legolas brings a shooting threat to an army with no other ranged weaponry, allowing you to snipe out key targets before the lines clash. Meanwhile the King of the Dead is a danger to any multi-wound model, especially when buffed by the Herald. Looking at the warriors options, Warriors of the Dead are incredibly solid troops choices, with the option to get D8, Terror and wounding against Courage and Riders of the Dead provide a bit of extra mobility and the potential for knock downs in key combats. Overall, the army synergizes well together to make a very strong force.

2nd place
Michael Bradford
Last Alliance

Warband 1
Elendil on horse with shield (Leader)
10  warriors of Numenor with spear and shield
Warband 2
Gil Galad on horse with shield
1 Kings Guard with banner and spear
15 Kings guard (9 with shield, 6 with bow and spear)
Warband 3
Cirdan
2 elf warriors with spear and shield

Both the top 2 armies finished the day with 3 wins out of 3. They were also both included a large Elven contingent.

Just being pipped to the post was a Last Alliance army led by the High King's Elendil and Gil Galad. Both these heroes are powerhouses in their own right, combined they are frighteningly powerful. They both have +1 to wound, Elendil has S5 and free heroic combats while Gil Galad has F9, Blood and Glory and Lord of the West. Between them these two could take on most armies. However, here they have the support of a block of infantry comprised of a F6 front rank that outmatches most heroes and a S4 rear rank to increase the killing potential. Cirdan offers versatile magical support for a budget price, allowing the 6 elven archers the chance to win a shooting battle due to Blinding Light, ensuring passed courage tests, making the troops cause Terror or even improving the already impressive killing power with Blade Wrath.

Of all the armies at this event, this was the one I most wanted to avoid.

1st place
Micheal Bunting
Elven Alliance

Warband 1:
Elrond Master of Rivendell with Heavy Armour and Horse (Leader)
4 Warriors Shield
2 Warriors Shield and Spear
6 Warriors with spear and bow
Warband 2:
Gil Galad high king of the elves with shield and horse
4 Warriors Shield
6 Kings Guard with Shield and Spear
1 Warriors with spear and Bow
1 Warrior with spear and bow and banner
Warband 3:
Galadriel Lady of Light

And in 1st place, taking home the prize was this elven impossible alliance of Elrond, Gil Galad and Galadriel. Much the same as the previous one this army is built around two big heroes, this time Elrond and Gil Galad with support from Rivendell warriors, King's Guard and Galadriel Lady of Light. Elrond has the powerful spell Wrath of Bruinen at his disposal, causing knockdowns around him as well as 3 attacks at F6 making him a solid combat model. Gil Galad and the warriors I already looked at above and have all the same advantages here.

The Lady of Light is the left field choice in this army. She makes the army a red alliance, although because she's the only model from a different faction some of the disadvantages are mitigated. The advantages that she brings are that she carries around a Blinding Light effect, negating enemy shooting and she causes a -1 courage debuff to nearby enemies, making it harder to charge the Terror causing heroes. She also has access to several spells, Fortify Spirit and Banishment can be situational but Instill Fear works well the courage effect noted above. Add the fact that she's another 3 attack hero at F6 and she certainly earns her place in this list.

So there's the top 3 armies.

A special note should also be made to congratulate Stephen Devlin for winning a hotly contested painting contest with his beautiful Harad army and to Jim Latimer for winning the Best Themed contest with a fully converted Harondor Fiefdoms army.

Battle on the Plains of Lisburn Army Lists

Following the success of last week's post for the Wicklow Skirmish the TO of another local tournament has asked if I could do something similar. This event is an 800 point, 15 model minimum, tournament with 3 games over the course of the day. There's also prizes for the best themed and best painted armies available, so hopefully we'll see some well painted and themed lists.

Looking at the overall picture we see that there's definitely a strong leaning towards Good at this event, with 75% of the armies being from the Good side. We also have some very creative themed lists, it's these sort of lists that interest me most. It's interesting to see that despite all the armies being themed there is both an Impossible and a Convenient Alliance represented within the 12 lists.

Onto the lists:

Rob Conroy-Maigheoc

Theme: Shadow in the East

Firstly we actually have my list, a Shadow in the East themed Gondor army. I don't want to get into an army analysis here, I'll leave that for a subsequent post, but here is the list.

Warband 1
Faramir, bow (Leader)
4 Rangers, spear
4 Warriors, spear, shield
1 Warrior, spear, shield, banner
2 Warriors, shield
Warband 2
Cirion
5 Warriors, spear, shield
5 Warriors, shield
Warband 3
Damrod
3 Rangers, spears
Warband 4
Ranger of the North, horse
Warband 5
Capt Dol Amroth, horse, lance
5 Knights of Dol Amroth, horse, lance
4 Men at Arms
Warband 6
Murin and Drar

Micheal Bradford

Theme: Last Alliance

Next we have a Last Alliance army led by the 2 High King's, Elendil and Gil Galad. These 2 are both top class heroes in their own right, so allied together, with the support of the utility support magic of Cirdan and warriors that can match or better most heroes in a fight should make for a very powerful army.

Warband 1
Elendil on horse with shield (Leader)
10  warriors of Numenor with spear and shield
Warband 2
Gil Galad on horse with shield
1 Kings Guard with banner and spear
15 Kings guard (9 with shield, 6 with bow and spear)
Warband 3
Cirdan
2 elf warriors with spear and shield

Jim Latimer
Theme: The Fiefdom of Harondor

The next list is primarily a Fiefdoms list, although fully converted to match a Harondor (or Southern Gondor) theme. The overlapping buffs from the various heroes can make even the regular warriors into fearsome combatants.

N.B. Jim has come up with his own theme including names and model design - he has put a lot of effort into it. These will be clarified to opponents on the day so that it is clear who is who. In brackets in the list is the actual MESBG profile being used and therefore the rules that apply to such models. Any queries, please just ask Michael Bradford.

Warband 1:
El Aurance (aka Prince Imrahil) with armoured horse and lance (Leader)
2 Unicorn Knights (aka Knights of Dol Amroth) with armoured horse and lance
1 Unicorn Knights (aka Knight of Dol Amroth) with armoured horse and lance and banner
6 Men at Arms (aka Men at Arms of Dol Amroth)
Warband 2:
Petros the Portly (aka Forlong the Fat) with horse
4 Axemen of Harmindon (aka Axemen of Lossarnach)
Warband 3:
Fergal Fearnaught (aka Angbor the Fearless)
6 Clansmen of Velsinir (aka Clansmen of Lamedon)
Warband 4:
Oophir the Desert Wolf (aka Duinhir)
1 Harnen River Ranger (aka Blackroot Vale Archers) with war horn
2 Harnen River Rangers (aka Blackroot Vale Archers) with spear
4 Harnen River Rangers (aka Blackroot Vale Archers)
Warband 5:
Priscilla Queen of the Desert (aka Eowyn of Rohan) with armour and shield and camel (aka horse) and throwing spears
3 Camel Riders of Rohan (aka Riders of Rohan) with throwing spears on camels (aka horses)

Stephen Devlin
Theme: Harad

This Harad army takes full advantage of the damage potential of poisoned arrows by fitting in plenty of archers and combining them with the Betrayer to increase the potency of the poisons. Sulandan, a Fell Beast and 12 Raiders provide a fast moving strike force while the elite infantry options stiffen the battle line to deal with anything that comes through the hail of arrow fire.

Warband 1:
Suladan on armoured horse (Leader)
6 Haradrim warrior with bow with poisoned arrows and spear
12 serpent rider
Warband 2:
The Betrayer on fell beast
9 Haradrim warrior with bow with poisoned arrows and spear
3 watcher of Karna with twin blades
3 Abrakhan Merchant Guard
Warband 3:
Haradrim Chieftain with bow with poisoned arrows and horse
6 Haradrim warrior with bow with poisoned arrows and spear
1 Haradrim warrior with war horn
2 watcher of Karna with twin blades
2 Abrakhan Merchant Guard

Patrick McCormick
Theme: Return of the King

Army of the Dead is currently a powerful force combining high defence, Terror and Blades of the Dead with the King able to threaten even the biggest of heroes with a one hit kill. Aragorn provides a top class leader and Legolas brings some shooting to an otherwise purely melee based army.

Warband 1:
Aragorn with cloak (Leader)
6 Warriors with shield
3 Warriors with Spear and shield
Rider of dead
Warband 2:
King of the dead
4 Warriors with shield
3 Warriors with Spear
Rider of Dead
Warband 3:
Herald with shield
3 Warriors with shield
1 warrior no upgrade 

Warband 4:
Legolas with armour and cloak

Mike Wilson
Theme: Thranduil's Halls

The first of 2 Thranduil's Halls armies, this one boasts impressive shooting power from Legolas, Tauriel and 20 Mirkwood Rangers. Thranduil and a warband of Palace Guard, meanwhile, provide a solid combat block to anchor a battle line on.

Warband 1:
Thranduil king of the woodland realm with additional elven blade and heavy armour (Leader)
1 palace guard with banner and spear and shield
6 palace guard with spear
6 palace guard with shield
Warband 2:
Legolas Prince of mirkwood
10 Mirkwood Rangers
Warband 3:
Tauriel with elf bow
10 Mirkwood Rangers

John Foster
Theme: The Power of Isengard

This next army is showing off the power of Isengard led by the white wizard himself, Saruman, who gives the army excellent magic support. The bulk of the troops are formed from the dependable Uruk Hai, with a powerful front line of Berserkers while a large quantity of crossbows provide ranged fire power.

Warband 1:
Saruman (Leader)
10 Uruk Hai berserkers
3 warg riders with throwing spears and shields
1 Uruk Hai with banner
Warband 2:
Lurtz with free shield
7 Uruk Hai with shield
5 Uruk Hai with pikes
Warband 3:
Vrasku
12 Uruk Hai with crossbows

Chris Gill
Theme: Return of the King

The 2nd Return of the King list, this one exchanges a Herald and 2 Riders to include Gimli. This gives another powerful hero and 3 additional Might points at the expense of mobility and bonuses to the King of the Dead.

Warband 1:
Aragon (leader) with free Anduril
5 warriors of the dead with shield
5 warriors of the dead with spear and shield
Warband 2:
King of the Dead
5 warriors of the dead with shield
4 warriors of the dead with spear and shield
1 warrior of the dead with banner and spear and shield
Warband 3:
Legolas with armour
Warband 4:
Gimli

David Chambers
Theme: The Guard of Osgiliath

A Gondorian army after my own heart. Boromir is a great leader able to both do the business in combat and provide buffs to the troops around him while Hurin and the knights of both Minas Tirith and Dol Amroth offer a hard hitting cavalry force to support the infantry.

Warband 1:
Boromir Captain of the White Tower, banner of minas tirith, shield, horse (Leader)
3 Fountain court guard, shield
6 Osgiliath Vets, shield
1 Osgiliath Vet, shield, spear
Warband 2:
Madril
2 Fountain court guard, shield
9 Rangers, spear
Warband 3:
Hurin, horse
4 Knights of Minas Tirith, shield
Warband 4:
Captain of Dol Amroth, armoured horse, lance
5 Knights of Dol Amroth, armoured horse, lance

Gerard Bunting
Theme: Drums in the Deep

One model really stands out in this next list. The Balrog is one of the biggest, baddest monsters in the game and used well there's very little that can stand up to him, especially when backed up by a horde of Goblins.

Warband 1
Balrog (Leader)
14 Moria Goblins(7 Shields, 7 Shield and Spear)
Warband 2
Durburz
14 Moria Goblins(7 Shield, 7 shield and spear)
Bat Swarm
Warband 3
Groblog
11 Moria Goblins (5 Shield, 6 Shield and Spear)
Cave Troll with Hammer

Michael Bunting
Theme: Army of Erigion during the Second age when all the elves had to band together particularly in the battles for the Erin Golyn.

The penultimate list sees a red alliance of elves led by some of the most powerful elven heroes of the age. On the smaller side of all the armies those heroes should make up for the lower numbers and even the warriors are a match for many enemy heroes.

Warband 1:
Elrond Master of Rivendell with Heavy Armour and Horse (Leader)
4 Warriors Shield
2 Warriors Shield and Spear
6 Warriors with spear and bow
Warband 2:
Gil Galad high king of the elves with shield and horse
4 Warriors Shield
6 Kings Guard with Shield and Spear
1 Warriors with spear and Bow
1 Warrior with spear and bow and banner
Warband 3:
Galadriel Lady of Light

Connor Whitla
Theme: Thranduil's Halls

And last, but not least, we have the 2nd Thranduil's Halls army, led by Thranduil on elk. This army differs quite a bit from the 1st due to the inclusion of numerous armoured Mirkwood Elves and Mirkwood Cavalry instead of Palace Guard and extra Rangers.

Warband 1:
Thranduil on Elk with Circlet, Heavy Armour and extra sword (Leader)
4 Mirkwood Cav with shield
3 Mirkwood Elves with Glaive
2 Mirkwood Elves with Bow
2 Mirkwood Elves with shield
Warband 2:
Mirkwood Captain
4 Mirkwood Elves with Glaive
4 Mirkwood Elves with Bow
Warband 3:
Ranger Captain
6 Mirkwood Rangers
Warband 4:
Tauriel with Bow
4 Mirkwood Rangers 

Wicklow Skirmish Results

A few days ago I posted all the army lists that would be competing at the Wicklow Skirmish, an 8 player, 450 point tournament held on Sunday. Having seen the lists I'm sure that you are all dying to know which armies emerged triumphant and took the podium spots and who walked away with the trophy.

3rd Place
Dave Coleman
Army of Thror

Thror (Leader)
12 Grim Hammers, Guardians of the King Upgrade
Warband 2
Young Thorin, Oakenshield
8 Warriors of Erebor, Spears and Shields.

Fresh from his victory at Gaelcon and a podium finish at the GBHL League Finale Dave Coleman has once again secured a top 3 finish, although this time without Sauron to help. Instead he had the Dwarves of Erebor led by their King Under the Mountain, Thror and his grandson, Thorin.

Thror is the key model within this army. Not only is he a rock solid Leader at D9, 3 wounds and the Arkenstone potentially providing unlimited Fate, but he also acts as a 6 inch banner thanks to the army bonus and unlocks the Guardian of the King upgrade for the 12 Grimhammers. Those Guardians form a solid S4 front line with great versatility due to pick-hammers and throwing axes. Thorin, meanwhile, is a very capable backup to Thror with 3s in all the right places on his profile, a high defence and the To Arms rule allowing you to increase the killing power of your dwarves.

2nd Place
Paddy McCormick
Ugluk's Scouts

Ugluk (Leader)
4 Scouts with Uruk Bow
4 Scouts with shield
2 Scouts no upgrade
1 scout with drum
Warband 2
Mauhur
4 Scouts with Uruk Bow
3 Scouts with shield
3 Scouts no upgrade
Warband 3
Grishnakh with shield
10 orcs with shield

In 2nd place we had one of the new Rohan at War Legendary Legions, Ugluk's Scouts, naturally led by Ugluk with Mauhur and Grishnakh as the other heroes. One of the main strengths of this army is it's mobility, the free upgrades to move 8" for all the Uruk Hai, the presence of the drum and access to Heroic March means that the Uruks in the army can race along at 14 inches a turn if needs be (no wonder the Three Hunters couldn't catch up with them). That means that when the opponent has priority they would have to consider the possibility of a next turn charge from a huge 22 inches away without chance to move in the meantime. This would really give an edge to the Uruks by allowing them to pick where and when they wanted to fight, especially when cavalry was only around in low numbers (there were only 10 cavalry models across all 8 players).

The other benefit of the Legendary Legion is to increase the killing power of your army by giving a +1 on wound rolls when engaged alongside a model of the opposite race. This makes the alright threatening Uruks even deadlier and even make the S3 orcs dangerous against all but the highest defense models.

1st Place
Gary Doyle
Ithilien Rangers

Faramir with Bow and Horse (Leader)
6 Rangers of Gondor
8 Rangers of Gondor with spear
Warband 2
Madril
5 Rangers of Gondor
7 Rangers of Gondor with spear
Warband 3
Damrod
2 Rangers of Gondor
4 Rangers of Gondor with spear

In 1st place we have another Legendary Legion, this time the Ithilien Rangers from Gondor At War. This army is packs in an insane amount of bows, 35 in total, all with a 3+ shoot value. Therefore they are able to inflict significant damage to an opposing army before they are able to get into close combat. Running the numbers, against D5 or D6 opponents, the rangers can inflict nearly 4 casualties per turn on average in an ideal world. Even accounting for movement penalties and in-the-way rolls the damage potential is still significant and at these lower points every casualty inflicted has a bigger effect on the enemy due to the smaller size of the armies.

Even when the lines eventually clash the rangers are F4 across the board, so can handle themselves in a fight and they have sufficient numbers win combats (especially after the enemy army has been thinned out with shooting) and to capture objectives. Overall, this is a very powerful army at this low points level. It should also be noted that a very similar army also won the GBHL League opener in Cardiff as well last weekend.

I found it very interesting to note that 3 very different styles of army made it into the top 3 here, heavy slow infantry, highly mobile infantry and pure shooting. Just shows that any style of play can be made to be competitive and is testament to the balance of the game.

Wicklow Skirmish

I was recently asked by the organizer of a small local tournament to serve as an independent person to gather and publish the players army lists. This tournament is a 450 point event with the restrictions that the armies had to have a minimum of 4 models, no more than 50% of points spent on heroes and not every model could have the Monster keyword.

Firstly, a little general analysis. The 1st thing that jumps out to me is that there are no allied armies despite there being no restrictions on alliances, all the lists are either Legendary Legions (3 of) or pure armies (5 of). The Good/Evil split is fairly even, with a slight leaning towards Good of 5 to 3. Also interesting to note is that there are no duplicated heroes across all 8 players lists.

So without further ado, lets jump into the armies.

First up we have a Rivendell list led by Arwen and Cirdan. These two should provide plenty of magic support to back up the decent amount of Elven infantry and the small cavalry contingent provide mobility for objectives.

Matt Hamill
Rivendell

Warband 1
Arwen (Leader)
3 Elves swords
3 elves bows and spears
2 elves spear and shield
1 elf Spear shield and banner
Warband 2
Cirdan
3 elves swords
3 elves spear and shield
Warband 3
High Elf Captain, horse
2 Rivendell Knights

Next we have a Black Gate legion force led by a Troll Chieftain and the Mouth of Sauron. At these low points the Troll will prove a fearsome opponent due to the lack of big heroes.

Dave Murphy
Black Gate Legion

Warband 1
Troll Chieftain (Leader)
8 Morannons with shield
7 Orc Warriors with spear and shield
Warband 2
Mouth of Sauron on armoured horse
7 Morannons with shield
8 Orc Warriors with spear and shield

Shooting, shooting and more shooting. This force of Faramir's rangers pack in 35 bows and with smaller armies at 450 points every casualty they inflict at range will be crucial.

Gary Doyle
Faramirs Rangers

Warband 1
Faramir with Bow and Horse (Leader)
6 Rangers of Gondor
8 Rangers of Gondor with spear
Warband 2
Madril
5 Rangers of Gondor
7 Rangers of Gondor with spear
Warband 3
Damrod
2 Rangers of Gondor
4 Rangers of Gondor with spear

Next up is one of the new Legendary Legions from the War in Rohan book. This army is the most mobile of all the lists here due to the free upgrade to move 8 from Mauhur and the drum which will allow the Uruks in this army to outrun anyone.

Paddy McCormick
Ugluk’s Scouts

Warband 1
Ugluk (Leader)
4 Scouts with Uruk Bow
4 Scouts with shield
2 Scouts no upgrade
1 scout with drum
Warband 2
Mauhur
4 Scouts with Uruk Bow
3 Scouts with shield
3 Scouts no upgrade
Warband 3
Grishnakh with shield
10 orcs with shield

As I said in previous post, Hobbit era armies are not a strong point of mine, but I'll try to assess this Thranduil's Halls list. Thranduil and Tauriel are 2 solid combat heroes that are ably backed up by a decent block of armoured elves and the Sentinel will provide a bit of trickery with their songs.

Ivan Sheehan
Thranduil's Halls

Warband 1
Thranduil with crown heavy armour and bow (Leader)
4 Warriors, shield
1 Warrior, banner and glaive
3 Palace Guard, spear and shield
1 Sentinel
Warband 2
Tauriel
3 Warriors, shield
4 Warriors with glaive and bow.
  

Army of the Dead have proven to be my nemesis over the last year or so. The combination of high defence, Terror and Blades of the Dead make for a quality battle line and the King poses a threat to any multi-wound model and buffs everyone else in the force with his Harbinger of Evil.

Martin Metcalfe
Army of the Dead

Warband 1.
King of the Dead (Leader)
1 warrior of the dead, shield and banner
5 warriors of the dead, shields
2 warriors of the dead, spear and shield
Warband 2
Herald of the dead, shield
2 riders of the dead
3 warriors of the dead, shields
2 warriors of the dead, spear and shields

It's hammer time (sorry, couldn't resist). Thror is a very dependable Leader here with a high defence and the Arkenstone making him hard to take down. The Guardians of the King give a S4 (or S5 with Thorin's To Arms) front line and the Erebor warriors are able to spear support, improving the chances of winning fights.

Dave Coleman
Army of Thror.

Warband 1
Thror (Leader)
12 Grim Hammers, Guardians of the King Upgrade
Warband 2
Young Thorin, Oakenshield
8 Warriors of Erebor, Spears and Shields.

And finally we have an Angmar army led by the Tainted and a Barrow Wight. These 2 give a very menacing magical threat, as well as making the orcs in the list cause Terror, while a Cave Troll gives the list some punch.

Dan Ahern.
Angmar.

Warband 1
The Tainted, horse (Leader)
4 orcs, shield
4 orcs, spear
1 orc, banner
2 warg riders
1 dead march spectre
1 troll with hammer
Warband 2
Barrow Wight
4 orcs, shield
4 orcs, spear
2 orcs, 2 hander
1 dead march spectre

So there's all the lists, who wins and walks away with the trophy we'll find out on Sunday.

Looking ahead and looking behind

"Where did you go, if I may ask?' said Thorin to Gandalf as they rode along.
To look ahead,' said he.
And what brought you back in the nick of time?'
Looking behind,' said he."

It's traditional to use the turning of the year to both look back on the previous year and look ahead to the coming one. So here goes nothing.

Unfortunately, due to numerous external events my hobbying had to take a back seat for much of the last year. This meant that I only managed to attend a single event this year and that finding time for painting or blogging has proven difficult at times.

Looking back at the year there are two main hobbying highlights:

Firstly, starting this blog has been an exciting endeavor after I finally plucked up the courage to write my first post. I have loved the challenge that this blog has brought to me and the feedback that I have received from it.

In terms of my favourite model that I've finished this year the prize goes to my female Ranger of the North with horse (okay, technically she was painted many years ago, but I finally finished the complete model this year so it still counts). This model may not be my best paint job ever, but it means something to me personally, so it gets the prize. See https://edgeofthewildsbg.blogspot.com/2019/09/be-excellent-to-each-other.html for the full story behind this model. An honorable mention goes to the Donegal Khandish Warrior, just because it's based on where I live currently.

Looking ahead to next year my biggest goal is to continue with this blog. As I said above, it's something that I am proud of and gain a lot of satisfaction from.

From a gaming point of view, I hope that I can manage get to make it to a few more SBG events on the Irish Hobbit League calendar as well as get a few more regular games in generally. 

Over the past while I've tended to skip from army to army which when combined with limited game time means that I don't have chance to master an army reducing my chances of getting wins. Therefore, I've decided that I am going to focus on the armies of Gondor. My reasoning behind this selection is partially due to numerous options available within Gondor, partially because I enjoy playing human factions and partially because I already have a large Gondor army fully painted.

My primary hobbying goals for the coming year are basically to paint some models and enjoy myself as I do it, setting myself deadlines and targets I find can place too much pressure on myself and I don't enjoy the painting as much. One thing I do hope to do is to increase my terrain collection, although as before I won't actually set any particular targets and will wing it instead.

So, onwards to 2020.

Gaelcon Army List Review

Recently the Irish Hobbit League hosted an SBG an 800 Point tournament at Gaelcon, a large gaming convention in Dublin. In an attempt to better understand the local competitive meta I've decided take an in depth look at the army lists of the top 3 players and analyse what enabled these armies to reach the top tables of this event. Considering that this was a Good vs Evil with each player using 2 armies plus a special secret scenario using 250 points from one of the main armies that means I have 6 lists to study, so I'd better get started. Because 250 points is an unusual points level and the scenario was only revealed on the day I have decided not to analyse those lists.

3rd - Sean Magee

Good
Return of the King legion

Army of the Dead perform very well in a Good vs Evil environment due to the generally lower courage in Evil armies. This advantage is leveraged further due to the King of the Dead's Harbinger of Evil special rule making it even easier to score wounds and harder for the enemy to charge you. The Dead's 2 primary weaknesses are typically a lack of Might and zero ranged attacks, both of which are mitigated by the addition of Aragorn and Legolas.

Evil

Azog's Legion and Azog's Hunters

I'll be the first person to admit I'm fully up to speed with the Hobbit era armies (with the exception of Thorin's Company, the most fun you can have with 13 dwarves) but I'll do my best. The Hunter orcs provide plenty of attacks, especially when backed up by Gundabad spears. Azog is capable of worrying even some of the most fearsome heroes while being backed up ably by an Ogre and the Hunter Orc heroes. The smattering of wargs through the list help with objective grabbing or other situations requiring mobility.

2nd- Gerard Bunting

Good 

All Hero

As a primarily thematic player, lists like this do cause me a slight groan. However, I can acknowledge that in a competitive event opting for the non-historical options can provide a significant boost to your title chances. In this case, there are 3 insanely powerful Elven lords and a hard as nails Dwarf all running around on mounts, potentially killing everything in their path. Tauriel feels like the odd one out as a softer target and without a mount, although she is certainly capable of handling herself in a fight. The fact that there are only 5 models here means that you have to kill 3 of them to break the army, and I wouldn't fancy having to take down any of Gil Galad, Glorfindel, Thranduil or Dain without expending significant resources to do it, meanwhile, the other models will have a free reign to target the rest of your army.

Evil

Moria

From a small elite army to a mass of goblins. This army has sufficient models to capture objectives and tie up the enemy troops with numbers. A front line of Black Shields supported by Moria spears provides a solid base and support to the heroes of the list.

There's also the small matter of the Balrog to contend with. This guy is tough enough to take care of pretty much anyone the opponent throws at him and demands the attention of a significant amount of resources to contain. The flaming whip and free heroics give him a large threat range, so simply avoiding him isn't really an option.

1st - David Coleman

Good
Riders of Theoden

In this edition of the game Rohan has been propelled to a top tier army due to a number of buffs they received including the +1 strength on the charge army bonus, the Riders of Theoden special rule buffing their fight value, Gamling's banner of infinite might and the legendary legion bonuses. This list combines all of these factors to form a powerful army capable of handling most things. Although it lacks a super star hero, like most of the other lists in this review, it uses multiple smaller heroes that maximises the benefits of the Royal Standard, allowing the player to use multiple might points per turn with little risk of running out. This means that they can call heroic moves every turn (gaining the benefits of the cavalry charge) and call several heroic combats in each fight phase (cutting through large numbers of enemy models).

Evil
Barad Dur

Really this list is all about one model. The rest of the points are simply there to support that model to allow it time to destroy their opponents hopes and dreams by single-handedly wiping out their army.

Of course I am talking about the slayer of men, scourge of the elves, destroyer of worlds, the one model army that is...

The Orc Tracker on Warg.
Sauron

Sauron is one of the toughest models in the game, able to deal huge amounts of damage both in combat and with magic as well as being able to withstand damage in return. A true one model army.

But this army isn't just one model. A large contingent of orcs provide cheap chaff to score objectives and tie up the enemy to give Sauron time to do his job, warg riders provide some additional mobility and Shelob offers an extra damage dealer to complement Sauron.

Then there's the Tracker. I mean, mine (allegedly) killed something once...

So that's it for my 1st Irish Hobbit League army list review. I'll be back soon with another one after the next IHL event, Santa's Slay in Tabletop Tavern, Kircubbin on the 7th December and organized by Michael Bradford as a fun pre-holidays get together.

Seeing Red - Part 2a

"I don't know if the Road has ever been measured in miles beyond the Forsaken Inn, a day's journey east of Bree," [said] Strider.

Firstly, apologies for the long absence of any new posts here.

In my last post I was musing about the feasibility of using a themed red alliance army in a competitive environment. Over the last couple of weeks I've been pondering on this question and have come up with a couple of 750 point armies to play test. So here is the first of them:

Siege of the Forsaken Inn

Gandalf

Arathorn
6 Dunedain

Dwarf King
4 Khazad Guard
7 Dwarf warriors with shield
1 Dwarf warrior with shield and banner

Dwarf Captain
7 Dwarf rangers with bow
1 Dwarf ranger

In the last edition one of my favourite armies was an alliance between Gandalf, the Grey Company and Durin's Folk. The inspiration for this alliance came from the Ruin of Arnor sourcebook. Thematically, the list was based on a travelling Dwarf Lord and his retinue defending the Forsaken Inn with the support of the Arathorn and his kinsmen and the wandering grey wizard. The changes to the alliance rules and the Rangers army list meant that I shelved the army indefinitely.

Game wise the dwarves provide a solid core of infantry that can grind away at their foes, while the Rangers provide a might heavy shooting platform that isn't afraid to get stuck in when the battle lines clash to tip the balance in your favour. Gandalf provides a measure of control with his magic casting.

The list lacks a stand out combat hero (Arathorn's 3 attacks and Heroic Strike being offset by low defense and Fate), but careful use of Gandalf's magic can help to mitigate that somewhat. This list packs a lot of Might in, although most of it is concentrated with the Rangers, potentially leaving the Dwarves high and dry for crucial Heroic Moves due to the Red Alliance rules.

Forsaken Inn by Andy Hep on Deviant Art