NEHL July Round-Up
Peterbowl - July
200 points (no named heroes) - 3 Games
1st: Mark Butler - Wolf Pack of Angmar
2nd: Thomas Robertson - Kingdom of Khazad-Dum
3rd: Charlie Lewis - Moria
Most Sporting: Sean Saville - Lothlorien
Newcastle's monthly melee returns, and evil is still dominating the leaderboards for low-point events. In third place, Charlie Lewis brought to bear the hordes of Moria against his foes. It’s a flexible army that can include a lot of goblins - and with bonuses against Trapped models, those pesky fellows can put out reasonable damage too.
Taking second place is Thomas Robertson with the seemingly ever-present Kingdom of Khazad-Dum. Dwarves are tough, but stacking Khazad Guard and Iron Guard can cut through enemies quickly. Something they’re usually not good at is Reconnoitre, but that didn’t stop Tom scraping a 5-0 victory to put him on the podium!
Rounding out our champions is Mark Butler (in his first event win!). Wolf Pack of Angmar has been doing well at 200 points, podiuming in 3 of the last 4 months of Peterbowls. Few unnamed heroes can stand up to a Wild Warg Chieftain, few warbands can outpace a pack of Werewolves, and few battlelines can weather the storm at this points level. Mark proved that again with 3 comfortable wins, conceding only 3 points across the entire event!
Most Sporting this month went to Sean Saville. Elves make very few appearances on the Peterbowl podiums, but at least Sean is showing there is still some merit in taking them: gracefully going against the meta!
Gondor in 60 Seconds July
650 points - 3 Games
1st: Jack Thurlbeck - Army of the Great Eye
2nd: James Roberts - Ugluk’s Scouts
3rd: Allan Cameron - Assault on Ravenhill
Best Painted: Matthew Tullock - Lothlorien
Most Sporting: Dorian Affleck - Wolf Pack of Angmar
Middle-earth descended once again upon the Middlesbrough Gamers Club for 3 games of carnage, and the podium places took very different approaches to list building, I dub them the Heroes, the Horde and the Cheesy.
Heroes first. Starting off our podium places is what I think of as the perfect 650-point army. Assault on Ravenhill at its absolute maximum scrapes in at 650, so Allan Cameron didn’t need to waste any time thinking about list building or army bonuses; just 7 heroes and a dream. Destroy the Supplies and Breakthrough are scenarios where all-hero lists are almost always conceding VPs, but they’re not unwinnable. With two very close wins - 1 VP and 2 VP diff respectively - Allan showed that these lists can deal enough damage to get objectives done even against all odds.
For second place, James Roberts opted for the polar-opposite approach: 53 models of Ugluk’s Scouts. With 3 comfy wins, James showed that flooding the board can be an effective strategy. Destroy the Supplies and Breakthrough are good scenarios for this playstyle, as any opponent has to do a lot of chopping to even out the scores. 4 heroes and double banner means James can open two fronts against his opponent, a show of aggression few armies can resist.
Taking top spot, we move onto the Cheesy list. Jack Thurlbeck assembled his tournament-winning soup list from the Army of the Great Eye. The basis of the army is Mordor and Morannon Orcs, but it’s the tools that make the list shine. The Dark Marshal provides a fearless bubble and can cast magic in a pinch. A bat swarm is always a threat for big heroes, but a Fearless Bat Swarm is another level entirely. Mordor Orcs aren’t especially worrying, but Orcs with two-handed weapons will deal damage to any foe when they’re trapped.
The award for Best Painted army went to Matthew Tullock’s exceptional pearlescent Lothlorien army, and Dorian Affleck showed that not all Wolf Pack of Angmar players are cheesy (No matter what Peterbowl attendees might tell you).
Duel of the Blues
600 points (and a Blue Wizard) - 3 Games
1st: Tim Elwess - The Fellowship
2nd: James Harrison - Fangorn
3rd: Tom Armo - Kingdom of Khazad Dum
Best Painted: Tom Marsh - Far Harad
Most Sporting: James Harrison - Fangorn
Duel of the Blues rounds out our July coverage with a unique event. Every army has 600 points plus a unique Blue Wizard (similar to Gandalf the Grey without Glamdring) to aid them in games, so there was no doubt a lot of magic flying around!
In 3rd place, Tom Armo decided that a Blue Wizard had wandered into Khazad-Dum! This list can hit hard and take a hit, but it doesn’t usually have a lot of tricks. A Blue Wizard clearly fills that void, and opens up a lot of strategic options for the Dwarves. Tom dominated both games against Gondor (Minas Tirith and Atop the Walls), but Fangorn fought him to a draw in Round 1.
As runner up, James Harrison opted for Fangorn (previously mentioned in drawing with Tom). Personally, I think this is a brilliant choice for a tournament with at least 1 wizard in every list. You can guarantee that 6 of your models will be unimpeded by Transfix, so James can keep the edge in manoeuvrability. With 2 wins and a draw, this must have been a helpful defence against magic.
Taking the top spot - and with perhaps the most thematic choice - Tim Elwess showed us what would have happened if Alatar or Pallando had taken Gandalf’s place in the Fellowship of the Ring. Tim’s 600 points consisted of all 8 of the other members of the Fellowship, and a Blue Wizard is a naturally complimentary pick. Renew and Protection of the Valar are handy spells, but they become invaluable in all-hero armies. The Fellowship took down some monstrous foes, and became the only army to go 3-0 across the tournament. Most importantly, Tim joins the upper echelon of player that is reserved solely for players who have won a GBHL event with the Fellowship (I wonder who else has done this…).
When he’s not gracing the podiums, he’s winning hobby awards: Tom Marsh’s Far Harad can do it all! This time he received the award for Best Painted Army. For Most Sporting Player, James Harrison took the prize using Fangorn.