NEHL September Round Up
Wor in the North
700 Points, Pairs - 3 Games
1st: Graham Atkinson and Thomas Kindness - Fell Beings of Mirkwood and The Last Alliance
2nd: Alistair Twomey and Johnathan Mack - Minas Morgul and Lothlorien
3rd: Adam Bird and Will Metcalf - Army of Gundabad and Survivors of Lake-Town
Best Painted: Johnathan Mack - Lothlorien
Most Sporting: Joel Baker - Men of the West
The NEHL had its first Pairs event this month, with teams bringing one good and one evil army to the tables. Some really interesting lists were on display for this one, so make sure to have a look at the full breakdown of lists!
For the podium places, we start with Adam Bird who chose his favoured Army of Gundabad for the event. Packing 4 war bats and a healthy dose of berserkers, Adam built his list well for three aggressive and objective-based scenarios. Will Metcalf opted for a list that has yet to achieve a podium – until now! Will is very familiar with Survivors of Lake-Town and managed to get them their first GBHL podium, taking Bard and Gandalf to lead the charge.
In Second Place, we have one of the best performing armies in the NEHL, Minas Morgul, once again proving its dominance. Alistair Twomey brought a mixed force of Morannons and Mordor orcs, and I think everyone is happy to see Kardush sneak his way onto a podium - especially with a 3-0 record. Johnathan Mack’s Lothlorien also snuck its way onto a podium despite losing one of his games and having a very narrow 10-9 win against Azog’s Hunters.
Taking the top spot were Graham Atkinson and Thomas Kindness (meaning a double podium for the Rangers of the North East!). Graham’s 3-0 record with Fell Beings had great early success against Lothlorien (Hatred Elves has got to hurt). Thomas suffered a defeat against Adam’s Gundabad (with Bolg surgically assassinating some heroes), but he was able to win his other games without conceding a single VP - results which secured the necessary VPs to maintain first place.
If you want more in-depth coverage of match ups between all 3 of the podiuming pairs, Birdie’s World Tournament Log has all the details you need!
Most Sporting went to Joel Baker for his kindly nature even at the head of Men of the West. Best Painted Army was a tight run thing, but Johnathan Mack’s Lothlorien took home the award after a nail-biting tie with Alex Bourdas’ Azog’s Hunters.
Peterbowl - September
200 Points (no named heroes) - 3 Games
1st: Peter Frame - The Black Gate
2nd: Graham Atkinson - Realms of Men
3rd: Nick King - Minas Morgul
Most Sporting: Robert Lindsay - Defenders of the Pelennor
Peterbowl returns with podium places made up entirely of previously podiuming lists! Perhaps a new meta is forming…
Despite a gruelling 20-0 loss in round 1, Nick King took his fell beast and swooped up the rankings to a 2-1 finish with near perfect VPs in rounds 2 and 3. Ringwraiths have a few hard counters - elves being one of them – but Nick has shown that a careful hand can get a lot of utility from them for a third place finish.
Next, Graham Atkinson’s well-rounded Arnor warband and frightening lance-wielding King in Realms of Men soared to 2nd place. In 2 rounds of objective play (Capture & Control and Sites of Power), Graham showed that a versatile list is well suited to straddling a few points of the battlefield while the King can make plays as needed.
Finally, simultaneously asserting his strength as the world’s worst ringer and securing first place, it’s Peter Frame! The Troll Chieftain has proven its effectiveness for the second month in a row. With enough threat this behemoth can be brought low, but few lists can outlast its effectiveness at this level. Can anything possibly stand up to Black Gate in the coming months? At least Peter has shown he can win his own event!
Robert Lindsay proved to be as friendly as ever, claiming the prize for Most Sporting Player on the day.
Face/Off: The Two Faces - MGC Doubles
500 Points (250 per player) - 3 Games
1st: Luke Bilton & Alex Gourley - Assault on Helm’s Deep
2nd: Daniel Southern & Simon Rose - The Black Gate
3rd: Brad Defty & James Roberts - Fields of Celebrant
The North East got a second dose of 2-player teams this month, hosted in Steelies this time. With players controlling a combined army, which lists came out on top?
Thundering into third place, Brad Defty and James Roberts led the Sons of Eorl into battle. With hard-hitting and high-fight cavalry, one glorious charge can devastate armies at low points levels. Couple that with Doubles Scenarios that reward at least one mobile contingent and this list seems like an obvious contender.
Dan Southern and Simon Rose showed the strength of The Black Gate with a cool 2 wins and a draw for second place. With 31 models, this army can take full advantage of +1 To Wound against outnumbered enemies. The Beefy Chiefy and supporting caster make this a versatile force capable of dealing with big heroes as easily as a high defence shieldwall.
Sitting pretty at the top is team [REDACTED], featuring Luke Bilton and Alex Gourlay, with Assault Upon Helm’s Deep. This list has a fearsome low-point reputation, but Luke and Alex didn’t go for the obvious play. Shunning the berserker build, they had 23 models total with an Isengard troll as well as 3 Uruk-Hai Captains. Even without spamming loincloth-laden uruks, this list can still do a lot of chopping, and can throw a troll at a battle line if worst comes to worst.
Thursday Night Throwdown - September
350 Points - 3 Games
1st: James Roberts - Ugluk’s Scouts
2nd: Glen Colledge - Defenders of Helm’s Deep
3rd: Andy Mee - Riders of Theoden
Steelies hosted back-to-back low points carnage with TNT. Andy Mee graces another TNT podium (flexing the in-built-cavalry-cost rule yet again!); this time with Riders of Theoden. With only 10 models, Andy can certainly maximise damage with Theoden and Deorwine - “Death!” and situational free heroic combats from the latter can make sure bodies keep falling quick enough. Most impressive is a resounding 18-0 in Contest of Champions with 2 middling-at-best heroes.
Glen Colledge showed that the men of Rohan don’t need horses to succeed with Defenders of Helm’s Deep. He achieved 3 thumping wins, conceding only 3 VPs across the tournament. The scenarios won’t leave much chance for Glen to give his opponents a volley, but that means a beefed up Haldir can get stuck in. At 350 points, there aren’t a lot of heroes who can outfight him without paying the price in model count.
James Roberts claims first place, showing his quality once again with Ugluk’s Scouts. You’ve likely seen James running this Army List at other events, and his dedication is clearly playing off. With Seize the Prizes and Destroy the Supplies being played, James scored very high in both rounds to secure his ultimate victory.
It’s been a real month of doubles: we’ve had pairs and doubles events, two players have reached two different podiums (Graham Atkinson and James Roberts), AND two different lists have podiumed twice (Minas Morgul and The Black Gate). Truly an ominous affair, maybe it is four-shadowing…
Something tells me that next month’s blog will be Team-ing with discussion of the Boro event on 18th October (tickets still available!). There’s every chance that an NEHL team will be walking away with a quadruple win, so I hope everyone is ready for a titanic rankings shake up…
Finally, as you're reading this, tickets are LIVE for the NEHL Season Finale taking place at Northern Alliance Games on the 13th December: 4 Rounds, 500 points, NEHL 100! Have a look at the Finale event page for tickets, the event pack, and updates!