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CHARIOTS AND CREBAIN - The Current Winners in the GBHL

Updated: Feb 27

With over a month's worth of tournaments in the 2024 GBHL Season we're starting to see the trickle of results pointing towards the armies and players doing well in the Great British Hobbit League. So let's delve into it...

*This year the quantity of events means these update blogs will rarely feature all the events happening (there are SO many!) but if you want your event promoted ahead of time or after it's happened get in touch and I'll be happy to get it on the blog!*


As ever, the season kicked off with Into the West, one of the league's largest events. Cardiff's Firestorm games was groaning under the weight of over a hundred players tasked with the difficult strain of playing seven 450pt games. First, big shout out to Nick Kelly who took home the most Sporting Award. And also to Dan Stuart whose incredible Easterling/Khand/Mordor alliance took home Best Painted:




In the gaming it was nice to see such a huge variety of forces vying for top spot - and some lists making top spots which perhaps surprised some of the "meta-watchers". In third, Sean Creed whose Mumak War Leader rode to great success with just 7 models in support (but with an dmittedly sizeable elephant...).Perhaps more expected was Sean's good army which saw a swarm of Laketown swamp the enemy. An excellent performance from Sean (who's a very consistent player!) - well done to him.

In second place was former league champion Alastair King, whose proclivity for an unusual army has often led him to success with unexpected lists. But one should never write Ali off, his skill on the tabletop is more than enough to make up for some of the "lesser" armies he uses. This time, he piloted Dunland & Theodred's Guard to the top tables. Thrydan and a Dunland Chieftain were all he needed (alongside a swarm of dudes and some birds) in his evil army. The Good force similarly saw the doomed prince of Rohan supported by just a captain - perhaps learning into the insane throwing weapon potential of the force (and also a number of Outriders on foot... Outwalkers?!).

But taking top spot was the inimitable Jay Acharya who has made this two years in a row at the top of the same hundred plus player tournament; an incredible achievement.

His list is again perhaps not what most folk expected would win - but with Jay's experience with similar lists, it's no surprise he's done well here. He took Lurtz, Vrasku and an Isengard Ballista supported by 8 crossbows, 12 pikes and some crebain. It's packed with shooting power and solid troops, as well as plenty of tricks which can devastate so many armies at this points level. Jay is always a tremendous player, and having finished 4th in the league last year, he's already stalking ahead for a strong start in the league after this finish.


Worth noting that after a slight rules change in the league for this season, that many of the plauyers who lost out on podium slots in this enormous event added some BUMPER scores to their 2024 league tallies. In the past, 100 GBHL points were given to winners of GBHL100s, while 95 and 90 were given to second and third place. Now the points awarded are based entirely on the number of attendees and your end position - netting Robin Leane, Michael Bradford, Shaun Lang and Dewi Evans over 95pts for their 7th-4th place finishes. A just reward for an excellent performance in an incredibly tough field.


Of course at this stage there's also been a huge number of GBHL90 events giving some players a solid baseline score and a strong position in the league.


So big shout out to:

  • Ivan Sheehan - who took home the top spot at The Battle of Numerous Tears in Bangor, NI

  • Ben Haslam - who won the Nottingham GT with the Dragon Emperor, three Dragon Knights on foot and an Easterling Captain (I know right!?!)

  • Tom Pattison - who smashed his opponents into a pulp at Denizens in the Dark at Dark Fire Cafe with a Laketown Horde

  • Dewi Evans - who rode to victory at Turn of the Tide in Swindon with a Suladan and Raza Serpent Horde


Moving onto the other Big GBHL100 event of the year so far... It's the 7th City Grand Prix.


92 Players went to what is billed as "The Most Competitive Event in the GBHL". With a Smaug as top prize, and a slew of other prizes for other winners, it's hardly a surprise the place was awash with some of the best players in the country.


The GP is divided into two impressiverooms at Risley Hall Hotel on the outskirts of Nottingham

Jakub Krochmal had such tabletop Domination he appears in all gamingphotos taken at the GP...

With the field seeing over 10 Hunter Orc armies at 600pts the tables were set for a repeat of 2023 where Jake Rawson took the top spot with that force.But some of the top players wisely planned to counter that "Meta pick" with some awesome forces. But first, a big shout out to Dan Stuart whose incredible Easterling, Mordor, Khand alliance once again took Best Painted... (The Beast is just so friggin awesome).

Most sporting went to Richard Ancliff who was most unfortunate in coming up against a ludicrous number of Hunter Orc Armies (he played almost half of their generals!) but clearly did it with a smile on his face - Kudos to him for that!



But the victors of the weekend's slightly different format weren't hunter orcs - in fact none featured in the top 8. (The event's first day sees all competitiors play four games in a swiss format for a Day 1 Ranking. That's divided into multiple "pods": The Top 8, a Chaser 16, and three other pods who duke it out to win prizes from SBG Magazine, Generation Shift and Guardians of Wiltshire).

Coming Third with an army he's not piloted much (which certainly surprises me, given his penchant for a hero dense list) was Ed Ball with the Riders of Theoden. His elite list featured the King, Gamling, Dernhelm, Deorwine, Two Captains and 4 royal guard.

In Second place was Into the West winner Jay Acharya with something not a million miles away from his Cardiff winning list. He took Lurtz, Vrasku and Gorulf Ironskin (ditching the Ballista and doubling down on Crossbows and pikes) as well as the key inclusion of a Crebain and a Warg Rider for mobility.

But in top spot - Take a Bow - was Jakub Krochmal. The fearsome player says he doesn't follow the meta, he beats it - and he clearly meant business this tournament with his Khandish force. It's the first time a Khandish army has come top of a GHBL100, and the GP being one of the most competitive in the calendar says a lot about Jakub's ability. But, with A King on Chariot, Three Chieftains on Chariots, a Warrior Chariot and a butt tonne of horsemen with bows this army absolutely slapped Hunter Orcs to pieces. It clearly also did well into other armies too, considering it went unbeaten throughout the whole tournament, even if the final round saw an epic moment where just Lurtz and The Chariot King remained on the table in a duel to the death!



So how does this leave the GBHL Rankings?


CURRENT GBHL PODIUM:

  1. Ben Haslam

  2. Tom Pattison

  3. Henry Brittain


But, delve a little deeper into the results and there's plenty to think about... Currently the rankings are skewed by the number of events players have been to (not to dilute your achievements Ben!) giving the players who've attended (and done well in!) multiple tournaments an advantage. Eg. One Mr Harry Parkhill has managed to slide into 17th Position off two solid scores (88 and 83) , whereas Sean Creed who has one EXELLENT score (98!) is in 43rd.

Flip the tables (something I'd recommend against doing at GBHL Tournaments) and order the rankings by Highest Average Score per event and you see Jay Acharya's incredible performance at Two GBHL100s put him in Pole position. It also catapults Ed Ball, Dewi Evans and Jakub Krochmal into very high positions based on excellent consistency at the two events they've been to (sadly it does nothing to improve one Mr Harry Parkhill's position, who remains in 17th either way!).

Of course the GBHL Rankings aren't based on the highest average score per event, otherwise last year's league would have been won by David Farmer not Jake Rawson... But it's a good indicator of how time may shift those rankings about. Keep your eyes peeled for the next blog!!


Team Rankings:


  1. Gollum's Gamers

  2. The Guardians From Distant Lands

  3. 7th City Crusaders


And to get the latest results and pictures from events head over to "the insta" where we're regularly posting about the best MESBG players and Painters! Tap here to follow the official GBHL Account @gbhl_official .




Until Next time, may this hobby be a light for you when all other lights go out.

BURARUM - HARRY - GBHL Marketing CoOrdinator










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