GBHL Player Survey Summer 2026 + Middle-Earth's Strongest Armies: July 26

This month, before we get into the part that everyone is really interested in (Jack's article), we'd like to ask all GBHL players to take five minutes to complete the GBHL Player Survey 2026.

Your responses will help the GBHL Management Committee and event organisers better understand what you, the players of the league, think about the GBHL, where we can improve, and what you'd like to see going forward.

Please complete the survey by 21 August 2026 to ensure your voice is heard. You can find the link to the Survey here

Middle-Earth's Strongest Armies: July 26

Every 2 months, our GBHL Rankings Officer Jack will be delving into the stats to see what are Middle-Earth's Strongest Armies.

Its been another 2 months and we are at the halfway point for the year. All but 3 events are in from January through to June and we had a surprise early FAQ so lets see what's been going on and if the FAQ has targeted the right lists.

Men of the West retains top spot and jumped quite a bit higher over these 2 months, going from 16 to 25 podiums. An average of around 4 a month. It leads for each podium at 7, 10 and 8 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. It also being the joint most podiumed GBHL100 list again gaining another 3.

In Second place remains Lurtz's scouts acquiring another 5 podiums, 2, 1 and 2 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively to put itself on 17. Still is extremely popular and successful at GBHL 80's and 90's but still waiting on that GBHL100 podium for it. Other lists are hot on its heels now but I think this is a list that will always remain in the top 5.

In third place Depths of Moria has been dethroned, just, by Usurpers of Edoras, going from 8 to 15 total podiums, 3, 1 and 3 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Its performance coming from GBHL 90's and 100's where it is the joint 2nd most podiumed at each. 80's it seems to either not be seeing play at or just people are playing it differently.

But some of these lists have just had some big and small FAQ changes. Men of the West got both the hotly debated Gwahir points increase as well as some changes to the ability of Legolas to shoot in combat. Although it also got a minor buff in Imrahil going down 20 points, a sign of healthy things to come for the game and maybe Imrahil seeing play?

Usurpers of Edoras were also on the receiving end of buffs and nerfs. The wildly anticipated Wildman banner has been released meaning they don't need Rohan traitors to get one. A buff as well to many Isengard and Dunland lists. However, they also got quite the big nerf with the changes to Crebain, losing a defence and a wound means they are no longer the hero blocker of old. While I think they will still see play, heroes wounding them 'mostly' on 3's means its quite likely they won't get pinned down.

Finally Lurtz's scouts was also got an FAQ change and not one I think anyone was expecting, they got a nice buff in shamans being added to both scout lists. The lack of fearless available in Lurtz's definitely makes it the better list for them to be added to and might go a long way in keeping their performance this high. But is it enough of an addition to get them that GBHL 100 podium.

A big up and comer for me which will be talked about shortly is Reclamation of Osgiliath going from only 4 podiums two months ago to 14 now fighting for 3rd place overall only a single one behind. Battle of five armies is also trying to keep pace on 12 but the FAQ may hold that one back now.

On the GBHL 100 side of events there have now been 10 I have inputs from where it is still only 17 lists the podiums, the same as last time, but 34 podiums in total (due to good vs evil and some events allowing you to take 2 lists). The big one for these two months is Army of the White Hand. Going from only a single GBHL 100 podium all the way to up 5 at the end of this month. Have played finally come back round to it since the end of last year or was it just getting ready for the known coming Wildman Banner or was it something else, do let me know what you think. I made a big talk about Army of Carn Dum being a top performer last time on 3 podiums but it has remained that way retaining a joint 2nd place.

Men of the West and Army of the White Hand both are on 5 each with Men of the West being the slight better performer with an extra 2nd place but still only a single win for both. Usurpers of Edoras and Army of Carn Dum are in second with 3 each, Usurpers having an event win as each of its Podiums. There are then quite a few lists on two which you can see in the winning lists data.

As for GBHL 90's Men of the West again stays running as the best list gaining another 6 podiums putting it to 17. Depths is fighting to keep its place finishing on 10, gaining four more and is tied with Usurpers of Edoras but Depths being the better of the two with more 2nd places. Finally is Reclamation of Osgiliath rounding out the lists on 8 gaining seven podiums since last time. But several lists are close behind. Still struggling a bit on the variety side, GBHL 90's have 54 lists that have podiumed for 182 total.

And lastly we have GBHL 80's which remaining by and large Lurtz's scouts taking it by storm with 10 podiums, 2 more since last time. The next highest is Reclamation of Osgiliath on 5 and five other lists fighting right behind on four podiums. 80's have shown a lot more variety than 90's though with 61 different lists podiuming out of the 114 total showing the openness for these types of events is there.

The combined tracker is still going and shows some interesting data. Men of the West is still fighting to catch up to Depths of Moria but with both getting several podiums the gap is still a mighty 13. The gap hasn't narrowed as quickly as I thought but I expect by the end of the year it will have caught. Lurtz's scouts remains in 3rd but with Army of the White Hand suddenly getting a resurgence they are under threat whereas last month I thought they would be safe.

As for lists that haven't podiumed we are now down only to 12, Fiefdoms, Far Harad and Battle of the Bywater each scoring one. Pat yourselves on the back whoever was playing them 🙂

I would still love to see people knock more of them out if possible, as hard as it may be I'd love to see this cleared by the end of the year so feel free to challenge yourself.

So overall it seems Men of the West remained the top dog but has now taken some addressing, but I think the Gwahir hit may have been to hard for many of the other lists the big bird is in, namely Battle of Five Armies. The Wildman armies are certainly ones to watch now as the mass Crebain spam has been hit but they still look like good options as well as Usurpers now gets an easy banner addition, or Mumakil if you want one, and still is a solid list. Let me know what you think, were there enough changes, do you think there should have been more nerfs to lists. Personally I think Men of the West needed a bigger hit, maybe losing Dominant 2, and I'd like to see more buffs but at least they are starting to do them.

GBHL 100:

Men of the West and Army of the White Hand - 5 podiums

Usurpers of Edoras and Army of Carn Dum - 3 podiums

Depths of Moria, The Battle of Five Armies, Kingdom of Khazad-dum, Shadows of Angmar and Muster of Isengard - 2 podiums

GBHL 90:

Men of the West - 17 podiums

Depths of Moria and Usurpers of Edoras - 10 podiums

Reclamation of Osgiliath - 8 podiums

GBHL 80:

Lurtz's Scouts - 10 podiums

Reclamation of Osgiliath - 5 podiums

The Battle of Five Armies, Battle of Fornost, Breaking of the Fellowship, The Beornings and Moria - 4 podiums

Finally just in case you forgot another quick reminder that to please complete the GBHL Player Survey by 21 August 2026. You can find the link to the Survey here