MESBG: Most Common Points Levels in GBHL Tourneys

Whenever someone gets interested in the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, one of the most common first questions they ask is: "How many points is an MESBG army?"

It's a fair question. When I used to play Warhammer 40K the standard seemed to be 1500pts. Warhammer Fantasy was best at around 2000pts (if my memory serves me correctly), and I understand AOS is similar. It seems to be a universally held idea that there is a "standard" points level at which most tabletop games function best.

But MESBG is different to the rest. It's one of the reasons I like it so much. Every time people ask me this question I give a similar response:

"It works at pretty much anywhere between 200 and 1250pts."

Hobbits are a solid force at low and high points levels... If you have the patience to paint them all as Robert Graham did.

And I'll hold to that idea, because it's true. I've played games at all points levels between those two wide points and never felt the game suffered. At 200pts you can easily fit a low "captain level" hero for between 50 and 100pts, and have enough warriors to make for a short game ideal for showing someone the basics of the game. Because it's so hard to wound models in MESBG those 10 or so warriors and a captain, can be pretty durable and make for some tense fights and hero defining moments.

Similarly at 1250 pts, the tabletop groans under the weight of the miniatures but will also likely include huge heroes from Tolkien's universe slugging it out in moments reminiscent of the books and films, or perhaps in "what-if scenarios" like Azog vs Aragorn or Sauron vs Treebeard. Although the games take MUCH longer at that points level, High Point events are just as (if not more!) fun as the events in the middle.

But this got me thinking.

I may well enjoy points levels as varied as 200 to 1250, but do others? The best way I could think of analysing the facts on this are to take a look at all the GBHL events on this year's calendar (so far!).

What points levels are most MESBG tournaments?

The Grand Prix in Notts is slap bang in the middle at 600pts

So I've done some number crunching.

Of the events in this year's GBHL Calendar 45 have points limits publicly listed (some are TBC because they're later in the year). There are also 6 Doubles events and 4 escalation or de-escalation events (where multiples games are played at points values which drop or rise as the tournament progresses). Although interesting, I've discounted both of these from my analysis, leaving a sample of 35 events to establish some trends (if you have events from outside the UK and can easily send the data to me, then please email them here) .

It's amazed me how smooth the points distribution is for GBHL events:

Obviously there are two outliers here which ruin the trend slightly (Enjoy the Little things - 200pts & Khazad Dum Dee - 1000pts) but even they're not completely alien in their placement. And if I were to add my tournament from last year (Lord of the Imps was 900pts last year, but may not be this year...) then it'd be an even smoother transition on the high end of the points limits.

Of course this is plotting all GBHL events, including GBHL80s. GBHL80s are often a little more experimental with their rules and restrictions, to create thematic or unusual events to attend. So what if we focused only on GBHL100s? The highest tier, competitive events of the GBHL will surely show an "optimum" points level for competitive games of MESBG?

Well, as you can see the range of the graph is definitely smaller than the data from the whole league's events, but it's still remarkably smooth. There is a distinct trend, showing once again the wide range of points limits used even in competitive MESBG.

But, as with any data, how you break it down or present it can tell massively different stories. So I introduce you to my final graph.

First, note that it is green this time, which I thought made a nice change from the previous blue graphs.

Also, note the information on it.

This is something resembling the Modal results (I think Mode is the right average, I literally haven't used these sorts of terms properly since GCSE maths nearly 15 years ago).

This tells a very different story, that most GBHL100 events are between 700 and 799. This value absolutely smashes the rest of the results, even if it's worth noting there's a big difference in specific event values here (3 at 700, 1 at 707, 2 at 750 and 1 at 777).

So that's it settled, 700pts is the most common points value for events, so we should encourage new players to work towards that?

WAIT, WHAT IS THIS?! ANOTHER GRAPH!? YOU SAID THERE WOULD BE NO MORE... nOoOOOoOoOoOOOoo.

This evil looking red graph (yes, I know, a third colour), shows the points levels of GBHL90 events this year. These events are intended to be for areas with a competitive local scene where top players still play competitively at relatively normal events with few added special rules.

AND WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT. The complete opposite is true. There are zero 700pt events at GBHL90s (so far!). Obviously there are massive caveats here - there are far fewer GBHL90s, they're a new thing for the league, and it's still only half a year's worth of data.

But still. Check out that third column!

Please, won't somebody please tell me how many points my MESBG army should be?!

So, in conclusion, you may have saved an awful lot of time if you had stopped scrolling after Robert Graham's gorgeous hobbit collection.

MESBG is regularly played at a huge variety of points limits, and while some competitive events appear to have congregated between 700 and 800 points this year it's far from conclusive that that is the most common points limit.

Your best bet when starting an army is to look at what you like, and build as much of it as you like until you lose that hobby mojo... As long as you get past 200pts there's a good chance you'll be able to have a cracking game.

---

I hope you liked this new style of post, hopefully there'll be more in the future!

CURRENT GBHL PODIUM:

1. Aaron Pullen

2. Jay Acharya

3. Eliott Shillinglaw

Team Rankings:

1. The Guardians From Distant Lands

2. The Guardians

3. Gollum's Gamers

To see where you are in the National League, Sporting, Painting and in the regions have a look at the GBHL Rankings here.

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 .

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• GBHL80 The Last Alliance of Noobs and Men. 800pts. Swindon 26th March.

• GBHL80 Two Towers of Grantham. Sequel to The Fellowship, 599pts and scenarios themed around the story. 26th March.

• GBHL100 The Gates of Gondolin - 800pt competitive event at huge hall in Wetherby! 1st/2nd April

• GBHL80 Nightmare in the North - 650pts. Birmingham. 2 April

• GBHL80 The War in the North - AWESOME sounding De-Escalation event which ends with some DOubles games. Elgin, Scotland 8th/9th April.

We'll talk more about the 2023 league soon, but in the meantime check out the calendar of events here, read the army lists mentioned above here, and check where you are in the placings for both gaming and Hobbying here!

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

BURARUM - HARRY - GBHL Marketing CoOrdinator