Middle-Earth's Strongest Armies: September 26 + GBHL Finale Tickets On Sale Soon

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

As I am getting a little tired of saying each month, Men of the West is still in the top spot but with a smaller jump this time. Rising from 25 to 31 total podiums. It has however, been dethroned again as the most podiumed GBHL 100 list, as it has only gained a single extra 2nd place though is still looking strong and remains the 2nd most. The other podiums it gained this time are an addition 2 podiums from 90's and 3 from 80's.

In Second place also remains Lurtz's scouts, still chasing that GBHL 100 podium and only getting an additional 3 podiums this time going from 17 to 20. A 2nd place at a GBHL 90 and a 3rd place an both a GBHL 80 and 90. Quite a few lists are gaining on it and it may end up falling back out of the top 3 soon.

Finally in Third place it has changed once again, I mentioned this list last time as the big up and comer, it's Reclamation of Osgiliath, going from 14 to 19, right on the heels of Lurtz's scouts. In this period it gained its 2nd GBHL 100 podium this time winning the massive event of Ardacon while also gaining 2 more podiums at 80's and 90's. In only 4 months this list has gone from one that was doing okay to potentially being one of the top lists, is this cause of the FAQ's, meta changes, Boromir being Gondor's finest, let me know what you think.

We saw some big and small changes from the last FAQ, the Gwahir change hit a lot of lists and we saw the addition of the new Hill Tribesmen banner as well as the Mumakil added to Usurpers. I was expecting Usurpers to have started pressing hard but only gained a single 80 podium in this period.

But similarly Battle of five armies have only gained a single 90 podium, which is a list I think really feels the FAQ change. Battle of Fornost also remains fighting for its top position going from 11 to 15 this time, just shy of the top 3. Additionally Depths is starting to make a bit of a comeback as you can see. Another 4 podiums gained, mainly from GBHL 90's, show that this list is still one to keep an eye on and though the goblins aren't as efficient as they once were you still get a lot plus a Balrog.

I mentioned this one last year as well but the recent jump has been for Kingdom of Khazad-dum going from 8 to 15, again just shy of the top 3. This as well being another 1st at a GBHL 100 and its first 3rd place at one. These models being tough and Men of the West potentially seeing less play does seem to give them a solid place but is it players and events avoiding any movement based scenarios that is helping? On the GBHL 100 side of events there have now been 13 events with 20 total lists having podiumed now, up by 3, for a total of 44 (due to good vs evil and some events allowing you to take 2 lists). The biggest changes this time being Kingdom of Khazad-dum and Army of the White Hand both gaining 2 each. Army of the White Hand's being a 1st and 2nd putting it as the overall best GBHL 100 list currently on 7 total, 1 ahead of Men of the West.

The hurdle seems to be for most lists getting their 3rd or beyond as only 5 lists have been able to do this, being Army of the White Hand, Men of the west, Kingdom of Khazad-dum, Usurpers of Edoras and Army of Carn Dum. But we still have another 8 GBHL 100's to go so we shall have to wait and see where they all end up. Army of Carn Dum is still a list I want to see where it does finish up overall.

As for GBHL 90's Men of the West for an additional month stays running as the best list gaining another 2 podiums putting it to 19. Depths of Moria is also still using 90's to fight for its place going from 10 to 13 making it the 2nd best list at 90's. In 3rd is a tie on 10 for Reclamation of Osgiliath, Usurpers of Edoras and Battle of Fornost gaining 2, 0 and 3 respectively in this 2 month period. On the variety side, GBHL 90's have 65 lists that have podiumed for 238 total, 11 lists gaining their 1st one this year.

And lastly we have GBHL 80's which still remain by and large Lurtz's scouts as the top list, though only gained 1 extra podium this time finishing on 11. The next highest is Reclamation of Osgiliath on 7 gaining another 2 and Men of the West rounding the top 3 out on 6, jumping by 3 podiums. Still seem to have a large amount of list variety and success though on 73 different lists podiuming out of the 158 total.

The combined tracker is also still going, Men of the West is still the only list that looks like it can catch up to Depths of Moria gaining again on it but still remaining 11 behind. But elsewhere it hasn't changed much a little bit of shifting around for lists around 25-35 but they were all always close enough they kept flipping over.

As for lists that haven't podiumed we are now down only to 9, Azog's Hunters, The Grey Company and Wraiths on Wings all being completed. Again pat yourselves on the back whoever was playing them and do comment here to show off it was you 🙂 and whoever did Wraiths on Wings I top my hat to you, I never thought that one would be done.

But as we are now only down to 9 and a few months left still would 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.

Overall Men of the West again (this is another month saying this) is the best list, despite the hits to Legolas and Gwahir, but it does look to have slown down so potentially the FAQ has reigned it in enough to be good but not an obvious list to play to do well. I mentioned before though I really expected to start seeing some Usurpers Mumakil roaming around. Let me know what you think, did the changes we get do enough to open the meta up, do we still need some more? And what would you liked buffed in the next one?

GBHL 100:

Army of the White Hand - 7 podiums

Men of the West - 6 Podiums

Kingdom of Khazad-dum - 4 podiums

GBHL 90:

Men of the West - 19 podiums

Depths of Moria - 13 podiums

Reclamation of Osgiliath. Battle of Fornost and Usurpers of Edoras - 10 podiums

GBHL 80:

Lurtz's Scouts - 11 podiums

Reclamation of Osgiliath - 7 podiums

Men of the West - 6 podiums

GBHL 2026 FINALE UPDATE - Tickets, Event Pack and More!

We have a couple of updates for you regarding the GBHL finale as the 2026 season steadily moves towards its conclusion:

1) GBHL Finale Tickets

Tickets to the 2026 GBHL Finale are £45pp and will be on sale Tuesday 29th September. (Payment details will be confirmed in the coming days.)

2) At this moment we anticipate a capacity of 60 for the event, so if you want to join in closing the curtains on 2026 don't delay!!!

3) Event Pack is live on the Facebook page: GBHL League Finale 2026 | Facebook

4) Army Size...well I can reveal that players will need to bring both a 500pt army and a 800pt army!!! Make sure to read the event pack for all of the details, but a slight spoiler, the 500pt and 800pt armies do not need to use the same army list!!!

5) Hobby Premium Event

It if the GBHL Finale...of course this event will be a Hobby Premium event! In fact we also have a number of extra surprises to reveal in the coming weeks that have not yet been announced in the event pack!

I am sure there are plenty of other updates for you, but that will do for this post. The main takeaway...TICKETS ARE ON SALE TUESDAY 29th SEPTEMBER - Don't miss out!!!