OUTRIDERS BRING NEWS: A KING RETURNS

With a chorus of thunderous applause a King returns to his throne as The Great British Hobbit League picks up pace...

It may only be a few weeks, and two tournaments, in but already the top places of the GBHL are occupied by some very familiar faces. The most recent event saw battle at 7th City Collectables in Nottingham.

32 players descended on the shop to do battle in an old school format which apes the Warhammer World Grand Tournament: Two armies, 700pts each of Good and Evil, and a field divided equally between keen hobbyists and competitive players.

First we should marvel at the incredible talent of the painting on offer at the weekend. Julian Hammond, winner of the Best Painting Award, well and truly brought his A-Game for both armies. His Mordor horde led by Shagrat and his Cronies includes a gorgeously spooky Shelob but more amazing is his attention to detail on the rank and file. Utilising the fantastic early Orc sculpts, Julian converted them lovingly and has produced some stunning results.

His Riders of Theoden also stand up to scrutiny, with the crispest of crisp edges, particularly on some of the detailed armour of the heroes. Check out the images attached! Also at The Grandest Tournament was Aidan Lummer, who narrowly missed out on winning Best Painted himself. But still left with silverware, after proving himself Most Sporting across the weekend.

Onto gaming then, and going into the final round over half a dozen were in the running for podium spots - but, because of the GvsE matching system they were spread across almost as many tables as there were people in the running. But when the dust settled the victors were declared and in Third was James Goode-Hamy whose stalwart Army of Thror proved a thorn in the side for his evil opponents. His Evil force was the intimidating combination of the Goblin King, and his hordes, alongside Azog the Defiler. It turns out having two mega killy heroes and a horde of chaff works fairly well... In Second place after finishing with a win in Contest of Champions, the Rivendell Knights (with Strider too!) of Aaron Pullen took home the Silver trophy. But leading the pack, after winning the GBHL last year, is none other than Alastair King. His good force was Theodred's Guard and his evil a maniacal Mordor mashup including Gothmog, Kardush, Gorbag, new hero Muzgur and a lot of Morgul Stalkers. To find out more about his journey and his lists, check them out here.

And of course, now there are two tournaments under our belts the GBHL Ranking is live on the website, unlike the previous version it's embedded on the site so you can see it on desktops easily, though on Mobile you'll still have to click through to find out where you sit. Don't forget, whether you know it or not, if you attend a tourney you're on there... You could be the next Best Newcomer or regional winner... Maybe you even have a chance at the big leagues...

With that we bid farewell until we return next week with more news from tourneys across the country. In the meantime don't forget to check out Tourney Teasers for ideas on where to go for your eventing fix.

And don't forget, this hobby is a source of light when all other lights go out... Burarum!