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In the depths of winter a new power is growing... The Great British Hobbit League stirs from its slumber... and realises it is strong.
The GBHL's 2022 season was the most successful League year ever. We had a record attendance at GBHL events, leading to 747 players competing in the league, we had outstanding craftspeople including two stalwarts of the painting hobby taking home awards for their outstanding contribution to the league, and much merriment was had too.
But the slate has been wiped clean. The winners of yesteryear are in the same boat as you or I am right now. Adam Darmody, who won the (imaginary) wooden spoon of epicness - having secured the lowest score of anyone with 4 tournaments attendances - is just as likely to achieve great things this year. All we need is optimism and a sense of self betterment and even the most unlikely of us can make a difference...
With that in mind, let's head to the first tournament of the Great British Hobbit League for 2023.
And it is at The Fell Winter, in Stockport, where the first blood was spilled this year. Steve Crowe's post New Year event with 38 players saw six 750pt games at Element Games. Duking it out in the first GBHL100 event of the year were players from across all four nations of the UK at a venue renowned for its history in MESBG (and infamous for its toilets...).
First, Steve Thorley took home Best Hobby award for his amazing dwarves. Along with the rest of the Drawn Combat blog guys, Steve almost always knocks it out of the park with his hobbying prowess - and this was no exception.
Next, Most Sporting was Dave Tongue. An impressive feat considering he took one of the more frustrating armies to play against - Return of the King - no doubt his manner and theme saw him through to Most Sporting (and to a very respectable 14th place finish).
On the podium, the competition was strong even at this early stage in the year. In Bronze was Aaron Pullen with the Assault On Helm's Deep Legion. It wasn't the only one in the top 5, demonstrating its potency has clearly not dimmed since smashing onto top tables during the Covid years. Still, Aaron's proven himself at many an event - an effective pilot is a must have despite the powerful list.
In Second, hailing from Belfast, Michael Bradford took another powerful list, in the shape of Assault on Lothlorien (perhaps legions with Assault in are all powerful?). But as one of the top players in 2022, it's unsurprising to see Michael on the top tables again - could this year be the year of victory for one of the nicest guys in MESBG?
But on top was another gentleman of the hobby, Ben Haslam, who's Boromir led Fountain Court spam walked through the opposition with no losses across the whole event (list opposite).
Something worth noting, Ed Ball - multiple time GBHL Winner, and Fell Beast fiend - played a stormer of a tournament, with his unusual Three Fell Beast, Ringwraith on Horse, Spider Queen & Bat Swarm Combo, he deined all his opponents VPs until he came up twice against the Assault on Lothlorien, and twice lost. One to keep an eye on...
Next, to the banks of the River Tay for the Bridge of Khazad-Dum Dee. As the first event in the newly created regional league taking in the whole island of Ireland and Scotland, it was fiercely fought out by a strong contingent of Scots. The 1000pt tournament had some quirky special rules, including a pod based format in which groups of four fought over the treasures of Khazad-Dum Dee which rewarded the bearer with special rules.
First we should celebrate the work of Chris Murfitt, his delightful furry Beornings army took home the Best Painted award, and no slouch in battle either, Mr Murfitt bear hugged his way to the podium after a fierce fight with long time friend and rival David Reid on the top table in the final round.
In Second, adding to fuel to the Meme Wars of the Australian SBG pages, was Australian national Chris Cousens. Chris's Galadriel and Elven horde allied with Gwaihir secured the silver in a manner befitting a gentleman because he also took home the Best Sporting award.
In first though, was David Reid, who took the win with a Kingdom of Moria force with all the heroes and swarms of dwarves.
Now to the GBHL's first every "90 Pointer"! GBHL90s are new for this season to provide a bridging gap between GBHL80s and GBHL100s. They will usually be tournaments with fewer spicy additions you often see in GBHL80s but targeted at a more well established competitive local scene (though of course all are welcome!). This one dayer, in Bicester in Oxfordshire, saw 38 players competing at 550pts.
First, Andy Hamblin took home the painting prize for his fantastic Fiefdoms force - the unconventional paint scheme featuring brass and whites clearly impressed players.
Most Sporting went to one of the league's friendliest fellows (and one who would have been in the running for Most Sporting of the year in 2022 had some of the events he attended been GBHL accredited) Curtis Hodgson.
The podium saw a return of some favourites in terms of list construction - it's been a while since we saw Defenders of Helm's Deep in the top three, but under the careful command of Bert Leach (one of the most well dressed members of the community) they made it to third. In Silver medal position was last year's third place finisher in the entire league - David Clubley. He's showed his old reliable Minas Tirith force can still Winas Tirth... His classic mix of Denethor, Faramir and Madril and over 40 models was clearly a tough nut to crack. But in first place, taking the first ever GBHL90 was Sam Gratton's Assault on Lothlorien. It seems very little can stand in the way of that Legendary Legion ably commanded at these low points levels. You can read all the winning lists in full here.
Next, to Grantham, home of Isaac Newton and Maggie Thatcher, and the inimatable Nathan Talbot. His first solo outing arranging a GBHL Event included some fantastic creative restrictions which started at 423pts (the same number of pages in The Fellowship of the Ring) and stopped any players using anything but Green Alliances (no Pure, Yellow, Red forces or Legendary legions allowed!).
This unusual format forced a different variety of armies to rise to the top - but first let's celebrate Tim Elwess's painting.
His Grimbold and Haldir Alliance won Best Painted - many remarked on improvements to Tim's skills as well as the crisp work on the Helmingas's (Helmingi?!) cloaks.
Most Sporting was Ellie Cox who's become a regular in these parts and taking even the hardest of crushings with a big smile on her face.
In the competition, Tim Elwess featured once more in the prizegiving, by claiming third with his Grimbold, Haleth and Haldir alliance. Despite being repeatedly advised to take shields for his rohan models Tim proved everyone else wrong, and showed how little he respected our advice.
In Second, Larry Vickers took home victory with a sprawling force of Hobbits, but in first was Aaron Pullen with a fearsome all mounted men of the south list. Suladan, 2 Serpent Riders and Camels aplenty, this force impaled its way through dozens of Hobbits to secure itsself in pride of place.
Next, a one day 500pt event in Walsall saw 31 players take to the tabletop. Josh Krohn took the Best Painted and Kieran Showell took most Sporting.
On the podium were fearsome heroes Glorfindel, Primce Imrahil and the Witchking of Angmar...
Ross Hughes took home the third position with the elves, Ned Merrick second with a mixed arms force from the South, but it was Angmar Rising to the top with a Warg Chieftain and Wight supporting the fallen king of the North. Well done to general Chris Robson for the Gold!
Across the Irish sea, some legends of the Emerald Isle were locked in bitter contest with one another for the first tourney of the IHL (Irish Hobbit League), which also awarded 90pts towards the GBHL.
To the gaming first, and Dave Coleman the Child Prodigy himself, took home bronze with 800pts of Lothlorien, with a cheeky Boromir of Gondor dropped in for good measure. The elite force featured 7 guard of the Galadhrim court, as well as the happy couple Celeborn and Galadriel - a worthy force.
In silver medal position, Michael Bradford took 52 models from the Assault on Lothlorien. His list featured a mix of basically all the units you can take, as well as butt tonnes of goblins.
But it was to be second best to Ivan Sheehan's Thranduil's Halls and Lake Town mix. His slightly unusual force composition included huge numbers of elves led by Thranduil, Leggy and Tauriel, but with a drop in of a Lake Town captain on his own. I'm perplexed as to the reason, other than cheap might of course, there was plenty of room for more elves in Legolas's warband. But the evil genius that is Ivan may well have other sensible reasons - either way, it took him to the top spot and to 90GBHL points.
We must give a quick mention to some of the outstanding hobby on display here too - Paddy McCormick took home best painted for his beautifully crisp paint job on an Angmar force which only narrowly missed out on a podoum position.
Also taking home a special Best Theme prize was Nicky Forsythe whose macabre Dunland display wowed all who saw it (and perhaps made folk edge slightly away from the dark mastermind behind it!).
And we can't forget Christopher Cornhill who took home Most Sporting.
Finally we head to Swindon for a GBHL90 with a relatively small (but feisty!) turnout of 18 folk duking it out over a big wedge of League Points.
We'll start with Jace Fletcher whose sportsmanship won him plaudits from the rest of the tournament - I obviously have given all Most Sporting winners a mention here, but it's worth reiterating how essential an award I think this is. We can only have fun if everyone is being splendid to one another, and this award is fantastic at recognising that (even if there's not much more I can say about its winners other than "Well done! I'd love to have a pint with you if you're this nice to folk!".
In hobbying, it was Dan Garside who took home the Best Painted award with his Defenders of Helm's Deep:
It's a gorgeously painted force, and the dreaded Gamling banner is done with precision and neatness, but has clearly been given some kind of weathering to make it feel like an heirloom of the kingdom. Top work - and narrowly missed out on a podium position, coming in 4th - but no doubt Dan was chuffed with his award, and rightly so.
First on the Podium though,in Bronze position, was 50 Goblin Town Goblins at 450pts. A merciless wave of gobbos commanded by Dan Hawkins - it's pretty hard to argue with The Goblin King and Gollum at such low points... What would you take to bring him down!?
In Second, was Lee Robbins' 35 model force from Ugluk's legendary legion. Ugluk, Marauders, Grishnakh and Mauhur are a fearsome threesome for sure.
But the cream of the crop was Rob Lewis with his 55 model laketown force led by The Master, Braga, Alfrid and a Captain. Clearly folk down in Swindon like to horde it out - I thought the 35 Uruk legion was enough at 450, but I'd lose all hope against a horde of this size. Congratulations to you all!
CURRENT GBHL PODIUM:
Michael Bradford
Aaron Pullen
Eliott Shillinglaw
With all the roundup of events behind us, let's look ahead to some of the events rumbling down the track.
One of the biggest in the Calendar, Into the West in Cardiff is underway today with over a hundred players. With former League winner Alastair King, Polish juggernaut Jakub Krochmal, and Aaron Pullen whose just podiummed two tournaments on the bounce there could be some very fierce competition - but there are many names both strange and familiar who could take top spot. Find out in the next blog.
Next weekend is The Grand Prix at Risley Hall Hotel in Derbyshire, and run by 7th City Collectables. It aims to be one of the most competitive events in the calendar and has well over 80 attendees currently vying for the chance to win 100GBHL points and a huge cash prize (plus numerous other cash prizes for podium positions and winners of pods in its knockout style tournament). There are still tickets available and judging from the look of the venue, the format of the tournament, and the current attendees, this is set to be a night (and weekend) to remember.
Shortly after that, there are two one dayers at different ends of the country.
Nobody goes off Trail in Pontefract on Sunday12 Feb is a good chance for someone to try their hand against a relatively small (but experienced!) crowd. Currently 11 attendees, but room for some more. Tickets available here.
In Chippenham, Wiltshire, Dewi Evans is running an interesting sounding event which features weather conditions and time of day as special rules. It's pulling in punters with 35 taking it on, but there's room for more. More info here.
Then there's the Warhammer World GT, worth 100 GBHL points, and two other SOLD OUT events in Worcestershire and London. You love to see it.
Final reminders!
You have until January the 31st to register your GBHL Team.
You don't have to do anything complicated other than tell Dewi Evans (rankings maestro) who is in your Fellowship (a bit more on how it works here!).
The top ten scores from your 9 players (each player can only contribute a max of two scores) pits your team against everyone else across the league. Can your Fellowship do the deed? Or will it all be in vain?
Currently 26 teams are registered, Team Atomic is in the lead & MY team, the mighty FELLOWBELLIES is in second... How long can we ride on the coattails of Aaron Pullen's success? Only time will tell!
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