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Bedraggled and battered, an outrider stumbles through great wooden doors which lurch open with a cacophony of creaks and groans. He clutches his upper arm, bound tightly with a dirty bandage stained with blood, but in the hand of his injured arm is a scroll.
"I'm sorry it's delayed sire, we were swarmed by fell creatures from the North..." he says, handing over the scroll.
The King takes the scroll, eagerly awaiting news of the successes and failures across the realm, it reads:
When I last wrote a Great British Hobbit League Update, I was about to hop on a plane to Ireland for Dublin's GBHL 100 & IHL league event, which saw dozens descend on the Irish capital in an event organised by Micheal Bradford. The standard of gaming was outstanding, and as Micheal says, despite a relatively small community in Ireland "Iron sharpens Iron". Because not one player didn't pull their weight. But despite that, sadly only one Irishman made the podium after an incursion of English and Belgians. Louis Vanhecke was the first winner taking trophies back on a plane with him, leaving with the Best Painted for his glorious Riders of Theoden:
But Matthew Butler was proud to take home Best Model and Favourite Army for his amazing Azog's Legion and Signal Tower (to see them in action check out this battle report/vlog here).
Tom Armitage proved himself Most Sporting with his Isengard force, and incredibly generous approach to the game.
On the Podium though, was Ellis Priestley in Third, whose Corsairs of Umbar secured him a bronze trophy. In Second, Ivan Sheehan achieved more success with his Ugluk's Scouts list, showing it's a fearsome force in the hands of a more than competent general. Coming in top was Alexis Dufrasne whose Angmar dominated the tabletops. With a Witchking on Fellbeast, Gulavhar, 4 Spectres and Two Barrow Wights in the force the magical power was overwhelming for every force he came up against. It was a truly outstanding performance.
Shortly afterwards, War in the North raged once more, as Scots declared civil war in Elgin. It's the most northern destination in the whole GBHL (so far at least anyway!) and the attendees reflected that, with barely an Englishman in sight! But, as in Ireland, the competition was fierce, seeing some household names of the GBHL clash in a Good Vs Evil format. And it's fair to say the Evil side got an absolute hammering. The top 6 places in the 800pt tournament were taken up by Good players - which included Best Painted winner Sean Sproule. His gorgeous Fellowship of the Ring took home another prize after winning at Preston earlier in the Spring:
On the gaming side of things, Douglas Moore took home Most Sporting - proving himself to be moore than just a solid gamer. To the Podium, and Alan Liddle took home third with an intriguing army featuring Erestor as a General, The Twins, Arwen and Cirdan all leading Rivendell elves. Having relatively cheap (for elves anyway) heroes allowed a huge number of elves - surely successful against the low fight value evil armies on offer. But in ahead of that force was the ever present Riders of Theoden legion including Theoden, Gamlin, Dernhelm, Deorwine, Eomer and a Captain. It may only have had 20 models but Hamish Gentles' force packed a real punch, with two banners (including Gamlings) and more throwing spears than you can shake a stick at... And second come to a much nicer fellow. But, reigning supreme, was the man, the myth, the Legend that is Chris Murfitt. No stranger to top tables, and a veteran of the Great British Hobbit League, Chris used a Green Soup of Saruman, Galadriel, Gwaihir and Army of Lake Town to incredible success. 43 models, but some hitting power and magical dominance, it's a scary prospect in the hands of an experienced gamer like Chris. Bravo to him.
Then to the Gates of Gondolin we travel. At 7th City Collectables in Nottingham Will Champion hosted his premier competitive event of the year - it sold out incredibly quickly and saw a field densely packed with sharks searching for blood.
Swimming amongst them were some outstanding hobbyists too, but rising to the top of the water for the Painting Award was Julian Hammond whose incredibly detailed Riders of Theoden wowed players and judges alike:
But onto Gaming, and another elven army secured Bronze once more under the capable leadership of Jake Rawson this time. The unconventional mix of Lothlorien & Rivendell with Haldir Rumil, The Twins (on foot) & Cirdan certainly provides more questions than answers... Perhaps until you discover the top two finishers anyway. Because this tournament was dominated by the presence of an Angmar Uprising. With 5 (yes, 5!!) in a field of 40, there were more Angmar armies then any other faction - and two finished in the top two positions. In Second place was Scott Warren, with an impressive start to his GBHL career, but in first place was regular Podium player Harry Moore. Harry's list (which is detailed in this great Drawn Combat Article ) includes the fearsome pair of the Witchking and Gulavhar, alongside Wights and a Captain. It can be an awful list to play against, and yet, Mr Moore proved that either people playing him were masochists or they just had a bloody good time being destroyed because he took home the Most Sporting award - to add to his already groaning shelf of gaming and sportsmanship trophies.
All that means currently there's a war on for the top place in the GBHL...
Last Year's winner (and GBHL Blog Writer, & League CoOrdinator) Alastair King still retains the top spot... but, the times they are a-changing... Aaron Pullen currently holds second and David Clubley is third. But Scott Warren is edging into the running, after a few impressive results, alongside other tournament veterans. Take a look at the rankings and you'll see some players with just two results incredibly high in the league (Harry Moore, Jay Clare, Callum Edens, Will Champion, Jake Bankes, Chris Murfitt). The league takes your four highest scores into account so all they need to do is perform well at one 100pt Scoring event and any could take the top position...
Coming up to half way through the year, and we could see some serious jockeying for position...
"But this is incomplete!?" the indignant King spits from his golden throne in Meduseld, "there's no news from the City of Kings. Nor of the War of Wrath. And what happened with The Seven Stones!?". The King balled the scroll up and launched it into a burning brazier.
"The orders were intercepted and delayed by the Guardian of Wiltshire my lord," the bedraggled rohirrim responds.
"Send out more riders."
"Yes sire, the Outriders will return with news."
The rider bows, backs out of the king's presence and heads into the dark, the heavy doors close behind him.
Events on the Horizon:
Guardian's Call to Isengard (GBHL100) - A 550pt event over two days in Bristol (Ask in the linked event page for tickets) -
Heroes of the Belegaer Sea (GBHL80) - 800pt event in Sussex (Sold Out) - May 28
Mixed Doubles (GBHL80) - A bonkers Doubles tournament in Nottingham where Evil can Ally with Good... - Tickets Available (May 28)
Sunshine on LeithLorien (GBHL80) - Fantastically named 1-Day Tourney in Edinburgh - Sold Out - June 11.
Until Next time, may this hobby be a light for you when all other lights go out.
BURARUM - HARRY - GBHL Marketing CoOrdinator
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