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We're only a week in to the GBHL, and already it feels like we're swimming in a different ocean since the new edition dropped... And boy are we gonna need a bigger boat!
I'm going to focus in on a few events which took place across the league this last weekend to assess some early trends of success in MESBG.
First of all, on the eve of one of the biggest events of the year was 'A New Adventure', a one day event at Firestorm Games in Cardiff on the Friday before Into the West took over the venue. It saw a whopping 54 players compete in a GBHL90 event where the winner was the player with the most total VPs from three games. Despite being a small points escalation event (400pts for 1 game, 450pts, for the second and 500pts for the third), Monsters still made an impact on the top five lists at the tournament. At 5th were the Wolves of Isengard, 4th were The Eagles, 3rd was The Riders of Eomer, whilst Depths of Moria came 2nd and Usurpers of Edoras came 1st.
I'm particularly impressed by the Balrog player (Andrew Green) who managed quite an impressive performance, when so many of his points were made up by the big beasty from the underworld.
Props to James Goble in 3rd, Andrew Green in 2nd, and Richard Spencer in 1st... They were briefly the top three players in the Great British Hobbit League!
But the weekend quickly added its second event on Saturday, in Lincoln. A Merrier World saw 24 locals descend on a wintry Imps Gaming for three 600pt games (Christmas Jumpers were compulsory, as was the post-event curry!). Although organiser Tim Elwess said it was primarily to gently welcome us into the new edition, the field of Yellowbellies (Lincolnshire locals) and travelling guest stars were armed with competitive lists eager to perform well in the new edition...
Largely, competitors had picked up on the new Monster rules being strong (or perhaps were just big fans!) so they stomped into the chilly gaming hall in force. There were two Fangorn players, a pair each of Bill, Bert and Tom, Two Black Gate forces, a Balrog and some Wraiths on Wings...
With just three games to make their mark, the new 20VP Scenarios came in very handy to differentiate players who'd won all their matchups. But coming in the top three were The Army of the White Hand piloted by Tom Armitage, proving that despite Magic taking some major nerfs this edition, Saruman still has some power - particularly when he can call lightning to cause S6 hits on all models in a small area (used in one game to assassinate poor Merry and Pippin from between the branches of Treebeard). In Second were The Ents (Treebeard, Birchseed, Beechbone and an Ash Ent) piloted by monster lover Jack Darlington who claimed his "past experience with wielding unconventional monstrous armies" that helped him to the podium. But in first was Aaron Pullen, a regular Lincolnshire top table player, who'd taken the three Trolls to gerat success. He scored a whopping 52 VPs out of 60 to win the event. He took the trolls with four upgrades:
Full Bellies (3MWF)
Nothing Like a Warm Fire (18" Campfire)
Rumbling Momentum (+1A on Charge)
Dominant Presence (auto grab objectives)
He pointed out that the changes to Monsters (in particular their ability to kill spear supports and target enemy heroes with Hurl) made them very strong (alongside the upgrades). Well done to Aaron for piloting them well, because despite the buzz around the force, the other troll player came unstuck against a Fellowship of the Ring whose Legolas put a real shift in to help swing the odds in their favour!
Quick shout out as well to Nathan Cocker who took Best Painted with his Gundabad Army, to Harrison Bird for Most sporting and to Cahlia Ross for winning the whimsically named "Prize For Being Randomly Selected While Wearing A Festive Jumper (or Bringing A Dog With A Similar Jumper) And Not Also Having Already Won A Prize" prize.
While the Merrier World attendees rested with bellies full of curry, over the West of the UK, across the mouth of the River Severn players were anxiously awaiting Day 2 of Into the West.
Into the West, which has been running for 10 years, has grown incrementally year-on-year into one of the League's largest events. Only Ardacon can boast more players and of course, that counts many International players amongst its numbers.
Organiser Matt King (ably assisted by long time helper and new wife Laura) rallied over 120 players to Firestorm Games in Cardiff for a 450pt tournament.
Before we talk about monsters, it’s worth talki g about… erm… Monsters… Because not only did monsters make their presence known on top tables, but they won one of the painting competitions too!
Steve Thorley took home two coveted painting awards at the event, for both Best Painted individual mini, and also for Best Army.
His incredible use of Object Source Lighting for both subjects was incredible:
Big shout out also to Scott Whitefoot who came runner up in both categories (after winning Best Army at the Friday Event mentioned above) for His glorious Rohan and Glorfindel:
Also a big shout out to Richard Croydon who not only took Most Sporting but also defended his title for Architect of the West (Best Display board) and Artisan of the West (Best Army List)
And it's fair to say that Eagles didn't just crop up "a bit", but were a dominating presence at tabletops across the weekend. Of the top ten players in the event SIX of them had Eagles in their forces (Five were Gwaihir and Eagles, one was Radagast, Gwaihir and an Eagle). The unique set up of the event allowed player to take both a Good and Evil list, or just one or the other, meaning not all players took just one list to great success though. Worth noting that 450pts has always been on the low side for establishing "meta defining trends" but combined with the results from the other events certainly hints at the perceived (and actual) strength of Monsters in the new edition.
But there is still Hope (just a fool's hope...) because Eagles didn't take the top spot at this massive event.
Let's run through the Podium Spots... In third was Jakub Krochmal (last year's Silver Medallist in the GBHL) who took Eagles and Ugluk's Scouts.
In Second was Sam Gratton of the Gollum's Gamers podcast with... The Eagles...
In First though, was Ben Haslam (2024's Northern England Region Winner) who was using an old favourite of his... The Army of Dale. Ben had some great success with the army in 2024, and it's seen some significant boons in the new edition. First of all, many of its models now gain huge shooting bonuses against Monsters (...handy in this Monstery edition!), it's also seen a significant buff to its Windlance (which already had some bonuses against Monsters) and they have been given a frankly preposterous +1 to wound enemy models within their deployment zone or within 6" of the moveable windlance.
So the question is how long will this Monster Mash continue? With excellent players like Jakub, Sam, and others (see below) taking Monsters to the top tables at a massive event like this it's clear there's something in the air about them... But with some hard counters, will this game of Rock, Paper, Scissors end in stalemate? (ignore the mixed gaming metaphors please).
Keep an eye out! Into The West Top Ten:
Ben Haslam - Army of Dale
Sam Gratton - Eagles
Jakub Krochmal - Eagles, Ugluk's Scouts
Adam Sierens - Eagles, Ugluk's Scouts
Adam Tudor - Radagast's Alliance
John Partridge - Arnor
Zahir Khares - Lurtz's Scouts
Daniel Garside - The Eagles
Mikolaj Bakalarz - Road to Helm's Deep
Dewi Evans - The Eagles
'A Merrier World' Top Five:
Aaron Pullen - The Three Trolls
Jack Darlington - Ents
Tom Armitage - Army of the White Hand
Matt Shepperson -
Alex Temple - Fangorn
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