You Haven't Got Any Friends Tournament Recap

Yeah... I'm more than a little late on this one. You Haven't Got Any Friends was run back on the 27th of June, but this blogpost languished in my drafts for at least a week. Life can be busy you know, children to raise, terrain to paint, sleep to be slept. 

As we all bake in the repeating heatwaves that is 2026's British Summertime, let's step back just over a week, to a GBHL Teams Event in Brum.

You can check out my list here, at the end of my review of the Defenders of Helm's Deep. 

Game 1 - Vs Assault on Helm's Deep in Breakthrough

 

Having seen the teams and their lists ahead of time, this was the matchup I wanted, purely for the theme of it. My other options essentially boiled down to various flavours of goblin, or Shadows of Angmar. Fate served us well and I was granted the chance to fight many, many Berserkers. 

I went in confident. Berserkers are dangerous, but I could match them with Elves in combat and I vastly outshot the single crossbow-uruk. Uruk Captains could be dangerous also, but my own heroes outclassed them nicely. Of course, this confidence may have been my downfall.

With a mind for the objectives, I deployed decently far forwards, but split my warbands around two buildings, with Theoden in the centre and Aragorn and Haldir on the flanks. The Uruks deployed in a long line right at the front of their deployment zone and charged forwards, right at Theoden. Shooting knocked a couple off, with Aldor notably wounding one of the Captains with his first shot, paying for his points nicely and securing near-instant VPs.

I brought Aragorn around to the flank with his archers to target the back ranks, and this was answered with the Uruks staying just out of his charge range. This space they gave him was smart, completely zoning Aragorn out of the fight. Worse still, I intended to answer with a Heroic March to move him and his warband into range, but completely forgot to call it and lost a turn to the mistake.

There's not much else to note from here. Both armies ground each other down in combat, whilst I sent my Rohan Archers up the left flank to at least secure that objective. The Uruk Captains waited patiently whilst the Berserkers chopped through my troops, eventually jumping on and slaying Theoden and my banner.

Perhaps I needed Gandalf to arrive with reinforcements! The final score was 4-13 in favour of my opponent, but it was well fought and Cameron was great to play against.

Game 2 - Vs Thranduil's Halls in Hold Ground

 

Deploying first, I got Theoden down in the Southern corner, and with a bit of Might on Haldir, managed to deploy my full list in one large group, moving the full distance forward. In response, Legolas arrived directly in front of me on the Eastern board edge, just out of charge range. Thranduil would arrive on the 2nd turn, and after some deliberation, my opponent James Paterson chose to squeeze him in behind my list, perhaps in an attempt to pincer me. 

I'd given away priority this turn, so rather than engage directly, I shuffled most of my army westwards, setting up a new frontline with a building to anchor my northern flank, and using the southern flank to try and mob the end of the Mirkwood lines, avoiding Thranduil for now.  Aldor yet again does work on the cavalry, dehorsing a knight. 

The next turns basically amount to the main parts of each list fighting each other, whilst our archers tried to find shots at each other, myself targeting the cavalry and Legolas especially. I believe I did manage to remove a Fate or two from the prince, and eventually dehorsed or killed the cavalry.  On the combat front, Aragorn was unable to get at Thranduil, the Elf King carving through my troops with Heroic Combats. Even with both Theoden and later Haldir chopping towards him, James keeps  bodies in the way as I am just unable to grind through the elven heavy armour. 

Bogged down in combat, I'm unable to move towards the objective in the centre, as it is covered by Legolas and the Mirkwood archers, despite my attempts to creep around and shoot them down. Eventually, the game ends 3-13 to James. 

I think the mistake here was trying too hard to win the fight rather than the go for the objective. When I initially reformed my line, the smarter move should've been to leave a screening force and have Aragorn march the majority of my list to the objective. Rather than trying to pin down Thranduil, I would've been able to focus (if only briefly) on the less combat-oriented elements of Legolas' warband. 

That's my tunnel-vision again!

Game 3 - Pits of Dol Guldur in Destroy the Supplies

 

After lunch we got the inter-team face-off, with me being matched against fellow Brumdabad member Rik Jones. He'd brought an interesting all-mounted Pits force, and this ended up being the best game of the day, which was actually saying something. 

With me being massively outsped, I decided to deploy back, bunching around the central and left objectives. I left the right open on purpose, mainly just to avoid spreading out my force to much. The game starts with some top-tier shooting, de-warging several Orcs. Aldor yet again scores his points back by wounding the Captain, which is followed up with Haldir removing his Fate in the following turn.

With some luck, I get the first charge and push forward around a small ruin which does well to keep limit the wargs a little. Even with me taking the initiative, the mass dice from charging Hunter Orcs drops a fair number of my warriors, quickly levelling out the shooting damage. Rik naturally gets my rightmost supply, despite the token warriors I sent to dissuade this. In the melee, I have to focus to keep Theoden and my banner safe from Azog. 

On the front line, Aragorn kills the Captain and tries to start Heroic Combatting towards Azog, but he's just not quite dealing enough wounds, and there are more than enough Orcs and Wargs to keep getting in the way. I keep my archery focused on the left flank, trying to clear out the Orcs there so I can sneak warriors forwards to claim a supply, but I fall short on that goal.

In the centre, with enough of my troops dead, Rik steals priority with the Surprise Attack army rule and with a bit of clever movement, pounces on Theoden. I'm largely walled out of my efforts to save the king, and he is struck down in a single turn. The game ends to quartering, though I don't recall which force now!

We have to recheck the points once or twice due to a miscount (I didn't read the rules right!), but in the end the game comes down to an incredibly close 8-7 to myself. A great game against Rik, I hope we get a chance to play again as it was a real gentleman's game.

Game 4 - Vs Men of the West in Conquest of Champions

 
List was built prior to the recent FAQ, when Gwaihir was 150pts

I'd been dreading facing Men of the West, being one of the premier meta lists in the game right now. The list had a nice mix of Rohan and Gondor warriors, and even a Captain of Minas Tirith. Henri was at his first event, but was a great lad to play against and I hope he enjoyed the game and day as much as I did. 

Perhaps naively, we both selected our respective Aragorn as our champion. I get first move and target some warriors with Aragorn, electing to feed Elessar just one of mine. Mindful of Gwaihir getting Theoden or my banner, I set up to shield them, so the big bird simply jumps on that shielding force.

Terrain and deployment doesn't leave much space for shooting even with Haldir being deployed in the rear half, ridding me of one of my list's strengths. Instead I move my archers to try and find flank shots. 

Another grinding melee, with my army basically trapped between the actual men of the west and Gwaihir. The Eagle chomps through a ton of my models, hurling several Aragorn's way. I get lucky there on the wounds, with even one of the hurled warriors surviving against the odds. In the centre, both Aragorn kill a single model each before clashing for most of the game. Henri brings my Aragorn to a single wound first, but I'm able to return the favour soon after. 

We both manage to break each other's force around this point either, despite my struggle to kill Minas Tirith Warriors. Eventually, I get lucky and kill Elessar with Haldir, only for Gwaihir to kill Aragorn in the exact same turn. We play a bit longer, grinding against each other and Theoden eventually goes down before I can quarter him as he is able to shield to keep the game going. We eventually call the draw as one of Henri's teammates points out that neither of us can score any more points.

I'm not sure how I could've played this differently. Perhaps with the winning priority, a full retreat may have been the option, trying to draw out Gwaihir so he could be dealt with separately whilst I harassed the rest of the force with bow fire. Always easy to get focused on the combat, especially as I needed kills on Aragorn, and dealing with Elessar's Might stores was a priority too.

4-4

The End of the Day

As the dust settled, and the heat was finally peaking in the event hall, my team, Brumdabad 2, sat at 5th place overall. Considering the competition, that's really not bad and the four of us had done decently. What's more despite ending in 10th, the other half of the wider GBHL team, who had competed under There And Back Again: A Dwarf's Tale, had picked up best theme for their fantastic set up that involved Balin in two separate eras with dedicated foes for each. Rik, who I'd faced in the third round picked up Best Army for the day as well. 

A great showing for the lads all round!

I'm also nominating Aldor as my MVP for the day. Despite his low shoot value and Str 2 bow, his re-rolls made him incredibly consistent. He more than paid for himself every game and I would heartily recommend his inclusion in every list for Defenders. 

As it stands, my next event will be another teams one, this time BLANK, an 800 points GBHL90. I'll be taking Army of the White Hand to this one, which if that sounds a bit meta-chasy, just know I'm intending to bring a number of Dunlending Warriors, Vrasku and only four Crebain. 

That said, recent conversations plus a recent episode of Entmoot as me eyeing up the Grey Company again, and so whilst I don't yet know how many more events I will be able to attend this year, I'm almost 100% locked in on taking them every single time, just to see if I can get them to podium. So wish me luck, I may need it!

The Power of the Disengage - Why I'm losing games

It's probably quite obvious on this blog, but I'm quite the fan of Rohan and its cavalry forces. It was likely witnessing the Ride of Rohirrim at Pelennor in my formative years, and it's a very common story for a lot of players. Now, Rohan in the latest edition struggles to properly recreate that moment on the tabletop, but with luck, canny hero usage and good timing for the charge and use of Army Rules, you can get some fantastic results with the Riders of Rohan charging through some Orcs.

In general practice though, Rohan excels much more as a skirmishing force, as many of us know well. Throwing Spears and Bows on cavalry makes for a tough force to pin down without taking casualties, and they are able to kite and still cause damage. When coupled with the likes of Eomer, Theodred or Helm Hammerhand coming crashing through your lines with a few Royal Guard, you have an effective list for frustrating your foe and keeping the initiative, assuming you have the skills.

This is my failing in recent games however. Using Riders of Eomer within a Doubles tournament and a Rohan-cavalry-heavy Realms of Men list in a practice game, I have noticed an unfortunate trend in my piloting of cavalry. I get tunnel-visioned into the charge, quite often re-charging a battleline and leaving myself open to counter-charge. I've gotten better and leaving that relief force behind for a second-turn charge, but there's still issues with how I'm playing. Let's get into it.

The Doubles Tournament

This tournament back in April was my girlfriend's first real look at competitive MESBG. I've corrupted her thoroughly with a love for The Lord of the Rings (that latent nerdiness hit hard), so when she found she enjoyed the game after a few home practice matches, it was great to have her volunteer to accompany me to a Doubles event. If you've read the previous post on building an Ent, I went into this a little there.

Our Alliance in force, ready to take the fight to the White Wizard

So how did the event go?  I was outwardly confident, particularly due to the power of the Ents and free Heroics on Eomer. Three games across a single day with two 400pt lists using the Doubles scenarios from the Matched Play guide, and the final result was 1 Win, 2 Losses. We both had a tonne of fun, and the first two games were thrilling for different reasons, but by the third tiredness was setting in and a difficult game definitely left us disheartened.

The issue I believe was actually how I personally played my cavalry. Let's break it down.

Game 1 was against a Khazad Dum-Riders of Eomer alliance. My intention had been to try and focus down the opposing cavalry and support the Ents against the large group of Hearthguard dwarves. The high defence coupled with F5 and Burly just wasn't a prime target for my Riders. Deployment however put this very group of Dwarves right in front of Eomer, and so I tunnel-visioned right at them. The initial charge went ok, but I was ahead of the Ents and they were at least two turns away from supporting me, though rocks were flying in from the Ash Ent and hobbits. Erkenbrand's warband was also off to the far side offering fire support, which did to a semi-decent job of keeping part of the opposing cavalry back for fear of losing horses.

The smart move would've been to drop back after that first turn, take some pot shots, then charge back in once the Ents were in combat support range. Instead I stayed in close, and got counter-charged by the opposing Eomer. He Heroic Combated through a couple of Riders and my banner, and took part in killing his counter-part alongside Durin. This left the Ents vulnerable to being outnumbered, and whilst they did acquit themselves well particularly with Hurls keeping the enemy heroes on their backs, the Oak Ent eventually fell allowing for our force to count as Broken. Unlucky rolling on the Ent's special Brutal Power also left us one short on a VP goal to get a draw.

It might not sound like it, but the game was actually fairly close and tactically interesting. Our opponents were also both fun players and I believe we gave them our Most Sporting vote. 

Game 2 was against the event's ringer, Dale Groves. Always a good lad to play against, he was incredibly helpful and welcoming, recognising my girlfriend as a newcomer. His Gundabad list looked scary but luck with combats, Gabii's love for Hurl's and some helpful pointers from Dale himself saw us tear through the Berserkers, and even take down Azog and the Troll Brute quite efficiently. 

The difference here is clear in hindsight. Deployment saw the Ents in the centre with my cavalry at the back of the board. This meant the Ents were first into combat and my Cavalry could support them as I'd always intended whilst building the list, guarding the flanks and grabbing objectives whilst being a threat with their bows.

If only I'd remembered that lesson.

Game 3 was against a Reclamation of Osgiliath-Khazad Dum alliance. It promised to be as tough as it sounds, a bucket-load of high Defence models led by Boromir and yet another Durin. A river down the centre and a split deployment could've been a challenge, but we were able to ford the river with the Ents and reunite with our full might to bear on the Dwarves, leaving the Gondorians to run for several turns and get bottlenecked at the river.

It should've been so easy, and my initial charge tore through a good number of dwarves to keep them pinned in. The failure came in the follow-up again of course, not utilising Hit-and-Run tactics against a much slower force and ultimately I even ended up blocking out Treebeard, one of our most powerful combat pieces. He spent far too many turns behind Eomer and the Oak Ent, unable to help except with thrown stones.  Boromir got into play as well, despite us shooting out his horse. In getting overly focused on having Eomer trying to protect the Oak Ent with his Heroic Strikes against Boromir, I ultimately lost my leader again, and Treebeard failed to get into the fight until late in the game. 

We were ground down by the troops and lost simply due to lost initiative. The cavalry wasn't charging, the Ents weren't Hurling and our most mobile troops were little more than roadblocks instead of support. It left a sour taste in the mouth, simply for my choices essentially outplaying our own army.

A lot to learn, and realistically I just need to take a step back once I commit my cavalry. Had I faded back in both Game 1 and Game 3, the story could've been much different.

Easier said then done...

Realms of Men Practice Game

For this game, I was testing out the idea of running Realms of Men at an upcoming Teams event, and essentially built a list that was "Fields of Celebrant at home".

With this list I wanted to match a decent Gondorian battleline with the power of F5 cavalry, needing a Rohan General to give that bonus to the Royal Guard. On paper it's pretty good, with a lot of options for controlling the battlefield. A solid defensive battleline bolstered by two F6 Strike Heroes, a contingent of shock cavalry that can skirmish, scouts, light infantry and decent bow line and in particular a Bolt Thrower constricting enemy movement.

I went up against fellow Brumdabad team member Matt, who had brought along his Host of the Dragon Emperor list, featuring Rutabi. With the scenario being Stake a Claim, my cavalry should allow me to get early fortification points and it does, especially with Matt skirting terrain to avoid being targeted by the Bolt Thrower. 

Where it goes wrong is the right-flank. Rutabi's warband is small, but not enough to ignore. I could either cede the flank to her and risk bow-fire in the back, consolidating my forces against the Emperor, or go for a swift kill. With the combo of a pike-support Knight of the White Tower and my Rohan King, it's certainly doable to take down the Easterling Hero. 

A winnable fight, if managed well.

It doesn't go that way, I missed that the flank had enough space for the War Drakes to get around, meaning the Rohan King would only split the combat, and then he goes and whiffs the Heroic Combat anyway. Worse, the risk goes against me even further, as on the following turn, whilst I am able to win a Heroic Move off, it turns out that I had in fact blocked my King in with the Banner. I am able to charge and bring in Royal Guard reinforcements, but not being able to tactically retreat sees a good portion of my cavalry pinned in unequal fights. 

Rutabi ultimately brings down both the Knight and my King. I do lose the game in the end, though the Fortification points are fairly equal. Notably I also misplayed the Gondorian battleline on this one, again tunnel-visioning on getting into combat. Had I instead moved to the right, it would've forced the Emperors warband to cross open field to engage me, leaving the his flank open to the Bolt Thrower.

I should really get my eyesight checked.

Lessons Learned

So the takeaways from all this, aside from needing to step-back and see the bigger picture.

First: All the timing and positioning in the world won't help a good cavalry charge if you just get bogged down with it in the following turns. I've already learned the relief-force method, and that helps, but I need to recognise when to disengage, especially with Rohan cavalry who struggle with their statline but can still cause damage at range. I've spent too much time cycle-charging cavalry units in Total War not to understand this.

Second: Escape and reinforcement avenues. It's all well and good getting off a good charge if I then block off elite infantry or monsters from getting into help as well. Cavalry is there to make the hole, the infantry (or Ent) is there to plug it! 

Similarly, not blocking in my heroes. MESBG is 100% a game about mobility, and the Heroic Move is one of the core facets of that. Whilst the banners and backup needs to be close, if the the Hero can't move back, he can only go forwards, often into two, three or even four enemy infantry looking to kill him on the opponent's Move Phase.

Third: Perhaps don't fight if I don't have to. Many scenarios have objectives and rushing those, perhaps to take off the token defenders my opponent has left, is often more of use than charging headlong into a fight. Perhaps engaging in a slightly different location gives some penalties to my opponent, like a siege engine shooting into their flank, or bottle-necking Gondorians at a river ford.

What else do you recommend, oh dear armchair generals? 

With the next event coming up, I'll be pivoting back to Defenders of Helm's Deep, so these lessons will be a little less of use for that particular set of games, but not without merit. We'll have to keep them in mind for when I next run cavalry, whenever that may be.

Thank you for your time once again. If you like what I do here, you can also follow my hobby progress via Instagram, where I can be found at @Manic.Hobbying. In any case, just your support being here is greatly appreciated, and I hope to see you again.

Until next time! 

A Ranger Caught off his Guard 2026

It's been officially a full year since my first MESBG tournament experience, and I've returned once again to that very event; Board in Brum's A Ranger Caught off his Guard. If you haven't seen last year's post (Read here), or just don't remember, the format is very simple. Five games at 395pts, with a minimum model cap of 3 and a maximum of 40.

The points level was chosen quite simply to reflect the Road to Rivendell list mirroring the scene in which the tournament's title is spoken. Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, alongside Arwen riding Asfaloth, clocks in at a 395pts.

Last year I took a Riders of Theoden list, headed by Theoden and Eomer. I struggled to get much in the way of success, but learned a lot. This year, after a rather successful 7th place result at A Pull of the Old Toby with the Grey Company, I figured I would take the Rangers again and see if I could not replicate the success. 

The List

The Grey Company is an elite list. At the previous event I'd crammed Aragorn and Legolas and 8 Rangers into 500pts, with a few bits of equipment dotted around. The 105pts difference was going to really hurt my numbers...

Seven models is incredibly low. I expected to be outnumbered in any case, especially packing two named heroes into the list, but with an average model count for the event of 21, I would later end up being outnumbered 3-1 and even 4-1. The Elven cloaks were a must for ensuring Aragorn and Legolas could act without being overly impeded, especially as neither could take armour (as Aragorn can't and I couldn't afford Leggy's). It was also a shame I couldn't spring for Aragorn's bow, but with some consideration and looking at the expected scenarios, I needed him either marching for objectives or otherwise chopping things up with Anduril.

Spears I was happy to do without, especially at these numbers, but I did miss the armour on my Rangers a little bit, as there were a number of occasions the extra Defence would have saved a wound. It can really be a pricey investment in most Ranger lists, and the extra body (and Might) is usually better, but I always slot in a few bits of armour if the points allow, just to avoid that Str 4 where I can.

The Scenarios

Once list submission was complete, the TO's released which scenarios we would be playing. This was nice as I was able to familiarise myself with each one and prep a little game plan for each. It would be match-up dependant of course, but having a couple of ideas of how to deploy and move in the early turns pre-loaded the thinking for the games. It also helped me keep the Scoring Objectives in mind, something I can forget in the thick of things. 

Round 1 - Lead from the Front
Round 2 - Divide and Conquer
Round 3 - Destroy the Supplies
Round 4 - Conquest of Champions
Round 5 - Capture and Control

Four objective based scenarios. Two with random endings on a Break. No Maelstrom. 

It felt like a fairly hero-centric day, which on the surface felt good with a full hero list. But we'd have to see how my planning survived first contact.

 

Round 1 - Edd Quick's The Last Alliance

Edd was a lovely chap and a newcomer to the venue. He'd brought Isildur and Erestor with a mixed Elf-Numenorean battleline and a small cadre of Elven Bowmen. The army looked lovely with a nice lava-riddled basing scheme and display board. (Sorry for no photos on this report, I completely forgot!)

The early game was entirely shaped around us fearing each other's archery. Five Elf Bows vs Legolas and five ranger bows. Using buildings as cover, I advanced a Ranger up each side at half-pace, with Aragorn leading a small group up the left-side centre. Legolas took up a spot on a balcony, but would be unable to get a shot for 3 or 4 turns. Isildur led the majority of the battleline wide to my right, once again skirting a building completely out of shot, though I was able to fire a few arrows his way, the stilts of the Laketown-style building offered too many In-the-Ways to get much bow fire through.

Arrows caused a couple of casualties on either side, with me heavily relying on In-the-Ways to avoid damage. Eventually the battleline came into view and I was able to start working on my plan, focus-fire the banner, taking pot-shots at Isildur where I could as both would give me VPs. 

The banner would ultimately last right up till the final rounds, including surviving two rounds of combat with Aragorn, who seemingly forgot how Anduril worked. Neither King of Gondor would see combat against each other, only expending Fate to avoid wounds, and I think we were both concerned about how that fight could go badly for us.

Eventually, Isildur would put on the Ring on take the right-hand objective, contested by a Ranger. I held the centre, with Erestor and a Ranger contesting the left. A tie for objective points

The final score was 9-6, owing to me quartering his list down to just the two heroes and an archer or two, and killing the banner to grant us both the 2VPs there.

A fun game that I actually wonder how it could've gone had Edd been more aggressive with his battleline, but his concern was valid as I believe I shot out as many of his troops as I slew in combat. An Aragorn-Isildur face of could've been interesting, especially with the Ring, but far too risky for either of us. I do hope we can face each other again in the future.

 

Round 2 - Edward Hodges' Khazad-Dum

The second Ed of the day, Edward is someone I've actually played a number of times at other events and have always lost to his dwarves, including at Old Toby with my Rangers. 

Divide and Conquer was good for me. Ed had a Dwarf King and a Captain, leading some 25 dwarves split between Khazad Guard, Dwarf Warriors and his own, arguably much more deadly Rangers. The deployment would force him to split his force in two, whereas whilst my list was built with four warbands (Aragorn + 2 Rangers, Legolas + 1 Ranger and two solo drops), the army rules gave me the option to deploy as a single warband.

I considered splitting so that the two solo drops were on the far side of the board, but opted instead to consolidate my position. The game had a chance to end on a Break, and the objectives rewarded taking and holding the centre. Being outnumbered 3-1 by dwarves, I kept my plan simple. Aragorn would take some Rangers and rush towards the Captain, whilst Legolas would try to snipe out the King's own Dwarf Rangers, trying to get them before they got into range of the more centrally deployed mirrors. If I got the chance, I would try to shoot his King as well. I'd worked out that if I could wipe the Captain's warband, I'd only need to kill a few of the King's warband to break him, and the smaller warband would be much easier to deal with.

Running up on some terrain, Aragorn's team avoided bowfire whilst also trading the odd arrow. Eventually they got stuck in a slowly ground through dwarves, with the Captain giving Aragorn a wide berth, especially as he'd spent all of his Might on Marches. Legolas succeeded in removing most of the dangerous longbows with a Ranger's support, though had to keep backing up as several dwarves were trying to hunt him down.

Eventually I broke him and started maneouvering to grab objectives whilst Aragorn tried to run at the King. His Captain pounced on a Ranger, almost coming unstuck in one round as I rolled doubled 6's to wound, saved only by Fate, and angrily struck down his opponent the following turn. Legolas had lost his Ranger pal also, but between them had taken out the Khazad's, only for him to lose every fight against the Dwarf Warrior remaining. 

The game ended as expected before I could get to the King. The scores totted up to an extremely close 6-5, and on reflection it was a matter of the Captain being a mere half inch out of range of contesting an objective, and one of my Rangers passing a Fate roll either of which would have called it a draw, and both flipping the score in Ed's favour.

Always a fun person to play against, and I look forwards to hopefully evening up our relative win-loss ratio at future events.

 

Round 3 - Matthew Hare's Halls of Thranduil

Destroy the Supplies was perhaps my least anticipated scenario for the entire day. I lacked the model count to sufficiently defend my objectives as well as target my opponents and realistically had to just try and trade out. Matthew's list had both the Elk and three cavalry though so I would be heavily outmatched in terms of speed. 

Naturally the game started with the elves doing their level-best to avoid being shot at, whilst I tried to manoeuvre to target the horses and Thranduil himself. With a large ruin offering a lot of cover, he was able to push his battleline forwards, though thankfully not without casualty. He flanked me with two cavalry, and although with some luck I was able to dispatch them with the lone guard Ranger, he was still able to destroy my supply on the the right-flank.

When combat was joined, Aragorn yet again got stuck in, with Thranduil skirting the melee and picking off Rangers whilst Legolas tried desperately wound his dad or his mount with PinPoint shots, but failed to make an impact.

Eventually, the superior numbers and mobility of the Elves won out, and he completely destroyed all of my supplies. Aragorn made a break for one of his supplies, with Heroic Combats, but was a full turn away when one of my Rangers decided he'd had enough of the multi-turn melee he was in and took out the two Palace Guard with a double 6 roll, quartering them and ending the game before Aragorn could get where he needed to be.

This was my first loss, 3-11. My only points came from breaking his army and him not having a banner, and with 3 supplies destroyed to zero, a clear loss. I always like to analyse my losses to understand what I could've done better and I do wonder if it was simply more of a deployment issue. Feinting left with a solo Ranger and deploying on the right would have given me much more clear firing lines, and I had the advantage in firepower as his list only had a Sentinel and a single Mirkwood Ranger in it for range. I'd have still needed to give up perhaps two objectives, but may have been able to draw Thranduil and his cavalry out earlier. 

Ifs and buts, and lessons learned. Matthew would later go on take 3rd place in the overall tournament, so I'll take it on the chin losing to a solid player. Well done to him!

 

Game 4 - Jack Buckler's Army of Thror

Hot off of the FAQ presses, Jack had bought the Army of Thror with it's new 50% throwing weapon limit. Contest of Champions is definitely Aragorn's chance to shine, but with the deployment forcing us to be close and the dwarves outnumbering me 2-1, this would be a struggle. Jack is another player I've faced before, where I'd take a close win against his Radagast's Alliance by utterly abusing the terrain, so I knew he was another tough player to face.

The game started with an Heroic Move-off, which I believe he won (my memory is getting foggy the day after). The line clashed quickly, and only Legolas and a couple of Rangers avoided turn 1 combat due to being deployed slightly back. We fought between two terrain pieces, which levelled the numbers initially, but several of his dwarves scaled the cliffs to the right and as the battlelines shifted, he began to start enveloping the Grey Company. 

Legolas spent much of the game once again using Pinpoint shots to attempt to avoid traps, whilst my Rangers slowly dropped one by one. In the centre, Aragorn and Thror clashed for multiple turns, Thror surviving a good few turns thanks to poor Wound rolls on my behalf and some great Arkenstone Fate rolls on Jack's. Eventually however, Aragorn remembered how his sword worked again and got a triple wound through.

With the score 1-0 on kills, Aragorn tried his best to boost the score, but was only able to kill one more Grim Hammer before Legolas was taken down and I was left quartered, ending the game.

Final score was 13-3. I don't have much to say about this game tactically, as it was just pure slog fest. Perhaps give room I could've backed off and gotten in a round or two of shooting, but the lines were so close this was unlikely to have scored more than a single wound and may have meant Thror could've gotten into my Rangers instead of Aragorn. The terrain was also helpful as it was, so all I can do is thank my dice and move on to the last round.

 

Round 5 - Dale Groves' Goblin Town

The final round, and I'm riding high, with three wins to my name, despite my low VPs so far, a 4-1 ratio could see me contesting the podium (post tourney I realise it've been a likely 5th place, but still worth pushing for!) Dale, as the TO of the event had to juggle a little bit of his duties with the game early on, but the event is really run well and he was able to focus on the match. Good stuff that he still gets to play!

If I thought I'd been outnumbered before, Dale was about to reteach me the meaning of the word. With the Goblin King, two Captains and 33 goblin warriors, it was the most outnumbered I'd been all day, and the Goblin Town's propensity for surrounding you with hordes was especially dangerous with my own low model count.

I realised early on I'd have to give up and then fight my way to the objectives, but also would need to try and deal with the Goblin King. To this end, I set up in two rough groups, with a solo ranger skirting Weathertop off to my left flank to try for that side's objectives. I ended up having Legolas across from the King and Aragorn across from one of the Captains.

Early game shooting was poor, and the few shots Legolas put into the King were all saved. Very few goblins fell as they skittered over the objectives, and even as I backed away with Legolas' group they kept coming and I soon found every model I had in combat. 

Unfortunately, things continued to go wrong for me. The goblins fell slowly despite their low defences as the dice just did not want to cooperate and a number of times I roll 5 high against sixes and was forced to spend Might just to not have the Grey Company drown in dice. Pinpoint shots continued to bounce off of the King and he took out the Rangers and then finally Legolas through sheer pressure, the Elf Prince never getting a single wound on him.

On the other side, Aragorn's band lasted longer, and mostly chopped up their own goblin horde, but as I broke, with Aragorn and that single flanking Ranger each in position to reach an objective, the random chance to end roll came and I rolled yet another two.

The final score was 16-1, with my sole point coming from breaking the Goblins. That last point could've really turned the tide had there been a turn or two for Courage tests, but alas. Dale took a well deserved win and got a solid fourth place in the tournament overall. It's funny how my two losses for the day were against top 4 players. 

Looking back, I'm trying to think how I could've fought this different. I probably should've sent Aragorn straight at the King, but it would've been tricky to ensure he didn't get surrounded and I didn't want to get into a situation where a bad roll would see him dead. Perhaps overly cautious however. The other thing is my deployment, splitting the horde into three did work out but I do wonder how running as a solid block my have helped to avoid being surrounded. Using the terrain would've really helped and the Weathertop ruins would've been a prime location to defend and stymie their numbers. 

Regardless, I could not have stayed there the whole game, and would've had to wade out to catch the objectives sooner or later.

 

Round Up

At the day's end I sat in 16th position with 3 wins to my name, and I'm very happy with that. Sure there are things I could improve, and that may have resulted in more decisive victories to give me a higher position. Still, whilst I did have the power of Aragorn and Legolas on my side, I was able to take a mere 7 models in a non-meta list to another damn good showing and I'm proud of that.

Biased as I am as it's my local, I will also always recommend Board In Brum's MESBG events, they're well run and the players that show up are a damn good bunch, so check it out if you have the chance.

Next event is the April Doubles event at BiB, Best Bit of the Book, to which I've already aluded to be attending with my girlfriend. Hobby progress on that one soon.

Once again though, thanks for reading. If you want to follow my hobby progress, Instagram is always the best shout where I can be found at @Manic.Hobbying, but for now, take care and catch you next time.

The 2025 Round Up and steps for 2026

 Without a doubt, 2025 has been the biggest year of MESBG for me. Finally taking the plunge and entering the competitive scene was the main catalyst, attending six events across the year, a number of friendly games, a doubles tournament and a battle companies campaign. This all necessarily led to the painting and assembling of hundreds of miniatures, expanding my collection from a small Rohan force and a smattering of random other models  to me being able to field some 20 lists easily.

It's been a hell of year, so let's get into it.

  

The Tournaments

I joined the GBHL via Board in Brum's A Ranger Caught off his Guard event (see here) with my beloved Riders of Theoden. For my first event it was a hell of an experience, and the locals were so lovely that it became my local club despite being a little out of my way. If you get a chance to attend the club for an event, I'd recommend it heartily.

I attended 3 more events here across the year, and whilst my skills never got me above the lower half of the field, I was not without wins or otherwise close and educational losses. Every event continued to be great fun and taught me a lot. I'll be hoping to focus in on a couple of lists, as I never ran the same list twice over the year, but the point was experience and I certainly gained a bunch of that.

I unfortunately only did one other event roundup post in the year, despite best intentions, but here is what I ran:

 - Nobody Tosses a Dwarf: Defenders of Helm's Deep
 - It Comes in Pints: Army of Carn Dum
 - A Burnt Hand Teaches Best: Army of Edoras
 - Great Deeds of War: Defenders of the Pelennor 
 - Always Follow Your Nose: Army of the Great Eye

With 2026 looming, I've joined one of BiB's Teams, Brumdabad and intend to improve on my 600-ish rank in the league whilst still aiming to have fun. I'm planning to run Grey Company and Army of Carn Dum again and finally a Doubles List pairing Riders of Eomer and Fangorn in a bit of a "What If?" situation. It kinda means that I'm tossing out the list focus rule, but that can come later.

The Models 

One stat I'm quite proud of is painting up some 185 models this year, leagues above what I've ever done before and more than likely literally doubling my entire life's output. With 25 more assembled and in various stages of partially painted, that's 210 total.

The Army of the Great Eye (Bandit not included)

This output has really helped me to hone my painting and sculpting skills as an awful lot of those 200 models have also been converted in one way of another as I refuse to ever field the same sculpt twice.

The majority of this painting has gone into the various lists I've used above, and several more besides that I've yet to bring to the tabletop. It's nice to have a solid core of troops and heroes that I can expand on.

Defenders of the Pelennor - Easily scaled up with many Rohirrim

2026 so far

January has been a slow start, but I think that's more than ok. I kicked off with painting up my Breaking of the Fellowship Legolas so he could join my Grey Company list. I coupled this with a display board I'm incredibly proud of; a rendering of the Stone of Erech and a couple of objective markers. I experimented on this one with some tea-leaf flocking. My girlfriend has built up a fair collection of various teas, which really helped to vary the textures. I think it worked out fairly well.

The Grey Company at the Stone of Erech

Of course, a finished army and a display board means one thing! Tournament time!

A Pull of the Old Toby is a fantastic 500pt tournament at Board in Brum that includes the special flair of giving each list a free Gimli who's smoked too much pipeweed. This is represented by giving him a reduced stat-line and special rules similar to Thrain the Broken. Each scenario also gave adjustments to VPs based around Gimli either surviving or sitting on objectives.

The Grey Company really did amazing work, and considering I'm an advocate for buffing the Rangers (slightly) I was surprised by how well they performed. In some cases they were even carrying Aragorn's dead weight (he had a few fits of triple 1's or 2's). Gimli, possibly predictably, did little of anything and often got killed, whilst Legolas did Legolas things.

I was paired up against, in order; Khazad-Dum (Loss), Defenders of the Pelennor built as Return of the King (Win), Buhrdur's Horde (Win) and Radagast's Alliance (Win). 3-1 for the day is by far my best performance at any event to date and netted me a solid 7th place. A great day for one of my favourite factions.

I'll likely be taking them again to A Ranger caught off of his Guard to see it wasn't just a lightning in a bottle moment.

What's Next

Aside from the above, I've booked in to play at a Doubles event with my girlfriend in April and a teams event in June. For the former we'll be running a Riders of Eomer and Fangorn alliance to represent a kind-of "What if" scenario of the Ents joining the slaughter of Ugluk's scouts. (Possible lists below). It'll be fantastic to have her there with me for that event, as she's been nothing but fully supportive of my hobby, and is involved enough to own her own army of Ents and play games with me at home. She could win a little less though...

On the hobby side of things my plan at the moment is to increase my options for existing lists. With many of them already having a solid core of troops, it will be good to add the more elite or support pieces. I'm starting this off with some Westfold Redshields (not the most competitive option, but a good way to fill in some spare points and re-rolls never hurt) and a Shade and some spectres for my Angmar forces, as at the moment I mostly just have Orcs and a few Carn Dum men to follow the Witch King into battle, and Angmar is a faction that needs it's ghosties.

Halbarad is on the wishlist also, when I can source him. I want the older sculpt though, as I really don't like the newer version from GW.

A Siege Bow for my Mordor forces is on the to-do list. Aside from that I really need to get my Fell Beast and Morannon Drummer painted up. The Spectres will be useful should I want to run Minas Morgul.

The last thing on the list is the WIP custom Ent for my girlfriend, made from 100% real trees!

It's should be a good year for creativity, but that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

If you want to follow my hobby progress, Instagram is always the best shout where I can be found at @Manic.Hobbying, but I'd be remiss not to include some of my favourites here.

 

 

A Tournament Journey Part 3: Nobody Tosses a Dwarf After-Report

If you've seen Part 2 already, then you'll be aware that I took the Defenders of Helm's Deep to a four game, 624pt tournament this past Sunday. Over in sunny Walsall, at Board in Brum, who are a great bunch and very welcoming. Like the previous event I attended, I figured I breakdown the games of the day, and see what lessons I could learn from each one, in an effort to improve my skills as a player.

Take a look at Part 2 again if you want to see my list.

 
Custom Event Dice

Game 1 - Assassination

The first game brought back a scenario from the previous version; Assasination. Theoretically, I had a decent chance here with Aragorn and Haldir, providing I could protect Theoden well enough.

My opponent was Thomas, who was fresh of a tournament win just the day before with his Buhrdur's Horde list.

Buhrdur
 - Hill Troll
 - Orc Warrior: Banner
 - 6x Orc Warriors: Shield
 - 6x Orc Warriors: Spear

Warg Chieftain
 - 2 Wild Wargs

Warg Chieftain
 - 2 Wild Wargs
 - 4 Orc Warriors: Orc Bow

Orc Captain
 - 5 Orc Warriors: Shield
 - 5 Orc Warriors: Spear

I chose my target as the Orc Captain, and in an attempt to be tricksy, set Haldir as my assassin. I believe Thomas' assassin and target was one of his Warg Chieftains and Theoden respectively.

Playing across a lovely rocky board with a Weathertop-style ruin on one side, the battlelines split down the middle either side of a rocky outcropping. Aragorn went left, at the largest group of Orcs, whilst Theoden led his shieldwall right, and Haldir sat in the middle with his archers. With Buhrdur waiting in ambush, Thomas kept most of his force hidden from my elven bowmen until the lines clashed, with his own Orc archers claiming Amon Sul and using it's pillars to hide and shoot down at Theoden's warband. I sent an elf to attack them, but he had a long climb ahead, only to die to Wargs near the end of the game.

When the lines clashed, disaster came in the form of the two Warg Chieftains chomping through most of the Royal Guard in one turn. This led me to panic and send Haldir off to fight alongside Theoden, on the complete opposite side of the rock from his target. For his part, the Orc Captain stayed hidden amongst the rabble and simply targetted warriors, whilst Aragorn got bogged down in kind. This did draw Buhrdur over to that side of the fight, giving Aragorn time to chop through a bunch of warriors, even using Heroic Strength with his free Might to get a couple of extra kills, but it was ultimately in vain as I wasn't able to even break the horde.

Theoden got chomped by the Wargs, and Haldir went down to Buhrdur. Haldir's death blow did at least wound the troll chief, giving me a sole VP for the game. Some concern that Buhrdur was a target for Aragorn to kill kept the two from fighting, but the game ended with him as the sole survivor.

I made many mistakes in this game. Fear of Buhrdur's Ambush led me to rush into combat in an attempt to kill as much as I could early, especially with his force hiding from being shot. This same fear also led to me ignoring the objective and sending Haldir the wrong way, though I'm sure this would've drawn the trolls over into a messier fight. Differences in deployment may have helped to secure me better shots early on to trim the horde and fight from an entrenched position. At the end of the day, it's a difficult one to say what I could've done better against a skilled opponent,

Final Result: 1VPs to 19VPs


Game 2 - Reconnoitre

This game featured a much more magical opponent, and something quite scary for my Rohirrim; Man-hating Morannon's and Blades of the Dead. Liam was a great opponent with his Minas Morgul, and both of us suffered with some unlucky rolls here and there.

The Witch King of Angmar: Fell Beast, Morgul Blade
 - Mordor Troll: War Drum
 - 6x Morannon Orc: Shield
 - 5x Mordor Orc Warrior: Spear
 - Mordor Orc Warrior: Two-Handed Weapon
 - Mordor Orc Warrior: Banner
 - Spectre

Ringwraith: Horse
 - 3x Mordor Orc Warrior: Shield
 - 4x Mordor Orc Warrior: Spear
 - 2x Mordor Orc Warrior: Two-Handed Weapon

 

Attempting to learn a lesson from last game, I tried to set up firing lines with the elves again, trying to keep it in mind to target the mounts of the two Wraiths. Once again I was thwarted my terrain, with a large central building blocking sight for much of the game. Aragorn raced forwards to try and catch the Ringwraith, as Theoden was running late with most of the battleline and Haldir's boys spread out to try and get a shot wherever they could. With my force being all on foot, I didn't think much towards escaping myself, just trying to stop Liam and kill the Witch King.

Luck was on my side for much of the game as magic either failed or was resisted, including that of the Spectre trying to pull my spear-supporting warriors away. I managed to catch the Witch King in combat and kill his mount, though Fate saved him from dying to Aragorn.

The other Ringwraith made a run for it, and eventually Haldir was able to put an arrow into his mount thanks to Sharpshooter, but he was still able to get off the board next turn to net VPs.

Whilst Aragorn, Theoden and a number of Royal Guard were distracted by the Witch King, my warriors fell quickly to the Orcs thanks to their Hatred boosts and ignoring Armour, so I yet again found my force breaking.

Post-game it's clear that I spent more time trying to kill the Fell Beast than simply trying to kill the Witch King, for which I had plenty of dice to push through his Fate. Haldir was also out of the fight in trying to hunt the other Ringwraith, which may have slowed me down. With archery failing, I did start moving elves towards the other board-edge on a long flanking run, but they were several turns short. It feels like yet another game where my archery just wasn't in play, wasting a good chunk of my army, though with this scenario it may have played in my favour as it slowed his advance and allowed me to take the fight in the centre of the board, despite the Troll's War Drum giving him a speed advantage. Unfortunately, it was simply another loss, though a closer one.

Final Result: 0VPs to 8VPs.

 
Game 3 - ???

The third game brought back another older scenario, this time against Thomas' (a different Thomas) Lothlorien. Thomas was having a poor day of it and struggling with the nuances of the new version of Lothlorien, so we vowed to simply try and have fun with it.

Galadriel, Lady of Lothlorien: Mirror of Galadriel
 - Galadhrim Warrior: Banner
 - 5x Galadhrim Warrior: Lorien Guard, Shield, Elven Spear
 - 5x Galadhrim Warrior: Lorien Guard, Sheild

Celeborn, Lord of Lothlorien
 - 7x Lothlorien Warrior: Elf Bow

Haldir, Galadhrim Captain: Elven Cloak, Elf Bow, Heavy Armour
 - 4x Galadhrim Warrior: Elven Spear

I deployed Theoden first in my Side A corner, then placed Aragorn on the opposite side before placing Haldir alongside Theoden. I reasoned that Aragorn was most able to hold his own and the bigger contingent would draw more focus. Thomas deployed the Lord and Lady together with thier battleline, and his own Haldir in the opposite corner.

Ignoring the objectives early on, I ran Theoden's shieldwall at the Elven one, Haldir's group shooting past them to thin out the elven battleline. Aragorn's group ran towards the objectives initially, using the terrain to hide from Elven archery as my previous opponents had done. They eventually made it into combat with the Lothlorien bowmen and were able to wipe them out, despite Aragorn trying to lose with a triple one roll. Haldir later took out the survivors as they tried to take the objectives.

Aragorn himself went over to join the combat against the Lord and Lady and their entourage. Whilst I'd managed to thin their numbers with bowfire, I lost a number of the initial combats, and Celeborn's +1 to wound aura helped the Lorien Guard to level the numbers. Haldir and Theoden spent a good few turns transfixed, Haldir himself being a statue for going on 4-5 turns. The King eventually made his way into combat with Galadriel however, and with heroic moves, I managed to take initiative with Aragorn slaying the banner bearer, then fighting alongside Theoden to kill Galadriel.

At this point I had once again broken, and an unlucky roll saw Theoden flee the field the turn after Galadriel fell, with no Will left to boost it. The game lasted a few rounds past the potential ending point due to dice rolls, but it did end with more of the objectives in Lothlorien's hands than Rohan's.

A fantastic game that was fun for both of us.

Final Result - 7VPs to 13VPs


Game 4 - Domination

The final game of the day was against Sean's Army of Carn Dum. I'd heard this army was in the room earlier in the day, on account of it fielding no less that three Hill Trolls. As I'm looking to build a Carn Dum army myself, it would be fun to see how it plays. Sean later went on to win best painted for the day, and it was a truly nicely looking army.

Aldrac, Warlord of Carn Dum
 - 2x Hill Troll
 - 10x Carn Dum Warrior: Spear
 - Carn Dum Warrior: Banner

Fraecht, Vassal of the Witch King
 - 6x Angmar Orc Warriors: Shield
 - 3x Angmar Orc Warriors: Bow
 - Hill Troll

2x Warg Riders (unsure on warband and equipment, looks like his submitted list missed them off).

With objectives at play and having ignored them in the previous game, I pushed forward quickly to engage, but did leave a firing lane open enough for Haldir's group to shoot two wounds off of one of his trolls. On the left flank, Aragorn's two archers shot down a Warg and it's Rider whilst walking forwards to shoot the other. On a turn with priority, I elected to charge in rather than allow him to get the +1FV. This may not have been the right choice, as backing up into spear range and shooting for another turn may have finished off the troll and netted me a warrior kill or two.

Aragorn got stuck into the Orcs and eventually took down the left-flank troll, his archers taking down the second Warg Rider in combat. Haldir left behind a lone elf on an objective and ran forwards to support combat. Finally, Theoden engaged the men of Carn Dum, hiding amongst the Royal Guard to try and avoid Aldrac and the third troll.

Unfortunately, Aldrac's free Heroic Combats did allow him to get at the King of Rohan and killed him in single combat with 3 wounds. Haldir struggled for a number of turns to take the centre-trolls final wound, almost dying before Aragorn ran over to lend a hand. Whilst I kept calling Moves as needed to avoid the F4 and keep fights for my basic warriors at least tied, I yet again found my army ground down into being Broken and eventually Quartered, ending the game.

What worked for me was the two Galadhrim managing to clear and take an objective in his deployment zone, whilst also shooting his sole warrior off of another. He had managed to get an objective on my side and had the majority on the centre objective, but the game ended in a draw with both armies being broken and both leaders being either dead or wounded, as Aragorn had put a wound on the Warlord towards the end.

Another fun game and it was fun to see the strengths of Carn Dum in play. The Hill Trolls are certainly scary and only really Aragorn and archery was able to deal with them. Likewise Aldrac hits hard and is a big threat on his own. Fraecht I did not see perform all too much, and I don't recall any of his Incantations doing much, though Sean did activate them.

Final Result: 8VPs to 8VPs

When the dust settled, I sit once again at last-place-but-one, with three losses and a draw. On paper it does not really look like I've improved at all in my gameplay, but whilst I can certainly see where I've made rash decisions and rushed in too quickly in places, I can also see where I've made smart choices on the small scale. That might be ordering the combats to avoid being trapped, or moving a model to create a control zone blockage. There were also cases where I could not do any better than the dice would allow (Aragorn's triple ones for example).

That said, I'm still playing for fun, and I was definitely paired up against some skilled opponents. Thankfully they were happy to give me pointers and I've been able to learn from each player directly or indirectly.

Board in Brum continues to be a fanstastic environment, and the crowd there are a good bunch.

Next time, I'm off to play in a brewery with 200pts of Carn Dum. Until then!