So, we start with The Scouring of Stirlingshire, and 800 point Good vs Evil Tournament that was played last weekend (2/3 November 2019). Many thanks to David Reid for publishing the top 5 lists so that this was easy to do!
Disclaimer: I am a newer player and have rarely played outside of my gaming group (though my aim is to start going to tournaments regularly) so I might be talking a load of rubbish when reviewing these lists!
5th Place
Good: Survivors of Lake Town and Iron Hills (Green Alliance)
Bard with Horse and Armour
Alfrid
Sigrid and Tilda
9 Militia with Shields
5 Militia with Spears and Shields
1 Militia with Spear and Bow
Bilbo
6 Militia with Shields
6 Militia with Spears and Shields
Militia Captain
6 Militia with Shields
6 Militia with Spears and Shields
Iron Hills Captain on War Goat
Iron Hills Ballista
50 Models
Here we have a horde style army backed up by some decent Heroes and the infamous Iron Hills Ballista. Bard is a great Hero in combat (F6 S4 4A on the charge), shooting (can shoot up to 3 times a turn at S4) and he buffs your basic troops. Sigrid and Tilda are basically a 30 point upgrade for Bard, getting him to F6 and giving him a free Heroic Combat every turn. Alfrid is essentially another upgrade for Bard which can give him 3 more Might should he need it. Bilbo is a great Ringbearer as he never suffers the possible downsides of having the Ring on but he gets all the benefits (halving Fight value etc). The Militia Captain is likely just a cheap way of getting March and 12 troops slots but the Iron Hills Captain on Goat is a pretty decent combat piece, F5 S4 (effectively 6 on the charge) D8 and a chance at knocking down whoever you charge on a 5+. Finally we get to the much reviled Ballista. I have never fought against one myself but have heard all about them. They don't scatter much, do a strength 8 hit, have an area affect that knocks you prone, and protects you from shooting! No wonder everyone hates them! The troops themselves are nothing to write home about but there are a lot of them! They are basically Orcs when within 6" of Bard (or Goblins when they aren't) but with better courage. Use them to tarpit enemy Heroes until Bard can deal with them.
Evil: Army of Gothmog (Legendary Legion)
Gothmog with Warg and Shield
6 Morannon Orcs with Shields
5 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
1 Morannon Orc with Banner and Shield
Guritz
3 Morannon Orcs with Shields
4 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
Orc Shaman
3 Morannon Orcs with Shields
3 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
Goroth
6 Morannon Orcs with Shields
1 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
Catapult with Severed Heads and 1 extra crew
41 Models
Not a huge amount to say about this one as this Legendary Legion is fairly common and pretty much builds itself. There are a couple of interesting additions though. Goroth is a great beat-stick as he is effectively S7 with his two handed weapon and Burly. The Shaman gives the entire army Fury so I would imagine he would stay fairly central. The Catapult is a less commonly seen addition but I am a big fan! You have the Troll for the rerolls but even if it does scatter the Area Effect can still hurt a lot of models. Good armies are often clumped together to benefit from auras (eg Blinding Light) so this can help to break them up into more manageable chunks. The Severed Heads also combo nicely with Harbinger of Evil.
4th Place
Good: Return of the King (Legendary Legion)
Aragorn
3 Riders of the Dead
7 Warriors of the Dead with Shields
5 Warriors of the Dead with Spears and Shields
King of the Dead
3 Riders of the Dead
6 Warriors of the Dead with Shields
5 Warriors of the Dead with Spears and Shields
1 Warrior of the Dead with Spear, Shield and Banner
32 Models
Another fairly standard Legendary Legion. 800 points lets this army grow to a scary number of models, especially if you go hero light which this one is. 6 Cavalry is a large amount too and counters one of the main weaknesses of the army which is that it is slow. Overall a super solid force, especially in Good v Evil where F3 is more common and Courage is already low.
Evil: Mordor and Moria (Yellow Alliance)
Goroth
5 Morannon Orcs with Shields
4 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
1 Morannon Orc with Banner, Spear and Shield
1 Morgul Knight
Zagdush
4 Morannon Orcs with Shields
5 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
1 Morgul Knight
Kardush
5 Morannon Orcs with Shields
5 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
2 Orcs with Spears
Mordor Catapult
Groblog
2 Bat Swarms
43 Models
This is basically a Mordor army that has given up its army bonus to get access to Bat Swarms. It's an interesting trade off, especially as all of the Heroes here aren't breaking the bank when it comes to Fight value, making the Bats possibly more valuable than the Army Bonus. Goroth and Zagdush are both solid mid-tier Heroes and Kardush is an excellent caster who can provide most of the army with the benefits of Fury whilst throwing out Flamebursts every turn. He can also eat the orcs around him should he need to refresh his Will points to carry on setting fire to things. The Catapult we talked about above, but very interesting to see 2 in the Top 5! Finally, the Moria contingent is unusual choice so I asked fellow noob Dave about it as he plays Moria. He said that Groblog is likely to be a cheap way of getting 3 extra Might on the board but also as he has access to Heroic Defence he can hold a hero up for a while. There may well be some nuance that we aren't seeing here though!
3rd Place
Good: White Council and Erebor Reclaimed (Yellow Alliance)
Saruman the White with Horse
Thorin, King Under the Mountain, with War Goat and Orcrist
6 Iron Hills Warriors with Spears and Shields
1 Iron Hills Warrior with Spear, Shield and Banner
1 Iron Hills Warrior with Crossbow and Spear
1 Iron Hills Warrior with Crossbow
Bifur, Champion of Erebor
6 Iron Hills Warriors with Spears and Shields
1 Iron Hills Warrior with Crossbow and Spear
1 Iron Hills Warrior with Crossbow
Nori, Champion of Erebor
7 Iron Hills Warriors with Spears and Shields
1 Iron Hills Warrior with Crossbow and Spear
1 Iron Hills Warrior with Crossbow
30 Models
A smaller army but consisting of fairly elite troops. Iron Hills Warriors are F4 S4 D8 with spears so once hey set up somewhere they are very hard to move! 6 crossbows can also make a mess of lightly armoured Evil troops too. It is the Heroes that really make this list interesting though. Saruman is a really good caster who can make the line of Dwarves automatically pass courage tests (useful against Evil armies which can have a lot of Terror causers). He also casts Immobilise and Command on really low values, plus he has a reroll for free so they are virtually guaranteed to go off. Finally he casts Sorcerous Blast on a 4+ which is also unusually low. This means he can pretty much guarantee unhorsing Heroes when he needs to. The Dwarf Heroes are all excellent combat pieces, especially Thorin who gets a free Heoric combat each turn and has Orcrist which is especially good in a Good v Evil tournament. Nori also has 3A and can reroll a duel roll and a strike. Bifur is the one I understand least but if you can get that axe blade out of his head then the free Heroic Move each turn is really good! Everything in this army hits hard and can take a beating so I can see why it did well.
Evil: Dark Powers of Dol Guldor, Azog's Legion and Azog's Hunters (Green Alliance)
Lingering Shadow
Mirkwood Spider
Slayer of Men
Mirkwood Spider
Goblin Mercenary Captain
3 Goblin Mercenaries
Fimbul with Warg
6 Hunter Orcs with Bows
1 Hunter Orc with Banner
1 Hunter Orc with War Horn
3 Hunter Orcs
1 Fell Warg
Yazneg with Warg and Lance
6 Hunter Orcs with Bows
3 Hunter Orcs
2 Hunter Orcs with 2 Handed Weapons
1 Fell Warg
Narzug with Warg
6 Hunter Orcs with Bows
3 Hunter Orcs
2 Hunter Orcs with 2 Handed Weapons
1 Fell Warg
47 Models
For this list I asked fellow noob Colm to weigh in as he plays these armies. He said that the Hunter Orcs are a good choice for 8 points. They have low Fight at 3 but are S4 with 2 Attacks so they can chew through things quickly. The addition of 2 handed weapons helps this too. You can also fit in a lot of bows dues to the Army Bonus (50% rather than 33%) and their shoot value goes to 4+ which is really good. The bows are only S2 and 18" range but the sheer number of them will hurt things. The 3 Hunter Orc Heroes are all decent, especially for their cost and the fact that they all have 3 Might. The small Goblin contingent is likely for objective play as they can pop out of a piece of scenery when they are needed. The Captain is also a very cheap way to get access to Heroic March. Finally, the Nazgul are very tanky, very mobile Heroes (especially the Lingering Shadow) who can tie up troops for a long time as long as they save their Might for regeneration rolls. They bring with them 2 Mirkwood Spiders who have an incredible ability which is to shoot webs that count as throwing weapons. Not that impressive considering their 5+ shoot value but what is amazing is that if they hit they don't roll to wound, they Paralyse the target instead! This is crazy good considering how game changing Paralyse can be!
2nd Place
Good: Survivors of Lake Town
Bard with Horse and Armour
Alfrid
Sigrid and Tilda
6 Militia with Shields
6 Militia with Spears
1 Militia with Spear and Shield
Gandalf the Grey with Horse
12 Militia with Bows
Bilbo
6 Militia with Shields
6 Militia with Spears
Hilda-Bianca
6 Militia with Shields
6 Militia with Spears
56 Models
This is an even bigger horde than the one above but swaps the Iron Hills pieces for Gandalf and the Militia Captain for Hilda. Bard has all the same buffs as before but with one interesting difference: you can restore Alfrid's Will with Gandalf's free point of Will each turn and then give that to Bard in the form of a Might point. Essentially this gives Bard the Mighty Hero special rule in a roundabout way! Gandalf can also cast a load of other spells too if Bard isn't in need of the Might. He's also no slouch in a fight (F5 S5) but with only 1A base that certainly isn't his main use. Hilda is interesting in that she buffs the troops with +1 to wound on the charge but has lost access to March in return. There is also a much larger shooting contingent in this list which, combined with Blinding Light from Gandalf, is likely to win the shooting war against most Evil armies.
Evil: Angmar
The Tainted with Horse
7 Orcs with Shields
7 Orcs with Spears
1 Dead Marsh Spectre
Buhrdur
7 Orcs with Shields
7 Orcs with Spears
1 Orc with Banner
Shade
5 Orcs with Shields
6 Orcs with Spears
1 Dead Marsh Spectre
Barrow Wight
Wild Warg Chieftain
3 Warg Riders with Shields
50 Models
This looks to be a control heavy army with a lot of the tricks I talked about in my Noob's Perspective on Angmar. Like in that article we have a large number of (hopefully) Terror causing Orcs backed up by Magic, Monsters and Control pieces. The Tainted is a good caster and has a couple of interesting extra abilities. Anything in contact with him at the start of the Fight phase rolls a dice and on a 6 they get a wound. Not a brilliant or super reliable ability and also means you can't support him without risk but it's nice when it happens. His other ability is much more impressive: for the cost of a Will at the start of the Move phase he can stop all troops within 6" taking part in Heroic actions for the rest of the turn. This means that he can stop a cavalry charge in its tracks or make it so only a Hero can Heroic Combat into other models. Again, not game changing but a nice tool to have available. What can be game changing is that it also means troops cannot benefit from a Hero's Stand Fast! either. This could be big in the late game. Burhdur is a nice combat piece, especially backed up by The Shade and a Banner, and Wild Warg Chieftains are no slouch in combat either! F5 S6 3A are great stats! Finally the Barrow Wight and Spectres add in even more control with Paralyse and courage test shenanigans.
1st Place
Good: Minas Tirith, White Council, Fellowship and Rivendell (Yellow Alliance)
Aragorn, King Ellessar with Armoured Horse
8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Shields
4 Rangers with Spears
1 Knight with Shield
1 Knight
Galadriel, Lady of Light
Boromir of Gondor with Horse
Cirdan
3 High Elves with Shields
8 High Elves with Shields and Spears
29 Models
This is one of the most Frankenstein-esq lists I have ever seen and I love it! The theme is basically non-existent here but it is so tuned to take out Evil armies that I can't help but be impressed. It is a very small force for 800 points (the smallest one in the Top 5) but it contains 2 combat monsters and 2 super supporters. Boromir has 6 Might and Aragorn has 3 with a free one every turn, so once these guys are in combat they are very much able to just throw Might at things until they die! Galadriel, Lady of Light is incredibly good in a Good vs Evil tournament, much better than in regular tournaments, as she has so many tools to deal with Evil armies. She naturally has Blinding Light active (The Light of Earendil), she causes Terror and she gives a -1 to enemies courage (which impacts Evil far more than Good). This also makes her Instil Fear spell better too. As this is Good v Evil Ringwraiths (and Spirits in general) will be fairly common so Banishment is good to have. Evil tends to have some decent Magic in it too so Fortify Spirit is very useful, especially for Boromir who only has 1 Will and no Fate. Galadriel is also surprisingly decent in a fight herself if she ever needed to help out in other ways. Finally Cirdan has all of his usual buffs but they are even more effective in Good v Evil. Blinding Light to have 24" of coverage with Galadriel, Aura of Dismay combos with -1 Courage from Galadriel and Aura of Command negates Harbinger of Evil. Once the required buffs are up then he can just throw Enchanted Blades at Aragorn and Boromir every turn so they don't have to eat into their Might quite so much. Finally the troops are there to keep the heroes from getting swamped, and a couple of Knights to grab objectives. When I first looked at this list I had no idea how it could win any games but after diving in you can see that it has a ridiculous bag of tricks to use in various situations. It obviously takes a lot of skill to use but with a skilled player behind it then it seems ridiculously good in a Good v Evil tournament.
Evil: Mordor, Moria and Dark Denizens of Mirkwood (Yellow Alliance)
The Shadow Lord with Horse
7 Black Numenoreans
8 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
Guritz
5 Black Numenoreans
6 Morannon Orcs with Spears and Shields
1 Warg Rider
Shelob
Druzhag The Beastcaller
Bat Swarm
The Spider Queen
Bat Swarm
34 Models
This list is a bit simpler than the Good list. We have 2 long lines of F4 S4 D6 troops that cause Terror, backed up by The Shadow Lord causing -1C and Guritz who is fairly decent in a fight. The Shadow Lord will also be flinging spells at the enemy and protecting the troops from shooting by using his Pall of Darkness ability. The last 3 warbands between them create a scary mobile threat. Two tag teams of a spider and a Bat Swarm can pounce on enemies, halve their fight value and murder them when needed. Swift Movement and Fly ensure that they can be wherever they need to be on the board so no one is safe! Backing them up is Druzhag who will be throwing out Enrage Beasts when either of the spiders need to make a big impact. With this spell active Shelob goes from 1A base to 4A on the charge. The spiders also both reroll all wounds with Venom so they are excellent hero killers when combined with the Bats. They also cause Terror so essentially the whole army does. Guritz can use his special rule to make sure everyone starts together to benefit from Pall of Darkness or can allow the spiders to ambush anything left on its own.
So there you have it, 10 lists reviewed. It is interesting to note that Good and Evil only had 1 pure army each, with all the others being Alliances or Legendary Legions. This suggests to me that pure armies are struggling to find the tools to deal with the top end of competitive play and relying on help from other armies or buffs from the LLs. Of course this is a small data set so it will be interesting to see if this trend continues in the future.
Have any thoughts about my thoughts? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading!
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