Grand Tournament List Review

Stats:

Pure: 1

Green: 1

Yellow: 4 (only 13 in the entire field of 174 armies (7.5%) and 4 of them are here (40%) - significant!)

Red: 0

LL: 4

Average Model Count: 34 

Average Might: 9

Jasmine Tetley Minas Tirith and White Council Yellow Alliance Boromir, Captain of the White Tower, Lance, Horse and Shield 5 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Shield 2 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Shield and Spear 1 Warrior of Minas Tirith with Banner, Shield and Spear 5 Rangers of Gondor with Spear Guard of the Fountain Court With Shield Knight of Minas Tirith with Shield  Hurin, Horse  6 Warriors of Minas Tirith with Shield  Warrior of Minas Tirith with Shield and Spear 5 Rangers of Gondor with Spear 2 Guard of the Fountain Court with Shield  Knight of Minas Tirith with Shield  Galadriel Lady of the Light 33 Models, 11 Might Analysis: A very robust list. D7 shieldwall at F4, with excellent bow resistance from Galadriel. She also has banishment which is good in GvE format. Boromir and Galadriel cover each other’s weaknesses very well and the list seems like it should be specifically quite good in GvE.	Assault on Helm's Deep LL Uruk Captain, Shield Uruk Hai Demolition Team, 2 flaming brands 8 Uruk Hai Warriors, Pikes 3 Uruk Hai Warriors, Crossbow Uruk Hai Warrior, Shield, Pike and Banner 2 Uruk Hai Berserkers Uruk Hai Warrior, Shield Uruk Hai Captain, Crossbow 9 Uruk Hai Warrior, Pikes 4 Uruk Hai Warriors, Crossbow Uruk Hai Berserker 2 Uruk Hai Warriors, Shield Uruk Hai Ballista Uruk Hai Ballista 42 Models, 5 Might Analysis: This seems to be a new power rising (sorry) from the recent Rohan at War expansion. Sheer efficiency of troops, sheer number of troops and sheer punching power of bombs and ballistas all make for a scary combination. Add this to the ability to virtually end the game whenever you want by blowing up your own troops and you have a really top tier list. Jasmine recently wrote a really great guide to using Siege Weapons which you should definitely check out. You can find it on the attachments section of the GBHL Facebook page.
Jay Clare Defenders of Helm’s Deep LL  Theoden, heavy armour, shield 6 Warriors with shield 5 Warriors with throwing spear and shield Aragorn, armour Haleth 6 Warriors with shield 5 Warriors with throwing spear and shield Gamling, Royal Standard Aldor 11 Galadhrim with Elf Bow 38 Models, 10 Might (but actually infinity Might) Analysis: This is very similar in a lot of ways to Jay’s usual army of Laketown. Aragorn + Haleth is very similar to Bard + girls, with solid accompanying combat blocks. Interesting that he chose not to take any Royal Guard for F5, but maybe he mainly expected F3 from evil troops.	Dunland LL Thrydan Wolfsbane with horse 6 Warriors with shield 6 Huscarls 1 Warrior with banner 1 Crebain Gorulf Ironskin 5 Warriors with shield 5 Huscarls 1 Crebain Frida Tallspear 5 Warriors with shield 5 Huscarls The Wild Man Oathmaker 3 Wild Men 4 Wild Men with two handed axe 46 Models, 12 Might Analysis: Crebain seem like some of the best objective hunters/grabbers in the game, being essentially immune to bowfire with 4 wounds and only getting hit on 6s. Decent for setting up early traps as well. Otherwise it doesn’t seem that special. To be honest we aren’t really sure what the secret sauce is here, maybe it's just Jay himself since we all know how good he is at this game, but we’d love to be enlightened!
Aaron Pullen Rivendell and Fellowship Green Alliance Elrond, horse and heavy armour 13 Rivendell Knights with shield 1 Rivendell Knight with shield and banner Aragorn with horse and armour 16 Models, 6 Might Analysis: The ‘Ed Ball’ list except with Aragorn instead of another Wizard. Everything we have said before about Riv Knights holds here, so we won’t say it again. Skirmish or charge in, you can do either really well. Aragorn’s free point of Might will be helpful for moves and marches giving flexibility. This version is a bit more susceptible to shooting due to the lack of Blinding Light but Evil are rubbish at shooting anyway (don’t @ me) so who cares.	Corsairs of Umbar Pure List Dalamyr 6 Corsairs with shield 6 Corsairs with spear 6 Arbalesters Delgamar 5 Corsairs with shield 5 Corsairs with spear 5 Arbalesters Bo’sun 8 Reavers 3 Arbalesters Captain 4 Corsairs with spear 2 Arbalesters 53 Models, 10 Might Analysis: This is the biggest army of the 10 and boy is it a horde. Throwing Weapons and Crossbows all over the place (which idiot said Evil is bad at shooting?) make for a scary force in the Shoot and Fight phases.
Damian O’Byrne Fellowship and Rohan Yellow Alliance Aragorn, Strider, Horse, Armour Legolas, Horse, armour Theoden, Armoured horse, Heavy Armour, shield 2 Royal Guard on horse with throwing spears Gamling, Captain of Rohan, Royal Standard of Rohan, horse Captain of Rohan, Horse, Heavy Armour, shield, throwing spear Deorwine on horse 8 models, 12 Might (but actually infinity Might) Analysis: Oh god the theme! I love it so much. This is a scalpel if I ever saw one. 8 Models with huge manoeuvrability and 6 of them pretty much have infinite Might. Choose a target, murder it to death and move on. A lot of skill is needed to not get swamped though as this list will not like being bogged down (they can’t even rely on Gandalf appearing in the east to save them).	Assault on Helm’s Deep LL Uruk-hai Captain, with shield 5 Uruk-hai warriors with shields 5 Uruk-hai Warriors with pikes 4 Uruk-hai warriors with crossbows Uruk hai warrior with banner and shield 2 Uruk-hai Berserkers Uruk-hai Captain, with shield 5 Uruk-hai warriors with shields 4 Uruk-hai Warriors with pikes Uruk-hai Berserker 4 Uruk-hai warriors with crossbows Uruk-hai Demolition team + 2 flaming Brands  Uruk Hai Assault Ballista Uruk Hai Assault Ballista  42 models, 5 Might Analysis: See above, it’s basically the same
Matt Light Thranduil’s Halls, Rohan, Fellowship, White Council Yellow Alliance Thranduil, extra sword, Circlet of Kings, heavy armour 6 Mirkwood Elves with Glaive 3 Mirkwood Elves with Glaive and bow Theodred, horse 9 Warriors with shield 2 Outriders 2 Outriders with horse Boromir, horse Galadriel, Lady of Light 26 Models, 15 Might Analysis: This list could be called “FAQ? What FAQ?”. It really feels like this is what they were trying to fix and yet here it is (personally I don’t mind it but it’s amusing that all the hoo-hah was to try and stop this kind of thing and clearly hasn’t worked). A big old hodgepodge of random heroes backed up by a few troops. The heroes are all very powerful and can do whatever the scenario needs them to do, while the troops stop them getting swamped.	Mordor and Denizens of Mirkwood Yellow Alliance The Shadow Lord, Fell Beast 4 Black Numenorians 4 Morannons with spear and shield 2 Trackers Goroth 4 Black Numenorians 4 Morannons with spear and shield 2 Trackers Ringwraith, 2M 7W 0F 3 Black Numenorians 2 Orcs with spear  1 Orcs with spear and shield The Spider Queen 1 Bat Swarm 31 Models, 10 Might Analysis: This is similar to lists Matt has done well with at the 500 pt level. He’s got good defence against shooting and good control with two casters. The Spider Queen is an excellent objective player and can do things like shoot her three broodlings off the board edge in Reconnoitre to get an edge.