Today we are looking at the top 5 placing lists at Ardacon, a 600 point tournament held in Manchester, UK during August. For info, the scenarios used in this event were Lords of Battle, Domination, Control the Battlefield, Destroy the Supplies, Recon and Fog of War. The tables were pretty densely terrained and the Oaths from the Mathced Play Guide were used and were worth 1 TP. Let's jump straight in:
Bard, horse, armour
Sigrid and Tilda
7 Lake Town Militia, spears
7 Lake Town Militia, shields
Percy
6 Lake Town Militia, spears, bows
6 Lake Town Militia, bows
Lake Town Militia Captain, shield
4 Lake Town Militia, spears
2 Lake Town Militia, shields, spears
2 Lake Town Militia
Alfrid
Bilbo
45 Models, 11 Might (+3 possible extra), 13 Bows
This has all the classic Lake Town shenanigans. The standard Beast-Bard Package of the girls and Alfrid, along with an absolute horde of cheap troops that punch way above their weight when in range of Bard's 12" aura. A couple of unusual choices of Percy and Bilbo but they both bring 3 Might to the table, allowing this list to out-Might most people. Bilbo will also have the Ring to help deal with any particularly nasty models.
The Witch King, horse, Crown, 3/14/3
7 Orcs, shields
8 Orcs, spears
1 Orc, shield, banner
1 Warg Rider
1 Warg
Gulavhar
6 Orcs, shields
6 Orcs, spears
1 Dead Marsh Spectre
1 Warg Rider
1 Warg
35 Models, 6 Might, 0 Bows
The classic 1-2 punch of the Witch King and Gulavhar will assassinate virtually any hero you point them at. They are backed up by a big chunk of terror causing Orcs, some fast support in the Wargs and a bit of control through the Spectre. It is unusual to see no Barrow Wights but the points limit does make it a struggle to fit them in while keeping your numbers up.
Dwalin
9 Iron Hills Dwarves, spears
1 Iron Hills Dwarf, banner
1 Iron Hills Dwarf
4 Goat Riders
Gloin
10 Iron Hills Dwarves, spears
2 Goat Riders
29 Models, 6 Might, 0 Bows
This is an unusual list which relies heavily on the sheer efficiency of Iron Hills Dwarves. 21 of them in a shield wall formation is going to be very difficult to crack, and having a large amount of Goats to protect your flanks can really let you spear blocks do what they do best without being overwhelmed. The Goats also make up for the Dwarves innate disadvantage in movement scenarios. The two characters are underrated killing machines in my opinion. They are not the kind of characters that will mince an army single handed but for their points they are excellent.
Legolas, Elven cloak, horse
6 Mirkwood Elves, shields
5 Mirkwood Elves, bows, glaives
1 Mirkwood Elf, glaive
1 Mirkwood Elf, shield, banner
Lake Town Militia Captain
6 Lake Town Militia, bows
6 Lake Town Militia, bows, spears
Lake Town Militia Captain
6 Lake Town Militia
6 Lake Town Militia, spears
Lake Town Militia Captain
5 Lake Town Militia
5 Lake Town Militia, spears
51 Models, 9 Might, 18 Bows
Well, quantity is a quality all of its own in this list. We have a core of elite elven troops that would normally be outnumbered except they have brought an absolute horde of their human buddies. There is a lot of high quality shooting in this list that I would imagine is used to soften up heroes and other threats before the lines meet. Strangely this list is not affected by either of its Army Bonuses as it doesn't have any of the relevant characters. It does have a pretty big bucket of Might that I would imagine is mostly used on Marches to get the foot-slogging army where it needs to be quickly. A very unusual list all round.
EDIT: Apparently this list and 1st place were from the same team and so could not share any heroes. This explains the unusual choice of list to some extent!
Bard, horse, armour
Sigrid and Tilda
13 Lake Town Guard, bows
The Master of Lake Town
7 Lake Town Guard
8 Lake Town Guard, spears
Alfrid
5 Lake Town Guard
7 Lake Town Guard, spears
Braga
5 Lake Town Guard
7 Lake Town Guard, spears
58 Models (!), 8 Might (+3 more possible), 14 Bows
Well. You remember what we said about quantity? 58 Models is truly insane, it is only really Goblin Town who would have a chance of matching that. Here Beast-Bard is his usual self, however he no longer has the much needed aura tied to him, instead it belongs to the Master which means Bard can be a bit more reckless. So you've got your scary hero as well as a truly enormous amount of buffed up troops. Honestly every weakness that I can think of is immediately met with "yeah but... 58 models". A very scary list.
Overall thoughts
So 4 Hobbit armies in the Top 5. Also four Good armies, three of which feature Lake Town. Obviously this is a small sample but there are definite trends. Lake Town are pretty uniquely able to throw a large amount of cheap troops down, but then buff those troops to respectable stats over a large range. There aren't many other armies that can do that. Overall though I think these lists speak to player skill more than gimmicks as each one has deficiencies that need to be made up for in play style. Well done to everyone involved!
Nice read guys! Time for a Laketown nerf?
ReplyDeleteAt 600pts, it's not THAT surprising that armies like Lake-town and Angmar (who can get their grunts for 5-6 points) would do well. The lack of Barrow-Wights in the Angmar list was a bit surprising for me, but when you get the Witch-King and Gulavhar at 600pts, something's gotta give. :)
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