Valourbowl, the tournament run by Drawn Combat and Top Table Gaming was run this past Saturday the 24th of July and we all know what you want - lists and stats! However, we would just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who turned up to make it such a successful event. Valourbowl is entirely in aid of charity, and our chosen one this year was Mind, in aid of mental health and well being. Overall we managed to raise an incredible £850 for an incredible cause. Hopefully next year we'll see more of you to raise even more! Now back to the tournament itself: The goal of Valourbowl was to nominate a hero of valour in your list to rack up as many kills as possible over the course of 4 games. The heroes that people chose to bring are below:
Although it’s unsurprising to see certain heroes over represented, with the likes of the beastly Bolg and Mighty Hero Aragorn being very tempting, there was a wide range of heroes and factions represented. A couple of people chose not to bring Heroes of Valour, but were still in the running for tournament winner. Read on for the top three player’s lists and their chosen heroes of valour!
First Place (37 Kills). Austin Barrett. Minas Tirith
Boromir, Captain of the White Tower w/ shield, lance, and horse (Valourbowl Champion)
5 Knight of MT w/ shield
1 Knight of MT w/ banner
2 Guard of the Fountain Court
Ingold
5 Warriors of MT w/ shield
6 Warriors of MT w/ spear and shield
1 Warrior of MT w/ banner
Austin’s list has the might heavy Boromir as his nominated Valourbowl champion and it certainly makes a lot of sense to us, we named him as our top hero of valour for the forces of good (Good Heroes of Valour article). Interestingly we thought that Boromir would be best used with his banner, but Austin chose to use his lance instead for sheer punching power. The rest of the list makes sense for Valourbowl - sturdy troops to anchor Boromir and let him put those 6 might points to work.
Second Place (34 Kills). Joe Grocutt. Azog’s Legion
Bolg w/ Fell Warg (Valourbowl Champion)
Warbat
Berserker w/ 2 Handed Axe
3 Gundabad Orcs w/ Spear and Shield
2 Gundabad Orcs w/ Spear
1 Gundabad Orcs w/ Shield
Gundabad Orc w/ Banner
Gundabad Orc Captain w/ Shield
Warbat
Berserker
4 Gundabad Orcs w/ Shield
4 Gundabad Orcs w/ Spear
Joe’s list is very similar to Austin’s. A sturdy group of troops with some versatile/quick options there to support the big bad of Bolg. He doesn’t have the 6 might of Bozza, but he does have Master of Battle so will feel freer than most to call as many heroic combats as he would like. He also has his Bringer of Death special rule that powers him up as he claims kills, even getting the Mighty Hero special rule if he gets as high as ten. This isn’t too common, but Joe managed to get 16 kills with Bolg in just a single game. Terrifying!
Third Place (29 Kills). Jono Chetwynd-Diggle. Rangers & The Shire (Green Alliance)
Aragorn Strider w/ Anduril, Horse, Armour, Bow (Valourbowl Champion)
Halbarad w/ Banner of Arwen Evenstar, Horse
Dunedain w/ Spear
Dunedain w/ Spear
Bandobras Took
7 Hobbit Shirriff
2 Hobbit Militia w/ Axes
5 Hobbit Archers
No offense to anyone else who came to Valourbowl, but Jono definitely had the best list. Bandobras Took! For a brief moment I thought Bandobras was Jono’s champion and I nearly fell off my chair (whoever brings him to Valourbowl II and uses him as their champ will have a special place in my heart). Aragorn appearing in the top three is no big surprise - the combined killing power of Mighty Hero and Anduril have to be respected.
As well as competing for kills players were also just trying to maximise VPs over their four games and come out as tournament champ. This was done by Nicky Myland using Erebor Reclaimed.
Tournament Champion - Nicky Myland. Erebor Reclaimed.
Dwalin, Champion of Erebor (Valourbowl Champion)
11 Iron Hills Dwarves w/ Spears
1 Iron Hills Goat Rider
Nori, Champion of Erebor
11 Iron Hills Dwarves w/ Spears
1 Iron Hills Goat Rider
This is a very hard to kill collection of models! It has the sturdy line of D8 dwarves , two fighty champions, and a little bit of speed with the goat riders. It only has 5 might so Nicky must have been very reserved in how he utilised his resources. He also didn’t bring a banner, opting instead for a few extra dwarves, but it didn’t seem to do him any harm with the scenarios drawn (Seize the Prize, Domination, Command the Battlefield, and To the Death) even though one awarded VPs for having a banner.
Nicky also did quite well at scoring in the Valourbowl contest with Dwalin coming in joint 5th with 24 kills. This begs the question as to how placement in the kill contest compares to tournament position i.e. if you doggedly pursue victory points, do you cost yourself your ability to get a high number of kills?. We've prepared a quick graph that shows each player's total VPs (blue line) compared to Valourbowl kills (red line). There clearly isn’t the strongest correlation, but it seems if you want the heftiest headcount you maybe need to put some other objectives on the back burner.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article this tournament was in aid of Mind, a charity set up in aid of anyone suffering from mental health issues. If you or a loved one are experiencing any mental health problems do not hesitate to get in touch with Mind, who are dedicated to aiding you in getting the help that you need and have helped countless others.
I love how Amdur is on the banner for Valorbowl . . . and no one took him. :P Great tournament idea, I may steal it for a tournament in the future! :)
ReplyDeleteVery nice idea and interesting read, HOWEVER Bandobras Took has a line in his profile saying that if you take him all alliances will be impossible. So despite how beautiful that list is, unfortunately it is a red alliance, not green…
ReplyDeleteUnless I am reading it wrong and the condition is that if you bring Bandobras and another hobbit named character then it becomes impossible alliance. Not sure of the wording to be honest, still since he lived a long time ago it would make sense that it is not green allied with aragorn
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