Scouring of Che-Shire Top 5 Lists

Today we are interrupting our individual reports from the 700 point Scouring of Che-Shire to have a look at the top 5 lists. This was an 88 person tournament, so a big one! There were 6 rounds, so that really allows the best players to rise to the top. Let's have a look at what they brought.

5th Place: Survivors of Lake Town

Bard the Bowman with armour and horse

Sigrid & Tilda

Alfrid the Councillor

12 Lake-town Militia with bow

Gandalf the Grey

7 Lake-town Militia with shield

7 Lake-town Militia with spear

1 Lake-town Militia with spear and shield

Bilbo Baggins, Master Burglar 

6 Lake-town Militia with shield 

6 Lake-town Militia with spear 

45 models, 9 Might (but actually more), 12 Bows

At this point we have written about this list a LOT so I am not going to repeat myself. Instead you can read about it (or lists very close to it) here, here, here, here and here.

4th Place: Vanquishers of the Necromancer

Saruman

Galdriel, Lady of Light

Elrond

Radagast on Sleigh

4 Models, 12 Might

Well if it isn't the new hotness. There was a little bit of chatter about this new list being "unbeatable", and while I think it is very good it also has some weaknesses (mostly objective play). That being said, considering there are only 4 models it has a surprising number of tools. Sorcerous Blast, Wrath of Bruinen and Raddy's sleigh charging ensure that the enemy models spend more time lying down than standing up, and then high Fight and 3 attacks each (doubling to 6 strikes while the enemy is prone) ensure they have a surprising amount of killing power. They are also pretty hard to kill as they have decent defence and Fate in abundance, then Raddy comes along and heals them up if they do take a knock. From what I have heard it's pretty miserable to play against and in the right hands it can do a lot of work, but at the same time with only 4 models any lapses in judgment or skews in variance are going to punish you much more than with a normal army. The other two Vanquishers lists went 3-3 over the weekend.

3rd Place: Ugluk's Scouts

Ugluk

5 scouts, shield

6 scouts, bow

1 scout, banner

Mauhur

5 scouts, shield

5 scouts, bow

1 scout, banner

Scout captain, shield

Grishnakh

11 orcs, spear, shield

1 orc, spear

Snaga

6 orcs, shield

6 orcs, spear.

52 Models, 13 Might, 11 Bows

Let me say that again: 52 Models, 13 Might. Crikey that is a lot of F4 S4 AND they get +1 to wound in combat if there is an Orc and an Uruk in together. Oh, also all the Uruks move 8", no big deal. This feels like it would be relentless to play against and most importantly it can play objectives incredibly well. I feel like we keep saying that "high quality quantity" is one of the best things to bring in this game and I think this list demonstrates that really well. 




2nd Place: Riders of Theoden

Theoden with Armoured Horse, Heavy Armour, Shield
4 Royal Guard with horse

Deorwine with horse
4 Royal Guard with horse

Dernhelm with horse
4 Royal Guard with horse

Gamling with horse, Banner 
3 Royal guard with horse

Captain with horse
3 Royal Guard with horse

23 Models, 14 Might (+1 each turn)

Now here is a Legendary Legion I had forgotten about. It used to be taking events all over the place but then people learnt how to deal with it and it quietly slipped down the rankings. This just goes to show that in the right hands it can still punch with the big boys. If you can choose just the right time to call "Death!" then this list can still chop the head off the enemy and neuter its big threats in one go. I am pleased to see it come back as it is one of my favourite LLs to date.

1st Place: Mordor and Isengard (Yellow Alliance)

Witch King with horse, Crown of Morgul, Morgul Blade (3/13/2)
10 Orc Trackers
8 Morannon Orcs with spear, shield

Shagrat with heavy armour, shield of Cirith Ungol
6 Morannon Orcs with shield
5 Morannon Orcs with spear, shield
1 Morannon Orc with Banner

Lurtz
4 Berserkers
1 Warg rider
2 Uruk Hai with shield

40 Models, 9 Might, 11 Bows

Honestly, this list is an absolute delight in how mundane it is. I don't mean that to cause any offence, in fact quite the opposite! It goes to show that you don't need to take whatever is 'meta' to do well, you can just bring a decent, mixed arms list, play it excellently and still win a tournament. The list does have a bit of everything: Magic, punching power, fearless troops, shooting, lots of bodies, a decent stack of Might, 3 Striking heroes and Heroic March too. Amazing how he has fit it all in!

One caveat that I feel we must point out is that this list did just so happen to play all 3 Vanquishers lists. As we talked about above, Vanquishers is a good list but can struggle with objectives, and this list beat them at Seize the Prize and Hold Ground, where I think this list definitely has the advantage (though it's by no means easy!). However it also beat them in Contest of Champions which is astounding! The pilot of this list described how he did that and it sounds like he played it absolutely perfectly (Round 1: Heroic Resolve, resisted spells, transfixed and killed Elrond, Heroic Combat into Galadriel and killed her too. Round 2 same thing but killing Radagast and jumping onto Saruman). Simply fantastic play.

We have seen a lot of "Good soup" lists recently and I wonder if this list will kick-start people thinking more about "Evil soup". I know it used to be prevalent but it took a hit with the FAQ. This goes to show you can still make some powerful alliances in Evil and I am looking forward to seeing where the meta goes next.