Good morning gamers,
I've been busy for the past few months (not too busy to write, but my weekends have been taken up by a TON of things), so I was happily surprised when Red Jacket reached out to us and scheduled our GT for the year. It's not every day that I attend a tournament without having to do any of the planning, so I was excited to figure out what list I'd be bringing. The tournament will be a three-round, random-pairing tournament with assignments being made before the first round is played. The pools will be #2 (multiple objectives), #4 (killing things), and #3 (objects).
This tournament will also be the last hoorah of the old edition (while we wait for the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement - and possibly the Legacies of Middle-Earth document - to drop), so when picking my list, I was first and foremost interested in running lists that don't appear to be valid lists in the new edition. There is a prohibition on Impossible Alliances at this event (so Floi can't be run with Bombur this time), but there were still plenty of lists that I wanted to run. Without further ado, here are the lists that I considered for the event (and the one I locked into running)!
Honorable Mention: Isengard
Years ago, I stepped out of a tournament that Red Jacket threw so my son could take his first step into our gaming community. It was the first time that any of our kids had participated in an event and I offered to be his coach (and sub in if he got tired). He got a little overwhelmed by the end of the last game, but he also had a lot of fun and played well. The list I almost took to that event was a 750-point version of the list below - and so naturally, I considered taking a list like that, since a) I never actually ran Saruman in one of our events under the 2018 MESBG revamp because I dropped, and b) because the list felt really, really strong:
- Saruman [ARMY LEADER]
- INDEPENDENT: Grima Wormtongue (or in an enemy warband)
- INDEPENDENT: Uruk-Hai Drummer
- 8 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
- 7 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
- 1 Uruk-Hai Warrior with pike and banner
- Thrydan Wolfsbane on horse
- 4 Uruk-Hai Berserkers
- 4 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
- Mauhur
- 12 Uruk-Hai Marauders with Uruk-Hai bows
The thing is . . . this list is basically a Muster of Isengard list in the new edition. Yes, I need to swap out Thrydan/Mauhur for Uruk-Hai Captains/more guys and I can't upgrade the Uruk-Hai Scouts with Uruk-Hai bows to Marauders to boost their movement (but will have an extra guy out of it), but this is the kind of list that I can run now without having to "waste" a throw-back event moment. So as much as it pains me to admit that this is the list I probably should run, I'm not going to run it. Don't worry, my dear Uruk-Hai boyz, I'll bring you out to play this edition, I promise.
Pick #5: Lothlorien Pajama Party
This list is a variant of a list I took to a GT a few years ago - but it's got Celeborn and the Mirror of Galadriel instead of Haldir and a few guys. The "pajama party" doesn't work quite like it used to, since the current edition of the game slaps half of the throwing daggers off the Wood Elf Warriors (now Lothlorien Warriors), but it is harder to shoot when you don't have cover thanks to changes with Elven cloaks. This list also has a mounted Galadhrim Captain and some Galadhrim Knights, who are not currently in the Lothlorien list, so this would be something I can't run now (that and Celeborn has a weapon and heavy armor):
- Galadriel with the Mirror of Galadriel [ARMY LEADER]
- 1 Wood Elf Warrior with Wood Elf spear and throwing daggers
- 9 Wood Elf Warriors with Elf bows
- Celeborn with Elven-made hand-and-a-half sword and heavy armor
- 3 Galadhrim Knights with Elf bows
- 4 Wood Elf Warriors with throwing daggers
- 4 Wood Elf Warriors with throwing daggers and Wood Elf spears
- 1 Wood Elf Warrior with Wood Elf spear and banner
- Galadhrim Captain on armored horse with shield and Elf bow
- 6 Wood Elf Warriors with throwing daggers
- 6 Wood Elf Warriors with throwing daggers and Wood Elf spears
The Lothlorien list in the new edition certainly can't run this way, but it can also do things that this list cannot do. While the new Armies of Middle-Earth supplement does not appear to have a Lothlorien army list, Galadhrim Knights were not listed as moving to the Legacies document, so I assume they'll be provided in the Armies of Middle-Earth book but be added to the Lothlorien army list (kind of like models released in the supplements of the last edition were said to be included in existing factions - like Anborn/Mablung being included in Minas Tirith lists). We'll see how all this shapes up, but I'm reasonably certain that once the new book drops, I'll be able to run a list like this. So . . . in the bin it goes for this event.