What is in the Future for MESBG and what will I be Playing
2025 was a crazy year, A new edition came in, the rules became much more clear and yet there is much debate over the state and future of the game. Many areas have seen a resurgence in players with renewed interest while other areas have seen a loss of players. Regardless of these factors, frankly I dont really care. I'm here to play the game and for now it looks as if it is doing well as a whole and will continue in that direction at least for the time being.
Going into last year with the new edition on the rise as well as myself finally hitting a level of play where I considered myself a competitor, I wanted to win the Texas league. That I did. I came and throughout the entire year through a mirage of events including the prestigious Nova Open I ended the year with only one tournament game loss. One thing that became a baffle to me about the mid part of the year and specifically after Nova was just how that had occurred throughout the years. Looking back I had been a decent or solid player for the first few events I went to racking a 5th at my first ever event which was a 34 player event. My second event which was smaller I placed 2nd, then my third event I placed 3rd. Through those events I thought of myself as a good player but looking back I see that it was pretty silly and I took solid armies that I had experience with even with my little amount of skill. For example, I didn't use a single brutal power attack with Gwaihir in that first event I played. I didn't mount my Dwalin in the same event which later led to a standfast opinion of mine in regards to infantry heroes. In my second event I ran a bold choice of entirely two handed weapons on my Hunter Orcs with the Pits of Dol Guldur and got handedly beat in round one when a super solid player came up against me then was able to use my knowledge of the army and the power of the list to take down the next 4 opponents. Over all I wasn't bad, but I most certainly wasn't "good". Then 2024 happened. I showed up and took a Men of the West int he last edition and played it for 6 straight months. Through that time it was the longest I had ever played a single list and by the end I felt I had unlocked something in myself. I went to our GT and placed 3rd after a sad loss in round 4 because Legolas apparently just cannot lose fights to f6 3 attack heroes that also have an elven blade. After this ordeal I decided to start running all Cav. This was the moment when my game play went from a good player to a top table contender and led into my 2025 year. I ended the year playing all cav Gondor with Aragorn and knights with captains. I learned how to balance the list and play it as well as playing the Wolves of Isengard and some basic Rohan lists. By the time 2025 had come the combination of a hero heavy Men of the West all infantry and the movement based playstyle of the all cav specifically Gondor and Wolves where you are fight 3 taught me how to master the elements of the game that are essential. Movement, engagement, disengagement, resource management, kiting, the element of baiting and more then anything else how to take a minor advantage or minor dice roll and turn it into an unstoppable momentum in my favor regardless of the odds or situation.
After this into 2025 I ran all sorts of lists, never doubling up at events and lost one game when I only took captains and faced dragons of the north and won 2 fights the entire game because I had no strike.
Overall I ran all sorts of playstyles from heavy engage, mega skirmish, hit and run, troop eccentric, hero only, magic and shenanigans. All sorts of tricks. My favorite styles definitely were the skirmish style heavy kiting lists. With this in mind it may come to no surprise the current lists I am working on for 2026.
I am undecided for my list for the 2026 Adepticon GT as well as the the North American Masters. Currently, several ideas are floating around in my head. I am looking at a all cav Khand, a Umbar with spam Hasharins, Wolves of Isengard, or a funky Army of the Great Eye with a ton of mini casters and Shelob. In terms of the most powerful the Umbar is most certainly the most powerful list and I would rank it as the best army in the game with no really close seconds. The hatred Gondor I have never used once, the stalk unseen is niche and I really only use it on the Hasharins that naturally have it. And thus far I have never needed to use the command changing rule. So what makes it so potent? Well it is simply Corsairs and their mix with the Hashari. Throwing weapons are so nasty, they just are. When you combine a good number of them with a cheap backline, cheap archers that are pretty solid and pair those tricks with 3-4 f5/6 heroes with 3 attacks that reroll on their own throwing weapons and strikes to wound and that cannot be trapped? Well the result is kinda nasty having 4 of these on the battle field is just so nasty while still getting into the 40s when it comes to numbers. I will make this case and many will argue for other lists. However I would say this is the best list to nullify any hero, take down any horde, outshoot just most other lists, and decimate any battleline with 5 3 attack heroes at 700.
That being said, if I wanted to pick one army that would be able to beat Umbar, It would be my lovely Khand. Khand got so much better this addition with the ability to reach fight 5, have a physical banner and over all retain their 100% shooting. Chariots got a massive buff and these things just walk through armies. At 750 (North America Masters point value) you get 31 units with 4 chariots, and entirely cav. You get 31... bows. 30 cav units and one infantry unit who has a bow. I recently played this list at 600 versus a 50 model Shire army with the 2 fight value buff heroes, the Gaffer, Maggot, Gandalf on cart, lobelia, paladin and a horde. The first turn they traded bow fire and i lost two chieftains horses as well as 3 khandish horsemen in return for 3 hobbits. The next turn I marched made combat and ran over as well as killed in the ensuing fight phase 20 hobbits in a single turn. The following turn I lost the move offs and got countercharged losing 3 riders to killing another 8 hobbits. The next turn I won the roll off on one flank and decimated another 12 hobbits with the 3 chariots on that side and ran over several hobbit heroes in combat as well as wounding the cart. I then board wiped the army in the next 4 turns while securing my relic and running to my board half. This list walks through all of the popular low defense hordes from the shire, to AoL to even to a lesser extent the wildmen minus the nasty crebain. And I didnt even get a chance to heavily kite in that game. I cant wait to play this list more then in just my head.
Wolves of Isengard I have talked about in depth and the nastiness you can bring to the table is hard to be reckoned with. Especially with fearless, and the ability to hit fight 5 with enraged wargs.
The Great Eye army functions just like an evil version of my Nova list with way more consistency on shutdown and a bit less on hero killing. You upgrade from Gandalf to the Dark Marshal as well as Muzgur and Kardush. You then downgrade from Gwaihir to Shelob and Tauriel down to Gorbag. Mirror the elves into mounted Black Numenoreans and foot numenoreans. They transfer so equally it is so powerful. Then as a nice bonus you get to buff those laketown into a massive horde of Orcs and take some warg riders to give you a lot of cav heavy numbers as well as 5 hard hitting morgul stalkers to buff from 700-750 for this event. It functions super powerfully having 2 transfixes as well as having depth with kardush able to revive the Dark marshal and more importantly being able to fireball open lanes or heroes who will not resist it because they need to focus on the transfixes that Shelob will capitalize on. Then in addition to this as a major buff from my Nova List you get a massive range of banner effects through the small eye banner effect and the dark marshal as well as tons of courage buffs for yourself and debuffs for your enemy giving this list even more depth. In this build it is most certainly the most balanced and depth filled list other then possibly the Umbar on this list and can take hits and give them and be super competitive in all matchups.
Regardless of what I end up taking I hope it will be something that will surprise my opponents and be tons of fun to play. 2026 goals, win a major event and keep playing at a solid level and place top 3 in likely the last year I will play in the Texas league.
Let me know your thoughts regarding what lists I should bring to top events this year as well as fun ideas or takes on how dumb I am for thinking Umbar is top tier. And just wait until i combine Umbar with khand and run grand army of the south with hasharin corsairs and through in some chariots and khandish horsemen as backup.
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