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NEHL 2026 First Quarter Round-Up and Rankings Update

NEHL 2026 First Quarter Round-Up and Rankings Update

Jack Thurlbeck05 April 2026

We're three months into the 2026 NEHL season, and what a start it's been. With events running across the North East almost every week, the local MESBG competition is really starting to fire up. Before we look ahead to the second quarter, we have an important update on how individual rankings are calculated, and it has already changed things quite a bit.

NEHL Player Rankings Rule Change — Top 3 Scores Now Count

From this point in the season, players' top 3 tournament scores will count toward their overall season total, up from the previous top 2. This will continue to increase every three months as the season progresses.

How the NEHL Player Rankings Looked Before

Under the old top 2 scoring system, the individual leaderboard looked like this heading into April:

Bethany Taylor led the way, with Johnathan Mack and Natalie The Witch Queen rounding out the top 3. Worth pointing out how tight the top of the table was, less than 30 points separated 1st from 9th. One strong event could have reshuffled everything.

The New Rankings — Top 3 Scores

With the updated scoring applied, here's how the leaderboard looks now:

First though, a special mention has to go to Andy Mee, who attended 9 tournaments in the first 3 months alone. That's an average of 3 events a month and more than anyone else in the league. Incredible commitment to the MESBG hobby!

Quite a shake-up. Bethany Taylor holds onto 1st, but the rest of the top 10 looks very different.

Jonathan Swallow jumps up to 2nd off the back of two event wins in March; his form right now is brilliant. Johnathan Mack drops from 2nd to 5th, while the biggest fall belongs to Natalie The Witch Queen. Previously sitting 3rd, she drops all the way to 16th due to only playing 2 games, proving how important those extra events are!

The big winners are the players who are consistently placing well at events and have been putting the games in. Thomas Kindness (8 events) climbs to 4th, Andy Mee (9 events) moves up to 6th, and Jack Thurlbeck climbs into the top 10 at 7th.

Team Rankings

Player rankings aside, the most talked about are the team rankings! New to this season, it already seems to be proving popular, sparking rivalries and nurturing camaraderie.

The Fellowship of Steel leads the pack, with an average tournament points of 60.76 scored for each event; they are truly a force to be reckoned with. In second place, the Rangers of the North East have the most tournaments attended by any team and developed a fierce local rivalry with The North Easterlings, who are sharp on their heels. A special shoutout to the Middlesbrough Marauders, who are very close to breaking the top 3.

Looking Ahead to Q2

With the scoring change in place, the season is wide open. A few things to watch:

  • Can Bethany Taylor hold onto the lead as the field catches up on events attended?

  • Jonathan Swallow is in brilliant form right now. Two wins in March make him the one to beat.

  • Thomas Kindness and Andy Mee have the attendance record to push even higher.

  • Players like Natalie The Witch Queen still have the quality to climb back up; they just need to start showing up.

  • The team race for the podium spots is really going to heat up in the next 3 months.

Check the NEHL individual rankings and NEHL team rankings for the latest standings, and the calendar for upcoming events.

See you across the table somewhere in the North East!