[Dain]

I wish I'd found this thread sooner, so I'll just have to put in a couple of quick thoughts on a few things.

Going back to Dol Guldur, I never thought of it as a fortress a la Barad Dur or Minas Morgul, but just a creepy tower in the woods (Orthanc-like, I guess). I don't think Sauron really surrounded himself with an army of orcs in his "Necromancer" guise (the debate on what Necromancer meant is in a thread somewhere, I remember). I always thought of it as the classic evil wizard's tower, in the middle of a scary forest, where nobody in their right minds would bother it. I always thought the White Council just came, pretty much by themselves, and used their combined "power" (magic) to make drive Sauron out (his spirit would then slip away--wouldn't need to ride or run, because it's a spirit). I see the wizards, etc, approaching with staves upraised and whatever nasty creatures Sauron has around him, and Sauron himself, just abandoning the dark tower in fear. I don't think there would be much resistence or any conventional battle, but that's just how I saw it.

In general, I wouldn't draw too many conclusions between Tolkien's mythology-based battle accounts and military history. Orcs certainly didn't know Spanish squares, to start with. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Tactics in Tolkien are confined to charges and heroic actions. A comparable era would be anglo-saxon, dark ages england, with shield walls and not much more organization beyond, "kings bodyguard around the king, the rest of you lot, spread out and look mean." Armies didn't get all that organized until the late 15th C anyway, really. In this kind of legendary battle, the presence of a king at the front would mean a hero who would hold back the enemy with his incredible valour (not that Kings didn't fight from the front even in the 15th C), so as well as inspiring his troops, his mere presence would frighten the enemy. There's a completely different set of "rules" that apply here...

Think about the Battle of Five Armies. Thorin and co.'s charge from the gate; 12 Dwarves forcing the Orcs to recoil? Damn straight, because this is fantasy, not reality. Eagle's causing terror, panic and disruption to orc ranks? Yep, and throwing them off cliffs, too. One giant bear winning the whole battle? Absolutely. Tactical organization? Not really.

But that's just what I think. I wouldn't want to stop any of you from having some fun with it! Maybe I took the easy way out because my military history is a bit rusty at this point... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]