[Macalaure]

Originally Posted by Sauron

"Convention wisdom" told the town that Smaug had a bare patch in his jewel encrusted armor?

Conventional wisdom said that dragons have a vulnerable belly, just as the quote Rikae provided states. As far as I remember, nobody knew about the armour on Smaug's belly. By destroying the bridge, the Lakemen keep Smaug from attacking from land, which gives them the supposed chance to shoot him off the sky with arrows - just as they attempted it.

Originally Posted by Sauron

What was he "foiled" in?

He was foiled in attacking the town properly. His attack is instead reduced to breathing fire and hunting boats. He apparently is unable to land in the town, and he can no longer walk into it.

Originally Posted by Sauron

Or in landing upon it and walking over... for what conceivable purpose?

Because his attack would be much more devastating if he landed and was able to walk through the city. His strength and his claws are useless in an air assault.

Originally Posted by Sauron

Nobody - your [Rikae] or davem - quoted anything to show that Smaug had a fear - to use the word several have used - of water.

As given quotes tell, if Smaug fell into the water it would quench his fire and everything would be covered in mist for days. He would have had to fly home and try again a few days later. By that time, Laketown would likely be deserted. He had no phobia of water or feared for his life - nobody claimed that. He feared that the water would ruin his assault.

Originally Posted by Sauron

And by the way, are we suppose to believe that while there were no places large enough for Smaug to land in Laketown, there was plenty of open space for him to maneuver among the various streets and lanes of the town with some elbow room to spare? Either its one way or the other here on the layout of Laketown.

I would assume that Laketown was more or less build like a medieval village, which means rather narrow streets. But if we look at Tolkien's pictures, we see a dragon who has a long, but rather narrow build. He also could have climbed over the houses, I think.

Originally Posted by Sauron

Clear as mud. There is nothing to indicate that Smaug intended to land anywhere in Laketown, let alone on the bridge or the same bridge was the one and only place he could have landed. No support for that at all. There is nothing CLEAR about that.

There is nothing to indicate that Smaug intended to land anywhere in Laketown, let alone on the bridges. You are right in that, and those who claim it are rather wrong. However, it is rather clear to me that he intended to land on solid ground and then use the bridge to walk into the town to destroy it:

Originally Posted by The Hobbit, Fire and Water

They could all get into boats for all he cared. There he could have fine sport hunting them, or they could stop till they starved. Let them try to get to land and he would be ready.

As you see, he could do nothing but hunt or starve them while they're on the water. He needed them to reach the shores in order to defeat them. The quote already provided says that Smaug's first destination were the bridges, but, as you point out, it doesn't say he wanted to land on them. My guess is that they wouldn't be strong enough to support a landing - the impact might've send him right through it and into the undesired water. The same holds for landing on the docks.

edit:

Originally Posted by Sauron

And I am still waiting to find out how the townspeople destroyed that bridge in such "little time" as was available to them.

Originally Posted by The Hobbit, Fire and Water

Cut the bridges!

To me, this sounds like the bridges were built in a way that requires nothing more than a few axes to destroy them.