could the easterling breach erebor?

[Zigûr]

It took three days for the Easterlings to overrun Dale, but the Dwarves were "the most redoubtable warriors of all the Speaking Peoples" ("Of Dwarves and Men"). The Easterlings were presumably numerous, since they were able to defeat the Dwarves and their Dalish allies who were probably more formidable as soldiers and better equipped.

It was not a matter of combat but of morale which weakened the Easterlings and brought victory to the Dwarves and Men of Dale, which implies that the siege could have been maintained in different circumstances. That being said, surely beseiging Erebor would be an utterly monumental task - an entire mountain with tunnels and halls and, I would imagine, a very great store of weapons and armour.

Could reinforcements have come from the Iron Hills? We hear little of them by this late in the Age. There is no mention, for instance, that any force attacked them, yet before Erebor and Dale were rebuilt Gandalf was concerned that "To resist any force that Sauron might send to regain the northern passes in the mountains and the old lands of Angmar there were only the Dwarves of the Iron Hills." So at one time the Iron Hills were considered an Eastern defence - did Erebor and Dale replace this? As such it's difficult to know if the Dwarves could receive reinforcements. That being said, perhaps Thranduil could have come to their aid. It depends how threatening Dol Guldur was at the time, I suppose.

Originally Posted by tom the eldest

Do easterling have catapults?could they bring down the side of the lonely mountain with tyat?or at least make a hole in the gate?

As has been stated in numerous other recent threads about the Easterlings, we know next to nothing about their military equipment or technology. I suppose they could potentially have been afforded siege engines by Sauron, but given that their military effectiveness at the time was limited by Sauron's inability to send reinforcements from Dol Guldur it's hard to say how much support they had been given.