2 replies to this topic

[Emperor of the East]

Hello everyone. I was reading through Tolkien's writings to learn about the Easterlings. He describes them as an army of swordsmen, spearmen, axemen, horsemen (most of whom were bowmen), and so many charioteers that there were even charioteer clans (Wainriders, Balchoth), knowing he didn't mention on-foot archers because that was an obvious no-brainer, no human army would give horsemen and charioteers bows without giving infantrymen bows. And then later I saw an episode of a reality warriors based show that explained to me the Iron-Age Persian Approach to warfare. They had lamellar bronze armor, axes with spikes in the back, spears, large shields, recurved composite bows, scimitars, and a massive chariot fleet. I also have a reality warriors book that says that the Persian mostly relied on archers, cavalry, and chariots.

Both wear lamellar bronze? Both have clans of chariot fleets? both use axes and scimitars as the one-handed weapons? Both make epic use out of the bow and of the horse? Both use reinforced two-material shields that are designed to be held upright? It appears that Tolkien was inspired by Persia for Rhun. However, the Aryan architecture in their buildings and the fact that they have Central-Asian yurts as tents says they're also part Aryan and part Turk (Central Asia is conveniently named "Turkestan"), their use of pagodas as shelter houses in Games-Workshop's game and their use of a caste system hints at them having a partly Hindu & partly Zoroastrian religion.

My point is, the Easterlings should have an infantry archer, horsemen archer, and battalion-carrying battlewagon unit, each of these would pay good homage to the books, in addition to a chariot version of each of the infantry units, Wainriders, they would be called, rather than just "Easterlings"

~E~

P.S., "lamellar", for those of you who don't know, is armor made out of scales of metal.

[yams in a can]

I hope the Easterlings/Haradrim get a weakness. They seem to have everything.

If anything, I hope their buildings are weaker than others, or just not good heroes...

[Emperor of the East]

The Haradrim and Easterling buildings would probably be somewhere in the middle, the Haradrim make their structures from bamboo and hide, while the Easterlings make theirs from stone, topped with wood, topped with bronze lamellar (???). The Haradrim and Easterling weakness appears to be the lack of variety in their siege equipment (i.e., only having Mumakil and Catapults). And no, no faction should have weaker heroes than units, it makes no sense. This mod is about realism and fair balancing of the gameplay. And, as follows, they will have the least heroes of any faction, but their heroes would logically make up for it in ability, strength, and leadership. Jes' look at Mordor, nine of their thirteen heroes are Nazguls and yet they manage to pull things off well, not saying there's anything wrong with the Nazgul.

And the Easterlings would only have halberds instead of the battleaxe or spear, since this is primarily a movie-based mod. But what Easterling army is complete without foot-archers, horsemen, and charioteers? And LotR would not exist without JRR Tolkien, who was, again, inspired by Sassanid Persia, Aryan Indus, and Turkish Turkestan for Rhun.

Which means that no, they don't have everything. The Haradrim are largely a force of spearmen, horsemen, and Giant elephants. The Easterlings are largely a force of archers, horsemen, and chariots. So I'm sure the Rhun can do good with just one Wainrider troop type, like the Harad can do well with only one Mumakil troop type. Plus, the Haradrim use Mumakil for siege, but the Easterlings don't drive elephants. They use Catapults.

The Goblins have several Cave Trolls and Stone Giants with Wolf-riders and wild wargs and giant spiders.

The Mordor put their Grey Uruks and their random Orcs to work on the catapults, siege towers, battering rams, mountain trolls, and mighty Grond.

Isengard's Red Uruks and not-so-random Orcs use ladders, ballistas, battering rams, wargs, and something no one else has: GUN POWDER!!!!

The Elves have Ents and Hobbits (and ballistas on their ships)

The Dwarves have double-armed catapults, oil casks, and Dalic reinforcement.

The Gondorians have Trebuchets, most other factions use only catapults.

The Rohan have Catapults, and tons of horsemen.

Now you see that their is not a single faction in this mod that has everything?

All statements are based on reading I did of the forum and of Encyclopedia of Arda, and of course the actual novels themselves.

~E~