"Mordor OOB?" Topic

Based on the LOTR books (not the movies), I'm wondering how people might organize their Mordor Orc hordes? I'm currently building 15mm armies and am thinking something like this:

Snaga – lightly armed skirmish/runty orcs (basically goblins)
Orcs – plenty of basic orcs, good at HTH but fragile morale
Trackers – Skilled archer orcs, poor at HTH
Morgul Orcs – heavily armed/armored, poison weapons?
Uruks – the Elite guard (originally created by Sauron, not Saruman!)

I suppose I'd throw in olog-hai trolls, warg riders, even a few black numenoreans to give them heavy cavalry.

Hi Spudeus, sounds good to me, though I usually split into snagas, 'normal orcs' and Uruk Hai. Also could add an Uruk or two to lesser units as leaders/slavedrivers (where there's a whip there's a way!).

Also plenty of scope for allies (minions) from the Easterlings and Haradrim.

Somewhere in my lead pile I actually have a couple orcs wielding whips! (we don't want to go to war today. . .)

The southern/eastern realms are (yet another) project I may get to some day – probably a separate OOB, although Tolkien only describes a few of their unit in any detail.

I organize my Orc armies by tribe. Usually, that works out to: young Orcs or Snaga, the bulk of the Orc warriors, veteran Orcs and/or an Elite Warband, a leader(usually an Uruk or Olag Hai), and maybe a Shaman or two. Depending on the size, wealth and origin of the tribe, they might have more than one unit of each type, wolves/Wargs, siege equipment, or even chariots. It has always seemed to me that trying to force Orcs from different tribes into units was counter intuitive since they need brutal discipline, and fight amongst themselves enough without forcing them into artificial units!

you are expecting a lot from orcs if you think they formed organised units..

Organized enough to be given numbers
"I'll give your name and number to the Nazgul"

"Up you get and fall in, or I'll have your numbers and report you".

I think that the traditional breakdown of skirmishers of any type, warbands(goblins/smaller orcs), and heavy infantry (uruk hai)is as detailed as you need to get.

Any differentiation can be within the strength of these units. Warbands from the Misty Mountains would not be as effective as warbands from Mordor. Heavy Infantry of Minas Morgul would be as good as HI from Isengard, and better than HI of Mordor proper.