"War of the Ring The War in the North Angmar" Topic

Hi Everyone,

I am currently building an Arnor Army for HOTT C1974-5 TA for the battle of Fornost where Angmar was defeated.

But I wonder what was the state of play in 3019 when the Fellowship set out from Rivendell.

Was Angmar quietly or noisily on the rise again?

In the books there are numerous mentions of dis-quiet "up North" from folk living in The Shire.

I'm sure there is talk in the Green Dragon of strange things going on up near Deadman's Dike.

In Bree there is word that things are not right on the roads.

I believe that the Ettenmoors had again become a place of danger.

Lastly, doesn't Strider say that there are things a days ride away that would freeze the blood of the stoutest man?

My question is this: was Angmar and Carn Dum repopulated circe 3019 and ready to strike at Rivendell, Shire and Blue Mountains and Grey Havens?

Any ideas appreciated.

Also has anyone got a good idea for an Angmar shield design either 1974 or 3019? Surely the Red Eye was not used as Angmar was a secret to the White Council and not directly associated with Sauron.

Perhaps. After the Witch-King of Angmar (the chief Nagul) was defeated in the North, he went south and eventually overthrew Minas Ithil (which then became Minas Morgul). His mission was accomplished in the North. Fornost lay in ruins and Arnor was greatly depopulated and a shell of its former glory. Evil forces were on the rise everywhere, but the main target of Sauron at this point was the defeat of Gondor. Arnor had pretty much been broken up and defeated. But there may have been activity going on in Angmar. It's really up to your imagination.

I don't recall there being much action coming from Angmar or even the nearby Gundabad as Dale was attacked mostly by Easterlings.

I'd say that Sauron's hold west of the Misty Mountains was tenuous at best and while there were scattered pockets of orcs, trolls and hillmen, they probably lacked decent leadership to make them truly dangerous. It's obvious that Sauron had concentrated his strength around Mordor and Dol Guldur and counted on the Haradrim and Easterlngs to secure both his southern and nothern flanks.

Whatever forces were available in Angmar would have been mostly raiders, attacking isolated communities and probably running out of steam once they started to plunder.

I think Angmar was destroyed. The Rangers were guarding the borders of the Shire and Bree against trolls and other fell creatures, but not any organized human kingdom.

I think things were pretty quiet in Angmar at this time, as others have pointed out.
As for the battle of Fornost, I have also been putting together the Witch King's forces in 1/72. I opted for the Iron Crown as a shield design. I am not sure if this is backed up by any reference in Tolkien's texts, but I found that the moulded "White-hand" design on the Dark Alliance 1/72 orcs could be easily sculpted into a crude crown design! See here:
link

Everything that I have seen indicates the same thing. There was no organized enemy in Angmar during that time. There were a lot of orcs and trolls left over though. Even without an organized leadership they could be dangerous, especially since Bree and Shire had no real army.

I was just playing Divide and Conquer sub mod (Third Age mod, Medieval 2 Total War) as the Northern Dunedian its not totally lore accurate but its a good source of ideas….it also now includes unique battle maps for the ruined Deadman's Dike and Annuminas as well as rebuilt ones for when they are restored. Amon Sul is also featured.

The Remnants of Angmar has a variation on the eye of Sauron in the game, the Shadow of Mordor, the Shadow of Mirkwood and the Orcs of the Misty Mountains all have variations of the symbol as their faction symbol.

Thanks Guys,

I can see some skirmish games set around 3019 perhaps using SBG rules from Games Workshop. Guess I'll stick to HOTT for 1974 games.

Like the idea of the Iron Crown for an emblem.

As always lots of deep lore here from you guys.

Miniature Warfare magazine ran a nice set of articles about a Tolkien based Elven army from the First Age based for DBX games. Using Normans etc. rather than the more typical over the top Elf interps.

Considering doing Army Lists for Tolkien armies for DBX as a future project.

Thomas J. Thomas
Fame and Glory Games

Thomas, Kropotkin,

This might be useful. Lots of detail and research. The notes are worth reading for references even if you don't use the lists.

link

Trev

I like his lists but he has made the common mistake of splitting the DBM and HOTT lists (and then spending a lot of time explaining why Ents are not Elephants etc.)

You need the troop types from both games to do Fantistorical stuff like Tolkien.

Try using D3H2 which combines DBA 3.0 and HOTT 2.0 and allows all troop types (or of course A Game of Knights and Knaves).

Thomas J. Thomas
Fame and Glory Games