Posted: August 08, 1999 at 16:46:47: by Martin Read
: Greetings i have been loitering for the past couple of weeks but have now decided to make a post :-). For me the way the military will be armed is an important part. From how tolkien describes the armour and weapons in middle-earth id guess they would be very close to those of the 12th or 11nth century on earth :-). Now this is at the time of the war of the ring. According to Moriarty there may be battle scenes from the 1st and 2nd ages (middle earth time). Therefore i would suggest armour from the late roman period. I hope PJ doesnt decide to put the forces of evil in dark black armour with spikes coming out everywhere like in popular tv series Xena and Hercules. I also hope that we dont see warriors of rohan and gondor in full plate armour. Another matter id like to address are the ships of Umbar.What did they look like? Ive always imagined them to look like roman war galleys or viking ships not like the designs of the 15th century. One type of Umbarian vessel is described as a dromond (Battle of Pelennor). This was a Byzantine vessel of the galley type but more like the galleys which fought at Lepanto in the 16th century than Ancient Greek triremes. If you look at one of these galleys and remove the cannon mounted in the bows replacing them with ballistas and a type of flame-thrower (Greek Fire) you won't be far wrong. The beak was certainly above the waterline, not below as was the case in ancient galleys. Martin.
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