Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-29212138-20170201145441/@comment-122.61.230.234-20170203022956

Recneps wrote:

High King Ithilion wrote: The Rangers were not a stealth force. They were small patrols who roamed the wild plains and forests of the Lone-Lands killing any Orcs they found. They were entirely fine with using melee and fighting hand-to-hand. They couldn't fight like a traditional army, but camoflage was only one of, and not their most used, form of attack. Stealth like that is mainly the Ithilien Rangers. The Rangers were a stealth force. They kept their movements secret from their enemies and those they defended. They did not wear heavy mail for all to see. The people they helped did not even know they were soldiers. They communicated in hidden runes in commonly-camped locations. They fought with ambushes, and attacked unexpectedly. Anything else would lead to them being crushed. Additionally, the reason given for them needing footmen is to conquer an area.

LordArvedui wrote: If you think about it logically, in the end even rangers of ithilien needed some gondor infantry to conquer an area. So Rangers of the North need some footmen. They would not need footmen to conquer areas, as they did not conquer areas. And, as you said, they did not fight like a traditional army. Footmen, as these are labeled and described as, are something which only has a place in such a traditional army. Rank and file soldiers trained to march and swing. Rangers did not fight in such a crushing fashion, they ambushed and walked in secret. The heavy mail of Arnor would not be fitting for their travel and combat. Anything else would lead to them being crushed.

Not quite true, I'm afraid. Well, at least the supposition that their only way of fighting was ambushes and unexpected attacks. In Unfinished Tales: The Hunt for the Ring, readers were told they defended the Shire without ambushes- they had a fortification at Sarn Ford, manned by a number of Rangers, that must have been one of their main outposts. I presume that means they had permanent camps at other entrances to the Shire as well. So, they might well have used Arnorian mail, and other styles of fighting at these outposts, since the enemy could quite possibly come to grips with them at any time (as the Nazgul did in The Hunt for the Ring).