Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-26295802-20160321234711/@comment-25101690-20160607174039

About this thread:

I agree with Prince Imrahil and often had the same thought. Orcs are per se pretty average fighters. They are bred and trained only for war (as far as we know) but they are smaller than Men and probably have a much shorter average lifespan[citation needed]. In almost all battles the defenders got huge advantages: All in all, leadership and morale are way more important than the quality of the soldiers. Common orcs always had very poor morale. They were almost like slaves (snaga). Uruks were bred to be stronger. They knew neither fear nor pain. But that also made them weak. They were like machines, they could never go beyond their abilities. The Free People fought for their values and their freedom. An angry mob of hobbits with poor equipment and training is still a respectable enemy.
 * When Eomer defeated the orc band near Fangorn, the orcs on foot faced cavalry. Everyone with some strategical knowledge should know that cavalry in the open field is much more effective than infantry, especially the best cavalry of Middle Earth! The Rohirrim used skirmish tactics against the encircled orcs, horse archery and killing separated orcs. Moreover, the orcs had no united leadership, were already exhausted from marching all the time, and were not prepared for this fight.
 * The Hornburg was a mighty fortress of Gondorian architecture. IT was built in a valley so that it could only be attacked from one side. The uruks came well prepared with siege equipment and stormed the outer walls comparatively quickly. The Rohirrim couldn't have held out much longer without Gandalf's arrival.
 * Faramir used all kinds of tactics to fight as efficiently as possible. He ambushed Haradrim on the road and defended riverbanks. He would never initiate a battle in which the circumstances didn't grant him a positive k/d rate, since he knew that this would mean Gondor's inevitable defeat.