Uruk officer and standard-bearer
This page last modified: 2 December 2002
Uruk officer and standard-bearer
Minas Morgul, formally the Gondorian city of Minas Ithil, was captured by the Lord of the Nazgul who turned it into his headquarters. These Uruk-hai depict an officer of the garrison, perhaps Shagrat of Cirith Ungol, with his standard-bearer and guardsmen.
The emblem of the garrison was the moon (Minas Ithil meaning Tower of the Moon) disfigured into a skull (Morgul meaning Black sorcery). This appeared on the Orcs' equipment, and most likely on their banners too.
Uruks of Minas Morgul
Uruks first appeared relatively late in the third age - a creation of Sauron. Sauron liked the colour black - he tried to capture as many black horses as possible from Rohan, and these Uruks are no exception to the rule. He was a Dark Lord after all!
I rate them as Regular Bd (F) - well armoured and equipped, tough, trained to move at fast speeds, and somewhat more disciplined than the average Orc. Some of these guys are missing shields, something to be fixed in the future.
Trolls providing motive power for a seige tower
It was the forces of Minas Morgul that besieged Minas Tirith during the War of the Ring. Here a bunch of trolls start to push a siege tower forwards as ordered by the Black Captain to "test the strength of the defences and to keep the men of Gondor busy in many places."
Siege towers rate as WWg (S) in DBM. They are best defeated by artillery or heavy infantry setting fire to them. The numerous trolls here, rated as Bd (S), should keep enemy footmen from interferring...
The Black Captain himself
The Lord of the Nazgul, "black-mantled, huge and threatening. A crown of steel he bore... A great black mace he wielded." Here he is mounted on his fell-beast: "it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank."
I have no idea what manufacturer the figure is by. The fell-beast is rather too small, but at least it fits on a standard sized base.
Grond
"Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram... Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded, and behind walked mountain-trolls to wield it."
This is the third WWg(S) element in my Morgul host, the other two being more standard siege towers. The tower on the roof of the ram's penthouse is to aid dampening fires. Not visible in the photograph (the tower is open at the back) is an Orc at the top equipped with a water bucket.
"Grond crawled on. Upon its housing no fire would catch; and though now and again some beast that hauled it would go mad and spread stampeding ruin among the orcs innumerable that guarded it, their bodies were cast aside from its path and others took their place."
The assault on Minas Tirith
"Then the Black Captain rose in his stirrups and cried aloud in a dreadful voice, speaking in some forgotten tongue words of power and terror to rend both heart and stone."
Of course, he was on a horse at this part of the narrative, but I haven't got a figure for that yet... Grond is also supposed to be shaped like a ravening wolf, but I couldn't resist the temptation to model a slightly demonic ram.
|
|
|
| Siege tower | Orc archers from Minas Morgul |
One of my siege towers, as featured in the assault on Minas Tirith. The troll at the rear provides motive power, while archers crowd the tops, ready to shower the enemy with arrows.
Due to their great height, in DBM such mobile towers classified as WWg (S) have the virtue of being able to fire overhead of friendly or enemy troops. This has the potential to make their shooting quite deadly. I say potential, because the rules require any enemy target to be in a very narrow range band - between 150 and 200 paces so that stray arrows don't fall on any friendly interveing troops. Moreover, enemy troops can also fire at them overhead, so this makes them extra vunerable to enemy artilley...
Minas Morgul assault force
Return to my army list index, my figure galleries index, or my homepage index.