Another Helm's Deep What If...

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 2003-01-02 02:24pm

Seeing as all of us have seen TTT atleast once, and after the third time seeing it, I decided that if the Romans were at Helm's Deep instead of the Rohirrim, then the Army of Isengard would've been destroyed without the help of Gandalf and the 1000 Riders.

Keep in mind that the Romans have perfected the use of artillery, namely each Century has it's own mobile Ballistae on a wagon, and each Cohort has it's own Catapult as well, making the total for each 500 man Cohort 5 Ballistae and 1 Catapult, and for the 1000 man Millarian Cohort 10 Ballistae and 2 Catapult.

In later Roman Legion's, there were 2 Millarian and 8 standard Cohorts.
earlier one's had just 1 Millarian and 9 standard Cohorts.

Each Legion also had its own Light Cavalry, of 120 men, used as scouts, and armed with bows.

They also had a Skirmisher Line, which in earlier days consisted of spearmen and slingers, but in later days, consisted mainly of archers, armed with a composite longbow with a range of approx 300 paces.

How many Legions, if more than one, would be needed to defeat the 10,000+ strong Army of Isengard?

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-01-02 02:32pm

havent we done this in sci fi forum?

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-01-02 04:15pm

One Legion would be more than enough.

Moonstone Spider · Post by **Moonstone Spider** » 2003-01-02 06:59pm

If the men of Rohan had an entire Legion of soldiers they probably could have held out too. Put 300 romans, most of them old men or boys who've never held a sword, on the line, have most of their supplies and their best troops removed via treason on the part of Wormtongue, and they'd get creamed.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-01-02 07:08pm

[1] We have indeed already done this, with Romans both attacking and defending
[2] Far less then one Legion would be required to win and they could do so without the aid of the Helm's Deep fortifications.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 2003-01-02 07:13pm

I did not check the Other Sci-Fi forum several pages back because LotR is NOT Sci-Fi, but fantasy. If the forum was changed to Other Sci-FI and Fantasy, it would've made sense that there would've been such discussions done.

CJvR · Post by **CJvR** » 2003-01-02 07:56pm

A full strenght Roman Legion of the Imperial era would have marched out and crushed the Isengarders in open combat rather that getting stuck in the Helms Deep death trap.

If you reduce the Roman force to about a cohort's size(300 Rohanites & 200 Elves/Rangers) it would have the same problem the defenders of Helms Deep had. It is impossible to defend such a poorly designed fortress against such vastly superior numbers.

IMPO not even the Romans could have held Helms Deep under such circumstances although they would have done a vastly superior job of defending it than the Rohanite and Elves did.