Tactical discussion: Countering Mumakil - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Gil-Galad · 02-16-2005, 09:04 PM

i guess more archers would be good... well in Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, the best way to counter Oliphants is to use fire arrows, which scare them and shake everything on top off of it...

Kuruharan · 02-16-2005, 09:17 PM

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Apparently the elephant driver (mahout) has a really close relationship with the elephant, as they have likely trained and worked together for many years. therefore, in a battle situation, the mahout may well be reluctant to put his friend (and himself!) in harm's way.

Also makes one wonder how quickly the handler would whack the spike home should need arise.

Maybe this partially explains why elephants gone bad could cause so much havoc to their own armies. The driver was more willing to let their own army die rather than the elephant.

Mumak o' Harad · 02-26-2005, 07:16 AM

Being Mumak myself, I would say that a couple more Elves like Legolas (considering the Movie scenes) would do the job...

Gil-Galad · 02-26-2005, 09:38 AM

keep in mind this is the books thread not the movies, so we think the book way... if i was a haradrim, i would easily kill legolas but nooooo...stupid plot...

Mumak o' Harad · 02-26-2005, 02:42 PM

Sorry for the miss, Gil, let's stick to the books...
Maybe the best way to counter the Mumak attacks would be to insert very thick, short and sharp spikes on the ground at strategic access places to prevent them from coming, and maybe the use of heavy rock throwing catapults fom afar (but this could kill the Gondorian soldiers on the field...).

Halbarad · 03-02-2005, 07:19 AM

At the conclusion of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields a list of notable casualties is, er, listed. In that list we find that

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Duilin of Morthond and his brother were trampled to death when they assailed the mumakil, leading their bowmen close to shoot at the eyes of the monsters.

This appears to be the best tactic the Gondorians had found to counter the mumak, and it appears to have been effective, seeing as no foe escaped

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except to die or drown in the red foam of the River.

I'm not sure if that is a reference to only the foes within the Rammas, but none of the Haradrim survived, so I presume that means the controllers of the beasts.

Celebaglar · 03-17-2005, 02:34 PM

interesting fact, the horns medieval soldiers carried (i.e. Horn of gondor) were called olifaunts, why did tolkien decide to call mumakil oliphaunts? As to countering them, as slow and rather untalented beasts, catapults with flaming projectiles would work, or knocking down the platform on its back. The flames would likely scare the beast.

02-16-2005, 09:04 PM	#1
Gil-Galad Psyche of Prince Immortal Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Above a Parapet Obvious exits are: North, South, and Dennis Posts: 4,734	i guess more archers would be good... well in Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, the best way to counter Oliphants is to use fire arrows, which scare them and shake everything on top off of it... __________________ Love doesn't blow up and get killed.

02-26-2005, 07:16 AM	#3
Mumak o' Harad Pile O'Bones Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Brazil Posts: 12	Being Mumak myself, I would say that a couple more Elves like Legolas (considering the Movie scenes) would do the job... __________________ "We are jigsaw pieces aligned on the perimeter edge Interlocked through a missing piece..." by Derek Dick (a.k.a. Fish)

02-26-2005, 09:38 AM	#4
Gil-Galad Psyche of Prince Immortal Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Above a Parapet Obvious exits are: North, South, and Dennis Posts: 4,734	keep in mind this is the books thread not the movies, so we think the book way... if i was a haradrim, i would easily kill legolas but nooooo...stupid plot... __________________ Love doesn't blow up and get killed.

02-26-2005, 02:42 PM	#5
Mumak o' Harad Pile O'Bones Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Brazil Posts: 12	Sorry for the miss, Gil, let's stick to the books... Maybe the best way to counter the Mumak attacks would be to insert very thick, short and sharp spikes on the ground at strategic access places to prevent them from coming, and maybe the use of heavy rock throwing catapults fom afar (but this could kill the Gondorian soldiers on the field...). __________________ "We are jigsaw pieces aligned on the perimeter edge Interlocked through a missing piece..." by Derek Dick (a.k.a. Fish)

03-17-2005, 02:34 PM	#7
Celebaglar Animated Skeleton Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Among the host of the noldor, and the last high elves that dwell in middle eath Posts: 31	interesting fact, the horns medieval soldiers carried (i.e. Horn of gondor) were called olifaunts, why did tolkien decide to call mumakil oliphaunts? As to countering them, as slow and rather untalented beasts, catapults with flaming projectiles would work, or knocking down the platform on its back. The flames would likely scare the beast. Last edited by Celebaglar; 03-17-2005 at 02:46 PM.