How many in Battle of 5 Armies?

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

I emphasize again that the elves would doubtless incur very heavy casualties during the close combat phase.

Hmm... well I don’t see how they could. The spear is not a weapon that is made for the close combat phase, seeing how you need some space to stab or to swing with it. Besides I doubt that this phase would occur since Dain’s main objective is to make it into the mountain. If the elves were so mighty shots why didn’t they storm Esgaroth while there were only the thirteen dwarves in there? Says quite a bit about the elves don’t it?

Soldiers are most effective when they have a cause to believe and fight for. What where the elves fight for? They were fighting for their king and his greed and want of jewels, not much of a cause. However, the dwarves were fighting to reclaim their long lost home; they were fighting for what was theirs. They had a cause to fight for, this would make them unconquerable in battle.