Green Elves of Ossiriand
The Laiquendi, or Green Elves, are the people of Denethor dwelling in Ossiriand in the shadow of the Ered Luin. Ere the Noldor returned to Beleriand to wage their long war for the Silmarils, Morgoth had already retaken his seat at his northern stronghold of Angband and began plotting to take Middle Earth by force. His assault came suddenly on the realm of Elu Thingol and the Sindar. Cut off from his allies the Falathrim on the coast, Thingol appealed to the Laiquendi for aid. Denethor marshaled his people and went to war. The Sindar and their allies took the Orc host from two sides in a great battle at Amon Ered and the Orcs were nearly exterminated, but the lightly armed Laiquendi suffered heavy losses at the hands of the ironshod legions of Morgoth. Denethor was cut off and his company were slain before Thingol could reach him. Henceforth the Laiquendi took no other king while their realm lasted and clad them selves in green (hence their name) preferring to survive by stealth rather than open warfare.
The trauma suffered by Green Elves with the loss of Denethor at the First Battle of Beleriand has left a scar that will never fade. Consequently, the Laiquendi prefer to fell their foes from a distance with withering arrow fire. Only once the enemy was been sufficiently weakened by ambushes and prolonged skirmishing will the Laiquendi commit to open battle.
Ossiriand armies are highly specialized for ranged and hit-and-run warfare. Many Green Elves are able to hide themselves anywhere on the battle field, lying in wait for the opportune moment to unleash a deadly volley of poisoned arrows. Due to their preference for living in woodlands, Green Elf cavalry suffers no penalties fighting in the woods and their infantry receive bonuses when fighting on forest terrain. In addition, Green Elf foot skirmishers are faster than their counterparts in other factions and enjoy slightly increased ammunition counts and bow damage. Finally, in order to reflect their mastery of the bow, Ossiriand is the only faction in the game to boast a unit with body piercing arrows.
All of this comes at a cost however. Green Elf troops are very lightly armored with few shielded units, able to field only a small number of elite heavy infantry, the Erphin en Taur. The Laiquendi have no truly offensive infantry outside of the Erphin, with the majority of their host being made of companies of spearmen and ambushers. They also lack polearm units, like pikes and halberds, entirely instead relying heavily on their excellent bowmen to whittle down enemy formations before engaging with their infantry. Heavily armored and shielded armies must therefore be approached with care and prudence, harassing important targets and eliminating them from afar and letting allies better suited to close quarters engage the enemy frontline. Heavy infantry supported by Ossiriand bowmen are a formidable force indeed!
Gelion Scouts:
Gelion was a river of Middle-earth in the First Age, the principal river of East Beleriand, being the border of Beleriand and Ossiriand.The vale of Gelion sloped steadily southward and thus had neither falls nor rapids, yet was ever swifter than the River Sirion. Although Gelion was twice the length of Sirion it was less wide and full, for more rain fell in the west than in the east.
Spearhost of Gelion:
Rathloriel Hunters:
After the murder of King Thingol of Doriath the Dwarves of Nogrod easily entered Menegroth where they ransacked and plundered the halls, retaking the Nauglamír. The victorious Dwarves marched along the banks of the Ascar with their spoils. Suddenly, Beren, Dior his son, and a host of Laiquendi attacked the Dwarves. After the Battle of Sarn Athrad Beren reclaimed the Nauglamír, but had the rest of the treasure of Doriath cast into the Ascar. From that time forth the river was renamed Rathlóriel ("Goldenbed").
Rathloriel Skirmishers:
Ascar was the northernmost of the rivers that flowed through Ossiriand. It emerged near Dolmed and, the Dwarf-road from the Blue Mountains lay along its northern bank, until it met Gelion at Sarn Athrad.
Rathloriel Spearhost:
The Ford of Stones is notable as the place of an important battle. The Dwarves had passed across the ford to Menegroth for centuries, but a time came when Thingol commissioned them to reforge the Nauglamír, mounting it with a Silmaril. The Dwarves were so filled with desire for the reforged Necklace that they slew King Thingol and escaped with his treasures, but as they fled back across the Ford of Stones they were intercepted by Beren and the Green-elves. The treasure was reclaimed, but the Lord of Nogrod, leader of the Dwarves, cursed it. Beren drowned most of the cursed hoard in the waters of Ascar, but the Silmaril was saved and would later pass into the West with Eärendil.
Erphin-en-Taur:
The Land of the Seven Rivers lay between the River Gelion and the Blue Mountains, and was the home of the Green-elves, the Laiquendi. The Seven Rivers from which it took its name were the Gelion itself and six of its tributaries. From north to south, these tributaries were the Ascar, the Thalos, the Legolin, the Brilthor, the Duilwen and the Adurant.
Erphin-en-Taur (Helmet Variant):
Mace Bodyguard (WIP):
Ranger Bodyguard (WIP):
Cavalry:
Sentries of Gelion (Horse Archer):
Gelion then passed by Taur-im-Duinath and emptied into the Great Sea Belegaer and according to Karen Wynn Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-earth, it was hundreds of miles in length and longer then the Sirion but not as deep and wide.
Outriders of Duilwen:
Ents:
As Elrond said "Time was once when a squirrel could carry a nut from tree to tree from Rivendell to the Great Sea..." Nearly all of Eriador was one huge forest and part of Entish domain. Some Ents passed into East Beleriand and perhaps Tasarinan. An Ent-host showed up near Dolmed and helped Beren against the Dwarves of Nogrod who sacked Doriath and slew King Thingol; the Dwarves were driven to the shadow woods of Ered Lindon and no-one managed to exit.
Beautiful