Thread:Patrick.vtap/@comment-26295802-20170411011349

In lore, Dol Amroth is mentioned alongside Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith as one of the safest, most easily defendable places owned by the race of men. Indeed, it's one of the few mentions Dol Amroth even gets in canon.

So, keeping with that, I've devised a unique defensive layout for Dol Amroth, that I've used and developed over the past few years.



Ignoring my terrible handwriting, I'll try to explain the defences to you. Basically, Dol Amroth is built into a small harbour that's been eroded away by the relentless ocean. Most of the buildings and towers are built into the massive cliffs that surround the place (a little like Petra now that I think about it, but with much sheerer cliffs).

The only way into Dol Amroth is along the Seaward Road (upper right corner of the map), a small, narrow trail that leads along the seaside, with a sheer cliff on the south side, and a fifty-foot drop into cold ocean on the other. The road is, needless to say, very easily defendable. It is defended by a massive white gate.

The enterence to the harbor is the only other way into Dol Amroth. As I described on the main thread, it is guarded by the massive and ancient Sea-Gate, a huge retractable wall that can block off the enterence to the harbor in times of need. It his filled with well-covered positions for archers, mounted ballistas, and other unpleasant surprises. Even after hundreds of years of corisair battles, Umbarians have never broken The Sea-Gate.

All that's just to take the mainland. Tirith Aear itself is another story. The Sea-Ward Tower is built on a lone isle in the midst of the harbour, and accessable only by a heavily fortified causeway to the shore. Tirith Aear itself is a nearly impregnable fortress, covered in various levels of defences and archery positions.

So yeah, in keeping with lore, I've tried to make Dol Amroth a fortress to rival Minas Tirith, while still giving it its own unique flavor (the implimentation of causeways and sea-oriented warfare instead of height as the main advantage.) 