Board Thread:Fan Fiction/@comment-26295802-20170424021102/@comment-26295802-20170424171905

Patrick.vtap wrote: That was good, very good. We'll have to clarify exactly what happened during the Third Overland Campagn, unless we already did somewhere. Sounds interesting. We talked about it a while back, when we were first organizing Dol Amroth and Umbar's united history. It was one of three main engagements we outlined, the other two being the First and Second Overland Campaigns.

Basically Veantur throws his whole military at Dol Amroth, and Gondor is caught completely of guard. Imrahil leads out all the grand armies of Dol Amroth to meet them on The Fields of Gilrain just north of Linhir.

The problem was that it was early spring, and it had rained for weeks and weeks. The fields were knee-deep in mud, and Imrahil's famous cavalry weren't able to drag their horses through it. Thus Imrahil's main shock troops were completely disabled, and his army was nearly imobilized. Amid the mud and slush, Veantur's lightly armoured Umbarians completely out-meneuvered Imrahil's troops who were weighed down with their fancy weapons and armour

It was a total disaster, one of the worst in Gondorian history. Imrahil's army was completely routed, the prince himself nearly died, and the previously indomitable Swan Knights were sent running over the Hills of Tarnost in shameful retreat.

It has been said by many historians that if Veantur had chosen to strike Dol Amroth immediatly, he could have easily taken it. But his troops were tired and needed rest. So instead he decided to sack the city of Tarnost for food and supplies before moving on.

This is where the famous hero Belegost comes in. Belegost was a half-Umbarian himself that had defected from that nation's navy many years previous. He was entirely familiar with Umbarian tactics and weapontry. With just the small militia garrison of Tarnost, he managed to defend the city for three days. With those three days, Travian managed to rally the forces of Dol Amroth, and reinforcements were given time to arrive from The Union of the Silver Shield, and some of the other fiefdoms. Confronted with superier forces, Veantur was forced to return back to Umbar with his army, his dreams of conquest barely foiled by that great Dol Amrothian hero known as Lord Belegost.

Belegost was afterwards promomted to be Imrahil's chief general, and together with Travian, Eredan, and Imrahil himself, became one of the main four Amrothian figures in The War of the Ring.