Lake Town Bowmen

* Portrait
* In Game
* Upgraded

"Roaring he swept back over the town. A hail of dark arrows leaped up and snapped and rattled on his scales and jewels, and their shafts fell back kindled by his breath burning and hissing into the lake. No fireworks you ever imagined equalled the sights that night. At the twanging of the bows and the shrilling of the trumpets the dragon's wrath blazed to its height, till he was blind and mad with it. No one had dared to give battle to him for many an age; nor would they have dared now, if it had not been for the grim-voiced man (Bard was his name), who ran to and fro cheering on the archers and urging the Master to order them to fight to the last arrow."
—Fire and Water, The Hobbit

During the Third Age, Lake-town had its own militia force trained for combat. While they were primarily used for keeping the peace in the town and enforcing the Master's will, they would also defend the town against external threats. Their greatest challenge came when the great dragon Smaug was woken by the Company of Thorin Oakenshield and descended on the town. Led by Bard the Bowman, the archers in the militia attempted to fight of the great dragon in vain.

The Lake Town Bowmen are a cheap archer unit available for Reign of Oakenshield Erebor as well as its Adventure: Battle of the Five Armies subfaction.

## Abilities and Formations

**Bombard (W)** - continually bombard the target area with a volley of projectiles. Left click icon and then left click on the target area.

## Upgrades

**Master's Armour (T)** - Upgrades this battalion with Master's Armour. When equipped, significantly reduces the amount of damage taken. Research upgrade at Grand Forge to enable this equipment. Cost: 300

**Fire Arrows (C)** - upgrades this battalion with fire arrows. Significantly increases the damage done by arrows. Cost: 300

**Esgaroth Banners (V)** - when equipped, increases this battalion to level 2. Can only be equipped at level 1. Cost: 100

*(Note: In the Adventure: Battle of the Five Armies subfaction, the **Master's Armour** and **Fire Arrows** upgrades require the **Armouries of Thrór** ability from the Erebor Fortress, while the **Esgaroth Banners** upgrade is instead researched at the Dalish Ruin.)*

## Strategy

The Laketown Bowmen are the weakest archer unit available for Erebor and its Adventure: Battle of the Five Armies subfaction. However, they are the cheapest and so can be amassed in greater numbers. They also have the largest battalion sizes. They are affected by a horde bonus as they +25% damage and armour when gathered in numbers of 80 or more, encouraaging the player to recruit a large number of them. Unlike the Rakhâs-abzâg and Azaghâr-sharâhul, they can be equipped with fire arrows, which will allow them to deal higher damage to structures than the other archer units. They can be supported by two heroes. The Master of Lake-town can increase their damage when he is near them. They can also be supported by Bard the Bowman who can has a leadership towards archers that increases their damage, range and vision. He can also grant them additional experience. The Bowmen will also work well with the Guards of the Master and Huruz-Khagal-zirak who can use their abilities to slow down and stun enemy forces, preventing them from escaping the range of Bowmen.