J.R.R. Tolkien was a linguist and historical scholar; his vision of Middle Earth was solidly based in historical models. These army lists are built in the same way.
Primary sources for this discussion are the Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Silmarillion, and Tolkien’s ancillary writings. For some armies and cultures more recent interpretations based upon the Peter Jackson movies (including their extension by Games Workshop figures and others) are mentioned, but in many cases those are more fantastic and dramatic and inappropriate to the underlying theme of Tolkien’s work. Just about anything going on in the Battle of the Five Armies movie is fine fantasy standing alone, but would have caused Professor Tolkien’s eyes to bug out in disbelief, and therefore is not included when building these army lists. As just one example, an army with giant mutilated trolls with flails instead of fists or with ballistae / catapults mounted on their backs is fun in general fantasy – but it is way over the top. It isn’t anything that Professor Tolkien would have written or included in his worlds.
The general technology exhibited in the Lord of the Rings works is that of the Early Medieval period, around 1100 AD or a bit earlier.
Gunpowder weapons do not appear in Tolkien. Gunpowder itself, in the sense of blasting (explosive) technology used to break the walls of the Hornburg, could (possibly) exist – but that could as easily be explained with some other mechanism, including some magic of Saruman’s.
Crossbows likewise are not mentioned. In history crossbows appear very early (the Picts used a few in the Roman period) so might be appropriate in the hands of Corsairs (as crossbows appear in the hands of naval forces in the Early Medieval period) or Dwarves (who are technologically adept – although Tolkien specifically gives examples of Dwarves using bows in battle).
Ballistae (large crossbows to fling bolts great distances – artillery in Triumph) and other siege weapons (catapults, onagers, trebuchets, are technology used from the Classical period (Greece/Rome) through the Medieval period. Very likely that technology would have been available for Numenor, its successors, and for the Dwarves and the Elves if fighting Trolls, Dragons, Mumak, and the like.
Chariots (and “wains”, or wagons) are described as military technology used by certain Easterling tribes or confederations. They appear at least twice, in the major invasions by the Wainriders and by the Balchoth. Chariots can be represented in Triumph in two different ways. Chariots used by nobles fighting in heroic style, jumping off to fight with melee weapons, then jumping back on to scoot away, are rated as Battle Taxi stands. In history those were used in Western Europe by the Gauls and their predecessors; in the British Isles they were used heavily by the Britons resisting the Roman invasion, and later by the Irish and Picts as late as the 8th or 9th century, so well into the Dark Ages. Chariots used as roving missile platforms are rated as Chariot stands in Triumph; those appear in European ancient warfare up to the 4th century BC, but are largely replaced by cavalry thereafter. In China they are used for another four centuries, through the middle or later Han Dynasty; in India through the 4th Century AD. They were not abandoned because of functional disadvantages (they worked fine in warfare), they were just more expensive and harder to maintain than other technologies that replaced them. Tolkien does not describe his battles in sufficient detail to know whether the chariots referred to in the Disaster of the Morannon used by Khand and the Easterlings were properly Battle Taxis or Chariots. The later Balchoth horde are described as being crude (militarily and technologically) – it is clearly more accurate (and fits their exhibited melee-oriented technology) for them to be rated as Battle Taxi. Khand, on the other hand, is a dry steppe area bordering on Harad, with much more emphasis (culturally and by its contacts with other states) on archery. Dry and steppe areas were most of the regions where archery-based chariot technology (Chariots in Triumph) was used successfully in Earth history – the Fertile Crescent, Persia, and the Silk Road area under Chinese domination (under the Han Dynasty). Therefore we have decided to have chariots used in Khand to be Chariots in Triumph (used by archers); and the ones used by the Easterlings at various points to be rated as Battle Taxi (used by melee fighters).
Wains (wagons) used in war can be rated in multiple ways. War Wagons (from Triumph) do not fit the battles against the various Easterling invasions. For these army lists we envision the use of wains as a stiffener in a crude close-order foot force – portable defenses, in essence, that move with the troops. Rating these Balchoth and Wainrider forces as Horde is an effective way to represent such combat troops. They will be slow, awkward, numerous, and not easy to destroy.
Wargs, sometimes with goblin riders, appear multiple times in Tolkien’s works. Such troops are best represented as Javelin Cavalry with the Battlecards Slow (as a movement of 6mu fits them much better than 8mu), Fierce (because they are going to be unable to disengage voluntarily from combat, and will be very aggressive), and Terrain Affinity (Woodland Creature), because they could and did fight in the woods and wooded hills of Angmar, the Ettenmoors, and Mirkwood.
Tolkien was a philologist and historian; in many cases the human cultures of Middle Earth have good historical analogues. These analogues can be useful when searching for appropriate miniature figures on which to base your armies.
Culturally, Numenor corresponds very well to Rome, with Gondor being Byzantium (Eastern Roman Successors) and Arnor being Western Rome and perhaps Merovingian Gaul (Western Roman Successors). Historical figures with Byzantine armor patterns work well for Gondor and early Arnor; Dark Ages figures (Carolingian, Merovingian, Breton) are good for the Arnor successor kingdoms of Arthedain, Cardolan, and (to some extent) Rhudaur.
In spite of these close historical analogues, I would not recommend using Roman figures for Numenor. Lorica Segmentata, for example, is distinctively Roman. If you use Lorica Segmentata figures, they will look (to anyone playing them) Roman, not Numenorean. Numenor did have very few cavalry.
The description of Dunlendings is fairly detailed; historical analogs would be the Irish, Picts, Welsh, or most any other highland peoples from the fall of Rome to the Medieval period. Rhudaur had some influence from its minority Arnor heritage as well.
Descriptions of these cultures are fairly detailed as well. Rohan is well fitted to the early Normans (albeit with round shields, not kite shields) or Bretons; the Northmen or Rhovanion cultures would work well as any Western European Dark Ages culture (Anglo-Saxon, Carolingian, Ottonian, Lombards, etc.) The Eotheod are a transition between Northmen and Rhovanion; either model would work.
The Dwarves are acknowledged as masters of armor and weapons; very tough and strong, living underground.
Several of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves arose in the mountains of the East, a north-south mountain range assumed to separate the rest of Middle Earth from the Coastal Easterling Empire described later.
Being basically of Northman stock, most of the forces of Dale or Esgaroth would be similar to other Northman or Rhovanion forces. With that said, the influence of constant trade with the Sea of Rhûn area down the River Running would have had a cultural influence, and so using Eastern European Dark Ages cultural models is quite appropriate. The square shields used by the Slavs and some Rus would work well to distinguish these forces from Rohirrim or other Northmen.
Sylvan elves were lightly armored, as described in the Silmarillion and again in the early parts of the Battle of Dagorlad at the start of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Leather and cloth seems appropriate; no shields.
High elves, especially Noldor, would have been much better armored. Elven Kingdoms with more Noldor influence, like Lothlorien and Imladris, might have some armored troops in addition to the Sylvan elves who make most of their populations.
Khand is a central landlocked area surrounded by other nations. They are east of Mordor and Harad, south of the Sea of Rhûn. They are completely landlocked, in contact with cultures and civilizations further to their East (the Coastal Easterlings discussed elsewhere). The Coastal Easterlings would have something of an oriental flair; the Southrons are Arabic-ish, and the Haradrim are more Persian/Muslim Indian.
So Khand is a landlocked area, a culture seemingly based on trade between the regions it intersects. That is a natural fit (geographically and culturally) for Central Asia. Central Asian Citystates, along the Silk Road, had a mixture of Turkic horsebow and urban lower-quality foot. That doesn't allow any axemen, but lose-order foot with axes are usually categorized as Raider (and that's what I've used for the Variag Axemen). In Persia and Central Asia there is a group of Raiders who were widely known and respected and served as mercenaries in many armies nearby -- the Dailami. LOTR figs for Khand axemen and bowmen work great as Dailami-style Raiders and Skirmishers.
This extrapolation ends up with Khand forces with three major categories:
Horsemen with horsebow. Also bow-armed Chariots, as described earlier in the section on battle technology.
Urban low-quality foot from the trade cities of Khand. Bow Levy and possibly some better troops, where a line of spearmen with large shields protect groups of better bowmen (Pavisiers).
Elite Dailami-style forces often employed in Mordor and elsewhere as mercenaries – the Axemen of Khand, and their skirmishing archers. Open order foot; Raiders and some Skirmishers.
“Southron” is a word used in Gondor and the West to refer to any culture from south of Mordor and Gondor. But the description of the Battle of Pelennor Field and of historical interactions described in the Appendices and other Tolkien work makes clear that there are more than one different cultures in play. We differentiate the two as “Near Harad” and “Far Harad.”
For Southron (Near Harad) the cavalry opponents of Eomer in Pelennor Field (scimitar-based cavalry) are the primary source; for Far Harad most of the cultures with Elephant use and Cavalry would fit, so Timurid or Muslim Indian are great.
“Easterling” is a term used in Gondor and the West to refer to a number of cultures around the Sea of Rhûn and east of there. This area was clearly not monolithic. We differentiate four different large cultural categories under the umbrella of “Easterlings”:
The tribes and towns living around the Sea of Rhûn from the Second Age and earlier.
The Wainrider invasion, when a coalition of those tribes invaded East Gondor and Rhovanion.
The Balchoth invasion, when a different coalition invaded, fighting as far as Calenardhon (later to become Rohan)
Coastal Easterlings, extrapolating the existence of a more powerful, more civilized empire even further east.
Each of the cultures above have their own army lists.
The existence of an Easterling Empire on the far coast, beyond Khand, Harad, and far beyond the Sea of Rhûn (which is an inland sea) is is a logical extension of some implications of Tolkien’s writings, but is nowhere directly stated. Sauron flees to the East when the White Council drives him from Dol Guldur, creating the period known as the Watchful Peace. The tribes around the Sea of Rhûn are not powerful, so most likely he traveled further, to a greater and more organized polity. Further, two of the Istari that arrived around TA 1000 traveled to the East, and were not heard from again – not likely that they stopped at the Sea of Rhûn. It is known that another ocean exists far in the East – if nothing else, it is implied by the fact that Iluvatar changed the world from a flat world into a round one. Travel enough to the West and you reach the East; since a big ocean is on the western coast of Middle Earth, a big ocean is on the eastern coast also.
It seems reasonable to postulate a major civilization in the East, comparable perhaps to Gondor in civilization (so more advanced than Khand or the Easterlings who resided around the Sea of Rhûn). It also fits with the general approach of Tolkien’s work, where historical earthly analogues exist for many of his (human) cultures. Finally, the existence of a large, culturally advanced polity in the East works very well in terms of trade with Khand, the Sea of Rhûn area, and the Haradrim. But most of all, it makes sense as a place to which Sauron could retreat from the White Council when he wanted to recover his strength.
See the page following for a discussion of appropriate miniatures for the various Tolkien armies discussed here.