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I think if these pike armed troops were orcs he would have used different language. So it seems, unlike the movies, the pike armed troops were men.
Of more interest are the troops that later attacked Theodred on the eyot."......there appeared a company of men or orcmen (evidently dispatched for the purpose), ferocious, mail-clad, and armed with axes"."... he saw the axe-men driving Theodred's men from the shore of the eyot...". So here we have the term axe-men used for a group that man be men or orcmen.
Does this mean the pikemen could also be orcmen?
Later it is written, "As he came to his side Theodred fell, hewn down by a great orc-man".
So there could be some interesting troop types. Heavily armoured orcmen with axes, pike armed troops - either men or orcmen, orcs, bigger Uruks, and Dunlendings. There is also mention of Dunlendish hillmen. Possibly the hillmen are armed differently form the other Dunlendings?
I think the pikemen were used for a very specific situation and that these troops may not have been properly trained in the use of these weapons (only being used in prepared defensive positions). There is no further mention of them. I would have them as unarmoured, possibly not the pick of Saruman's troops, and unable to maneouvre properly.
I like the E-Bob Scots as Dunlendings. I was giving some thought to size compatibility of figures with GW and did wonder about these.
As I wrote earlier (ahem), they're pretty good size-wise, on the small side of 28mm. I got a few, so I could take a comparison shot with GW stuff?