Sandastan

A defensive battle tactic employed by the Númenóreans and their descendants. It consisted of two ranks of Men, closely pressed together but flexible enough to react to a flanking maneouvre by the enemy. Sandastan was the formal, Quenya name for this formation, but in practice it was more commonly called a thangail, a Sindarin word literally meaning 'shield-hedge'.

We have only a single record of a sandastan in actual use. As Isildur was marching back to the North-kingdom after the War of the Last Alliance, he was following the course of the valley of Anduin when a large force of Orcs suddenly appeared on the slopes of the valley to the east. Lacking the advantage of the high ground, Isildur could not launch an effective attack, and so instead he ordered his soldiers to form themselves into the double shield line of a sandastan.

This shield-barrier proved ineffective against the sheer number of attacking Orcs. In pairs, the Orcs leapt recklessly against the defenders, dragging them out of formation and breaking the line of the sandastan. Before the defence failed entirely, Isildur's son Elendur persuaded his father to carry the Ring from the field, and the failing defence of the ranked Dúnedain sufficed at least to give their commander the time he needed to reach the Great River. Isildur made the perilous crossing of Anduin, but other Orcs waiting on the opposite bank shot him down. As Isildur had swum the river's rushing waters, the Ring had slipped from his finger into the depths of the river, where it would lie hidden for centuries and millennia to come.