Lord of the Rings Online MMO News, Guides, and Features at Ten Ton Hammer

Turbine has released a few new official screenshots from their Rise of Isengard expansion for the Lord of the Rings Online today. These ones showcase two new areas: the Gap of Rohan and the Tower of Orthanc, home of the White Wizard Saruman.

The Gap of Rohan features a mixture of Dunlending and Rohirrim camps. The Dunlending town looks incredibly crowded - here's a detail of the larger picture to illustrated my meaning:

And here's the wider view. The detail is taken from the lower-middle part, just above the stone wall, and as you can see, the rest of the town is pretty much equally packed with people.

The Rohirrim camps are a much cleaner affair with a more reasonable population. It looks like they have established some military bases in the narrow pass between the mountain ranges to keep the forces of the White Hand at bay.

And of course, an army marches on its stomach. Let's just hope that is not the leg of one of Rohan's prized horses roasting on the spit:

The Tower of Orthanc is a rather menacing-looking structure. We are treated to a few interesting angles here, which showcase not only the dreaded tower itself but also the eerie lighting around it.

From a somewhat safer distance, you can see the cataclysmic devastation surrounding the tower, the aftermath of Saruman's conquest of the wilderness to build and arm his army of orcs and Uruk-hai. A haze of smoke surrounds the tower and its grounds, and a barren field of stumps is all that remains of the green forest that once surrounded the place.

Closed beta testing of Rise of Isengard starts today, and the expansion is scheduled to go live on September 27. From the looks of things, players will need every one of the 10 additional levels that come with this expansion.