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The Mordor source book contains a scenario, called "On the Slopes of Mount Doom," that wonderfully simulates the corresponding scene from the beginning of Peter Jackson's Fellowship. Jackson gives us an impressionistic, condensed vision of the War of the Last Alliance for the sake of time, obviously, but also mainly to set up a dramatic parallel between Isildur and Frodo. Isildur is portrayed as defeating Sauron beyond all rational hope, essentially by accident and largely thanks to Sauron's arrogance, which is of course what ultimately happens with Frodo (right down to incidentally lost fingers). The tragedy is that Isildur squanders this miracle, leaving the audience to ask whether Frodo will do likewise.

As Tolkien wrote it, however, the Last Alliance had swept back Sauron's hosts all the way to Barad-dûr and contained him, even despite being armed with the Ring, within his Dark Tower for fully seven years before he became desperate enough to sally forth himself. At the head of his remnant forces, the Dark Lord at first cut a swath through Elf and Man, pushing all the way up to the slopes of Mount Doom before he was personally thrown down by Gil-Galad and Elendil in the presence of Elrond, Círdan, and Isildur. The tragedy in this telling is that Isildur squandered a victory for which the Mighty sacrificed everything. Therefore Isildur's corruption sealed the decline of both races thereafter so that, by Frodo's time, the Wise could see no plausible chance of military victory over Sauron resurgent.

With that in mind, I'd prefer to run the game on an equal-points basis, with Sauron leading a powerful if motely tide against a disciplined, organized wall of heavy infantry. Here are my first drafts of the lists (1300 points), taking into account what I own as well as what I can get/want to get. I'll update the thread with more brainstorming on the scenario rules (I really love GW's volcanic eruption chart) after doing some more research on the battle. Also what a pity GW never made a Second Age version of Círdan!

The Last Alliance

Gil-Galad
4x Elven Blade
4x Spear + Shield
4x Elf Bow

Elrond
4x Elven Blade
4x Spear + Shield
4x Elf Bow

Elendil
6x Spear + Shield
6x Shield

Isildur
6x Spear + Shield
6x Shield

The Lord of the Rings

Sauron w/Ring
8x Black Numenoreans

Ringwraith (M2 W14 F2)
3x Mordor Uruk-hai w/2-handed
3x Mordor Uruk-hai
6x Orcs w/Orc Bow

Toll Chieftan
Troll
5x Orcs w/Shield
6x Orcs w/Spear

Orc Shaman w/Warg
7x Orcs w/Shield + Banner
5x Warg Riders

Orc Cpt w/Shield
6x Orcs w/2-Handed
6x Orcs w/Spear

Was Anárion not present?

EDIT:- Scratch that, just investigated; he was killed during the Siege itself as opposed to the breakout by Sauron. Someone lobbed a rock at him.

I've always thought the war between Sauron and the Last Alliance one ripe for expansion.

There are some interesting scenarios scattered through the Journey books and Source books like this that I really want to try. Your opposing forces sound like a great match and I'd love to play this out. Unfortunate, while I have all those minis, only a handful of them are already painted.

 Ketara wrote:
I've always thought the war between Sauron and the Last Alliance one ripe for expansion.

Agreed. There is so much cool stuff covered by their license but only a tiny bit came to light. It seems like GW tried to delve deeper into the war against Angmar but kind of stalled out. As for Second Age, the main problem might be lack of variety in Evil units or even nowhere else to really go (see more on that below).

 mdauben wrote:
while I have all those minis, only a handful of them are already painted

Owning all and some painted is better than owning some and none painted!

The Mordor Uruk-hai might need swapping out. It seems like the Uruk-hai only came on the scene deep into the Third Age. The could be justified in this list as simply the biggest, toughest orcs of the Barad-dûr ... but at that point, it might make more sense to just use Black Guard. The other option would be working in a warband of goblins somehow. Opinions?

If you're open to some stand-ins, you can happily get 3-4 different types of Orc in a list. 'Goblins' (Moria or GT) as theweak, poorly equipped rabble, Mordor Orcs as the main troops, then for elite/larger orcs use Morannon/Gundabad orcs or, as you say, Black Guard or Mordor Uruks.

Do you have anything in mind for scenario rules? I think killing Sauron/all the Good heroes should be an insta-win for the side that achieves it, as each army is kind of screwed without their commanders in this situation. I'd also maybe look at giving some or all of the Warriors an 'infinite respawn' type rule, that's always good for simulating larger battles with limited amounts of time/models/space. Maybe 1 Warband of Men, 1 of Elves, 2 of Orcs (all sans heroes) can move on from their board edge the turn after the last Warrior in that Warband is killed.

I have definitely thought about recycling Warriors, given I intend the scenario to simulate the "eye of the storm" of Sauron's larger attempt to break the siege of his tower-capital.

On the other hand, I really want to emphasize that the forces of the Dark Lord are starkly finite at this point. So for example, there is only a single Nazgûl present (and I have considered whittling down that one's MWF) even despite this moment representing Sauron's uttermost desperation. Things were dire enough for Sauron to conclude that his only chance of regaining the initiative lay in personally committing to battle. This he would clearly have been loathe to do: the Ring multiplied his power of command* but also rendered him mortally vulnerable. He knew that meeting his death at the hands of Gil-Galad and Elendil was not some absurd outside chance, as per Jackson's film, but rather a very real possibility. And unlike his foes he was not prepared to die for victory; indeed for him death (or even "death" in the event) could only mean defeat.

Yet taking this gambit was a sound strategy. The war aims of the Last Alliance were otherwise flexible: they pursued either the final destruction of the Enemy or else his permanent containment, the latter of which they had already managed for seven years to Sauron's humiliation. But as soon as the Dark Lord left his Dark Tower, the Last Alliance was constrained to kill him. Driving him back into Barad-dûr would have represented a tactical but likely literally Pyrrhic victory. This is probably how Sauron found the craven courage to sally forth. His matériel was comparatively "renewable." If he tried and failed but could escape to try again, which he had always managed in the past, then he would certainly not fail again. The Good player therefore can only and will instantly win by killing Sauron.

I will reflect on Sauron's aims a little more before proposing a win condition or conditions for the Evil player.

* As a side note, it's worth considering that not possessing the Ring was probably an enormous hindrance to Sauron in the later Third Age, not so much because of his inability to take a physical form but because the Ring was designed to enhance the dominance of his will over that of his servants and subjects. He may well have built armies enough to outnumber the Western powers one thousand to one, but how could he effectively direct such forces without his Ring? (I strongly suspect Saruman's Ring worked in the same manner, albeit on a scale reduced by some magnitudes.)