Lord of the Rings: Conquest coming in January, Oliphaunt legions playable

Today, Pandemic Studios announced that Lord of the Rings: Conquest will be shipping to stores in North America on January 13, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PC and Jaguar.

If you’re unfamiliar, Conquest is a title that operates inside Peter Jackson’s LotR movie universe and seeks to recreate the massive conflicts that plague Middle Earth during the time of the trilogy. The same team that handled the Star Wars Battlefront franchise is developing Conquest and it’s beginning to show. Just like Battlefront, players will be able to take hold of the opposite (evil) side of the conflict and control Sauron’s forces.

More importantly, Oliphaunts have been confirmed. Oliphaunts are like elephants, except larger and infinitely cooler. Basically, they are flesh tanks with tusks and clearly the best thing Tolkien ever created.