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nalivayko -> Elephants Shall Trample Rome (3/9/2011 5:15:42 PM)
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Elephants is one of the least reliable units in game. Their value diminishes grealy in city battles and, while they can rule the battlefield, they are often denied the field by the Roman use of Rampant Elephants card. This is a short story of a rare case when elephants have seized the day and ruled the battlefield.
I am trying to write a small manual on all the openings availabel to Hannibal. Testing one of these openings, I found myself in Italy rather late and, by turn 14, had gained the advantage, but with a much smaller army than usual. As my prospects for a quick strike against Rome diminished (imo, you need 50+ units to assault lightly defended Rome with 100% guarantee of victory), I decided to conquer Rome in a more slow old-fashined way - by siege.
By turn 18 Romans have finally figured out that the only way they can survive this war is to take the fight outside their city walls. Africans has sallied out, leading the assault with Roman urban legions and Hannibal met him with a line consisting of Companion cavalry, a lonely unit of elephants and a mix of Gallic, Spanish and Italian infantry. To his suprise Romans failed to panic the elephants.
By this time Carthaginian army possessed several elephant units (one has perished in Spain years ago). They were deemed javeline fodder - placing all their hopes on the siege of Rome the Carthaginians refused to fight battles in the open during the last five years. Now, Hannibal was forced into the battle where no strategem (i.e. "Punic Trick") could be played upon the enemy, but the first round of battle taught him that there still remained a superweapon he could utilize against the onslaught of desperate legionnaires.
It's said that a picture is better than thousand words (and I am beginning to approach this number). So, behold an unusual Carthaginian battle line fighting the last remnants of the Roman army (I failed to take a screenshot of the earlier rounds - this is actually a second Roman attempt (led by Valerius) to relieve the city. Still, Carthaginian battle line remains the same).
[image]local://upfiles/15997/B6212024D9DC4343980A19252526BC66.jpg[/image]
Original battle saw 30+ Roman units led by Africanus battle less than 50 Carthaginian units led by Hannibal.
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