War Elephants morale Problem ?

[Coffeedragon]

Use the undead variant (Behemoths). They never seem to suffer from morale at all!

[General Tacticus]

The Elephants not only have weak moral, they have both high hit points and low defense/protection. So they'll take and soak up a lot of hits, which is good, but each of these hits will force a moral check on them, which is bad. So Elephant will rout after what looks like only light losses, unless you factor in all those hits they took that didn't kill them...

My own favorite strategy with them is to put a heavy infantry squad front and slightly to the side, and the elephant at the same side, back a bit, on hold and attack. The fact the heavy infantry is offset means that the enemy will tend to end up on the open (center) side, with only a few on the other side. Then the elephants come in, and they demolish the weak flank of the enemy, which is already well engaged by my infantry, meaning the elephants don't take many hits and don't get mobbed. Well executed, this means the elephants don't take losses, and the enemy routs with elephants on its tail (guess what happens to them ). The only catch is that the heavy infantry must be able to hold its own for 3 or so turns, while being outflanked on the open side...

[PDF]

Apart from the old trick of mixing some high morale Hypaspists with the pachyderms, did someone try to lead them with a Strategos ("Standard" ability) ?

You can try to use a Strategos, but unless he's got some fast moving boots, the elephants will move out of the range of his Banner before it will affect. Also Elephants like to spread out for some reason. And later, get limps and things which cause them to spread out.

I tried it for a while and it didn't work. Though if you put them with a bunch of fast moving units on the battlefield ( so they have a higher base morale and wont rout from one hit ) and can bring him up behind it should work.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Zen:
You can try to use a Strategos, but unless he's got some fast moving boots, the elephants will move out of the range of his Banner before it will affect. Also Elephants like to spread out for some reason. And later, get limps and things which cause them to spread out.

You can both reduce the outrun effect by putting one or more Strategoses in front, spread out slightly. This will likely keep the elephants from outrunning them quite as much, since he has a head start, and will also make him a bullet magnet for archers, who will probably miss him because he's a single target with decent protection. Using more than one will reduce the probability that they all die, plus will increase your banner coverage.

Your elephants should rarely have Lasting afflictions anyway: Arco has Priestesses that can cure afflictions easily enough, so your elephants should be back in shape in no time at all anyway.

Of course, it's more fun to get a mystic with a nature pick, and communion a bunch of other mystics together and do the Berserk Elephants From Hell. If you have another one with an air pick, you can make him another master and do Berserk FLYING Elephants From Hell.

Most of the time, initial elephant armies (The ones I think that they are talking about) Don't have alot of time to sit and rest But yes, they should be affliction free a good portion of the time after your initial expansion.

The reason I don't feel it works is because of the naturally low morale of the Elephants and the small squad size (if you are trying to not combine them with Hypsists). This makes it hard for even a banner to counteract the morale loss. Especially since when Elephants get into the thick of combat they lose alot of morale because they have such low defense and can get hit easily.

But it's worth a try, if you are feeling brave

[PhilD]

Originally posted by PDF:
Apart from the old trick of mixing some high morale Hypaspists with the pachyderms, did someone try to lead them with a Strategos ("Standard" ability) ?

I haven't tried it, but the Strategos would have to remain in the middle of his troops for his Standard to take effect, right?

I don't think he'd survive the first rout...