I'd just like to note that the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds has a probably-unique surviving suit of elephant armour, which is displayed on a stuffed elephant in pride of place:<p><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/43/bb/15/43bb154f887b493c76c300535bbf47c8.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i.pinimg.com/originals/43/bb/15/43bb154f887b493c76c3...</a><p><i>Not</i> on display due to conservation issues (but noted on the display text) are the tusk swords, because once you've got an angry Indian elephant wearing armor pointed at the enemy why <i>wouldn't</i> you strap a pair of giant swords to its tusks?<p>If you're ever in Leeds — in the UK — I'd highly recommend a day trip to the Royal Armouries, especially if you have any kind of interest in the history of armour, guns, and murder cutlery.<p>(Posted to add a reality-based perspective to the 100% fictional imagery of war elephants in the OP.)
Guess no discussion of War elephants can be complete without their use by Porus in war against Alexander's Indian campaign - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Hydaspes" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Hydaspes</a>
They mentioned the war elephants used by Hannibal in the Battle of Zama (during the Second Punic War), but only briefly. The opposing Roman general, Scipio Africanus, was already prepared to deal with the elephants, effectively using them <i>against</i> Hannibal.<p>While elephants can take on the role of an almost tank-like unit on the battlefield, they still have an inherent sense of self-preservation; when given the choice of running into a wall of soldiers wielding spears vs going through an open path in between, they will opt for the path of least resistance. With this in mind, Scipio was able to effectively set up his army's formation.
Those Total War games are worth checking out. They've basically been iterating for 20 years on the same engine and have made a whole bunch of titles, mostly with a view to historical accuracy. They made a fantasy title from the tabletop Warhammer game, it's arguably more fun because of the sheer variety in units, the scale of it is also ludicrous like maybe you have a battle with 10,000 units fighting each other.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_War_(series)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_War_(series)</a>
What a fantastic blog. Its follow up to this post, focusing on the logistics of raising and feeding an elephant army, is even better: <a href="https://acoup.blog/2019/08/02/collections-war-elephants-part-ii-elephants-against-wolves/" rel="nofollow">https://acoup.blog/2019/08/02/collections-war-elephants-part...</a>
According to the Islamic tradition, before the Hijri calendar was established, the Arabs used the "aam-ul-feel" - the "year of the elephant" - marked by the event of Mecca being under attack by an army with war elephants. There's a small chapter in the Quran called "The Elephant" about this.
I rode a War Elephant^1 for years. They are pretty bitching. Great for stomping kobolds and goblins without rusting up your blade on their vile blood.<p>[1] in D&D