Indian Assault

[kekailoa]

Okay, so I was playing as Baktria (a complete opposite to my usual western based empires) and I was just invading India after taking a good sized chunk of the map, maybe six or seven settlements. I was still allied with Pahlava, at war with the AS but kicking their butt all over the map and had a strong, veteran army with a solid economy with a treasury in the 200,000 area on H/M. It's like 240 BC, and I decided to invade India.

I assaulted the southernmost city with an army of:
2 Silver chevron Archer-Spearmen
2 Silver chevroned Dahae HA
4 Silver Chevroned Native Phalanxes
2 Bronze chevron Theurooisdjfs (Hellenic Spearmen, can't spell for poop)
2 bronze chevron medium Hellenic phalanxes.
5 family members

The city has a substantial garrison, like four longbowmen, two Guild Warriors, three spearmen, one medium skirmisher, but two units of elephants. The general also is made of elephants (He has like twenty-five of those buggers.)

I assault, ordering the archers to focus fire arrows on the elephants. Doesn't make a dent. I assault anyway, and after a hard fight I gain the upper hand, pretty defeating the entire garrison and the two units of elephants with some casualties, but I still have more than enough men to take the center. Then the general charges.

I was completely annihilated. My men were slaughtered by one unit of elephants in the packed, crowded streets of the city. I escaped with my archers, HA's and family members but the rest of the army was gone.

My question. How do I beat elephants in tight spaces? I have had very limited exp. with these beasts, as I normally play barbarian factions or western factions. I still have three more cities to go in India, no army and a little clueless. What should my new army be made up of?

[Cute Wolf]

U forget ONE THING THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE

Akontistai and or Peltastai (javelinmen), they are specifically tailored against elephants

[mountaingoat]

yep ... maybe send an FM to the lands of the falx, and while you are there , get some skirmishers.

[A Very Super Market]

FMs don't work very well in cities anyways. Why did you bring so many of them?

Righto, your main problem is your lack of skirmishers. Flaming arrows only go so far into killing elephants (Making them run amok still presents a danger to your men as well). Normally, skirmisher cavalry would be best, but you'll have to make do with Peltastai and Akontistai. Preferable Peltastai, since they can actually hold a line after the beasts are down.

The best course of action is to starve them out. City assaults are.... finicky, to say the least, and the addition of elephants only makes it more difficult.

[fleaza]

oh my god i feel your pain. the indians are seriously a pain in the ass.

I HATE THE INDIANS!!!!!! I HATE THE ELEPHANTS!!!!!!

[Mr Polska]

I would say don't assault, but if you are going to, BRING SIEGE WEAPONS. These will be almost a godsend, as well as massed Theureophoroi/Peltastai.

[Alteris]

Just play it cautious and advance gradually with your heavier infantry/phalanxes into the city. If the elephants fight at the gates, just lob spears over the walls from a couple of akontistai units and its goodbye elephants. If they fight inside, bring your javelin boys in and keep them at hand for the eventual moment when the elephants start rolling towards your frontline infantry. Wait for them to come in nice and close and its over.

It's really just a matter of being patient and waiting for when your javelins are able to do maximum damage.

[kekailoa]

Huh. Should have though of the javelins.... DUH

I brought so many FM's because I was just going to go for one straight conquest of India, and I needed three to be governers and I normally have two with the army for heay cav support as I haven't really gotten a good heavy cav yet.

So, my plans were to rebuild the army with
6 pez. phalanxes
2 Hellenic spearmen
2 skirmishers of some sort
And with the Persian archer-spearmen and the HA's I should be good, I think. Maybe recruit some Indian troopers along the way.

[A Very Super Market]

More skirmishers. Less Pezhetairoi, the Indians have AP units, and elephants ignore armour altogether, so forget them. Use native phalanxes, and perhaps only 4 units of them as well..

[Cute Wolf]

I Don't suggest you to carry any Phalangitai at all, they are useless against indians. Maybe you should try to carry some Peltastai Makedonikoi or another elite infantry for easier assault.

[Alteris]

Yeah, those Indian elite swordsmen with the feathered hats are quite a nuisance and just have to be worn down. Maybe some Tabargane Eranshahr (Eastern Axemen) would be ideal to use on them, to nix his own armor bonus while not losing much of one yourself - just keep them in reserve until they come at you.

[Andronikos]

Archosian (or other) skirmisher cavalry - they are true elephant killers, just order them to attack, when elephants come dangerously close, withdraw, repeat, if you are only moderately lucky, elephants will kill less than 20 men (there are still archers on their backs).

The rest of your army really doesn't matter, I had archer spearmen, pandotapoi phalangitai, peltastai and thuerophoroi.

I have also installed type 4 government, I roleplayed it that India became firstly client kingdom and than I replaced it with type 1 to show that Indians fully assimilated to my kingdom. What was the "than"? - after I built mic4 to get Sreni and Taxilan Agema.

[V.T. Marvin]

And do not forget these guys:

They have quite a lot of javelins (and larger unit size than peltastai) to kill the elephants.
They have axes to kill all the rest.
They look cool!

[Megas Methuselah]

And do not forget these guys:

They have quite a lot of javelins (and larger unit size than peltastai) to kill the elephants.
They have axes to kill all the rest.
They look cool!

They're nice. And considering the OP is playing as Baktria, they shouldn't be in short supply either.

[miotas]

Baktrian infantry and skrimisher cav are your best friends when invading india. Don't rely on your phalangites either, indian guild infantry will cut them down like wheat.

[Mikhail Mengsk]

Why assaulting them, facing elephants in streets, where you can't use anything useful against them?

Wait until they sally forth. They would be lowered in nuimbers by the siege, and you can deploy all your missile power against elephants, and properly use pike shields against them. Of course i suffered losses this way and spent much time, but i won every battle against them.