Tamil vs Marian Roman
In the classical period there are few elephant armies. I wanted to test Tamils, that is the irregular version of the later Chola. I choosed the IBdF version because I planned to use the elephants as reserve, so IBdF seemed more solid than WbF. To support the IBdF, I fielded IBwO and ICvI to protect the flanks. Having Ag 0, terrain had a very important role, so I picked also ambush and concealed command stratagems to confuse a bit my opponent. This was the army list
I faced a Marian Roman army, an interesting opponent. I defended and this was the battlefield
Roman deployed first and moved first. I had no terrain suited to ambush, but concealed the ally corps in the wood on the left. Should the roman try an outflank on the left, I could intercept it. My plan was simple, attack straight forward and make the decisive charge with elephants once the enemy was attritioned.
Tamil ICvI on the right wing was immediately targeted by the Roman, that sent toward the right his Cv reserve, manouvering there also a legion. In my bound, I exited the ally corps from the wood advancing along all the front.
The Roman mounted command had the higher pip. My opponent realized that I was advancing too fast and that probably his cavalry would never reach the opposite wing in time. He decided to move back and outflank my left wing. Tamil sent there the left Elephant corps and some infantry. On the right the CiC made some complex manouver to deploy the mounted and attack the roman legion, that immediately retreated.
Tamil IBwO made a good job, starting to inflict casualties to the romans. The situation on the left wing was critical, while Tamil were able to charge just in the center, due the delaying tactic adopted by the romans on the right. The first charge was made by IBdF versus RAxS, and a surprise waited the brave Tamils: Romans had 4 sections of HO in front of their RAxS.
The combat was joined also on the left flank, where the behemots faced a whole corps. The Tamil swordmen survived the combats in the HO, advancing past the obstacles and pushing back the enemy.
Roman losses were steadily mounting, but on the right the elephants were swarmed. Just the Tamil general survived, pushing an enemy cavalry in difficult going and killing it while surrounded by four sides.
The Roman center was disheartened by the continous Tamil attacks. The Roman army had no reserves and each hole gave more and more killing opportunities to the Tamil. The only problem could be the pips avalaible, but in this game there was never a true crisis. Tamils manouvered well.
When we called the time, Roman had lost the center corps and was 0,5ME away from losing the army. 15-10 to Tamil.
Tamil behaved well, both in combat and in manouver. I had good dice and was helped by the impetous nature of the IBdF to keep the pressure, and by the size of the army, that had plenty of reserves, to plug gaps and cover the flanks. The army is quite rigid and cumbersome, so it is important to set up a battlefield to protect the flanks.