How much food would be needed? Would be worth it or not

>>46265302
>too much
>not worth it

War elephants in history were good for a couple of battles against enemies who had never fought them before. Hannibal was able to push in the Roman's shit with them once or twice before they figured out how to deal with them.

Plus, they use up way too much fodder, and outside of their natural habitat, their health is marginal at best.

>>46265302
>Would be worth it or not
only against enemies that have no experience in fighting war elephants

>>46265302
They will dine upon the crops and forests of hated Gondor and its cowardly vassals!

They will strike fear into the hearts of the Northern Kings as they trample their subjects into the dust!

Olliphonts be dope.
10 outta 10 alwayz wurth it

>>46265648
>>46265446
So basically they were a novelty

War Elephants charge will make any opponent shit bricks and stomp them to putrid pulp even if they don't break ranks. Combine that with light cavalry followed with phalanx to clean up any surviving opposition and you got yourself a decisive victory (e.g. Battle of Bagradas). But it will work only on open ground though.

>>46265648
apart from the fact that you can't treat mumaks the same way as a war elephant. as shown, they're actively more aggressive than a typical elephant, as well as being at least 6-7 times larger.

>>46265302
Literally a meme if you're fighting anyone that has spent more than 10 minutes fighting you already or if your opponent is fighting you with elephants as well.

The whole shock tactic thing only works marginally and there are many accounts of it failing spectacularly (Alexander the Great vs. Indians, Muslims vs. Persians just off the top of my head)

File: 1448328356889.png (141KB, 1331x756px) Image search: [Google]

141KB, 1331x756px

Fucking elephants

>>46265302
>Would be worth it or not
It always worth it when Sauron demanding best troops against Gondor.

>>46265446
>>46265648
>guys romans defeated 80 elephants once
>therefore elephants are useless animals that are just bad

>forgetting that the arabs got their shit kicked in so hard at the battle of Rajasthan that they noped out of India for over three hundred years.

>>46268295
Is good to be glorious allies of Great Lord Sauron.

>>46265446
OMG that's the most gross read of the punic wars I ever heard. Elephants dont win battle for themselves but they aren't objectively worse than horses as warbeasts, just are just harder to obtain. And they can graze and eat leaves so they aren't extremely hard to feed during most of the year, winter being exception.

>>46265302
>Would be worth it or not
Depends.
Historically, the only place where war elephants really worked were the various kingdoms in what's now India and, for a while, the successor kingdoms of Alexander.
For a long Indian warfare was pretty much built around elephants.
Keep in mind, these aren't work elephants with some poor sod riding on top, we're talking formations of dozens to hundreds of specifically bred animals, all armoured up.
There is some Indian war manual that states that most battles are really just about which side can take out the other's elephants and then stomp all over whats left.
Problem is, they are still prone to panic and rampage all over your own troops, hence every mahud gets a hammer and chisel.

TL:DR If you're stacked enough, as in Scrooge Mc Duck stacked, you can make it work. Most rulers in history were not.

>>46270056
>all those ornate ass elephant armors that were thick.
>mughal chroniclers telling that serpentine rounds bounced off them.
must have been fucking terrifying