have suggested that FoG's Battle of Heraclea cannot mirror the events of the real Battle of Heraclea (namely, the routing of the Roman cavalry with war elephants and the subsequent collapse of adjacent Roman legions).Well ... I may have been hasty.
After playing with the handicap so that the battle is more even, and carefully deploying my elephants (as well as infantry) in the way that we are told Pyrrhus did, I was astounded to see the right flank of the Roman line collapse in two turns as first the Roman cavalry (three BGs) and then the adjacent legion (three BGs) fell like dominos in a wave of fragmentations.
The elephants did not do it alone. The Epirote infantry had to hold and at least disrupt the Roman forces to begin with and then clean them up at the end, but if the elephants are introduced in the right place at the right time they CAN be decisive.
I was quite impressed!
(All that's left now is to find a way the get the Thessalian cavalry over from Pyrrhus' right flank to the left to deliver the final blow and the emulation will be complete.)
