User blog comment:Deathblade 100/Break battle: Cave Troll vs Greek War Elephant/@comment-5232784-20150206000253

"Here at last, the battle of our times..."

1. Short range:

Elephant can crush even some large animals under their feet (Bulls, horses,camels, tigers, bears, etc), and Greek War Elephants, like many others, often had weapons mounted on the tusks (like tusk swords, etc). Combined with their powerful trunks, they had a devistating three way melee attack.

However, the Cave Troll is no wuss itself, and the enormous strength of the cave troll is evident in its lighning quick strikes. You add a huge spiked war club, and you have a crushing hammerblow, one that will possibly knock an elephan on its knees, it not right out. The club is harder hitting, and faster, than the elephant feet or tusks

EDGE: Cave Troll

2: Mid range

The Cave troll will back up his spear with a lot more force, most likely enough to penetrate the elephant's unprotected hide (if not throug its armor. This animal is the size of a hippo or rhino). The sarrisa will have longer range (Unless the cave troll throws his spear), but the human warriors using them will not have enough strength to pierce the Cave Troll's hide. Legolas the elf fired an elven blade at the cave troll's head at close range and the arrow shattered (the blade of the arrow is elf made and of steel, far stronger than anything they had on sarissas, and possibly even magically enchanted as well). Only by waiting to fire when its mouth was open could Legolas kill it. The human crews will have to get lucky in the same manner.

EDGE: Cave Troll

3. Long range

The Toxote bow and javelin will have great accuracy, but a boulder is so big, and the elephant is so big, that accuracy for the troll will not be that much of a problem. One hit from a boulder thrown by a troll, could potentially knock and elephant down, break bones, perhaps even kill it. The chain itself could potentially smash the elephant's tusks, and will no doubt knock the human crews right off the howda or tower on his back. Both weapons ae superior in power, and overcome the accuracy of the bow and javelin.

EDGE: Cave Troll

4. X factors

Intelligence: Being sentient beings (formerly, like elephants, trolls were animals. They were made smarter by Morgoth and later Sauron), Trolls are smarter than elephants. However, only Olog-Hai trolls are as smart as humans, who will be riding the elephants into battle. Thus they lose in the intelligence factor.

Brutality and Ferocity: Elephants could be used for brutal purposes in warfare (I.e. tearing people up on the ground that no longer posed a threat), and they were often, if not always, given an alcoholic beverage or concotion that got them into a furious battle rage before a fracas. They were terribly violent.

Cave trolls are naturally brutal monsters, not only due to Morgoth's tinkering with their animal ancestors, but as is seen with the chain around his neck, by military slavery as well. The Trolls are often depicted as either "Beasts" or burden or mutilated shock troops, and in the case of the cave troll, the goblins seemed to be in charge. Slavery, plus a natural fighting instinct, give Cave trolls much ferocity, and are likewise brutal.

Considering their known ferocity and brutality, I call this a draw

Strength: Elephants, being larger, should logically be considered stronger. However, Trolls do not move at times like animals their size should: they can strike at times with astonishing speed. Still, the elephant's extra several thousand pounds may make up for this, so I will give this to the elephants

Armor: Elephants have a naturally tough skin. Add some bronze scales, they are even more of a tank.

Cave trolls wear little leather, but their rock hard scales are their main armor, ad a very efficient one, capable of withstanding steel weapons (their undersides, however, can be pierced with a stel spear, but not by much). Still, the troll's softer midsection may pose a good target for war elephant tusks, whether with tusk swords or not. Elephants get the edge

Though the human mahouts and warriors will be smarter than the Cave trolls, the Cave trolls weapons are far superior. In all categories, they dominate. Having never seen each other, there is the possibility that the elephants may spook, but this is not for certain. What is for certain is th fact that the Cave trolls can pluck them off with boulders before the elephants come in close to attack. The human archers and javilineers may hit a cave troll or two in the eye, but otherwse they will find their arrows and javelins useless against the cave troll's hide (even if it pierces the front half, the weapons wont go too deep to kill it, at least until they reach much closer range). The boulders alone ensure tha several elephants will fall, and that the remaining one will be swamped at close range by the now more numerous cave trolls. The elephants are going down.

CAVE TROLLS CREAM GREEK WAR ELEPHANTS!!!!!!!!!!