Am just wondering what the rationale is for not allowing Generals to fight in the front rank with Elephants (page 182), particularly for armies where they may have been mounted on Elephants e.g Classical Indian, Khmer etc?
Who would fight better because of the general? The elephant or the crew?
Elephants are herd animals - and armies employed the fact that they will tend to follow the leader. But this applies whether the general is present or not. Generals in Indian and South-East Asian armies tended to mount the dominant animal.
Does the presence of the general really impact the fighting ability of the crew sufficiently? There might be a case for elephant-mounted generals to fight in the front rank of elephant UGs. However elephant mounted generals should then probably not be allowed to leave the UG and be treated as killed if the UG breaks (they get carried away!).
There is no right or wrong answer here. The choice has been not to have generals fighting in front rank to boost the effect of elephants. Generals can recover wounds from elephant UGs which actually is probably a more significant benefit.
Richard
Richard