heavy clothes.

[zachsan]

with all due respect to both of you, the question "who would win, medieval knight or samurai?" is very stupid. as a side note, who do you think would win, spider-man or captain america?

anyway. european medieval armor got heavier and heavier as longbow (and eventually gun) technology got more and more lethal, and as iron mining techniques got more efficient, right up until it was rendered obsolete after the gun took over.

yes, europeans had their own martial arts, but they weren't as formalized as oriential MAs, and weren't treated with quite the reverence.

honestly, the japanese weren't particularly good at armor. what armor they had could provide limited protection, but the focus was on retaining mobility. they were very good at swords, but those swords were developed specifically to attack the inferior armor that they were used to. they wouldn't do much to a full european suit. a good suit of european armor would basically force the opponent with a light sword to find an opening and hit it very precisely, which wasn't very practical on the battlefield. so, swords got bigger, and things like morningstars and giant battle axes were invented. oh, and guns.

in all fairness, europe went through periods of violence of a much larger scale than anything going on in japan. you had an entire continent of technological innovation and competition going on, as opposed to japan, which was basically its own competition, with a few exceptions.

europe also had a ridiculous "edge" in available natural resources.

[plumflower_pm]

Lighten up. Nothing wrong with supposition.



Spiderman would win.

[master splinter]

even though smaller in numbers compared to european knights the samurai were much more fierce and highly trained compared to midevil knights. i think the samurai would take over. the ratio? two knights to each samurai. therefore even if the samurai were half in numbers compared to the euro's, i think they would still win. think of it... a dumb brute against a zen master.

[zachsan]

well... samurai weren't more highly trained or more fierce, european knights weren't dumb brutes (they were very clever brutes), and the Combined Armies of Europe outnumbered the Combined Armies of Japan by far more than 10 to 1, let alone 2 to 1.

of course, neither the Combined Armies of Japan nor the Combined Armies of Europe would have to worry about such a thing, because there were no Combined Armies of Europe and (usually) no Combined Armies of Japan, and because they were SEPARATED BY ABOUT HALF A PLANET.

forget the spider-man, captain america thing. who do you think would win in a fight between a t-rex and shark? a volcano versus a cloud? oh oh i've got it, a tree versus a rock?

[plumflower_pm]

Tree versus what kind of rock? Everyone knows metamorphic rock is way better trained, but igneous rocks are more fierce.




...ok ok I'll stop now...

[master splinter]

okay, so iguess the euro clever brutes are the winners huh? so how about this one, an army of chinese warrior monks v.s. midevil knights. chinese warrior monks would sweep the floor with them. they probably wouldnt even need weapons.

[Mike Evans]

I can't remember the details, but some guy a few years back did a computer model using known info on many of history's swordsman. The results were a split decision between the french fencer, the samurai, and the schinese swordsman. As I recall, the frenchman won because of the focus on accuracy...he was able to stab at the opponents fingers holding the sword, then move in for the kill. The Samurai won because of his discipline, rfusal to admit pain, and supposition that there was no tomorrow. The Chinese stylist was just fast and flexible and hard to catch... Don't really know what criteria the guys was using, but I thought it was an interesting bit of trivia.

[LeiYunFat]

Who would win between the Huns and Rome?

The Huns. Owned.

[master splinter]

okay you got on one side, vicous ass huns who forced china to build the great wall. white boys who sat around eating grapes having orgies spreadin syphillis, i would prefer to be roman. but if i were, a hun would definitly kick my as*

[shaolinstylee]

Tree versus what kind of rock? Everyone knows metamorphic rock is way better trained, but igneous rocks are more fierce.




...ok ok I'll stop now...

OK.. well, my sedimentary rock is deep, and trained in many layers.

[Greenknight2]

Wow, from knights to the age old battle between rocks and trees. I think trees. They got that super duper penetrating root going on.

[LeiYunFat]

Ever heard of a stone axe?

But I mean, come on. If in space or something, the two collided, they would like, bounce off eachother. That isn't even a contest.

And for the record,

Batman > Superman

ANYDAY

[zachsan]

actually i have to agree with LYF on that one. little known fact: superman gave batman a piece of kryptonite a long time ago, in case he ever went bad. batman would use the kryptonite and totally own him!! plus, he's much cooler.

[shaolinstylee]

People need to remember context........




























plastic man would rap them all up.

[Greenknight2]

Here's away to do know the knights verses samuri argument, pop in a copy of civilization and go at it.