Samurai vs Centurion

[Ninja of Cao]

Two fierce warriors from entirely different regions and cultures; a Japanese warrior bound by honor who considers killing to be a respected art, and the Roman Army's fierce field officers who commanded an invincible force to conquer a fifth of the world. Who would win in a duel to the death?

Spoiler:

Location: Amphitheatre-style arena
Preparation: 5 minutes
Knowledge: None
Starting distance: 15 m

Statistics Samurai Centurion
Years active: 905-1877 107 BC-476 AD
Mounted: Yes No
Armor: Do-maru Lorica segmentata
Shield: None Scutum
Close range: Katana Gladius
Mid range: Naginata Hastae
Long range: Yumi Pilum

My own conclusion:

Spoiler:

Although the Romans build a larger empire than Japan could ever manage, the Samurai were superior as individual warriors compared to the Centurions in my opinion. Their armor was more powerful, their swords were a thousand years more advanced, their long range weapons were superior in every way, their mid range weapons could but slash and pierce and added to that, they were mounted. The only hope for the Centurion to win this is to block the Samurai's arrow with his shield, hit a fast-moving horse and rider with his Pilum and then try to get his Gladius or Hastae into the eyes of the Samurai before the Japanese warrior manages to get up. The odds for this happening are low in my opinion, and so I bet on the Japanese warrior again.
Final conclusion: Samurai wins.

[Maruko]

Samurai is mounted. He'd spam Yumi

[setsun]

Katanas while technologically superior in regards to the steel they're made from and forging techniwues they are still very weak blades even if made by the finest of crastmen and with modern steel.

Samurai armor was mostly made of wood with some metal blended in. Its actually not superior to roman armor worn by a centurion nor is it really weaker

The samurai's only real advantages would be the yumi bow especially since the archers who used them are known even to this day to be the best in the world, and the kanabo club one or two good clean hits to vital or vulnerable areas(head and limbs especially) WIlL kill or cripple an opponet.

The naginata is however a strong mid range weapon but the handle is normally made of wood which means a gladius with a good strong slash would break it with relative ease

[athoatho]

Samuria are has better discipline higher values and better training, better swords and better techniques

[setsun]

^ eh I wouldn't say better trained but their discpline is higher. About on par with medevil knights and that includes their morals

Technique is probably better than most centurions but still

[Ninja of Cao]

Originally Posted by setsun

^ eh I wouldn't say better trained but their discpline is higher. About on par with medevil knights and that includes their morals

Technique is probably better than most centurions but still

Samurai were without question better trained than Centurions. The Roman soldiers were conscripted into the army and trained regularly in a system that resembles what we have today. The Samurai, however, were chosen from childhood and begun their battle training at the age of 6. They trained day and night to become as skilled as possible while trying to perfect their art of war, while Centurions were only normal soldiers. So it's nonstop lifetime training for the Samurai vs 10 years (?) of training for the Centurions.

[setsun]

Not quite true. It wasn't uncommon for a street urchin of between 10 and 13 to get taken in by a samurai family and trained.

Also centurions were higher ranked than other soldeirs and were trained much harder tha the rest

[Mekuto]

I'm going to go with Centurion mainly because when it comes to close range the Samurai depends on slashing and the Centurion's shield pretty much renders that useless. Block the swing, bash with the shield, and gut them with the sword is the Centurion's M.O. Getting past that shield is is the Samurai's greatest challenge.

Centurions are not typical soldiers they are the ones who trained the Roman Legions they led the legions. He is a veteran soldier who has fought all over the empire he's gone against mounted archers, foot archers, spear men, swordsmen.

The only shielded enemies I think the Samurai fought was Kublai Khan's mongols and I'm pretty sure those were just buckler shield nothing compared to tower shields.

[setsun]

Eh maybe but again the kanabo is designed to break through armor and bust skull and bone. A couple of strike that are even blocked could still make either the sheild or the sheild bearing arm useless

And samurai weren't fools almost as soon as they see that sheild they're gonna know they have to get past it and the kanabo would do great for that. Not to mention yumi archers can peg someone in the eye for an instant kill from a good distance and the centurion would have to keep the sheild below his eyes so he can see

[Mekuto]

Originally Posted by setsun

Eh maybe but again the kanabo is designed to break through armor and bust skull and bone. A couple of strike that are even blocked could still make either the sheild or the sheild bearing arm useless

And samurai weren't fools almost as soon as they see that sheild they're gonna know they have to get past it and the kanabo would do great for that. Not to mention yumi archers can peg someone in the eye for an instant kill from a good distance and the centurion would have to keep the sheild below his eyes so he can see

Kanabo is a heavy two handed weapon, takes time to swing, a centurion knows how to handle two handed weapons, my thought is the Samurai would go to load a swing and the centurion would bash him with the shield. Another factor is the curve of the centurion's shield meaning the force is deflected and finally in this match the Kanabo is not a listed weapon.

The Yumi is probably the best bow ever made, and Samurai are very accurate with it, but on horse back accuracy is diminished, also the Centurion would know to keep his head down. Ninja of Cao's thoughts on what the Centurion would need to do to win is exactly what I think he would do, because that is what he would've been trained to do.

The Samurai is certainly one of the greatest warriors of all time, but the Centurion is a machine designed to demolish warrior traditions and kill with the least amount of energy and time.

[setsun]

I attibuted the kanabo not being listed as cao not knowing of it but it was actually fairly common.

I still say that it should be able to break through the sheild or disable the arm

And actually samurai archers are known for being highly accurate mounted archers capable of splitting their own previous shot(which would of been a bullseye) 9/10 times or at leastwithin 10 milimeters of the other arrow with each shot even while in motion on horseback

[Ninja of Cao]

Originally Posted by setsun

I attibuted the kanabo not being listed as cao not knowing of it but it was actually fairly common.

I still say that it should be able to break through the sheild or disable the arm

And actually samurai archers are known for being highly accurate mounted archers capable of splitting their own previous shot(which would of been a bullseye) 9/10 times or at leastwithin 10 milimeters of the other arrow with each shot even while in motion on horseback

I do know of the Kanabo (I've studied Samurai weapons and warfare for a long time), but unlike Deadliest Warrior I only include short, mid and long range weapons. And I think that the Naginata was more common, although the Kanabo was indeed a powerful weapon. I just don't think a heavy spiked club is suitable for a mounted Samurai, but there were more than one type of Samurai warrior.

[Mekuto]

Originally Posted by setsun

I attibuted the kanabo not being listed as cao not knowing of it but it was actually fairly common.

I still say that it should be able to break through the sheild or disable the arm

And actually samurai archers are known for being highly accurate mounted archers capable of splitting their own previous shot(which would of been a bullseye) 9/10 times or at leastwithin 10 milimeters of the other arrow with each shot even while in motion on horseback

I'm not doubting that it was common, but I think the Centurion would take advantage of the time it takes to use it.

I'm almost certain that a Centurion would keep his head down waiting till he could kill the horse with the pilum. Very often when a horse goes down the rider is trapped with one leg under it.

[setsun]

That's the thing most most samurai were ground soldiers. If you wanted a mounted samurai they would be more likely to use a japanese lance, a naginata. And the yumi and forgo the katana as its not suited for mounted combat tho they would still carry it along with a wakizashi in case they needed to dismount to fight

[Mekuto]

Originally Posted by setsun

That's the thing most most samurai were ground soldiers. If you wanted a mounted samurai they would be more likely to use a japanese lance, a naginata. And the yumi and forgo the katana as its not suited for mounted combat tho they would still carry it along with a wakizashi in case they needed to dismount to fight

I think mounted or unmounted it would end he same way. The Centurion is like the Spartan, the way they trained was to be a machine, not a warrior. A Centurion knows to keep their head down for arrows, wait for the enemy to get close and disable the mount with a pilum, then get close and kill. To me the Centurion has a set method for killing and countering the Samurai's training.

The Centurion is a method fighter and I think he would know what do to.

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Originally Posted by Mekuto

The Samurai is certainly one of the greatest warriors of all time,

that's incredibly debatable..they really didn't do anything special beyond being a bunch of pedophiles and religious fanatics who bullied Japan and held the entire culture from evolving for centuries

the Spartans are the same way..hyped like the Samurai beyond all logic

when I look at greatest warriors of all time I look at the culture of warriors that adapted on the fly, changed their tactics when needed evolved as their world around them evolved...invented and revolutionized military

that would be the Vikings, and the Mongols who were both in many ways hundreds and hundreds of years ahead of the rest of the world and one utilized wide spread firearms for the first time (both of them invented what amounts to a modern general and his staff based on merit, both utilized signals on the battielfield to direct formations there was no longer preset up motions a general commanded from the field and formations evolved and moved to meet the need of the battlefield this was something you didn't see after those two civilizations failed until..more or less the Civil war and early modern warfare..and certainly wasn't wide spread until the second world war)

I think of the Macedonians and the Romans- much of the modern army comes from their teachings, I think of the Prussians and the British and the French who revolutionized warfare (and I would definitely call the British and the Prussians a warrior culture )

but the Samurai? not so much

Originally Posted by Ninja of Cao

Samurai were without question better trained than Centurions. The Roman soldiers were conscripted into the army and trained regularly in a system that resembles what we have today. The Samurai, however, were chosen from childhood and begun their battle training at the age of 6. They trained day and night to become as skilled as possible while trying to perfect their art of war, while Centurions were only normal soldiers. So it's nonstop lifetime training for the Samurai vs 10 years (?) of training for the Centurions.

oh look at you talking nonsense again..I swear you watch a little deadliest warrior (which is the most fraudulent sack of crap around) read a few books written by brain dead Asia worshipping pseudo historians and think you know anything

Samurai weren't just warriors they were lords, they were paper pushers and dedicated just as much time to learning how to do a god damn tea ceremony properly then they did learning how to be a warrior.

Seriously NOC...you think you are intelligent and you think you know a lot about world history - when you make these threads their about as retarded as Tobirama senjus idiotic dbz spam threads..and as stupidly misinformed as POP's butthurt tempertantrum posts

The Centurion is better trained and I can't stress that part enough no matter what you respond you are absolutely wrong the Roman soldier is better trained that professor who said Tokogowa's Samurai army could face down any European equivalent of the period or of any prior era was universally laughed at by his peers and with good reason, his weaponry is superior because Japanese steel is a sack of monkey crap, he's got thicker armor and more importantly he'll have had way more field experience than the average Samurai especially the higher ranking nobles

this is a rape, he runs away from the horse the samurai grandiosely arrogant bawws about the ignorant white devil not meeting him honorable and dismounts to dispense some personal justice..then dies violently when the guys Katana breaks inside said dudes armor and the Roman shakes off bruised ribs and caves the dudes helmet..his skull and half his face in

Originally Posted by Mekuto

The only shielded enemies I think the Samurai fought was Kublai Khan's mongols and I'm pretty sure those were just buckler shield nothing compared to tower shields.

who continuously prison raped them in almost every engagement and the Kamakura shogunate suffered a total break down of command structure and degenerated into using human wave tactics and night raids..(also their government collapsed as a result of winning this little war)

so really they have an immensely poor track record against shielded enemies even when said enemies are stranded, lost more than half their force and have nowhere to retreat or regroup

[Raiden]

Wrong about the Vikings (mega overhype) and the Spartans being stupid, the Spartans had true freedom.

[setsun]

I went down to my local sword shop and conversed with my friend bert(its his shop)and he pretty much agrees with iwd and I'm comfortable using him as a reference so I'm gonna go with IWD on this

Centurion wins because of the. Mindset of the samurai and the other aforementioned factors

Edit: oh aand bert also says "ninja of cao needs to get the eff out of these threads/sections and go look for proper historical texts and such before he returns so he can stop being such an idiotic pompous twirltwit"

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Originally Posted by Raiden

Wrong about the Vikings (mega overhype)

What?! their sea based engineering was hundreds of years ahead of what the rest of the world was capable of. what they pulled off in terms of navigation wasn't matched until colombus..centuries later. What they did in terms of warfare certainly was revolutionary

Originally Posted by Raiden

and the Spartans being stupid, the Spartans had true freedom.

yes, they were so free so welcoming..so progressive the helots just wanted to be slaves that were at times mercilessly murdered for the lulz

no..they were a pack of xenophobic racist degenerates and they quickly became obsolete

[Ninja of Cao]

Originally Posted by Raiden

Wrong about the Vikings (mega overhype) and the Spartans being stupid, the Spartans had true freedom.

Viking warfare was indeed centuries ahead of any other European nation. How else do you explain that they could travel to Greenland and Newfoundland, even eastern North America with ease? Not only that, but their ships could easily be transported across land because they were so light, and could also travel across small rivers. I claim that the Vikings were the most mobile invasion force in European history... it's a shame that there was no united Viking empire, because that would have been able to conquer more territory than any European kingdom at the time.