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Mark wrote:I'd like to see those guys pull a Jerry Springer just once, and start a full on brawl

If they do it with the weapons they're supposed to be testing then they've just become ten times more entertaining and scientific than the show itself.

HA!

Well, you put some fanboys in a room together and that's what you get.

Roman Centurion vs. Rajput Warrior

Probably the best one of the 2nd season I'd say. Still had a few WTF moments, but fewer than the last couple. And it was nice that the weapon experts were willing to acknowledge it when the other side's weapons did a good job, and when they did argue, they actual made counter points. They actually bothered to test both side's armor vs the other's anti-armor weapon, though the didn't bother with the Roman shield even though it's near as important to a Centurion as a Spartan's shield was to him. Each side did have one absurd weapon, the Scorpion for the romans, which like Alixander's ballista, is an idiotic weapon to bring to a one on one match up. It's an artillery piece, save it for big battles. The Rajput aara, while cool looking, was utterly impractical, and got no kills. Both sides got a handful of ranged kills, but the majority of the deaths were to the primary swords and special weapons.

I think I was most impressed with the katar. I wasn't expecting all that much out of it, but first punch the guy did with it went clean all the way through the pig target.

Rajput won, and it's not surprising why, one on one is the type of fighting they trained for. Centurions trained to fight as a unit. If it had been a group battle, the Romans would have won easily.

Well if you think about it the punching dagger allows you to put all your punching strength behind a nice sharp point. It's probably the best possible way to set up a dagger to punch through armor.

I'm not terribly surprised that they actually used the Roman's pickaxe entrenching tool as a weapon.

Tyyr wrote:I'm not terribly surprised that they actually used the Roman's pickaxe entrenching tool as a weapon.

Not a bad idea. A pickaxe through the head would ruin someone's whole day, and entrenching tools have been used as impromptu weapons since humans started building field fortifications.

True, but did the Romans go marching into battle with them? I've never seen any depiction of them entering battle with anything but their armor and weapons unless they were ambushed.

So is this ep worth watching?

Deepcrush wrote:So is this ep worth watching?

I'd say yes. It had more fun moments than painful ones.

The katar was specifically designed for defeating armor; I'm slightly impressed that they depicted a weapon being used for its actual historical purpose.

What other weapons did they feature?

Mikey wrote:The katar was specifically designed for defeating armor; I'm slightly impressed that they depicted a weapon being used for its actual historical purpose.

What other weapons did they feature?

Results
Roman Centurion
Close Range, Gladius 223
Mid Range, Pilum 44
Long Range, Scorpion 4
Special Weapons, Dolabra 114
Total 385

Results
Rajput Warrior
Close Range, Khanda 328
Mid Range, Aara 0
Long Range, Chakram 53
Special Weapons, Katar 234
Total 615

Lighthawk wrote:Mid Range, Pilum 44

Which type of pilum did they use (or, more properly, which type did they inaccurately and unscientifically completely gloss over?) Their malleable definition of "mid-range" could equally apply to the light, throwing pilum or the heavier HTH version.

Lighthawk wrote:Long Range, Chakram 53

Really? They considered this a bog-standard ranged weapon? The chakram was notoriously difficult to wield accurately, and was generally considered to be the province of specially-trained assassins.

Lighthawk wrote:Each side did have one absurd weapon, the Scorpion for the romans, which like Alixander's ballista, is an idiotic weapon to bring to a one on one match up. It's an artillery piece, save it for big battles.

While I agree that it was dumb to have it feature in a one-on-one battle, the Romans did frequently use artillery weapons like the scorpion or ballista in field battles, so I can see some logic to its presence.

Yes they did use them, but they aren't in any way man portable weapons. The centurion couldn't have wielded it himself.

Aye, as I said it was foolish to use it in a one-on-one fight.

Just to clear something up, was the Roman contestant a Centurion (as in the guy who commanded a century) or a Legionary (as in one of the guys on the front line)?

There's a bit of a difference between the two.

Mikey wrote:Which type of pilum did they use (or, more properly, which type did they inaccurately and unscientifically completely gloss over?) Their malleable definition of "mid-range" could equally apply to the light, throwing pilum or the heavier HTH version.

Take a look at SG's Legionary pic, that's the weapon pretty much exactly as they had on the show.

Really? They considered this a bog-standard ranged weapon? The chakram was notoriously difficult to wield accurately, and was generally considered to be the province of specially-trained assassins.

You know, I less issue with them using the chakram as their standard ranged weapon, and more with them comparing it to the scorpian rather than the pilum. The Rajput team was really playing up the elite warrior status of the rajputs, really stressing the inventiveness of their weapons. I say let em have it. As for not comparing the two thrown weapons to each other though, that's just silly.

Sionnach Glic wrote:Just to clear something up, was the Roman contestant a Centurion (as in the guy who commanded a century) or a Legionary (as in one of the guys on the front line)? There's a bit of a difference between the two.

Centurion, half the opening introduction was about how he was a commander of troops.