Deadliest Warrior

[paul253]

Has anyone seen this show on Spike? What an awesome show. It basically takes two groups or individual that have never faced off against each other, such as the Mafia against the Yakuza, and basically simulate who would win. They compare things like short range weapons, long range weapons, and fighting style, and then put all their information into some computer and show a simulated fight at the end and guess who'd win. It very interesting. They have shows that include the Mafia vs. the Yakuza, the Maori vs the Shaolin Monk, the Green Berets vs. Spetznaz, the IRA vs the Taliban, etc. If anyone is looking for somethinng to Tivo and watch when the get bored, I recommend this show.

[drezdn]

I've seen almost every episode, though the last 10 minutes or so are what really make it worth watching. That said, they got the ninja vs. Spartan so wrong, so very wrong.

[razzzorsharp]

I think that they got that one right. Ninjas are weak.

[jwill535]

Well the Ninjitsu master did qualify it by saying that there would be no way that a Ninja would attack another warrior straight up like that. As he put it, ninjas cheat.

[paul253]

I think they got the Mafia-Yakuza one wrong too. I think in real life the Yakuza would destroy the mafia.

[jwill535]

The biggest problem with the concept of the show is , other then the Gladiator, all the other warriors are pitted in a style that they wouldnt normally fight in. The variables that made those warriors successful arent incorporated into the fights.

[logan82]

Aren't ninjas disgraced samurai in many cases? It isn't like they couldn't fight straight up. They just made the odds better through deception.

[jwill535]

They explained the origin of ninjas as being peasant farmers who banded together to fight the oppression of the governmental led Samurais. Since they werent formally trained or had the access to weapons they were forced to come up with techniques that would equal the field against Samurais. Most of their weapons came from the tools they used as farmers.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Yeah, the ninja vs spartan showed a lot of the problems with what they're trying to do. Part of what made the Spartan (and many other warriors from that era) so tough was the phalanx, which the Spartans perfected. The shield protected the man on your left, which meant obviously you were protected in part by the shield from the man on your right. Individually, I'm sure their warriors were very capable fighters, but their true strength lay in formation.

 

The other issue here is that militarily, your training, fighting style, tactics, and gear are going to be largely dictated by your enemy. The spartans fought the way they did because it was effective against their enemies. Knights fought the way they did because it was effective. Most military advancements are made because you are forced to adjust your strategy or gear to effectively combat your opponent.

 

I read a long time ago, can't remember the book, so I apologize about the vague details, it was about military innovations, but I read that the French in the 16th, 17th century were fighting an asian opponent, and the fighting style in Europe at the time was fencing, which obviously leads your arm out away from your body. Their opponents, knowing this, made it their tactic to slash the wrist of the fencer, rendering him uncapable of fighting back. To combat this the French fighters innovated by creating metal wristguards rather than the flexible leather ones that were previously used.

 

The Pirate vs. Knight was pretty dumb, in my ever so humble opinion. Muskets and other armor piercing implements are what obsoleted the heavily armored knight. A musket or pistol easily pierces a breast plate or helmet. Game over man, game over.

 

I guess the concept is interesting, but it fails to take so many things into account, mainly, that tactics and fighting style is adapted to suit your opposition.

[jwill535]

The Pirate vs. Knight was pretty dumb, in my ever so humble opinion. Muskets and other armor piercing implements are what obsoleted the heavily armored knight. A musket or pistol easily pierces a breast plate or helmet. Game over man, game over.

To be fair they shot a standard breast plate with a era standard pistol and it just dented the breast plate.

[Fatter than Joey]

wake me up when they do zombies.

[Menotti80]

i saw 2 episodes, the spartan vs ninja and the pirate vs knight. i am DVR'ing two more tonight.

 

i find the show very entertaining, but as people have already pointed out, it is very flawed...

 

but i do think the spartan winning more often than losing is correct... SPARTANS!!! AAH-OOH!!! AAH-OOH!!!

[AmyintheSouth]

I love this show. Watching them test the weapons is the best part. Probably it is wrong to enjoy watching the fake jawbones become unhinged, but it's also awesome. The trash talk between the two sides really makes the show.

[paul253]

Back for season two starting next week. The first episode is winners from season one facing off against each other and then the first new matchup shows an American SWAT team going up against a German GSG-9 squad. I can't wait.

[Menotti80]

What day, time and channel?

 

I don't see it on my TV's guide

[JoeHova]

The first episode is winners from season one facing off against each other and then the first new matchup shows an American SWAT team going up against a German GSG-9 squad. I can't wait.

My money's on the Germans. Those guys used to own that Swat Team Challenge (or whatever it was called) on OLN. IIRC, they aren't allowed to show their faces in public, which is kind of scary/cool.

[razzzorsharp]

Still a very humorous concept and a show I can get on board with.

[paul253]

Still a very humorous concept and a show I can get on board with.

 

If you don't take it too seriously it's very entertaining. Having local experts show off weapons that haven't been used in decades and seeing just how much damage they can afflict. Some of the weapons you're like "well that looks pretty weak", and then they use it and it smashes a cow's skull. Obviously if someone thinks "well that's dumb when would a Knight ever fight a pirate", then they won't enjoy it, but they'd also be missing the concept. I can't wait to see these new episodes.

[JoeHova]

What day, time and channel?

 

I don't see it on my TV's guide

It's on Spike. New episodes start on Tuesday at 7:30 (central) but they're running a marathon all day Tuesday (starting at 10:30 am).

 

 

They also had the marathon on Sunday so I watched a couple episodes. Is it just me or is the actors fighting by far the least interesting part of the show? The rest of it is cool though, it reminds me of Mythbusters.

[paul253]

Just a quick note. The second new episode, which is a week from tomorrow, features Atila the Hun vs. Alexander the Great.

 

Let's start an official prediction for the episodes here.

 

Week One: SWAT vs GSG-9. I'm going with GSG-9

 

Week Two: Atila the Hun vs Alexander the Great. I'm going with Atila.

[TheCrew07]

Alexander is maybe the greatest conqueror in the history of the world. If some horse riding bandit owns him I'll be severely disappointed.

 

SWAT are sort of a the best of the best from a certain city, GSG-9 are the best police officers from an entire country and have been leaders along with Israel's Sayeret Matkal in developing modern anti-terrorism tactics, in addition to providing training to various other countries. Also GSG-9 is a fairly large organization, larger than any SWAT team in the country, they have 100s of officers spread through various assignments. If GSG-9 doesn't wipe the floor with SWAT something is very wrong.

[paul253]

Maybe its a bit of an unfair comparison. I guess depending on what kind of SWAT team they use. I don't think a local department's SWAT team would be able to compete, but perhaps if they used an FBI or DEA SWAT team made up of former special forces soldiers they'd have more of a shot.

[paul253]

http://www.spike.com/blog/93847

 

Here's a list of all the season two match-ups. I cannot wait to see the Navy SEALs against the Israeli Commandos. I had a friend who was an Army Ranger. He said they did military exercises against the SEALs and the SEALs absolutely smoked them. And we're talking Army Rangers here, not exactly a ragtag group of soldiers here.

[JoeHova]

I'm a bit disappointed that the Mongols got matched up against the Comanches. A more appropriate matchup, in my opinion, would have been Genghis Khan against Alexander the Great. I assume they matched the Mongols against the Comanche because both were known for their extensive use of mounted warriors but that's not even a fair fight except for the fact that the Comanches had guns. At their peak, there were less than 50,000 Comanches total. Genghis Khan and his men killed 45 times that many people in his conquest of Persia alone.

[paul253]

To be fair, I don't think they take numbers into consideration when comparing the two. It's more like 5 Mongols against 5 Comanches.