I agree, tossing aside all the suspect "sim" analysis (which was touched upon earlier in the thread) and some of the obvious attempts to make every warrior comparison "neck and neck" I really find the show entertaing learning about the weapons, and some of the various fighting styles. Having said that, I kind of thought the Mobster show was kind of weak.. On a few different levels. I mean you could give anyone a Tommy Gun and have them light up a restarant full of bystanders. Or anyone can toss a molotov cocktail through a window of an apartment.. same with a baseball bat. Ruthless? yes. But as far as being considered competent trained warriors, especially in 1 vs 1?, meh. I dont buy it... All in all, pretty good show, from an entertainment perspective.
I agree. I hope for next season they bring the focus back to warriors. Monguls, Huns, Persians, Greeks, Mayans, etc....there are so many to do shows on. British Royal Marines, SAS, German WWII Elite Troops, the list goes on.
I mostly preferred the shows with ancient/medieval era fighters. The more modern episodes didn't do much for me--the appeal to me is the novelty of seeing two different fighters from different time periods and different parts of the world squaring off.. IRA vs. Taliban was stupid, although I did get a chuckle out of the IRA guy holding up the detonator to taunt the Taliban trapped inside the bus before pressing the button. (Still didn't stack up to the single best moment of the series to date, which was the pirate lifting the knight's face mask up, grinning at him, and insertig his pistol.) The weapons tests are the best part of the show. I enjoy the re-enacted fights, but more in the way that you enjoy a bad action movie.
This is a pretty bad misconception. The battle of Carrhae was certainly a defeat for Rome (and the first time Rome faced mounted archers), but the complete defeat was caused by "treachery" - Crassus had agreed to a cease fire which was not honored (the story gets confusing). The actual battle itself was not nearly as catastrophic. The Romans didn't go "down to a man" either - this wasn't Cannae. It should also be noted that after Carrhae, the Parthians completely failed to press their advantage - Cassius (yes, that Cassius) managed to hold Syria with several legions. The Parthian horse was great on the steppe, but it suffered completely in siege warfare or in less flat and hospitable terrain. Furthermore, the Romans were far from stupid. Within 50 years (after Antony's foolish Parthian campaign) the Romans simply brought foot archers along with their legions. Foot archers can fire faster than horse archers and have better accuracy. For all the vaunted Parthian/Sassanid horse archer mythology, Rome obliterated the Parthian Empire under Trajan, Hadrian and finally Septimus Severus. Clearly the legions figured it out. The Romans faced mounted cavalry (clibanarii) and did just fine. The notion that Mongol training and disciplline would match or surpass that of the Roman legion is completely incorrect.
Totally agree about the IRA/Taliban and the other more modern matchups. The whole thing is about kill shots, so once you get to automatic rifles and modern explosives, what are you really comparing? They're all deadly.
FYI - My level12 Paladin would so totally kick the ass of a level12 barbarian. Never saw the show - but it sure sounds like kids playing Dungeons and Dragons.
With the IRA/Taliban episode, it dealt with probably the two most noted guerrilla forces of the modern era. In the case of the IRA, they showed the variety of weapons it used with many of them coming from homemade sources. The Taliban had access to much more modern weaponry. As well, you deal with two groups with different types of tactics and courses of action. This can be applied to the Mafia/Yakuza battle as well. In the Green Berets/Spetsnaz episode, you have one of the great "What If?" bits from the Cold War.
And that's why I enjoyed that episode. I do enjoy the more modern as well and I can't wait to see a SAS v. NAVY SEAL episode.
I showed my students the Spartan vs. ninja episode today (since we learned about the Pelopponesian War in Social Studies last month). They were pretty into the weapons testing and fascinated by the gel torsos and all that, but the really fun part was at the end, during the simulated fight. The kids were literally standing up, cheering on the ninja, shouting things at him -- "Go for the legs!" etc. They were so into it. Although I had thought, what with the unit we just finished, they'd root for the Spartan. But they were ninja all the way.
Weirdly enough, although both Spetsnaz guys had Russian accents and looked Russian, their names weren't Russian. Eastern European, but not Russian.
The Ninja should have won. That glass shreds should be enough to blind a spartan. A blind spartan = dead meat.
Bump. Pretty cool so far. Jesse James Gang vs Al Capone Gang was better than I thought it would be, and SWAT vs GSG-9 was also pretty well done. But still, this show's at its best when it's examining ancient, or at least "pre black powder" warriors. The Huns vs Alexander the Great was top notch.
I am not a student of ancient history, but a non-Roman using a weapon called the Sword of Mars seemed out of place. I really though Alexander would take it due to his much-better armor.
Anachronism (and the bad, breathless voice over guy, and the weekly oohing and aahing about the damage to the models) is the problem with this show. The Huns win over Alexander because of the composite bow. Technical advances in distance weapons win in this format. The always stick to small unit engagements. In order to replicate a contest involving Alexander they should use a much, much larger unit size and evaluate infantry tactics. They cant do that so, except for truly individual fighters, I think its all bullshit. Ill guess, not having seen it, that Capone beat James because of mobility and firepower.
Well, sure. This is, one guy from each group gets separated from their unit, and they run into each other. Single combat, who wins?
I'm not cool with the modern warriors... IRA vs Taliban, Spetznaz vs whoever it was... 'who sees the enemy first and pulls the trigger?' is the only simulation they need to run. Not nearly as interesting.
My friend and I were saying this as well. It's much more interesting when they compare infantry soldiers from pre-firearms days of different points in history.
Agree. The CIA/KGB one was particularly stupid. They compared single use mission specific weapons. Those guys were all information and set up. The simulation was dumb as can be. Im really getting tired of the 3! 2! 1! guy.