GoT weapons article

[funkychinaman]

Originally Posted by commando552

No, you would be absolutely destroyed. The katana was pretty much a pure slashing weapon and was only of any use against lightly or unarmoured targets. Even a set of chainmail could pretty easily stop a slash from a katana let alone a set of proper plate armour. In comparison the thrusting ability of a longsword would be able to pierce the scale parts of a set of Japanese armour, and possibly even the chest plate if you were good. Also, a claymore would absolutely destroy a katana in a blade on blade contact which due to the samurai's lack of a shield would be your only defence.

To be fair, if you're using a claymore, you wouldn't be equipped with a shield either.

[commando552]

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

To be fair, if you're using a claymore, you wouldn't be equipped with a shield either.

The difference being that the claymore would survive being hit by a katana and not vice versa. You would also be wearing much better armour than a samurai for this very reason. Probably even an arming sword would knacker a katana, they were really not as strong as people today seem to believe. The complicated manufacturing process was not about getting a super strong sword, it was more to do with the fact that there steel was so shite that they had to go through all of that to get something that was only decent.

Japanese weapons did not survive unchanged for hundreds of years because they were good, it was because they were traditional. A good example of this is the Tanegashima which was still used up until the 1800s, despite the fact that snap matchlocks of this type were obsolete a weapons of war a couple of hundred years before this point.

Back on to the topic of Game of Thrones, I am going to be screwed at work Monday morning, as it is being shown in the UK the same time as the US so I will be up till at least 3 in the morning. Still, it will be worth it.

Also, I believe by the end of this series you will see a good example of somebody being armed with light armour and weapons being effective against a knight with his full panoply...

[SPEMack618]

So help me when I read Claymore above I thought to myself, well given, a Claymore and proper prep time I could wreak havoc on a whole platoon of Knights or Samurai...oops