User blog comment:Goddess of Despair/William the Conqueror vs Hannibal Barca/@comment-219.89.14.153-20130410034818

Edges

Short Range: As cool as both swords are I'm going to have to go with William on this one as the Falcata has the disadvantage of having a shorter blade than the Broadsword and on top of that it has a single edged blade meaning that while it is devestating when it comes to chopping and slashing it's thrusting power suffers severely. The Broadsword is not only longer but is a bit more balanced when it comes to thrusting, slashing and chopping.

Edge: William

Long Range: Oddly enough I am going to go with the Soliferrum on this one. Why? mainly due to the fact that the crossbow, while having a longer range cannot be used on horseback (effectively) or with a shield. The Soliferrum on the other hand can. On top of that Hannibal and his men can use several of these hard hittimg heavy javelins. So when you think about it a light horseman wielding several soliferrums is just one step down from a horse archer. On another note the soliferrum can be used as a melee weapon

Edge: Hannibal

Special Weapon: Again I am going to go with Hannibal as while the Catapult has the potential to kill the elephant. The elephant is a far more mobile "weapon" and causes much more intimidation. The Elephant also provides a nice platform for Hannibal and his men to attack from which is another feature that the Catapult lacks. The nail in the coffin for the catapult however is that this is a field battle whereas catapults were generally used for sieges.

Edge: Hannibal

Armour: This one is kind of a draw in my opinion because Hannibal has the disadvantage of wearing a brass helmet (historically inaccurate BTW) while William is wearing chainmail which is less resilient than Plate (even if it is Bronze which again is inaccurate for the time).

Edge: Even

If we take a look at the warriors themselves however we will find our winner. Hannibal, while smaller than William is of a healthy weight and as explained on the show had a highly balanced diet similar to that of a modern athlete whereas William was overweight but still a strong person. So physically the small man is superior (slightly).

Tactics wise while Hannibal failed to conquer Rome he did give them plenty of trouble for 15 Years and never lost a battle until Zama. On top of that his tactics were so innovative and so clever that the Romans incorporated some of them into their fighting style and are still studied today. The Battle of Cannae was arguably the worst defeat the Romans ever suffered at the hands of a foreign opponent. William on the other hand while an exceptional commander is not remembered for any such feat and it is debated whether the so-called "Feigned Retreat" Tactic was used by him at the battle of Hastings. There is no doubt that Hannibal is the superior tactician

Hannibal has also proven to be the more intimidating of the two as not only did he make use of elephants in his army which caused his enemies to panic but he himself was also a ruthless and audacious man as he fought alongside his men on the front lines and is rumoured to have been a brutal and efficient fighter. Now to be fair William could also be scary as he was a big and strong bloke (if a bit fat). He and his fellow Normans were descended from the vikings which means they inherited the warrior mentalities of their grandfathers. William also burned towns that opposed him to the ground and massacred the inhabitants (this ironically would lead to his downfall)

Overall I have to give the overall win to Hannibal. While William is the stronger person and arguably the more viscious of the two Hannibal is the better tactician and has a much wider range of soldiers in his army (Carthaginians, Iberians, Lybians, Gauls, Numidians) allowing for a wide range of tactics and fighting styles. It is true the Normans were generally bigger and had more modern weaponry but there is a reason why Carthage was one of the most powerful enemies that Rome ever faced and that reason was Hannibal freaking Barca

WINNER: HANNIBAL BARCA