User blog comment:Pygmy Hippo 2/Miyamoto Musashi vs. Fiore Dei Liberi/@comment-379205-20180830034652

119's "Lord of the Five Rings" Edges


 * Swords: The Longsword has a longer blade than the Katana, and is probably made of better steel- while I'm not insulting the craftsmanship of the katana, the steel of Japanese blades of the 16th century was generally of inferior quality to that of European and Middle Eastern blades because of the lower quality of the iron ore. More importantly, the longsword has a longer blade and can be used as a blunt instrument, and has a guard for better blocking attacks. Edge: Fiore


 * Short Swords: The wakizashi is longer and Musashi proved himself capable of using it as a thrown weapons to catch his opponents of guard. The rondel is a shorter weapons which will be less effective in this fight. Edge: Musashi


 * Long Weapons: As impressive as Musashi's legendary victory over a rival swordsman with a bokken made from a boat oar is, it is not as effective a weapon as a poleaxe with a lasso and a poisoned blade in addition to the usual spear, axe, and spike. Edge: Fiore


 * Special Weapons: The Jutte will be a more effective weapon mainly because of the hidden blade inside Musashi's Jutte. The Bastoncello is essentially just a stick. Edge: Musashi


 * Tactics and X-Factors: Musashi's tactics are more unconventional and he has less formal training, having created his tactics through experience in countless duels that allowed him to develop tactics to defeat conventional duelist. While European swordsmanship is somewhat different from Japanese swordsmanship, Musashi's enragement tactics should work just as well on Fiore as they did on Musashi's opponents. In terms of armor, Fiore's offers a bit more protection, but neither will do much against a strike or thrust with a sword on their own. Musashi is also far more experienced, having fought in far more duels and survived three battles, in spite of being on the losing side of all three.

Overall Winner: Miyamoto Musashi takes the win for his superior tactics and unconventional fighting style that made his attacks difficult for an opponent to predict or counter, especially when they were enraged by Musashi's taunting. While Fiore has slightly better weapons, at least on paper, in the end, it is the man behind them that wins a battle, and in this case, Musashi is by far the better fighter.