User blog comment:Wassboss/Striking from the Shadows: Ninja vs Assassins Order (Rematch)/@comment-27358240-20200103042955

'''Kazanshin's "Sunrise Sign: Bullshit Detector!" edges:'''

Daggers: Having a length advantage of roughly 7.5 cm (not 3 inches you barbaric Americans, speak Queen's English eh) is definitely an advantage. However, The length advantage will be mostly negated by the fact that the tanto can be held with the hand while the hidden blade is attached to the wrist. A handheld blade also has a far greater mobility and flexibility than a wrist-mounted one, which can't do much of the wristwork that the handheld blade can. So as much as the concept of a wrist-mounted blade is cool, I'd pick a handheld one in a fight to the death. Edge: Ninja

Swords: Little to note here as far as the ninja'ssword goes, which is great to know since there's so much bullshit surrounding it. The wakizashi of the ninja would likely be slightly longer though as they used nagawakizashi, which have a blade length of 54-60 cm and an overall length of somewhere around 70-75 cm. Another thing is the weight of the swords. There's no way a saber is going to be lighter than a shortsword. If this and this are to be believed, the wakizashi is indeed lighter (685 grams vs 802 grams). With the corrections over, a saber is better than a shortsword. Length and hand-guard ensures the advantage. Edge: Assassin

Long range: Blazing hell, the shuriken. There's nothing wrong with the historical accuracy as they did indeed use them, that's not the problem. I just hate the goddamn shihou shuriken (four-sided shuriken) so blazing much. It's overrated, useless and for some reason it became the icon of ninjas. God blaze it. It's not even what a ninja would use to actually kill someone instead of escaping, that would be the nigiri teppo or at least a bo-shuriken. sigh Sorry for my irrelevant rant, I hate this goddamn thing. Throwing knives win, although not by much. It's almost equally ineffective at killing stuff. But having extra weight and range means something, right? Edge: Assassins

Special: The condottiero is a fine weapon. It's an extremely heavy hitter and it can kill anyone or anything it smashes with that either head, whether they're lightly armored or wearing full plate. With that said, however, the hammer shines most against armored opponents. In a fight of agility and speed, it won't fair as well and will be very overkill just to kill a guy in regular clothing. The ninja's kusarigama is a good weapon as well. It can batter with the meteor hammer, it can slash with the scythe or use it like some kind of war pick and it can even entangle or disarm enemies. It's the lighter and faster weapon here too, which makes me give the edge to the kusarigama for its greater use in an unarmored fight. Edge: Ninja

X-Factors and Final Verdict: As you might axpect from me, I'm giving the win to the ninjas. This mainly comes from the fact that ninjas will be more willing to play dirty and cheap, such as involving civilians and innocents. Once they find out the assassins can't harm civilians, they'll have no qualms about doing things like taking hostages. Other than that, I think their loadout is better. Long range won't matter a lot since neither have good weapons, the throwing knives and shuriken are both trash at actually killing people. It comes down to close range, where the assassins will surely hold their own with their sabers, but the kusarigama's advantage over the condottiero is, I believe, more significant than the saber's over the wakizashi. If the two sides are really forced into knife fighting, which I doubt will ever happen, the ninja will likely have the advantage thanks to the more fuctional and more orthodox tanto. The assassins' mobility advantage will be handy for sure, but I think the ninja's dirtier tactics will be a better one. If this takes place in a manor, then there will likely be handmaidens, butlers, servants and etc which the ninja can definitely use to their advantage. So in the end, while the assassins are without a doubt forces to be reckoned with and will definitely push the ninjas to the edge, the ninjas cheaper tactics and superior weapons will win them the day. DEADLIEST WARRIOR: 忍びの者