User blog comment:Ekreture/Ashigaru vs Yeoman Archer/@comment-130.216.30.130-20140728002110

Ashigaru vs. Yeoman Archer Edges

Close Range: Wakizashi vs. Arming Sword & Buckler

Easy win for the Yeoman Archers in my opinion; The Arming Sword has a longer double edged blade, and by the looks of the one in the picture will be an effective thrusting and slashing weapon, and on top of that you have got the bucker for a bit of added defense. The Wakizashi is the superior cutting weapon sure, but it won't do the Ashigaru much good if all of their slashes are parried by the buckler only to be met with an Arming Sword through the gut.

Edge: Yeoman Archers

Mid-Range: Yari vs. Quaterstaff

A Quarterstaff when you get down to it is little more than a long stick, good for incapacitating your opponent or being used as a walking stick but not much else. The Yari in the other hand is a longer stick with three wicked blades on one end. The Yari is EASILY the deadlier weapon.

Edge: Ashigaru

Long Range: Tanegashima Musket vs. English Longbow

This is one case where newer dosen't necessarily mean better. The Tanegashima, like any matchlock musket is a big and bulky weapon which requires a pole just so you can fire straight. While it has proven itself as an accurate and deadly weapon, what kills it is it's painfully long reload time of 30-50 seconds depending on the musket. The Longbow on the other hand has also proven itself a powerful, accurate and deadly weapon BUT, a skilled longbowman can fire up to six arrows per minute as opposed to the musketmans two at most. Basically while the Ashigaru asre busy reloading their guns, the Yeoman Archers will turn them into human pincushions with minimal effort and any that do try to bring the fight in close will be shot down just as easily. See Battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt for proof. The Ashigaru also are not wearing enough armour to prevent themselves from being turned into pincushions. While you could make the argument that a Longbow takes years of training to use, every Yeoman here is a trained and experienced archer so that argument holds little water in this case.

Edge: Yeoman Archers

Overall:

The Winners here are the Yeoman Archers. Their longbows are clearly more effective in this case being able to be drwan and fired much quicker than the Tanegashima Muskets can be reloaded. And while the Archers may be intimdated by the muskets at first, as soon as they see the Ashigaru desperately trying to reload their guns they will laugh, show them their two fingers and shoot them full of arrows. While the Yari will outperform the Quarterstaff it is not enough to turn this fight around as it is too long to be used effectively in a small scale battle. Finally if this fight comes down to close combat, the longer blade of the Arming Sword and the added defense of the Buckler gives the Archers the edge there as well.

THE WINNERS ARE: THE YEOMAN ARCHERS