User blog comment:MilitaryBrat/Robert Gould Shaw vs Hernan Cortes/@comment-379205-20120908211940

119's "Curb Stomp Battle" Edges


 * Melee Weapons: I'm going to give this to the cavalry sabre as it appears to have a sturdier design, considering the espada ropera was the forerunner to the rapier, which was not good for combating heavier blades. Edge: Shaw


 * Firearms: The Enfield takes this one by a landslide. It's rifling and conical round allows it to be accurate enough to hit a man sized target at up to 600 yards, whereas the the arquebus could only hit a target at about 100 yards or less. Not the mention the more reliable percussion system of the Enfield. Edge: Shaw


 * Artillery: The 12 pound Napoleon again takes this easily for its more reliable ignition system and its superior range, not to mention its ability to fire a variety of projectiles, including solid shot, explosive shells, and canister shot. Edge: Shaw


 * X-Factors: While Cortes takes two X-Factors to Shaw's one, Shaw also has another unlisted X-Factor on his side that will rule out the others: Technology.

Overall Winner: Robert Gould Shaw by a longshot. Shaw has superior military training, and three hundred years of technologies. Firearms and artillery made great advances from the time of Cortes to the American Civil War. The matchlocks Cortes used were obsolete by three generations of firearm ignition systems, first wheellocks, then flintlocks, and finally percussion caps. The barrels of infantry firearms in the Civil War had rifling and fired conical bullets, giving them an exponential increase in range. Finally, cannon has a lanyard-based firing system similar to the percussion cap, and could fire new types of shot, including explosive shells, which could case damage over a greater area than solid shot.