User blog comment:Battlefan237/Horror of Mankind: Colonel Walter. E. Kurtz vs. General Jack. D. Ripper/@comment-35680048-20181109182519

Tybaltcapulet's " Halloween has nothing on the horrors of war" Edges:

Personal: Both carry M1911s so obviously there isn't much to compare here. But Ripper having a BAR is a game changer.It may be a low capacity automatic weapon, but 20 round of automatic fire destroys the M1911 and swinging around a machete any day.Edge: Ripper

Melee: This edge will operate on the assumption that Ripper's men do have combat knives, but I would still give the edge to Kurtz's men's melee. Why? They have a variety of different weapons, which I believe will throw off Ripper's men, making it harder for them to utilize their knives. And anyways, a machete alone would beat the knife, being longer and having more power in general. Edge: Kurtz

SMG 1: Both the MAT-49 and the Grease Gun have their own advantages. The Grease Gun is lighter and is more powerful with a .45 ACP round. But the MAT-49  easily takes Rate of Fire and has a slightly larger magazine. But even with less bullet power, the MAT-49 still takes the edge. The MAT-49's muzzle velocity is considerablely higher, which makes up for it's lack of outright power. Edge: Kurtz

SMG 2: Rate of fire here isn't really that important, as they are both pretty similar. Again Ripper's Thompson takes the edge in power, but really that's about all it takes. The Madsen is lighter, has the higher muzzle velocity (which again makes up for it's lack of power),  and can be made even smaller and more compact by it's folding stock. Edge: Kurtz

Long 1: Some may say it's an easy win for the Garand due to it's higher rate of fire and higher capacity, but the Remington does offer some perks that makes it still useful. First, even with an unspecified range, I'd wager that it is higher than the Garand's. And as a sniper rifle, it will also have the more precise shot in general with it's scope. But really, even if it's close, it just can't keep up with the faster firing, more reliable M1 Garand.Edge: Ripper

Long 2: The Norinco while not being as good as it's automatic counterparts, will still easily take down the M1 Carbine. It's capcaity dwarfs the Carbine's, it has a farther effective range and the power to utterly crush the Carbine. Edge: Kurtz

Troops: This is actually pretty close. In general it can be agreed that Ripper's soldiers are the more stable warriors. But they lack the experience that Kurtz's men have. Their only real experience is that of their resistance against other American soldiers. Kurtz's men on the other hand, have men from the real gutters of the Vietnam war, men who have fought the NVA and the Viet Cong, and have fought as commando teams. The villagers on in my opinion are on Ripper's men's level having little to no training but having the experience with Kurtz as well to make up for that. So the question here is, as a leader of men, would I rather have inexperienced all healthy soldiers, or experienced soldiers that aren't in the best of shape? Call me crazy, but i'll take the more experienced ones any day. Sure the villagers will drag them down, but the other soldiers, inclulding former Green Berets, will certainly make up for that Edge: Kurtz

X-factors: In terms of experience, Kurtz utterly dominates, with the aformentioned experience with NVA and VC soldiers and having commando squads under his wing.I'm glad that the author decided to go with average experience instead of just experience, so we could take into account the wide difference between Kurtz's villagers and his more able troops, but obviously since ALL of Ripper's men receive standard training, they have to win here. Kurtz, even in his ill state is still a master of guerrilla AND anti-guerrilla tactics which Ripper simply can't compete with the level of skill that Kurtz has. But Kurtz utterly fails in two important categories, Mental Health and Leadership, where his PTSD limits his abilities to lead his troops in some ways, but their devotion out of fear to him makes up for that somewhat. Logistics is also a problem, but this in my opinion this would only be a major problem if this was a larger conflict. So as a result, I'm giving this an even rating because they both have clear advantages against each other. Edge: Even

Overall: With the x-factors being deadlocked to me, this really comes down to the weaponry, and because Ripper doesn't bode well in the more important weaponry '''Colonel Walter E. Kurtz '''will win this battle. This reminds of a recent battle of Pygmy's (Kyle Dash vs Dan the Decapitator)  where one warrior was essentially insane, kind of like Kurtz but he still won due to his superior weaponry, and I believe the same thing will happen here. And in terms of the warriors themselves, Kurtz holds some key advantages. His abilities in tactics are quite stunning, and can counter a lot of what Ripper will throw at him. And I feel I must reitaterate for the third time, his men while not as healthy, have the experience and the will to kill, just as much as Ripper's. And with the battlefield not being tailored to either side, the more varied Kurtz should take the day albeit with great difficulty

Colonel Walter E. Kurtz: 2700

General Jack D. Ripper: 2300