User blog comment:Deathblade 100/Urban Jungle Warlords: Iraqi Republican Guard vs Viet Cong/@comment-4661256-20160205044631

El Alamein's Edges:

 Long Range: RPK vs. RPD:  I'm actually going against the grain and giving the RPK the edge here. First of all, for everyone who is citing Deadliest Warrior as a source for the RPD "getting the edge," if you pay attention to the results at the end of the episode, the RPK had 53% effectiveness to the RPD's 47% effectiveness (so it got more kills). The RPK might have a smaller magazine, but it's a simple curved magazine (AK-style) which is easy to reload. The RPD has a belt-fed drum mag, which, once it runs dry, takes significantly longer to reload. Also, I'm honestly not sure where you got the RPD's rate of fire from because on Wikipedia it says that the RPD has a rate of fire of "650-750 rds/min." Either way, when you consider the fact that the Republican Guard is better trained with their weapons and that the RPK has a much lower reload time, it gets the edge.

Edge: Republican Guard

 Mid Range: Skorpion vs. MAT-49:  The Skorpion has a longer effective range (50 m is negligible with SMGs, though, really) and a faster rate of fire but a significantly smaller magazine, which means it will burn through ammo much more quickly. The MAT-49's slower rate of fire and larger magazine size will make it easier to keep firing for a bit longer. Since each weapon has its own distinct advantage I'm inclined to call it even here.

Edge: Even

 Close Range: Browning Hi-Power vs. TT-33:  The Browning has a significantly larger magazine and a larger caliber round, both of which are enough to give it the edge here.

Edge: Republican Guard

 Special Weapons: Combat Knife vs. Punji Stakes:  Not only are the Punji stakes situational weapons, but Deadliest Warrior really misrepresented them because most times US soldiers didn't get impaled across the midsection or stabbed through the throat. Usually they just got impaled in the foot, because the point was to make the US waste resources healing wounded soldiers (because a dead soldier doesn't cost more resources). It makes sense strategically but it's not as important in a DW-style fight. The combat knife might require you to get up-close and personal, but the VC have no melee weapon of their own and, anyway, it doesn't require the victim to stumble blindly into it like the Punji stakes, which aren't even guaranteed a kill if that happens.

Edge: Republican Guard

 Explosive Weapons: RGD-5 vs. POMZ / F1 Grenade:  At least the POMZ / F1 combo will kill their victim, but again--situational trap that doesn't work super well for a DW-style firefight. The RGD-5 is portable and that makes it exponentially more useful in a fight of this nature. That's all that really matters for me here, explosive radius be damned.

Edge: Republican Guard

WINNER: REPUBLICAN GUARD

The Viet Cong got their asses kicked in the Vietnam War. During the Tet Offensive of 1968 they suffered around 45,000 casualties and it really crippled them as a fighting force. In fact, post-Tet, the NVA became the dominant Communist fighting force in Vietnam because the VC had effectively wiped themselves out (as compared to only around 1,100-3,000 US and South Vietnamese casualties). So "better combat experience" really amounts to "more time getting their asses kicked." That aside, the Republican Guard did have experience fighting troops besides the US, as they invaded Kuwait and had fought in the decade-long Iran-Iraq War. On top of that, they have far superior training, logistics, and weaponry at nearly all aspects here. Elgb and Milen nearly had me convinced but the VC were really not that effective a fighting force when you put them in a DW-style firefight, and that's gonna cost them dearly here.