Hongi Hika was a Maori chief during the early 19th century, and was one of the first Maori chiefs to use European weapons such as muskets in battle. Hika also supported European settlement in New Zealand and regularly traded with the settlers for weapons, and other items, including Western agricultural implements and techniques, as well as new crop such potatoes, which he introduced to the Maori. Hika also supported the transliteration of the Maori language into writing, and even visited England and met King George IV.
Hongi Hika rose to prominence between 1806 and 1812 as a major war leader of the Ngapuhi tribe. It was during this time that firearms first fell into the hands of the Maori, and Hika first became convinced of their value, in spite of his defeat by the Ngati Whatua tribe at the Battle of Moremonui, which he lost in spite of his possession of muskets- Hika's warriors were attacked while reloading and killed with traditional Maori weapons.
After the war, from 1814-1819, Hongi traded with Europeans, granting lands to missionaries in exchange for trade goods, though he never converted to Christianity. Around the same period, he travelled to Australia to study European agricultural and military techniques, and to trade for muskets, ammunition, and other weapons.
In 1818, Hongi conquered the tribes of the East Cape and Bay of Plenty regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Starting in 1819, until 1821, Hika visited England, and traded more muskets in exchange for land rights to European settlers. Hongi also introduced himself to George IV as the King of New Zealand, though this may have been an act of bravado rather than indicative of his actual ambitions. When he returned armed with his muskets, Hongi seized a fort on the Tamaki River, killing 2000 warriors, as well as an unknown number of women and children. In 1822, he attacked the Waikato region but met his match in their chief, Te Wherowhero, who had by this point also gotten a hold of muskets, and was forced to make peace in 1823 after a few major battles. The series of intertribal conflicts after the acquisition of firearms by the Maori became known as the Musket Wars.
In 1825, Hika defeated the Ngati Whatua tribe, avenging his defeat at Moremonui, and seizing the vast natural harbours of Waitemata and Manukau. He also used the lands he conquered around the Tamaki River as a buffer zone. In 1826, Hongi conquered Whangeroa, in retaliation for their attack on Wesleyan missionaries allied with Hongi.
Hongi Hika died in 1827 when he was shot at a minor engagement in Hokianga. Hika survived for another 14 months before he died of infection. On his death bed, Hika told his followers to "be courageous", and to fight against British attempts to invade New Zealand. Hika's legacy of modernization of the Maori indeed proved to be a nasty surprise for the British about a decade later, when Hika's nephew, Hone Heke rebelled against the British, though they eventually were able to defeat him thanks to their overwhelming artillery and naval superiority.
Battle vs. Little Turtle (by SPARTAN 119)[]
Little Turtle: 
Hongi Hika: 
Little Turtle and five Miami warriors crept through a swamp, planning to ambush a scouting party of US troops rumored to be in the area. Instead, he found a group of (VERY) lost Maori led by Hongi Hika.
Not knowing who the men were, Little Turtle gave a hand signal telling his men to stop. The Miami chief then fired his Kentucky rifle, hitting a Maori right in the head, killing him instantly . A second later, the other Miami warriors fired, most of the shots missing, but one hit a second Maori in the chest, causing him to clutch his chest before falling to his knees and dying
Hongi Hika and the Maori warriors retaliated, however, because of the lower accuracy of their trade muskets, most their shots missed. One bullet, however, hit its mark, and killed a Miami warrior.
After the initial volley, the the Maori charged. As he closed in, Hongi Hika himself raised his tupara and fired the second barrel and shot a Miami warrior at a range of less than ten feet.
A Maori warrior charged directly at Little Turtle with his Taiha, and swung it down at him. Little Turtle blocked the weapon with the barrel of his long rifle, and struck back with the butt, striking the Maori in the face, before holding onto the rifle one-handed and drawing his tomahawk with the other. The Miami chief buried the tomahawk blade into the Maori's forehead, killing him instantly.
To the right of Little turtle, a Maori attacked a Miami Indian with an iron hatchet, and struck him over head with the weapon, killing the man instantly. As the Maori charged at Little Turtle, however, a gunshot rang out, and the Maori fell face down on the wet ground, hit in the chest by a musket ball.
At the same time, a Miami Indian with a gunstock war club was engaged in a fierce duel with a Maori armed with an iron patu club. The Miami warrior ended the fight when he evaded a strike of the patu and brought down the spiked end of his war club, punching into the Maori's skull and killing him.
Hongi Hika tried to retreat, realizing he had lost all of his men, however, in the confusion of the sudden ambush, he found himself running right into Little Turtle himself. Hika readied his taiha and brought down the greenstone blade. Little Turtle sidestepped the attack, causing the blade of the taiha to strike a tree instead.
In the split second in which the blade was stuck in the tree, Little Turtle struck and swung his tomahawk down into the Maori leader's skull, killing him instantly. After Hongi Hika's body fell to the ground, Little Turtle pulled his tomahawk out of Hika's head and gave a loud war cry, joined by his two surviving warriors.
WINNER: Little Turtle
Expert's Opinion[]
Chief Little Turtle won this battle mainly because of the superior range of his firearms, the Kentucky Rifle in particular. Another major contributing factor to this victory was his mastery of guerilla warfare that allowed him to defeat a large American force.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.
Battle vs. Kamehameha I (by Lunathemoon123)[]
TBW.
Expert's Opinion[]
TBD.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.Battles here were deemed to be unfair or otherwise not in accordance with wiki standards, and have been removed from the statuses of the warriors and displayed below.
Battle vs. Sun Tzu (by Kazanshin)[]
An immense colosseum, filled with rocks and trees, has its seats filled with the anxious crowd. At the top, in the seat of the Caesar, sits Wassboss, ruler and overseer of this realm. As he lifts his arm, Kazanshin snaps his finger. The screen suddenly goes from a colosseum to an open grassy plain.
A group of maori warriors, lead by their chief, Hongi Hika, walk across the grassland. Just moments ago, they were mourning the death of one of their tribesmen who they had found dead with his face smashed in. Now, before they could realized what happened, they found themselves here. Hongi encourages his scared warriors to keep moving forward and try to find something which would give the, a clue of where they are.
Nearby, a group of equally surprised Chinese soldiers walk across the plains, led by military philosopher Sun Tzu. Just when they had thought this same Sun Tzu had been killed by a bizarre man in bronze armor, they found themselves here, with master Sun alive and well. Sun Tzu looks around and urges his men to advance and look for any signs of civilization.
One of the Chinese soldiers squints his eyes, seeing something in the horizon. He starts carefully walking towards his discovery, until he realizes what he was seeing was another group of men. Large, buff men, carrying fearsome weapons he had never seen before. He accidentally lets out a yell of surprise, which alerts both his friends and the Maoris. One of the cannibal points his musket at the stranger and fires. Because of the musket’s terrible accuracy, the shot misses, but the Chinese are all startled and start running in all direction, with only Sun Tzu himself hilariously running back and forth, yelling at his men to keep their calm. Another Maori fires, missing yet again, as the cannibals without the luxury of having a firearm charge at the scattered Chinese.
Sun Tzu recalls his men and runs away. The Chinese then group up and Sun Tzu starts explaining his plan to his men. As the Maori start closing in, one of the Chinese points at them and screams, then turns around and starts running away. The other Chinese soldiers also start running away while screaming, leaving poor Sun Tzu alone, yelling at them to come back, in front of the cannibals. The philosopher faces the oncoming squad of muscular men for a brief moment, before turning around and running away. The Maori give chase to the old man, who runs as fast as his legs can carry him. One of the polynesians points his musket at the running philosopher and fires. Sun Tzu collapses on the ground, grunting and yelling. The cannibals, led by Hongi, close in on the elder sage, who yells and screams as if his life depends on it.
Keyword “as if”.
“射击! (Fire!)”
As Sun Tzu yells this word, the four other Chinese soldiers, who had positioned themselves in a circle and on their stomachs so that the Maoris, too concentrated on Sun Tzu, wouldn’t notice them. The soldiers start firing their repeating crossbows at the Maoris, killing two of them in the volley and injuring one in the leg while master Sun escapes in the confusion.
Hongi Hika: 3
Hongi picks up the musket of one of his dead men and furiously fires it at a Chinese. This time, the shot reaches its target. The soldier drops dead, with a hole in his forehead.
Sun Tzu: 4
The fallen man’s allies look in awe at their dead comrade. What happened? Why did the man die? What killed him? As the Chinese are stunned, the Maori briefly dance the haka, which the Asians are equally surprised and horrified to see, and charge at the frightened men. One of the maoris quickly stabs a frozen Chinese through the chest with his taiaha, which he then swings at another soldier, who narrowly ducks and takes out his bishou dagger. He slashes at the Maori’s thigh before the cannibal can turn around. The polynesian grunts and bashes the Asian in the face with the bludgeoning end of the taiaha, then stabs the downed Chinese in the face.
Sun Tzu: 2
Hongi Hika charges at Sun Tzu himself, who draws his jian and blocks a taiaha swing of the chieftain, who then attempts to trip the philosopher with the other end of the spear. The Chinese responds by jumping over the swing and stabbing a bishou in the chief’s shoulder, making him yell in pain. The old man calls his remaining man and starts running away once again. Hongi attempts to give chase, but turns around to see his injured man on the ground, holding his chest in agony, with the crossbow bolt’s poison taking effect. Hongi and the other warrior run to his sides, and promise him to kill the man who did this to him. The fainting warrior gives one last smile, before losing consciousness and closing his eyes forever.
Hongi Hika: 2
The Polynesians start running in the direction the Chinese went, and spot the two men crouched, seemingly talking about their next plans. The two New Zealand natives charge and smash the Asians in their nape.... only to realize they were dummies. The warrior following Hongi Hika is then smashed in the head from behind with a zhua by Sun’s soldier as the philosopher laughs and fires his crossbow. However, Hongi quickly smashes his foe’s face with a mere and uses the dead body as a meat shield to deflect the volley of bolts.
Sun Tzu: 1
Hongi Hika: 1
As Sun starts reloading his weapon, the chieftain throws his club at it, breaking the wooden crossbow in half. The cannibal then closes in, Toki Kaka Poto in hand, and swings it down. Sun Tzu draws his jian and blocks the swing, then counterattacks with a thrust, which the Polynesian dodges by sidestepping. Sun swings his blade a few more times, with Hongi dodges by backstepping, until he locks the sword between the blade and the shaft of his axe and parries it. Sun Tzu is thrown off balance, but recovers fast enough to block a strike from the Toki. Sun slashes at Hongi’s leg, making him yell and kneel in pain. As the Maori half-collapses, the philosopher tries his chance by attempting to stab through his enemy’s throat, but yet again his plan is foiled by the chieftain deflecting the blow with his axe. Sun Tzu, seeing that this isn’t getting him anywhere, turns his back and starts retreating to establish a new plan. Hongi Hika gets back up and throws his axe, but with Sun Tzu already at a distance, misses.
Sun Tzu, after running out of the cannibal’s sight, catches his breath and starts thinking of a new plan. That’s when the polynesian catches up, faster than the Chinese expected. Hongi, now having retrieved a taiaha, swings the sharp end of the club at the military tactician, who backsteps just in time to avoid getting sliced. The polynesian then thrusts three times at the philosopher, who manages to avoid all attacks, until Hongi feints a thrust and bashes Sun in the jaw with the blunt end of the taiaha. Sun Tzu, knocked on his back, has no time to react as Hongi Hika moves in and gives him an “honorable death” by smashing his skull with his mere. Sun Tzu, with his head smashed into much, collapses once again, as Hongi stands up and gives out a war cry. Meanwhile, a shadow stalks the two in the darkness, with a tiny bladed projectile in his hand.
Winner: Hongi Hika
Expert's Opinion[]
In this very close battle between two losers of the wiki, it’s the Maori tribe and Hongi Hika who finally earn a victory, mostly thanks to the psychological factor that the musket gave them and the fact that, even with all the fancy weapons he had, Sun Tzu was not a battlefield fighter, but instead a military philosopher.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.