| “ | Housecarls could chop down a horse with a single blow of their two-handed axes.
— Warrior: A Visual History of the Fighting Man by R.G. Grant
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The Saxon Huskarl was the elite backbone of the Saxon English military, and they served a range of roles from bodyguards to defensive positions in combat. The Huskarls were funded by a tax imposed on the peasants who made up the majority of the Saxon army. The Huskarls were most famous for their "shield-wall" that was put to use, notably at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 against William the Conqueror's invading Norman army. The Huskarls carried massive Dane axes and longswords into battle and were well-armored with chainmail and conical helmets. The Huskarls were likely disbanded after the Norman conquest of Saxon England.
Battle vs. Jacobites (by El Alamein)[]
A Saxon Huskarl stands on a grassy cliffside, looking down to the pounding surf below. The wind blows through the air, a cool, misty breeze. The Huskarl sniffs his nose and turns, looking back up the hill to the hill fort in the distance. He holds his Dane axe in one hand loosely and swings it over his shoulder, making his lazy way up the paved road to his fort, feeling comfortable in the mild late-morning sun.
He hears a shout ring out behind him. He squints as he turns, and makes out the figure of a large, wild-haired man approaching him with an enormous sword drawn. The man isn't exactly running at the Huskarl but his pace is quick; the Huskarl stops in his tracks and shouts at the man to halt.
The man is a Scottish Highlander, blue woad dye smeared over his face and arms, and his hair is tangled and long. He carries the Claymore sword out in one hand, waving it over his head. The Huskarl holds his Dane axe out in front of him and walks calmly down to the Highlander, intending to confiscate his weapons and arrest him, but the Highlander swings his Claymore. The Huskarl drops his axe and ducks behind his shield, absorbing the blow from the sword. He runs at the Highlander and rams him with the shield, knocking him down and sending the Claymore to the grass below. The Huskarl crouches over to pick up his Dane axe and swings it in a massive overhead arc as the Highlander scrambles out of the way - the axehead embeds itself into the earth and the Highlander stumbles to his feet and backs away, holding his Claymore out in front of him. The Saxon soldier pulls the axe out of the dirt and the two men size each other up, before the Huskarl runs at the Highlander with his axe raised in the air. The Scot raises his Claymore up over his head and the axehead comes down on the longsword. The Highlander throws the axe aside with a twist of his sword and makes one desperate swing that the Huskarl jumps away from.
The Huskarl draws his longsword and swipes at his opponent's neck, causing an insignificant wound. Blood spurts from the laceration, but it isn't life-threatening. Growling angrily, the Highlander clutches his war hammer and straps his targe to his forearm as the Huskarl watches. With a downward swing, the Highlander makes an attack that the Huskarl blocks with his shield and quickly counters with a forward thrust to the chest. The chainmail holds firm, though, and the Highlander kicks the Huskarl in the stomach, knocking him back. Looking up, the Huskarl drops his shield and stares as the Highlander charges at him, hitting his hammer on the side of the Saxon's helmet. Dazed, the Huskarl fumbles in his belt as the Scotsman raises his hammer for a final finishing blow. The Huskarl grabs his seax knife and sidesteps the swing as he closes the distance and pushes the knife into the Highlander's throat, dragging it across the length of his neck and stabbing into the back of his head. The Highlander drops his weapon and falls to his knees before he slumps forward into the grass, bleeding out.
Breathing heavily, the Saxon stands stunned before he comes to his senses. He picks up his weapons and continues to the hill fort to report the attack. Before he leaves, he picks up the Claymore sword - it may be of some use to him yet.
Expert's Opinion[]
The Saxon Huskarl was better trained and better armed than the Scottish Highlander, whose wild and barbaric style of fighting was not very efficient against a similiarly armed opponent in a one-on-one fight.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.
Battle vs. Mongol Warrior (by MilenHD)[]
The battle starts at meadow in England,a lone Huskarl is travelling to Stamford bridge to help king Harold ambush Hardrada,but not far away a Mongol Foot Soldier is walking south, he don't know he will meet an elite Saxon warrior by few feets. After fews steps, the Mongol saw the incoming Huskarl and aimed his bow at him shooting an arrow at him,but missing by few inches. The Huskarl reacted fast by raising his shield and throwing his francisca at the Mongol but the axe doesn't even landed near him.The huskarl charged and threwed his 2nd francisca,scratching Mongol's leg.
The Mongol, ingnored the scratch and charged with his glaive at the Huskarl,the Huskarl raised his dane axe for overhead chop,but the Mongol dodge it.The Mongol tried to stab the Huskarl,but the Huskarl blocked the glaive with his axe,as he tried to pull the glaive away,the Mongol managed to stab the Huskarl in the leg.Grunting from pain the Huskarl swung his axe chopping the glaive's shaft in two, but the Mongol responded with by swinging his mace at the Huskarl knocking the dane axe away.The Huskarl pulled his longsword and shield, and began to duel with the Mongol,but the shield was destroyed by one swing of the flanged mace.Than both swung their weapons at each other with both weapons clashing at each other,with niether of both getting knocked.But after after few more hits the Mongol managed to get the longsword knocked.Than the Huskarl draw his long seax and sung it at the Mongol.
His first attack was a slash at the Mongol, making small cut at the leather lammelar, but the Mongol swung his mace over and over at the Huskarl, but the mace was too slow for the Saxon Huskarl,and he slashed at the Mongol's grip, making him to lose the mace.The Huskarl responded than with slash at the chest,but the armor protected the Mongol and he grabbed his knife,and tried to stab the Huskarl at the heart but he missed, and the Huskarl stabbed him in the left arm, wounding the Mongol.
Than, at the end of their powers, the Huskarl pulled his longseax from the Mongol's arm. And he prepeared to kill him, but the Mongol with fast swing stabbed, the Huskarl fall at his knees. Than the Mongol Foot Soldier grabbed his mace and with one mighty swing he bashed Huskarl's head, stopping him from forever helping King Harold. And than the Mongol raised his mace and roared in vicory.
Expert's Opinion[]
While the Huskarl had better armor and bladed weapons,he was basically outclassed in both mid and long range,where the Mongol won in this 2 categories,he also had faced similar enemies in Eastern Europe.
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. Persian Immortal (by MovieStuff65)[]
Huscarls: 
Immortals: 
A lone Immortal stands on the deck of the trieme. After our failed attempt on Greece, maybe this land will give us great resources. He gestures to the other four Immortals to land. One blows a horn, and the other massive Persian warships go to a halt. The five men land on the beach, breathing in the salty air. However, they have been spotted from a Saxon fort, and the garrison leader has sent five Huscarls to arrest the strange men. The leader kneels down on a rock, clutching his Dane Axe in his hand. He sends two of his men forward while the other three remain behind rocks in case of retaliation. The Persians see the approaching men and draw their bows. Before he could react, an Immortal shot one Huscarl in his neck, killing him. The other Huscarl raises his shield as the other four arrows thud into it. The Huscarl pulls out a throwing axe and manages to hit an Immortal in the chest, knocking him backwards. As he gets up, another Huscarl chucks another axe into him. The weapon land sin his head, and he falls back with a moan. The other three Huscarls catch up to the other one and charge, yelling fierce battle cries as they charge towards the Persians. One Immortal hides behind his wicker shield, but the Huscarl's longsword easily slices through it, and he follows up with a quick thrust into the Immortal's chest. Suddenly, a spear point prods through his chest, killing him instantly. The Immortal yanks the spear out and swings the ball point into an approaching Huscarl's head, dazing him. He tries to perform another thrust, but the Huscarl barely manages to parry it with the handle of his Dane Ax. He then performs a mighty chop, with the bit slamming into the head of the Immortal. He turns and swings the axe around, but the Immortal quickly ducks and stabs his Acinaces into his gut. The lead Immortal blocks a slash from a Long Seax, but his wicker shield simply can't take the punishment. The shield collapses, and the blade continues to hit the bronze scales of the Immortal. However, the scalse hold and the Immortal plants the pick of his Sagaris into the skull of the stunned Huscarl The lead Huscarl sees his comrade fall. He disarms the Immortal he is fighting of his shield and hacks his longsword into his head, decapitating the Persian. The other Immortal runs to the Huscarl, slamming his Sagaris into his side. The chainmail holds, but it still sends him to the ground. The Huscarl grabs a nearby rock and throws it at the Immortal, stunning him. Searching for a weapon, he grabs another larger stone and bashes the head of the Immortal, slamming the rock into his head. He runs over and grabs a Spear. He then thrusts it into the Persian's chest, impaling him on the spear. Panting, the Huscarl lets out a yell of victory before beginning the slow process of collecting weapons and walking back to the fort.
WINNER: Saxon Huscarl
Expert's Opinion[]
The Huscarl curbstomped his opponent because of all his weapons being made of a superior metal, and his much larger size allowed him to attack his opponent with more force.
To see the original battle, weapons and votes, click here.
Reason[]
The battle has been declared unfair for the Immortals due to the superior metallurgy of the housecarls.
Ancient Spec Ops Royale (by BattleGames1 and Goddess of Despair)[]
It is in the late afternoon at the peninsula and atop a cliff overlooking the expanse of forest that lay near the shoreline of the peninsula stands an Aztec Eagle, admiring the sun set in a spectacular array of colours over the sea. Whilst looking down upon the sea, he notices something that catches his attention. A strange-looking ship has docked itself upon the shoreline and a man in shining gold armour has touched down onto the beach, seemingly searching for something. A close scrutinising (surprising for a person who is actually some distance away from their target) from the Eagle registers this individual as a threat, perhaps a scout for an invasion force. The Eagle then draws out a Yāōmītl arrow and loads it onto his Tlahuitolli. Taking his time, the Eagle - with a clear vantage point from atop the cliff - tries to aim for an accurate shot at the armoured man down below. A smile appears on the Eagle's face once he has laid his sights on the perfect opportunity. Unbeknownst to the Eagle, a Huskarl is walking across the grassy plain behind him - throwing axes in one hand, his Dane axe in the other, longsword sheathed away in his belt and the spear and shield tucked to his back. He, like the Marine on the shore, is looking around and checking his surroundings. The huskarl then spots a strange sight before him - something round and full of colours and feathers lay before him. Thinking this is some shield that a threat of his is cowering behind, the huskarl sets his Dane axe carefully on the ground and prepares to throw one of the throwing axes. As the huskarl tries to get a good aim, he sees the shield shake and hears the sound of an arrow being fired. Down on the shoreline, the Marine continuing to walk along the shore with his spear in one hand, shield in the other and the other weapons behind his back dodges out of the way just in time as an arrow almost hits him in the foot. Looking to see where the shot came from, the Marine looks up and notices an oddly-shaped figure standing high above him. Before the Marine can draw out his bow, the Eagle fires another arrow at him. This time the arrow hits and is deflected off the Marine's hoplon. Annoyed at this, the Eagle prepares another Yāōmītl arrow. Before he could load it onto his Tlahuitolli, the Eagle is startled when he hears metal attaching itself to wood. Looking behind his shoulder, the Eagle is stunned to see an axe embedded onto the shield. A complete turnaround reveals the Eagle to Huskarl who throws another axe at him. The Eagle counters the throw with another block from his shield. A third axe throw from the huskarl manages to slash the Eagle in the thigh but the blow is not big enough to injure the Eagle. Before the Huskarl can throw another axe, the Eagle fires his Tlahuitolli and manages to hit the Huskarl on the side causing the Saxon to fall down in pain. Using this distraction wisely, the Aztec Eagle prepares his Atlatl & Tlacochtli and aims it ready to finish killing off his opponent. Down below on the shoreline, the Marine sets down his spear in the sand and prepares his bow and arrow ready for firing, aiming for the silhouette atop the cliff. Taking his time, the Marine aims for the Eagle's head. However, his aim soon becomes disoriented when from out of the trees, a throwing knife whizzes by, causing the arrow to instead hit the rock. Just as the arrow from the Greek composite bow hits its target, the Eagle fires off his dart at the Saxon. Unfortunately for the Eagle, the Saxon manages to get up and the tlacochtli dart just hits the huskarl's helmet, dazing the Saxon as he pulls out the arrow out from his side. Not having enough time to load another tlacochtli dart, the Eagle grabs his shield and jumps to the side, managing to roll onto the grassy slope. As the huskarl readies his spear, he scouts around, looking for where the Eagle had gone. Taking a few steps backwards, he sees some feathers rustling down the incline - it is the Eagle and he is heading for the forest. The huskarl, wanting to hunt down the coward, chases down after him into the forest. At the same time, the Marine is taken aback when the knife came out from nowhere in the forest. He fires an arrow towards the trees, hoping to take down the assailant. But there was no cry that came out - he missed again. Taking his sword out of the sand, the Athenian Marine cautiously sneaks his way into the woods, hunting down his enemies.
The eagle rushed through the forest, jumping over fallen logs. The Huskarl pursues the Aztec, with his spear and shield ready. The eagle, hearing the Huskarl behind him, grabs a Tepoztōpīlli leaning against a tree. He turns and thrusts into the Huskarl’s shield, the Huskarl thrusts his own spear into the eagle’s side. The Huskarl rams his shield into the eagle, causing him and his spear to fall to the ground, slamming into a log. The Huskarl thrusts his spear at the eagles head, but the attack misses and the eagle manages to scramble to his feet. He reunites with his spear but the two quickly separate when he throws his spear at the Huskarl. The spear hits with enough force to knock the shield away from thw Huskarl. The jaguar sprints for his Macuahuitl, which lies in a bush. The Huskarl doesn’t allow this and throws his spear, which dug into the Aztec’s leg. He fell slamming his head onto the Macuahuitl. The Huskarl approaches the eagle but quickly turns his attention to an object emerging from the bush. He steps back lifting his great axe. Emerging from the bush was a man encased in gold, at least that’s what the Huskarl thought. He decided that by killing the man he could sell the armor but his mind quickly shifted its attention to a bolt that slams into a nearby log. Suddenly as the marine left the bush the roman centurion was yelling at the top of his lungs, charging armed with his pilum and scutum (shield). The three warriors formed a triangle of armor and flesh, each daring the other to make a move.
FIRST OUT: Aztec Eagle
From up above in the trees, the Hashashin espies the stand-off and waits for one of the men to make his move. After a couple of seconds, the huskarl charges at the Marine holding his Dane axe high into the air for a swing. Before he could get a chance, the Hashashin throws one of his knives, slashing the huskarl in the lower leg. The three combatants look up to see who threw the weapon and see the Hashashin, perched upon a branch getting ready to throw another knife. The Roman attempts to fire his pilum but the Hashashin manages to dodge it easily. The Hashashin counters with another knife throw but the Centurion blocks it with his scutum. Taking the opportunity, the Marine charges at the Centurion with his hoplon but the Centurion runs away into the forest before the Marine could have a chance. The Hashashin too runs off in pursuit of the Centurion. The Marine now looks towards the Huskarl who has just gotten up and is still wielding his Great Axe. Staring at him coldly, the Athenian again charges at him with the shield. The huskarl runs in and out of the trees while the Marine continues hitting his hoplon at nothing but trees.
Meanwhile, the Hashashin continues to follow the centurion as he makes his way back to the scorpion. Watching as the Centurion load another arrow bolt into the machine, the Hashashin readies his recurve bow. The Centurion aims at the tree tops hoping to get a quick fix at the silent assassin. Taking aim with the bow, the Hashashin aims for the Centurion's stomach. The leaves behind him begin to rustle, to which the Centurion responds by firing his bolt at the Hashashin. The bolt barely misses the assassin as he fires his recurve bow, managing to scrape the leg of the Centurion. The Centurion unsheathes his gladius, hoping that the assassin would drop from the trees ready to fight. But what came out of the trees was a few more arrows, to which the Centurion barely manages to dodge and block with his scutum. The centurion, thinking he can fight fire with fire, takes out his arcus and fires a few shots into the trees, missing the hashashin every time. The next arrow the Centurion fires is a lucky one because it barely missed the Hashashin but it caused a fuse on a ceramic grenade to ignite. Next thing he knows, the centurion sees the incendiary grenade being thrown, hitting the scorpion and setting it as well as the surrounding area on fire. By now it was dark and the blast from the incendiary grenade was bright enough to give the Centurion and the Hashashin a clear view of where each other was. The hashashin finally jumps down from the trees and unsheathes his scimitar. Eyeing down his opponent, the Centurion charges at him with his sword. The hashashin gets the first swing though, but it is blocked again by the scutum. The Centurion counters with another swing but the Hashashin dodges it. After a few more moments of dodging, swinging and blocking, the Hashashin gets the upper hand. Even though he could not slash through the tough armour of the Centurion, the Hashashin managed to kill the Centurion with a stab to the neck. The centurion, reeling from the immense pain, stumbles back onto the fire - eventually burning away like a microwave oven thanks to the armour. Looking at his fallen opponent and his burning (now almost wrecked machine), the Hashashin puts away his sword. The fire and fighting he has started would have certainly attracted the attention of the huskarl and the Marine so the Hashashin climbs up to the top of a tree that hasn't been burnt yet and draws his bow, lying in wait for his next victim.
SECOND OUT: Roman Centurion
Some miles away from the fight between the hashashin and the centurion, the Huskarl keeps running, trying to get away from the Marine who was chasing him. At any given moment, the huskarl would throw one of his axes at the Marine, but in the dark, it was hard to tell where the axes landed. Eventually, the huskarl reaches an open alcove - and a dead end. He drops the Axe and unsheathes his spear and shield in anticipation. Sure enough, the Athenian Marine jumps out from the trees - hoplon in one hand still intact and his dory spear in the other. Like before, the two warriors stare each other down trying to intimidate each other to strike. And like before, the Huskarl with his huge axe charges at the Marine. This time, the huskarl successfully swings his axe at the Marine. However, this blow is blocked by the shield. Before the Marine can swing the dory and pierce the side of the huskarl through his armour, the Huskarl dives and rolls to the side. The Marine then charges in again, this time holding out the dory. Agile to get on his feet, the huskarl draws out his longsword and slashes the dory in two. Put in a bad position, the Marine stumbles back and unsheathes his kopis. The two warriors begin to clash swords, each blocking each others blows (sometimes also using the shields). After a fierce duel where the most the two swordsmen could do was wound each other, the Marine has an idea. As the huskarl prepares another thrust with the longsword, the Marine swings his hoplon fast enough to not only block the strike but, after a few milliseconds of struggling, send him flying back to the ground with a huge thud. The huskarl, regaining his senses, sees the Marine running away back into the trees. Seeing this as a sign of cowardice, the huskarl gets back on his feet and picks up his great axe. With a loud yell, the Saxon charges in the Marine's directions. Suddenly from out of the trees, an arrow strikes the huskarl in the knee. The huskarl kneels in pain and drops his axe; before he knew, another arrow came flying out, this time fatally hitting the huskarl in the neck and killing him instantly.
From behind some bushes, the Marine stands up, satisfied he has earned his kill. Suddenly a bright light flashed in his direction... the light source was a fire ignited inexplicably (to the Marine that is) from where he was earlier. Then a loud scream rang throughout the air (the one of the Roman Centurion as he is stabbed in the neck). Sensing trouble, and where his last enemy lay in wait, the Marine put away his bow, unsheathed his sword, and cautiously walked towards the fire.
THIRD OUT: Huskarl
Moving towards the source of light, the Athenian looked around, hoping to espy his target. He looks further in and sees the Centurion's burning corpse in the mix. Not knowing what caused this madness, he suddenly jumps out of the way as an arrow flies out from the trees. Rolling on the ground, more arrows come flying out from the trees. The Marine sees where this battle is going when his cape gets caught amongst the flames. Quickly taking it off, the Marine rushes away from the Hashashin's POV and heads into the forest, quickly retreating to the trireme on the shore. The hashashin, annoyed at this turn of events, hops from tree to tree hoping he can catch up. As the Marine kept running closer and closer to the shoreline, the Hashashin was hopping from tree to tree flicking his throwing knives the Marine - and they either end up hitting the Marine's armour or a tree - until he has no more. Finally, both combatants reach the shoreline. Turning back towards the forest, he waits in patience for the Hashashin to come out ready to play. Sure enough, the Arab assassin reveals himself, scimitar at the ready in one hand, a ceramic grenade in another. The Marine draws his bow and shoots the ceramic grenade before the hashashin could have a chance to light it up. Filled with a raging fury, the Hashashin runs forward and wails his sword about. A strike from the scimitar would have been deadly but the Marine, just in time, blocks it with his kopis. The Marine then flings the Hashashin away with his hoplon, sending the Arab rolling across the sand. Quick on his feet, the Hashashin gets up on his feet and again charges at the Marine, which then leads the two to engage in a fierce sword duel. Some of the the marine gets the upper hand and at others, it is the Hashashin who does - and on both occasions, their opponent slammed them into the ship's hull.
Eventually, after countless attempts at trying to kill each other, the Hashashin and Marine tire out, but the Hashashin, determined as he can be, swings his scimitar at the Marine's head hoping to get a clean sweep. Unfortunately, the helmet manages to provide more than adequate protection that allows for the Marine to do the same neck slash movement the Hashashin tried to use, only this time, the Hashashin's head is cleanly cut off.
As his opponent's head gets washed away into the ocean, the Marine stares up into the moonlight and yells "For Athens" as he raises his kopis in victory.
LAST OUT: Hashashin
WINNER: Athenian Marine
Expert's Opinion[]
The majority of votes placed the Eagle in last place and it is no surprise why the Eagle loses out this easily - the other warriors had weapons made a of a more durable material (in this case metal over wood and obsidian), and despite the shield, not much protection was offered by the Eagle's cotton armour.
The votes placed the Centurion somewhat close to last (either last or second-to-last) because despite the iron weapons he possessed, the Centurion (as also shown on DW) was more a formation fighter than a solo fighter and without his fellow legionaries to help him out, the Centurion just wasn't able to hold out against the other warriors.
The huskarl was a very formidable opponent with weapons and armour that are of a superior metallurgy over the others (save the hashashin) but he wasn't that great a match over the Marine and Hashashin. The Dane Axe held by the Saxon in this battle was very effective but his lack of an effective long-ranged weapon and his longsword not being able to get past a shield like the hoplon are what caught this warrior out.
The hashashin was a very formidable opponent and he was the most technologically sophisticated of all the warriors and had a sword that matched the kopis but what made the Athenian Marine win this battle is the combination of effectively good weapons and his durable armour and shield; the Marine was also trained for both formation and one-on0one fighting on the front lines of combat whereas the hashashin was basically a mastered and skilful assassin - once the Athenian drew him out of hiding, the hashashin's advantage was gone. If this battle is unfair in any way, shape or form, then you can go ahead and do a rematch.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.