Minotaurs VS Merry Men of Sherwood Forest- who wins?

Question

Fantasy Faceoff II, round 10- with a celebrity appearence! a minotaur warband meet the merry men of Sherwood Forest in pitched battle- who wins, and why?

Answer 1

I need some clarification of the 'pitched battle' thing. Does that mean that they are fighting on neutral ground, a battle arena or any where we want them to fight. In a forest, maze or neither?

If the Minotaurs were to wander into Sherwood forest, I do believe that Lord Bear Claw has thoroughly discussed the outcome of the matter.

However, I'm going to assume (just to be argumentative) that 'pitched battle' means on some kind of neutral ground that neither side are familiar with. Perhaps an arena or some other kind of open ground. If this is the case then the Merry Men have had it. They may take a few Minotaurs by showering them with arrows but by the time they went to take their second shots, the minotaurs are already on top of them disemboweling with horns and bludgeoning them to bloody pulps with their primitive yet weighty weapons. I know this wasn't even remotely fair, but that's the way it goes.

If they were to meet in a maze, then the minotaurs would win as bows and arrows would be of little help and the merry men would have to use daggers or sticks - if they are lucky the discarded weapons of fallen warriors or warriorets.

Answer 2

A minotaur would bite off the heads of Robins band of merry men. No contest.

** edit **

Ive seen a minotaur climb a tree.

Answer 3

The Merry Men would win because they can go up in the trees and shoot mega amount of arrows until the Minotaurs are all dead. (minotaurs can't climb trees)

Answer 4

Minotaurs of course!! Tough as nails beasts v Friar Tuck??c'mon-it's a walk over!

Answer 5

I gotta go with the Sherwood Bandits because much like Elves, they retreat to the trees and specialize in the English longbow, which did such a good job against French plate armor at Poitiers. They are mostly peasant stock with little martial training beyond a lifetime of hunting with the longbow. They tend to run when presented with a superior force, and rely heavily on the tactics and inspiration of their leader, Robin. They have little armor, if any, and few melee weapons save for what they have gleaned from the Sheriff's men. They are garbed in camouflage, essentially, and have treetop retreats that form a network of rope bridges, swinglines, ladders, ziplines, and kinetic elevators (made by suspending a weight at height, stepping into the loop at the other end of line, and cutting the tension line - up you go.) that enable them constant movement thru the canopy and constant resupply of arrows from caches throughout the treetops. The Merry Men are doubtless initially horrified by real monsters, but Friar Tuck would bolster their courage by commanding them to destroy these demons in the name of God, and with Little John present to crack the heads of any who try to cut and run, they would stand their ground.

The minotaurs are obviously monsters, and would instantly terrify the Merry Men with their supernatural forms. They are immensely strong, wield huge double-bitted axes in addition to their natural weapons of horns, teeth, and rear hooves, and tend to attack in animalistic rages. They are not too intelligent, but are very cunning, understanding mazes intuitively, so the forest itself would present no problem with the mazelike hedges the Merry Men have doubtless erected around their treetop community. They would not be able to climb that well with their rear hooves, but even if one could make it into the treetops he would be isolated and quickly eliminated by arrows or by the Merry Men dropping whatever platform he was perched on and sending him crashing to the forest floor dozens of feet below. The minotaurs would attempt to solve this problem by cutting down the trees - and would make a good deal of progress toward that very goal, but the Merry Men would keep moving back, and turn any minotaur concentrating on a tree into a pincushion. It would take awhile to drop one, but drop they would. Unable to engage the Merry Men in hand-to-hand combat, unable to climb the trees, and unable to cut down the forest fast enough, the remaining minotaurs would attempt to leave. If Robin allowed them to go, then he wins by default. If he decides to finish the job of slaughtering the monstrous creatures, then they never make it out of Sherwood alive. Robin and the Merry Men herd them into gulches, ravines, thickets, cliffsides, and bogs. Peppered by the unceasing stream of arrows they begin running blindly into one trap after another, each one finally going down under feathered death. The Merry Men are shaken, scared, and traumatized for life at seeing real monsters out of legend, but they are alive.
Winners: Robin and the Merry Men.
Advantage: Hit and run guerilla tactics from the treetops.

Dr. Jellyfish has a point - the terrain needs specified. If we are assuming every faceoff occurs on a flat, featureless plain with no cover, then the Minotaurs will overrun the Merry Men with sheer savagery. With no where to run the untrained peasants/yeomanry will scatter and rout. So, my vote may change: if the terrain is featureless, then I vote Minotaurs. If we may choose our terrain, then my vote stands as presented.

Answer 6

Maid Marion and her Ambling Amazons.

Answer 7

If you've ever been outside a Nottingham pub at closing time, you'll know the answer!