Centurions VS Samurai- who wins?

Question

Fantasy Faceoff II, Q.Finals 1- a unit of centurions meet a samurai warband in pitched battle- who wins, and why?

Answer 1

I would definitely vote for the Roman Centurions. The Roman war machine conquered nearly everything it came up against if it had good generals leading the troops. Their armor was either thick iron Lorica Segmentata or tough Lorica Hamata, or chainmail. Their weapons included the short infantry sword known as the gladius, the longer calvaryman's spatha, the large rectangular shield called the scutum, thrusting spears called verutum, and thinner iron spears called pilatum, which passed thru an opponents shield or limbs and then bent under its own weight, making extraction difficult and weighing its victim down. The Romans also used the bow, trebuchet, and catapult,
The Samurai on the other hand, really have one claim to fame, and that is the katana. Their armor generally had little metal overall, and the few who did own full suits of metal armor were members of the shogunate or royal family. A lot of Oriental armor was made from bamboo, lacquered wood, and low quality chainmail. They excelled in hand to hand combat, and were known to use the bow, but did not employ shields.
So, as the two groups meet, the Romans form their interlocking shield wall and further strengthen it by turning it to the testudo, or turtle formation where soldiers in the second rank hold their shields out over the heads of those in the front rank to ward off downward attacks Arrows rain down from both sides but are caught or deflected to a greater extent by Roman scutums. Javelins are launched from the Roman third rank as the Samurai close in, and the armor piercing leaf heads have no trouble at all with Oriental armor. Up close the Samurai have very few targets as the large scutums cover 3/4 of their opponents, and the thrust spears hold them at bay. If a samurai does get in close he is skewered by Roman gladii as they unexpectedly dart around, or under, the scutii. The katana does little against the heavy armor and shields of the Legion, and the Samurai find themselves caught as the shield wall splits into 4 separate square formations, each one protected on all sides by the shield wall and defended by spear, sword, and arrow.
(While I agree that the katana was a work of art, the gladius was made from a spiral-welded iron core, very springy and durable, with a tack-welded steel edge - don't ever believe the movies where a gladiator breaks his opponents sword with his own - if it did happen it was because the sword was made to fail, perhaps to ensure the outcome of the duel for influential citizens betting on the match, The gladius itself was also a work of art - and when you come right down to it as long as the sword works for its intended purpose who cares how many times it's folded?) Also, starvation would not be an issue - but if it was then the Romans would definitely survive - each soldier's pack contained both water and rations for about two weeks - the Samurai were not noted for similiar dedication - they relied on the supply lines of their armies.
Winner: Centurions
Advantage: group tactics and more than one form of attack.

Answer 2

I'm going to go with the Centurions on this because:

- The Centurions were better trained to fight in battles, I think the Samurai may have a good chance in 1 to 1 duels.

- The Centurions have better experience with facing different opponents, whether they be Northern Barbarians, Mongol horde or other highly trained warriors - if they were a threat, the Centurions would have fought them.

- Size and stamina, the Romans would have been physically bigger and stronger than the Samurai who may have been able to deflect the blows of other Samurai (even though Samurai don't really like to hammer their swords to much), the heavy blows of the Centurians would not be so easily deflected, they would probably bat the lighter Samurai to the ground. The Romans are known to have marched great distances before and after battles and would have greater staimina.

When the fighting starts the Centurions would get into battle formation, the Samurai would try to adapt but not really being used to fight combatants from overseas they would not be able to adapt. The Centurions would take many casualties, though not as much as the noble Samurai who would not be able to back down because of their code of honor, in the end the Samurai would be layed to waste.

I'm sure Lordbearclaw will be able to elaborate more on the weapons and armour.

Answer 3

The roman centurion was close range only Samurais devoted themselves to the perfection of combat and were skilled in long range weapons as well, also the katana was a work of art as compared to a rusty piece of metal given to the poor centurion. The roman army was also designed for large scale conflict with huge numbers so in this situation (with only a hundred centurions to presumably 100 samurai) the samurai would win.

Answer 4

The Romans would form into a square formation, if the samurai's charge, the the Romans would throw pilums at the samurai's, killing many of them, then their shields would absorb the samurai's blows and stab them in the stomach easily. If the samurai's don't charge, the Romans would form a square, advance slowly in formation, throw pilums, then charge(maintaining their formation). The samurai's do not have shields for protection as the Roman's shields would just absorb blows from the samurai's and the Romans would just stab them in the stomach easily.

Answer 5

Roman Centurions all the way, and for every reason stated above, esp. Lord Bearclaw's discourse.

Answer 6

it would be a stale mate for a while then the samurai would win
the romans used to form up in a tortoise shape with all their shields on the front and poke their swords out and stab things.

samurai are incredible warriors and i dont think that they would be stupid enough to run into the swords.

so they would sit back and wait for the romans to die from starvation.

Answer 7

Romans probably. Nearly unlimited fighting force, better armored, more sophisticated weapons, experience at fighting in foreign lands, etc.

One on one, kind of depends on the individuals.

Answer 8

The Romans fight as a unit so I'll go with them for a tenner and give three to one odds.

Answer 9

Cylon Centurions, of course.
Especially the ones from the new Battlestar Galactica.

Answer 10

The samurai because they have full belief in themselves they can and will win the battle.