Joan of Arc Vs. William the Conqueror

Welcome to my first ancient pre-matchup.
I will look into the the matches that DW has already announced with Joan vs. William being the first to be a subject for my blog. I will look into the warriors and select four possible weapons that these warriors have used in history and may be used in DW. I will also take a look at the armour and possible X-factors.
I will do a weapon on weapon match up and an armour on armour. I will then proceed to show what warrior would win in my opinion and what warrior will probably win on Deadliest Warrior.

Lets get started with the first match up.
Since both of these warriors are known to ride on horse, my guess is that the warriors will be on horseback and i depect them as such.


The warriors


Joan Of Arc

Joan who?
Most of you have heard of the story of Joan of Arc. How  the French were losing the 100-year war against England and suddenly, there she was. The poor girl who heard angels talk to her and guide her towards the court where she convincedking Charles VII to let her guide the French soldiers to batte. She was succesful and was ultimately burned as a witch at the pyre.
But what really happened?
Joan was born as the daughter of an farmer/tax collecter.  When she was 12, she first saw the angels Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margeret. When she was 16, she started off on her journey to the king.
Now you guys  have to realise that France was at war with England and things were dramaticly bad. Anything they had tried had failed and when the girl came, asking for a knights outfit and said that she would get leadership of an army, the king decided to go unorthodox and grant it. Besides, since she said she got commands from god, the war turned into a holy war. Her first task was to help and break the siege of Orleans.
The debates between scholars started here. Some of them say that she was only a flagbearer and had nothing to do with the acual plan of battle, being more of a motivation. This, this comes from her own testomony at her trials where she had said that she preferred the standard to the sword. Others, who do not pay attention to the testomonies at the trial say that there were men who found her an skilled tactician and an succesful strategist. For now, it does not matter what she was, but truth be told, things changed dramaticly. The French were primarily on the defence with war, so as in Orleans but this changed with her and she acually found that The French had to attack to capture the fortress of Saint Augustines. The men in charge were against this plan and locked the door. She rallied workman and commen soldier, with the aid of only one captain, they rode out and manage to capture the fortress. Again, the warcouncil wanted to keep on the defence, in which she disagreed. They attacked the main English stronghold called Les Tourelles and managed to capture that. In the battle she was hurt by an arrow in the neck (indicating that she did fight) and she was named heroine of the engagement. After so much succes, the French adopted an more offensive style of fighting and Joan got royal permission to stand as head of an army and capture Rheims. On the way to Rheims, she got control of the tactics and fought with the others in the battles. She survived an stone to the head and got an following of several important people, some of which were first against her. The French captured a number of towns, including Rheims were the Coronation of Charles could begin. She then asked permission to attack Paris which was granted.
At the first day of fighting at Paris, she got an crossbowbolt the the leg and kept on fighting. The next morning, she recieved orderd to widraw. She did recieve the status of nobility though.
In 1430, she tried to attack an Burgandian camp, where she got captured. It has to be noted that she was one of the last to escape the attack and the rearguard got cut off. Her horse got then shot from beneath her by an English archer.
While in capture, she tried to escape many times untill she was purchased by the English.
Her trials were not very honest. It was a policital trial, she was one of the people responsible to put the French king on his throne again and the English wanted her condemd. They lacked evidence or jurestiction, but they continued anyway. She did not get an legal adviser and she noted that everybody was against her. When she asked people from the French side to stand for her, this got denied.
It later got known that the court record got falsefied and doctered in her disfavor.
She was found guilty of heresy and wearing mans clothing, altough the last was something not much people agreed in as it was stated clearly that she wore mans clothing mostly so she did not get raped. In 1431 she got burned at the stake, at the age of 19.
It should be noted that during her trials, the Englissh found er quitte intelligent.

This is only a small introduction about Joan of Arc and her live. i highly recomment you to read things for yourself and see the dates and battles that i did not name. I did not want it to get boring, thus my decision therefor. I will agree that i used wikipedia for this bit of information, but i have studied about her before and during my writings i checked on mistakes or details of which i know are incorrect. I also checked the sourced which were okay, so I am comfortable using Wikipedia.


Weapons and armour
Looking up weapons of Joan of Arc was a bit hard. There is not much documented about the weapons Joan used and as I said before, it is stated that she preferred the flag over the sword. This actually indicates that she  used a sword. The sword was the main weapon of a Knight and stood for power.
http://musee.jeannedarc.pagesperso-orange.fr/sword.htm
This is a link, explaining more about the sword Joan used and how it broke. (never hit an prostitute with your sword) the main problem with this little article is, that it does not describe what kind of sword it was. Considering she was still a girl at the age of 18, i assume that the sword she wielded would be a short sword or bastardsword. If the sword in the picture is near correct, that it must have been the bastardsword, also if you consider that most battles would be fight using the two-handed sword or the bastardsword, it actually makes sense. My biggest guess is that she will be using the bastardsword as short range weapon. The rest of the weapons were a bit harder to figur out because there is no text whatsoever indicating that she used other weapons. That is why i have taken the liberty to acually look into the weapons used in the 15e century and many battles, of which she was a part.

For what I can figur out about the weapons, i guess that the midrange weapon will be the lance. The lance was mostly used as a tournement weapon but lances were also used on horseback during times of war. The Knights would drive off and ram the other knights off horses so that the footsoldiers could finish it off.

With the long range weapon, i think that the crossbow will be back. It is an iconic weapon of the medieval ages and was used much by the French during the hundred years war. The crossbow was made of wood and steel, was very accurate but could not shoot as far as a longbow. You load such an crossbow by putting your foot in a foothandle on top of the crossbow and pulling the bowstring up, using your backmuscles to pull the string upwards. Then you places a bolt, aimed and shot. The loading of an crossbow was timeconsuming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpuVK1jwMIA
This is a link the the show conquest. Altough i do not much agree with the show itself and finding it rather more often telling wrong information, they had an pretty decent crossbow test with an crossbow that would have been used. (03:21)

The special weapon of  Joan of Arc will be in my humble opinion the pollaxe. The pollaxe has been on the show before and is an long pole with on one side an hammer, on the other an hook or thick point. On the upside was also an smaller and longer point. This weapon was used by Knights mostly to  fight other knights in plate. You hammer on the armour with the hammerside, or you pull the opponent on the ground with the hook, then you stabbed him on the eyes or other unprotected areas with the point.

The armour of Joan consisted of plate armour. I will not go into detail about the armour itself, because you all have probably pictures in your head about it. The areas that were not covered by the plate were the points where it would restrict movement. Think about joints, armpits etc. On these places, to have some form of protection, there was chainmail added to the whole lot. Normally it would have been riveted chainmail, but DW will probably use unriveted chainmail.
Under the chainmail and plate, the Knights wore an gambeson and it would be easy to guess that Joan was no exception. not only made it the plate more comfortable, but also the force of several weapons were absorbed. A gambeson was a coat of linen, filled with layers of wool.
The head may be a bit of a problem. in alll depictions of Joan of Arc, i found that she did not wear an helmet. She might have used a helmet because it was much safer in combat but i have found no evidence to support that. I will also guess that Joan will not using an helmet on the show. If you are going to use an iconic woman, you do not hide her female face. I agreed with myself that she will not wear an helmet in this match up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMuNXWFPewg
This is a link of a clip in which Mike loads throws himself off horse. He shows with this that knights in plate were flexible and could survive such an fall with ease.

X-factor
The X-factor of Joan would probably be her faith. Her believe in god would and fighting for the right thing is a strong mindset, which enables you to be strong willed and give everything just a bit more.


William the Conqueror

William who?
He is known by many names, the most famous of them being William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy and William the Bastard. But who was the man that entered the english coast and at the battle at Hastings in 1066 killed the English king Harold and took the English throne. How did this storming Norman fight and became the most powerful man in Europe.

William was born as the illigimate son of Robert I Duke of Normandy and grandnephew of the English queen.
Alough he was illigimate, it  was the only son of the Duke and Robert named him his heir. This led to William being on constant attack from kinsman who thought they had a bigger claim to be named Duke. At the age of seven, his father died and he became duke. The attacks did not stop but were aimed now at his guardians. If you could control the boy, you would control his land. A childhood in which he constantly feared being murdered, made him an dangerous man in his later live. At the age of fifteen, he was knighted and when he was nineteen, he succesfully fought of invasions and rebellions. The king of France tried to invade Normany twice and failed both times for example.
I will not go in details about the reasons of his invasion of England, only saying that he had an bloodclaim and the loyalty of Harold Godwinson (the then king of England)
When he took land near Hastings, he build an wooden fortress and started raiding the south of England, waiting for the English king Harold to show up. It is well documented that when his ship got on land, William fell off the ship in the sand. His men saw this as an bad oman, but William quickly stood up and grabbed some  earth in his hand. As he spoke his words: 'I grabbed this sand with the same ease, as i will grab this country' he spilled the sand from his hand. Note that there are a lot of variations on what exactly he had said.
Harold showed up after fighting in the north and the battle of Hastings began. It was a battle that took nine hours, way longer then battles used to take in that era. In the beginning of the battle, William had few setbacks, they initally did not get past the shieldwalls of the English and when the horse of William was killed, the rumor soon spread that William had died. First, William jumped on another horse and showed his men that he was still alive and eager to continue the batte, then the attack of the archers and throwing spears proved too much for the shieldwalls to handle and they began to collapse. Soon after sundown, Harold got killed and the battle was won by the Normans.
William waited two weeks for a formal surrender of the English that never came. Instead, the English named the young Edgar king. William did not like that idea and marched for London with his armie. When he arrived in London, Edgar gave up the crown and Saxon England surrenderd.
The coronation was held at Westminster on Christmas day 1066 and during the event, the people inside the abbye shouted. The Norman guards outside thought that the English were revolting and started setting fire to houses.
Altough the south of England was under Norman control, the north still rebelled. it took six years to put all the rebellions down and William also had to deal with other invasions. The worst rebelling came from Northumbia. William devastated it, destroying all the land and tools also, it took one hundred years for Northumbia to recover. This act of violence made shure that no English city would revolt again.
In 1072, William invaded Scotland and defeated the Scottish king Malcolm. They made peace and Malcolm send his son as hostage to keep the peace, indicating that the peace was obvious on terms of the Norman conqueror.
Two of his sons rebelled against him and attacked him. Altough after the battle of 1079, William and Robert (the first son to rebel) made peace. When his second son rebelled, he was stripped of all of his assets in England and was imprisoned in 1082.
In 1083, his wife Mathilda died and William become more of a tyrannical ruler.

William had a lot of important reforms, the most famous was the doomsday book in which all of the English assets was written down. he also created a new system, bringing all the regions under one central control. Lastly he ordered moats and strongholds being build all over England to be ready for invaders.
While William was burning Mantes in 1087, an fire shocked his horse and he hit the pommel of the saddle with his abdomen. He died at the age of 57.

Again, I have written a small introduction and i did not go into detail anout the reasons to invade England and the different battles he fought. It is a very interesting read and i would suggest that you dive a bit deeper in the information.
Also again, i have used a wikipedia entry as main source for my information here but note that i used it to summorise the life of William and i have checked if the information was correct by means of an old schoolbook, an book of the horrible histories series and an documentary.
I did not find any faults in the information and thrustworthy, hence i use it.
the documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIhPHs1m8bI&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_532436

Weapons and Armour
Searching for weapons William used was acually more easy then with Joan of Arc. There is more written about his life and ofcourse the Bajeux tapestry that showed the battle of Hastings is an great source to use. But in the sense of too much is overkill, i acually had to chose between weapons sometimes, going with an four weapon per warrior limit that DW uses. I have decided on weapons that he himself obviously used or were trademark weapons of the Normans and are most likely to be included by DW.

The short range weapon was rather easy to decide on. The longsword, not unlike the Viking longsword. This sword was used with one hand and saw battle on horseback and from horseback. With both cutting power from the two sides and thrusting power from the tip, this was an dangerous 30 inche weapon and clearly visible on the Bajeux tapestry of the battle of Hastings. When this weapon was used on foot, it would have been used together with the kiteshield.

The midrange weapon was the fighting spear. This weapon could be used both on horseback and foot. The stabbing power was great. Like the medieval lance, the spear was kept crouched under the arm during a charge or hold it above the head during melee. This weapon could be thrown also for maximum effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsSS5D7GCCM From (02.50) and onwards is a bit about the Norman spear and how important this weapon was voor Wiliam.

For long range weapons, i was originally planning to use the spear as throwing device, but how further i sought good alternatives, i acually found out that William himself was very good with the short bow, being able to hit targets from horse with good accurasy.
The Norman bow was an rather simple short bow with a short draw and relative short reach. Even though it was short. It was like all bows dangerous and the ability to shoot arrows from horseback would not hurt either.

For the special weapon i went for the mace. This deadly weapon was used much in the army of William and He had probably enough training with this weapon. He is seen with an wooden stick in two scenes but that stick only shows that he is in charge . He would have been able to defend himself with this weapon of neccesery. He would have used is as an normal mace. The mace was meant to crush armour.
 http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/bt/weapon.htm From above, the under-left picture is of a mace.

The armour of William is simple. He wore an gambeson. A riveted chainmail shirt, an chainmail coif and an nasal helmet. That was an helm with a little piece in front of the nose (nasal) to protect the face.
He also would have had an kiteshield with an boss in the middle. On horseback, the shield would have been on the leftside lifted something above the horse. This way the left side was protected by the spear and the right side by the sword/spear.

X-Factor
The x-factor of William is clearly his destructive actions and brutality. Two examples are when the people of a town made fun of the fact that his grandfather on his mothers side was a tanner. They placed pieces of leather on the walls and sung: 'Leather for the tanners son' William got pissed and with the next raid, he cut off the hands and feet of the captured people and threw them over the walls of the city.
In another instant, when an region of England started an rebbelion, he destroyed it.

The egdes
I will use a different methode of deciding what weapon gets the egde. With every weapon matchup, i will judge the weapons in three parts. I will look weapon on weapon, what weapon is better, more usefull. Then i will look into weapon on armour/defence. How does the weapon stand against the arour of the opponent and how good can you defend with it. lastly i will look into skill and experience of the warrior with the weapon. After that i will say what weapon gets the egde. I will not give grades either but in the end, i will write about what weapons would have been most usefull on both sides.

Bastardsword Vs. longsword
- Weapon on weapon, the bastardsword is the better weapon with greater range and and the user is able to use the sword with either one hand or both hands. But in this weapon on weapon match up, there are more things that should be accounted for. On horse, the bastardsword would still have a slight advantage, being able to hit with greater force. But on foot, William would have been able to use his shield together with his sword. This combination of sword and shield is harder to beat with just an sword. It is not impossible, clearly not, but it takes skill and training to do that. Even with the skill and training, its hard to pull off.

- If we look at weapon on armour, you see that Joan is wearing plate while William is wearing chainmail. The bastardsword of Joan can give some nasty punches and altough it may not penetrate the chainmail in the first few thrusts, it has a big chance of breaking trough, also considering that the legs of William will not be protected. The only problem she faces is the kiteshield, that altough it is made from wood, will not break and she has to work around. William  would face an metal suit, that protected everything execpt joints and the head. The joints were protected by chainmail, leaving only the head open, an vulnerable target. Keep in mind that in this match up i have decided to let Joan go bareheads because this will be most likely the case in the actual DW episode. If she wore an helmet ( i have found no evidence to support it either) then that would really make it an hard target to hit.

- Now we are in the skill contest. To wield swords, you need a lot of skill. Swords are not simple hacking weapons like you see in movies and both warriors would have had training to use the sword good. The problem with Joan here is, that she would have had at most 3 years of training. She came to the king at the age of 16 and died at the age of 19. before that, she would never have held an sword. William had the training of a nobleman. He had learned the art of swordfighting since he was a child. Not only had he more training with the sword, he was also a lot stronger then Joan, being a big man. That means that altough the bastardsword delivers more force as weapon, he could give his longsword more power due to his own strenght.

- Overall, i think that in the end, the longsword will get the egde. This comes due to the fact that William would have had more experience with his weapon and he used an shield as sideweapon. This would be too much for Joan to overcome in the fight and altough her armour would stack up more, in the end it will not help too much.

Lance Vs. Spear
-Weapon on weapon, both weapons have their pro's. The lance is an stronger weapon and is longer then the spear. it is almost shure to get the opponent off the horse. The spear on the other hand can be used in the charge, as weapon to stab down on enemies and it could be thrown from horseback for maximum effect. It also did not hurt that William could wield the spear and shield at the same time. The lance had as downside that you can only use it in the charge and if you hit, release the weapon. It was almost certain that you would send your opponent to the ground but it is only a weapon for a single purpose. The spear on the other hand was made of weaker wood and had an brailler point. It was also much shorter.

-With the poleweapons against armour i can be short.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NblAIujdzeU&feature=related (from 1.55 onwards)
For all those of you who do not want to watch it: The Norman spear could not penetrate the plate but the lance was very able to impale riveted chainmail and a gambeson. The better weapon here is clearly the lance.

- Now the skill. Both weapons demand skill altough the Norman spear demands more skill to be thrown from horse against one opponent. I very well guess that William would have had that skill. On the other hand, fighting with the Lance was very important in the medieval ages so i can say that Joan would have had very good training with it to hit precise.

- To conclude the midrange weapon, i can say that the Lance would win here because it is bigger and is more able to penetrate the opponent. With skill, it matters not much in this match up because both warriors had skill.

Crossbow Vs. Shortbow
- It is hard to make a decision  between the two bows. The crossbow is stronger and can be aimed better but must be used on foot and has a longer reload time. The shortbow can be used from horseback, has a quicker reload time, can also be aimed nice. The long range weapons are each others opposite. the Strong points of the Crossbow are the weaknesses of the short bow and Vice versa.

- With the armour penetration, i am shure that the crossbow would be able to penetrate the chainmail of William. The power of the crossbow was so great that it would tear trought the chainmail and gambeson. i do not know about the shield but my guess is that as long as the boss is not hit, the bolt will go trough the shield.
With the shortbow, im less confident. I suspect that the arrows from the shortbow will not penetrate the armour of Joan and Joan must be hit in the head. It lacks the power to do that.

- With skill, it is another tale. I think that Joan actually lacks the skill to use her crossbow perfectly. She will be able to take a shot and aim okay, but to master this weapon, it really takes years of training and she does not have it, preferring to learn how to use the sword and lance. William is known to be an expert archer with the shortbow. He could aim very well on horse and off horse. William had his whole life of training while Joan just had probably some experience.
 On the show, Joan will probably be named as very skilled with it and the expert will be. So the skill contest does almost not matter in the show. Almost because Joan will not be able to hit from the horse, no matter how skilled  the expert is.

- In the end, after considering, i think that the shortbow will be the better bow. Aiming does not really matter between the bows but the shortbow is quicker and can be used from horseback. William is more flexible with his horse and more able to dodge the bolt and come in for the short range weapons. That means that it can shoot more arrows and better change that the head is hit. Due to the fact that the crossbow has a better armour penetration, it is really close between the two.

Poleaxe Vs. Mace
- The weapons are quitte different. The poleaxe can be used to hook William off his horse. The hammer to break the chainmail and bones and lastly the spike can be used to thrust at the opponent. It is a long weapon and can be used to keep the opponent at a distance. The mace is much shorter but can be used in combination with the shield. The mace can bash an opponent and kill or break bones with one of two strikes. The poleaxe has more abilities and can be used on a longer range, which is really helpfull.

- On armour, both weapons can destroy it. the poleaxe is meant to destroy plate armour and will have no problem in taking out chainmail. The mace is also a tool that was used to crush plate and the open head will be an easy target. Armour on armour, both weapons will do maximum damage.

- With skill, the poleaxe demands more skill and Joan might have that. Being used fighting armoured knights, she must have known how to use this weapon properly to help her take the opponents out.  On the other hand, skill does not really matter much with the mace but as William will know where to hit the best with his mace. Also the mace in combination with shield is deadly when know how to use it well and William knew that.

- In the end, it is really close again. The poleaxe would win this one but the shield from William will keep it from being perfect. In the end i think that the poleaxe is still the better weapon as it can also be utilised to push the shield away or trip William.

X-Factors
Normally, i really hate comparing x-facors because i feel that you cannot compare reasons to fight. You have to take place and time into account but in this named battle, i actually think that the brutality of William is a better help in the fight then the faith of Joan. If you are convinced god is sending you, it is a good feeling and you can fight with the best effort but if you see how ruthless your opponent is, you do become a bit scared and if you are scared, you cannot fight good anymore.

The battle

William, the duke of Normandy and the king of England moved his horse trough the woods. The great battle had just ended and now he was guiding his horse in these french woods, searching for some knights that had ecaped. As he moved, he noticed a young man sitting on a treetrunk. The man had short hair, an almost female look and had plate armour all over his body. He will be dead soon, William thought as he took his bow and an arrow and urched his horse towards this young French noble,

Joan was relaxing. The battle against the English had been tough but with gods help, they had managed to hold and retreat. She had traveled with some of the knights trough the woods but she lost sight of the men and   jumped off the horse. She would find her way out later, now she gave her horse and herself some rest.
Suddenly someone with a horse rode towards her. 'God help me' she prayed quick.

 She saw the face of the English king behind the helm. Joan dropped herself backwards, kneeling and taking her crossbow. Lucky for her, the crossbow had already been drawn and she only had to put a bolt into it. The English king fired several arrows that either hit the ground near the French girl and some arrows bounced off her armour. As William drove near, she fired her crossbow. William moved his horse to jump step away and the bolt went into the bark of a tree. As Joan tried to ready her crossbow again, William fired his shortbow another time, forcing her to jump away. She dropped her weapon and ran towards her horse, wanting to win with her other weapons.
William had put his bow away and now grabbed his spear in his right hand and his shield in the other. Suddenly the girly young man came in sight with an very long spear. The two warriors drove at each other aiming to knock the other off the horse. William took his spear in an high grip, wanting to stab at the face of this young man but as they neared, the lance came in reach sooner and rammed trough the chainmail and gambeson. The conqueror felt an pain in the right side of his chest as he dropped off his horse. This young man is dangerous, he thought.
Joan came towards him again, her sword swingin at William. The duke blocked the blow with his shield and grabbed the leg of Joan, pulling her off her horse. As she stood up and drew her sword, William drew his.
The two swords clashed and an swordfight ensued. Both warriors tried to hit each other and neither did much damage. Once, Joan hit the helmet of William but the blow glanced off. Suddenly, William blocked an blow with his sword and rammed the boss of his shield against the hand of the opponent. The bastardsword dropped to the ground and William forced the woman backwards. Joan ran in the woods, the way her horse went, with William close behind her.She spotted her horse and took the pollaxe, knowing that the did not have the time to jump on her horse. She moved towards her opponent, using the turn to swing the hammer on her weapon. William created distance and stepped in close range again. Joan tried to do the same attack again and the king used his shield to block the attack again. Joan tried to use the spike to stab William. He pushed the attack away with his sword but as he tried to close the distance, Joan used her polearm to keep him on the distance. Suddenly, she tried to hook the shield away and as William tried to step away, she used the hammer to hit the hilt of the sword, sending it trough the air in some bushes. Some furious attacks did leave dents in the wooden shield  and William took his last weapon, his mace.
Joan kept her opponent at a distance and she tried to stab her opponent but William blocked the attack with his shield and tried to move in with his mace but failed. Joan used the hook on her weapon again to pull the shield away, stepping backwards and started pulling. William managed to retrieve his hands from the leather bands that strapped his arm to the shield and as Joan lost her balance for a second and William moved in and rammed the mace against her knee. Joan  fell on the ground and as she tried to take her weapon again, she got lifted up, recieved an blow in the face and got thrown on the ground again.
Joan of Arc saw her sword on the ground and reached for it. She grabbed it and as she tried to stand up, William smashed his mace against the back of her head. The lifeless body of the French woman fell on the ground.
William the Conqueror, wanting to take the armour of this strange young nobleman later found out he had been fighting a girl..

Winner: William the Conqueror 

In my humble opinion, William the Conqueror would win in this battle. The key element of his winning would be his brutality, his shield and the years of training and experience. Joan of Arc would have been close behind, losing with a small difference in numbers but her superior weapons and armour would not be enough to give it the win to her. William became a rutheless soldier and killer since he was a child, forcing him to be able to kill all opponents our lose everything he had. He would be perfect with his sword/shield and sword/mace combination and would give William the most wins. His bow would also proof usefull in the fight. Like I said before, it would be very close but Joan would not be able enough for her. The weapons that would give her the most kills would be her pollaxe and lance. Anyhow, it will be an interesting fight.

But this is Deadliest Warrior we are talking about. What i already said is that the show will most like give William the Conqueror butted mail, putting him in een severe disadvantage. Also they would have skilled experts, maybe even more skilled the Joan  herself would have been.
Most important is that i think that spike will not allow a man beat and kill a girl. That is political incorrect and they would recieve a lot of complaints from woman. My guess is that they will not take the chance and play it safe, meaning that Joan will win in the show. They will say it is because of her superior weapons and armour, but maybe they think she is in such an advantage, she cannot lose.

I really hope you guys liked my impression of the upcoming fight between Joan Of Arc against William the Conquerpr. I would love to hear what you think about it, if you agree with me or not. If you do not agree with me, i would love to know why.

next match up i will look into will be Hannibal Barca against Genghis Kahn.

Season 3 Deadliest warrior

Since deadliest warrior has announced the match up between Joan of Arc and William of Normandy, I will spend some time researching the four possible weapons on each side, the armour, the training and the X-factor. 

I will write this in a matchup style and conclude with a little fight, whom i think would win in a match up of the two. If this will be succesful, i will continue this with each and every pre-gunpowder match up, excluding vampires vs zombies.

Ming Warrior Vs. Vlad The Impaler

 The Ming warrior Vs. Vlad the impaler. The ming warrior has more firepower, while Vlad has the better armour. Who will win this match up between guys who either cut off ears or a guy that impales his enemy.


Ming Warrior Vs. Vlad the Impaler

Ming warriors                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The ming warriors were soldiers of the ming dynasty in China. These guys build the great wall of China and succesfully fought off the Samurai and Momgol warriors.  Collectiong ears as trophies, these warriors were armed and ready for battle.

The Ming come into action with the dao, three-barrel pole cannon, nest of bees and the mechanical landmine. They were leather armour, studded with steel.

Vlad the Impaler                                                                                                                                                                                                 This cruel knight fought off the Turks succesfully and protected Hongaria from these muslim invaders. Many legends surround Vlad but he did inpale prisoners of war and thiefs/murderers. He proved himself in personal combat when he took down the assasin of his father.

Vlad roars with the kilij, halberd, steel crossbow and handcanonnon. The armour he and his soldiers wear are riveted chainmail and steel plates. He also carries a shield.

Edges:

Dao Vs. Kilij                                                                                                                                                                                                     Both swords are great cutting weapons. The dao can be used to thrust also. But the shield that will be carried with the kilij will play an important part. The egde goes to the kilij, because of the combination of sword and shield.                                                                    Edge: Vlad the Impaler

Three-barrel pole gun Vs. Halberd                                                                                                                                                                    These weapons are very different. The halberd can be used to take down, stab and slash but the pole gun is a gun with three shots. The shield of Vlad will not be very effective, just as the chainmail. The plates might be, but he is not covered enough. On the other side, the armour of the Ming are not awesome either against the halberd. The egde goes to the pole gun. Three shots that can be shot from distant, yes the egde.                                                                                                                                                                                                   Edge: Ming Warriors

Nest of Bees Vs. Steel Crossbow                                                                                                                                                                       Both can be shot from a distance. The crossbow has power and will no doubt penetrate if fully pulled back, but the nest of bees are a lot of arrows attacking on the same time, longer range, and there is a big chance they hit unarmoured parts.                                                Edge: Ming warrior

Mechanical Landmine Vs. Hand Cannon                                                                                                                                                           I love both weapons. The landmine can kill more opponents at once and can be triggered by means of a weapon of for an enemy to stand on it. The handcannon can shoot to kill, making it more likely to kill and can be used to strike someone to death, due to the hook. The hand cannon can kill only one before it needs to reload. The fact that the landmine needs to be triggered is an upside and a downside. The enemy does not need to trap in it and the enemie will never see it coming.                                                                                               Edge: Even

Armour                                                                                                                                                                                                         The ming wears leather armour with steel studds and a steel helmet, while Vlad wears chainmail with steel and has a shield and a helmet.                                                                                                                                                                                  Edge: Vlad the Impaler

Lets Duel

'Han' Li spoke. 'The enemies are coming.' Han gave a nod and asked Law how far he was. 'Almost done' he said. 'If these guys dont fall for the weapons, i have another suprise for them' he finished with a grin. 'Done!' 'okay men, now forwards and bring both nest of bees in front.' Cho gave one nest of bees to Lee and the five Ming warriors went forwards. As they encountered the posse of Vlad the Impaler, the two nest of bees fired.                                                                                                                         Ming warriors: 5  Vlad the Impaler:5

'Dender, when we are done here, you will be knighted.' Vlad said as Gary suddenly yelled. 'Enemie fire, shields up' Before anyone got time to think, the shields were raised and the arrows that had erupted off the nest of bees fly past the soldiers or hit the armour of shields. Beru was too late to raise his shield and got hit in the throat. He dropped his cannon as he fell down in the snow, leaving only blood to colour the snow red. One other arrow flew in the knee of Gary, who dropped down and hoped not to get hit again. Damir dropped his shield again and fired his hand cannon. The bullit flew in the forehead of a ming warrior killing him.  'Lee and Law, take out your swords and take revenge for Cho' their captain yelled. As both ming warriors took out their dao swords and ran towards Vlad and his gang, as Han and Li retreated. The two Ming yelled as they raised their swords. Lee tried to cut the head off of the soldier who sat on his knees, trying to pull an arrow out. The sword blow was intercepted by the hook of the halberd. Dender swung the weapon away and slashed at his opponent. The slash hit the ming on his armour, but Dender immidiatly stabbed the Ming swordfighter in the throat. Law headed straight towards the man that looked like the leader. The swung his dao, only to have it deflected by the shield and before he could attack again, he got sliced up by the kilij of Damir and Vlad himself.                                                                                                                               Ming warriors:2  Vlad the Impaler: 4

Han looked at his soldiers. All were ready for this fight. His superiors wanted Han to look for dangerous obstacles while entering this new land to conquer. He had heard rumors about the dangerous warlord who killed anyone who tried to battle him, so Han had chosen the best men he could find, to come with him. Han would like to fight this new country and collect new ears. He was one of the few who kept the ears on a rope on his belt. Han had chosen Li for his ability with the three-barrel pole gun. Lee was a great swordsman, Law was with him due to the fact that he had endured a lot of dangerous missions, always coming out alive and finally the master of the nest of bees, Cho. Now, having traveld for weeks, they walked into a forest with snow beneath their feet.

'Men' Vlad said. 'Beru has told me that a group of Chinese, have entered our forest. Well armed.' Looking at the four man he had summond here, they all stood firm. 'You are going to help me destroy them' Vlad barked the last word and the spit came out of his mouth. 'Take out your arms and come with me.'                                                                                                                 The little band of five men were now searching the woods. Vlad had his shield, kilij and crossbow with him. Dender, his squire, carried his halberd, Damir was with him due to the fact that he was very able with the hand cannon, Gary was his loyal second in command and always ready and finally Beru. he had seen the enemies and had to lead his companions towards them. All of them wore kilij swords and shields.

Vlad checked his soldiers and saw how is second in command was okay, just walked badly and a bit slow. He would retire in the end, Vlad thought. 'Leave Beru, we will retrieve the body when we are done here.' Vlad spoke. Damir loaded his weapon again and Vlad made his crossbow ready, it only needed a bolt and be fired. They then continued and walked the trough the forest, following the footsteps in the snow of the Ming warriors. Walking trough the forest, they stumbled on weapon, sticking in the ground. 'How stupid do these guys think we are' Vlad said. 'Dont take these weapons, i guess it is some sort of trap. I have some villagers to take them out when we are done.' And he walked on. His squire walked on too and when Damir suddenly took a misstep, the ground exploded. Both Damir and Gary were blown up, bodyparts flying everywhere. Vlad checked the handcannon when he found it again, but the weapon was destroyed by the blast. 'Lets go Vlad said shortly'                       Ming warriors: 2  Vlad the Impaler: 2

Han and Li took a rest on a fallen tree and were waiting for the other Ming when suddenly they heard a big boom. 'Must be the landmines' Li spoke. 'Indeed, we will wait here, hold your gun ready' Han spoke as he drew his dao sword. Vlad and his squire appeard and Li shot, missing them both. Vlad loaded his steel crossbow as Dender ran at the guy who fired the shot. Vlad shot his crossbow which hit the shoulder of the Ming. Li felt pain, but was able to shoot again, the bullet flew through the chainmail and hit the stumach. Dender was just able to kill the Ming with kilij before he collapsed. He was never able to block the attack of Han. Han cut the neck of the squire and removes the head. Angry Vlad shot again, but the crossbow was not winded up enough and the arrow bounced off the leather armour of the Ming. Han Swinged his blade again, dropping spletters of blood everywhere.                                                                                                                                                                                          Ming Warriors: 1    Vlad the Impaler:1

Both warriors now jumped at each other and tried to strike first with their swords. As Vlad blocked a swordblow and striked himself, Han ducked under the blow and punched Vlad in the Stumach. Vlad then punched his opponent in the face with his shield. Dancing around each other and not able to get past the opponent, both warriors got tired of the fight. Suddenly, Han thrusted with his sword, hitting the steel plate, Vlad counteracted and slashed the knee of the Ming, forcing him on his knees. Vlad then punched his face with the shield and the Ming warrior flew on the ground, rolling in the snow. The dao flew to the side and Vlad, happy that he was going to take revenge for his soldiers. Han looked around, needing a weapon, when he suddenly saw the three-barrel pole gun. He grabbed it and aimed it at Vlad. Vlad laughed as he came near. Was that stupid chinese really going to think he could use that. It was already shot twice, there was no way that weapon was going to shoot tric... Vlad fell dead on the ground as Han shot and hit the knight between the eyes. Ming warrior: 1    Vlad the Impaler: 0

Winner: Ming Warriors

This was going to be one really special ear, Han thought. it would get a special place in the collection. And if their were more of this guy, no way China would invade here. With that thought, Han headed back to camp.

The grades

 Vlad the Impaler: 40

Kilij: 8.5

Halberd: 8

Steel Crossbow: 7.5

Hand Cannon: 8

Armour: 8

Ming warriors: 40.5

Dao: 8

Three Barrel pole gun: 8.5

Nest of Bees: 9

Mechanical landmine: 8

Armour: 7

Although Vlad had the better armour, he was overpowered by the better weapons of the Ming. Especially was the mechanical landmine a effective weapon and with the weapons, Vlad did have the egde, the Ming were not far behind. I wonder now if Vlad would win against the musketeers.

I.R.A Vs. Cia

This will be a match ups between selfproclaimed freedom fighters and the American secret service. Who is deadlier... 

IRA VS. CIA

IRA                                                                                                                                                                                                                           The Ira stands for Irish Republican Army and wanted to have liberate Ireland from great Britain. Orginally the IRA fought between 1919 and 1929 and made the English send in the soldiers they had used in wo1. Both sides had done some real atrocities and in 1922 the Ira had an army of 72000 men. Luckely, in 1922 there came aq truce and shortly after a peace treaty, that was signed by some of the most important men in the Ira. Most Ira soldiers were not happy with this treaty, which ended in a civil war. Reafferming the loyalty of the soldiers, the new Irish republican army existed from 1922 till 1960. I will focus the weapons on this new Ira.

The weapons the Ira are rebelling with are the Webly Revolver, the AR-15 Armelite, nailbomb and the LPO-50 flamethrower. They wear no armour at all.

CIA                                                                                                                                                                                                               The Central intelligence is the secret service of the United states. The prime purposes of the Cia are gathering intelligence from both inside and outside the usa and advise public policymakers, but they are also active in exterting foreign political influences, paramilitairy actions and covert operations. I can tell about all technical stuff, but i bet that you guys know a lot more about the Cia then i do. But i can tell you that the Cia relies on stealth, especially in my match up. 

The Cia strikes back with the Walther PP with Silencer, Ingram mac 10 with Silencer, C4 explosives and the zytel knife+ throwing knifes. The Cia does not wear any bodyarmour either. 

The Edges

Webly Revolver Vs. Walther PP+ Silencer                                                                                                                                                      The webly is a good revolver, six bullets and a lot of stopping power. The walther PP is a handgun that i took out of the briefcase gun. It has more bullets then the webly and i believe, a longer effective range. It has less drawback then the revolver, making it more accurate to shoot and has a silencer to shoot undetected.  It is also smaller, aming it easier to hide.                                                                                                                      Edge: Cia

Ar-15 Armelite Vs. Ingram Mac 10+ Supressor                                                                                                                                               I have these weapons for both midrange and long range. I could not find other weapons, good to use for these ranges and i believe that a fire weapon should be effective on mid/long range. I know it is unfair to compare a machine gun against a sub machine gun but the ingram has its advantaged too. The armelite beats the ingram in both range and power. The Ingram beats the armelite in reliability, is more effective in buildings and has a suppressor, so even after it shoots, the enemy might not notice you. I have had a really hard time deciding but in the end is the armelite in my opinion the better weapon, closely followed by the ingram                                                                                                                          Edge: Ira

Nailbomb Vs. C4                                                                                                                                                                                               Both are dangerous explosives. The nailbomb leaves spikes to inpale the victim but the nailbomb can have a bigger bang, deciding on how much c4 is used. In my opinion is the c4 better, it is easier to transport and set up. You can hide it better and is able to give the bigger explosion.                                                                                                                                                                                                    Egde: Cia

Lpo-50 flamethrower Vs. Zytel knife+throwing knifes                                                                                                                                        The flamethrower is a good thing to set people on fire. It has a good reach and even if the enemy escapes, he will still be cooking. The lpo-50 has three shots and with each shot you empty a tank of fuel. The zytel knife is an stealth knife, meant to use undetected anbd the throwing knifes are lethal on their own. Even if the throwing knifes do not kill, they can distract. The flamethrower is the better killer, but the knife combination follows quick behind.                                                                                                                                      Edge: Ira

Armour                                                                                                                                                                                                             In this match up i chose to exclude body armour. It was not always worn and if you include it, you need to include armour penetrating bullets etc. So no armour means they are even.                                                                                                                                           Edge: Even

Ready to Rumble

With an approving look, Ed looked at his soldiers. As head of the Ira, he had planned an attack on an American politican, who was going to speak in England tommorow. Ed had found himself an amazing crew of the best soldiers the ira had to offer and had taken them to this old school. The big and silent Billy, who was now on guard duty, was a great wrestler and could lift more weight then anyone else. Not the most amazing shooter but up to the task and Ed had given him one of his two Webly revolvers. Ed had kept the other one for himself. Then Ed had asked Skeeno to come. Skeena was an electrican who also knew how to build great bombs. A few moments ago, Ed had given the command to install a camera and a nailbomb in front of the door, in case anything happend with Billy. Then there was Mac. Mac was the second in command in this mission and a great shot. He now had traded his armelite in for the flamethrower. Ed had found it an odd choise, but if that makes the man happy... Lastly Ed had brought a new recruit, Scot, who had suprised anyone with his shooting abilities and had been grateful when Mac gave him the armelite. Now downstairs in one of the old classrooms, Scot was happy drawing on the chalkboards. Ed and Mac were both on the second flour, looking at the empty screen of an old tv. A door went open and Skeeno appeard. 'Have you set the nailbomb and camera' Ed asked. 'Ofcourse', Skeeto answered with smile. 'Both very well hidden if i may say so myself. Just turn the tv on.' Mac turned the tv on and now they saw the big figure of Billy on he screen. 'Good job' Ed said while mac nodded.

Casey looked at his elite agents. Mr. Geis was going to give a speach here but with a routine check, the Cia had found out that the Ira was planning an attack on the politician. Now the Cia had send their five top agents and Casey was in charge. Besides Casey was Kelly here, a femme fatal with some dangerous knifes. John the explosives expert was with him. He was carring the C4 the team might use. Then there was Sarah, a beatiful girl who was in love with Casey and lastly Chuck. Chuck was the little brother of Casey and he, just like Casey had an Walther pp and a ingram. Their intell had informed Casey that the Ira members were hiding in an old school building and that they were dealing with five opponents. On his command, Casey had let this group from the parking space and into some streets when they finally arrived at a fence. The gate of the fence was open and inside, there was indeed an old school building with one man standing in front of it. 

Ira: 5   Cia: 5

'I'l take care of him' Kelly said with a smile. She then took her zytel knife, hidding in her sleeve and slowly walked towards the big guard. 'Halt' Billy spoke with a thick Irish accent. 'Can i go in for some sightseeing? Kelly asked sweetly. The big man thought for a second and then is answer was clear. NO! When the big man grabbed her to push Kelly away, she took her knife and stabbed the man in the stumach. Billy yelled in agony, which got the attention of the man in the schoolbuilding, who were now looking at the tv. Thinking the big guard was dead, Kelly quicly checked the pockets of the man, looking for a key, only to find two powerful grabbing her wrists. 'No you don't the man spoke.' Kelly tried to get out of the iron grip while the other cia members walked towards the door, thinking the coast was clear when suddenly the nailbomb exploded, taking the lives of both people. Skeeto had set off the bomb remotely on orders of Ed. 

Ira: 4  Cia: 4

The other four Cia members, slowly made it to the door while inside commands were given. Scot was to wait in front of the door to shoot anyone who tried to enter while Skeeto and Mac were send downstairs to take out the other people that might follow. When the agents finally reached the door, Chuck noted the camera and took care of it with a quick shot. Chuck found the key quicly and as the others dragged the body's away, Chuck replaced his handgun with his submachine gun and kicked the door open. Before he could shot a single bullit, he was sprayed with bullets coming from the armelite. The other Cia agens took cover and Casey grunted in anger to see the dead body of his younger brother. This meant war. Scot was very happy with his first kill and quickly loaded his armelite again, not noticing that the cia had recovered the latest body. As he was about to shoot again, he ducked for cover as someone was now firing back and hit the young ira member in the side. Casey was shooting with his Ingram, while Sarah sneaked past the door, holding the gun of Chuck. Scot instantly hated that pested gun his opponent was shooting with. He could not hear the bullets being shot and therefore did not know if his opponent was shooting or not. When he finally turned to the opponents again, he found a girl standing before him, holding a walther to his forehead and shot it without remorse. 

Ira: 3  Cia: 3

The last three cia members split up and as Sarah went towards some stairs, John went into a hallway. Casey checked a few classrooms. Walking in a hall with some old lockers, John got an idea and placed some c4 in one of the lockers. When he was done, he heard someone coming and jumped into a nearby dressingroom where he still have full view. Skeeto entered another halway rembering his own schooldays. He hated it those days but he did have had a good education. Spotting some lockers, Skeeto thought about placing a nailbomb here and wait in a nearby dressing room. He took the nailbomb out of his bag and opened a locker, to find some white stuff in it. He recocnised it but before he could say or do anything, he was send flying to the other wall, scraped of the locker following him. With a smile, John opened the door and saw the result of his beatiful C4 combined with the nailbomb.

Ira: 2  Cia: 3

When John was about the enter the other hall, where the Ira man had come from, another man appeared, holding a flamethrower.  The shocked John quicly ducked into the dressing room again as flames scorched past him. Walking trough the dressingroom, he opened another door and was just in time to avoid another fire attack. Mac, angry that he missed twice had followed the american into the gym and was now looking for his opponent. The man had dissapeared. When Mac was about to head back he saw a door. It looked like the door of an equipment closet and he kicked it open. In the meantime, John had checked if he had some more c4 but found nothing and gripped his handgun as the door was opened. John stared into the eyes of Mac and before John could even lift his gun, the flamethrower did his awful job.  

Ira: 2  Cia: 2

Mac returned to the hallway with broken pieces of what used to be a locker, nails and the blood and pieces of the dead body of his fallen fellow member. Mac walked into another hallway spotting a female opposing him. As the female ran towards him, Mac laughed as he pushed the button to give another fiery attack, only to find out that is weapon was empty. Cursing, Mac recieved two bullets in the chest and one in the head.

Ira: 1  Cia: 2

Sarah, who had just killed the man with the flamethrower, walked further, meeting Casey. 'Everything is empty downstairs' Casey spoke. As both moved towards the stairs, they made it to the second flour and Casey started checking the classrooms again as Sarah headed trough the hallway. As sarah walked, a door opened behind her and as she turned, the Ira leader shot his webly revolver. The bullet hit Sarah just above the knee and she fell on the ground. Ed walked towards the cia girl, kicked her gun away and held her at gunpoint as he spoke the words he wanted to say for so long. 'There will always be soldiers four the cause' Ed smiled and just before he could shot her, bullets flew into his legs, stumach and chest and the last Ira man fell on the ground. When Sarah looked up, she saw Casey, holding his inrgam and uttering the words: my brother is revenged.

Ira: 0  Cia: 2

Winner: Cia

Grades

Cia: 41

Walther PP: 8.5

Ingram Mac 10: 9

C4: 9.5

Zytel knife+throwing knifes: 8

Armour: 6

Ira: 39.5

Webly Revolver: 7.5

Ar-15 Armelite: 9.5

Nailbomb: 8

LPO-50 flamethrower: 8.5

Armour: 6

The Cia is clearly the victor here. Not only are they better trained, but due to the stealth in their missions they can take the opponent out without anyone noticing an intruder, while the ira makes sounds and thus drawing attention to themselfs when attacking.