El Cid Vs. Maharana Pratap Singh

This battle will be between two great and famous horsewarriors. Both are legendary in their own right and both warriors will come with some extraordinary weapons. I can humbly present the battle of:

El Cid Versus Maharana Pratap Singh











El Cid

The real name of El Cid was Rodrigo Diaz the Vivar but everybody knows him by his nickname now, El Cid Campeador. His nickname means Lord master of military arts. El Cid was an Castilian nobleman, diplomat and military leader.
he was born around 1043 in the town of Vivar. As the son of an calvaryman, Rodrico would follow the footsteps of his father and fight under king sancho II. One of the famous battles, was the battle of Graus, where he managed to beat an Aragonese knight in single combat. From that day, he was known as Campeador.
Since Sancho was killed in 1072, Rodrico followed Alfonso, who gained all the power of Sancho. El Cid did have the position armiger Regis up untill that time, but it as given to his rival. It had been reported that El Cid was the leading man who forced Alfonso to publicly swear on holy objects that he did not kill his predecessor but no proof of this has been found.

While under the leadership of Alfonso, El Cid managed to get into Granada and after the famous battle of Cabra, he forced the emir of Granada into an route. But the king never ordered this expedition and therefore El Cid got exiled. Even though this was the main reason for the exile, other reasons were given. Jealous nobles turning the king against El Cid, an accusation of pocketing some tribute money of Sevilla or the animosity of Alfonso against El Cid.

This exile did not mean the end for El Cid. After some dwelling around, he was welcomed by the Moorish king Yusuf al-mu'taman ibn Hut and Al-Mustain II, who ruled after him. It was then that El Cid recieved his famous nickname.
Also during that time, El Cid got to command an big Moorish army and saw an familiar face on the other side of the battlefield, King Alfonso.
After an crushing defeat Alfonso was eager to recall El Cid from exile.
Around that time, El Cid was in command of an army of both Christian and Moorish warriors. he used them to get his own fiefdom in Valencia. By battling and conquering towns, El Cid gained more power and control in Valencia. After an uprising, El Cid lay siege of Valencia. Attempts to break the siege failed and in the end, officially El Cid ruled in name of Alfonso while he was fully independent. The city was both Moorish and Christian.
While El Cid was living his life peacefully, Valencia got under siege by Almoravids. During battle, El Cid got killed by an arrow in the heart. He rose once again to do battle. His body was set up on his horse and so, they rode into battle one last time. He died in 1099.

El Cid loved the ancient Greek and Roman authors and the books on military themes. he had them read aloud in front of his men to for inspiration.
El Cid also had brainstorming sessions with his armies before battles to figur out the best strategy. What is more, he loved psychological warfare. He often used small parties to distract the opponent and then hit hard or strike terror in the hearts of the opponent and thereby paralying it before attacking. usually combining the two. El Cid was also famous for allowing his soldiers to help create battleplans and taking advise from them. Something unheard off before.

Finally I cannot name El Cid without naming his warhorse Babieca. There are several tales on how El Cid aquired Babieca but no matter what his origin was, it was an great warhorse. It was famed by Christians and it struck terror in the hearts of the opponents of El Cid. El Cid loved his horse so much that it is even said that he requested his horse to be buried with him.

Some weapons of El Cid are quite known and so it was easy to pick the weapons. Some weapons were included because I found that his armies used those.

For short range, the weapon of choise is an sword called Tizona. The name roughly means firebrand or burning stick. The sword is one handed, has two sharp sided and an tip for thrusting. It also has an crossguard that is slightly bended. Tizona is around 40.4 inces long and weights 2.4 pounds. The blade also contains a lot of Damascus steel inside it. The sword was named in several tales that were sung about El Cid, showing the importance of this weapon.
It also contains two texts.
The first one is io soi tisona fue fecha en la era de mile quarenta.
It means I am Tizona, made in 1040 in medieval Spanish.
The other text was:
Ave maria-gratia plena-dominus tecum
This is latin for Hail mary, full of grace. The lord is with you.

The second weapon is the spear. It is just an ordinary spear of 6 and an half feet long. This weapon was usefull from foot and horseback. All images I have seen of it show the spear holding the banner of El Cid. The spear was made of wood, with an steel tip, good for thrusting attacks.
I cannot say much else about the spear,  only that it shows in a lot of important images of El Cid, showing how much he used it in battle.
 I should tell that the spear was used one handed on horse and could be used onehanded or twohanded on foot. while using it twohanded, you can use it with greater strenght. i also believe that you can have only one powerfull hit on horseback before needing to discard it. The power could punch the rider of the horse.

As for long range, the weapon will be an javelin. Javelins were used by Spanish mounted warriors. They were used in significant numbers and they were very effective at skirmishing and manuevering. The javelin played an important role in Spanish mounted warfare up untill the 16e century.the javelin was an somewhat shorter spear, made of wood and with an steel tip. Normally these would only be used from horseback. For this battle. I will give El Cid three javelins, meaning three chances to kill his opponent with his long range weapon.
The javelin throwing was mainly used by the Jinete, the Spanish light calvery.
The picture that I have included, is off jinetes in 1431. So this picture is not historical correct for the time of El Cid, it gives an impression of the weapon.

The Final weapon, the special weapon is another sword called Colada.
El Cid won this sword in battle from the count of Barcelona and it is said that this sword frightens unworthy opponents. Colada means a sword made from Acero Colada. A process of alloyed steel without impurities.
This sword was less times named in the stories of El Cid, but enough in its own right.
From this picture, the sword number eight is Colada. It should be noted that there is still discussion about the hilt. It looks 16e century and if it was, hte hilt would be more straight. i have found no pictures of this sword with another hilt and will use this one in the battle.

As for the armour, El Cid would wear an gambeson and a chainmail haubergion above the gambeson.
The haubergion differs from the hauberk by the the fact that the arms are also covered. El Cid also did wear an chainmail coif, protecting his face, throat and neck and chainmail leggings with padding underneath to protect his legs. El Cid is always seen wearing an simple steel helmet. Above the chainmail armour, El Cid would have worn an coat of arms.
Last but not least, El Cid would carry an heater shield. This shield was made of layers of wood like al medieval shields, but perfect to keep an swordblow away.
In the picure, you can see the armour, part of the shield and the spear of El Cid. The horse babieca is also there.





The X-factor of El Cid is his psychological warfare. He will try to distract or throw his opponent by other means off guard to give the fatal kill. This was an tactic he was famous for using and it worked very well in history. The key to the psychological warfare is paralyzing the foe by any means.

Here are some facts about El Cid
http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/el-cid.htm

Here is the whole story of El Cid
http://en.valencia-netz.de/168/histroi-val-en/el-sid-en.html

And an clip with all paintings, books and statues of El Cid.

Note that the clips of the film in there, are not historical accurate. The film depicts some armour that he would not have had, like steel neck protection or an steel shield.


Maharana Pratap Singh
Maharana was born in the year 1540 in kumbhalgarh as prince of the kingdom of Mewar. He had 25 little brothers and as eldest was crownprince, he would become the 54e ruler of Mewar in the line of Sisodya rajputs.
But during the reign of his father, the capital of the mewar empire named Chittor was invaded by an Mugal emperor called Akbar. The royal family managed to escape and create the city of Udaipur.
now comes the problem. The father of Maharana wanted his other son Jagmal to be the next king, but the nobles wanted Maharana to be king, as tradition. At first Maharana himself did not want to disobey the wishes of his father, but the Rajput nobles convinced him that his brother was weak and would not be an good king. It should be noted that Maharana was king only on paper and never ruled any land.

Maharana himself never was happy with the new ruler of India and spend his whole life fighting Akbar. One of the main reasons why Maharana fought against Akbar was because Akbar killed 27000 civilians in the siege of Chittor.
Akbar had tried several times to negotiate with Maharana but the rajput never agreed to it. Therefore, he lived his whole life on the run and always dreamed of ruling.
The most famous battle of Maharana Pratap is the battle of Haldighati. Altough the battle was not an victory for Pratap, it was the first time an rajput force managed to breaktrough an larger Mughal force.
This was only the one open battle that Maharana fought. During the battle against their Mughal foe, who had an size four times as big as that of Maharana, the rajput king himself fought bravely in this battle and managed to kill an enemie general who he had an grudge against him in personal combat. The larger size and artillery of the Mughals proved to be fatal and in the end of the battle, which lasted four hours, Pratap got away, using an decoy. It is said that his brother died in battle while trying to protect him. This was also the battle where chetak, the beloved horse of Maharana died after carrying Pratap while it was wounded by an sword tied to the tusk of an elephant.
After this battle, Maharana used only hit and run tactics.

Akbar has send a lot of expeditions to try and stop or kill Maharana but never succeeded. It costed him a lot of money and soldiers.
I also would like to note that Maharana was an real gentleman and an gallant fighter. An example is that during an expedition against him, his army came across some woman who belonged to the leader of the expedition. Maharana made shure that the woman were brought to the opponent safe. He also was never able to forgive Akbar for the fact that the man killed 27000 innocent people.

Maharana also had an famous horse. The name of the horse was Chetak. Chetak was named in several ballets and songs about Maharana. Chetak was white of colour and of the Marwari breed. He was considered beautiful and poetical divine. He had an balanced muscular body, acute intelligence, restrained, had great courage and he had an unflinching faithfullness to his master. It is also said that Chetak was blessed with flying legs, meaning that it was very fast.

In the end, Maharana had 7 sons and 15 daughters. He had conquered much of his empire back but never succeeded in taking back his beloved capital of Chittor. Due to the oath he had sworn that he would never sleep in an bed untill he had control of Chittor back, he always slept on the ground of an hut, untill his death.
Maharana Pratap died in 1597 at the age of fifty six due to an hunting accident. On his dying bed, he made his son and successor swear to continue the fighting. Which he did, for a bit...

As for weapons of Maharana, some of them, i have got from pictures of him carrying while i have chosen other weapons because it was known to be used by Rajputs during his time.
Early firearms were used during the time of Maharana and after long and carefull thinking, I have decided to include one. I originally did not want to, because using firearms is not honest for the other warriors. The reason why I did on this one because Maharana used them and I was unable to find an suitable alternative for other long range weapons. I have given this a lot of thought the past couple of days and I came to the conclusion that I will include an gunpowder weapon in my match.

The first weapon for use on short range is the talwar.
The talwar is a curved sword with a single egde that is still used to this day. Like all curved swords, it is perfect for slashing but also very usefull for thrusting, altough with less power. The sword is used with one hand and is around 33 inches long. The talwar has an handle with protection to the hand and has an spike at the pommel to do up close damage.
Altough the talwar was first used as secondary weapon. The medieval ages saw the talwar getting more important and replacing the khanda as the Rajput weapon of choise.
There is a story about the life Pratap written after his death that indicates that he used the talwar in battle. Also, in every picture and statue that has him wield an sword, the sword looks like a talwar.

The midrange weapon is the sang. The sang is a spear from India. It was an rare weapon but a lot of statues show Pratap holding this weapon so I can say that he used it. The strange thing about this weapon is that it made totally from steel. It is light, well balanced and very strong. The balance comes due to the butt-end of this weapon, making both ends very dangerous. The spear is around 73 inches long and was very dangerous from horseback. I can see this weapon being as dangerous on foot.

As for long range, I choose for the wheellock musket. i have already explained my reasons for including this weapon and i will not say it again. If you forgot, scroll up you lazy bastard. ;)
Anyhow, first I will say something about the wheellock mechanism. The wheellock made the musket being able to be fired by an trigger.before it, a fuse was used to ignite this weapon but with the wheellock mechanism, you can simply press the trigger.
As for the musket, I have explained the musket in my last post but i will do it again. It is early firearm that fires small lead balls. The weapon had an accuracy of 70 yards. The Indian ones were made of wootz steel, which is very strong, making the warriors able to use more gunpowder and even stones as ammo. According to the city palace of Udaipur, which has a lot of weapons used by the armies of Maharana,  he used a lot of gunpowder weapons and I can say that he would be accurate with it. This weapon may be an gamechanger.

Finally the special weapons. As for special weapons, there is only one I could use for the Rajput. The Katara.  This weapon is better known as the katar by fans of the show. Katars were fistdaggers that were used in close range weapon. Not only an good weapon, the fistdagger was also an status symbol. worn a lot by nobles and princes. There is no doubt that Maharana would have used these. Up untill the 18e century there was an small knuckle protector on the katara to protect the knuckle of the user.
Now there are two more problems I encountered with the katara's that were used on Deadliest warrior.
First off all, i found no evidence suggesting that two katara's were used together and to me its more impracticle than usefull. Second is the problem with the scizor katara. Everything I found, said that the katara had only one blade in practical combat. The two and three blades that you guys saw on the katars in the show were only made for decoration. These were highly wanted in Europe (and only existed since the Europeans came there). They were also impractical. The power of the katara is the force of an whole fist in one tip. With the two tips the force would be halved and the weapon not that effective.
Therefore, only one katara and only one blade.

Now for the armour. The rajput normally wore riveted mail armour. Sometimes with plates to protect. That said. I have looked trhough dozens of images of Maharana Pratap Singh and I found not a single piece of evidence supporting that he wore armour. To be honest. I can only say that he wore some leather under his clothing, but it would not be very good armour. So, for bodyarmour, I go with a bit of leather. Pratap did however, wield an dahl shield. The dahl is a round shield that was either worn on the back of the user or in the hand. The dahl is an small metal shield (18 inches in diameter), with leather covering in the back. It also had four small bosses on it.

As for X-factor, there is only one thing that stood out with Maharana Pratap. His hit and run fighting style. He used this tactic a lot and it helped him greatly fighting an larger opponent. It was even so that when he tried an open battle confrontation, he lost. That was the only time he lost a battle.
How this will play out in an one to one battle; Pratap will use it on his own. He will attack, flee. Attack, flee etc.
It also helps that he has a really fast horse. Like I said before, Chetak was really fast and I think it would be faster then Babieca, the warhorse of El Cid.

I have found a great link about the Life of Maharana that I want to share with you guys.
http://www.hindujagruti.org/articles/34.html

And an small film about the man.

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The edges

Tizona Vs. Talwar
- If you would compare these weapons, they are much alike. Both swords can cut and thrust, with tizona being able to thrust slightly better while the talwar is able to cut slightly better. Tizona is 40.4 inches while tghe talwar is 33 inches, making the Tizona longer. The talwar on the other hand has some hand protection and a spike on the pommel, for close in danger. Both were used in one hand, that enables to have a shield in the other. I should also mention that both swords could be used on horseback.

- For weapons versus armour, it is something different. Both weapons first have to get past shields. The heater shield is a bit larger then the dahl, but the dahl is made from better materials. Both shields are almost impossible to break though. When the swords get past the shields, the talwar has to get past chainmail armour. it is good and solid armour and the talwar wont do much good cutting, but some good with the thrusting attack. The tizona on the other hand, will have only leather as counter. That means that the tizona will inflict more damage due to the less armour of Pratap.

- For skill, I can be simple. Both warriors were known to be great swordfighters who knew how to use their swords in deadly precision. The only think that El Cid has in his advantage is that he had a special sword that fit him perfect. This does not count for much in the battle, since I suspect that Maharana would know his sword well also.

- As conclusion, the swords are really close comparable and the way they would act, would not differ much from one on another. I do have to chose one though.
In the end, these swords are equal in almost all aspects. The difference is in the armour and the lenght.
The speciality of the talwar is cutting, which will be really hard with chainmail armour. The tizona on the other hand, is better in thrusting. This will inflict lots of damage on the leather armour. The tizona is 7 inches longer also. For those, it gets the egde.
Edge: El Cid


Spear Vs. Sang
- This is a match up of weapons that are both the same and totally different. they are the same for the fact that they are both spears and almost the same lenght. The spear surpasses the sang with 0.5 inches. But those are the only similarities that there are. the spear is like any other spear. made from wood, with a steel point. The sang is completely made from light steel, but will be a bit heavier. That said, due to the counterweight, you can move more easy and have less recovery time. Also both ends are dangerous points for the opponent. Both weapons can be used on horseback and both can be used on foot. in my eyes, the biggest differences with fighting is the counterweight as it gives less recoverytime and does not need to be used linear. It will hit harder because of that. Altough the sang has some good points, the spear also has some advantages. The spear is lighter, making it less tiring for the warrior to use it, it wil also be slightly faster.

- Weapon armour, the spear will have no trouble getting to the flesh of the Rajput. The leather will not help much. The sang on the other hand, will have more trouble penetrating chainmail and a gambeson. This will not be that easy. I can see that the butt-end will come in handy to ram the opponent and give blunt damage.
on horse, the sang might be able to penetrate both layers of armour if his horse makes enough speed. Both warriors have to deal with a shield then.
On foot, neither warrior will like a shield because you can use these weapons with one hand, while holding a shield in the other, it is not advisable. The speed is slower, the accuracy worse and you cannot get a lot of strenght with it.

- On skill, i can be very simple. Both warriors are depicted a lot while holding these weapons and i can honestly say that these are their main weapons and that both Cid and Maharana are greatly skilled with them.

- In the end, I have to choose between the sang who scores better in the weapon to weapon comparison and the spear who gets the egde in the weapon against armour comparison. This one is hard for me to judge because there is a lot to a battle. The ability to get directly into the body of the opponent is something that will be very usefull in a battle. This must not be underestimated. But this advantage counts only on foot. i believe that a horse can bring enough power that the sang will get through the chainmail or knock his opponent down. The advantages of the sang. it being made of steel and having a good counterweight, will be more usefull allround in the battle and will give for a battlestyle that El Cid will not have encountered before. making it harder for him to fight such a battle. That is why i give the sang the edge here.
Edge: Maharana Pratap Singh

Javelin Vs. Wheellock Musket
- Now we have two totally different weapons matched up against each other. One one side, we have three javelins. The javelins are smaller then a spear, but still made of wood and with a steel tip. It is usefull from horseback but not as effective from foot. The range is also not quite as good as the long range weapon of the opponent. That brings me to the wheellock musket. This musket shoots small round balls in high speed. It has an great accurate reach of 70 yards. The hit and run tactic used by Pratap is also effective as he can shoot and then flee to reload his weapon. I found no evidence that Pratap used the musket as a club and I wil not count it as such. The musket has another advantage. It can be shot with one hand.
The musket also has some disadvantages. It can misfire, it does not have a great aim while riding from horse and therefore the horse needs to be standstill or Maharana should be on foot to fire a good shot.

- Weapon against armour is rather easy to predict. The javelin will have little trouble getting trough the leather armour. The combined power of the throw of the man and the horse will make this a dangerous weapon. The musket will also penetrate chainmail armour without trouble. I even think that it can go through the chainmail and the gambeson of El Cid.  So both warriors can deal massive damage, without having to worry about armour.

- Ofcourse, we have to take skill onto account. El Cid will have skill with his javelins. Throwing javelins was a tried tactic. But he is on horse, which makes getting accurate a bit harder and he is up againt a nible opponent on horse. Making it even harder to hit the target. The musket on the other hand, is a weapon you can aim very well. The aim is not as good as one of a modern weapon,but i would call the aim decent. Pratap also has practised a lot with gunpowder weapon and had lots of them in his army. He will be able to fire off very well and even if the heart of head is not hit. Any hit can be potential lethal. As long as Pratap does not fire from horseback, he should be alright.

- In the end, this one is an better match to call then most other weapon matchups. The javelin is a good weapon. On horseback, it is rather dangerous and can kill very well. But the javelin is nothing compared to the wheellock musket. The musket has a better reach, a better accuracy and a better killing potential. Even if the wheellock misses, which is very well possible, the sounds and smoke of the gun will suprise El Cid. The warrior from Spain has never encountered firearms before and will not be able what to think about the weapon.
Edge: Maharana Pratap Singh


Colada Vs. Katara
- This is a sword versus dagger match. The colada sword is just as long as the tizona while the katara is just a big dagger. Both weapons will be used with one hand, leaving the other with the shield. The colada can cut as well as thrust while the katara can only thrust. The katara can however thrust with more force then the colada and from closer up. However, the shorter reach and the fact that it can only thrust is a bit of a downfall for the katara.

- The Colada will have little trouble, dealing with the leather armour. His only problem is the dahl shield of the opponent but it is good possible to move around it. Especially since Pratap need to be very close in to use his fistdagger.
I thought carefully about the katara and the ability to penetrate chainmail. It is true that it had no trouble doing so on the show, but you guys must not forget that the armour used there was butted. Butted mail is nothing compared to riveted.
I thought long and hard about it and I came to the conclusion that it takes two to three strikes to penetrate riveted chainmail and the gambeson. Altough from horseback, it will take only one strike. With that said, El Cid still has his heater shield. I should also mention that the colada can block the katara but not vice versa.

- Both warriors were very skilled. For El Cid, it was a weapon known to him and not very different to his other sword.
The katara was worn and used by nobles and kings. Pratap would have worn and used this weapon from an early age and would be very effective with it.

- in the end, this one is not as easy as it would appear. Altough the colada is longer and can kill in more then one way, the quick striking from horseback of the katara should not be forgotten. What is more, in the close range of the katara, it would be somewhat harder to use the colada. But for this to work, the kataran needs to get close by, which can be very difficult. In the end, this is prove why swords are better then daggers. The sword is just a better weapon.
Edge: El Cid


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The battle


The blood was still dripping from his coat of arms as El Cid raced on Babieca to catch up with the fast rider in front of him. He and his men were just marching through a field when they got attacked by foreign soldiers. Soldiers they were looking for.
After a short but heavy skirmish, the attackers fled. The Spanish commander quickly gave the command to follow as he started to pursue the the leader of that squad of soldiers. He had followed this man for some time now, but unable to get close. Twice he had the oppertunity to throw his javelins and used them but both times the javelins missed.

This was not the plan. was the only thought that raced through the mind of Maharana.
A few days earlier, Pratap had gotten word that Akbar had send a Spanish man to kill him. Maharana Pratap had set up an ambush and waited patiently. The soldiers came and the Rajput attacked with his men. The plan was to skirmish first. That worked well. Then he and his men should flee to harress the opponent on another place. That went awry since Pratap now had to deal with the spanish leader, who was tailing him. As the swift Chittor kept on outrunning the opponent, Maharana figured that he could take his opponent out now and leave the opposing army leaderless.
with this thought, the Rajput steered Chittor into a forest.  He then raced through some bushes and past small trees.

No, Rodrico thought. The Castilian knight had followed his target in the the woods but lost him. The warrior better known as El Cid had to come to this distant land simply because the friend of his lord needed some help with trouble-makers. But now El Cid had lost the man.
He and his horse walked slowly through the forest, looking for their escaped opponent.
As they moved, they saw the man on his horse, holding a strange weapon.

Pratap fired his wheellock musket to his opponent. The sounds and odour made the horse of the opponent stagger and sidestep. This made the ball miss and hit a nearby tree. Pratap fled while El Cid was in hot pursuit again. Maharana managed to escape sight once again and quickly reloaded his weapon.
Just after loading it again, The Castilian apeared on sight and raced towards Pratap with his spear out.
Maharana Pratap quickly put the musket away and grabbed his sang as he jumped up his horse.
The two of them raced towards each other with the horses giving it all they have. As the weapons came close to each other, El Cid pulled out his javelin and threw it at the last second.
Maharana tried to dodge the weapon coming out of the sudden and leaned over to one side of his horse. With the speed, this made him fall of and as Chittor raced forwards, Babieca rode past the other warrior.

El Cid turned his horse towards his opponent and aimed his spear on the Rajput warrior. Babieca started running again and just before El Cid could could hit his opponent with the spear, a low hanging treebranch hit him in the face and knocked the Spanish warrior off his horse.
El Cid raised up with his tizona drawn and the shield out. He was just in time to block an attack from the talwar as Pratap singh came up to him wielding his sword and dahl shield.
The two swordmasters dueled  for a time with neither warrior getting past the shield of the other.
Maharana managed to scratch the chainmail once but had to evade a blow of his opponent after that. After some time without a result, the warriors stared at each other. Both of them dropped their shields and they attacked each other again. The fight was even more intense now, with each warrior feeling the strenght and power of the other. Maharana jumped suddenly behind a tree and when Rodrico followed, he recieved a blow to his chainmail. Cid then threw his sword on the ground and stepped backwards through some bushes.
Pratap did not think much about such a stupid action and ran forward, attacking the weaponless opponent.

Before he could land an attack, the sword of Pratap got blocked by colada. Maharana was suprised for a bit about this new sword but adapted quickly to it. The two of them dueled again and while Pratap thrusted his sword, El Cid tried to cut.
The talwar hit the chainmail but did not go penetrate while the colada manages to cut the arm of the Rajput, forcing Maharana to drop his sword.
Before Pratap could be pushed into a corner, he drew his last weapon. The katara.
Needing to dodge two more blows of sword, Maharana quickly noticed that he would not win this match this way. He tried to attack again but recieved a blow to the side that left a nasty wound. El Cid closed in again but Pratap grabbed some sand and stones from the ground and threw it at the Castalian who shielded his eyes. When El Cid looked again, the Rajput warrior was gone.
El Cid manned his horse and walked trough the forest to search for either his opponent or a exit.
As he guided his loyal Babieca, the opponent appeared again, holding the strange device.
El Cid took his chance and raced towards the opponent, holding his sword.
before he could hit, the smoke and sounds appeared again. This time, he felt a pain in his stumach as he got thrown off his horse.
El Cid lay on the ground in pain, his chainmail ripped apart. He tried to stand but failed. Maharana came walking towards his opponent and pulled the chainmail away that protected the neck. He then thrusted the katara in the throat of the knight. El Cid was dead.
Maharana fled the site, scared that soldiers would look for the fallen knight. He would however, leave the army of this fallen man alone. That was the least he could do.

Winner: Maharana Pratap Singh

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This was a  battle between two epic men who deserve respect. Both men were really brave, honest and good, just as one would expect from such men.
But like in all fights, we have a winner and a loser.
It is my opinion that Pratap would win this fight. He had some disadvantages due to his lesser armour and his dagger but he had gunpowder. The gunpowder weapon combined with the hit and run tactic really proved usefull to defeat El Cid. The musket would be the deadliest weapon in this match.
I know that in my last match, the gunpowder weapon was not a decisive factor, but now, we had a warrior with more skill wielding it and a opponent who had never encountered it before. That really differs so much that it turned the battle. What we must not forget is that altough the musket gave the victory to the Rajput, the talwar and sang kept the weapons of El Cid from scoring enough points to counter the firearm.
El Cid was ofcourse not powerless and he would score really close due to his x-factor, his armour and his swords, but it would just not be enough for him to gain enough of a edge to win this battle.


I hope you guys liked the battle. My next project will be the monster battle so if you have not already, vote on which warriors you guys want to battle Zombies, Werewolfs and Vampires.
Vote now!