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Hey there, did anyone see this programme last night?? It was on Bravo in the UK (spike tv in US possibly?)

It compared the Spartan and Ninja using loads of computers, to decide who would of one in a fight.
I really liked it, but was a little disappointed by the outcome, and would sum it up as depending on the situation who would win.

Really interesting, and well done i thought. Got it on series link now, lol.
What did you guys think??

I do like those X vs Y attempts if theyre using comparable units.
Asia vs europe just seems to have too much difference in military culture.
Ancient tactics in the mediterranean were based on formations and keeping them ( greece ) where asia was more about mobility.

Ninja vs hoplite may never work, since ninjas couldnt fight in the open in numbers as the greece did with their tight formations.
1 vs 1 depends, but we have also the problem that a lot of ancient fighting styles are lost.
Even some 15th AC swordfight techniques are nigh impossible to recreate since old books had the advice hidden in the text to
keep the knowledge inside a circle of masters.

Personally would go for : recruted militia vs recruted militia, maybe ashigaru vs musketeer.

Small elite units could win 1 vs 1. But the opponent may have some buddies...

its sounds like a very intriguing program, i would like to watch it but alas poor student only has freeview

i agree with fhad, if they did what they were supposed to then it would be hard to compare. a single spartan, or hoplite would find it difficult to take on a ninja, however hoplites don't come in ones, and so facing a whole unit of them may be daunting.

Saying that though the pikes fravoured by hoplites are designed against large groups of infantry not a few mobile people. and a pike a pretty hefty thing.

be intirgued to see what they match up next

I dunno, i think its as simple as this


Open field, during the day - Hoplite wins
In the woods at night - Ninja wins

Hoplite is sleeping and ninja assasinates - duh, ninja wins



Well, i think the pike was actually more of a large anti-calvary spear - wasnt it?

A normal spear isnt that tough to move around, plus they had shortwords and a shield for in your face fun

Well......SPOILER ALERT!!!




The Spartan won, because they had them fight one on one in fairly open ground.
But, as the ninjutsu expert said- the ninja would of just ran away and got him in his sleep. lol

The next episode is comparing the Samurai vs the Viking, a no-brainer methinks!

Check out bravo.co.uk or spike's website for more on it guys, it'll explain better than i could how they compare the two warriors.


A pointless exercise really though, an Astartes would kill them all at one time, lol.

Samurai vs Viking?

Make both drunk and the northman will win....

Isn't this like comparing tomatoes and apples ?

not really.... its more like comparing a 20 oz. T-bone steak and a 6 oz. Sirloin steak.


Yes, both were feared warriors who could devastate an opposing army with relative ease, however that is where most level comparison ends.

The Vikings were one of the few warrior groups who could and would fight on a boat (SORRY!!!), They were fairly reliant on the element of speed when they attacked towns/chapels, etc. The samurai on the other hand, lived their every breath to be a samurai, and perfect all of the aspects that went along with that (tho, the idea of seppuku came along in the 17-1800s when they werent really fighting anyone and had time for crazy things like book writing)

If you also look beyond the warrior mentality of each group, one thing really sets the Vikings apart from the samurai, their innate and amazing ability to navigate across oceans (which the samurai were horribly inept at seamanship)

Ninjas in movies never existed. The idea came from medieval plays where stage hands wore all black. One famous playwright had one of the stage hands moving props and then stab one of the characters. It gave a sense of mystery. No warrior from Asia ever wore all black. The term ninja just means assassin. Just thought Id spread the wealth.

He-man vs Lion-ho?

I missed the show, will have to search the interweb for it.