Chaos Dwarves, Araby, and Nippon, anyone?

[Admiral-Badruck]

Sadly I have no idea who that is....

[Primarch]

Sadly I have no idea who that is....

So if you dont know what a Sword Master of Hoeth is, how can you compare any other thing to it?

[Mike the Pike]

I still say humans are humans (presuming of course that GW's Nippon is a human kingdom).

IMHO people really need to stop romanticizing Samurai and realize that not everything that they say on the Discovery channel is necessarily correct. There are just so many fairytales surrounding the Samurai.

I was the same way with the middle ages. When I was a kid I was fascinated by Medieval Knights, their amazing armour and weapons, their heraldry, the concepts of chivalry and noblesse oblige etc etc. However, over time I came to realize that in reality things were a lot grimmer, dirtier and the people of the period a lot less chivalrous than my Usborne books would have led me to believe.

It's the same with the Samurai. Sure a nihonto can chop through a watermelon or a rolled up tatami mat under ideal conditions but it would be a lot harder to do to someone wearing steel armour who was trying to dodge out of the way. As for bushido, well it was a fine concept, much like a Knight's code of chivalry but it's adherents also spent a lot of time indulging in the slaughter of unarmed villagers, brutally suppressing any threat to the status quo as well as doing all sorts of unsavoury things with their young male wards.

As for the whole unswerving loyalty to one's master, well, you only need to take a short ride down to Sekgahara to find out what a crock of **** that is. The battle was pretty much decided when a large chunk of the 'loyalist' army betrayed their allies and sided with the 'rebels'. By the way, it was also a battle that was largely decided by armies composed principally of foot soldiers with a high proportion of guns.

Still not convinced, try playing a game of slaps/knuckles with one of your Japanese friends some day. If he/she really is as fast as a high elf, you will be slapped/beaten black and blue before you even know what is happening.

By the way, don't take think of this as an anti-samurai rant, I love 'em and still find them fascinating.

[Admiral-Badruck]

@ Pirme

how very helpful that post was I guess you are either not keen on calling Samurai "Sword Masters" or you know something I do not know and are not keen on sharing that... hummm... I guess since there is almost no chance of me getting a Samurai Army in the next 4 or five years I will just let it go...

@ Pike
there is nothing that cool about Samurai they are trained a bit more than a normal if you do not think that matters play slap hand with a Karate Teacher am sure he will kick your butt every time..

[The Other Dave]

Samurai, realism, blah de blah blah.

But... but... Katana can cut through tank barrels, man! I saw it on the History channel!

[Mike the Pike]

@The Madmiral: Some samurai were definitely 'sword masters'. But would the average schmo (or Japanese equivalent thereof) be any better than Sir Snodgrass his Euro contemporary. But again, would aforementioned master be any better than an Renaissance aristocrat who spent all his time abusing peasants and practicing fencing? Anyways, said amazing individuals would surely be your human heroes rather than arguably the best fighters in the game.

@Dave: If it was on the History channel then it must be true. It's just those fibbers on the Discovery channel that I can't stand.

[Admiral-Badruck]

Well you got me there mate I had not thought about that at all... cheers

[Primarch]

@ Pirme

how very helpful that post was I guess you are either not keen on calling Samurai "Sword Masters" or you know something I do not know and are not keen on sharing that... hummm... I guess since there is almost no chance of me getting a Samurai Army in the next 4 or five years I will just let it go...

Sword Masters of Hoeth are the High Elf Sword Masters! So when you were saying Samurai are sword masters what exactly were you comparing them to?

[Mike the Pike]

Human sword master?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DzcOCyHDqc

[Mike the Pike]

Amazing samurai sword action!
Katana wielding Samurai really are the equivalent of Swordmasters...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyO46RQhYkQ

...Until you realize that:

Iron which the pipe was made of is actually 'softer' than aluminium.
The pipe was supported and braced against something.
The time he took to line up his blow is hardly ASF speed/initiative 5.
The steel used in the last test was only 0.4mm thick.

I actually do think that high quality samurai swords are/were the best swords ever made but not every Samurai could afford such an amazing weapon let alone wield it with the skill of that guy. He is obviously a professional whose 'job' is practicing his sword techniques. Would a real Samurai have had the time to reach such a skill level, in between running his fief, drinking tea, writing haiku and warring?