Show on Spike that a friend was telling me about, the episode explained I thought was kind of bad from the get go. Basic premise, pick two famous warrior classes from history, gather information on weapons, armor, etc, and then run a computer model simulation to see who would have won in a contest of arms. I had my doubts when I heard about the show and now that I am finally watching an episode I am in even more doubt about the true measure of any outcome. The current episode I am watching is pitting the William Wallace era Scottish warrior against the Shaka Zulu warrior, and more specifically those two leaders pitted against one another.
The first thing that I see as major problem with this episode is it completely based on the movies of most recent fame dealing with the two subjects. I am the first to admit that the I am not very familiar with the Zulu warfare techniques and weaponry and really can not make a comparison of the movie to the reality. However, as I think I have noted on another blog before, there are a huge number of issues with the Braveheart movie, especially in regards to historical accuracy, even in regards to weapons and armor.
A first instance is the use of the much more modern very plaid and wrapped kilt. Fact is in the late 13th century of Wallace the Scottish were not wearing kilts of that design and they were certainly not that heavy. That does not really impact the outcome here. What does though is they scored the claymore sword as being more effective than the short spear. Fact is the longer hand and half or two hand sword that we think of as a claymore is much more of a 15th century weapon. And even then it was not called a claymore, that term was actually used for a basket hilted broadsword of 17th century and onward, especially popular with Scottish officers.
Another anachronistic aspect that was introduced by the show was when testing that short hand spear (which technically I think is more like a short sword in it usage) was the selection of maile that was used in the testing and conduction of the testing. All the previous demonstration showed the weapon being used as a slashing weapon and for this they stabbed straight in without regard to speed but a full front open attack. Given the nature of adaptation I could forgive that, but the chain maile used was mild steel butted links. During most of the time period most mail worn would have been either riveted or alternated solid rings and riveted. And mild butted links will tend to open up when a point penetrates, just like slow prying them open.
Another thing they do on this show is with each time they test a weapon it specifically a test they have set up for the weapon. They never do a test of apples to apples so speak. For instance the Zulu axe was analyzed while slicing up a static pig carcass while the war hammer was only tested versus crashing down on replica skulls. If the Scottish warrior is indeed in the status of knight, like Wallace was, he would have had maile at least over his upper body. This is exactly the kind of edged weapon the maile would have been best at defended against and they did not include his in the testing.
There are numerous faults with the data collection and very limited observation, but I will limit to just one more. All of the analysis and data that is entered into the computer for the final simulation. But that data as to which weapon is determined to be most deadly or effective at a given range is mostly decided by the various scientists, doctors, and whoever is involved. And no matter how objective they claim to be, it hard to be totally objective in such an arbitrary call.
One more thing I think the show misses is the situation that the warrior culture was finding itself in and what the society was like. For instance, the Scottish under Wallace had been oppressed for years by the English and were clearly fighting for both home and hearth and even a way of life. They were fighting the English, that clearly had supply issues when in Scotland. The inverse was true when Wallace did take York and his position there was largely untenable for more than a season or two and hence his eventual willingly yielding it back to the English for other concessions. There are again, so many additional points about differences in cultures and background, how could one be comprehensive about this list.
I will say in this particular episode, it came out 67% of time the winner would have been Wallace over the Shaka, which is about the way I would have expected the outcome. Though clearly the folks on the show seemed to have favored the Shaka weapons during the analysis. But regardless, I give the show an overall bad review, fully meeting my expectation of the show.
** Photo from promotional materials for the show from Spike **
