Wishful Thinking: My Choice for a Deadliest Warrior Match-up

Even though it’s been three years since Deadliest Warrior failed to earn itself a fourth season, I still get a little bummed out when I think about all the great historical match-ups that we’ll probably never get to see portrayed. Sure, the show was kind of cheesy, the first season took serious liberties with history and science, and had weapon “experts” who didn’t know the first things about their weapons, but it was always fun to watch. It gave history and martial arts nerds plenty to hypothesize about and to criticize.

If I had my choice of historical generals to match-up for a new episode? I would have to go with

Gustavus Adolphus, the king of Sweden who turned his nation into a military powerhouse and wreaked some serious havoc during the Thirty Years War at the beginning of the 17th century,

vs.

Oda Nobunaga, the ruthless samurai warlord  who paved the way for the unification of Japan in the late 16th century (and who would have most likely succeeded if he hadn’t been betrayed by one of his allies ).

Think about it. Both men lived, fought, and died within 100 years of each other. Both men ascended to power at age 17. Both are responsible for outright massacres of civilians. And the firearms used by both armies should be fairly comparable in terms of range and reload times (I think). How close to call would that battle be?

So tell me fellow history nerds, who would you pick to win a five-on-five squad battle led by these two generals? How about a 100-on-100 battle? 1,000-on-1,000?

Yes, you are allowed to do some research first.