Axe. Start killing the guys in the room. See what happens. If the guys from the airport come back, kill them. If I see a big, mean animal, I will apply knowledge gleaned from a documentary on an Australian displaced to New York. I will hold my hand in a version of the hang-ten gesture, sorta whistle, and slowly bring my hand down in a soothing manner.
My answer here will be the same as my first answer in the Home Depot Thunderdome: A six-foot length of stout oak. I actually have a little bit of training in using one of those. I’m not saying I have leet bo-fighting skillz or anything, but that little bit of training is more than the none at all I have for any other weapon.
As an added bonus, it makes me look less dangerous, which might keep me from being a target, and might help in any diplomacy I find myself engaging in.
I might or might not take any armor. It’ll depend on how heavy and restrictive what they have is. Certainly no plate, but I might possibly take a lorica segmentata. Probably also a cape and a padded vest.
No capes!
I’m not sure if they were available at the time, but I would want to go out in style with a katana and some samurai armor.
Since I’m damn slow I might as well use a weapon that relies more on weight. I’ll take an iron mace.
Sword, armour, mad fighting abilities, I’m not seeing the problem here.
I think it’d be a little like the fight scene in Airplane, only more awesome.
Greek fire molotov cocktails.
What’s my opponent wearing?
A recording of Led Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song” and my ability to shoot lightning from my body.
I mean, if we’re engaging in fantasy, why go with half measures?
Stranger
If we’re talking actual gladiatorial games and equipment I’ll go with a gladius. I’ve used a couple and found them very fine weapons. A shield would be nice but I could live (I hope) without it. If we’re talking general early hand weapons then I am opting for a war hammer. Again, I’ve used a lot of hammers and hammer-like devices and my muscles know how to handle them. Being in a way “trained” I figure that gives me the best shot especially if that other guy/gal picked something long and unwieldy.
Heater shield + rapier.
Basically, I want the largest shield that I can reasonably carry and move - given that I have no experience with the things and no particular upper body strength. And I want the longest weapon that I can use effectively. I have no experience with a spear and, again, no upper body strength. The rapier is going to have the most reach of all of the swords, and a good hand guard.
Despite popular conception, a rapier isn’t going to get chopped in half nor broken by a gladius. They’ll hold up just fine against the other swords, so there’s no real demerit to the thin blade. And while chopping weapons have been historically popular, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that poking weapons kill any worse.
Leather thong (t-back), studded leather collar and long black lacquered fingernails.
BTW, Thunderlord, your link wasn’t working: One of the quote marks in the tag was a smart quote. I took the liberty of fixing it.
From a site of my choice:
Myrmillo: Wore a fish-like helmet and had an oblong shield and a sword.
Retiaritus: Fought with a net, brandishing either a trident or a dagger.
Secutos: Had a shield, sword, heavy helmet, and armour on one arm.
Sagitarius: fought with a bow and arrow
Thrax: Armed with a curved sword and a small shield.
So Victor Mature was a Secutos while his opponents were Retiaritus.
These weapons and outfits were more for dramatics than any real value with regard to winning and survivability. But I’ll go with the rule that the one with move protective covering goes last (assuming he doesn’t get tripped or entangled too early.)
Hmmm…I’ve done little comparison of military technology histories but I have a bad feeling 404CE predates the katana or what we know as samurai armor. Otherwise I might be choosing the same acoutrements.
Instead…
Having had some jo staff training and practiced several bo staff forms – including recognizing that one of the forms was suspiciously geared toward utilzing either a point or a blade on one end – I’d pick the closest European equivalent: a spear. I might have picked pilum and used it as a spear, but I have no intention of throwing my weapon away and, in any case, they were apparently no longer used by the 4th century.
If possible, it would also be nice to have a knife of some kind, in case some jerk wants to throw a net or other entanglement on me. But I’d mostly try to start with the spear and my extant skills and then pick alternate weapons up off the field if they seem better than what I’ve got. I suspect my katana training won’t serve all that well with a gladius.
As for armor, I think a centurion’s set would leave my arms and legs free enough to move in various directions. A shield might impede my two-handed misuse of the spear, but if I could sling it across my back it might provide a bit of protection to the side I’m not watching.
–G!
Skald/DCnDC, what nefarious force in the universes keeps picking me for these silly fights? I’m a pacifist!
Yeah, as posed (fighting unknown number of opponents with unknown skills, weapons, and fighting styles), I’m going with a crossbow with spikes on the handle and other cudgeling surfaces to try to squeak by the “melee” rule. Crossbows invented in 700BC, so well within the time window.
If nothing like that’s in the room, then some sort of halberd or spear, possibly supplemented by javelins and a dagger, and relatively light armor. I think that’s the sweet spot of a weapon simple enough for training-naive people to know what to do (you stick the pointy end in the other guy), while keeping a healthy distance when possible.
If it were something on the order of dueling or single combat where we are choosing the weapon both you and your opponent(s) would use, I’m going with a heavy war hammer, because I’m with Kopek in terms of wielding big heavy things being to my advantage.
But realistically, given our opponents are a random cross-section of the air-flying American public, and thus are likely 50+ pounds overweight, in poor cardiovascular condition, more than even odds to be age under 15 or over 50, and extremely unlikely to be trained in anything, I’m not sure you need much of anything. Running Coach’s “I’ll run around staying out of range for most of it and then kill the last one standing with whatever” honestly sounds like a pretty good strategy.
Let’s make it really interesting.
You’re pulled out of line at the checkpoint, told you’ll be in a battle to the death, thrown in a room and told to choose your weapon.
In the room there are boxes and boxes of. . . all the stuff that’s normally confiscated at the checkpoint.
You forage through the boxes looking desperately for a gun someone must have tried to smuggle through, but all you can find are large bottles of shampoo, cigarette lighters, nail clippers, a now-dead ball python, and other miscellaneous junk.
Arm yourself!
I will take 1 lighter, 5 bottles of shampoo, and the 20 bottles of ronson lighter fluid someone tried to put in carry on.
Oh, FFS, this isn’t the event of the season. Just wear the little black armor and those cute spiked gauntlets.
A bottle of hairspray and a lighter. Plus a sewing needle to stab them after I’d burned their face.