LogFAQs > #975761225

HannibalBarca3 posted...

Also to add on to this mass guns didn't always mean sure victory. For example the Protestant infantry during the French War of Religion were armed with firearms, and as noted by one French captain, should've prevailed over French pikemen but that wasn't the case. Instead despite the mass usage of guns pikemen were able to break firearm infantry despite the need to close in on them because the stress of combat greatly diminishes the accuracy of firearms. Early firearms inaccuracy is greatly exaggerated, instead writers, which often included war veterans, praised them for their accuracy, range and killing power. What often happens is that the stress and smoke during combat causes a fall in accuracy, something that was even noted by a French captain, his name escapes me, during the Franco-Prussian Wars with infantry armed with bolt action rifles.

Which loops back to the thread at hand, inexperience + stress can greatly diminish the ability to hit a target as seen in history even when it involves professional infantry armed with rifles.

tudor era firearms weren't nearly as easy to use as guns today though and reloading them was an actual concern.

obviously someone who doesn't know a single thing about guns could potentially lose in this scenario, but it depends on the kind of gun used. if they are using a sawed off shotgun they just have to point in the general direction of the katana user. starting distance also great matters. if they are 5 feet away the katana wielder would have a good chance against an incompetent gun wielder. if they are 20+ feet it somewhat depends on the gun and just how incompetent the gun wielder is but they would have a big advantage.