Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

helgrenze wrote:Maybe EF, but eventually the pirates would have to make their landing.

Also on ship to ship fighting the Vikings gain an advantage on maneuverability. Oars and a shorter length give the longships a much tighter turning radius than the sail based movement of the Pirates ship. The Pirate may be faster with the wind, but the Viking can turn that against them, and travel against the wind.

You can sail into the wind, actually http://web.mit.edu/2.972/www/reports/sail_boat/sail_boat.html

I believe it's called tacking.

Real-life ninjas cant beat pirates, btw.
(no magic or narutardary)

Pirates were (usually) awol naval officers.
So, they could just marksman it up on the soft-points on the vikings.
Also, blackbeard. Nuff said.


And thanks for the full quote

rubiksnoob wrote:I believe it's called tacking.

Which is actually sailing more across the wind than against it. And while you are zigzagging to gain ground, the Viking can close distance very swiftly and board your ship. In a naval battle, the ability to change course quickly is an advantage.

Shadowbrand wrote:Vikings have god's on their side.

Not just one but dozens!

Calypso = dead vikings.

helgrenze wrote:

rubiksnoob wrote:I believe it's called tacking.

Which is actually sailing more across the wind than against it. And while you are zigzagging to gain ground, the Viking can close distance very swiftly and board your ship. In a naval battle, the ability to change course quickly is an advantage.

You really have completely forgetten about the cannons on both sides of the ship haven't you? (Not to mention the front)

The chick from the illiad?

helgrenze wrote:

rubiksnoob wrote:I believe it's called tacking.

Which is actually sailing more across the wind than against it. And while you are zigzagging to gain ground, the Viking can close distance very swiftly and board your ship. In a naval battle, the ability to change course quickly is an advantage.

You can sail directly into the wind if you angle the sail into the wind at a specific angle and it pulls the ship rather than pushing it.

That means the pirates go zipping off into the setting sun while the vikings sit in their longboats sweating and pulling their oars

And it only works with lanteen sails, which the vikings didn't have


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Shadowbrand wrote:The chick from the illiad?

Not that calypso. The sea goddess from PotC.

Njord would like a word with you. So would Odin and all the other gods.

You know I only like the first Pirates of the Caribbean the other two were just... lame and didn't they bring back Barbosa?

Barbossa had a hat.

Shadowbrand wrote:Njord would like a word with you. So would Odin and all the other gods.

You know I only like the first Pirates of the Caribbean the other two were just... lame and didn't they bring back Barbosa?

He's in all three. . .

My hat's sexier. Admit you'd bone my hat.

Oh well lame. You shouldn't come back after pissing off Aztec gods.

Emperors Faithful wrote:Barbossa had a hat.

A way cooler hat than some dumb helmet with pointy sticks on it

Viking helmets didn't have horns. Some did have chain mail scarfs you could wear over your face however!

Shadowbrand wrote:Njord would like a word with you. So would Odin and all the other gods.

You know I only like the first Pirates of the Caribbean the other two were just... lame and didn't they bring back Barbosa?

The second one had him in it for 3 seconds, and in the third one he wasn't alive until 30 minutes to the end anyway.

I liked the first and third, not so much the second.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

rubiksnoob wrote:

Emperors Faithful wrote:Barbossa had a hat.

A way cooler hat than some dumb helmet with pointy sticks on it

And pointed sticks are much less dangerous than fresh fruit.

Shadowbrand wrote:Viking helmets didn't have horns. Some did have chain mail scarfs you could wear over your face however!

So did the Saracens. Actually, I'm guessing Saracens beat Vikings.

I don't think we made it that far....

But I imagine we would burn their mosques and take all the spice we want.

The poll is tied!

Tie goes to the Viking.

It's in the Bible.

Monster Rain wrote:Tie goes to the Viking.

It's in the Bible.

Sorry, but we pirates disregard your rules. We win!

The pirates have a point on us.

For the longest time though it was in favor of Vikings only time will tell...

Good show Pirates you fought well I am going to cook some babies I mean tacos.

Shadowbrand wrote:The pirates have a point on us.

For the longest time though it was in favor of Vikings only time will tell...

Good show Pirates you fought well I am going to cook some babies I mean tacos.

The smelly northerners have conceded defeat! Rum all around!

Oh this isn't over by a long shot butt pirate. But even Vikings need to get food!

BOAR AND MEAD!!!

And whenches all around

Poll shows the exact reason why it's Pirate vs Ninja, not Viking vs Ninja.

helgrenze wrote:Ok, it's a given that at sea the Pirates have the advantage, however, Viking tactics rarely involved sea battles. The Viking tactic of choice was land near the town and move in on foot. For Pirates to mount any kind of sea based defense, they would:
A) have to know of the attack.

The much lower running viking longships will be harder to spot by look-outs than English or Spanish galleons, but their slower speed means they'll have far more time to notice them.

B) muster enough ships and personel.

That won't be a problem. Of course, any pirate bay worth its salt will have gun embankments to fire on approaching ships, and will destroy the longships long before they shore.

C) very possibly co-operate with each other.

That's definitely not a problem, pirates were extremely good at self-organization and very democratic. Because they voted for their captains, they tended to have a strong sense of loyalty to those captains. If pirates were naturally fractious, they wouldn't have had any success against the highly disciplined navies of England and Spain.

D) be sober and awake enough to shoot straight.

Always a problem with pirates on the defense, but with no ability to stealthily infiltrate and time their attack, the vikings can't count on this.

A Pirate raid on a viking village would be met with much resistance because Vikings were capable of fighting while drunk and tired.

So are pirates!

helgrenze wrote:Also on ship to ship fighting the Vikings gain an advantage on maneuverability. Oars and a shorter length give the longships a much tighter turning radius than the sail based movement of the Pirates ship. The Pirate may be faster with the wind, but the Viking can turn that against them, and travel against the wind.

Doesn't matter. Unless we're artificially chumping the pirates, they'll have smaller rail mounted hand cannons used for boarding actions. While these small cannons are nearly useless against the sidewalls of a galleon, they'll punch holes through a far flimisier longship. What makes this a real problem for the viking is that they can't do squat to the pirates until they board the ship, so they have to draw up next to the ship. Because the deck of a longship is far bellow that of a galleon, the viking will have to climb up the sides of the ship -- while the pirates above can merrily rain hell down on them. And those hand cannons? They're firing almost straight down into the unprotected hull of the ship, punching holes below the water line...which means the viking have nowhere to retreat.

But that won't actually happen, because no matter how manueverable the longship is, it simply can't match the speed of a galleon, and so the pirates can force the viking to engage in defensive manuevering to avoid cannon fire and thus never close, or the viking can run straight at the galleon -- and pray to Odin that the pirates are the worst shots ever, because one cannonball hits them and they're toast. No longship can stand up to a cannon shot. Seriously, no longship is even close to being a match for any proper pirate vessel. Even a tiny merchantman would clean its clock.

I have returned.

Its tied. Sorry Pirate whores, but Vikings would crush you any day of the week.


And yapping on about a pirate bay being protected by cannons and the like is silly. No viking ship would land RIGHT NEXT TO THE VILLAGE! They would make land fall miles away and just pop out from no where if they had to. Seriously, this is a debate? DOUBLE SPEARS DAMMIT!

Yea and the point about Vikings not being stealthy. They could set their boats on land and attack you and leave well before proper force could be made.

That's why the British and French had such troubles with us. They had big boats but they needed time to be set up.

However a Viking raid on a village is not stealthy at all I will be honest, but we could slip in and out... Like a stud.

I agree. Vikings were the masters of rapid strikes. They could literally wipe an entire village out in one night and no surrounding villages would have ANY clue what happened to them. Cmon. Im failing to see the argument

Whatever wasn't killed was taken aboard.