THis is kind of interesting and even somewhat relevant!
From the Tain bo Cuailgne, translated by Thomas Kinsella, from "The Combat of Ferdia and Cuchulainn":
"So that day they took up their two solid broadshields and their big burdensome stabbing-spears and began piercing and drilling each other and felling and overwhelming from the grey morning until the evening sunset. If ever birds in flight could pass through men's bodies they could have passed through those bodies that day and brought bits of blood and meat with them out into the thickening air through the wounds and gashes."
Later:
"So that day they took up their two great full-length shields and their massive stroke-dealing swords and began hacking and hewing and striking and destroying, and cutting bits and pieces the size of baby's heads from each other's shoulders and backs and flanks."
I just thought of that stuff with the "hole in his chest large enough to fit a watermelon through." bit. That's some combat. I don't think anything like that's ever happened in my campaign (which just ended).. heck, this past weekend was like, the first critical we'd seen in a while. Oh.. wait.. a long time ago, in a 2e campaign, the party paladin slid down a chute and landed in a puddle of oil. It was dark, so he lit a torch. He had 10 flasks of lamp oil in his backpack. I think he wound up at like, -74 or something, and sort of smouldered for a few days. Heh, thank heavens for raise dead. And that ol' reconstructive healing spell.