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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 782423" data-attributes="member: 4937">Bauglir: Well it is slightly more complex than that.&nbsp;&nbsp; The situation is similar to that of hitting baseballs with a bat.&nbsp; The stronger person certainly has an advantage in such a contest (not necessarily I might note the speedier, Babe Ruth being notoriously slow footed compared to the average baseball player), but nearly as important as strength is _where you hit the ball_.&nbsp;&nbsp; A skilled batter contacts the ball dead center of the bat, in a portion of the bat designed to maximize the leverage of the batter and the time the ball is in contact with the bat.&nbsp;&nbsp; This results in the maximum transfer of energy to the ball and a good solid hit.The situation is similar when dealing with a blade.&nbsp;&nbsp; Imagine that the batter was now swining a sword at the ball with the intention of cutting it in two.&nbsp; Now, he must contact the ball dead center, least its curving shape cause the ball to be deflected away by the blow and the ball only recieve a nick.&nbsp;&nbsp; More importantly, he must contact the ball in such a way that the blade of the sword is turn perpendicular to the plane of contact.&nbsp;&nbsp; If the blade contacts at an angle, it is the same (or worse) as hitting the ball on the curved edge.&nbsp; Only a portion of the blade's energy goes to cutting, and the remainder causes the blade and the ball to turn away, resulting in a glancing blow.Experienced katana users note that a woman's first stroke with a katana generally does more damage than a novice man's, because the man tends to put too much power in his swing (before his ability to control such power) and does not make a clean cut on the target.So in the case of swinging say a greatsword at an armored target using all your strength, unless your blow is clean we stop looking entirely at the ability of the armor to resist shearing forces and start looking at the armors ability to resist deformation and thereby turn the blade.&nbsp; It's possible that you'd hit the armor and crush and mangle it, or just tear it, or just bounce off.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 782423, member: 4937"] Bauglir: Well it is slightly more complex than that. The situation is similar to that of hitting baseballs with a bat. The stronger person certainly has an advantage in such a contest (not necessarily I might note the speedier, Babe Ruth being notoriously slow footed compared to the average baseball player), but nearly as important as strength is _where you hit the ball_. A skilled batter contacts the ball dead center of the bat, in a portion of the bat designed to maximize the leverage of the batter and the time the ball is in contact with the bat. This results in the maximum transfer of energy to the ball and a good solid hit. The situation is similar when dealing with a blade. Imagine that the batter was now swining a sword at the ball with the intention of cutting it in two. Now, he must contact the ball dead center, least its curving shape cause the ball to be deflected away by the blow and the ball only recieve a nick. More importantly, he must contact the ball in such a way that the blade of the sword is turn perpendicular to the plane of contact. If the blade contacts at an angle, it is the same (or worse) as hitting the ball on the curved edge. Only a portion of the blade's energy goes to cutting, and the remainder causes the blade and the ball to turn away, resulting in a glancing blow. Experienced katana users note that a woman's first stroke with a katana generally does more damage than a novice man's, because the man tends to put too much power in his swing (before his ability to control such power) and does not make a clean cut on the target. So in the case of swinging say a greatsword at an armored target using all your strength, unless your blow is clean we stop looking entirely at the ability of the armor to resist shearing forces and start looking at the armors ability to resist deformation and thereby turn the blade. It's possible that you'd hit the armor and crush and mangle it, or just tear it, or just bounce off. [/QUOTE]

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