Best individual soldier in history for their time and why?

Any single mongol archer ever

I know Sparta is kind of a meme, but they were the only professional soldiers in Greece at the time, and writings from the time definitely show the respect and fear the other city States had for them.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Marshal,_1st_Earl_of_Pembroke

richard de clare, 1170s

cant believe i had never heard of this guy before i starting looking for old norman texts

This, horse archers win easy

achilles..thread over.

what's the difference between a soldier and a warrior?

A soldier is an occupation. A warrior is always a warrior but a soldier is only a soldier until he retires.

He was so good that he won a battle after dying

Warriors attack and conquer, they prey on the weak. Soldiers defend and protect the innocent - mostly from warriors.

The image on the right isn't him

him desu

You mean Rickenbacker?

This, shame it's under-powered in D20

I agree

Soldiers are disciplined, warriors aren't.

I know it's off topic, but I feel like telling this story.
So I will.
Once upon a time, there was the longest republic in the world.
It spreaded across the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean. It grew strong importing all the weird eastern shit in Europe. It was a sea land.
On the other side of the sea, there was the Ottoman Empire. I don't need to talk about that, you know the turks.
And you know also the Isle of Ciprus. There was a great commander, Marcantonio Bragadin, defending Ciprus and Famagosta, the last fortification hold by our army in 1570, 60 thousands men against 200 thousands turks waiting outside the city's walls waiting for our heroes to die of hunger. After a month of siege the turks tried a last attack. They entered the walls but they where also been pushed out. After that, Bragadin decided to surrender.
"Give me 20 days and the promise to let us leave the island in peace", he said and Lala Kara Mustafa agreed.
The last day our army came outside the walls ready to leave. Lala Kara Mustafa said "where are the muslim prisoners?"
Marcantonio laughed and accused him to try find excuses to not let them go.
Mustafa took his knife.
Cut off Bragadin's nose.
Made the heads of all the guards cut off. Slayed the governor under our hero's eyes.
They put him in a cage up on the walls of the city. Kept him alive for a week.
And then took him and tied him naked to a colum on the main square of Famagosta. Flay him alive.
His skin exhibited along the streets of the city and then sent to the sultan as a gift.

A year later, the ottomans fleet was slayed by the glorious Holy Leage fleet, the Doge himself Sebastiano Venier riding the Venetian flagship.

Normans. They had the wanderlust and savagery of their Nordic ancestors combined with the technique and civilization of the Frankish/Gallo-Romans. The 10th century to the 13th century was the era of the Normans. They were at the forefront of some of the greatest watersheds of medieval history; conquest of Muslim Sicily, invasion of Anglo-Saxon England, the Crusades, etc.

kek

Non-meme answer:
A warrior is anyone who habitually fights in combat or war. Or is at least prepared to fight.
A soldier is part of an organized group of fighters in the service of a larger, usually government, organization.

The majority of soldiers are warriors, but not all warriors are soldiers. I would say the term warrior is more of a cultural designation, while the term soldier is an organizational designation.

CHILLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEES

I did a presentation on him for a military science class. Hell of a guy.

>They both had weaponry/tactics that made them superior to everyone else
>England
U wot m8?
They Never had a tactical or significant material edge, unless You count fighting random indigenous tribes as making war, which most of the world did as well anyway

>tfw 17 males on my father's side of the family, my father and his father included, have torn their Achilles' Tendon apart while playing badminton

If I stay away from badminton, will I give up my name being echoed throughout eternity?

I've read enough about the Trojan epic to
S E E W H A T Y O U D I D T H E R E

William Marshal

Fucking guy came from almost nothing, became a knight, and ended up saving his country when he was around 70.

it gives you an idea of what a Finnish sniper would have looked like in battle though

Have to agree, even the sniper teams sent by Russia couldn't take him down. Quite literally one man army.

Katana Weebness aside, I'd probably go with this. Great armor, various other weapons that were good. Yari, Bow, Musket, etc. Martial training since young ages. Discipline

>what is the Royal Navy

german knights would beat out samurai on most fronts

>Great armor
You mean shitty armor, right?