Military testing

This page on the wiki houses trials run within the game by players, with the intention of arriving at conclusions on how certain combat situations work, or just combat in general.

If you want to know more about how to do your own testing go to the DF2010:Arena wiki article. To learn more about the military and how it works in Dwarf Fortress, go to the DF2010:Military article.

The format in which trials are presented here is by no means a strict rule. Feel free to add and change elements but make sure the information is easy to read and understand. Try to provide any information you think is relevant and useful without digressing too much.

Standard format for testing trials

Here's an example of how to present your test's information. If you're not sure how to make tables and stuff, just copy this from the edit page and fill it with your own information.

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	6	Grand Master Swordsdwarf Grand Master Elf-hater	Tower-cap stake
#2: Corinthian Magma Weasel	6	-no skills-	-no items-
#3: Tea cup	6	Legendary Absurdist	Mustard

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	0	Severed limbs Bruised internal organs	Tired Bored Extreme Pain	Infection
#2: Corinthian Magma Weasel	3	Broken nose Broken toes	Nauseous	Severed head
#3: Tea cup	1	Cracked handle	-none-	Slippage

Notes: The creatures were placed in tight groups, spaced equally apart. The dwarves died fast from injuries caused by the tea cups the magma weasels were throwing. The weasels died from friendly fire.

Tester's conclusion: The test was meant to test how 3 different sides interact in combat and if any creature uses other creatures as projectiles. As far as this test goes, it seems to be true.

DF2010 (0.31.16) tests

Dwarves against Skeletal Horses (tested by: plynxis)

Times run: 2

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	6	-no skills-	full iron armor (with chain leggings and mail shirt), shield and longsword
#2: Skeletal Horse	3	-no skills-	-no items-

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags1	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	6	4 have no injuries 2 badly wounded	Unconscious Extreme Pain	-N/A-
#2: Skeletal Horse	0	-N/A-	-N/A-	Fatal injuries

¹Refers only to those injured.

Notes: I did this test to see if dwarves can survive horses if they've got full iron armor and weapons. The fight was short and it looks like the skeletal horses charge hard and if they hit, they stun and can kill pretty fast if they're not stopped. I tried it 6:3 because I didn't expect the dwarves to survive a 1:1 ratio against the horses anyway. And yes the amount of trials is pathetic :P

Tester's conclusion: Even if dwarves are fully equipped, skeletal horses are very hard to deal with without casualties or at least serious injuries. Going up to a herd requires at least double the dwarves (if they're unskilled at least) to make sure you'll win and even then you're very likely to end up with dwarves that need hospitalization.

Dwarves against fire imps (tested by: plynxis)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	4	Grand Master Shield User	iron shield
#2: Fire imp	6	-no skills-	-no items-

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	4	-no injuries-	-no tags-	-N/A-
#2: Fire imp	0	-N/A-	-N/A-	Fatal damage from shield attacks

Notes: The purpose of this test was to see how shields block fire. In that sense, it was a failure since none of the imps even had the time to attempt fire attacks. The dwarves use their shields as weapons when they don't have an actual weapon in hand and can use it to block at the same time.

Tester's conclusion: Dwarves with shields and the skill to use them can be very deadly and hard to kill as well. That and fire imps are easy to kill :P

Dwarves against Dragon (tested by: plynxis)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	4	Grand Master Shield User	iron shield
#2: Dragon	1	-no skills-	-no items-

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	0	-N/A-	-N/A-	Severing of the body when incapable of blocking a biting attack
#2: Dragon	1	All toes broken, nose broken Severe bruising on the rest of the body	Pain	-N/A-

Notes: This is a test intended to test fire blocking with shields, in lieu of the previous test which failed at it. Dwarves can block fire breath fine with iron shields and the shields do not get worn.

Tester's conclusion: Again, dwarves capable of using shields properly are very hard to kill. These ones had very high skill and the only way the dragon was able to kill them was by knocking them over or stunning them and following through with a bite, severing them in half.

Dwarves against Dragon (2) (tested by: plynxis)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	4	Grand Master Shield User	chestnut shield
#2: Dragon	1	-no skills-	-no items-

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	3	-no injuries-	-no tags-	Severing of the body when incapable of blocking a biting attack
#2: Dragon	0	All toes broken, nose broken Severe bruising on the rest of the body Severe bruising of internal organs	Extreme Pain Nauseous	Suffocation

Notes: This test was made to test the effectiveness of non-firesafe material shields against fire. Other than that, the setup is entirely identical to the previous test.

Tester's conclusion: Shield material does not matter when used by a dwarf it seems and it also never gets worn, so technically a shield of any material is just as adequate for defense. The dwarves again used their shields to attack successfully. Fights with dragons also seem to always include the dragon getting all his toes broken and often his nose. It is also apparent that chance is an important factor when attacks that land by one side (the dragon in this case) are almost always fatal and the other side (the dwarves here) is capable of completely blocking the majority of these attacks. This demonstrated by the fact that in the previous test all dwarves died while in this one the dragon died instead, with all survivors being intact.

Dwarves against Skeletal Horses (2) (tested by: plynxis)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	6	Grand Master Shield User	chestnut shield
#2: Skeletal Horse	3	-no skills-	-no items-

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	6	-no injuries-	-no tags-	-N/A-
#2: Skeletal Horses	0	-N/A-	-N/A-	Fatal injuries

Notes: This is a followup of the previous test to examine how effective shields are against skeletal horses.

Tester's conclusion: The dwarves are not only capable of killing the horses, but also prevent any injury to themselves. The horses still push them around a bit, but there is little they can do when dwarves gang up on them. The fight is also, quite short.

Dwarves against Horses (tested by: plynxis)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	6	Skilled Shield User	chestnut shield
#2: Horse	3	-no skills-	-no items-

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	0	-N/A-	-N/A-	Fatal injuries
#2: Horses	3	Light bruising	-no tags-	-N/A-

Notes: This was done by accident, but serves as a comparison between Skeletal and regular Horses. There seems to be no comparison :P. The intent was to test how capable dwarves are with just a "Skilled" level of expertise with shields rather than Grand Master.

Tester's conclusion: Contrary to Skeletal Horses, the regular ones are much harder to kill with shields. The important point here however is the immense difference of capability a dwarf has at a low skill level contrary to a high skill level. Dwarves at this level do not have a consistent ability to block attacks and use their shields enough to prevent quick death, especially by horses.

Dwarves against Horses (2) (tested by: plynxis)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	6	Grand Master Shield User	chestnut shield
#2: Horse	3	-no skills-	-no items-

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	3	-no injuries-	-no tags-	Fatal injuries
#2: Horses	0	-N/A-	-N/A-	Fatal injuries

Notes: This is intended to test the actual effectiveness of dwarves as grand masters against regular horses, so as to compare to skeletal horses and the previous test that had dwarves using shields at a lower skill level.

Tester's conclusion: Arguably, a higher skill level is a lot more effective, but horses still are very hard to kill without casualties. The difference between fighting a bones-only Horse and an actual muscled Horse is very apparent.

Dwarves against Hydra (tested by: plynxis)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	31	Grand Master Shield User	chestnut shield
#2: Hydra	1	-no skills-	-no items-

¹These are the dwarves that survived the previous test. They're completely unharmed, but I thought it good to mention this.

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	1	Lost a leg	Tired	Fatal injuries Severing of the body when incapable of blocking a biting attack
#2: Hydra	1	Severe bodily bruising Internal organs bruised	Over-Exerted Nauseous	-N/A-

Notes: This test was not completed, but the eventual outcome is fairly obvious. It was begun right after the previous one in order to compare how a stronger monster would fare against grand master shieldwarves.

Tester's conclusion: Like the dragon, the hydra has a very hard time with the dwarves. The fight is long and even though it can kill them all eventually, the damage it takes in the meantime is definitive. A slightly higher number of dwarves might have killed it and even if a whole squad dies, the threat the hydra poses is practically elimintated as it will probably eventually die on its own anyway.

Bronze vs. Iron

To simulate Fortress mode, 8 battles of 8 vs. 8. Since goblins only use iron, both teams wore iron armour, only difference between the teams being iron vs. bronze short sword.

Times run: 8

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	8	Proficient Swordsdwarf	Full iron set minus breastplate and shield, iron short sword
#2: Dwarf	8	Proficient Swordsdwarf	Full iron set minus breastplate and shield, bronze short sword

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Iron team	4 lost rounds, 20 of 14 wounded	Severed limbs cuts	Tired Pale Faint	Bleeding
#2: Bronze team	4 lost rounds, 24 of 21 wounded	Severed limbs cuts	Tired Pale Faint	Bleeding

Tester's conclusion: Casualty/wounded(bruises and missing tooth/broken noses etc not counting)/intact rates of 67/30/3% for bronze and vs. 72/19/8% for iron would suggest that while bronze might be better in bigger and longer fights, as in all but 1 of the battles the first casualty was for the bronze team. This is probably because all attacks, both edged attacks and both blunt attacks the short sword has were seen to be used and because good part of the attacks that hit armour were deflected(and effectively became blunt attacks), and because bronze as a heavier material works slightly better in blunting, while the iron seems to have a slight edge in edged attacks. This is also supported by the comparably much higher amount of wounded dwarves(presumably having been hit early in the battle, lots of missing feet, at times lower legs, hands, lower arms, ears and noses) in the bronze team, despite them losing less as KIA.

A 52 vs 52 fight was also tested to see how much difference there would be when majority of the kills would be made when dwarves would be tired and suffering from broken bones(presumably the iron team more than bronze), and bronze team slightly more from cuts and missing body parts. The bronze team annihilated the iron team, having only 50% losses. Of its 26 survivors, however, 25(!) were wounded. Only one dwarf remained intact without cuts or body parts missing.

Adamantine Axes vs. Silver Hammers (no armor)

Times run: 10

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	10	Grandmaster All Skills	Only silver war hammer
#2: Dwarf	10	Grandmaster All Skills	Only adamantine battleaxe

Results:

Side & Creature	Wins
#1: Hammer team	Won 5 of 10 rounds
#2: Axe team	Won 5 of 10 rounds

This study seems to show that (for legendary dwarfs), silver war hammers are about equal with adamantine battleaxes, even with both sides being unarmored. The previous time I ran this test, hammers actually won 6 of the 10 rounds, but this time it was evenly split.

(Is that because a grandmaster dwarf can disable or kill an unarmored dwarf with just one hit with either weapon? Might be worth examining the combat logs.) Bognor 09:08, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Dwarves against Skeletal Horses (3) (tested by: Stormtemplar)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarfs	6	Proficient Fighter and swordsdwarf, skilled Dodger, Armor and Shield user	Full iron armor&Shortsword
#2: Skeletal horse	6	None	none

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarfs	6	1 with minor wounds, one with head bruising and some broken parts	1 unconscious (Dwarf with head bruising)
#2: Skeletal horse	0

Notes: Dwarfs began in a line, horses began slightly scattered

Tester's conclusion: The test was a test of how a middling military would fare against an equal force of skeletal horses. The dwarfs did excellently with only one badly wounded and one other with a minor wound.

DF2012 (0.34.02) tests

Maces VS war hammers (tested by: hostergaard)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Human male	12	-no skills-	Silver mace
#2: Human male	12	-no skills-	Silver warhammer

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Macemen	0	-N/A-	-N/A-	Getting their skulls jammed trough their heads
#2: Warhammermen	12	Some broken hands and fingers. Some smashed open. A few bruises. Some cuts.	1 Unconscious	-N/A-

Notes: I want to figure out how good the different blunt weapons are in relation to each other. For now I will test with silver only. I placed them in two groups on different z-levels with 6 from each side in each group. Each side was ordered in lines (parallel to the y axis) with no space between the individuals. The lines from each side was place right next to each other in each group. Group one had the 6 macemen on left (on the x axis) and the 6 hammermen on the right. Group two had mace on the right and hammer on left.

Tester's conclusion:

Leaves little doubt that in case of naked men fighting each other with warhammers and maces the hammers win. The hammerman who lost consciousness fought several macemen before fainting.

Single Unarmoured/Untrained Dwarf Weapon Test (tested by: RokRokRok)

Times run: 5 Each

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarves	1	None	Copper Battle Axe
#2: Dwarves	1	None	Crossbow (No ammo)

Results:

Side & Creature	Rounds won	Injury level	Worse Health tags	Cause of death
#1: Dwarves	4	Mild Bruising	None	Torn Brain
#2: Dwarves	1	Cuts	None	Torn Brain

Notes: I am doing a 1 on 1 with every dwarf weapon to see what weapons are best against what weapons while unskilled. Not counting armor. I will only be recording Injury/Health tags to the winners.

Tester's conclusion: A dwarf bash with a crossbow is no match for a dwarf battle axe. No missing limbs, just a few missing teeth. The one time that the crossow killed the battle axe was infact not with a crossow. The battle axe stuck the hand, disarming the crossbow. The disarmed dwarf proceded to knock out the battle axe dwarf, and smash his skull in with his foot.

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarves	1	None	Copper Battle Axe
#2: Dwarves	1	None	None

Results:

Side & Creature	Rounds won	Injury level	Worse Health tags	Cause of death
#1: Dwarves	5	Minor to Major Bruising & Cuts, one lost ear	Nauseous, Pale, Pain	None
#2: Dwarves	0	-N/A-	-N/A-	3 Torn Brain, 2 Bleeding

Notes: This is to see if the one kill was pure luck or if unarmed was better.

Tester's conclusion: It was pure luck, but one time an unarmed dwarf managed to get the upper hand, bruising the guts, cutting off the ear, but eventually died from a torn brain.

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarves	1	None	Copper Battle Axe
#2: Dwarves	1	None	Copper Mace

Results:

Side & Creature	Rounds won	Injury level	Worse Health tags	Cause of death
#1: Dwarves	2	1 with no injuries, 1 with upper leg bruising	-N/A-	1 Suffocation, 1 Torn Brain, 1 Punch out.
#2: Dwarves	3	1 with no injuries, 1 with upper arm bruising, 1 with moderate lower arm/hand cuts & disarmed	-N/A-	2 Disarmed & Bleed out.

Notes: Decided to get in detail for injuries since it was pretty evenly matched.

Tester's conclusion: Mace won overall. Once the mace was out of the arms, the axe dwarf won two out of three times. Further Tests coming.

DF2012 (0.34.04) tests

Iron Spears VS Iron Warhammers (tested by: Naryar)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Speardwarves	9	-no skills	iron spear
#2: Hammerdwarves	9	-no skills-	iron war hammer

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Speardwarves	6	Minor injuries	None	Brain damage
#2: Hammerdwarves	0	Brain damage

Notes : Each team was in a 3x1 line. Spears won easily. Now let's try better weapons and skill.

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Speardwarves	9	High Master Speardwarf	steel spear
#2: Hammerdwarves	9	High Master Hammerdwarf	silver war hammer

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Speardwarves	0	Brain damage
#2: Hammerdwarves	5	3 had multiple fractures, 1 had multiple fractures and a lost hand, 1 had nothing	1 pale

Notes : Each team was right next to each other, no more stacking dwarves like before. Hammerdwarves now won.

3 v 1 Mail Shirts (tested by: Waladil)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarves	12	Grand Master Armor User	Steel gauntlets/greaves/high boots/helm, iron battle axe, 1 iron mail shirt
#2: Dwarves	12	Grand Master Armor User	Steel gauntlets/greaves/high boots/helm, iron battle axe, 3 iron mail shirts

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	0			Suffocation/Bleeding out
#2: Dwarves	12	Minor cuts and bruises	3 faint, 1 pale

So I've been wanting to test the common knowledge that more armor layering = better, so this is the test I set up. Both sides were identical, except that one team wore three mail shirts rather than one. Using steel as the rest of the armor and iron axes ensured that everything important happened around the iron armor. The battle was slow, almost every hit being stopped by armor. Over time, team one's thinner armor let more blows through, and they eventually bled out or suffocated from lung damage. This test proved that wearing more armor increases protection. However...

Times run: 2

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarves	12	None	Steel gauntlets/greaves/high boots/helm, iron battle axe, 1 iron mail shirt
#2: Dwarves	12	None	Steel gauntlets/greaves/high boots/helm, iron battle axe, 3 iron mail shirts

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	9	Minor cuts and bruises	Some faint/pale
#2: Dwarves	0			Suffocation/Bleeding out

This test was very similar to the last, except that the skill of armor user was set to zero. And that reversed the results. While team two was more protected, they were also considerably slower (606 v. 788) and I think they were also quicker to over-exert and pass out.

Overall results: The added armor is only useful at higher levels of training. I didn't calibrate enough to find the actual midpoint, but it seems that the added layers drop off in efficiency and are not as useful, potentially being harmful if the user is unable to handle the weight.

Steel vs. Wooden Shield (tested by: apostle602)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarves	1*11	Proficient Fighter, Proficient Swordsdwarf, Proficient Shield User, Proficient Armor User	Full adamantine armor set, iron short sword, steel shield
#2: Dwarves	1*11	Proficient Fighter, Proficient Swordsdwarf, Proficient Shield User, Proficient Armor User	Full adamantine armor set, iron short sword, cedar shield

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Dwarves	3	2 unscratched, 1 missing both hands and a foot	1 pale	Bleeding out
#2: Dwarves	9	Mostly unscratched, 1 with hands cut open	1 unconscious	Bleeding out

This is a test to determine what would be the best material for shields. Tested with 22 independent dwarves at different places of the arena, it was a long battle and in the end one of the winner dwarves found his way to a still fighting couple, hence total 12 alive dwarves at the end.

Aside from that test I made a couple more with the same idea and always dwarves with heavier shields won only if they bashed opponents with these shields, f.e. if they've lost their weapons.

So at the end the only important parameter for a shield is its weight.

DF2012 (0.34.11) tests

Axe vs. Spear

Times run: 2

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	1	Grand Master Axedwarf, Grand Master Dodger, Grand Master Armor User	Full steel armor set (3 mail shirts), adamantine battle axe
#2: Dwarf	1	Grand Master Speardwarf, Grand Master Dodger, Grand Master Armor User	Full steel armor set (3 mail shirts), adamantine spear

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Axedwarf	0, 1	Severed hand, Torn ligaments and tendons, Severed Nerves, Fractured bones, Opened arteries	-N/A-, -no tags-	Bleeding out
#2: Speardwarf	1, 0	Severed limbs, Torn muscle, Severed Nerves, Open artery	-no tags-, -N/A-	Bleeding out

Notes: In the first round, speardwarf got his weapon stuck several times. Axedwarf attacked later, and only twice, missing both times. Speardwarf devastated axedwarf in this round. In the second round, axedwarf charges and topples speardwarf initially, then severs several limbs. Speardwarf landed only one bruising hit. Both made many misses. Axedwarf devastated speardwarf in this round. The victor barely got injured at all in both rounds, and the loser gets mutilated. Because of these polarising results, two rounds were deemed sufficient.

In conclusion, both axes and spears are edged weapons that give a great advantage when making initial lucky strikes/hits against lesser-material armored oponents. The difference seems to be in the types of wounds: Fractured bones and open arteries for spears, and severed limbs for battle axes.

Axe vs. Spear (2)

Times run: 1

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	1	Grand Master Axedwarf, Grand Master Dodger, Grand Master Armor User	Full adamantine armor set (3 mail shirts), adamantine battle axe
#2: Dwarf	1	Grand Master Speardwarf, Grand Master Dodger, Grand Master Armor User	Full adamantine armor set (3 mail shirts), adamantine spear

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Axedwarf	1	-no injuries-	-no tags-	-N/A-
#2: Speardwarf	1	-no injuries-	-no tags-	-N/A-

Notes: Lots of misses. Every attack that hit got deflected by the armor.

Both axes and spears appear pretty useless against equal or better material armor.

Axe vs. Spear (3)

Times run: 2

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	3	Grand Master Axedwarf, Grand Master Dodger, Grand Master Armor User	Full steel armor set (3 mail shirts), adamantine battle axe
#2: Dwarf	3	Grand Master Speardwarf, Grand Master Dodger, Grand Master Armor User	Full steel armor set (3 mail shirts), adamantine spear

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Axedwarf	0, 1	Torn ligaments and tendons, Severed nerves, Fractured bones, Opened arteries, Torn internal organs	-N/A-, -no tags-	Shattered skull and torn brain
#2: Speardwarf	3, 0	Torn muscle, Severed nerve, Opened arteries, Torn internal organs, Severed limbs	-no tags-, -N/A-	Bleeding out

Notes: Lots of misses again, but relatively less. Though the first fight was concluded with speardwarves ganging up on the surviving axedwarves, in each individual fight from the start, speardwarves dominated. In the second fight, the surviving axedwarf was moderately injured to two limbs. Each individual fight was dominated by one side. Speardwarf kills were faster.

Though again polarizing, these results do show that axes and spears are approximately equally good, albeit only when used for the proper targets. If it is organic and is not clad in adamantine (as according to the previous test), spears will kill it faster. If it is not, and has many limbs, then an axe is superior. This makes spears better for regular use, and axes better against BC's and HFS. For a general-purpose weapon, an axe is therefore the best choice, though it may be worth it to specialize.

Sword vs Axe (tested by: Terranaunt)

Times run: 4

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	5	Proficient armor user, Proficient Dodger, Proficient Axedwarf	full iron armor (with mail shirt), iron axe
#2: Dwarf	5	Proficient armor user, Proficient Dodger, Proficient Swordsdwarf	full iron armor (with mail shirt), iron sword

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Axedwarf	0, 3, 1, 4	Torn muscle, Severed nerve, Opened arteries, Severed limbs, Missing Limbs	-N/A-; Pale, Unconscious; Pale; Pale, Unconscious	Bled to death
#2: Swordswarf	5, 0, 0, 0	Torn muscle, Severed nerve, Opened arteries, Severed limbs, Missing Limbs	Pale, -N/A-	Bled to death

Third time last axedwarf actually fall into martial trance and finished three remaining sworddwarfs, last sword guy just bled to death while fighting. It seems distance on which fighting is started influence outcome, though I'm not sure and this statement requires more tests.

DF 2014 (v0.40.24) Tests

Sword vs. Axe, with iron armor (Tested by: Gitaxias)

Times run: 2

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	5	Adequate in all relevant skills	Full iron armor including shield, iron battle axe
#2: Dwarf	5	Adequate in all relevant skills	Full iron armor including shield, iron short sword

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Axedwarves	2	Severed limbs Bruised internal organs, mangled body parts	Tired, Extreme Pain, Pale	Bled to death
#2: Swordsdwarves	0	NA	NA	Head smashed by shield bash

Notes: In both tests, all 5 swordsdwarves were killed by a single axedwarf after he lost his weapon arm and began favoring shield bashing attacks. No axe attacks appeared to have caused major injury.

Tester's conclusion: This test was intended to compare the effectiveness of swords and axes against armored targets. It shows fairly conclusively that the battle axe is the inferior weapon against armored targets, and that even if already injured a dwarf using iron shield bashes can still prove extremely deadly against enemies using weapons that cannot reliably penetrate their armor.

Sword vs. Axe, with leather armor (Tested by: Gitaxias)

Times run: 4

Initial setup:

Side & Creature	Number	Skills	Items
#1: Dwarf	5	Adequate in all relevant skills	Full leather armor, wooden shield, iron battle axe
#2: Dwarf	5	Adequate in all relevant skills	Full leather armor, wooden shield, iron short sword

Results:

Side & Creature	Survived	Injury level	Health tags	Most common cause of death
#1: Axedwarves	0, 0, 4, 0	Severed limbs, mangled body parts	Extreme Pain, Pale	Beheading or bisection
#2: Swordsdwarves	5, 5, 0, 5	Severed limbs, mangled body parts	Extreme Pain, Pale	Beheading or bisection

Notes: In the first and second tests, the swordsdwarves won easily with token or nonexistent injury. In the third test, the axedwarves won with moderate losses. In the fourth test, the swordsdwarves won with moderate losses

Tester's conclusion: This test was intended to compare the effectiveness of swords and axes against weakly-armored armored targets. It shows somewhat conclusively that the battle axe is the inferior weapon against such targets targets, but that the disadvantage can be overcome with luck.