Mind you, some tests are very suspect as they ignore how weapons are meant to be used - e.g. hacking vs.slicing.
Also, a weapon doesn't have to cut through quality armour like butter to be useful. German longsword fighting for example didn't concern itself with being glamorous or gentlemanly- if half-swording (second hand on middle of the blade for powerful and controlled stabs) wasn't enough against an armoured opponent, it was suggested to grip the sword by the blade and using the crossguard like a hammerhead ("Mordhau").
That's a balanced general purpose weapon though. The French estoc was a stabbing implement usually with a triangular cross section for more stability, and specfically designed to be used against armored opponents.
On the other hand, I wouldn't expect a swords optimised for slicing techniques like the katana to do too well against quality armour.
Also, a weapon doesn't have to cut through quality armour like butter to be useful. German longsword fighting for example didn't concern itself with being glamorous or gentlemanly- if half-swording (second hand on middle of the blade for powerful and controlled stabs) wasn't enough against an armoured opponent, it was suggested to grip the sword by the blade and using the crossguard like a hammerhead ("Mordhau").
That's a balanced general purpose weapon though. The French estoc was a stabbing implement usually with a triangular cross section for more stability, and specfically designed to be used against armored opponents.
On the other hand, I wouldn't expect a swords optimised for slicing techniques like the katana to do too well against quality armour.
