Even fully kitted out with guns and armor he’ll still beat you to a pulp if you come for his hammer.

I wondered if the prisoner’s stance in the engraving was normal for a sword execution, it seemed like it would be more efficient for everyone to place your neck on a backstop like the chained log. With the backstop you wouldn’t have to worry about your flopping body absorbing any of the executioner’s swing energy.

So to wikipedia I went, and based on the images in that article both of the prisoners are shown either standing or kneeling rather than resting their necks on a backstop. Ouch.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Beheading_Fac_simile_of_a_Miniature_on_Wood_in_the_Cosmographie_Universelle_of_Munster_in_folio_Basle_1552.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Scharfrichterschwert-ffm002.jpg