Zombie Fighter: Special Weapons & Tactics

[Ragnarr]

Okay all you would-be zombie apocalypse survivors! This thread is for pooling our tactical and strategic ideas in order to better survive the zombie apocalypse that we all know is sure to come!

Lesson #1: Original Night of the Living Dead

Regarding the character's situation and their argument as to the basement or the main floor being the safest place to be or defend; I suggest that they were both wrong, and that the upstairs floor would have been the best choice. There was only one way up (the staircase), which would restrict the number of zombies trying to push past any barricade at the top of the staircase. One could also bean them with a club from a position over the railing. Upstairs, the characters could still see what was happening outside (via the windows), and they could still have an emergency escape route (make-shift rope or ladder out of the window).

The situation with the partially munched little girl would still be a problem however. They wanted to get her medical attention, and hence their ill-fated gas pump incident.

[Yojimbo]

Perhaps- as long as you aren't one if those Max Brooks affected folks who entertain destroying the stairs as a viable option.

[Rancid Carcass]

A large part of my defence strategy would revolve around physically preventing zombies being able to reach you. While I think knocking out the stairs is a nice idea in some respects, I don't think it's terribly practical in most cases - the effort, the noise, I'd much rather channel my efforts into securing the doors and windows.
The one thing I never understood about the survivor camp in the Walking Dead – I mean tents? WTF?!! I'd be locking myself in that RV every bloody night and not come out 'till morning, or at the very least sleep on the roof. I understand the whole distance argument (and agree with it for the most part), but damn, I still want a solid object between those gnashing teeth and my fleshy limbs!

If you want a diagram, it would look something like this: :annoyed: :D

[Ragnarr]

@Yojimbo: I totally forgot about Max Brooks and his zombie survival guide. I need to look that over again.

@Rancid Carcass: I agree about knocking out the stairs being impractical for the characters in the original Night and also in the Savini remake. I still think the upstairs was the way to go, but it still wouldn't have helped with the injured lil girl situation. They might have been screwed no matter what solely because of that and feeling that they needed to get her medical attention.

Also agree the survivor's camp defenses in the Walking Dead 1 were lame. The easiest defensive perimeter they could have made was to cut down enough stiff bushes and young trees, stacking them so that the base of each bush points inwards and the wide spread out branches face outwards. Continue laying the brush down until it's at least 4 ft. high and encircles the entire camp's perimeter. You'd also need to leave at least two openings (entances/exits) that could be easily blocked off or guarded, and likely use rope & stakes to secure the base of the bushes on the ground so the "fence" cannot easily be pulled open by zombies trying to get through.

[rongravy]

Upstairs is definitely better than the basement. In the end, you could find a way to lead their slow booties onto the roof, break out a trusty bat or two by four and knock them back down enough til they break their necks and/backs/legs and eventually can't find their way back up. Then you can do some good old brain bashing of the broken ones below. It was out in the country, I think you'd eventually run out of opposition.
Then you can hole up in the house and knock off any stragglers as they show up.
I always thought the best plan was to go to the boonies and hope for the best. Do my best to live off the land and raid foodstores/convenience stores on the fringe of more populated areas.
I guess anything with a doorknob would keep them out, unless they could eventually smash or scratch through. Ha, you could build a maze, like the lines they use to herd you at banks or rides at 6 Flags, then jump the line and bash away. So many possible ways to do them up right...

My wife asks me why I like this forum. I love hearing peoples' ways of how they'd do stuff: potato guns, helium balloons and kites to deliver foods, etc...
Not all of them are swift, but it's fun to read how people think.

Edit: As far as the kid, sad as it is, she ain't mine so I'm not going to overly risk myself and my own loved ones for one that was clearly not going to make it. Sounds cruel, but I ain't going to risk my own kid for shit like that. I'd rather find a way to go off alone if the rest were going to do that. Sorry.

[Yojimbo]

@Yojimbo: I totally forgot about Max Brooks and his zombie survival guide. I need to look that over again.

About the only good thing about Brooks' survival guide is that his ghouls are the George A Romero shambler type and don't have super strength or ceiling walking super powers.

Don't get me wrong- I did enjoy the Zombie Survival Guide and get that it is about a crisis that will likely never happen and was meant to be an entertainment piece rather than a real survival manual. But there were a lot of bits of info dispensed in that manual that were unworkable or outright wrong.

I recently visited another board in which Max Brooks fanboys repeated crap like "Blades don't need reloading" as if it were a sacred mantra. Yeah, blades don't need to be reloaded because they are not firearms, I get it. They do, however, require sharpening (something that requires skill) and they do require an expenditure of energy over time and skill in wielding that most people do not have. Shaolin spade is another example. All these kids suffering from the Max Brooks Effect think that they are going to arm themselves with a Shaolin Spade, a weapon that I have never seen in any martial arts store. Even a quick google search is unfruitful in turning up a source for this weapon.

EDIT: I need to correct myself. Though sometime in 2010 I could not find a shaolin spade online, I just did another search and found several sources for this thing. Even if these are just toys or not really battle ready, I need to correct what I had said. It seems that there are a lot of enterprising folks out there who since 2010 recognized and met the demand for this "weapon"

[Ragnarr]

Upstairs is definitely better than the basement. In the end, you could find a way to lead their slow booties onto the roof, break out a trusty bat or two by four and knock them back down enough til they break their necks and/backs/legs and eventually can't find their way back up. Then you can do some good old brain bashing of the broken ones below. It was out in the country, I think you'd eventually run out of opposition.
Then you can hole up in the house and knock off any stragglers as they show up.
I always thought the best plan was to go to the boonies and hope for the best. Do my best to live off the land and raid foodstores/convenience stores on the fringe of more populated areas.
I guess anything with a doorknob would keep them out, unless they could eventually smash or scratch through. Ha, you could build a maze, like the lines they use to herd you at banks or rides at 6 Flags, then jump the line and bash away. So many possible ways to do them up right...

My wife asks me why I like this forum. I love hearing peoples' ways of how they'd do stuff: potato guns, helium balloons and kites to deliver foods, etc...
Not all of them are swift, but it's fun to read how people think.

Edit: As far as the kid, sad as it is, she ain't mine so I'm not going to overly risk myself and my own loved ones for one that was clearly not going to make it. Sounds cruel, but I ain't going to risk my own kid for shit like that. I'd rather find a way to go off alone if the rest were going to do that. Sorry.

I like your idea about leading the smelly ones upstairs and waiting for them to pop their heads out a window so as to bean them with a club. They aren't very bright afterall. I really liked your idea of the 6 flags waiting line maze (I snarfed my coffee when I read that and it's still coming out my nose btw lol). As far as the injured little girl, I don't think that the characters had made the connection that being bitten by a zombie was a "kobiashi maru" situation. But yes, when push comes to shove, our normal civilized responses would be overpowered by our basic instinct for survival in a situation like NotLD. If Mr. Cooper wasn't such a complete douche 24/7, he could have (or should have) made a run for it in order to get the girl medical attention.

-- -------- Post added at 11:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------


About the only good thing about Brooks' survival guide is that his ghouls are the George A Romero shambler type and don't have super strength or ceiling walking super powers.

Don't get me wrong- I did enjoy the Zombie Survival Guide and get that it is about a crisis that will likely never happen and was meant to be an entertainment piece rather than a real survival manual. But there were a lot of bits of info dispensed in that manual that were unworkable or outright wrong.

I recently visited another board in which Max Brooks fanboys repeated crap like "Blades don't need reloading" as if it were a sacred mantra. Yeah, blades don't need to be reloaded because they are not firearms, I get it. They do, however, require sharpening (something that requires skill) and they do require an expenditure of energy over time and skill in wielding that most people do not have. Shaolin spade is another example. All these kids suffering from the Max Brooks Effect think that they are going to arm themselves with a Shaolin Spade, a weapon that I have never seen in any martial arts store. Even a quick google search is unfruitful in turning up a source for this weapon.

EDIT: I need to correct myself. Though sometime in 2010 I could not find a shaolin spade online, I just did another search and found several sources for this thing. Even if these are just toys or not really battle ready, I need to correct what I had said. It seems that there are a lot of enterprising folks out there who since 2010 recognized and met the demand for this "weapon"

My guess is that Max Brooks and likely most of his fans never swung any type of bladed weapon with serious force. I train regularly with a medieval recreational group. We put on armor and fight each other using rattan weapons (sword & shield, two-handed sword, spear, pole-arm, & double swords) in competition bouts, and also in melees (two groups of fighters battling each other). I have to tell you, you can get tuckered out pretty quickly swinging just rattan sticks with force, much less real steel weapons. Only an expert with a razor sharp blade would be capable of severing zombies limbs with each and every stroke. Otherwise, the blade would only get stuck in (and blunted by) bone. Bludgeoning their zombie bonnets with a heavy implement is the best way (IMO) if trying to save bullets.

Max Brooks and his fans should learn that merely proceeding a weapon's name with "Shaolin" does not a lightsaber make.

[soulsyfn]

I find it quite impressive that we are having a Zombie discussion and someone brings in Star Trek references... and with that my water is all over the keyboard with shock and awe... well done!

[Ragnarr]

I find it quite impressive that we are having a Zombie discussion and someone brings in Star Trek references... and with that my water is all over the keyboard with shock and awe... well done!

lol Sorry about that. All the things I'm into work their way into my vocabulary at some point.

[rongravy]

I like your idea about leading the smelly ones upstairs and waiting for them to pop their heads out a window so as to bean them with a club.

I actually meant getting them out onto the roof, not just whacking them in the head when they pop it out. That would be a cool game, though. Whack-A-Zed.

[Ragnarr]

I actually meant getting them out onto the roof, not just whacking them in the head when they pop it out. That would be a cool game, though. Whack-A-Zed.

Ah, I see. Not sure how dextrous our smelly friends would be in trying to climb onto the roof through an open window. They'd likely lose their grip, fall to the ground and hurt themsel... wait, that's a brilliant idea! A whole conga line of zombies trying to get the characters, but instead getting their collective asses kicked by gravity. I guess this is one of the reasons why you are of 'Dead' status and I'm just 'Fresh Meat' crappy status.

[rongravy]

Ah, I see. Not sure how dextrous our smelly friends would be in trying to climb onto the roof through an open window. They'd likely lose their grip, fall to the ground and hurt themsel... wait, that's a brilliant idea! A whole conga line of zombies trying to get the characters, but instead getting their collective asses kicked by gravity. I guess this is one of the reasons why you are of 'Dead' status and I'm just 'Fresh Meat' crappy status.
I just thought it'd be easy, if they could be gotten through a window, to poke them just right with a stick and watch them tumble down. This way you won't get so arm tired from hitting them with a blunt object. I agree that any normal Joe would feel the burn pretty quick, and you just might throw something out of wack. I occasionally slip a disc, and once I do, I'm pretty doggone helpless. I slipped one holding a casserole dish of mac and cheese last Thanksgiving and laid out on the floor like a little bitch. In my undies, no less.
As far as my DEAD status, ehhhhhhhh...
All you gotta do is run the gauntlet of noobness, and have a tough hide. I'm sure there are some that still think I'm a doofus here, lol. Everyone has their moments, mine usually involve loads of vodka and a little troll blood in my veins. It's all good, my man.

[Ragnarr]

Lesson #2 The Original Dawn of the Dead

Okay, y'know the situation. Two S.W.A.T. guys (Peter & Roger), a T.V. station flyboy (Stephen), and his T.V. station girlfriend (Francine) steal a chopper and flee the chaos of the zombie outbreak. The first strategic flaw I see with their "plan" is that they do not have one beyond stealing the chopper to flee the chaos of the zombie outbreak. This leads to their running low on fuel and the stop at the abandoned air field. Here we learn that Stephen is an uncoordinated boob and his girlfriend Fran is a frail, easily confused weeney. The characters also make their second strategic error: they have Stephen & Fran check out the hangar while Roger refuels the chopper instead of (IMO) the better choice of having your security person check out the hangar while your pilot refuels the chopper (the girlfriend acting as lookout for the pilot).

Luckily (or unluckily), the characters eventually land their chopper on the mall. As I stated elsewhere in these forums, I don't think that holding up in a large shopping mall is necessarily a bad idea. It has a wide variety of supplies (being in pennsylvania, this includes a gun store too weee), and with some planning, can provide a good place to hold up for quite awhile.
Next, the characters enter an upstairs storage section of the mall via a skylight window, barricade the only door (to the stairwell) and settle in for some food and rest (good plan). The characters then make their next tactical error, namely Peter and Roger not waiting for Stephen to wake up before going down into the mall. If you are operating as a team, the entire team needs to know what the plan is at any given time. Then Stephen wakes up and decides to run off (durp) to look for Peter and Roger instead of just waiting for them. AND he should have told Fran to barricade the door just in case she's attacked by a powerful Hare Krishna dude with his deadly tamborine.

Blocking the entrances into the mall with trucks was an interesting idea. As we know, this tactical operation turned out very bad for Roger. I think a better plan would have been to use the car as they did to drive through the mall to lock the entrance doors first, then after dispatching all of the zombies inside the mall, they could have constructed a wall inside of the entrances instead of attempting to block them from the outside with trucks. This would have made it more difficult for the biker army to enter (later in the flick) and also prevented exposing Roger's yummy leg to hungry zombies. After securing the mall entrances, I would have also block off all staircases and elevators to the second level (as a secondary defensive back up).

Stephen, by firing at the biker army, was the catalyst for the final collapse of remaining secure in the mall. From this, we learn that it can only take one tactical blunder to bring down an entire strategy. Roll credits & play goofy mall song.

[Ragnarr]

Lesson #3: Day of the Dead

The opening scene makes perfect sense; sending out periodic scouting patrols 100 miles in each direction of the base to search for survivors, although standing in the middle of a street shouting "helllooooo" into a bullhorn should seem like a very dumb idea to anyone looking for survivors AND wanting to remain uneaten.

Upon the helicopter's return, I'd have to agree with John the pilot that the whirlybird should be refueled then and there. Sarah states that they should wait until dark to refuel so as not to excite the group of zombies outside the fence. I suggest that there should NOT be zombies outside the fence when you have access to fuel and a lighter, but I'll let that one go for now.

The situation is bad and getting worse. Captain Rhodes, a stressed out and paranoid lesser military officer, is in charge. Military discipline in this facility has already broke down or is in the process of breaking down. The only apparent lucid characters are Sarah, John (the helicpoter pilot), William (the electronics spec) and Ted (the other doctor besides Sarah and Logan). From a strategic perspective, I'd have to mostly agree with Captain Rhodes that facilitating continued research indefinitely was no longer a viable option. Logan's proposal of "making the zombies behave/making them not want to eat the living" should have been a clue to the rest of the survivors that they needed to explore other options in order for long term survival in the zombie apocalypse, especially since Dr. Logan's theory requires feeding recently killed individuals to test subject zombies in order to reward them for their positive behavior.

IF Sarah did not save Miguel's life by amputating his arm, it might have delayed the final collaspe of the facility but would not have prevented a bad situation ultimately. If Miguel did not let the zombies into the facility as he did, once Rhodes discovered that Logan was feeding recently deceased military personnel to Bub, Logan and Ted would have still been shot, John would have been forced to fly the remaining soldiers out from the facility, and Sarah, William and Miguel would have remained relatively secure in the facility with... Bub? Roll the end credits.

[Ragnarr]

Lesson #4: Night of the Living Dead 1990 (remake)

You know the basic story of the remake with its added twists, but I'll add just a few observations as they relate to the character's predicament. Most of the mistakes that the characters make during the story are not so much what they do, but what they do not do. When Ben and Barbara first enter the house and dispatch the few zombies there, they seemingly pass the time chatting until nightfall. This to me was a waste of valuable time. The backdoor window was broken and wide open (due to Ben's battle with a zombie), so locking the door as they did would only be an temporary obstacle to zombies trying to enter through that point. Sliding the refrigerator over to barricade the backdoor would have been the smarter thing to do in my opinion.

After finding out that there were others in the basement, we come back to the major strategic issue for the characters; the basement versus boarding up the main floor. As with the original NotLD I noted previously, I'd say that the upstairs of the house would have been the best option to remain relatively safe AND still have an escape route if needed. This view is best supported by the fact that Mr. Cooper seemed to survive nicely in the attic until coming down to surprise Barbara near the end of the movie. My other observation about the character's decisions was that Barbara was right all along; that the characters could have made a run for it past the zombies.

To be fair to the characters however, they also did not know that the banging sound of boarding up the windows only brought more zombies to the house, and that a bite from a zombie will eventually kill the person bitten.

Enter the locals with guns, build the bonfire and roll the end credits.

-- -------- Post added 10-Oct-2011 at 03:44 PM ---------- Previous post was 04-Oct-2011 at 08:00 PM ----------

Lesson #5: Dawn of the Dead [2004 remake]

Wow, where to start!

a). Do not leave the doors to your house unlocked when turning in for the night.
b). Do not drive through the chaos of a zombie outbreak with your car door unlocked.
c). Do not announce your arrival at a mall by throwing a toilet bowl through a glass window.
d.) Do not exchange a metal crowbar for a pine croquet mallet to use as a weapon.
e.) Do not hide the fact that your arm was bitten by a zombie, especially if you are pregnant.
f.) Do not hide the fact that your wife was bitten by a zombie, especially if she is pregnant.
g.) Do not dilly dally in a mall for an entire month when you could find much more productive things to do to improve your chances of surviving a zombie outbreak.
h.) Do not enter a zombie infested parking garage carrying only a large flashlamp on your shoulder.
i.) Do not shoot a guy's zombie wife without his permission.
j.) Do not leave the keys to your truck in the ignition where any dog obsessed teenage girl can find them.
k.) Do not rely on Steve for anything much less for unlocking a door that you'll eventually need to get through.
l.) Do not drive your armored bus too fast to make simple turns.
m.) Do not put a hot blonde chick in the same armored bus as a gay guy with a chainsaw.
n.) Do not wear a short sleeve T-shirt when attempting to flee a zombie outbreak.
o.) Do not try to hold off zombies by yourself while telling the rest of your party, "I'll catch up".
p.) Do not use up every last drop of fuel when trying to get to some island in your motor boat.
q.) Always always always muzzle and tether your yappy, troublesome dog.

Play "Down with the Sickness" and role the end credits.

[Thorn]

Perhaps- as long as you aren't one if those Max Brooks affected folks who entertain destroying the stairs as a viable option.

Bah even before Max I thought that destroying the stairs was a great idea, I approve of getting up high and then finding other means to get low like ropes or ladders. Being up high just makes sense to me. That does not mean you leave the doors wide open. You still fortify, but your retreat point should be elevated with a good escape plan IMO.

As someone who is demoing a house right now, with a sledge hammer you can end a set of stairs in no time at all.

Now that having been said it is no my first choice, and it would depend where in the situation I was, if things were just hitting and I needed to fortify quick (Quarantine, military road blocks), forced lock ins, then you bet your arse I am fortifying my own house as best I can and after the doors and windows, supplies, and everything else you can kiss those stairs goodbye.

Zombies at the door in mass numbers I do not think it is my first priority.

Neighborhood over run, and trying to lay low? Well even if you don't use a sledge it still make noise even if you are just using a pry bar/crowbar/cats paw. and I do not think it is my first choice either.

My thing is this ultimately.. you should never close your mind to ANY idea, just look at Ben in Night. He was adamant the basement was the wrong idea and in the end it kept him alive through the Night. You need to be flexible, and adjust on the fly based on the changing battlefield.