Are zombies really that hard to stop? That's when I started picturing tactics that I would use against an undead assault. Here's the scenario... a mall in New Jersey is under siege by zombies. These are the slow moving, hard to kill, type of Zombies. It's night time, clear weather, wind is 5 MPH from the South East.

You drive a truck through the parking lot, smashing zombies against your windshield. You break through the horde, managing to establish a defensive perimeter at the front of the mall. On the inside of the building, screaming children can be found. They are helpless against the flood of rotting flesh. Only you stand between them and the scourge. A flimsy barricade against the door will not prove to be a lasting defense.

The brief gap that you created through the mob is now closing. You only have time to grab one weapon and hopefully enough ammo to last you through the night. You run to the back of the truck. You grab your gear and a grenade. Lacking an extra hand, you pull the pin with your teeth. You toss the grenade into the back of the truck, sending a fireball into the sky. Burning zombies fall to the ground, giving you enough time to move into a defensive position. Now it is your time to fight back. You look into the distance. The entire parking lot is filled with zombies. There must be a thousand of them.

What did you pull from the truck?



The Rules

• Figure that you would need three times the force necessary to kill a zombie that you would need to kill a human. Otherwise, they'd come back to life.
• Severed limbs have a chance of moving on their own if not damaged.
• Sci-fi weapons are not allowed, so no lightsabers.
• You have to protect the children. You can't just nuke the place.
• You can't be bitten. You need a way to protect yourself from being turned.

I grabbed a flamethrower... did I survive the night?

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Are we allowed to combined to weapons together? like a shotgun/chainsaw?

That's a very good question. Yes, customized weapons are allowed. Also, dual weapons that make sense are allowed too... like a sword and shield. I was actually wondering if an M16 with the grenade launcher would be a better choice, so modified weapons adds some depth to the scenario. Although... wouldn't a chainsaw / shotgun be a bit cumbersome?

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

It sounds like I had a bit of time to prepare (why else would I have zombie killing weapons in my truck with enough ammo to kill them all), so I'd have grabbed a tank. I used to live near one of Canada's largest air bases, and I've (honestly) seen 2 tanks sitting in an empty McDonalds parking lot at 4am on a few occasions.

I'd grab this baby!!!

Photics Edit: Here's a direct link to the company... http://www.metalstorm.com/ ...videos are on that site.

While Metal Storm weapons might be effective in killing zombies. The weapon(s) must be able to be carried. Now if you said you wanted to attach the Metal Storm's 3GL (3 shot semi automatic grenade launcher) to an "individual combat weapon" like a machine gun, that would be an acceptable answer.

See the point is to look at tactics. While it seems cool to charge into a zombie battle with a flamethrower, would I be overpowered? What if I find myself cornered? A flamethrower is not exactly a melee weapon. Much like painting a floor, if I don't leave myself a way to get out of the room, I could find myself cornered.

I think the open area of a mall parking lot, and the general slowness of zombies, I should be OK with a flamethrower. I think I would survive. Do you agree or is there a better weapon combination?

...and remember, there are 1000 zombies.


Heh... but let's not skip past this...

Did they use the drive-thru window?

Is it legal to drive a tank to a fast food place in Canada? Although, when you're driving a tank, who's going to stop you?

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

You might have survived the fight, but did you pack enough hno3? (flamethrower fuel i believe) A tank would work, but I don't think those fit in the back of the truck. I think the best course of action would be some sort of sprayer gun. Have you ever played wpnfire? its an online game, and on zombie survival mode this question even comes up kinda. You have a choice of a BUNCH of weapons. I prefer flak cannon. >.> It gets the job done.

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I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman,"Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.-George Carlin

The Flak Cannon from Unreal Tournament doesn't count... and the 88MM German Flak Cannon (from World War II) is certainly not something that can be carried.

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Flak Cannon, no, but I think a sawed off shot gun would give a similar effect with the wide area of effect plus kick to blast your way through

My only problem with ranged weapons is running out of ammo.. if it takes approximately 3 well aimed shots to take down a zombie, you would need 3000 bullets assuming you landed all your shots perfectly. Unfortunately I see this as improbable, why would you carry around 3000 bullets in the back of your truck?

I'd opt for a light weight melee weapon like a katana. At first I considered a battle sickle, until I realized I would have to be way too close to the zombies for comfort.

As for a flamethrower, I'd be concerned that it wouldn't actually stop them and make them much more effective as now you would be fighting flaming zombies instead of the regular non-burning ones

I like the tank idea.. just run them all over

Alright Nemi, now we're getting to the general idea of this thread. I'm impressed that you picked a melee weapon, but I don't think that's a very strategic choice. How many could you kill before your arms gave out? Not to mention, you're fighting a croud. If you find yourself surrounded, it may not be too long before your brains are eaten out of your head.

I agree with the problem with the flamethrower. What if fire didn't kill them or not soon enough? I did some research on flamethrowers, the range is much further than I expected. If a decent amount of distance could be maintained, I think the Zombies would be easy to stop. But if they turn into flaming skeltons - whoa - that would be a problem.

Fortunately, the original scenario says that the zombies are only three times as durable as humans. The zombies might burn to death in 15 seconds instead of five, but they would be stopped. The trick would be to move faster than they could. If you took this scenario indoors, a flamethrower would be a problem. Agreed, a tank would work... but a gunship would work too. If I'm hanging out the edge of a helicopter, blasting away at zombies, the scenario represents little challenge.

As for ammo, that is a problem. Does a single headshot count as a zombie kill? How strong are these zombies? They could be really difficult to stop. How do you carry all that ammo? Could one carry 3000 rounds in a backpack? I agree, it is unlikely that every shot would hit the target. Yet, I don't think it would take three shots to kill these low-level monsters. I think a headshot would stop a zombie... and landing those against slow moving targets should be fairly easy. Even if you landed 1,000 headshots, could you carry that many bullets? What if your gun jams?

I think that's what's so challenging about this scenario. When you first think about it, one might laugh at the simplicity. Yet, there are a lot of zombies.

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Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com