"Why no bayonet's against Zombies ??" Topic

Most firearms don't have bayonet lugs.

You've got to get pretty close and also worry about your weapon get stuck in their heads?

A bayonet thrust to the head that misses its target leads to a bad end for the human.

A bayonet thrust to the head that hits tends to leave the bayonet stuck in the head and leads to a bad end for the human.

And…

Zombies prefer, by a margin of 18 to 1, to fight humans using bayonets over humans using machetes.

Yep. Even if you DO bayonet it in the head, unless the blade goes directly into their rotten brain, it might not be a "kill." Next thing you know, your brains are being sucked out of your head and you join the army of the dead.

No, if you must fight zombies (assuming you can't run away), shotgun to the head, at close range, is the best. Semi-auto or pump action, an a bag full of A LOT of shells!

Damon.

Nah, 22LR Pistol with Extended clip, Laser sight, Silencer and Hollow Points. One shot in middle of head at 15 feet per zombie. Pfft…aim…Pfft…aim…Pfft…aim…

Ha ha…

TMP link

I'm watching the first season of walking dead – why are there no barricades wherever the humans made a last stand? Big %$#*&@ING walls would be the first item on my defense agenda…

I agree, some form of walls/barricade/obstacles that would slow down or prevent the dead from passing. Hopefully allowing localised resistance etc etc.

I'd answer your question directly, but don't want to give anything away seeng as you sound half way through, what episode are you on?

I'm on episode 5, they just got to the CDC (one of the spots where a barricade was not used). So no spoilers on why just one guy is left alive in there, and that line about "fresh" samples…

Ahh, fine, the CDC, I was going to mention it for that very reason but didn't want to say if you were only on say, Ep.3 or something.

Yeah, I agree, there weren't any real barricades or defensive lines. I would also have expected the bodies to have been in clumps, either as they were taken down by the likes of grenades, or zeds feeding on bodies sort of thing. There's loads of things like that all through this and every other programme/film made where I think, surely it would be this way, and not like that. But then I suppose if it was chaotic, and the army were trying to save people then infected would be allowed through unknowingly. You would end up with a comprimised perimiter, a perimiter that was weak to start with.

I suppose also that the CDC might, in military terms, not be that valued and so defences might be lighter than elsewhere, hence no/low levels of barricading.

Back to the original Q though, bayonets would only be best once a zed was on the ground with a boot on its neck to hold it steady, then crucnch with the blade. A live active zed coming at you would be tricky enough to get the tip through an eye socket or up through the mouth, better to take it off and use it like a big knife if you have to use it IMO

Yeah, something else that bothers me about TWD series, the humans get much too close in many cases and don't wear any sort of protection, like say football pads … But it is just Sci-fi … so … And yes, deep Anti-Tank ditches/trenches, obstacles, barricades of any sort would be a good start. Don't want to spoil it for you if you have not seen the series up to now. But IMO there were plenty of occassions where construction equipment like scoop loaders, bulldozers, etc. would have been very useful … channelizing the Zombies into kill zones and/or deep trenches …

I enjoy the TWD also but I've also thought that anyone that spent more than 30 minutes in the Boy Scouts or the military would be better prepared to face that world than some of those people that are presented on the show. A bayonet would be my plan C in the event I ran into any walkers.

> anyone that spent more than 30 minutes in the Boy Scouts or the military

I've been in neither and I would STILL do better then them. And how did the guy in the tank end up being a zombie???

At least the WWZ movie coming up handles the problem, the zombie just climb on each other (and quickly too).

As for a bayonet, they would be fine if done behind some kind of barricade – and also an escape route. Zombies are easy to stop in small numbers but once one shows up more and more and more start coming.

As the series goes on, the survivors learn about protective gear, walls, etc etc. Keep in mind that during the first season, no one has ever heard of zombies, has no idea what causes the condition, that people come back as one when they die, that it takes a hit to the head to kill them, etc. (Pretend that Romero's(?)1960's zombie movie was never made-or no one really saw it before the outbreak occurs.)
That's what makes the initial season so good. they are learning as they go and in Season 2 they learn the secret the CDC doc whispers to Rick (I wont spoil it for you).

SPOILER ALERT
In a future season, prisoners attack some zombies and go into street fighting mode stabbing torsos etc until Ricks group again tells them that only by a head shot/stab will they kill them. Thus again very realistic portrayal of people who dont know what they are up against.

Ha ha, one of my mates ALWAYS says, why don't they wear any protection? (so to speak…) You can see in S3 (don't worry, no spoilers) in the first episode 'Seed' they are wearing some body armour, but their arms and legs are no really protected. Kinda highlighted when Glen gets protection from bites later on due to having the tape around his forearms.

I'd defo tryo to have my limbs protected, the zeds are far more likely to get a hand or ankle in their mouth than a chest or stomach.

As far as not knowing what to do, I think, as with most zombie films, everyone in it doesn't know about 'zombies' and so calls them Walkers, Biters, Dead Heads etc etc, (apart from Shaun of the Dead of course) where as we all 'know' about zombies already. Let's hope that if/when *gulps* they DO appear, they are the same as in most of the films etc we watch… ;(~

> As the series goes on, the survivors learn about protective gear

They should have known that by the second episode (at least the main group, our hero has an excuse). Setting up camp so close to the tree line? No fencing of any kind? They were asking to become zombie snacks…

(avoided the spoiler info so no idea what is there)

Pretend that Romero's(?)1960's zombie movie was never made-or no one really saw it before the outbreak occurs.

This is the component of modern zombie movies that completely kills any suspension of disbelief. Sure you can have the characters be wrong genre savvy (because Our Zombies are Different), but expecting the audience to buy that the characters have never heard of zombies is ludicrous.

SEMI-SPOILER ALERT

Regarding armor – the comic books (and to a lesser extent the series) have the gang discovering riot armor at the prison and making use of it. In the books its more prominent.

Garand wrote:

Yep. Even if you DO bayonet it in the head, unless the blade goes directly into their rotten brain, it might not be a "kill." Next thing you know, your brains are being sucked out of your head and you join the army of the dead.

This is an interesting question. Zombies eat your brain, do you become a zombie?

If you do are you virtually unkillable as you don't have a brain?

Warlock, I want to reach out as bit further – Ruger 10/22 with extended mags and a four power see through scope. Hollow points optional.

Couple of spare 30 rounders and a brick in the pack.

Flies, maggots, bacteria, warm and humid weather should take care of any zombie outbreak in a matter of weeks.

Decomposition is the one thing Zombie movies really completely ignore.

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Yea the movies mostly don't bring it up but ZA books mostly say something Along the lines that what ever in making them keep moving is also stopping them from Decomposing and when something tries to eat them it just dies.

"If you do are you virtually unkillable as you don't have a brain?"

Now there you go trying to be logical. Which is, of course, the plot hole in many a Zombie flick or story. If a zombie outbreak were to occur(don't laugh there is plausible science to support such a thing…and plausible science as to why one could not happen) one constant would be that the outbreak by its very nature is self limiting. There would be the initial outbreak due to (we assume) recently deceased. A person could only become effectively infected if they were bitten but able to get away but would latter be turned by the bite or if a person dies of other causes. Therefore, statistically (at least I think) the Zombies would soon be if not completely eradicated have their numbers greatly reduced or controlled as the living figured out to avoid being bitten and any recently deceased would need to be rapidly cremated to limit the contamination. While not an easy proposition it is one that could be implemented. Then the CDC can work on a cure to eradicate the infection depending on how it is structured.

Anyway enjoy these links on the topic.

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Ah Patrick beat me to it.

Firsty, yes, the infected ants are 'controlled' to go to as high a point as possible so that when the fungus erupts it can disperse over as wide an area as possible. However the fungus then kills the ant, the undead however keep going and aren't eventually killed by their infection.

OK, I'm a bit influenced by reading WWZ (finished it about 2-3 weeks ago) however the whole thing with the Solamun virus (the zombie causing virus) is that it is toxic to ALL living things. Therefore, major predators will not eat them (zeds) or not without dying anyway, and insects and bacteria that would normally break down a corpse will be killed off once in contact. So in effect the virus embalms the corpse hence why they last so long (months-years) without fully decomposing. That's why they give off no smell as they are not decomposing, and the brown goo they emit when wounded is just dead blood.

I think the main limiting factor to an outbreak being able to spread is that we have prior knowledge of such things, and we learn quickly so would counter a threat fairly soon.

Now if the zeds are actually infected living (ala 28 days-weeks later) instead of 'true' undead then that's a different time scale due to a person being infected within 10-30 seconds, not over night, and the zeds don't kill (eat) their victims, they merley beat em up and infect, then move on.

Anyways, I have work to do, cheers,

Ark3n

I have a tactical survival hammer but then again in the event of an actual zombie outbreak, we rednecks from the Carolinas will do fine

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When I stick a zed in the head, I keep a round in the chamber for ease of egress. Buttstock vs the melon, hard to beat. Them that carry the machine pistol should bring supply of paper bags. Bag the zed head to find a minute to switch mags, or run as the Zeds are disoriented w/bag over head. So the paper bag now becomes the ultimate zed deterrent.

Use a bayonet all the time in my ATZ campaign. :)

In High School Of The Dead one girl uses a bayonet, and very well.

This is an interesting question. Zombies eat your brain, do you become a zombie?

If you do are you virtually unkillable as you don't have a brain?

I can only think of one zombie movie where the zombies are really after brains, and in that one it is really an alien parasite, not an infection.

The Zombie Handbook explains the nutritional needs of a zombie and what happens when it doesn't get it. It also says that a zombie in a temperate climate could last a couple of years. More than enough time to spread infections.

The initial outbreaks also tend to wipe out the people that would be able to figure out cures or what is causing it (doctors, etc.), as well as first responders who have no idea what they are walking into.

Wasn't the whole point about a zombie that you have to destroy the brain, otherwise the body will reanimates? Therefore if the brain is destroyed de to being eaten, there's no chance of coming back as a zed, no brained I think (if you'll excuse the pun…)

I did like the fact that in TWD they did mention that eventually the walkers would starve to death. The thing that bothers me most though is how zombies become perpetual motion machines. Vicious ones at that. I like how the episode at the CDC explained (and showed) the process. But still even at the most primitive level of life energy is required for activity. I was also expecting an explanation. How can a research fix it if he does not know how it started. The producers said we may never find out.

And they did wear full body armor in the finale of Season 3.

Oh and by the way, in the graphic novel this is based on, they ALL died.

So the comic series has ended? I don't recall hearing any thing about that skyking.

Plus zombies have no morale so a bayonet charge means nothing to them but a cheap meal.