Z tactics against Military

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Another way is to make sure the Zombie Invasion happens in Medieval or earlier times. Having the commoners turn to zombies and revolt against the nobility also has a degree of Karma in it.

Glen Cook's "Reap the East Wind" is a somewhat interesting take on non-modern (fantasy-tech) zombies.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Another way is to make sure the Zombie Invasion happens in Medieval or earlier times. Having the commoners turn to zombies and revolt against the nobility also has a degree of Karma in it.

Is being undead that much more of a force-multiplier without horses or armor?

Besides the living commoners will help the nobility when this happens, no matter what ancestors the zombies had in their earthly lifes. Rent collectors are less obnoxious then monsters.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Just make zombies the side effect of the fall of civilization, not the primary cause. Pick your method for 'almost everybody dies', then add 'and come back to life as zombies'.

That works quite well with a lot of mythologies, where failing to properly bury the dead is a Bad Thing. On the other hand, it still leaves the problem of justifying a situation where "almost everybody dies" in a short period ...

[Tyneras]

Well, it doesn't have to be the entire world. It could just be everyone close by enough to matter for the game. Maybe a ZED-asteroid causes a massive wave that kills/infects everyone along the coast. If you are survivors near the center, it could be months or years before the nations that survived get a handle on their own problems and send help, if ever. Maybe you got on a radio only to learn everything for a thousand miles has been quarantined.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

That works quite well with a lot of mythologies, where failing to properly bury the dead is a Bad Thing. On the other hand, it still leaves the problem of justifying a situation where "almost everybody dies" in a short period ...

Not that hard. Any disaster, natural or otherwise, that interrupts the machinery of civilisation sufficiently so that refridgerated food spoils and new supplies of food don't come in for a few weeks. The power going out on a large enough scale would do it, as long as it was hard enough to fix so that it would be hard to predict how long it takes.

Authority collapses as soon as it becomes obvious that the government can't help people find their next meal and there is no end in sight. Cities become massive centers of rioting and violence. People massacre one other over sharply limited food supplies.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Is being undead that much more of a force-multiplier without horses or armor?

Besides the living commoners will help the nobility when this happens, no matter what ancestors the zombies had in their earthly lifes. Rent collectors are less obnoxious then monsters.

It is that much of a force multiplier. Armies in the field are limited by their need to forage and carry along supplies. Food is the most important military consideration, in attack or defence.

Undead don't need to eat, rest or do anything but single-mindedly focus on the destruction of the living. Hence, even at a shambling pace, their strategic mobility is staggering, because they can walk all night and day.

Granted, an invasion of undead without any direction or guiding intelligence will be more in the nature of a natural disaster, i.e. a plague of locusts saying braiiiins. Still, it will probably kill enough peasants and cause enough panic to make the next harvest hard to gather. Instant famine.

If there's a dark and malevolent intelligence behind the undead horde, things are desperate indeed. Instead of famine being an accidental byproduct, expect the undead to deliberately avoid the knights and their retainers, prefering instead to scour the countryside and poison wells, kill farmers, slaughter livestock, etc. Basically, make it impossible for living men to survive in the land.

And since even a slow undead can march at Move 1 all day and night, which translates into 48 miles per day in reasonable terrain, the human armies are basically powerless to intercept and stop them. They'll be moving at 10-15 miles per day, if they go in force, and if they try to send smaller flying columns to try to keep up with the undead, the strategically mobile undead can converge on those small units and destroy them.

Sure, the castles of the king and his nobles will remain defensible. But how much does that matter when everyone who can't find refuge there is being killed and the food supplies there will be the last food people see?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Icelander

It is that much of a force multiplier. Armies in the field are limited by their need to forage and carry along supplies. Food is the most important military consideration, in attack or defence.

Food supply isn't that much of a factor for peasants rebelling against their local lord, and zombies don't generally seem motivated to collect into hordes that properly take advantage of their logistical advantages. Your basic shamblers are almost comically bad and could probably be wiped out by peasants with farm tools.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Food supply isn't that much of a factor for peasants rebelling against their local lord, and zombies don't generally seem motivated to collect into hordes that properly take advantage of their logistical advantages. Your basic shamblers are almost comically bad and could probably be wiped out by peasants with farm tools.

There's a reason peasant rebellions took place during certain times of year and didn't generally last for many years without unimaginable suffering.

And I'll grant that peasants with farm tools could kill shambling zombies. But how long until they got them all? And how much of a disruption would they cause until then?

And note that the worst case scenario was an Evil Overlord guiding them to ravage the land.

[Urban]

Recently read World War Z and it had some for me new thoughts and ideas about zombies so can recommend that for some inspiration even if the book is somewhat mediocre IMHO.

The idea that zombies dont rot and only the destruction of the brain make it stop working, zombie hordes migrating across the world even by walking across the seabed etc.

The book also mentioned that some of the conventional wepons are not that good against zombies, for example artillery, cluster bombs, mines are not that good unless you get a direct hit and kill the brain. Shrapnels and blast effects are no good (but they do not count concussion towards the brain for some reason...)

The idea that winter freezes zombies and you get some peace during winter in colder climates but the zombies thaw up in spring coupled with the idea that zombies might lurk more in water makes them a long-term threat even after you have managed to kill off the big hordes.

[smurf]

Artillery does hurt flesh. Blast damage and blunt trauma will play havoc on the brain.

The problem is zeds don't feel pain and are either on the march or dead again.

I liked Psiops the Mindgate Conspiracy. Meat Puppets, like zeds but they are sort of cyberpunk slave soldiers.

Anything that requires upkeep, guns need bullets and cars need fuel and within about 2 weeks the survivors will have nothing left. Shops will be emptied and petrol stations will be dry.

So it's a bit like Mad Max 2 and the oil well or a lot of walking and looking for food. Zoos may have some food but again given a week of no care the animals may actually all die.

Now running it until things run out would be fun. After watching Contagion it was quite amusing how things spread.