Who would make the best zombiekilling army?

[SnippyCarcass]

ancient



modern



future

I like how you imply the soldiers are on some holy mission like the Templars, or the Black Templars, I mean, you'd think if we thought we were on a mission from god we'd have some chaplains in our army too, but- Wait, Shit, never mind....

[TheGunslinger]

Reading into it a bit much, I think.

[SnippyCarcass]

I just noticed that they were sammiched between two armies of fanatical zeal (Maltese Cross ftw.) Also zombie hordes< Space Marines.

[AgentBlack]

I just noticed that they were sammiched between two armies of fanatical zeal (Maltese Cross ftw.) Also zombie hordes< Space Marines.

actually it was: Templar---Marines---Black Templar Marines...see what i did there? and US Marines ARE of fanatical zeal.
we don't have a maltese cross, but we do have the bird, ball, and hook...OOH RAH!! (Eagle, Globe, and Anchor for you non-jarhead types)

[SnippyCarcass]

I just noticed that they were sammiched between two armies of fanatical zeal (Maltese Cross ftw.) Also zombie hordes< Space Marines.

actually it was: Templar---Marines---Black Templar Marines...see what i did there? and US Marines ARE of fanatical zeal.
we don't have a maltese cross, but we do have the bird, ball, and hook...OOH RAH!! (Eagle, Globe, and Anchor for you non-jarhead types)

Woo woo! I see what'cha did there, you sneaky bastard.

Offtopic: Damnation Crusade was bitchin'.

[TheGunslinger]

You wake Tancred with PAIN!

Tancred will kill you, most likely!



It was a pretty epic novel. One of the better ones. I also love the question 'what manner of war requires warriors like you?'

When the barbarian, who is massively ripped is looking up at the marine-sergeant as he towers over him.

[SnippyCarcass]

You wake Tancred with PAIN!

Tancred will kill you, most likely!



It was a pretty epic novel. One of the better ones. I also love the question 'what manner of war requires warriors like you?'

When the barbarian, who is massively ripped is looking up at the marine-sergeant as he towers over him.

That was some epic stuff, really lets on to the sheer brutality in that universe.

[Heart of the Moon]

I didn't read all of this to see if it had been said yet, but my knee-jerk answer would be the Taliban. They are determined, well funded and if they are in a no-win situation they have no qualms about blowing themselves up rather than becoming another zombie. =)

[Verissimus]

I think the romans would do quite well against zombies. Someone said that the zombie horde's weight would tear the phalanx down, but I think this is highly unlikely. The phalanx is designed to be nearly impenetrable from one direction. 99% of all victories against a phalanx were made by hitting them from the side/rear. Or, as in some of the battles Rome fought in Brittania, the brits would attack the romans in convoy, or while they are unprepared. Trying to form a phalanx while fighting just doesn't work. In this example, though, these issues were often due to arrogant and incompetent roman commanders, and smart, and competent brittish commanders.

In a zombie vs. the romans fight, it seems very likely that it wouldn't be hard to outsmart your average undead. A little situational awareness, and they won't outflank you. That equals lots of re-dead undead.

I also agree that nearly any disciplined army through the ages would do well against the deader persuasion.

[Verissimus]

I didn't read all of this to see if it had been said yet, but my knee-jerk answer would be the Taliban. They are determined, well funded and if they are in a no-win situation they have no qualms about blowing themselves up rather than becoming another zombie. =)

Meh.

Idiotic sacrifice never won any battle. I don't subscribe to most of Patton's theories, but he has a quote that is relevant here.

You don't win a war by dying for your country, you win by making the other guy die for his country.

(That isn't exactly it, but that properly captures the essence of his words.)

If wars were won by enthusiasm alone, no one in the history of warfare would have lost.

Are the Taliban persistent? Yes. Are they smarter than zombies? That is debatable.

[LowKey]

One of the most important things about the roman shield wall was the illusion of impenetrabillity. They stood there, seemingly unmovable as waves of "softer" infantry washed against them.
This was extremely demoralising, and an important part of the romans success.
But zombies do not get demoralized, they just keep piling up, they are more like a wave of meat than an army.
The weight alone would break the romans formation.

No, that style of shield wall was designed to hold up to a lot of pressure. They trained to do a full formation shield press....think of 50 men in a row pressing their shield into the curved edges of the shield belonging to the man in front of them, kind of like tug of war with a rope in reverse.
The gladius would be quite useful for the front rank....either stabbing downward into the head of a zed trying to crawl under the shield wall, or to lop off the hands or fingers of zeds trying to grip the top of the shield. Spearmen from 3 or more ranks back would be stabbing zeds in the head while archers and slingmen rained head piercing objects down on the hoard.

If your still don't like the Roman/Greek soldiers for this, then an alternate would be:

Thai Elephant soldiers...
Armored elephants trained to fight.
The elephant trainer armored, riding along with armored soldiers in a basket on the elephants back armed with log spears, bows, and cavalry swords.

[Concray]

Thai Elephant soldiers...
Armored elephants trained to fight.
The elephant trainer armored, riding along with armored soldiers in a basket on the elephants back armed with log spears, bows, and cavalry swords.

The ancient weapons and tactics part of my brain just came a little in it's pants.
That sounds pretty epic.

[AgentBlack]

thai war elephant


armour of an indian war elephant


carthaginian war elephant (model cause they aint around no more)


modern war elephant used by US forces in operation desert storm...

[Heart of the Moon]

Are the Taliban persistent? Yes. Are they smarter than zombies? That is debatable.

LOL! Nice. I'm still clinging to my original plan, just to piss of my husband. All you need to defeat an army of zombies is a pit full of spikes surrounded by a line of banana peels. Effective and hilarious.

[callista]

Persistence and willingness to sacrifice are advantages, but the Taliban loses its primary advantage against zombies, because zombies don't have the capacity for fear.

[Verissimus]

Persistence and willingness to sacrifice are advantages, but the Taliban loses its primary advantage against zombies, because zombies don't have the capacity for fear.

I agree with your second premise completely, but I feel the first is entirely conditional. Like all good strategies/tactics, persistence and willingness to sacrifice are only advantages when used properly.

Persistence and willingness to sacrifice are meaningless if you waste them on a foe that you have almost no hope of winning against. If you survive, you can rally back another day. Death is permanent, unless you believe in zombies...lol

[thesupremeking]

these guys






or santa

[GunnBorn]

Cogs

[Alaskanon]

Should this even be a debate? Head to toe in lightweight armor. Sheer numbers. Guns that don't need to be reloaded and accurate out to quite possibly infinite ranges. Plus they have a leader who can snap zombie necks with his mind! And if they feel lazy they can just blow up the infected planet!

[AgentBlack]

Should this even be a debate? Head to toe in lightweight armor. Sheer numbers. Guns that don't need to be reloaded and accurate out to quite possibly infinite ranges. Plus they have a leader who can snap zombie necks with his mind! And if they feel lazy they can just blow up the infected planet!

and...got their ass kicked by a handful of rebels and only one wanna-be jedi.
so maybe a winning team would be better...a first generation of genetic modification that is basically an entire army of jango/boba fetts?? (jango only went down after a one on one with a jedi master) and the clones destroyed nearly all the jedi. and it took all the jedi to destroy the galactic supercommandoes (mandalorian) of which jango and boba were the last.
oops...is my geek showing?

[Alaskanon]

Granted the Stormtroopers DID lose to the rebels I doubt the zombies will end up flying an X-Wing and shooting a proton torpedo into a 2 meter wide hole ruining everything! So yes, the Empire is a vastly superior army! I find your lack of faith disturbing...

[RDlal8]

"Moan again. Moan again I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker, moan one more gotdamn time!"

[Concray]

Should this even be a debate? Head to toe in lightweight armor. Sheer numbers. Guns that don't need to be reloaded and accurate out to quite possibly infinite ranges. Plus they have a leader who can snap zombie necks with his mind! And if they feel lazy they can just blow up the infected planet!

their guns might be accurate, but they can't hit a human-sized target within fifty feet.
Much less the head.

[AgentBlack]

Should this even be a debate? Head to toe in lightweight armor. Sheer numbers. Guns that don't need to be reloaded and accurate out to quite possibly infinite ranges. Plus they have a leader who can snap zombie necks with his mind! And if they feel lazy they can just blow up the infected planet!

their guns might be accurate, but they can't hit a human-sized target within fifty feet.
Much less the head.

"these blast points are too accurate to be sand people, only imperial stormtroopers are so precise"

but i digress, by the time the imperial army was at it's max 2/3 or stormtroopers were human recruits. only the 1/3 remainder held the trace or "fett" DNA (or other/later DNA donor). so i hold that an entire clone army of fett's is better than imperial human troops...and can be replenished "at will" by more cloning. yeah, ya have to go to the books for the full story not just the movies.






i'm such a dork....