Sign in or 
Pyrotechnics |
Version 9 - view current page
Explosives, bombs, blasting agents, fragmentation devices, incendiaries, and so on.
Most likely the rarest devices to find in someones zombie defense arsenal, but still deserving of special mention.
Now due to liability concerns, this article doesn't describe explosives manufacture, but rather explosives
employment.
There will always be two enemies in a zombie apocalypse: Zombies (duh!) and hostile survivors.
Employing explosives against each is separate dynamic between the two.
Explosives attacks against Survivors
Any explosives attacks are most effective against logistics rather than the person.
Destroying ammo, food, shelter, supplies, vehicles, etc. Resource denial is the name of the game.
Most humans by now have sought some sort of shelter against the zombies. This is the biggest target.
If you compromise any shelter they have, you have shortened their life expectantly significantly,
leaving them just to the mercy of the zombies.
Explosives attacks against Zombies
Zombies unlike the above, have no need for shelter, as there are not large hordes of survivors turning zeds
into regular humans. Any attacks against Zombies must be directly targeted against the body itself.
The target, as with any other weapon, is the braincase. Catastrophic damage to the skull must occur
in order for it to actually kill the zombie, else you merely slow them down. Fragmentation is only of benefit
if any of the fragmentation pierces the brain. Baiting (more on that later) if one of the more effective tactics
against zombies with employment of explosives.
Now that you now what to strike, now you need to figure out what to do.
Effective Employment
Whenever using explosives remember the following saying:
"There is not a problem in the world that cannot be solved with the proper application of explosives"
Now, the key to this phase is "proper application". With explosives, no application just renders them
really, really big firecrackers. This, however, can be used to your advantage.
If you set off an explosive, especially with a large visual signature, someone is bound to investigate.
Whenever someone sees a explosion, people (and likely zeds) go to investigate.
This splits their current manpower, and if there is a second device, in the blast zone.
This drawing in of people with a diversionary device, and then using a second device to cause casualties
is a technique that has been and is still in use buy certain terrorist groups among others.
Two things will aid you, if you choose to use this method against zombies:
1) Explosions are LOUD!
2) Zombies are dumb.
Large explosions will likely draw zeds to the site, save they don't encounter an all-you-can-eat cranial buffet.
After you have a large mob milling about the area, a second device can easily inflict mass casualties.
People, while not nearly as stupid, are just as curious as the zed.
However, unless you're planning to go on a murderous rampage, you'd be better served to save that second
device, and use a bit of of tactics to make your effort go further.
Naturally, you will not be employing these as a zombie, so you being a survivor, will be competing for supplies.
Drawing survivors away from their shelter via a nice fireworks display, will enable you to much more
easily raid the place. Also, sabotage what you can't steal to reduce the ability of the others to strike back.
Now that you know what to hit and what to do, but how do you do it?
Methods of Employment
Explosives can come in all shapes and sizes, specialized for a special purpose.
Assuming you now have a purpose for your explosive, and made it to fit the purpose,
you now need to figure out the manner of triggering your device.
Now, returning to liability, this article will not describe in detail manufacturing an initiation device,
but will list common types and some items used in these devices to illustrate how they work.
What do I mean? I mean if you want to blow a hole in a wall, 10 second timer, place, run.
If you want to use that pipe bomb as an impromptu grenade, stick a fuse in it, light, and throw.
If you are baiting a mob and don't want to stick around, place the second bomb with a 20 minute delay.
Want to take out a rival's safehouse after a raid, preferably after they're home? Set it to 45 minutes
and if you don't care when, so long as blows up, put a bomb on something and set the timer for two hours.
passing persons, crowds or vehicles.
Save these when using against clever survivors, or when range makes wires impractical.
You can place a device in a doorway after a raid as a nasty surprise, or as a more precise way to use
a second charge after baiting a mob, or to slow down and discourage pursuers in an urban environment,
or to slow down and discourage entry into a building or location.
Tripwire devices sometimes have short time delay components to cause more casualties to a group.
Harder to detect and disable than a regular tripwire device, this device is typically used against vehicles.
If you have a tripwire device on a time-delay at the entrance of a building, daisy chained to other bombs
situated throughout the rest of the building, anyone inside will likely be killed, and will likely contain more
people, rather than just destroying the building with only one person in the doorway.
Examples of Effective Explosives Employment
Example 1
Time: 20:00 (8:00 PM)
Target: Rival Survivor Safehouse
Context: Retaliatory attack against a group of hostile vandals as retribution for previous raids.
20:00:00 2kg pipebomb with 4 liters petrol detonated 60 meters from target.
20:02:30 While inhabitants away, supplies raided via rear safehouse entrance.
20:03:30-20:04:30 Devices placed throughout building daisy chained to tripwire at front on 30 second delay.
20:04:00 5kg satchel charge placed in bed of pickup truck on driveway of safehouse, with 1 min delay.
20:04:30 Raiders clear out of property with supplies in hand.
20:05:00 Satchel Detonates
20:05:05 Inhabitants rush back to safehouse to investigate.
20:05:43 Inhabitants enter, initiating tripwire device.
20:06:13 Daisy chained devices explode, killing most inside and causing structural damage to safehouse.
Example 2
Time: 11:30 (11:30 AM)
Target: Officer of an extortionist local corrupt paramilitary group
Context: Corrupt officer coming to extort money from people known arriving via a particular street around 11:30.
11:10:00 3kg charge w/ fragcase attached to Remote Control toy car as preparation for arrival of corrupt officer.
11:10:30 Cordless phone attached to detonator.
11:11:00 Car placed in bush next to known route of officer.
11:15:00 1kg pipe bomb placed with 1 liter petrol, attached to a command wire.
11:20:00 2-man team sets up on roof of building 60 yards away, with remote control, phone base, and binoculars.
11:32:16 Paramilitary convoy spotted, with officer spotted in open-top jeep.
11:32:30 1kg device detonated 10 meters in front of convoy.
11:32:35 Convoy stops.
11:32:40 RC car leaves camouflaged position and moves onto road.
11:32:45 RC car moves under officer's jeep.
11:32:47 One of the two man team presses 'page' button on cordless phone base
11:32:48 3kg charge detonates.
11:32:49 His own feet are the last thing that goes through the officer's mind.
Example 3
Time: 17:15(5:15 PM)
Target: Group of zombies harassing allied survivor safehouse.
Context: Relocation effort of small survivor group compromised by arrival of Zed horde. Sympathetic group assists.
17:05:00 Relocation effort interrupted
17:07:00 Distress transmission goes out.
17:08:00 Sympathetic group sets out with 2 SUVs, one with armed survivors and 1 Pickup,
17:13:00 Sympathetic SUVs and Pickup arrive at safehouse.
17:13:05 Sympathetic SUVs set up perimeter with vehicles in front of safehouse.
17:13:10 Well-armed survivors exit SUV as pickup pulls in to driveway .
17:13:15 Armed Sympaths engage horde, while evacuees load supplies and personnel into empty SUV.
17:17:00 Evacuees finish loading supplies.
17:17:15 Evacuees leave in formerly empty SUV.
17:18:00 Sympaths retreat to remaining SUV and Pickup.
17:18:30 Final Sympath jumps into bed of pickup.
17:18:35 Sympath opens suitcase resting in truckbed, containing 15kg explosives with a cell phone detonator.
17:18:40 Places alarming smoke detector in suitcase explosives.
17:18:40 Pickup pulls out of driveway.
17:18:50 Suitcase with explosives is pushed out the back of the pickup.
17:19:00 Suitcase is detonated as pickup speeds into sunset
Granted actual scenarios aren't quite this clear cut as these, but are merely here to provide you
with examples of effective employment of explosives.
Afterword
The above information, coupled with the internet, should give you all you need to effectively create your own
ingenious and unique ways of effectively deploying explosives in a post-apocalyptic zombie scenario.
Most likely the rarest devices to find in someones zombie defense arsenal, but still deserving of special mention.
Now due to liability concerns, this article doesn't describe explosives manufacture, but rather explosives
employment.
There will always be two enemies in a zombie apocalypse: Zombies (duh!) and hostile survivors.
Employing explosives against each is separate dynamic between the two.
Explosives attacks against Survivors
Any explosives attacks are most effective against logistics rather than the person.
Destroying ammo, food, shelter, supplies, vehicles, etc. Resource denial is the name of the game.
Most humans by now have sought some sort of shelter against the zombies. This is the biggest target.
If you compromise any shelter they have, you have shortened their life expectantly significantly,
leaving them just to the mercy of the zombies.
Explosives attacks against Zombies
Zombies unlike the above, have no need for shelter, as there are not large hordes of survivors turning zeds
into regular humans. Any attacks against Zombies must be directly targeted against the body itself.
The target, as with any other weapon, is the braincase. Catastrophic damage to the skull must occur
in order for it to actually kill the zombie, else you merely slow them down. Fragmentation is only of benefit
if any of the fragmentation pierces the brain. Baiting (more on that later) if one of the more effective tactics
against zombies with employment of explosives.
Now that you now what to strike, now you need to figure out what to do.
Effective Employment
Whenever using explosives remember the following saying:
"There is not a problem in the world that cannot be solved with the proper application of explosives"
Now, the key to this phase is "proper application". With explosives, no application just renders them
really, really big firecrackers. This, however, can be used to your advantage.
If you set off an explosive, especially with a large visual signature, someone is bound to investigate.
Whenever someone sees a explosion, people (and likely zeds) go to investigate.
This splits their current manpower, and if there is a second device, in the blast zone.
This drawing in of people with a diversionary device, and then using a second device to cause casualties
is a technique that has been and is still in use buy certain terrorist groups among others.
Two things will aid you, if you choose to use this method against zombies:
1) Explosions are LOUD!
2) Zombies are dumb.
Large explosions will likely draw zeds to the site, save they don't encounter an all-you-can-eat cranial buffet.
After you have a large mob milling about the area, a second device can easily inflict mass casualties.
People, while not nearly as stupid, are just as curious as the zed.
However, unless you're planning to go on a murderous rampage, you'd be better served to save that second
device, and use a bit of of tactics to make your effort go further.
Naturally, you will not be employing these as a zombie, so you being a survivor, will be competing for supplies.
Drawing survivors away from their shelter via a nice fireworks display, will enable you to much more
easily raid the place. Also, sabotage what you can't steal to reduce the ability of the others to strike back.
Now that you know what to hit and what to do, but how do you do it?
Methods of Employment
Explosives can come in all shapes and sizes, specialized for a special purpose.
Assuming you now have a purpose for your explosive, and made it to fit the purpose,
you now need to figure out the manner of triggering your device.
Now, returning to liability, this article will not describe in detail manufacturing an initiation device,
but will list common types and some items used in these devices to illustrate how they work.
- Timer Devices--Devices using a time-delay mechanism to initiate explosion.
- Simplest of these is a regular lit, slow burning fuse.
- Some devices use analog devices like clocks, egg timers, etc.
- More sophisticated timer devices include things like digital watches, etc.
What do I mean? I mean if you want to blow a hole in a wall, 10 second timer, place, run.
If you want to use that pipe bomb as an impromptu grenade, stick a fuse in it, light, and throw.
If you are baiting a mob and don't want to stick around, place the second bomb with a 20 minute delay.
Want to take out a rival's safehouse after a raid, preferably after they're home? Set it to 45 minutes
and if you don't care when, so long as blows up, put a bomb on something and set the timer for two hours.
- Wire Command Detonated
- Hard-wired to the ignition source, relying on electricity through the wire to detonate the device.
- Similar in function to Remote Command Detonation, though cheaper and easier to spot.
passing persons, crowds or vehicles.
- Remote/Radio Command Detonated
- Devices detonate by a wireless device such as a wireless phone, RC remote, etc.
- More expensive, and complex than a wire, requires own power source, but more discreet.
Save these when using against clever survivors, or when range makes wires impractical.
- Victim Initiated
- Often tripwire devices, these require physical movement of some part to detonate.
You can place a device in a doorway after a raid as a nasty surprise, or as a more precise way to use
a second charge after baiting a mob, or to slow down and discourage pursuers in an urban environment,
or to slow down and discourage entry into a building or location.
Tripwire devices sometimes have short time delay components to cause more casualties to a group.
- IR/Laser
- Really a victim-initiated device, uses a laser tripwire instead of a physical one to detonate.
Harder to detect and disable than a regular tripwire device, this device is typically used against vehicles.
- Daisy Chain
- Stringing of multiple devices via any above methods to a single firing device.
If you have a tripwire device on a time-delay at the entrance of a building, daisy chained to other bombs
situated throughout the rest of the building, anyone inside will likely be killed, and will likely contain more
people, rather than just destroying the building with only one person in the doorway.
Examples of Effective Explosives Employment
Example 1
Time: 20:00 (8:00 PM)
Target: Rival Survivor Safehouse
Context: Retaliatory attack against a group of hostile vandals as retribution for previous raids.
20:00:00 2kg pipebomb with 4 liters petrol detonated 60 meters from target.
20:02:30 While inhabitants away, supplies raided via rear safehouse entrance.
20:03:30-20:04:30 Devices placed throughout building daisy chained to tripwire at front on 30 second delay.
20:04:00 5kg satchel charge placed in bed of pickup truck on driveway of safehouse, with 1 min delay.
20:04:30 Raiders clear out of property with supplies in hand.
20:05:00 Satchel Detonates
20:05:05 Inhabitants rush back to safehouse to investigate.
20:05:43 Inhabitants enter, initiating tripwire device.
20:06:13 Daisy chained devices explode, killing most inside and causing structural damage to safehouse.
Example 2
Time: 11:30 (11:30 AM)
Target: Officer of an extortionist local corrupt paramilitary group
Context: Corrupt officer coming to extort money from people known arriving via a particular street around 11:30.
11:10:00 3kg charge w/ fragcase attached to Remote Control toy car as preparation for arrival of corrupt officer.
11:10:30 Cordless phone attached to detonator.
11:11:00 Car placed in bush next to known route of officer.
11:15:00 1kg pipe bomb placed with 1 liter petrol, attached to a command wire.
11:20:00 2-man team sets up on roof of building 60 yards away, with remote control, phone base, and binoculars.
11:32:16 Paramilitary convoy spotted, with officer spotted in open-top jeep.
11:32:30 1kg device detonated 10 meters in front of convoy.
11:32:35 Convoy stops.
11:32:40 RC car leaves camouflaged position and moves onto road.
11:32:45 RC car moves under officer's jeep.
11:32:47 One of the two man team presses 'page' button on cordless phone base
11:32:48 3kg charge detonates.
11:32:49 His own feet are the last thing that goes through the officer's mind.
Example 3
Time: 17:15(5:15 PM)
Target: Group of zombies harassing allied survivor safehouse.
Context: Relocation effort of small survivor group compromised by arrival of Zed horde. Sympathetic group assists.
17:05:00 Relocation effort interrupted
17:07:00 Distress transmission goes out.
17:08:00 Sympathetic group sets out with 2 SUVs, one with armed survivors and 1 Pickup,
17:13:00 Sympathetic SUVs and Pickup arrive at safehouse.
17:13:05 Sympathetic SUVs set up perimeter with vehicles in front of safehouse.
17:13:10 Well-armed survivors exit SUV as pickup pulls in to driveway .
17:13:15 Armed Sympaths engage horde, while evacuees load supplies and personnel into empty SUV.
17:17:00 Evacuees finish loading supplies.
17:17:15 Evacuees leave in formerly empty SUV.
17:18:00 Sympaths retreat to remaining SUV and Pickup.
17:18:30 Final Sympath jumps into bed of pickup.
17:18:35 Sympath opens suitcase resting in truckbed, containing 15kg explosives with a cell phone detonator.
17:18:40 Places alarming smoke detector in suitcase explosives.
17:18:40 Pickup pulls out of driveway.
17:18:50 Suitcase with explosives is pushed out the back of the pickup.
17:19:00 Suitcase is detonated as pickup speeds into sunset
Granted actual scenarios aren't quite this clear cut as these, but are merely here to provide you
with examples of effective employment of explosives.
Afterword
The above information, coupled with the internet, should give you all you need to effectively create your own
ingenious and unique ways of effectively deploying explosives in a post-apocalyptic zombie scenario.
