Zombie Traps

Ok, I am assuming that some survivors have survived for a reason - maybe they have had military training, even special forces training, they might be hunters, a pre-apocalypse survival nut, or even someone that has read too many books or watched too many films.
 How else could they have survived for so long with out more than a bit of luck?

On the basis that anyone surviving for more than a week or more has a level of cunning that gives them the edge over flesh eating walking dead I have come up with some ideas for urban traps.

Traps can be of two types for our games - silent zombie culling types, or flashy zombie attracting types. Both have their uses in a tactical situation.
Some traps would only be useful in a defensive way, like around your safe house, where you have time to set the trap up free from zombie talons trying to dig into your brain.

 Others can be set up on the run, but these tend to be more the flashy type.

Some traps could be:

 The Log Trap - basically a log triggered by a trip wire that swings down crushing the victim as it does.  With a shambler in the right position at the right time it might even crush its head - at the very least it would delay it; unless the zombie was a kid before it turned and walks right under the trap.



What ever the result - it is silent, thus doesn't attract more zombies.

And just because I have used the word 'log', doesn't mean we can't use something else instead of a log in our urban settings. We could use concrete pipes, metal pipes, lumber or even empty large gas bottles.

The Pile of Logs Trap - a stack of logs (or again concrete piles etc) piled in such a way that they roll down towards the victim once the trip wire is triggered, crushing those in its path. No flashy noise for this one.

The Tiger Trap:   The tiger trap or deadfall consists of a weighted, spike-studded board. The actuation is usually by means of a trip wire stretched across the path or track underneath the trap.





The Dropping weight - probably better than some above, this trap has a tarp, or net, full of heavy things that drops down on who or what ever is underneath. Splat!. Maybe a bit of a noise, but it would be fairly easy to rig up compared to some other traps, and should take out more zombies if they are in a group.
 Basically the tiger trap, only with heavy crushing items instead of spikes.

Grenade Trap: a grenade has its pin removed and is placed in such a way that when it is triggered it falls from where it is placed and goes boom.
 A very noisy trap, but quick to set up, and great for making noise where the survivors are not.



A bit of research will come up with many other trap ideas, but some wont work depending on the setting. A pit trap is less likely to be an option in a city - not only is it impossible to dig into concrete without attracting a huge zombie fan club, but the time needed to get anywhere would be too long.

I will have to make some traps as scenery and try them out in a few games to see if this idea is worth while.

One good thing is that zombies wont notice a trip wire... meaning zombies will set one off when they walk into the trip wire.

5 comments:

shintokamikaze said...

i was thinking of this the other day, and some kind of electric fence, i think the most simple trap would be a deep hole or better a moat with spikes in it lol

The Extraordinarii said...

Hahaha, yeah I'm hearing you on this one, good idea, maybe its something that gets set up around your homebase etc.. maybe in an ongoing campgain, would like to see some traps in the 28mm scale.

Zombie Ad said...

Cool idea

How about this?. Empty all of the swimming pools and throw in live bait? ;)

Shelldrake said...

28mm traps - it is going to be fun making some :-D They are a must for your homebase - especially the silent ones so that zombies don't learn where you are.

Swimming pools! What a great idea. A nice tarp over one - bait the zombies to cross over it and play.

Hmm - depending on the power situation, you could leave a couple of feet of water in and thrown in some electricity - zombie soup.

This topic has brought something else to mind... but that is for another post.

shintokamikaze said...

i like the swimming pool idea