heavy-bladed polearm. The notch at the base of the blade can also help prevent infectious fluid from trickling down onto the bearer’s hand. Given its unusual shape and shorter length, there can be a marked learning curve for those with no prior experience to wield the kukri successfully against an attacking ghoul.
WEAPON EVALUATION: EXPANDABLE BATON
EFFECTIVENESS: LOW
LIFE SPAN: 5+ ZOMBIE ENGAGEMENTS
SKILL LEVEL: LOW
AVAILABILITY: LIMITED
COST: MODERATE
OVERVIEW: A modern weapon made popular as standard equipment among many law enforcement organizations, the expandable baton may seem like an ideal weapon against a walking corpse. It is crafted entirely of aluminum or steel, made with a comfortable handle, expands to a respectable melee range, and retracts to a fraction of its size when not in use.
Unfortunately, the baton suffers many liabilities in undead combat. As a weapon made for keepers of the peace, it is specifically classified as a nonlethal weapon. Thus, it was not made to withstand constant and repeated blows to an individual’s skull. It was intentionally designed without any severe edges that could potentially lacerate an assailant. The most common attack points for this weapon are typically on the arms and legs in order to temporarily incapacitate or disarm a threatening human. Its segmented, collapsible rods also make the weapon structurally weaker than one made from a single bar of metal.
Tests show that when subjected to the incessant battering that occurs in an undead attack, the structural integrity of the expandable baton becomes seriously compromised, and suffers from warping and irrevocable damage. Although it can be used temporarily and may be found in the duty belts of law enforcement officers who were felled in a zombie attack, it is recommended that a more reliable weapon be sought quickly as a replacement, as the expandable baton may not even last a single undead combat encounter.
WEAPON EVALUATION: TOMAHAWK
EFFECTIVENESS: HIGH
LIFE SPAN: 150+ ZOMBIE ENGAGEMENTS
SKILL LEVEL: MODERATE
AVAILABILITY: LIMITED
COST: EXPENSIVE
OVERVIEW: An implement with a long heritage on North American plains of battle, the tomahawk is a particular type of hatchet originally used by Native Americans in hand-to-hand fighting. As with the mace, the earliest incarnations of the weapon’s striking face were made of stone, with steel being the more durable choice as it became more readily available. This weapon experienced a resurgence during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries when it was modernized and distributed in limited numbers during conflicts in Asia and the Middle East. The contemporary version of the tomahawk radically improves on the historical model by replacing wood with modern polymers and heat-treating specific regions of the blade to reduce shock from heavy striking while still retaining a keen edge.
As a zombie-neutralizing tool, the tomahawk fares nearly as well as the medieval mace. The weapon can penetrate bony skull plates using either end of its wedge-shaped blade, and the modernized upgrade of this historical tool has addressed its traditional shortcomings. It does, however, suffer from several minor liabilities of which you should be mindful. The tomahawk is a rather short weapon for a melee engagement, having an average length of fifteen inches. The weapon’s sweet spot is also concentrated in a small area on the striking head, requiring a greater level of precision for each blow.
Although this weapon can be and has been accurately thrown in battle, it takes a great many hours of consistent practice to successfully perform such a maneuver. The probability that you will be able to strike a bobbing target with the tomahawk’s blade is low. Even if you are able, by luck or talent, to accomplish this feat, you must then walk the distance thrown to retrieve your weapon from the ghoul’s head, leaving you weaponless and vulnerable in the interim. Do not
WEAPON EVALUATION: EXPANDABLE BATON
EFFECTIVENESS: LOW
LIFE SPAN: 5+ ZOMBIE ENGAGEMENTS
SKILL LEVEL: LOW
AVAILABILITY: LIMITED
COST: MODERATE
OVERVIEW: A modern weapon made popular as standard equipment among many law enforcement organizations, the expandable baton may seem like an ideal weapon against a walking corpse. It is crafted entirely of aluminum or steel, made with a comfortable handle, expands to a respectable melee range, and retracts to a fraction of its size when not in use.
Unfortunately, the baton suffers many liabilities in undead combat. As a weapon made for keepers of the peace, it is specifically classified as a nonlethal weapon. Thus, it was not made to withstand constant and repeated blows to an individual’s skull. It was intentionally designed without any severe edges that could potentially lacerate an assailant. The most common attack points for this weapon are typically on the arms and legs in order to temporarily incapacitate or disarm a threatening human. Its segmented, collapsible rods also make the weapon structurally weaker than one made from a single bar of metal.
Tests show that when subjected to the incessant battering that occurs in an undead attack, the structural integrity of the expandable baton becomes seriously compromised, and suffers from warping and irrevocable damage. Although it can be used temporarily and may be found in the duty belts of law enforcement officers who were felled in a zombie attack, it is recommended that a more reliable weapon be sought quickly as a replacement, as the expandable baton may not even last a single undead combat encounter.
WEAPON EVALUATION: TOMAHAWK
EFFECTIVENESS: HIGH
LIFE SPAN: 150+ ZOMBIE ENGAGEMENTS
SKILL LEVEL: MODERATE
AVAILABILITY: LIMITED
COST: EXPENSIVE
OVERVIEW: An implement with a long heritage on North American plains of battle, the tomahawk is a particular type of hatchet originally used by Native Americans in hand-to-hand fighting. As with the mace, the earliest incarnations of the weapon’s striking face were made of stone, with steel being the more durable choice as it became more readily available. This weapon experienced a resurgence during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries when it was modernized and distributed in limited numbers during conflicts in Asia and the Middle East. The contemporary version of the tomahawk radically improves on the historical model by replacing wood with modern polymers and heat-treating specific regions of the blade to reduce shock from heavy striking while still retaining a keen edge.
As a zombie-neutralizing tool, the tomahawk fares nearly as well as the medieval mace. The weapon can penetrate bony skull plates using either end of its wedge-shaped blade, and the modernized upgrade of this historical tool has addressed its traditional shortcomings. It does, however, suffer from several minor liabilities of which you should be mindful. The tomahawk is a rather short weapon for a melee engagement, having an average length of fifteen inches. The weapon’s sweet spot is also concentrated in a small area on the striking head, requiring a greater level of precision for each blow.
Although this weapon can be and has been accurately thrown in battle, it takes a great many hours of consistent practice to successfully perform such a maneuver. The probability that you will be able to strike a bobbing target with the tomahawk’s blade is low. Even if you are able, by luck or talent, to accomplish this feat, you must then walk the distance thrown to retrieve your weapon from the ghoul’s head, leaving you weaponless and vulnerable in the interim. Do not
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