Zona Alfa: Salvage and Survival in the Exclusion Zone: 25 (Osprey Wargames)

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What it comes down to is a sandboxy feel where you can do anything that’s more or less realistically possible. The shooting action reflects this pretty well. You modify your shot by using red dots or scopes, but a shot is harder to take if there’s cover or the target is obscured. As the players began to strategize a way to neutralize the scavengers, Dan took it upon himself to deliver the coup de grace. His leader climbed onto the catwalk of the nearby electrochemical factory and tossed a grenade right into the midst of the bandits. Problem solved, comrade. At this advanced stage of my hobby-life, I meet plenty of people who enjoy gaming but don’t have the time to invest in large, painted armies, terrain, or learn a complex rule set. They want fast and fun games with a high coolness quotient, lots of adventure, a bit of competition, and an excuse to hang out and eat pizza with friends.

I created some basic starting crews for the players, and then we got started. We set up a 4×4 foot table, slightly larger than the 3×3 size recommended in the rulebook, due to our surplus of players. Each side alternated by activating one figure, performing actions, and then passing play to the opposing team. The first couple of turns were focused on learning the basic game system and moving out of our deployment areas. But before too long, the players got close enough to begin exchanging some ranging volleys of automatic rifle fire as they slipped through the ruins. The combat ability, which covers both melee and shooting, gets worse the greener you are. You roll under combat ability on a D10, so a Vet with combat ability 6 will have a better chance than a rookie with 4. A roll of 1 is a natural success, which should give hope to players like me, who shouldn’t really be playing wargames with dice. This turn, the effect of the zone emission is negated because all crew members are in cover. Nimzo and Spassky go on alert whilst Sukova searches a POI, which reveals a mutant. The mutant spawns 4 inches away from the POI and is downed by Spassky. Sukova retrieves some ‘hotload’ ammo for the crew.

Troop Quality is the final support. To reflect varying expertise and experience, there are three kinds of soldier in the Zone: Rookie, Hardened, or Veteran. Each has corresponding ability to act in battle.

Scenic items, tokens or chits to mark the important Points of Interest locations on the tabletop, as well as ones for the strange and dangerous micro–rifts in reality known as Anomalies. Whatever you choose, they should be distinct and easily identifiable to all players. This card mechanic drives the action, and works pretty well. When playing solo, I’ve noticed that game turns fade away and you’re playing out the story. I expect when playing co-op there’ll be some tough choices as well. For all the nasty critters that roam the irradiated wastelands, you can use whatever you like or have handy. Zone Hostiles are a fairly loose group of opponents that will try to disrupt your operations in search of Stalker Juice, so if you’ve got a lot of giant spiders or zombies you can go wild with those. I’ve got a bunch of GW Poxwalkers as mutants, Mantic zombies and some Nolzur minis as random spawns. Part of my squad angled toward the factory while the Sniper and RPK looked for good angles near the fuel tanks. Other Pat’s Veterans leap-frogged between the Conex containers and the Office.I expanded the basic rules for Zona Alfa to include a simple campaign and progression system so a player’s individual models can be rewarded, promoted, and improved over the course of several games. After all, the Zone is an excellent teacher – if you live long enough to learn her lessons. Here’s John’s hardened scavenger moving in to search a decommissioned air compressor next to a derelict pumping station. Four members of the Cape Cod Wargame Commission spent Saturday afternoon playing Zona Alfa. We decided on a Factory Raid in a Threat Level Two area – four Hot Spots plus the Mission Objective. For those who want to dive into miniatures gaming, or have short narrative games with a low model count, the market for miniature skirmish games is in a golden age. There’s a plethora of rulesets and settings to choose from out there depending on your taste, but if you’re a fan of the S.T.A.L.K.ER. or Metro 2033 video games series, you can’t get much better than Zona Alfa. People who like slow Russian movies – like the ones that inspired those games! – can also apply.