Zona Alfa: Salvage and Survival in the Exclusion Zone (Osprey Wargames, 25) Paperback – January 21, 2020

I'm normally a D&D DM, but over the last thirty odd years I have played many many table top games from Battletech and Shadowrun to Rifts, Warhammer Fantasy and 40K, ending up with Starfinder and D&D. When I am not playing D&D I was looking for a sci-fi or contemporary game that I could play with a buddy. I could do Mordheim, but I didn't want more Fantasy. I started down the Starfinder route, but it's so big, I wanted something easier and faster than that. I saw Zona Alpha mentioned somewhere, and was intrigued. I saw the reference to the novel Road Side Picnic and read that, gobbling it up in one road trip on audible. I ordered the game from my Hotel room, and was playing with fantasy minis as stand ins as soon as I got the game just a couple days later. Now I am a patreon for a 3d mini making company (Anvil Industries) just so I can get good minis for the game, and am constantly making terrain and prining minis for paint.The game it's self is easy to learn, fast and fun. It's as complicated as you want to make it. There is soe room for improvement, and the ability to play player vs player vs enemy or 2 player co-op vs enemy is a blast. You can also play it solo, but I have yet to do so.For established gamers, this game is the cost of a model or two. Check it out and let it be that fun game you play when you're not playing your main game. Alternatively, make it your main game, and have a blast... Me, I'm still trying to decide 28mm or 15 mm... LoL

X-Com is one of my favorite video games. When I watched some YouTube videos about Zona Alfa I immediately was drawn to some of the similarities with leveling units, new recruits, skills, saving wounded units, etc. The book is super easy to read and includes nice bits of thematic text throughout. I'm a board game player and usually have to teach other people rules, so I l like how streamlined the rules are. It gives you a scenario at the end to get started but primarily this is a toolkit for you to create your own games. You'll want to also purchase some 10-sided dice, standard wargaming templates for movement, AOE attack, flame(teardrop), suitable miniatures and terrain if needed. One thing I'll be doing to supplement this is creating my own cards for characters, creatures, weapons, and environmental threats so I don't have to consult a chart inside the book constantly.

I hate to rehash anything that has been said before, so do please excuse the lack of gushing. ZA is a wonderful "mini" skirmish game. Squads of soldiers and scavengers rummage about in a Chernobyl-esque Exclusion Zone. Think Roadside Picnic and Metro 2033 and you are in the right zone, no pun intended.What I did want to talk about is how it plays. These little paperback "blue border" books from Osprey are economic alternatives to the much more involved "industry unto themselves" wargames. That doesn't mean they do not have wonderful, fully realized settings or gameplay nuances that offer a full, fun experience.ZA is no exception. The presentation and supporting material is steeped in localized post apocalypse Soviet rust punk. The rules are arranged clearly and the book has gorgeous art and pictures. Most of all, the game rules make sense and translate well to the table.The squads deploy into the zone, 2x2 feet to 4x4 feet warzones you design using model terrain or piled of books and fruit tins, and move inch by inch until they achieve enough tactical advantage to eliminate threats and fulfill objectives. Threats exist both as another player's squad as well as "NPC" creatures, hostiles, and anomalies with sci-fi horror flair. The game has a set number of turns, randomly determined, and provides enough randomization tables to slap together a scenario without needing to do any heavy research. I would argue that the tables, loot, scenarios, and hostiles are too sparse, but the book is under $15.The game used a d10 mechanic and while not my favorite system recently, it is nothing unwieldy or "different for different sake." To-Hits are rolled, armor saves are made, etc. Movement is as you expect and it even uses blast and movement templates from games you may already have.This game takes relatively few models, and the rules are "miniature agnostic," which means you can populate the board with any 28mm soldiers you care too. There are a wealth of ultra-modern and cyberpunk models out there to pick from. You can use smaller scales too, but you have to convert inches to cm and the translation isn't perfect IMHO. You'll soon find that every company scales their minis a little differently, and it can make for a wacky looking table if you are OCD about such things, but I far prefer this approach than yet another expensive line. The online community for this game is enthusiastic and kind, find them on FB and check out all the cool models they use.What I did find off putting is the soft WYSIWYG approach (your character model should have equipment that the paper character has as well) considering that its easy to keep track of 3-6 models and it doesn't require exclusive miniatures. Its easy enough to "get close enough," but the economy, lower middle class kid in me hates it. Easy enough to house rule around.The game has a progression system in place for campaigning, but as it currently stands it is too sparse, needs a little more balance, and there just simply needs to be more content to supplement the game to make campaigns worthwhile. I hope the game catches on. I could easily seeing this game being expanded and improved for a hardcover re-presentation.Its a perfectly fantastic game on it own with a setting the kitchen table desperately needed. In a hobby that is heavy with Warhammer 40k/Necromunda wanna-be's, games like Zona Alfa are a breath of fresh air. Good luck hunting for perfect 3rd party minis to represent your stalkers, comrade. See you in the zone.For fans of: WarCry, KillTeam, Necromunda, Infinity, Warmachine, Dracula's America

This got me back into wargaming after 20 years. ZA finds the perfect balance of rules to enhance your games without bogging them down in tedium and tables. Fans of Mordheim will love this game - it's challenging, but balanced, and always interesting.The solo rules are the perfect way to guarantee value, because even if you can't find other players, you can still have a great experience. Being miniatures-agnostic, you can find a huge amount of product online already, and the ZA community is very active all over the internet.If you're a fan of STALKER, Metro 2033, Mordheim, or Escape from Tarkov, this is the game for you.

This set of rules for a skirmish game is simple to understand and endlessly fun.