Zona Alfa - Compound - Extra Containers

A while ago I ordered some Containers by '4ground'.

I'd noticed them previously and they seemed like a neat idea.

I've only just got them finished off due to being away and fairly low on hobby motivation.

The pieces present, as advertised, some various assembly options which is cool. 

Something of a mixed review follows. While they do what they say they do on the box, I'm not rushing out to get more.

A lot of newer mdf kits (they included) are adding thin/cut cardboard 'detail' sheets that are frankly a bit of a pain. I'll admit that my assembly efforts were rather lacklustre (probably 'end of project' malaise... though I believe I'm inheriting another mdf factory in the not too distant - hopefully a little smaller than the other one).

Additionally these particular kits come 'pre-painted' (a primary gimmick) however the paint rubs off and stains your fingers as you're building them. I've scrubbed the surfaces down after building them and given them a spray of clear lacquer to stop any more marking but... slightly annoying. In hindsight I prefer raw mdf and then paint them myself. 

They will fit the theme of the table well enough (probably more so that the containers I have already which are near-future/'space-ier' than I'd have liked).

Until next time...

Zona Alfa - paperCut Crew- Mission 2 and 3

 I managed to bust out the 2d twice in the last 2 days, seemed a pity to use the things once. 

Setup and pack up are noticeably breezy, so no excuses there.

The crew got a name "paperCut Crew"... cos hilarious right...

The following batreps are intended to be paper thin [ba dom tsh], and both missions were impromptus 'focused' missions, rather than free-for-all scavenger hunts. 

Mission 2

Mission 2 was "clear the bandit camp", there were 3 hotspots (around the edge) and the main structure (MO)  in the middle. 

The 3 HS had to be cleared before the MO could be triggered.  With the exception of the first HS, when all of the hostiles of a HS were killed, the next hotspot (random) was automatically triggered at the start of the next turn - keeping fairly constant pressure (plus the inability to inspect the HS and adjust). Similar, once the HS were cleared the MO automatically triggered next turn.

The hostile list was limited to combinations of bandits and dogs, the bandits have kennels for their attack dogs yada yada.

The crew started at the bottom right of the map.

A bolt toss triggered the first HS bringing out 2 dogs and an anomaly (should have also brought out 2 bandits but I misread my chicken-scrawl writing). These were picked off easily.

The next hotspot was triggered at the start of the following turn, bringing out 2 dogs and 2 bandits (correct). Something of a battle around the central building...

Consideration had to be given that many bandits would be appearing from the central building before too long. 

The last HS brought out 4 dogs...

The MO point triggered and brought out 6 bandits and an anomaly (I hardcoded the MO to be 'you rolled 10' on the hostiles table)...

Med-kits used toward the later half of the game but I don't recall the crew being in danger of being overwhelmed at any particular stage.

JANE got bopped by the first anomaly but med-kit'd that away, succeeding the following turn.

Mission 3

Mission 3 was "clear all the hotspots" (as the mission objective) and there were 4 hotspots. Nominally there was a 'water filter' feature to the left, a 'control building' at the top and 'service sheds' on the right. HS distributed around that evenly.

This was back to the full hostile list.

A long lob'd  bolt toss triggered the HS at the 'control building' producing just 2 dogs (inspect adjusted), which were easily picked off. 

The crew broke into two groups with JANE and JAKE heading for the 'water filter', and everyone else heading right toward the 'service sheds'.

The 'water filter' produced 2 zombies, one got shot by JAKE, and JANE pummelled the other one to death in melee.

JANE continued to check out the cleared HS and JAKE high-tailed back to the other group. The closest HS produced 4 dogs. One was shot in overwatch and 2 made base-to-base with MURRAY and JAKE (should have run slower). The combats were fairly one sided, MURRAY melee-ing his enemy and MEG aim-shooting the one that ran into JAKE. PAULO sniped off the one that didn't make base contact.

The last HS produced 4 bandits and an anomaly. Again, med-kits were soon to used more than any other time previously in the game, but the crew managed to pick them off despite picking up various pinned markers (lots of failed armour saves even against a rather piddley assortment of weapons) along the way.

And that was that - mission complete. Again it was a bit of a milk-run.

I'm contemplating upping the ante to Threat Level 3, though the sessions at TL2 have definitely help build and strengthen my rules knowledge (even though I'll quite frequently 'oops' something here and there).

With my trip all but over (heading back tomorrow) I don't imaging that paperCut Crew will get much of a look in anytime soon. I'd probably prefer to leave them here for future visits. They've been entertaining and I thank them for their service.

Until next time...

Zona Alfa - 2d- Mission 1

So, what's got two thumbs and feels like they've wasted 200+ hours making terrain and minis for Zone Alfa...

Not entirely true. Not entirely accurate. Not at all actually, the hobby is enjoyable in its own right. 

So what the hell are you rambling about chris?

Some two to three weeks ago I went walk-about in a limited capacity, visiting family in the nation's illustrious capital, due to borders opening yada yada. 

Given I can work from anywhere, I packed light and decided that I "wasn't going to do any hobbying" while I was away - though I did pack Blackstone Fortress (which has received about an hours worth of attention) just to have a 'real game' on hand.

I don't know specifically what sparked this concept but I got it into my head that it might be a splendid idea to do Zona Alfa... with those paper cut out thingies...

So that happened.

I found/settled on some papercraft models from an artist called 'darkmook' that were published around the 2010-2017 time frame.

I've never done paper art type stuff before and probably safe to say that I won't again. I whacked together a complete (though admittedly very primitive) game system in a weekend... which is pretty damn quick if nothing else.

Today I managed to give these bits and pieces a run on the board...

A five person crew (very familiar though not entirely the same as my original crew). The crew were named (nice and easy to write it onto the model) - JACK, MEG, PAULO, MURRAY, and JANE. 

The terrain was a last minute inclusion with boxes for structures, some walls and 'trees'.  Threat Level 2 with 4 Hot Spots, 1 Mission Objective, and rolled up (5 + d5) 6 turns.  A fairly small board and I wasn't using infil/exfil/hostile turns - so just a casual milk run.

Someone triggered the closest hotspot revealing some bandits (fluffing this to a rag-tag team of scavengers) and an anomaly (hastily created from post-it notes - forgot about anomalies).

The crew is sporting smg/pistol combo   except for one guy (PAULO) who has a dmr (designated marksman rifle) and pistol.

I played the 'individual spawn location' method (thanks ash barker @ GMG - roll d10 1/2 range scatter for each model, rather than set the first model and dump everyone around them) and two of the bandits attacked on the way out (interrupting MEG's overwatch - damn!).

d10 <= TL + each deployed squad member = attack immediately, else seek cover and activate in normal order.

The bandits were soon mowed down however and a second hotspot triggered... Mutants. 

Fortunately by now I knew to set some alert/overwatch and MURRAY who was rushed by the closest mutant managed to pop him in one round of melee (what a beast!!).

The crew repositioned for the assault on the MO (mission objective) in the centre of the board.

JACK (true to LEADER form) failed 2 bolt tosses, then managed to stick the last - triggering 2 dogs (rolled 1 - phew), which were obliterated by overwatch (alert).

Called the game there (start of turn 6) as our resident scrounger JANE triggered the mission objective unopposed.

So... ... ... I can honestly say that that despite this being in no way as intricate as my 3d models and (with all due modesty) flashy-ass terrain, it was thoroughly enjoyable, engaging and surprisingly immersive - which is 100% what I look for in a game. 

So was my prior hobby time wasted? No, of course not... fancy-ass terrain etc undoubtedly adds to the experience - but for someone looking to check out the rules with something more than clothes pegs and dice, perhaps check out 2d models as a starting point.

If I were travelling more frequently I'd perhaps be interested in a STALKER-centric model set, but these models absolutely functioned as planned. They'll definitely see more table time before my trip is through, and I'll probably stash them somewhere for next time I visit.

This is my notes from the session (included for my own archival purposes)...

and this was my on-the-fly cheat sheet for stats and whatnot...

Don't get me wrong, I still prefer my 3d get up, but it's hard to go past a complete system that can effortlessly be picked up with one hand and stored in a shoebox (instead of a 90L plastic crate)... albeit not particularly fancy, realistic or pretty... 

Until next time...