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...