Review: Zona Alfa- Osprey Games

[Easy E]

The latest in the Osprey Wargaming Series arrived at my door with a bunch of other wargames.  However, I had seen a lot of positive buzz about this game online so swooped in and snatched it up for the first review of the batch.  As a part of the Osprey Wargaming Series, or Blue Books; I think we are all familiar with the format and the 64 page limit.  That makes it a quick read.   

Zona Alfa is set to take place in a Eastern Bloc country where something really bad happened.  This really bad thing was corralled into an exclusion zone.  Your team is entering the zone to snatch goodies and anomalies and haul them out.  People often refer to this game as being themed around a series or set of genre books called STALKER, Roadside Picnic or Metro 2033.  I am not familiar with any of these sources, but the author calls them out.  I was thinking more along the lines of the Natalie Portman vehicle: Annihilation or the real life Chernobyl Incident.  The game is agnostic enough where you can tailor the setting to fit your own needs.

Now, with a rambling pre-amble out of the way, let's get into the game.



You can read the rest of the review at the Blog: https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2020/07/review-zona-alfa-osprey-games.html

[Dentatus]

Thanks for taking the time to look ZA over and write up a review. Much appreciated.

[Easy E]

Glad too! 

I followed along on the development here on the LAF. 

[Psychopomp]

Not to hijack the thread, but I was wondering if there's been any work towards meatier solo rules than posted online a while back?  Given the AI controlled Zone weirdos, it looks like there's enough hooks to hang a system on.  I'd knock it together myself, but work has been busy...

Edit:  I somehow did not spot the link to the PDF in the review that stood out like a sore thumb on the second pass through.  This is a great shame, and I leave the original text up so that all can see my lack of attentiveness and reading comprehension.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Interesting review.

I have no problems with rolling under a number, but then my first rules were Basic Role Playing and Laserburn, both percentile systems.

In addition to the Osprey Solo rules, the game's author has some additional solo and cooperative rules on his Stalker7 blog.
https://stalker7.com/2020/05/07/nespokiyna-tysha/

[Dentatus]

I want to pitch the 'Point of Interest' variant UVS linked in the previous post. It makes for a more dangerous, interesting experience when playig Solo or Co-op.
The cards and rules are in the Files in the S7 Facebook Group, but I know not everyone does FB, so pm me if you're interested and I'll email them to you.