Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Post-Apocalyptic Tales => Topic started by: Chimpfoot on March 01, 2020, 03:53:21 PM
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Hi there quick question
Does anyone know a good review for zona alpha?
I already have this is not a test but was wondering if it was particularly different in any way?
Is anyone playing it yet any thoughts ideas
Love to hear anyone's comments if you've time to spare
Cheers all
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Depends on what you mean by 'good', but
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Zona+Alfa+reviews
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I haven’t played “This is not a Test”, but I have played Fistful of Lead and Pulp Alley for Stalker type games. Now that I have Zona Alfa, I will say it is better and more focused that either of the others for this very particular gender of gaming. If you have read “Roadside Picnic” or any of the “Metro 20..” series, you will have an idea of what you are getting into. I recommend the rules.
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I got the Zona Alfa rules and having read them through I was really impressed. Looking forward to giving them a go.
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Thanks fellas knew I could count on you
The reviews and comments here lead my on to ash barkers let's play on YouTube.
Seen the rules for £8.41 post free on ebay so think it's worth a punt
Thanks again
Cheers
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Blood Beard have a good review here:
https://bloodbeard.blogspot.com/2020/01/review-zona-alfa.html (https://bloodbeard.blogspot.com/2020/01/review-zona-alfa.html)
And a playthrough here:
https://bloodbeard.blogspot.com/2020/02/zona-alfa-crossroads-at-blyatsk.html (https://bloodbeard.blogspot.com/2020/02/zona-alfa-crossroads-at-blyatsk.html)
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I posted my second ever review on March 1, 2020. I am still finding my style, so I hope mine is considered at least decent.
http://wargamingforums.com/2020/03/01/zona-alfa-a-review-from-the-exclusion-zone/ (http://wargamingforums.com/2020/03/01/zona-alfa-a-review-from-the-exclusion-zone/)
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Calnala : if you define 'decent' as thorough, informative, balanced and interesting then you've hit the mark every time. Your style is all of the above along with some nice personal touches.
Thanks very much for taking the time to post this great review
Cheers now I've got to go and buy it ;)
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I ended up buying too just based on how it has gone down well here on LAF - now I can't wait until it arrives to read through it.
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I posted my second ever review on March 1, 2020. I am still finding my style, so I hope mine is considered at least decent.
http://wargamingforums.com/2020/03/01/zona-alfa-a-review-from-the-exclusion-zone/ (http://wargamingforums.com/2020/03/01/zona-alfa-a-review-from-the-exclusion-zone/)
Great review. Thanks for that. I did buy this, based on everyone's reactions here.
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be nice to try other settings like
war war 2, british paras land and check out a small village...where are the germans ?
or
Vietnam, soldiers on patrol...... like the flim short they did.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm0V24IEHao
Oats studios : firebase 1
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I’m setting my games in the American Southwest.
Either Roswell, NM after a more intense visitation/crash in the 80s/90s or Area 51 after some sort of accident/closure happens.
I suppose whichever doesn’t really matter, but the Roswell zone would be a product of Alien visitors while the Area 51 could have some Stranger Things type dimensional creatures.
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My games are set in the US Midwest, specifically as a follow-up to the film 'The Crazies'.
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I'm thinking of trying this to see if I can make an x-com lite style game, I'm going to try it with Galactic Heroes, Pulp Alley and a couple of others, which means it'll probably be a mix up of all of them :D Really like the rules having read the book, just need to try them out now.
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I going to go against the grain here a bit about these rules.
They are mostly just another set of small scale modern rules with no outstanding attributes. The game actively encourages co-operation between groups rather than overt combat between them. The combat is fairly deadly and in an ongoing campaign losses could quickly lead to a rather hopeless situation for underdogs. There are also a few oversights, as revealed in the GMG playthroughs.
All the setting specific stuff that I bought the rules for is absent. A bit of flavor from fluff sprinkled throughout and using Russian names for weapons, is about all you get.
There are no rules for hazardous battlefield terrain, like hell slime, cobwebs, bug traps, arc lightning, etc that made the Zone in Picnic so dangerous. If anything, the focus on combat takes this outside the Realm of Picnic and The Stalker film entirely. That sort of represents the video game and Metro a bit more, but Metro was far more about claustrophobic, dimly lit tunnels, which this game has none of.
The recovered artifacts are really generic, mostly just a cash prize with no descriptive flavor at all. This game really needed deeper charts of alien artifacts with far more crazy effects and even just odd descriptions for the cash prizes.
The campaign system is bare bones, to say the least. There is a simple scenario generation system but all missions fall back on looting artifacts to advance, so the focus will always be on that.
Now granted, you can write complex scenarios and terrain rules yourself, but then you wouldn't need this book to accomplish that.
I'm left with an overall impression that there isn't enough background detail to make this interesting for more than a couple of games, and the rules are not interesting enough to warrant bothering learning them over other, more robust systems that will play just as fast while giving you far more scope for expansion and depth.
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That's a fair assessment... bearing in mind I
1. had to avoid stepping on IP toes, having neither the license nor space to create a specific and accurate (let alone exhaustive) representation of the Zone in the Stalker-verse. It's a 64 page Osprey Blue Book. Not Mordheim, Necromunda, or Zweihander.
2. I made no claim to developing outstanding or novel mechanics. In fact, I took pains to state otherwise in the intro and the conclusion of the book.
3. It's a skirmish war game. Of course there's emphasis on combat.
4. Cooperation is optional. Allowed. Not actively encouraged. Don't know where you got that.
5. The decision to offer a scaffold and bare bones campaign for gamers to hang their own narratives, inspiration, level of depth and detail was deliberate and also clearly stated.
7. I appreciate GMG, their time and attention in the playthroughs. The YouTube channel is a tremendous resource to the community. I own my mistakes and take full responsibility for any omissions and or contradictions in the game.
Having watched the videos however, I'll note many of the issues rose from their own misunderstanding/misreading/misapplication of the rules and intentionally exploiting technicalities/loopholes, stacking Armor to virtual invulnerability the prime example. Not only was that immediately clarified, but doing so shifts individuals into the armor category of vehicles - a distinction stated in rules that was never intended, and is obviously contrary to the spirit of the game.
Zona Alfa is certainly breakable but I reject the notion it's broken. If anything, I've learned I need to be far more precise and vigilant in my wording in the future. Even then, I suspect there are and always will be those who use the rules to break the game.
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If all the book can offer is non-outstanding mechanics, a campaign system that requires the players to write everything themselves, and no specific information on actually recreating it's inspiration, then it's reason for publication is pretty questionable.
And you are right that it's just another Osprey blue book and gamers should know better by now.
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I would think the title, series info and publisher would be a dead give away that it's an Osprey Blue Book.
And if that's not your cup of tea, it sounds like you should write the STALKER rules you want. Best of luck.
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If all the book can offer is non-outstanding mechanics, a campaign system that requires the players to write everything themselves, and no specific information on actually recreating it's inspiration, then it's reason for publication is pretty questionable.
And you are right that it's just another Osprey blue book and gamers should know better by now.
If you are looking for handholding/no room for creativity in a system, you'll pay more than the 20 bones an Osprey book gives you. Go play 40k - that's nice and spelled out for you.
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Well I for one am going to give the rather excellent free solo rules a try this weekend.
Thanks Denatus
Going to be a English/Western zone for me as befits my collection lol
Wish me luck
Glen
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Storm wolf where are you finding these free solo rules by the way?
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Storm wolf where are you finding these free solo rules by the way?
I think he means these:
https://ospreypublishing.com/blog/guest_blog_zona_alfa_2/
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If you are looking for handholding/no room for creativity in a system, you'll pay more than the 20 bones an Osprey book gives you. Go play 40k - that's nice and spelled out for you.
Right, because there's no middle ground between having hardly any flavorful rules and having a mapped out full setting with army lists and fluff books. This game may as well be Serbian gang skirmish.
If you have to write everything yourself, why bother buying a book in the first place, even if it's cheap.
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You want to use it to play Serbian Gang skirmish, go for it. Zona Alfa has 64 pages worth of basic rules, simple fluff, game prompts, and a campaign structure already written out for you. The Solo and Co-op guidelines were just posted at Osprey. (I imagine you do a lot of Solo gaming.)
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Well I for one am going to give the rather excellent free solo rules a try this weekend.
Thanks Denatus
Going to be a English/Western zone for me as befits my collection lol
Wish me luck
Glen
Good luck, Glen. And good hunting.
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Crikey only started this post as a query about new rules.
Seems to have got a bit heated.
Firstly
Sir.Theo thanks for pointing me in the right direction for solo rules
Degenerate elite :guess you're not happy with you're purchase, eh?
I'm sorry you feel that way.
But if you do feel the need to thoroughly critique someone else's work please try to find a more amiable tone. criticisms given in a friendly and constructive manner are better received and lead to far more constructive outcomes, whingeing and lists of complaints rarely achieve anything more than bad feelings. Fine you have your opinion and you're entitled to it.
Looking forward with great interest to the release of your 'stalker' rules by the way, I am right in thinking you have purchased all the necessary copyrights?
Dentatus: didn't realise these were your rules, well done. Creation looks far easier from the outside.
Am I right in thinking you were playing these rules and blogging them for a while before osprey approached you?
Anyway
Not having read (or played) picnic stalker or the metro series I am woefully unfamiliar with the material you built your game around, quick read of the plotlines on wiki is as far as I got so far.
That said my interest was piqued enough to buy the rules .
I was looking for a fast paced action orientated skirmish game for a handful of figures per side in an unique now/near future setting and guess what? I got one! And not a bad one either.
Are gunfights deadly, you bet. Do people die in the zone? They better.
If you can just walk through and blast anything and win every time then that would mean that the game was broken. It's not.
That said I was hoping that the background experience tables and artefacts would have guided me through the unfamiliar territory of the zone a little more, but nobody said you can't homebrew a few tables if needed right.
At the very least I'll have to go out and buy a metro book or picnic to read up on more inspiration, more good books to read (just finished 'triffids' for about the twentieth time so there's room on the reading shelf. Hang on, triffids in the zone? Why not? Best check in the rules first seeing as I'm incapable of independent thought (joke)
Keep up the good work there will always be nay sayers in what ever you do, just tune them out.
Was going to make a joke about 'corona alfa' to lighten the mood but don't want to get kicked off for bad taste
Thanks again for the great rules my ten year old thoroughly enjoys shooting the s**t out of me! As usual.
Cheers all
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Good luck, Glen. And good hunting.
Cheers Mate I will need all the luck I can get as the dice gods hate me I`m sure lol
And Sir, Theo you are indeed right.
As for everything else its just toy-soldiers, so no worries. Use it to escape the very strange outside world for a few hours at least.
That is all, stay calm and play wargames :-*
Glen
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Haha! Just downloaded the solo rules from the osprey website thanks dentists and redheads.
Playing with my self again...in the zone!
Cheers all
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Correct, our Exclusion Zone games were featured in the S7 blog posts for years. The earliest iteration of the core rules was titled 'Cleared to Engage' and they started life as a generic SF/NF skirmish game more than a decade ago. Turns out Phil S. at Osprey is a fan of the Stalker/Metro-verse, had noticed the bat reps, and here we are.
If you join the S7 FB Group, one of the members posted a very cool list of specific artifacts and Anomaly effects that really adds another layer to the game. I've got to shrug off this low-grade Covid19 anxiety, organize my work schedule to this current norm, and carve out some time to play test them.
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Re: c19 anxiety
You me and everyone both.
Looks like we will have a few weeks 'off work'
Will have plenty of time to 'destruction test' the solo rules.
Thanks for giving me something to do.
Cheers out
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Right I started this s**t so I’ll own it and finish it.
Let’s try and get this thread back on the track that I intended it shall we.(if anyone is interested and not just gonna slag it off) in which case I’ll just bin it.
So don’t know if you can tell from the photo but ,will there be razors in the zone?
Couple of shady military types ready to carry out any duties required
Dentatus Hope these are the type of ner do Wells you had in mind.
Cheers all
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Yeah ha ha world's gone topsy turvy.
Define irony.
Cheers all
Peace and safety.
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Chalk me up as one of the Grognards who doesn't mind a bare framework. When I started mucking about with wargaming in 1979 thats mostly what we had. Most of the guys I knew had 3rd or 4th gen photocopies of rulesets written by a club or someone who just loved the subject. Even D&D back then - for us broke high schoolers anyway - meant writing our own adventures, designing dungeons, mapping regions.
It was great fun, just that part of it. Playing with my friends was a bonus.
Its refreshing to find a game that harkens back to days of yore, where we are encouraged to play the game and not just the rules. Where all the crazy ideas I get can be fit like Tetris blocks into a custom mosaic of storytelling with some shoot 'em up to go with it. I have a notepad with all sorts of ideas I scribble down as they bubble to the surface.
I should have my minis very soon so I can start on them, in the meantime I will be building scenics and modding Matchbox cars and generally being excited about a project. Right now thats huge by itself.
A tip of the hat and a Thanks! to you, Dentatus, for putting it together.
Cheers!
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Yeah ha ha world's gone topsy turvy.
I have been sulking that my elderly tablet no longer changes from landscape to portràit (and adds bonus acçents).
However it does make looking at inverted images easier.
^__^
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This set of rules was on my buy list for Salute, sadly it will have to wait until things get better, but remains on the list.
Chimpfoot - keep us informed on how the solo rules play out.
Like Fallout, this is an area I know little about (I almost bought a copy of the first Metro 20xx for a trip to Moscow, but Waterstones did not have it).
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Degenerate elite :guess you're not happy with you're purchase, eh?
I'm sorry you feel that way.
But if you do feel the need to thoroughly critique someone else's work please try to find a more amiable tone. criticisms given in a friendly and constructive manner are better received and lead to far more constructive outcomes, whingeing and lists of complaints rarely achieve anything more than bad feelings. Fine you have your opinion and you're entitled to it.
Looking forward with great interest to the release of your 'stalker' rules by the way, I am right in thinking you have purchased all the necessary copyrights?
My first post was my impression of the book and specifically stated the things I did not like about it. It was not mean or confrontational. A complaint should have a list of items that are problematic, otherwise all it is is complaining and whinging or saying this is bad with no qualifications given.
After the author responded to basically say that it was my fault for not knowing the rules were generic, and the campaign was barebones, and there was almost no actual background info; all information that you don't know until you buy and read the book. Maybe that should have been the blurb on the back of the book?
I expect a historical set of rules to assume you have access to other books on the topic and to avoid anything but a few sample scenarios that serve as a demonstration. I expect a generic set of combat rules meant to be setting agnostic to gloss over background details. I have run and played lots of rpgs/wargames where i happily created scenarios and background.
There are tons of sets of barebones rules and it isn't some new invention. I have a shelf and hard drive full of them. They actually far outweigh rules where the author has taken time to develop anything past the bones.
However, when I buy a book with a specific setting, most especially a sci/fi game with a very specific setting, I expect that to be a primary focus. There are lots of ways to write-up Picnic and Stalker inspired hazards that don't step into any copyrighted material. Games have be writing "Fallout" expansion rules for years doing just that. I can appreciate that the author has played many games in this genre and is adept at creating scenarios to match within his gaming group. Almost none of that translated into the published rules, unfortunately.
And it is not that I lack imagination, need my handheld, am too stupid to understand rules or the authors intention stated over and over, should write my own set of licensed rules, should go back to a cave and play solo, or any of the other conclusions that have been so helpfully posted here.
I was not aware that what you were after was just a few unboxing type flip through reviews and posts about people buying it and being excited. Sorry about that.
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The Osprey blue books have a very specific set of parameters don't they? Page count etc. So I imagine it's very hard to put too much in the way of background etc into them whilst keeping all the rules stuff in there. Compare Zona Alfa to Reality's Edge for example. I don't think that's a bad thing though. I've bought the majority of the series as I really like just reading through the rules as an academic exercise, even if I never get around to playing the game.
I've just ordered Zona Alfa for Wordery for less than I sometimes have to spend for lunch at work. I'm not hugely familiar with the source material but I have played a couple of the Metro computer games so I get the gist.
Looking forward to giving the solo mode a go.
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' I've bought the majority of the series as I really like just reading through the rules as an academic exercise, even if I never get around to playing the game.'
Snap.
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'Upside down, miss Jane!'
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I feel I should apologize as well - my response was stronger than necessary. I will chalk it up to dtresses caused by the current crisis and it effects on my work, but that is a reason, but not a good excuse.