Zone Alfa - Zone 33 hot action

This is my first proper game of Zona Alfa after having had the rules for several months and spending a good deal of time buying, scratch-building and painting scatter terrain.

Zone 33 was one of the later ones to appear around the globe. Reports coming in from some of the disasters at other zones quickly spread panic worldwide. The locals had more warning than most and many just piled into their vehicles and fled. As you will see from some of the actions shots the roads quickly became clogged.

The Object at the centre of Zone 33 came to earth/landed/appeared (depending on what you believe)  just off the coastline of the town of Sosnovy Bor, in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Finland near the Leningradskaya Nuclear power plant. A team of 6 divers were contracted by the authorities to investigate whatever was sat on the seabed. Only one made it back to the surface and he had been 'changed'. He was taken to the nearby Atomic Research Institute but sadly he could not be saved. When the order for total evacuation was made his body was placed in an ambulance and sent out of the zone for further research. Then, as we know, all hell broke loose. 

The scene of the action - ambulances in the east, Institute in the north west.

Recently two zone crews were approached and asked to send in teams to locate the body and bring back tissue and if possible fluid samples. The coordinates were deep inside the zone (Red level 3) and so they were advised to bring their best, travel quickly and include someone competent enough to take the samples. 

Vasili Sokolov, Ivan Rekabitzch, Prapor Yasfreb

 Ivan Rekabitzch, the veteran leader of the first crew, is a crack shot (steady hands) and prefers heavy ordnance. He lugs around an RPD light machine gun and also packs a magnum with red dot sight for the close in stuff. He has learned to never let his guard down in the zone so he always travels with a gas mask and a med kit. A pair of frag grenades completes his loadout.

His friend and second in command is Vasili Sokolov (veteran). A combat medic by training (bone doc) Sokolov carries plenty of med kits and a gas mask. He does cross-country running in his spare time so can cover ground quickly if he has to (hustle). His weapon of choice is an AK74 assault rifle and he knows how to keep a blade sharp so he carries a knife for hand-to-hand action. He normally takes smoke grenades for preference.

Rounding out the trio is Prapor Yasfreb (veteran). Personal bodyguard by profession he is a martial arts specialist  (knife man) and he also has a knack of coming up with solutions to problems often by acquiring equipment, seemingly out of thin air (scrounger). He carries a gas mask and binoculars and a shot of electro-juice for those days when you don’t want to get out of bed but the doorbell just won’t stop ringing. Like Sokolov, his favoured armament is a ’74 but he also sports a Glock special pistol and a couple of grenades.

 

Leonid Ortskoi, Genadi Samovich, Constantin Dachev

The second crew was put together by leader Genadi Samovich. A fitness fanatic and champion skier Samovich knows how to move about the battlefield (hustle). For firepower he has managed to acquire a VSS Vintorez which he is restoring (counts as battle rifle) but when it gets tight his backup weapon is a PL14 9mm pistol. He has a gas mask and a med kit. He carries a single frag grenade and pairs that up with a stun grenade for slowing down hordes of hostiles.

Leonid Ortskoi trained as a police special assault team member. Skilled in close quarters combat (knife man) he also picked up solid battlefield medicine skills (bone doc). An injury in the line of duty has left him a little short-sighted so he compensates for that by fielding a KS-23 close-in shotgun with attached red dot sight. As well as med kits and a gas mask, ‘Ort’, generally takes along a frag grenade as well as a smoke grenade for masking off enemy shooters until he can get into his favoured range (i.e.; close enough that he can see them!)

In contrast the third member of the team, Constantin Dachev, has excellent eyesight. This contributes to him being a great shot (steady hands) and also means he doesn’t miss anything (scrounger), even when wearing his gasmask.  He carries an AK74 assault rifle and frag grenades for offensive firepower and a boot knife to deal with close in opponents.  

Both leaders selected only veteran crew. There was going to be lots of action and movement, with not a rookie in sight. The red zone is too dangerous to play wet-nurse, not at those prices anyway.

 

 1^st turn

Where did they come from?

 

Genadi’s gang started off on the western edge of the table near the Atomic Institute perimeter fence.

Ort threw a bolt at the pile of crates inside the yard and was surprised to see 8 zombies rise up from the floor and come rushing towards him.

He fired off a blast from his shotgun and in what was the first of a number of critical misses (probably burned through the KS23’s 4-shot capacity in a few seconds) he managed to kill only 1 zombie but was then left fumbling to reload (1 pin from a crit fail).

 

 

 

Rad Boars

 

 

Dachev moved up and threw a bolt at the jeep opposite the compound gate. A loud snorting was heard as two (small mutant) Rad Boars sniffed the air having had their meal of some of the car-drivers’ corpses interrupted. Dachev killed one with a burst of fire but then went on overwatch as he couldn’t see the other. 

Genadi hurried forward and then turned to put a burst of fire from his Vintorez into the zombies. He saw hits but the tough zombies shrugged off the fire and kept scurrying towards the security fence. He went on alert and was ready for when the second Rad Boar charged out from behind the jeep. The Vintorez did the trick this time.

 

 

Further south Rekabitzch brought his crew on near a collapsed industrial building. He tossed a bolt at the hot spot inside but unfortunately a pack of feral dogs were using the old furniture as a lair and six of them sprang over the wall, two engaging him directly and two tearing into the YasFreb. In the ensuing close combat both Yasfreb and his boss killed one dog but the scrounger went down to the second. The last two headed towards Vasili Sokolov but ended just out of reach and in his turn he managed to bring them down with AK fire. He then drew his knife and pitched into the remaining dogs helping to swing the balance and finish them off.

Rabid dog attack (each model counts as 2)

 

2^nd turn

 Sokolov used his med kit on Yasfreb and then moved up past the building to get a look at the second hot spot in the ruined town houses. A successful bolt toss disturbed the resident giant mutant slug which somehow squeezed through a very small opening and 

Giant mutant slug

  slimed its was forward towards the bone doc.  Meanwhile the crew's scrounger leapt into the now empty industrial building and began to rummage around for anything useful finding numerous pieces of salvage and some other items.

Back by the compound Ortskoi tried a grenade and did get it on target but the resilient zombies (all four in the blast zone made their armour saves) kept coming. He finally found the range with his shotgun and the hail of pellets began to tear the zombies apart. He had to reload at least once (remove pin from a crit fail) but, gifted another action by his boss, he moved up to the gate and took aim at the last tough zombie.

One tough zombie

Genadi did down one zombie with his heavier battle rifle and then urged his scrounger-in-chief forward to search the hotspot on the jeep (leader gives searcher +1 will roll vs anomaly). Dachev successfully negotiated the tricky task and was rewarded by a pile of salvage, a hold-all full of equipment and a small insight into how these anomalies worked (+1 permanent will increase!).

 

3^rd turn

Mind my tentacles!

 

 

Dachev finished his searching and then decided to rest and survey the surroundings (Alert).This proved a good choice because in the south the slug that Vasili Sokolov had disturbed came into his eyeline. Quick as a flash Dachev hit it with a burst from his ’74 and although most of the rounds spanged off the sloping armour plates of the monstrosity a few did penetrate and gouts of sickly ichor splashed from the holes (1 wound).

 

The enraged beast thrashed forward and poured over some abandoned cars to engage Yasfreb but, slowed by its wounds, it wasn’t yet able to attack him.  Sokolov decided that he would not risk a full on battle with the giant gastropod and, disengaging from the thrashing pink tentacles that were trying to grab him (survived the free hit), he ran round the car and fired a burst from behind the creature. Here the slug’s sloping armour worked against it by trapping ricocheting rounds (AC 7 from the front AC 4 from the rear) and he dispatched it with ease. The rest of Sokolov’s team mates hurried forward to catch him up

Ortskoi did manage to finish off the final zombie but had yet another stoppage (crit fail pin 😊) which took a moment to clear and Genadi Samovich signalled his crew onwards.

  

 

                  Rear shot  

                    

 4^th turn

Needing no further encouragement, Constantin Dachev headed towards the small building near the birch woods and tossed a bolt at a high up hotspot. More zombie came stumbling from the lower floor and headed towards the scrounger who threw a grenade and downed a couple of the creatures at the back. Briefly it looked like Dachev might be overwhelmed but Leonid Ortskoi charged into the fray and immediately cut huge swathes into the zombies with his shotgun. 

The melee was over before it had really started and the scrounger scurried up to the building and clambered onto the upper floor. At his bosses urgings (leader Genadi gifting an action) the scrounger started to check the hotspot. There was some more equipment and it turned out to also contain an anomaly. Possibly overconfident from his newly found insight he rushed the investigation and the anomaly exploded in a pulse of light and energy, unfortunately flooring Dachev.

 

 

 

 

 

                          More Zeds

 

Meanwhile Rekabitzch’s crew piled forward into the town houses. Wanting to emulate his team member’s success Vasili Sokolov rushed to the hotspot and began to rummage through the collapsed building. He uncovered some salvage and successfully navigated the anomaly present but with only minimal results (rolled a 1 on the search table). Grumbling an insult about amatuers the eagle-eyed Yasfreb spotted a huge mutant behind the second row of town houses and managed to wound it first time with a burst from his AK 74. Lugging his LMG forward, Rekabitzch rested it on a wall and waited for the creature to come into view (Alert).  Sokolov tried some long range pistol shooting with little material effect although it did enrage the beast and cause it to charge towards the group, right into the boss’s kill zone.

Kill zone

A long burst of LMG fire was enough to bring it down at which point Sokolov noticed the remains of a diver’s wetsuit melded into the flesh of the creature. They had found the mission target!

5^th turn

Sokolov reached into his kit bag and prepared to gather tissue and fluid samples from the creature. Meanwhile Yasfreb hopped up to the hotspot and began to investigate. He salvaged a couple of interesting items then saw two strange glowing discs. One of these anomalies discharged a bolt of lighting towards him but it struck his rubber glove and then grounded into the building. He managed to earth the second one and collect it into an anti-static bag he had brought along and that did the trick (one failed will roll but a successful save and one successful roll). Seeing his scrounger still upright Rekabitzch ran along the alleyway to get a bead on the final hot spot.

 

Sokolov secures the mission objective

At the Atomic Institute compound Genadi Samovich hurried through the gates towards the hotspot (hustle) near the piles of boxes. Ortskoi finished reloading his shotgun (unpin) and dashed to help his friend on the first floor of the small building. At his bosses urging (Genadi had gifted an action) he revived Dachev using a med-kit.

6^th turn.

For the first time Ivan Rekabitzsch’s crew won the initiative in the engagement and the leader himself tossed a bolt at the final hotspot. Six Rad Ghouls surged from the trees. LMG fire from Rekabitzch himself only caused 1 wound but the noise of the heavy weapon brought Sokolov dashing and he was able to kill a second with his AK 74. In a spirit of cooperation Leonid Ortskoi leapt from the platform and began to let rip with his shotgun. He downed two more before the remaining two ghouls crashed into him and Rekabitzsch.

Cooperation in action

Dachev started to carefully approach the second glowing anomaly on the platform, fearful of triggering another energy release but this time he came up trumps and was rewarded with more salvage instead.

7^th and final turn

In the compound Genadi Samovich investigated the hot spot and came up with some equipment and some exotic looking metals which he placed into a stuff bag. They would fetch high prices in the Stalls with any luck.

The close combat with the remaining Rad Ghouls was pretty one-sided. Ortskoi dispatching his opponent with ease and Rekabitzsch pulling his magnum and blowing his ghastly opponent apart. In the last action of the mission Prapor Yasfreb rushed to the final hotspot and came away with more salvage although only small pieces (rolls of 1 and 2 on the search table).

Rekabitzch and Samovich had a quick council as they were leaving the area. They would travel out of the zone separately as it was easier to move unseen if you travelled in small groups.  They shook hands and headed off in different directions into the forest.

 .............................................

 

What a game! I have had these rules for nearly half a year and not played an actual mission yet. During that time I have spent a while making/painting more scatter terrain and I had tried a couple of the combat and actions rules out to get a feel of things and that had left me initially a bit underwhelmed thinking they were somewhat ‘mechanical’. HOW WRONG I WAS!

That co-op game was brilliant! I ran Genadi’s crew and my son controlled Rekabitzch and his mob and we had an absolute blast. From kitting out our crews to rolling for triggered hostiles to picking out suitable items from our selection of ‘monster’ minis to actually getting them on the table and fighting and laughing and searching for salvage. The best part for me was the flow of the game. We started out with 7 turns and, as it was a level 3 red zone, 7 hotspots to investigate. We chose three-man crews with only veterans as suggested for these co-op games, with the aim of getting them moving quickly and that worked out a treat. The first thing my son said at the end was that he enjoyed how aggressive we were and indeed had to be – bolt toss, uncover, engage, dispatch, (heal), unpin!, reset and go again. With three actions each and the very valuable 'leader granting an action skill' you felt like everything was just about controllable but also you needed some luck. I can imagine it being a bit different if we had drawn a group of bandits and had them sending rounds in our direction.

I also loved how easily the skills we chose and the encouragement from the author to treat the rules as a framework gave the space to add flavour to your characters and their actions and to the monsters. I had wanted to put that giant mutant slug mini into a game for a while now. Its sloping armour plates said to me that it would be harder to penetrate from the front and consequently easier from the back. That played out brilliantly. And you can just do little things like that  - as the guidelines say - Your zone, your rules!

We didn’t choose to load our characters down with the best starting gear. I already love my shortsighted medic Sokolov who is only really effective with his shotgun up close where he can see his targets, but boy is he effective. The figure is armed only with a shotgun so I chose not to give him a longer ranged weapon. The shortsightedness idea came as I was writing the characters’ backgrounds afterwards for this report, but it is perfect.

I also loved how, even with the limited number of skills, we were able to develop the characters. Yasfreb is a martial arts specialist (knife man skill), Ortskoi is trained in close quarter combat (knife man skill also). So same skill but they feel like distinctly different characters with different backgrounds.

The final tally of salvage and experience meant my crew had 14 ‘advances’ and my son’s crew had 23 since he nailed an extra hotspot and and he fulfilled the mission brief. That was evened out by the fact that my scrounger gained a permanent +1 will from an anomaly which you normally can only improve in the campaign phase in exchange for 10 advances!

In the final tally of loot we both cleared around 14K in Zone Script plus about half a dozen items of equipment - NOD's,scopes, the odd toolbox, a detector each! so a very lucrative haul. Then again it was the Red Zone. Technically we could retire right there but our story has only just started, There is wealth beyond measure if you are prepared to venture deep and stay on the right side of St Strelok!

Patrick has written a fantastic set of rules with great guidelines about having fun and tweaking as you see fit. The thing that he is always on about, but which it took playing an actual mission to finally bring home to me, is the idea of using a set of rules to tell a story and have a great time whilst doing so. Zona Alfa does that for me in spades.