Back into Zona Alfa...

As you all know by now, I got a rule majorly wrong in my first game: all models when fired upon get to make an armour save. I didn't do that, so it's no wonder all the Zone Hostiles dropped like flies when I tossed a grenade at them!

So with my OCD, I just had to re-play the same scenario. This time, I changed it so the objective (the APC) was in the centre of the table (per the rules); there were only 4 Hot Spots (as recommended in the Solo Rules); all my crew were now Veteran so I now have 3 actions per model and I had to get in, get the data and get out again. The other thing that changed (due to random die rolls) was I now had 5 turns to get the job done instead of 6.

This game went pretty much the same as the previous one: I moved in, tossed some stones, triggered the Hot Spots. The other thing I didn't do in my first game was: as soon as Zone Hostiles spawn, they get a free movement.

So now when Zone Hostiles spawn... I either need to be placed out of their way (like on top of a container) or have someone waste their actions to go on overwatch and toss a grenade at them.

My first spawn was 2 Vermin Swarms. Managed to get rid of them ... but not easily as Maksim missed his shots! And Sveta got a critical fail! Then Nastya did her thing and not only managed to pull out lots of loot but also discovered an Anomaly! It's pretty nail-biting to search one since a fail will do 2 auto hits on anyone in a 6" radius. Even at Will 6 plus 1 from Maksim's Leader boost... it's a dicey affair. 30% chance to fail. Thankfully, she didn't.

So the crew moved forwards, triggering the Objective and spawning... a pack of ferals. I used giant feral mutated rats instead of the dogs in the rules since that was all I had. They worked well. Charged right at Xenia with 8" of movement. She tried to fight back. But those feral rats had 2 melee dice compared to Xenia's 1. So all she could do was fend off their attacks wasting both her remaining actions.

Thankfully Sveta was up next and she ever reliably tossed her grenade oh-so-carefully at the pack. This time, out of 6 ferals... 5 died. 1 survived. Since mathematically they could not have survived, as they only had ARM(our) 2 which was negated by the grenade's DAM(age) 2, the only way they could've survived was by rolling a 1. Which happened. Sveta didn't blink and followed up with a blast on her shotgun. End of the ferals.

Nastya went forth, did her thing and got the data PLUS discovered another Anomaly! (That d6 I had for this game was a marvel... when rolling for Zone Hostiles, I got low 1's and 2's ensuring easy opposition, but when searching for loot I got 5's and 6's, ensuring maximum loot... and Anomalies.)

Another nerve wracking Search later... (again boosted by Maksim) she pulled out some lovely loot and an Artefact.

Time was running out, so the crew only had time to trigger one more Hot Spot. This was done courtesy of Sveta, who smartly climbed up a container before doing so as she disturbed another 2 Vermin Swarms who promptly charged her. But since she was on top of a container, they couldn't get to her. Phew! (Although if it did come down to melee, Sveta's Shotgun would've been much better than Xenia's Pistol).

Xenia moved into position and carefully tossed another grenade, and this time blew both Vermin Swarms to bits. After that it was a bit of an anticlimax as Nastya moved in and did her Scrounging thing. But this hot Spot was a bit of a disappointment as the die roll was quite low, ensuring minimal returns. 

The crew then pulled back out the way they came in.

AFTERMATH:

6,000 salvage value

9,000 Artefacts (Armour bonus + Movement bonus)

17 Advances for killing Zone hostiles and accomplishing missions etc.

AAR: This game had a different feel to it. Not as action packed or desperate as the first game due to a lower number of Hot Spots triggered, plus I spawned some very unchallenging Zone Hostiles. And to think I'd gone to the trouble of actually trying to match the minis to the in-game monsters. 

I think next time I'll add a group of 4 Bandits already spawned into the mix. They will enter from the opposing side and make their way towards the objective also.

Still, the game is solid and whatever lingering rules questions I had was quickly resolved by either the game's FB group or the game designer himself.

As Zona Alfa emphasises narrative game play rather than min-maxing the rules to gain an advantage over your opponent and where the meta game of army building can win or lose you the game, this game will shine with properly designed scenarios in a story-driven mini campaign. That and of course levelling up your Crew, hiring more Crew member to flesh out the roster, buying some nice gear from the Stalls to outfit your Crew and stashing away the rubles for your retirement fund... stuff like that. The game designer has already provided a 5-mission solo campaign gratis, so all I need to do is set up and play. (Hahaha, he laughed hollowly...)

Between Zona Alfa (Post-apocalypse), Hardwired (Cyberpunk) and Horizon Wars Zero Dark (Sci-fi) my gaming needs are more than adequately catered for during this round of pandemic lockdowns. All I'm missing is a set of solid rules for Fantasy. I do have Sellwords and Spellslingers, but my cards are inaccessible for now and I really don't want to print them again. 

Ah, but... CROM to the rescue! What's CROM, you may ask? It's a set of simple yet catchy rules for fantasy gaming. Not solo unfortunately but I think it will be too much trouble to convert to solo play. The game is more focused on narrative play and is very rules light. I'm in the process of making up cards and digging through my Monolith Conan Kickstarter for the appropriate minis, and you can read all about CROM sometime soon! Maybe during the Chinese Lunar New Year since we can't gather around or visit friends and family thanks to the pandemic.