Pavels at the 107

*a quick Anomaly terrain piece for ZONA ALFA/KONTRABAND. Pavels at the 107 The Nuretsky brothers, Big Pavel and Little Pavel, are on a job for the trader, Savak Tul, delivering food and ammo to a stalker camp on the southern perimeter. They stop for the night near a well-known landmark: the ‘107’ – an abandoned […]

Welcome to Spustoshenyy

Population: 0 There you are, a veteran crew returning from a five-day mission. Sore backs, sore feet, tired, hungry, half your ammo gone – but still alive. And there’s a payday waiting. Even better. The Institute wanted Anomaly readings and environmental data from an area in the Deep Zone, so they hired you to babysit […]

Destresser: Tabletop Combat

To say it’s been quite a year is an understatement. And to think it ain’t over yet. *holds breath* Still, everyone here is mercifully healthy, reasonably sane, and cautiously optimistic about the future. Christmas is upon us. I’ve got family, friends, work, and projects lined up in the coming months…. ‘Hope springs eternal’, I guess. […]

Bullets, Boots, and Vodka

Uvyadshaya Slava – “Faded Glory” Three members of the CCWC got together last Tuesday eve for a quick game of ZONA ALFA. They wanted to get in a solid Zone run before we all begin another excursion to Davokar. As much as I enjoy straight tabletop wargames, RPGs are much easier with a large group […]

Nespokiyna Tysha

Restless Silence A Zona Alfa Battle Report Occasional Tom and I managed to carve out some game time. We were determined to put the new Solo/Cooperative “Point of Interest” rules through their paces. The idea here is to replace the usual set number of Hot Spots/Mission Objective with more numerous ‘points of interest’, all of […]

“The one with broken windows…”

A ZONA ALFA Bat Rep Turns out Supply Convoy S37 wasn’t lost at all; a notebook in the jacket of one of the drivers (the half-eaten one) revealed their detour into the Strashnyy Ublyudok facility was deliberate. Seems they had been sent to drive-by recon the area and locate a specific office building. “The one […]

“Wrong Turn, Alexei.”

A ZONA ALFA Battle Report. Help! This is convoy S37. Can anyone hear me? We’re holed up in an old industrial facility by a swamp and these huge rats and ghoul things are swarming us. The drivers are dead. So are the scientists. Now there’s only two of us left. Anyone, come quick. We’re running […]

Skirmish at the Luhansk Bunker

A ZONA ALFA BAT REP Luhansk Bunker. Exclusion Zone Alfa. North Sector: Threat Level 1. Remote, fortified, at the edge of the Luhansk Forest near a swamp, there was little attractive about it. Bugs, mud, vermin… not even decent salvage. Rumor was it had been cleaned out months ago. So why go? Well, the Ministry […]

Ushanka Security

“We got you covered.” After a pair of near- disastrous jobs, Yuri Bonyev, the Exclusion Zone’s premier tour guide, decided to shift his operation from a one-man outfit to a full blown salvage and security crew. For all its danger, the Zone is a busy place: Scientists, Corporations, Traders, PMCs, Criminals, Cultists, Loners… So many […]

In the Zone

*the following is an edited version of my recent interview in Miniature Wargames magazine. It offers an overview on ZONA ALFA development and game play. Can you introduce Zone Alfa? Zona Alfa: Salvage and Survival in the Exclusion Zone leans heavily into the fictional STALKER/METRO 2033 settings. If you’re not familiar, think Post-Apocalypse Soviet-style, in […]