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A review by heikieesmaa
Zona Alfa: Salvage and Survival in the Exclusion Zone by Patrick Todoroff, Sam Lamont
3.0
The theme of Stalkers battling it out in the Zone is captured very well. It is a very abstracted, streamlined rules system, eg weapons mostly have the same stats. Even for a miniatures agnostic game, the random encounters are described extremely broadly, which may be a good thing as well. After all, the designer says it outright that he set out to make a game that would not take extended time to study.
I have to say the flavor text blocks feel somehow off, not really Russian. As if a cowboy were to talk in "Cheeki Breeki." But it's not terrible.
What I straight up don't like is the "old roll to hit" / "roll to wound" mechanic showing its face once more. I find it unnecessarily slow (though perhaps less so in skirmish mode).
Also, I don't usually like systems where rolling low is better.
It seems I will be playing this after all as one of my gaming buddies is going for it. I personally would prefer a wackier and perhaps more American kind of postapocalypse, one appearing in games like This is Not a Test or even Fallout Wasteland Warfare, but not half bad at all.
I have to say the flavor text blocks feel somehow off, not really Russian. As if a cowboy were to talk in "Cheeki Breeki." But it's not terrible.
What I straight up don't like is the "old roll to hit" / "roll to wound" mechanic showing its face once more. I find it unnecessarily slow (though perhaps less so in skirmish mode).
Also, I don't usually like systems where rolling low is better.
It seems I will be playing this after all as one of my gaming buddies is going for it. I personally would prefer a wackier and perhaps more American kind of postapocalypse, one appearing in games like This is Not a Test or even Fallout Wasteland Warfare, but not half bad at all.