More vehicles for Zona Alfa: a BTR-80

Here's another Soviet vehicle for Zona Alfa or maybe some Cold War wargaming, this time an APC: a BTR-80 in 1:72 scale.

I assembled and painted this Trumpeter kit about a year or so ago, and was actually quite proud of it. But that was before I discovered the wonderful work of such YouTube hobbyists and tank specialists as Night Shift, Panzermeister36 or PLASMO. Seriously, if you're in any way interested in painting eye-popping tanks, go learn from these guys.

I thought this counted as "weathering"...

...but Martin Kovack A.K.A. "Uncle Night Shift" has taught me better!

Now I'm a little ashamed of my BTR. I will probably re-do it, or at least fix it with better weathering, pin-washing and panel lining, and anything else I get the inspiration to do.

Of course, any excuse to paint more weathered Soviet-era vehicles is always welcome. That's why I already have on my workbench a BMP-1, and I'm eyeing some MAZ truck kits...

A tank as scenery for Zona Alfa

Zona Alfa and similar skirmish games are not a good fit for "on table" vehicles. Vehicles need room for maneuver, which a 90x90cm table doesn't have -- not for scales 1:72 or 28mm, anyway. Trying to actually use vehicles on such a small table leads to the ridiculous "tank parking lot" problem.

However, I still need an excuse to paint cool stuff like Cold War era tanks and armored vehicles. Zona Alfa recommends using them as scenery; essentially, objective markers or obstacles that block line of vision. A rusty abandoned tank can be the last known location of a convoy which was rumored to have been carrying top secret equipment. Or it can be an abandoned piece of hardware which happens to be the location of a reality-distorting anomaly!

Anyway, here's a low quality ESCI T-62 Russian tank I'm working on. It's currently primed green, without any additional work. I'm planning on adding stowage, battle damage and rust... lots of rust.

Partially assembled bits.

Assembled.

Primed green. Ready for battle damage and rust effects!

Starting a Zona Alfa / Kontraband crew

"So,you decided to sneak past the Cordon, eh? Slip by the patrols and the towers, through the minefield, under the electric fence, to take your chances in the Exclusion Zone?"

I'm starting a Zona Alfa / Kontraband crew.

Zona Alfa is part of Osprey's "blue book" series, and it's a player-vs-player skirmish game set in a Roadside Picnic / S.T.A.L.K.E.R. inspired setting, which means: a vaguely Eastern European country, a mysterious exclusion Zone, radioactivity, monsters, bandits, and bizarre artifacts of possibly alien origin. Your crew will try to recover valuable salvage and dangerous artifacts while dealing with monsters and rival crews.

Kontraband is an expansion for this game, focusing exclusively on solo/coop gameplay. This means it's your crew versus the game. The difficulty of the monsters and dangers is amped up, but to offset this, your crew are all veterans.

Why do I like this game?

• It's fast-paced without cumbersome rules.
• It requires very few minis (about 4 for Kontraband, plus a bunch of bandits, vermin and ghouls).
• The recommended play area (3x3) is ideal for those of us without a lot of space. I'm building a 90x90cm table.
• The setting is unusual and interesting.

Skirmish games like these are ideal for 28mm miniatures. However, I spotted some excellent 1:72 scale minis by Ukrainian brand Red Box / Dark Alliance: their Stalkers 1 and Stalkers 2 boxes, each with 48 minis in 12 unique poses! I like 1:72 scale soft plastic minis because they are small, cheap, and don't break if dropped. Consequently, I decided to use those.

Here's my try at building a crew with them. Just primed with some drybrushing to fake zenithal highlights.

Andy. 

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog!

I will post about my hobby interests, mostly about tabletop miniatures games, wargames, model kits, painting, kitbashing, etc.

I prefer indie games with a focus on "skirmish" games with few miniatures, such as Song of Blades and Heroes, Zona Alfa and Frostgrave. I own many rulesets from Osprey's "blue book" series. I enjoy both fantasy and scifi settings, as well as historical (where I tend to prefer World War II the most). I also like major brand games such as Games Workshop's Blackstone Fortress; their minis are simply superb.

Some of my favorite blogs, games and authors, in random order:

• Balagan, a website about historical wargaming with a focus on Crossfire, my favorite WWII wargame.
• Stalker7, a website by the author of such fabulous games as Zona Alfa and Exploit Zero.
• Midwinter Minis and Sonic Sledgehammer are my favorite hobby YouTube authors, with tons of useful hobby tips and a great attitude.

I hope to keep this blog alive and post about my hobby projects.

Thanks for reading!
Andy