Zona Alfa: Welcome to Chernobyl

As part of the Zona Alfa launch, the designer Patrick Todoroff decided to run a small terrain competition with some nice prizes. The rules are fairly straight forward, the terrain piece must be:
3" x 5", setting fitting, contain scratch build or converted elements.

I cut out a base from 3mm thick cardboard. Make sure to add an X with duct tape on the back, it will prevent warping when adding a lot of pva glue for sanding.

Made a roll of barbed wire from regular steel wire. Take a long piece of wire, bend it around a nail and secure the ends to your electric drill. Twist it up. Now take the twisted steel wire and curl it around a pencill Voila barbed wire.

Went online and found a picture of an actual sign at the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Cut it out, shrinked it and printed on some thick photo paper.

The frame for the sign is part of an old dinosaur cage toy. Added a tree amateur from China (got a 100 for next to nothing at some point). Also took some resin barrels and a crate from Ramshackle Games. The wheel is from a broken tractor toy. 

All glued to the base with cheap super glue. The body and legs are from an Anvil Industries lucky bag, it's not a tight fit at the joint.

Went to my bit box and dug out a bunch of different Warlord Games bits from Project Z and Bolt Action. Gave the guy some winter russian arms with gloves. Found some large pouches to hide the bad fit around the waist. Also put some gear on the box.

The head is pretty cool, also from an Anvil Industries lucky bag. It's a helmet gasmask head, but with one eye glass and the back of the helmet blown out.

The barbed wire is secured with super glue. Made sure to also had connecting points at the wheel and sign post, where I also added glue.

Then added a layer and sand to the entire thing.

I remember seeing this sign ages ago and it made an impression on me. The whole Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a tragic but inspiring part of history. And then I had this part of the Metro book series in my mind when building the piece.

There's no shame for a stalker to loot the corpse of another. It's the only funeral honor you can expect when dying within the zone. And nobody would want good gear and ammunition to go to waste.

That's the story here. A guy dead in the zone, his gear up for the taking. Crows already taking their part of the corpse.




I'll put this piece on the table when I head into Chernya Woods in my next Zona Alfa game.

The prize

As this piece was awarded the 2nd place I was send and awesome Zona Alfa measuring device and this cool and painted zone guide - build and painted by author Patrick. That's a nice prize for making this little build.