"1/72 rules, is "alzo zero" worth anything? Your rules?" Topic

My pastor is the one who got me interseted in models. He get just about all of his stuff from italeri. The more I learn about other manfacturers, the sadder Italeri seems. On the front of each box they have that little symbol "Also Zero Wargame Approved" like that some kind of stamp of quality. Looking at their online rules, They seem kind weak + the website hasn't been updated in years. Is Also Zero really worth trying to play with? What other rules are worth their salt? (I'm already familiar with rapid fire)

It's a good game, but Italeri is no longer making it. I believe the 2nd edition is available online.

If you are using the 1/72 figures and vehicles , we have successfully used them for " Flames Of War " and Disposeable Heroes " .
We kept the base sizes and all ranges the same for FOW , although on the infantry bases you may want to reduce the amount of figures to fit them on .
The FOW project has turned out allot cheaper in 1/72 than it would have in 15mm metal .
Disposeable Heroes is a fun , fast and often bloody skirmish game , allot of tense moments too .

hope that helps , cheers tom

Well not sure how I should be "correctly" be basing my figures, but i use the carboard boxes the figures came in. I cut them into 2cm by 1.5cm rectangles, paint them, then use some good old elmers and green green grass flock + plus a couple small rock and i've based my figure. Idk if its right, but it costs next to nothing and doesn't look half bad, but I suppose that wouldn't exactly work for FoW.

I believe the game had limited success for a short period of time. Then it was dropped by Italeri (they only went into the "game" business briefly in an attempt to seel more minis).

The original author of the game still owns the rights to it, and has (or at least had) his own website, where he was working on a 2nd edition, which was possibly going to be publihsed at some point. He had some files availablef or download if memory serves (but it often fails, so you are warned).

I was tracking it for a time, then stopped, so my info on the game is out of date. The last website address I had is this one:
alzozero.it/eng/index.html

But I can see it has been a couple of years since it was updated, so you obviously found this one based on your previous comments.

Before you spend any money, check out the Over There Rules.

The Price is Right. Can be downloaded free.

link

Basic Rules are 13 pages these days.

Reviewed at:

link

mjc

A local group has a few members that spoke highly of it, but I'm not aware of anybody playing. It really didn't offer enough to compel me to give it a try. There are certainly other options worth looking at, either free or inexpensive.

- Bob

If your doing skirmish, Arc of Fire is nice.

For 20mm-1/72, my game club uses Disposable Heroes and we've been using them for 3 years non-stop. There is a very good website at Iron Ivan games and a great discussion group on yahoo "Iron Ivan games". See if it sounds like something you'd like :-) It's not free however, but worth the expense.

I've played this game with my son and I have to say I found it to be a really fun and underrated set of rules. The entire set of rules is now free. There were two Wargames Illustrated magazines that did an excellent write up of the rules in case you can find them. I can't remember the issuse though.

Anyway, for a different set of card driven skirmish rules that were, in my mind, a lot of fun, give it a try.

ex Operation Overlord , now Operation World War II will be published this year by Nexus. Peoples who bring to us Wings of War and many other boardgames. It was annouced that they will putting everything in the box ( all miniatures for scenarios in that supplement).

there are 9 of us in my club who have or do play this game, 6 of us regularly and more people 'converting' from flames of war. And, as Podette says, it's a seriously underrated set of rules – very fun and dynamic games which really make you think about what you're doing every step of the way! I believe that Nexus will be working we Italeri – packaging rules with figs in regularly (i believe quartely from the press release I read a while ago) produced scenario packs.
when I find the link to the press release I'll post it

link

The card driven activation and interuption is good fun and adds a sense of FOG to the game. We found however that it did get bogged down once people figured out how to play the game well … as in there was too much going on each phase.
They are not the fastest set to play through we found – NUTS replaced them at our club mainly because you got the same result (lots of interaction) with less hassle. NUTS has a free brief version for you to try as well.

I get the impression its pretty deadly, certainly based on that battle-rep in WI. I'm ambivalent on card driven rules, theoretically there a great idea but I'm increasingly lazy after going through that rigmarole (prepping gaming aids) for The Face of Battle.

First use the rules that you are enjoying.

It does not have to be what everyone else is playing.

I play Rapid Fire, although where I live most play FOW.
rapid-fire.uk.com

cheers TY

Yes. We play Rapid Fire 2, 'cept we still use the artillery template form RF1. Great game.

The card activation system from the Alzo Zero rules is very good. We "borrowed" it, and use with the old Charles Grant "Battle" rules. We have a ball. The Cards make for a very exciting game. The system allows for a good back and forth – and it lets the infantry try to use bazooka, piats and schrecks in a convincing way.It's alawys fun to award badges to our surviving schreck and p.faust teams after the games :)
One of the responants above mentioned that the cards can slow the game down. I find myself agreeing for the most part. You can't play a large scale game with this system. We did a game with 6 squad sized units on one side, and that taxed it to the limit (for us the limit is – game must finish in less than 3 hours).

I like the rules very much, and played several games with it over the years. Indeed the card system brings some realism into the game, which for me is quite important. Also their extensive army list are a must have. Games tend to be not the fastest, but that's the only down side I would say.
BTW, if you play with these rules, get your gaming table full with terrain, for tanks are mighty with these rules.

Cheers,

Christiaan

and use with the old Charles Grant "Battle" rules.

Now that's a fun way to "live in the past".

--
Tim

Yup – almost like reenacting – the rules are so old :)

No excuses – we find them fun – but I won't try too hard to justify them on the basis of realism etc. I played them as a 12 year old after all.

But the Alzo Zero card system does really give them a kick.
BC

I agree with Smokey, but we still mess around with Rapid Fire! 1st ed. It is a very fun game that gives a solid feel for WW2 combined arms, without getting too bogged down with excess minutae.

As Rapid Fire! is meant for 1/72 scale figures and models, so Italeri kits and figures still remain viable options, and intermix quite easily with most other metal and resin "20mm scale" figures and models. A bonus from Italeri are their Fast Assembly armour kits, with IS-2s, ISU-122 and 152 assault guns, Panthers, and Tiger Is being currently available IIRC.

These are reasonably priced IMHO despite the rising cost of petroleum, and along with the Armorfast series of 1/72 scale kits from Hat Productions, a viable way to quickly build up your wargaming armies.

Another good source of these models BTW is the largest online and mail order hobby service in the US:

squadron.com

As Squadron is not a retail storefront, they don't have the overhead, and pass on the savings to consumers with lower prices (usually) and monthly sale items.

Hope all this helps!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

We also found that without a scenario then games can get bogged down as units find 'safe' firing positions and don't have an incentive to move (the card system makes maneuver in the open very risky!) But setting objectives that force movement we can get 8 units a side (3500pts for those with the rules) and play a game in 2.5hrs. We've modified FoW and 40K scenarios as they seem to work reasonably well with a bit of tweaking.

Black Widow,

I visited Squadron in Carrolton, TX once.

I was probably very annoying because I ran up and down their wharehouse like Tuco searching for Arch Stanton's grave in "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly"!!

Unbelievable place, and their monthly newsletter, chock full of bargains, is better than the Lane Bryant catalog every month!!!

:)

Smoke,

I'll be invading their facility this month like a groupe franc of S35s with an axe to grind and a convoy of Laffly S20Tls ready to load up with whatever I can pry loose.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Oh my gawad! Their monthly sales on 1/72 aircraft and armor are better than internet porn!

Touch some models for me when you go, Black Widow!

;)