Project: Exclusive

Sometimes I ask myself, what the hell are we all running around for, anyway? To make money? But what the hell do we need money for if all we do is run around making it? 
   - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic

sorry about the square crop. stupid instagram

Remember back in March when I painted those silly Ásatrú cowboys? Well, my lovely friend has since convinced several of us that this time he really will do it, and this time it's Zona Alfa, the Metro 2033/Stalker/S.T.A.L.K.E.R/Roadside Picnic Osprey blue book game about ex-Soviet adventurers in some kind of Horrible Place post-Event. A lot of people read Event as Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster, although Roadside Picnic is not at all like that.

For me, I've been Zona Alfa-curious for years, and I'd recently seen tylerisalrightatpainting's really lovely go at the Eureka sculpts, so I was already teetering on the edge. When my friend said he wanted to organise some gaming in 2026, I popped in an order to Eureka (and then another order when they arrived and I realised that I forgot the sniper I wanted). I'm still not convinced my friend will be organised enough for me to make the trip up to see him, but regular guest Mangs says that he can put together a gang, so we'll see. And flaky friend has managed to organise at least one game since I bought these, so maybe I'll eat crow.

1980s Soviet infantry in NBC suits with AK-47s

While Eureka need to get way better at packing their models, they are lovely sculpts. Some are showing signs of aging with some nasty mould lines and a little flash, but these are easily cleaned up or ignored. My main challenge was dealing with actual real guns and equipment, rather than making stuff up.

Luckily, the internet has lots of photos of Ak-47s, so a Google search took care of that. For the dull, near-black metallics, I mixed black and Citadel's Iron Warriors, then hit it with a black wash. No highlighting; I wanted these to be dull.

1980s Soviet specialists - SVD sniper rifle and PK machine gun

The chem suits were harder. I had tyler's inspirational models in dull yellow and white, but I was toying with the idea of colour-coding the band - you know, leader in one colour, each specialist in another. A bit like a pallete-swapped video game. While googling around for what these suits actually looked like, I came across this incredibly useful tumblr post which had a colour plate from an Osprey (Osprey Elite #12 Inside the Soviet Army) as well as this post from Barks - oh, actually, he's from New England! huh. - who has painted the same models and used similar references.

1980s Soviet specialist - LPO-50 flamethrower

and reverse!

I rolled around these inspirations in my head, but decided in the end to stick with the very first thought, which was a dull, pale yellow and the gas masks in a creepy bone. I laid out a sampler of my various khaki and khaki-adjacent paints, in the end deciding on a mix of Vallejo's Elfic Flesh and Dead Flesh 1:1), sepia shaded and then highlighted with a paler mix (2:1 more or less). The bone masks were Ushabti bone, sepia shaded, then hit with Army Painter Mummy Robes (this is my favourite imperfect white, and I was put onto it by Rubricist.)

1980s Soviet specialist - RPG-7

chunky midsection

Any imperfections in the mixed colours would be fine, as these sorts of things are rarely uniform in colour - especially when, uh, second hand, shall we say diplomatically.

The greens on the helmets and fuel cylinders (and a few other bits) are all Vallejo's Russian Uniform WWII, entirely based on the name and because it's funny. Leather is the new Contrast Snakebite leather, sepia shaded and occasionally hit with other shades. Black gloves are my usual method, etc etc. Keeping these paints simple keeps the effects of the bone-white masks, glossy black lenses, etc creepy as hell but still grounded in reality. (sort of; the lenses should be rimmed in metal according to photos of the masks, but this looks cooler)

I love that the guy with the bazooka has a chunky middle. It's probably the suit, but I like to think he enjoys his food. The red on that is because it kept coming up in Google Image results. It seemed weird, but it was really common in my lazy searching.

1980s Soviet officer with DP-12 Contamination Survey Meter

and an AK-47

The DP-12 relied mostly on that Osprey image. As Barks points out, the sculpt is a dead ringer for the Osprey art. I did find a video review which let me see that the actual device is that regulation green, as well as seeing the thing in use (which is fun). It was also fun to paint a slightly dirty white stick.

1980s Soviet officer with AK-47 and voicemitter

Both officers have a GP-5M mask, which has a 'voicemitter' for clearer communication. This adds to the creepiness of the rest of the guys for sure. I was tempted to keep the voicemitters the bone colour of the mask, but decided on steel for ~realism. This squad is meant to be folks scavenging in the Zone, not creepy horror nightmares, after all. I do imagine they play up their unsettling appearance - worth a shot if it gives the other guy the willies for a second!

Russian Chemical Warfare Suits
From Inside the Soviet Army, Osprey Elite #12 ©1987

Because of the way that Zona Alfa crew construction works, while I can run all ten of these at once, I don't think I will. I'll likely run a few of them as more veteran, and I doubt I'll bring the grenadier for the early missions! They will of course be Independents - the uniform look is only for working together in the Zone!

ни пуха ни пера, товарищи!