Solo Budget Wargamer

 After a chance search on Ebay last week, I came across an original Dirtside II rulebook with chits and tokens included. I put in a bid and was lucky enough to win. While I will use the physical copy of the rules, the reason I bid was for the chits. In Dirtside II, when a hit is scored, chits are drawn to determine damage. Up to now I have been using my own homemade chits made from paper but they are fiddly, so having the original card ones will make my games run a lot smoother. The rulebook, chits and tokens, published by Ground Zero Games in 1993 Ready for a game

 I had a parcel arrive from Brigade Models on Saturday, delivered in great time as usual. Inside was my latest order from them, additional units and vehicles to flesh out and expand my two Dirtside II armies. I'm filling in the gaps in my existing tank platoons with a few extra tanks, while also giving each army a tank destroyer platoon, self-propelled artillery platoon, light tank platoon and finally... a mechanized infantry platoon. It will be the first time painting 6mm infantrymen for me so I am looking forward to that and hoping it goes well as I plan on expanding on those platoons and forming infantry companies. As you can see I have made a start on the infantry and, unlike previously, I am going to take it easy and tackle this project platoon by platoon from now on in order to avoid burning myself out. 

Now that I have two forces for Dirtside II, it is time to get some terrain ready for a proper game. I placed an order with Pendraken recently for some MDF roads and added the below MDF fences to my order, they are produced by Red Vectors and are 6mm scale. I was expecting the fences to be more fiddly but they went together quiet easily without accident.  I also had a go at scratch building terrain for the first time. I thought bocage/hedgerows would be simple enough. I used tongue depressors covered with filler, gravel, sand, paint and clump foliage from Woodland Scenics (in that order). The only issue I had was when the depressors began to warp once the filler began to dry, however leaving them under my tub of sand overnight flattened them out come morning. I plan on making more of these now that I am happy with the process and also plan on adding some hills to my collection. 

  I had a week off work recently so set myself the challenge of completing two opposing forces for my first game of Dirtside II. For me this was a challenge but thankfully I have now broken the back of the two armies, I will limit future additions to a platoon or two at a time.  All figures from Brigade Models

I have started this blog as a way to log my progress in the hobby of wargaming. I have a few projects on the go at the moment, main one being 6mm sci-fi. As the name suggests, I try to keep hobby costs down.