Watchtower (finished)

A couple of shots of the finished watchtower

 A protective encircling pallisade needed perhaps ? hmm will have to think on best way to make one.

Roman Watchtower - work in progress (3)

A bit more work done on the watchtower. Firstly a couple of chaps to keep a look out (modified Timpo Toyway heroic romans)

Also needed a couple of braziers for signal fires. I made these from a plastic lego wheel with the rim removed and the spokes turned up - a little cotton wool with PVA in the centre; all on a wire support

Roman Watchtower - work in progress (2)

The detail of the timbers in the top part of the watchtower have been added and a basic handrail

Roman Watchtower - work in progress (1)

The dumpy watchtower is taking shape....

Cut down Playmobil castle parts form the base part of the tower, with the top part made from card and foamboard. A spare roof being just right tops its off. I'm happy with the look of it so have added the supports for the walkway....

Walls and more ?

A recent purchase off Ebay for £12 + P&P - toy self assembly castle bits (a rather larger parcel than I'd expected!)

 All sorted into separate parts

 Quick assembly to give me the walls and gate of roman town/fortress; will cut down the wall height by an inch and make a better gateway

 Last bits of wall to make the bottom part of a dumpy roman watchtower

all the other usable bits have been stashed away for future re-use.

Gallic/celtic hut - work in progress

I've pottery made hut I bought in a charity shop,

 the stone work and door isn't quite right, so I've embarked on some modifications. Covering up the stone work and adding an entrance (to hide the door)

 Thatch added to the entrance using modelling clay..

Legio X: Fourth Cohort

The fourth cohort under inspection, as other cohorts are being put through their paces...

 Cohorts then march past ...

[New items: the 4th cohort, the last of my planned roman units; plenty to do though - I've some nice Rose Miniatures civilians to work on

Note: additional image added 30th August]

Gallic warband

In the southern tribal territory of the Nervii, a warband gathers ...

[new items: 
1. Gallic chieftan, manufacturer unknown
2. the rest are made up from a box of Italeri gallic warriors and 10 Timpo Toyway roman soldier bodies]

A walk in the woods ...

Asterix and Obelix had gone for a walk in the woods and ran into a roman patrol ...

Asterix: Where did the rest go ....

Obelix: they ran off back down the pathway ...

[new items: some roman casualty markers made up using parts of Timpo Toyway Heroic romans]

The Governor's guard ....

The Governor inspects his newly re-equipped personal guard ...

[ new items: 4 figs for the guard, made up using parts from 3 different poses of Timpo Toyway romans]

Patrol returns, ... and legionaries under inspection

At one of the frontier forts an officer and legionary wait for the return of a patrol, they can just see them coming in the distance ...

---oXo---

Meanwhile in the parade ground by the legionary fortress, the 1st cohort is doing some marching in battle line drill

and are then inspected by senior officers ...

[new items: converted officer and legionary by fort gates, 8 extra legionaries to complete the cohort..]

Making use of a box of Romans ... figure conversions ....

 My easter holiday modelling project, making use of a box of 42 Timpo Toyway Heroic figures I bought of Ebay for £21.

 after removing them from the plastic wrappers, 4 sets of 10 poses plus a couple of extras.

 The aim is to use them for conversions, small additions to units, maybe a camp vignette and maybe to make some casualty markers. The green bases will be used for small scenic items.

The first lot of conversions, a box of Italeri gallic warriors and 10 Timpo Toyway bodies and some other spare parts to provide a commander's retinue and six skirmishers....

 Another conversion, a standing roman officer with cloak made up based on the Timpo Toyway centurion (on left) ...

To cope with the extra gauls, some more legionaries with simple conversions to top-up my 1st Cohort - 4 with my home made pilums, 4 with grounded shield changed to holding shield and a new sword arm.

 

An enjoyable weekends modelling. So far I've used up 20 of the figures in the box I bought; now on to the painting queue they go ......

Roman cavalry leaves on patrol ....

On the border of the tribal territory of the Nasturces, a roman auxiliary cavalry patrol leaves a timber fort ....

[the romanised version of my pallisade sections poses as a timber fort in the corner of the gaming table.]

At the gallic village ...

While Asterix and Obelix decide what to do today...

a few people are moving around ...before starting on their daily activities ...

[ the pallisade sections are finished, and setup here in the corner of the gaming table]

Pallisading - WIP (part 2)

I've been busy from the middle of this week working on the pallisade sections. I did two curved sections - a split 45 turn... here is one of them in place...

 Then did a setup of all the sections - fits nicely into the corner of the gaming table ....

next went on to do the gates - open ....

 and of course closed ....

 a simple scheme for the gates, they have blocks attacked with a little weight to hold them up..

 Another layout this time across the table....

The pallisades could just about be used for a roman camp, so this morning I built two fighting platforms (small towers), here is a shot of one from the rear, it is made so its base has a step up and fits over the rear of the pallisade section...

 Trying out the 'romanised' look

 Now onto filling gaps and painting etc .....

Pallisading - WIP (part 1)

A break from the 'story-line'; I've started a modelling project to build a pallisade to represent the enclosure of a village, or if suitably placed on a hill section part of a hill-fort.  The aim is to have it in the corner or at the back of the table.

I bought a Timpo log fort off Ebay a while back and have spent some time trying to find the best way to use the pieces. After a bit of fiddling at the weekend I came up with a scheme.

The original wall section,  a bit too high for a figure and for the scale of my table...

 So cut down and and reworked to a lower height, the remainder to be trimmed to be used for the back of the 'step-up' for figures...

 The first two trial straight sections ...

 The original fort gateway has been reworked,  quite a bit to do on it to finish (some gates etc..)

The Timpo plastic fort wall sections bend so I can easily (?) make some curved sections - next thing to try ....

Roman patrol attacked .....

A patrol from Legio X with some auxilaries has been on routine patrol to the north of the legionary fortress in the old tribal territory of the Nasturces; they are on the return leg of their journey....

The patrol move slowly through a valley .....

 A couple of gallic warriors can see them approaching

 The patrol moves along, with some auxiliary archers scouting ahead ...

 As they near a small river the romans form up, after seeing a small band of gallic warriors blocking their way

 The number of gauls facing them is growing .....

 As they get close to the river, they can see more gauls arriving to their front, then a group of warriors appears from a small copse and attacks their left flank 

 An eagle-eyed soldier in the nearby watchtower, spots the trouble and lights the fire signal (it will be some time before help can arrive ...)

 The attack on the roman left flank is repulsed, and the gauls melt away into the woods ...

 Another war-band joins the gauls on the other side of the river...

 As the romans move forward the gauls charge at them .....

 The attack on the roman left flank is seen of by the auxiliaries, while the legionaries hold the line at the ford....

 The gauls charge back into the roman left flank,  the legionaries are starting to cut the gauls down at the ford ....

 The legionaries push forward across the river ....

 After taking more casualties the gauls finally lose their nerve and rout ..........

 After making sure the remaining wounded gauls are dead,  the romans reform the patrol column and head towards the watchtower....

The patrol reaches the watchtower and takes refuge behind the pallisade; they will wait for support before they start back to the legionary fortress......