On route by sea ...

Gaius Cocceius has been appointed Legate to take command of the 10th legion and all associated auxiliary troops - his mandate to assist the regional governor to maintain order and take offensive action to suppress any local uprisings.

He has left his estates in Hispania and has taken ship on a naval transport vessel

his journey will take him north along the coast where he will land in northern Gaul at the naval base of Gesoriacum, from there he will travel inland to the legionary headquarters at Condimentium.
[ new item - a PlayMobil roman ship; just the right sort of size for my 54mm; a rather short bireme though]

A message for the governor ..

The governor was in Botulinum and had just finished inspecting the new civic offices, when one of his clerks appeared out of the crowd

The clerk reached the governor, a message sir from the regional military commander, you asked me to bring it to you as soon as it arrived ..

 The governor unrolled the scroll and read the contents..
A vexilliation of Legio X has been approved, you will need to make preparations to provide for 4 cohorts. These troops will not arrive until the rest of Legio X on service at the northern frontier return to the legionary fortress of Condimentium, this should be in about a month's time. In addition an extra cohort of auxiliaries has been despatched and should arrive at Botulinum within the week. 

municipal building (work in progress..2..)

A little bit done to improve the look of the building, I've filled in the side doors and will be using them to show off a couple of busts (perhaps the chaps who endowed the building ?)

I'm trying to find a suitable image of a building interior to see through the doorway - I have found one but its not quite right; will keep looking ....

municipal building (work in progress....)

I've moved on a few steps now with the roman municipal building, based on a part from the PlayMobil roman arena set.

The doorway and pediment detail have been added and a suitable base made - with enough area in front to display a good number of my civilians

I will add a low relief back to the building, with some minimal interior detail; the will get on with painting and finishing

an ampitheatre ?

I've been collecting together some gladiator figures (which I still have to paint), they do need a venue for their contests.  The idea is to make an ampitheatre with a layout like that of the one at Caerleon

I managed to get a Playmobil roman arena off Ebay recently and have setup the basic layout with the pieces I want to use.

gaps to be filled with purpose built sections. I'll have seating on one side at the back so when gaming the spectators won't be knocked into the arena...

The large section of the Playmobil arena has been taken apart and I'm reworking the front piece to be a low relief municipal building to use as a backdrop for my roman civilians.

Action on the northern frontier ....

A vexilliation of the 10th legion is on duty on the northern frontier. A gallic force had swept south and raided a couple of small border towns and some rich villas. The 7th cohort of the 10th with a detachment of auxiliaries have been sent to intercept them before they get to far north.

---oXo---

The roman intercept force closes in on the slow moving gauls ....

 the gauls dilly dallying, laden with booty, continue slowly northwards ...

the gauls realizing the romans have caught up with them decide to turn and fight. Javelin men skirmish with the roman auxilairies .....

the carts loaded with their ill gotten gains from the raid continue towards home territory with a small escort ...

The gauls start to assemble ...

the roman auxilairies hold their ground as the legionaries move up in support ...

the roman auxiliaries fall back to join with the legionaries who have deployed ....

the gauls charge ....

the romans stand firm

the fighting continues

the gauls start to waver as the romans cut them up ... thinning out their numbers ....

its to much and the gauls turn and run ......

the romans hold their ground and wait for another onslaught;  as there is no sign of another attack,  the cohort commander decides to form up and march back to the safety of the frontier fort.

Mopping up ...

A patrol of auxiliaries on their way back to Botulinum mop up after an attack by a small warband of gauls...

[new items: 5 dead gauls for use as casualty markers]