A causeway through the marsh

In the move and move and counter-move sequence prior to the Battle of Philippi, Antonius put a causeway through the large marsh to the right of the Caesarean army. This would enable his forces to outflank those of Cassius opposite him, and also incidentally threaten to cut the conspirators off from the sea.

These are Renedra stone wall pieces painted brown and stuck onto some Big Red Bat bases. My kids say they look like chocolate rice crispies cakes.

How they look after a bit of highlighting. Rice crispies with more sugar...

Add some cheap brown gunk courtesy of Wilko, and there you have it: a bed of stones with packed earth to move legionaries through a swamp.

A few Celtiberian horsemen and some Roman casualties. Also just finished is a legate for one of the legions.

Almost finished a unit of 18 Celtiberian cavalry, courtesy of swap with Mike Adams in the USA. These are Companion Miniatures figures, and are very rare indeed. I already have 36 painted as Iberians, so I gave these ones a wider range of colours and shields to make them a bit more rough and ready. They also have quite a bit or armour, as well as the obligatory head trophies dangling from the horses.

A great big swamp

There is quit a bit of scenery and terrain to prepare for my Philippi project, due to run at the Society of Ancients conference in two weeks' time. If I do a bit at a time I should get through it. First up is the large swamp that lay to the right of Marcus Antonius' deployment.

Above is a large translucent sheet I found lying on the ground at work. It is clear on one side and matt on the other, with a 'frame' of magnetic strip. I think it must have come from a poster or something like that, and it was bit badly damaged and battered by the time I got to it. But I have a cunning plan...

I managed to salvage two sections, the plan being to place them together to make swamp around 3' by 1'. Above is what one of the sections looks like with a first coat of cheap and nasty brown paint on the matt side.

How it looks after adding another coat of a different shade

Turn it over, and the gloss side shows up with a watery sheen. It's still not perfect, but with bits of scatter it should look okay on the tabletop. It will sit on top of my teddy bear fur mat, and so should look the part on the day. That's the plan anyway...