Romans 'n' Celts

These are just some close up shots of the cabinet seen earlier,in this picture we see the Legate of the V macedonica,being assisted as aways by his loyal centurian, Marcus oppius Festus.He has just despatched a rider with orders by the looks of things......The messenger is a nice little piece from 1st corps,they do quite a few nice little extras,including shield stacks and battle field debris. The latter is great for big bases with lots of space to fill.
My latest venture is an army of Celts,here are just a few.....although you need hundreds to go nose to nose with Roman cohorts,so i've got about two hundred or so.They are good fun to paint because each one is different.And after painting uniformed Romans for 7 years,this comes as a nice change.I also mix up the makes of figures to give more variety in the warbands,and bend sword arms etc to add even more.My army is mostly made up of AandA miniatures ,with a few Foundry (great for standards and carnex blowers)and a few Gripping Beast (great for command figures) .I like to paint all my shields,i find it quicker and enjoy it more than messing with fiddly transferrs.Although saying that,with the Celtic love for all things detailed....i've used a few stick on shield designs from Little Big Man studios.Just one or two of these in a battle line really catch the eye, and make up for the less detailed shields. The sea of white in the background are the masses of unpainted Celts waiting their turn with the brush.
And finally ,one of my favourite legions i've painted,the III Gallica.This tough legion of Gauls was stationed in syria.I have tried to summon up the feel of the desert by giving them sand coloured shields and their lorica hamata (mail) reflects the shortages and supply problems to those far of corners of the Empire.