Thanks for your comments chaps. Nick has a very fine collection which for me especially made the game even better.
Yes the discs were being used for chits and I take your point entirely and I guess I would do something similar, however we had four newbies to the rules, including myself, and the game was very much a learning experience as an aesthetic one so didn't distract too much for us.
I was impressed on how well the game played with effectively four standard Dux Bel armies on the table and didn't slow things down to any great extent which is a big plus for using them for this or bigger size games.
Cheers
JJ