G'day All thanks for the comments
1. the odd raised shaped pieces are our hills for this table , not the most prefect representation , but better than a flat piece of card chit
2. I actually use large red dice to mark casualties and they follow the unit around , these figures also get used to Warhammer Ancients and Kings of War , the multi basing is so I can move a whole unit easier and again I mark casualties with dice
3. hexes were too difficult to get right the first time on such a large scale whereas a simple grid like this is quite easy and it still works exactly the same , although I admit it can look odd
cheers Tom