Sacred Chariot Camp

Here is my model of the Sacred Chariot that accompanied the Royal Achaemenid Persian armies.

According to Herodotus, "the sacred chariot of Zeus (Ahura Mazda)... was drawn by eight white horses; and behind the horses again followed on foot a charioteer holding the reins, for no human creature mounts upon the seat of that chariot."

This little piece was a bit of an afterthought. In retrospect, the Sacred Chariot should have been part of my Persian 'Away' camp, which may be seen here:

Persians on the March

The guardsmen are Xyston miniatures.

The chariot is from Gladiator Miniatures.

I added the diamond pattern to the front of the chariot

You can see my Early Achaemenid Persian DBA army here:

DBA I/60ac Early Achaemenid Persians

And my other Persian baggage camps here:
Pasargadae Paradiso

And here:
Persians on the March

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Persians on the March

Here's the 'away' baggage camp for my Early Achaemenid Persian DBA I/60abc army in 15mm.

A lot less splendid than my Pasargadae camp, it represents the semi-permanent type of camp that Herodotus mentions the Persians using at Plataea and Mycale.

I've taken the liberty of using Sparabarra style shields for the walls to add some colour.

The guy leading the donkey is Minifigs

Originally, the shields for the walls were Games Workshop Gobbo shields.

The guards at the front are from Irregular miniatures.

Links:

Here's how I based the baggage camp:

Campsite Curiosity

My Achaemenid 'Home' camp:

Pasargadae Palace Camp

My Achaemenid Sacred Chariot Camp

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Pasargadae Paradiso an Achaemenid Persian Camp for DBA

This scene is the “home” baggage camp for my Early Achaemenid Persians. 

It shows supplicants lining up for an audience with the King of Kings in an outdoor pavilion.

Although the diorama only has a small garden area, it is inspired by Pasargadae, Cyrus the Great’s spectacular garden palace. 

The patterns on the canopy and the garden edging tiles are based on these glazed tiles from Susa:

The Persians were seen by the Greeks as the 'great gardeners' of the world. We get the English word for Paradise from the Persian word for garden: Paridaiza. Xenophon claimed that Cyrus the Younger would garden every day that he wasn’t on campaign. 

Young nobles received their lessons, which included the study of gardening, and herbal medicines were held in palace garden areas.

The palace at Pasargadae was in the center of a fertile plain,  surrounded by mountains. It was essentially a group of garden pavilions in a 2x3 km park in the style of a nomad camp, but made out of stone.

There were trees and trellises alongside pavilions and walls to shade out the hot sun. Underground tunnels transported water from aquifers to the gardens’ wells, irrigation ditches, and ponds, including a huge trapezoidal reflecting pool around 250m long and 50-100m wide, but only 1.5m deep.

It was a totally new concept of a garden city that established many of the principles of what became Persian architecture. Unlike the cluttered designs of previous Assyrian and Babylonian palaces, Pasargadae’s design places central importance on its gardens. 

The King of Kings and his eunuch advisor:

The Chiliarch (Chief of the Court) with the Indian Supplicant:

The Babylonian dignitary with the Persian noble: 

The Apple Bearers:

The Scene is based around these three images: 

A reconstruction of Pasargadae:

Darius on his throne:

Sources:

https://www.world-archaeology.com/features/pasargadae/

https://mghc.org/articles/gardens-of-history-ancient-gardens-of-persia/

https://www.worldhistory.org/Pasargadae/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK1w0BVZ5JU

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DBA Crusades Era Camps

I enjoy putting together what I hope are interesting scenes for my DBA baggage camps. So I thought I'd collect them into a series of themed posts, starting with my Crusades era camps.

(Click on a picture to enlarge it.)

First we have the Muslim style camp for my Ayyubid army and its various morphs. It features a Beduin style tent 

A cut out version of which may be downloaded by clicking here:

 Bedouin Tent 

The guardsmen are from Alternative Armies.

Then we have the Komnenan Byzantines. 

This first camp is a simple marching camp. The donkeys' loads have been modelled on with some beads.

The second camp represents part of the walls of Constantinople - as seen in this picture:

I'm particularly happy with the trompe l'oeil effect of the road going into the archway.

These two permanent guardsmen are Minifigs miniatures.

The men on this mobile element are Tin Soldier figures flanking an Essex Miniatures cavalryman. The banner is home made.

The Crusaders

This vignette represents a market scene

The priest urging on his attentive flock with a well crafted sermon from the back of a cart.

Most of the figures are from Irregular Miniatures

The cart is scratch built with wheel from an old Airfix Ancient British Panzer er... chariot

I'm very happy with how this scene came together. 

It's for my Lusignan Cypriot army. 

These guys were a highly successful Crusader state.

They're listed as a littoral army, so I figured a naval scene would be appropriate.

This is a pretty generic Medieval camp. 

The banner atop the tent is Lusignan.

Here's a Pecheneg wagon laager style camp.

The Pechenegs fought both for and against the Komnenan Byzantines.

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