Queen Maeve - HaT 8141 Celtic Warrior Queen's Chariot
Dated: March 8, 2008.
Hello:
Attached are images of HaT's Celtic Warrior Queen's Chariot painted as one of the most infamous queens in Celtic legend: Queen Maeve, aka Medb, the terrible beauty who seduced the kings of Leinster and Connacht, with supernatural attributes connecting her to a Celtic goddess of the same name.
Here I have represented a more historical interpretation of Queen Maeve, her herald carries her standard, a murder of crows in flight with the severed heads of two of her vanquished rivals. The crows are taken from the HaT's Celtic Cavalry, the heads are from Esci Barbarians. Maeve's wreath/crown is taken off of a standard from the Roman Imperial command kit.
The chariot is an easy kit to build, plastic is flexible but it does require a bit of heat to teach it to remember new shapes. It was no trouble to bend the pole so that it would meet the yoke while leaving the platform level, and it was easy to adjust the position of the driver. I used a thick needle to make holes in the driver's hands, then drew the 'reins' through with a wire buttonhook. His dagger is from an Esci Roman Legionary.
The horses are painted white with red ears as a nod to the Irish mythology in which all animals with super natural powers are so colored. Some historians have suggested that the Celts may have dyed their livestock, a practice which may have had it's origins in natural dyes in organic sheep-dips/pesticides. This little footnote has inspired me to indulge in adding some unnatural hues to many of the horses in my Celtic army.
Enjoy,
S. M. Mannix
U. S. A.
Many thanks to Mr. Mannix.