receives a gift from his wife…
"Who are ye, then, ye armed men, mail folk, that yon mighty vessel have urged thus over the ocean ways, here o'er the waters?" So the question was asked of Beowulf and his followers when they splashed ashore in the land of Scyldings.
The poem Beowulf is one of the great - indeed, one of the few - surviving epics of Anglo-Saxon literature and tells the story of Beowulf, a Geat noble, who sails with his retinue of companions (thegn) to the land of the Scyldings (Danes), and the mead hall of King Hrothgar. Here he battles and defeats Grendel, a fen monster, who has been terrorising Hrothgar and his followers for years. Having disposed of one supernatural foe, Beowulf is then obliged to face another, Grendel's bereaved mother, in deadly combat. He wins - just - and returns to his homeland a hero, eventually to be crowned King of the Geats. Later in life Beowulf takes up his sword again, this time to protect his own people from a fire-breathing dragon. He slays the dragon but dies from his injuries, and the poem ends with a hero's funeral.
The date of the poem's authorship is still debated by scholars, but the personalities and places the story portrays are broadly agreed to fit a historical and archaeological framework of around the late fifth and early six centuries (J.R.R. Tolkien dated the story to 520AD), while the location for the tale centres on southern Sweden and the islands of what is now Denmark.
We wanted to represent Beowulf in something close to his correct historical context - with perhaps a few nods to popular modern interpretations of the story - so designer Alan Marsh has provided these figures with an authentic mixture of Dark Age dress, weapons and armour, together with a few 'external influences' from the eastern Baltic, Europe, and even the mysterious East! As such, these miniatures should fit seamlessly into any Early Saxon or Early Norse army, and add lots of character to your Dark Age Lord's personal retinue.
Here are the catalogue details for the new miniatures:
New 28mm Beowulf and Retinue (from our Dark Age range)
Sculpted by Alan Marsh
Number in parenthesis denotes the number of variants. Variants are supplied randomly.
100DAK04 - Beowulf, and retinue - 15 figure set
100DAK06 - Beowulf, the Geat (1)
100DAK07 - Geat thegn, bareheaded, with shield - Beowulf's right-hand man (1)
100DAK08 - Geat thegn, crested helm, shield and sword (1)
100DAK09 - Geat Musician, with boar's head trumpet (1)
100DAK10 - Geat Standard bearer, with draco standard (1)
100DAK11 - Geat thegn - bare-chested strongman (1)
100DAK12 - Germanic companion, with axe (1)
100DAK13 - Eastern companion: 'The thirteenth warrior'? (1)
100DAK14 - Geat thegn, great iron bound shield and spear (1)
100DAK15 - Frankish companion, spear, shield, and Francisca axe tucked in belt (1)
100DAK16 - Geat thegn, scale armour, spear and shield (1)
100DAK17 - Beowulf's bodyguard 1: Scandinavian helmet, leg guards, spear, shield (1)
100DAK18 - Beowulf's bodyguard 2: Scandinavian helmet, spear, shield slung across back (1)
100DAK19 - Geat thegn, spear, no shield, and mail coat worn under his tunic (1)
100DAK20 - Geat thegn, Late Roman cavalry helmet, spear and shield (1)
All these miniatures can also be ordered in the U.K. from Fighting 15s, and in the U.S.A. from Eureka Miniatures U.S.A.