Thursday, December 24, 2020

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

The Santa Wars genre has been around for a long time, but it's unclear to me where the concept originated from (perhaps with the now defunct Wargame Supply Dump?).


Santa Wars should not be confused with the nonsense surrounding the supposed "War on Christmas". Similar rhetoric has been used as a political tool as far back as the 17th century, when Christmas revelry was said to be descended from the Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian festivals, and condemned in the culture wars of the Age of Enlightenment.


The only figures that I can think of that are suitable for 1/72 scale Santa Wars come from Alternative Armies as part of their Seasons of Celebration Range.


I bought a sampler pack of the figures many years ago, but currently, I can only find the Psycho Presents (SN04) in my pile of lead.


There is only one figure armed with a melee weapon, so I'll probably  do some weapon conversions on the rest of them.

I remember the Evil Snowmen in the set were rather scrawny looking, but I found a fairly decent snowman in a set of Christmas ornaments.


I also found some very usable reindeer in the same section of the craft store. I think the reindeer were 69¢ a pack, and I ended up getting four sets.



Finally for Santa, there is the Citadel Limited Edition Dark Future Santa, and the Santa from the Nativity set from Odemars.


The 20mm Santa was too short, so he was modified to bring him up to spec.


Hardcore collectors might be taken aback by my sacrilege of chopping up a limited edition figure, but in the end, Santa is of no use to me if he isn't the right height.

All that's left is to paint him up, but I'm undecided as to whether to put him in a green robe, or a red robe. I'm currently leaning towards red based on the sculpt, and depictions of Santa throughout history.


3 comments:

Philotep said...

Merry Christmas Eric!
Very nice post, I particularly like the Psycho Presents, they made me laugh :D
Phil.

Darathar said...

Merry Christmas Elheim does a loaded up Santa and elves.
https://www.elhiem.co.uk/ourshop/prod_6563907-LTD29-Santa-Claus-and-Elves-Operate.html

EY said...

Phil & Darathar, Merry Christmas to both of you as well!
I hadn't noticed those Elheim figures before. This may make me rethink my color scheme for the Citadel Santa.