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.

Aircam Figures

MBM Models carries a series of figures based on illustrations from the Osprey Airwar/Aircam series. I'm not really sure who the actual manufacturer is, and the product line is just listed as Aircam, though they arrived in SHQ baggies. The sculpting is a bit soft, but the figures are decent, and good representations of the illustrations from the book (though some are more faithful to the original art than others).

The first set of figures is the Luftwaffe Night Fighter Air and Ground Crew (AIR7209), based on Luftwaffe Night Fighter Units 1939-45 (Airwar/Aircam 9). It consists of (left to right) a Luftnachrichten-Helferinnen Führerin, Hitlerjugend Flakhelfer, and aircrew Leutnant.


The second set of figures is the USAAF Fighter Air and Ground Crew, MTO (AIR7212), based on USAAF Fighter Units MTO 1942-45 (Airwar/Aircam 12). It consists of (left to right) a WAC Private, aircrew 1st Lieutenant, and 15th AF Captain.


The final set of figures is the Japanese Carrier Groups set (AIR7221), based on Japanese Carrier Groups, 1941-45 (Airwar/Aircam 21). It consists of (left to right) a Junior Lieutenant in winter flying suit, Petty Officer 1st Class in summer flying suit, and Petty Officer 3rd Class in summer fatigues.


The figures are a bit pricey, and some of them seem to be a bit on the overly tall side (e.g., the Helferinnen and the Japanese), but I'm guessing they're probably intended more for use alongside scale aircraft, rather than with other figures.

Finally, I did a group shot of the Helferinnen with all of the German female auxiliaries that I own. Not surprisingly, there are more WWII German female auxiliaries than 1/72 females from any other nation of this time period. Elhiem figures even makes a zombie version of one.


From left to right are an Odemars figure from Operation Antarctica - Haunebu (CREA04), three Odemars figures from The Last Defenders of Berlin set (PF17), a figure from the Orion Volkssturm set (72017), a figure from the LW(?) Leaders of the Second World War set, a metal Luftwaffe Female Auxiliary (Elhiem LUFT02), and the Aircam Helferinnen.

Army of Darkness

Here is a selection of 1/72 undead from Caesar and Odemars. The first set is Odemars PF12 Legion of Nightmare set, and consists of zombies from different time periods in different states of decomposition. More information on this set can be found at Plastic Soldier Review.


The next bunch of figures are Caesar Fantasy Undead (103). Some of the figures in the set were bent and tipping over on their bases. I fixed them up by dipping them in boiling water for about 2-3 seconds until they regained their original position, and then dipping them in cold water.


I'll probably get another couple of boxes of these undead to build up an army of skeleton warriors. More on this set can be found at Plastic Soldier Review.