A Very Citadel Christmas
Since Games Workshop launched its Citadel Miniatures, releasing a Christmas model has been something of a tradition. This started in 1981 with a Mail Order exclusive Father Christmas, and in the following years we saw a slew of miniatures that riffed on the character of Santa Claus, with Space Santa and Sanity Claws (a character based on their Call of Cthulhu RPG) to name a couple. Sometimes, such as in the case of Sanity Claws, they tied in with products lines that were launched that year.
After the 80s finished, it seems this tradition disappeared into the darkest depths of the Underhive. The closest we saw in more recent years was the Vostroyan Firstborn being releases as a 'Made to Order', and they're only vaguely associated with Christmas as they like snow. In 2019, Games Workshop released Da Red Gobbo.
This miniature was a new iteration of a character that hadn't been seen in years, and in bringing it back, his 'Red' Revolution was no longer associated with Communism, but Christmas instead. The availability of this one was a little under two months in the lead-up to Christmas, and many stores across the UK used this one for a painting competition. Due to there not being many entries at my local store, somehow I ended up being lucky enough to win (there'll be a post describing what I did with mine).
So it seemed that maybe Games Workshop were back doing festively themed miniatures, but in 2020 we got Brewmaster-General Jakkob Bugmansson XI, a distant heir of the famous Josef Bugman. At first glance it doesn't seem like a Christmas miniature, but this one was indeed released to celebrate the season. Though when we look back at years gone by, having miniatures celebrate Christmas with a tankard wasn't unheard of. In fact, with this one, Jakkob brings the Christmas cheer with him with some brew on his back, and spare tankards for others to join in.
Now, for Christmas 2021 we're seeing Da Red Gobbo once again, and this time he's got a friend: a squig named Bounca. As soon as I saw this I knew I had to do another Christmas diorama (there'll be a post on this one soon!).
If you want to join in on the fun, Wayland Games currently have Da Red Gobbo and Bounca up for pre-order priced at £18.69 (RRP £23.50)
