T WAS THE KRAMPUSNACHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS It’s beginning to look a lot like Now we have all been threatened with Christmas, and Pete Brown In Germanic folklore, St Nicholas has a the ubiquitous ‘lump of coal in your introduces us to a seasonal bad guy dark counterpart, the half-goat demonic stocking’ if you don’t behave in the run for use in our skirmish games…. human known as the Krampus. It is up to Christmas. This bit of emotional thought that he originated from the Pagan blackmail is an excellent parenting tradition of the horned god, and was tool which has worked wonders for Christmas is, as Bing Crosby was fond appropriated by the expanding Christian generations. However, I am not sure that of reminding us, “the most wonderful faith sometime around the eleventh scaring the bejeebers out of kids with the time of the year”. Religious aspects century. threat of birch thrashings by a demonic aside, most of us spend it full of turkey half goat demon is in keeping with the and Xmas pudding, passed out under a These days this nasty chap purportedly Christmas atmosphere, but, hey, they mountain of wrapping paper in front of a shows up in towns on the night of raise them hard in Germany! re-run of The Great Escape on the telly. December 5th, known as Krampus Night This has always presented something (Krampusnacht) and roams the streets, What the Krampus does give us is of a problem for wargamers, as this leaving presents for children. On the the perfect bad guy for our Christmas general spirit of “good will to all men” morning of December 6th, or St Nicholas wargame, or even a longer lasting and ‘merry making’ makes it hard to Day, German children look outside Christmas themed warband for games design wargames scenarios set during the their door to see if the shoe or boot they such as Frostgrave. The Krampus festive season. Despite the best efforts of left out the night before contains either tradition has travelled to the USA, where Scrooge and the Grinch, it is hard to fi nd presents, for good behaviour, or a rod Krampus themed parties are pretty a decent Yuletide baddie in amongst all of birch twigs! This is the implement common in the run up to Christmas. the ‘jolly reindeer games’. the Krampus will use to beat naughty What if it was not just the tradition that travelled to America, but the demonic SLAY BELLS RING… children when he returns. Continued bad behaviour may result in the Krampus Krampus himself. He could be an As usual in wargaming, when you want a carrying the child away in the night to his excellent villain to add to a Dracula’s quality bad guy you look to the Germans. demonic realm. America game, or to appear in a fantasy 36 Krampus.indd 2 18/10/2017 15:08 “Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring…. except the Krampus….” IT’S CHRISTMAS! western game such as The Curse of Dead Mans Hand. The fog-shrouded streets of Victorian London could also be a rich hunting ground for a hungry Krampus, as street urchins abound and only the adventuring companies of In Her Majesty’s Name or other Steampunk stocking this year there will be merry hell those of you who prefer a more warlike style game, can stop him. Since the to pay) I decided that both forces should Santa, Scibor Miniatures make a Krampus was originally a servant of include youngsters in their ranks, assisted Christmas Snowman Slayer model of an an evil Teutonic goddess, there is no by some suitably Christmas characters. axe wielding Santa waving the severed head of a snowman around! reason why he could not appear with THE NICE LIST his own warband in ancient games, If you want some traditional Christmas A quick trawl of E-Bay or other online such as Saga, or prowling the cobbled elves to assist Santa, these are harder retailers will throw up some out of streets of medieval towns in Lion/ to fi nd than you might think. Reaper production Santa miniatures, clutching Dragon Rampant. Games such as Lost Miniatures produce a couple of suitable guns, bazookas or, in one case, a science Legions could easily cope with a fantastic fi gures, but the only company who make fi ction Santa with a laser gun. These are, demonic, half human monster but you bespoke Christmas elves with weapons however, pretty pricey and not always the may have to be a little imaginative is Victory Force miniatures, who best sculpts, but shopping around may when designing workable stats for your have an entire Storybook range. Here pay dividends. Luckily, Copplestone Krampus force for use in the more you will fi nd elves with sniper rifl es, Castings make a nice cheerful Father historical games. fl amethrowers and HMGs, and even a Christmas, accompanied by a suitably Santa with a machine gun! If this option For my Christmas game, I plumped festive Mrs Christmas (well at least I is a little too festive, what about some for a straight face off between Good St hope its Mrs Christmas and not Deirdre good old fashioned law enforcement, Nicholas, or Santa as he is known in from Accounts who has been helping who will no doubt take an interest in this house, and the evil Krampus. Since Santa empty his sack in the workshop child ‘disappearances’. Victorian London Christmas is all about the children (as I after hours, in which case she defi nitely “Bobbies” can be obtained from a keep being informed, although if I don’t needs to go on the naughty list!) For get half a pound of Perry lead in my number of manufacturers, as can their 37 Krampus.indd 3 19/10/2017 16:06 THE NAUGHTY LIST cultists available for Frostgrave which could be used for any period depending I bought the RN Studio Krampus from on how you choose to arm them. Small Ebay, which was quite pricey but I goblins and evil pixies, such as Games thought I would push the boat out for this Workshop’s Snotlings, might also suffi ce central character in my warband. Another as incompetent underlings if painted in a excellent Krampus miniature is available suitably festive manner. from Polish company Titan Forge, (seen left) which is cast in resin and shows the DO YOU WANNA PAINT nasty Krampus with a screaming naughty A SNOWMAN? child under his arm. Reaper Miniatures also make a Krampus fi gure, waving a And so to the game. I wanted a clump of birches around, but this was out quick skirmish game with a suitable of stock when last I looked and you may Christmassy theme for the lads at the club have to pick one up online. However, if to play before we go off down to the pub you don’t fancy shopping around for a for a few glasses of festive egg nog to specifi c Krampus miniature, any classical reminisce about the games of 2017 and Greek satyr or beast-man fantasy fi gure plot the awesome games of 2018. would probably fi t the bill. So long as he My board was set up with a snowy town is half goat and half wassisname, that’s scene, around which were scattered lots all that matters. of piles of boxes, vehicles, street furniture Continuing the festive feel, I decided and general impediments to line of sight to use some Copplestone Castings and shooting. On this board were placed Evil Snowmen as the Krampus major markers which represented the naughty henchmen. These fi gures are nice and children of the town who were out and steam punk counterparts. More modern chunky and give the Krampus faction a about on Krampusnacht, much against cops are available from Crooked Dice bit of muscle. For the minor henchmen their parents’ advice to the contrary. games, whilst everyone’s favourite form I found myself wondering about all the Some of the markers were blank, and of law enforcement, the torch wielding naughty children that the Krampus had were just there to confuse and misdirect angry mob, can stand in for those earlier stolen away. Perhaps he turned them to the players. Good old St Nick and his games where law enforcement was a little the ‘dark side’, creating evil demons warband started on one side of the town more “audience participation”. to do his bidding! For suitable fi gures and the evil Krampus on the other. I turned to Westwind Productions I wanted the Good Kids of Santa’s Should the Krampus encounter a naughty Vampire Children from their Kindernacht warband to come fairly heavily armed, child, he can transform it into a demonic range. They are suitably scary and are and not surprisingly, these were tricky child servant, which joins his host and a good match for the ‘Nice’ children of to fi nd. Copplestone Casting do some can now be moved by the Krampus Santa’s force. Westwind make a pack of armed skateboarders, but the real mother player as one of his warband. Should child ‘victims’ which were also to come load were Hasslefree Miniatures who the evil snowmen encounter a child, it is in useful. do lots of great post apocalyptic children captured and is placed on the Krampus with suitably lethal weapons. How these If demonic children are not your thing, player’s board edge. children would obtain these weapons was it is hard to go wrong with Krampus going to be part of the Christmas magic.