Gruss vom Krampus!

Greetings from the Krampus! Europeans have been exchanging holiday greeting cards with those words and a horned devil known as the Krampus on them since the 1800s.

The Krampus or Christmas Devil is a helper to St. Nick (more on St. Nick in tomorrow's Santa post) in the Alpine countries. The Krampus is celebrated during the Krampusnacht (Night of the Krampus) the eve of St. Nicholas day (Dec 6th) where men in devil costumes caper through the streets holding torches demanding the traditional gift of schnapps of those they meet. The Krampus looks remarkably like the God Pan, the Grecian Woodland deity who was the Church's model for Satan, and major figure in the Roman Pagan Winter Solstice festival Saturalia. During the Saturalia slaves in Saytar or animal masks and baring torches ran through the streets of Roman demanding wine from their social betters and beating bad masters with switches. They sound very similar don't they? Its not surprising then that the Krampusnacht is traditionally celebrated in northern Italy and the Alpine regions of Austria & Germany the very regions where Roman Pagan and Pagan Germanic traditions coexisted in pre-Christian times.

He is also the personification of the even older entity known as the Wildman of the Wood (sometimes known as the Green Man in Britain). The Wildman of the Wood appears in many of the oldest Northern European tales including some of the earliest Arthurian tales. The chain he wears on his hands symbolized that this "wild devil" has been tamed by "Christianity" and now works for the saints, in this case St. Nick.

Note the wicker basket on his back to carry naughty children in to be drowned, eaten or carried of the Hell depending on the how old the story you're reading is.

So if your child has been bad this year send them to the Alps where they'll be taught a lesson by the Krampus.

(Please note the Fiends in Waistcoats do NOT approve of San Fransisco hipsters co-opting Krampusnact and turning it into yet another drunken frat party!)

Oops More Empire of the Dead Releases

Oops forgot these figures. Now I don't recall a "spirit vacuum" in the rulebook but this chap looks mad as a hatter and that's good enough for me.

Empire of the Dead New Releases

 

More of the EOTD Requiem KS miniatures have been released for general sale they include these two fine sets of Victorian servants. I'd say these sets are a must for all Gothic Horror gamers.

And these rather fine sets of villainous thugs. The first set contains some great brutes but the guy with the box in the second set projects a real air of menace to me. Say what you will about Westwind's utter cockup with their ETOD game support they are in my opinion still the best manufacturers of Victorian Gothic figures in true 28mm.

I am both delighted and outraged by these wonderful figures pictured above. I'm delighted because stylistically they are very much like the previous set of Order of the Dragon thugs giving the player a total of 8 (both sets) stylistically similar troops enough for a IHMN company if you play that game. I really hope a 3rd set with some thugs with rifles will be released in the near future that would be just perfect! These figures are brand new sculpts they were not part of the Requiem KS and so none of the KS backers have this particular set of figures. (hence the mild outrage) Its nice to see brand new Gothics from Westwind.

Also a few more resign vehicles have been release:

EOTD Police Dog Handler

The Police Special Branch Infernum Hound and Handler blister is now out. Backers of the Westwind Requiem KS have been awaiting this figure for nearly a year.

I'm sorry guys I've know about this for 2 weeks but the holidays have keep me of the computer for some time now. I'm horribly behind on Clint's wonderful naval game, the Padre's commandos, Wargamer girl's prodigious challenge output and I'm sure so much more. I'm furiously writing posts for you guys, expect a small flurry this week as I'll be very busy at work New Year's week. There will be more EOTD figure release photos, Christmas folklore and a London Board update in store for this Christmas week.

Knuckling Down

I've been slowly plugging away at the churchyard and church blocks of the London board though that currently consists of gluing bits of brick embossed vinyl onto the blocks for sidewalks and an alleyway. I'm also using a tombstone made of the rubbery plastic the Reaper Bones figures use so that piece required a watered down coat of Elmers (PVA) glue to prep it for painting. None of these steps make for compelling pictures but hopefully when the glue dries I'll have more pictures for Sunday. I'm knuckling down in an effort to get these two blocks finished by the new year.