Da Red Gobbo Surprise and Grotmas Gitz

This year Games Workshop offers two Christmas miniatures, that are available until January 8th of 2024. In addition to Da Red Gobbo himself, as Da Red Gobbos Surprise in its 2023 iteration, we get a kind of Bad Santa variant to him, the Grotmas Gitz.

Both are 32,50 EUR / 25 GBP and have rules for the use in Warhammer 40,000 as well as Age of Sigmar, as downloads for free. But what is the story behind Da Red Gobbo?

In 1999, as part of GorkaMorka, we saw the introduction of Da Red Gobbo. He is the leader of the Rebel Grots on the planet of Gorkamorka and the head of the Gretchin Revolutionary Committee / Da Kommittee. But there is no single Red Gobbo, it is a title and position that rotates between members of the Committee, along with the red cape and sceptre. And his role is to inspire the grots in their revolution against the oppression by the orks.

But over the time, the story of the Red Gobbo left Gorkamorka and became known to the wider Ork species, and while not every Grot believes in the Red Gobbo, some claim he is just a legend. Making the perfect base for a tongue-in-cheek humour to pick up again by Games Workshop.

That meant, in 2019, the Red Gobbo returned, very close to the original pose, but Christmas themed. Wearing the red cape, having his custom slugga and a mistletoe instead of the sceptre. The rules can be downloaded from the link, but the model itself is OOP. Yet, this is not the first Christmas miniature by Games Workshop, they released X-mas Space Marines in 1987 with White Dwarf #96.

And in 2021, the Red Gobbo returned, on his trusty steed, the Squig Bounca. With updated rules to cover the new jumpy mount.

And in addition to that, there were Collectible Coins in 2021 and Collectible Coin 2023 (available in November) through the Warhammer stores, as an gift with purchase if you bought for 80 EURs or more items.

But let us build the two Christmas miniatures of this year. Both are multi-part models, spread across a single sprue and standing on 40mm round bases. The packaging clearly marks them as part of the Commemorative Series, like the limited event only or Warhammer+ exclusive miniatures.

Da Red Gobbo Surprise is the first one to assemble. The sprue has some present mould lines. which take a bit of time to remove, as you have delicate details around the kit. The model comes with a separate, regular 40mm angled round base.

Assembly is quickly done, especially as Da Red Gobbo Surprise has only 9 parts. They cleverly cut the base decoration, yet I suggest that you do not glue the Red Gobbo on top of the chimney, at least not until you have painted it.

The Grotmas Gitz is a bit more elaborated with 18 parts, and has similar to the Underworlds range a designed base as part of the sprue, which is slightly bigger than with Da Red Gobbo. In this case the instructions even cover rules for the use with Age of Sigmar.

I really like the Easter Eggs spread across the miniature; it's bursting with detail. And some things, like the gingerbread men inside the bag won't be seen once assembled.

Both models have interesting details on the bases and as part of their costumes. Like brushes, paint pots, miniatures of miniatures, and even dice.

Conclusion

While the Red Gobbo himself had a bit of problems with his face in my opinion, in direct comparison with the metal miniature. It looks a bit 2-dimensional (the nose was very straight through the limitation of injection moulding), the amount of detail on the Grotmas Gitz, including all the easter eggs is very impressive. 32,50 EUR feels a bit of a stretch, they are not that big and around 20-25 EURs would have been more reasonable, in my opinion. But you can get them at a few online traders with a bit of a discount.

The paint job on the Grotmas Gitz, with even the Warhammer boxes being painted is insanely detailed. A real stunner and surely helps to sell this miniature.

I really like idea of this range and would probably suggest putting them on plinths as pure showcase miniatures or maybe using them in a small vignette / diorama. The amount of Christmas themed miniature is really small, Reaper Miniatures does them, Wargames Foundry has a few, but that is about it. The X-mas Space Marines from 1987 are long OOP and hard to come by.

Both miniatures are only available until January 8th of 2024.

Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.