The Tome of Zhu

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Friday, 15 March 2013

On the Tsolyánu origins of the Druchii



Tsolyáni Crossbowmen - MAR Barker | Legions of the Petal Throne 1977 | via The Tekumel Project


Dark Elf | Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition circa 1987 | via CCM Wiki

Of course, there may be a historical precedent that both these designs are drawing from and the designs are not 100% matches, but the similarities are striking. Were GW producing Tekumel proxies, is there a historical precedent for both these designs, or just coincidence?
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6 comments:

  1. Erny15 March 2013 at 09:40

    I read somewhere, god knows where, that the GW DE were just following on from the Tom Meier Drow for Ral Partha which presumably had their origins in what, the fiend folio?

    So perhaps the link is there just at TSR not GW/Citadel.

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    1. zhu bajiee15 March 2013 at 13:12

      Oooh, interesting. Tom Meier sculpted Petal Throne miniatures for Ral Partha, so maybe the "drow" bit got confused. More digging...

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  2. thekelvingreen15 March 2013 at 10:41

    I've heard that when Games Workshop lost the Eternal Champion licence they redeveloped their Melnibonéan range and turned them into dark elves. That's what they did with the RuneQuest broo when they lost that licence, turning them into Warhammer beastmen instead, but I'm not as convinced by the dark elves.

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  3. Coopdevil15 March 2013 at 12:45

    I think the Melniboneans turned up as High Elves IIRC. I'm told by a normally impeccable source that this is why the GW Lord of the Rings figures are in a different size and style to the WH/40K stuff so that they can't, post-license, turn up again in the main line of Warhammer figures.

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  4. zhu bajiee15 March 2013 at 13:33

    Coops right, several of the their Melnibonéan models were just re-released under High Elves (props to Kelvin for getting the accent!) the High Elf Dragon Master is so blatantly Elric it's like some kind of IP shitstormbringer (see what I did there?) about to happen. The Barrow-wights for the original LoTR range ended up in the Gothic Horror range, and I think some of the elves got repackaged.

    I think beastmen == broo is pretty cut and dry.

    I have it entirely on the authority of the voices in my head is that the reason the Dwarf, Elf and Arthurians (oops) Brettonian army-books have not been updated is due to the terms of the LoTR contract about releasing directly competing product. Orcs don't count.

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  5. Erny15 March 2013 at 17:06

    Everyone's favorite wood elf spears and bows are ex-sylvan elves from the LOTR range. The dwarves and the orcs turned up in respective armies but that may just have been people using old figures.

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