"Elves as Martians" Topic

I've just ordered a load of Black Tree's new elf royal guard to use as Martians.

black-tree-design.com

I know that elves for Martians is by no means a new idea but these are the first range I've seen that look "alien culture" rather than "medieval fantacy".

I'm thinking red and purple attire, bronze armour, yellow faces, black hair.

The last edition 40K Dark elf plastics would work too.

When I sold off my 15mm Black Raven Foundry elves, I think I remember that the buyer was going to use them for martians of some variety.

andy

I always get them confused. It can be embarrassing at parties.

The problem with GW elves, as with a lot of of their stuff with VSF possibilities is that they're too well known and iconic. When I look at them I just see Warhammer elves not Martians.

I have a similar problem with most Star Wars toys ripe for conversion.

That's just my personal baggage though, I know plenty of people disagree.

I'm using some of Coonquest Miniatures Woodlands Inndians for my Red Martians. I've got some of the mid 80's Ral Partha elves that I think might make some decent city martians.

So what's the origin of elves as martians? ER Burroughs?

When we first playtested Soldiers Companions for GDW I used a bunch of Grenadier Elves for Martians and they worked out great. Now that VSF has taken off I wish that I hadn't sold them.

"whats the origin of elves as martians"

Space 1889 martians, which in turn borrow heavily from ERB.

Woodland indians as hill martains. Great idea! Although if I was buying them specifically for that purpose I'd probably change thier weapons and skin colour.

I swapped out the tomahawks for some long, straight swords used some putty to trade out the mowhawk haircuts for dome long, straight hair and I did, of course paint them a deep red.

some long, straight hair. (Bereft of coffee I type unfettered by conventions such as spelling)

First outing for my BRF 15mm Elves were as Martians.

I really thought you meant this:

picture
picture
or
picture

:)
CC

For those doing VSF in 15mm or 18mm, it is hard to do better them BRF's line of high Elves.
Here are my BRF Elves as Martians:
link

In the early Space 1889 games I had the pleasure to play with Frank Chadwick et. al. Elves were the standard stand in for Martians.

DyeHard
15mmvsf.bagofmice.com/index.html

I have a bunch of RAFM Canal Martians, but I use GW elves as hill Martians. They work fine.

Kevin

I use GW Dark Eldar and LotR Orcs and a lot more for different martian races.

Parroom Martians are the ONLY minis to use for this sort of thing in my mind-- I just LOVE those figures. I just need to get painting on the hordes of them that I have bought!

link In case anybody wants or needs to look at them.

Actually, if you want some Martians in 15mm/18mm it is pretty hard to beat Black Hat Martian Empires figures.

see blackhat.co.uk

I guess it all depends on how you envisage your Martians.

Black Hat and Parroom Station are definitely the way to go if you after a Burroughs Barsoom feel.

Personally I was rather taken by the evil hordes of Ming look that Dyehard has achieved with Black Raven Forge elves painted red and purple.

I hope to achieve a similar look with 28mm elves.

I think the secret is to be extremely picky about the elves you use. Most fantacy ranges suffer from huge weapon syndrome which look even more ludicous next to accurately weaponed colonial figures.

I've had similar trouble finding Venusian lizardmen with sensible weapons (opted for koot in the end like everyone else)

Foundry have some exotic-looking Chinese spears, which I plan to use rather than the ridiculous "heroic" scale weapons carried by most fantasy Elves. I also like the Masai spears:

link

A little expensive, but look a lot better.