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I think I have finally converted, painted, and photographed enough models to start this blog, which isn't so much a work-in-progress blog as it is a work that's progressed...

When I reopened my box of cast aside 40K miniatures a little more than a year ago, I was doing so to find some new miniatures for my son's Heroscape game. The orks and space marines got his attention immediately and he pressed me for more about this crazy game dad used to play. Telling him all about it and dragging things out of storage rekindled the embers of our mutual hobby, leading me to break out the paints and brushes, which in turn led me to a humble box of models that were thrown in with a Rogue Trader-era Ork army deal I got from a friend-of-a-friend.

They were eldar, of course, and hideously painted - looked to be dipped into a bottle of red enamel paint a few times and then touched up by said dipper's epileptic dog with black enamels. Despite the quality, there was quantity and it was all in pretty good shape: banshees, scorpions, dark reapers, warp spiders, some guardians, phoenix lords, eldrads, even an avatar and a warwalker. Remembering that brake fluid worked wonders on acrylics, I hoped it would do the same for enamels and stripped the lot.

I purchased a 2nd ed. eldar codex in the late 90's after I quit painting and playing 40K to read for entertainment's sake. I really appreciated the classic eldar style with vibrant colors and smooth, flowing forms and graphics and painting an eldar army in the classic scheme - or close to it anyway - has been an aspiration since I started playing 40K. From the 2E codex I learned about the eldar exodites, the "backwards cousins" that rode dinosaurs into battle and were every bit as fierce as their space-faring kin. The idea that elves that used to be in space traded in their rocket ships for dinosaurs appealed to the child in me (astronauts vs. cavemen anyone?) and I shelved the concept in the "possibly in the dim future of my life" shelf in my brain. Until now. I've picked up a plethora of models to add to the initial collection of 2nd ed. models I already have, as well as a bunch of 3rd and 4th ed. models and got started. Some inspiration from Augustus' own exodites and seeing some of my fellow Dakkite's efforts in this direction finally encouraged me to give it a try.

I still wanted to have a craftworld contingent in the exodite line-up, especially of aspect warriors. In place of posting the fanfic explaining the how & why, I'll sum it up: a splinter of the Biel-Tan Swordwind established a colony on an exodite world in danger of invasion by several nefarious forces, bringing their technology and training to the exodite hunter-warriors. The gray and turquoise colors are similar to Biel-Tan, but different enough that no one will think they're Swordwind. I wanted to make sure that they'll stand out against other eldar armies, which means that there will be plenty of conversions, but according to my fluff, the aspect warriors will stay true to their traditions, so little to no conversions and they are painted to match their shrine colors. Any guardians are fair game and I'm finding ways to incorporate dinosaurs as much as I can. There was a brief moment where I considered paleolithic/ice age animals (sabertooth tigers, mastadons, giant sloths) instead and that might be the next army I'll do, but for now it's all dinos.

So there's cold ones instead of jetbikes for starters and I've got some larger dinos to act as my falcons, wave serpents, and fire prisms. The big dinos haven't been taken out of boxes yet and once I get some more eldarish bits, they'll get busted open and converted. I'll probably find a way to make some war walkers as well. I still need to add some details to my guardians to make them more exoditey, using Wood Elf, High Elf, and Dark Elf bits and other goodies, but wanted to get the color scheme resolved first.

I've got some of the older chariot cold ones that I'm using for heavy weapon platforms and my cannon jet bikes and a whole seer council of scratch-built war shamans. There's also the wraithlord I've converted as a striking scorpion and another wraithlord will be made up as a dark reaper to continue the aspect warrior colony concept.

Some of these images have been posted in earlier threads, but now they get consolidated into this mega-thread along with current WIP pics and anything else I can shovel in.

So here's a guardian with my sample color scheme. It's black primer, codex gray basecoat, badab black wash, fortress gray highlight. The helmet and pauldrons are scaly green with hawk turquoise highlights.




As mentioned above, I tried to make the scheme similar to Biel-Tan since that's the originator craftworld, but different enough to know it's not Biel-Tan. I've only got two guardian defender squads at the moment, but Arctik_Firangi sent me a few bits good for storm guardians and there's more than a few guardian "jetbikes":



This is a guardian body on Glade Rider legs, color scheme's the same with the "riding kilt" painted a mix of skull white and snot green, washed with thraka green, and highlighted with the skull/snot mix with more skull and less snot. The dino is a lizardman saurus cavalry stipled from a base of mordian blue up to spacewolf gray and the green scales from orkhide up to goblin green with scorpion green highlights. The saddle is a blob of greenstuff moulded to look nothing like a real saddle. You'll notice a distinct lack of a twin-linked shurican; exodites are really good shots when riding on dinosaurs, so they counts-as. I'm working on my cannon "bikes" at the moment and I'll get up WIP pics when I get the chance.

Here's a few WIP shots of my farseer, his seer council, and the autarch. I wanted to use the wonderful bits from the high elf range to make my farseer/Eldrad, but still keep him eldar enough that people won't say that he's just an elf, not a space elf. I'm not sure I succeeded here (head-swapped Eldrad), and have given thought to adding a shuri-pistol to accentuate the point. I also haven't added any GS rune-armor to him because I liked the detail on the robe and didn't want to obscure it. Any suggestions will be accepted at face value! He'll be painted in a pale blue-white color scheme with turquoise and gold accents.




The warlocks are made from Dark Elf Corsair cloak/chests, high elf spearmen legs and arms, and high elf mage and eldar heads. The runes were made by making press molds from the existing warlocks. Greenstuff is ingenious! The arms are magentized for weapon swaps between spears and swords and they'll have shuripistols or Destructor effects as well. The spears and swords will get a bit more work by adding a plastic bit and a snip of guitar wire to make them look more official. I'm going to give them the same scheme as the farseer: pale blue-white with turquoise and gold accents.







Lastly is an Autarch I picked up in a trade that I've magnetized as well. He's got gads of bits from the Dire Avenger box to work with, as well as some additional weapons, like the Reaper Launcher shown and a Deathspinner. He'll get a color scheme to match the guardians.




I plan to have at least one squad of each aspect warrior painted and fieldable, even if they don't make it to the list. I'm painting them according to the classic 2nd ed. shrine schemes for the most part, with some minor changes here and there. I've already got six Fire Dragons, 12 Banshees, 6 Scorpions, 5 Swooping Hawks, and 11 Dark Reapers painted. Most of them still need basing and the banshees need to have their gems finished, but are otherwise finished. I've got 15 Dire Avengers, mostly the classic one peice metals, waiting to be stripped. Silver Spears are an exception, since I'm converting them as Dragon Knights. The Scorpion, Dragon, and Hawk models were painted with craft paint, hence the grainy texture. I also missed some very obvious mould lines and have thought about stripping and repainting them, but I've got so much new models to paint first so they'll have to wait.




Here's the Dragon Knights, counting as Silver Spears; I've got the exarch's weapon options magnetized and converted up a Star Lance. I remember seeing a Star Lance somewhere (possibly a White Dwarf), but couldn't find the reference. They use the Dark Elf Cold One Rider legs, arms, and heads with Guardian/Dire Avenger bodies and High Elf Shields. I'm waiting for 30mm bases to arrive to finish them up, but slapped them on 40mm's for the pics. I could probably use 40's, but want to make sure that there's no discrepency to dispute in a game.





I posted this converted wraithlord a few months back and have since remodeled the neck (it was a tad wobbly) and slapped a basecoat on it. It's next on my painting to-do list and will have a color scheme similar to the striking scorpions I've already done. As mentioned above, a Dark Reaper wraithlord conversion will be forthcoming.



I've got an objective marker put together as well, an eldar reflection pool. I still need water effects to finish it up, and of course painting and basing. I haven't figured out a second marker yet and any ideas will be considered!



Last up is a model I've had for about 15 years now that I'm using as a harlequin troupe leader. I'm not sure which manufacturer it's from (maybe Reaper), but I remember that it was supposed to be a dark elf of some kind. The original sword had broken off long ago and I've always loved the model's detail and style, which matched the 'quins perfectly. A simple sword swap and presto! new troupe leader to go with my classic harlies (not painted yet...). I'm looking for color scheme recommendations for the harlies - I like the harlequin style, but the classic schemes are a bit too vibrant for my tastes and would like to see something more conservative.



So that's it for now, although more is to come!

Cool stuff. I started playing in the late 90s, when I was really young. I still have an affinity for many of the 2nd edition models, particularly the eldar aspect warriors, so good on ya for giving them some love!! I recently found a bunch of my old 2nd edition Ork models and I'm already integrating them into future plans...

i like the warlock conversions. are you thinking of casting that objective "stone"? i could really use that type of thing for a conversion.

I like the use of the new cold ones, god i love those models

Most impressive.

Thank you, everyone. I haven't thought about casting the objective, but I've been giving thought to casting up some resin bases. If there's enough interest, I'll consider casting the reflection pool.

Anyone recognize the "Harlequin" model?

Also, the wraithlord is basecoated and I've started painting it in earnest.

On a separate note, my boy's necrons were spray painted this weekend and the objective markers for them are up in my gallery. I got to base coat them this morning (chaos black and dark angels green equal parts) and will probably finish them up before the match we've scheduled this coming Saturday.

New stuff, well painted stuff anyway! I've got the Exodite Dragon Knights painted and based, the Wraithlord's been base coated and the highlights are started. I'm going to try wet blending him (the first time I'll be trying it out) up to Scorpion Green. Also, not shown are the Exodite Shamans/Warlocks - they're almost finished but need final highlights and details on them along with basing.

That striking scorp wraith lord is too cool for school .

I like what you've done with the Exodite Dragon Knights. Especially the beach basing, looks heaps cool.

Nice looking conversions! I like the dinos!

I really like the exodite shining spears, especially how you have done the end of the lance.
Works really well.

Wow, those dinosaurs must really be able to run fast to be counted as jetbikes.

Great models.

@slann, Ronin, viney, W_G, and lalabox: thanks for the compliments! The beach basing was inspired by Lunahound's, although I had been meaning to do it for a while. Just lightweight spackle spread with a butterknife, much simpler and "realistic" than the water effects I was planning to do. The lances seemed to fit the dragon knights perfectly, but just needed the blade at the end trimmed off. After that, I drilled the barrels to make them laser lances.

@lalabox: I'm sure we can all suspend our disbelief regarding 40K. We are talking about psychic space elves, genetically-engineered bald screaming space crusaders with seemingly endless ammunition, and communist fish people after all! Just wait until you see the dinosaur grav-tanks...

Man, I wouldn't want those dino-riding space elves stomping on my sand castles!

Gavin Thorne wrote:@lalabox: I'm sure we can all suspend our disbelief regarding 40K. We are talking about psychic space elves, genetically-engineered bald screaming space crusaders with seemingly endless ammunition, and communist fish people after all! Just wait until you see the dinosaur grav-tanks...

Don't get me wrong, I think it's awesome. Why wouldn't you think supersonic dinosaurs are awesome?

And I am very much looking forward to seeing the tanks. And it would be cool to see the reactions of opponents when a pack of dinosaurs jumps from building to building. That are 12 inches apart.

lalabox wrote:Why wouldn't you think supersonic dinosaurs are awesome?

And I am very much looking forward to seeing the tanks. And it would be cool to see the reactions of opponents when a pack of dinosaurs jumps from building to building. That are 12 inches apart.

With freakin' lasers strapped to their heads.

Totally sig worthy! Thanks!

I've been mulling over the idea of an Autarch for my exodite army for some time. I've got one of the foot models (converted, but not painted) and wanted to be able to field a "jetbike" autarch as well to pair with my dino-riding guardians or Dragon Knights. I was finally motivated by joining a local gaming club who's sponsoring a HQ arena - check out my post on that in 40K Discussions - and decided to put a Reaper Launcher/Laser Lance/Mandiblaster Jetarch into the ring to tear up the opposition.



That's a Lizarman Saurus Cavalry he's on with a greenstuff saddle, same as the exodite guardian "jetbikes". He's made of a DA torso and head (with additional headdresses added to the sides of the helmet), High Elf Dragon rider legs (with extra cloth trimmed away) and arms. Oh yeah, the pointing hand is from a HE Archer model and the flag is from the DA exarch. The guns are a warwalker turret post with a missile launcher from a Wave Serpent laid on it's side, capped by a tiny bit of sprue that hold two DA Exarch Avenger Catapults with the handle and arms trimmed off. There's a bit of funny shaped sprue that acts as the back of the saddle and the anchor for the gun mount. Oh, I almost forgot the Mandiblasters! They're the from a High Elf bow. The crystals are a combination of old carved sprue and blue foam insulation. Here's some different angles:












The paint scheme is fairly modest, intending to match the guardian's scheme, but stand out as well. The rider was basecoated with Astronomicon Gray, washed with Badab Black, highlighted with Fortress Gray, then Fortress and Skull White. The teal areas were basecoated in Scaly Green, washed in Thrakka Green, then highlighted with Hawk Turquoise and Hawk Turq/Skull White; the gold started off with Tin Bitz, Burnished Gold, Ogryn Flesh wash, then Reaper MS Antique Gold and finally Reaper MS New Gold. The lance tip started off as Snot Green, then lightly highlighted and drybrushed with Boltgun Metal, given a thin coat of Goblin Green, washed in Thrakka, lightly drybrushed with Chainmail, highlighted with Mithril, then glazed with Thrakka and matte medium. the rune was highlighted up to Scorpion Green after the Chainmail drybrush. Whew!

The dino was done with Mordian Blue, Asurmen Blue wash, highlighted with Mordian, then stiple brushed with Regal Blue, Enchanted Blue, and Space Wolf Gray in various mixtures. The scales are Orkhide, Thrakka wash, and highlighted from Snot Green, to Goblin Green, and finally Scorpion Green. Three color treatment on all the gems that were big enough for it (naked eye only - I get dizzy from magnifiers) and I tried to use contrasting colors to give them a bit of pop.

The flag was freehanded, a copy of the rune on his lance, and the three color stripes represent the Aspect Shrines the Autarch was tutored under: Shining Spears, Striking Scorpions, and Dark Reapers. No name for him yet, but I'm sure one will come to me.

Wow, this is awesome. I love the whole concept and the execution is bang-on.

Really well done!

It's easily my favorite conversion to date and I'm very happy with the paint job and color scheme. Thanks for the comments!

Bloody awesome Autarch. I love the crystals on the base as well. May have to steal that idea for myself

Thanks Ronin! Hopefully I'll get points for creativity in tonight's HQ arena... wish me luck!

These Eldar are the shizzel nice work,

The Autarch is a beast he's carrying like nine guns and riding a dinosaur that can run faster than a speeding rhino. Two words BAD ASS!

Nice work, especially the dragon knights - they are easily the best of the army so far, IMHO. Why not put the exarch on the new cold though? I recognize the harliquin - he's a dark elf ballista crewman from a knock off brand - the local shop has a blister lurking in the back. I'll look to see the manufacturer next time I'm in.

very cool , I like where this list is going , I have seen so many people try and do this theme and get a little to cheesy with it this looks awesome though .

I really like the helmet conversion from the spare bare-head Exarch headdresses. Great work on that and the paint and basing. Must say I'm not a fan of the mass of the missile launcher and its mounting compared to the rest of the model, but YMMV.

The basic dino-riders are amazing btw, especially those wave bases.

So how'd he do in the arena?

Thanks all!

@kestral: I really wanted to use the HE dragon rider legs for my autarch. They overhang the body of the DE cold one by a good 3/8" on either side, but they fit the lizzie cold one almost perfectly. On the plus side, the autarch's color scheme matches my guardian's and they also ride the lizzie cold ones so there's more consistency in the army.

@Slann: I really appreciate your comments and take them as great praise. I've also seen some less-than-good exodite conversions, but I've tried to stay inspired by the better ones. Augustus's riders are some of the best and they use the old metal cold ones. I found a blog recently, "Path of the Outcast", that has gathered some exodite conversions from the web and like what I see there.

@Savnock: I was worried about the missile launcher being too much, but it actually dosn't look too bad IRL. The headdress conversion was a brainstorm I had put together months ago for a footarch and once I found it decided it would go better on the rider.

I was fourth to last on the table and only scored two wounds. There were two ork warbosses with mega armor and powerklaw and a chaos sorceror with lash and the power that turns IC's into spawn. I had been running from the orks most of the battle and started pounding on the sorceror with my reaper launcher - out of range of his lash, mind you - until he pushed one of the bosses within assault range of me right after my turn.

I realized later that I should have charged the boss early on - 5 S6 power weapon attacks *should* have been enough to take them out - instead of flitting around cover and taking pot-shots.

There were 14 players in the club and they brought some hardcore units. Two Grey Knight Grandmasters, a Black Templar Marshal, Imperial Fists Chapter Master with twin powerfists, Demon Prince with warptime, dark eldar wytch hyped up on crazy combat drugs witha 2++ save, a SM Chaplain, an Eldar Avatar, and a few more. I think I survived as long as I did because I stayed out of everyone else's way and let the big guys duke it out.

I didn't place in combat, but I did win best painted/converted by unanimous vote!