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 youwashock wrote:
Those dragon cloaks have always made for good Exodites. Awesome squad.

Thank you! Although I'm not entirely happy with how the cloaks look at the moment... more on that at the end of this update.

First however the only unconverted models in the entire blog, made from an AoS kit!

The Unsleeping Guardians - Wraithblades with axes





Personal Log of Inquisitor Selene - On Necromancy - Entry 1
It is a fact that should be of great comfort to all true servants of the Emperor that the Aeldari are a race on the wane. The combined population of their sundered kindreds would be almost insignificant on the galactic scale where it not for their technology and precognistic abilities. To compensate for the shortage of warriors that inevitably results from their dwindling population many of the Aeldari have turned to necromancy. It is well known that the Craftworlds field many forms of 'Ghost Warrior', placing spirit stones of fallen heroes in bodies of wraithbone. The inhabitants of the Gaian worlds have a similar practice, in times of great need their seers will draw forth the spirits of warriors into bodies grown by the World Spirit. The resulting semi-corporeal creations are resilient in the extreme, and wield blades of great potency with all the skill they once possessed in life.

As I've already hinted I'm not entirely happy with the cloaks on my Warrior Bands, so I have experiment with painting the scales a different colour. There are a couple of comparison pictures below and I'd greatly appreciate the views of my fellow hobby enthusiasts on which works better or whether I should try a third scheme.

The blue skintone really puts the wraith in wraithblades. I like the new color for the cloaks. Having the scales a different color from the skin makes for a nice contrast.

 youwashock wrote:
The blue skintone really puts the wraith in wraithblades. I like the new color for the cloaks. Having the scales a different color from the skin makes for a nice contrast.

It's one of the two ghostly technical paints from GW, I'm pretty happy with how it worked out. I'm also sold on the purple cloaks so will be using those going forward.

I had planned to paint some more rank and file for this update, but got distracted by something a little bigger...

Chief Elros - Wraithseer







Personal Log of Inquisitor Selene - On Clan Zenil'tar - Entry 5
The current chief of Clan Zenil'tar is Elros Zenil'tar. A fighter and general of fierce renown Elros has delegated much of his responsibility to his son Tulivandrel, however when significant threats arise he will lead the Clan into battle himself. Elros rides to battle atop a great carnosaur, the apex predator of the Gaian Worlds. Whilst the tank commanders of the Astra Militarum would dismiss the threat of such a primitive creature they would be wrong to do so. The carnosaur is capable of ripping the front armour off a Leman Russ with its claws and its hide is all but impervious to small arms fire. Elros's mount is further protected by runes of warding strapped to its hide which project a psychic shield around the beast and its rider.

Wow. I think people will excuse the lack of rank-and-file. That thing is sweet!

This made my day!

youwashock wrote:Wow. I think people will excuse the lack of rank-and-file. That thing is sweet!

Thank you, I had to get the 'classic' Exodite conversion in their somewhere and Ynnari Wraithseers are arguably the best thing in their list.

DaRealJDB wrote:This made my day!

I'm glad you're enjoying the blog!

So after being distracted by the biggest of dinosaurs I returned to painting rank and file, fleshing out my Dragon Knights unit and painting a second Warrior Band, complete with purple cloaks. Rather than post more pics of very similar models I thought it was time for another army shot!


The assembled host of Clan Zenil'tar.


Chief Elros leads the clan's cavalry forces....


whilst his son Tulivandrel commands the infantry.

Is it ever not time for an army shot? Not with an army like this. They look fantastic. Great conversion choices, loads of character.

 youwashock wrote:
Is it ever not time for an army shot? Not with an army like this. They look fantastic. Great conversion choices, loads of character.

Thanks for your continued support youwashock!

With what's in that picture combined with the models in this update I'm very close to getting what was going to be my 1750 point list completed, I only have my Yvraine counts-as, another squad of warriors and another raider to go. Of course with 9th that list will likely never see the light of day but it should give me a solid foundation for the next edition. I also have a few extras planned just because they are cool.

First up is my final unit of rangers.

Hunter Kindred - Rangers



I've also finished the last of my dragon riders with another two members of the Conclave. Given these are arguably the most iconic Exodite unit I thought I would share a few pictures of them all together.

The Conclave - Warlock Skyrunners



Dragon Knights - Shining Spears



Personal Log of Inquisitor Selene - A Charge of Dragons
It was during the ninth month of my residence on the Gaian Worlds that a crew of Ork Freebootaz attempted to raid Gaia Primus. Elros invited me to accompany the war party sent to exterminate the raiders, this would be my first opportunity to study the Clan's military in action so of course I accepted. To my surprise Elros did not mobilise the full host at his command, instead he sent only the Dragon Knights and the riders of the Conclave. In order to match the speed of the war party I was forced to procure a saurian packbeast as my mount, there was no question of me riding one of their dragon steeds. I must admit, the indignity rankled.

On the second day we came across the Orks, their tracks had not been hard to follow. In a clearing before us we saw a few mobs of boys and a couple of the scrap abominations the beasts refer to as Killa Kans. The Dragon Knight seneschal did not hesitate to order the attack, pausing only to order me to remain concealed on the forest edge. The scene that followed was akin to the mythology of ancient Franc. The warband charged from the woods, spreading into a solid line of cavalry riding knee to knee. After a moment of dumbfoundedness the Orks let out a great Waaagh of anticipation and turned to meet the oncoming Eldar, opening up with their full profusion of oversized weaponry. The Exodites were untroubled, jinking their steeds aside from energy blasts and rockets whilst small calibre shots rattled harmlessly from their shields or the thick skin of their mounts. In response to the hostilities the dragons opened their jaws and spat poison into the ranks of Orks, the venom so concentrated that it overcame even the famous resilience of the greenskins. To this barrage the Coven added their powers, cerulean lightning leaping from their blades to render more Orks into blackened husks.

The Killa Kans barged their way through the impromptu gunline, seeking to meet the cavalry charge face to face. Before they could reach the front line a lance of pure energy struck one directly in the chest, the beam boring a whole straight through the warmachine and its pilot. The shot had come from the rider of the chariot which had accompanied the warband. Even as the driver navigated the chariot around the edge of Freebootaz a second shot licked out, this one hit the bulky cannon that composed the remaining Kan's left arm. The ammunition within the weapon cooked on impact blowing the scrap machine and several nearby Orks to bits in the subsequent explosion.

Moments later the charge hit home. A dozen Orks were cut down by blasts from the Knights laser lances whilst others were impaled on the blades of the Conclave and yet more were bowled to the ground or eviscerated by the dragons themselves. It is possible that the Orks would have broken there and then had their Kaptain not bullied his way to the front. A giant beast, he towered over even the mounted Aeldari. His face was pocked by dragon venom but if it troubled him he showed no sign, instead he discharged his firearm into the air and ripped the nearest rider from their steed with his power klaw. Brandishing the remains of the bisected corpse in the air the huge greenskin roared a challenge. It was the Seneschal who answered. Guiding his steed between the ever moving combatants the Eldar made straight for the Ork. The beast saw the Knight coming and broke into a lumbering run of his own, his klaw sweeping round in a huge arc that would surely smash the Seneschal from the saddle. At the last moment the Aeldari directed his mount to sidestep, dodging the oncoming fist, as he did he raised his lance to aim at the Kaptain's face. His weapon was stockier than that of his fellow riders but when it fired it matched the tank killing weapon of the charioteer in intensity. The Ork's head simply ceased to exist and his body, bereft of direction, pitched forward and tumbled to the ground.

With the death of their leader the morale of his crew broke and the Orks fled. Not a single one escaped the vengeful riders, their corpses devoured by the dragons until not a single sign of greenskin presence remained on Gaia Primus.

More lovely models. Projects like this one make me sorely tenpted to put together a bunch of dino-riders myself. They always look so awesome.

 youwashock wrote:
More lovely models. Projects like this one make me sorely tenpted to put together a bunch of dino-riders myself. They always look so awesome.

I'm really tempted to build some more myself, mass cavalry charges are just so evocative! If I can source a pair of legs from somewhere I've got enough bits to build an Autarch to lead them which would be fun.

Since the last update I've finished another squad of warriors, leaving me with only a Raider and this lady to go before I reach my original goal!



It took me a while to get a Yvraine counts as, mainly because I wanted to keep to the same oval base as the Herald of Ynnead and finding an elf figure that could command that space was challenging. However after lots of playing around I'm pretty happy with the result!

Warrior Band - Drukhari Warriors



Whereas the other two squads will generally be flying around in a raider blasting things at close range this unit will camp on an objective taking pot shots with their Dark Lance. I also thought this would be a good opportunity to show off the updated cloak colour scheme.



While I originally planned a 1750 point force I've already picked up a few bits to take me beyond that and expand the army further. The keen eyed amongst you will spotted that I have a new backdrop for the models in these pictures, thats because my first project is a board!



As GW have helpfully written scenarios for an area the size of my breakfast bar it seemed rude not to acquire the bits I needed to turn it into a proper playing area. In addition to what's in the picture I have another forest and a ttcombat landing pad to build. Hopefully it will enable my Exodites to hit the table as soon as 9th edition is released.

Saih-Yvraine looks very cool. Looking forward to seeing her painted.

These are pretty great man, i look forward to seeing more.

Thank you both!

Having finally settled on a model I too couldn't wait to see not-Yvraine painted, so a spray undercoat and evening of painting later here she is!

Personal Log of Inquisitor Selene - The Witch of the Zenil'tar
The leaders of the Kin of the Broken Blade have always relied on the advice of the witch known as Qualistara. Qualistara is not a name, rather it is a title similar to that of the Din'larstill. However unlike that champion the identity of the one who wears the mirrored mask of the seer is completely unknown. Occasionally the serving Qualistara will select a young girl of the tribe who exhibits a particularly potent psychic gift to serve her. It is from this pool that her replacement is chosen but as they all conceal their faces and forsake their names from the day they are chosen it is never known which girl ultimately takes on the mantle.

It was the previous Qualistara whose legacy has resulted in the Zenil'tar taking a more aggressive stance in recent centuries. As I understand it the witch was wracked by terrible dreams of a beast descending on the Gaian Worlds. She begged the clan to travel to the world Gargathan, to avert this threat before it could arise. The chief refused, their duty was to protect the Gaian Worlds and they would not intervene in galactic affairs. Two decades later a Waaagh, headed by a Warlord from Gargathan, engulfed the Gaian Worlds. It was only through the intervention of the Craftworld Ulthwe that the Orks were defeated and the then Qualistara gave her life in the final battle to destroy the Ork Warboss.

The lesson of pre-emptive defence was well learnt and although rare it is not unheard of for their warhost to traverse the webway to prevent threats from taking form.

The Qualistara - Yvraine

She looks good. The shrubbery makes for a nice backdrop.

Wow, great concept and execution on this army!

Your Warband is excellent- good use of primary colors to show unity while still including a lot of individual detail and identity. Love the terrain pieces that are shaping!

youwashock wrote:She looks good. The shrubbery makes for a nice backdrop.

Thank you, I found it was the missing piece to justifying the larger base for the Mistweaver, it really helps frame it and leaves her looking quite Zen overall

endtransmission wrote:Wow, great concept and execution on this army!

Thank you! It's a joy to have so many largely interchangeable plastic kits to mess around with these days. It makes projects like this a lot easier!

Meer_Cat wrote:Your Warband is excellent- good use of primary colors to show unity while still including a lot of individual detail and identity. Love the terrain pieces that are shaping!

Thank you!

So I still couldn't bring myself to paint the raider, but as it is now my only unpainted assembled model for the Exodites its time will come soon. Instead I decided to finish off my 'Gaian Triumvirate'.

Personal Log of Inquisitor Selene - On the Gaian Worlds - Entry 2
As with other Exodite Worlds the Gaian Worlds are wrapped by psychic leylines which function in much the same way as the infinity circuit's of their craftworld kin. This 'World Spirit' is more than just a haven for the spirits of slain Eldar, it is instead a fully sentient psychic gestalt and the Gaian Worlds' ultimate defender. While in times of threat the Exodites of the Gaian Worlds may call forth individual departed from the World Spirit to fight once more it is only in times of deepest crisis that the World Spirit itself manifests as a physical entity. When it does it is a creation of great power, as part of the planet itself it can materialise almost at will across the surface and healing energies radiate from it to embolden the Exodites fighting in it's vicinity even as it destroys those who would dare trespass on the Gaian Worlds with sweeps of its blade or swipes of its vicious claws.

The World Spirit - Yncarne

Love the owl. Love that it gets a picture all to itself.

This continues to impress. You are holding together a good theme from quite disparate kits too.

youwashock wrote:Love the owl. Love that it gets a picture all to itself.

According to one guardsman's report no matter how much fire they directed at the tree thing it just wouldn't die, it was only when a stray las bolt clipped a nearby owl that the beast vanished. The guardsman was of course deemed to be suffering from incurable delusions and executed for wasting the Emperor's holy brainpower.

Fifty wrote:This continues to impress. You are holding together a good theme from quite disparate kits too.

Thank you! I think the tricks are using one set to tie everything together, so nearly every model has some Dark Eldar parts, leaning into the common motifs across the GW elf ranges, i.e. the gemstones, and then binding it all with a common colour scheme.

Today is an exciting day as I finally finished painting my second raider! After the 9th edition points increases what had been a 1750pts list has landed very neatly on 1999pts, so I now have a fully painted 2k army for 9th edition plus a bonus World Spirit. I look forward to kicking 9th off with a few games of Crusade, just need to get the scenery painted now...

The Host of the Kin of the Broken Blade - Ynnari Drukhari+Craftworlds

Absolutely love this! The beautiful autumnal colours work great, both on their own as a scheme but even more so with the lore (which I'm really enjoying too). I particularly love The Qualistara as it nearly seems like a 3D painting with that backdrop of the leaves. Keep it up, I can't wait to see more!

What a beautiful army! Congratulations on a job well done!

Ba-da-BOOM. That's a lovely sight. Congrats on getting to 2000. Any plans for additions at this point?

tarar2d2 wrote:Absolutely love this! The beautiful autumnal colours work great, both on their own as a scheme but even more so with the lore (which I'm really enjoying too). I particularly love The Qualistara as it nearly seems like a 3D painting with that backdrop of the leaves. Keep it up, I can't wait to see more!

Thank you! I was really happy with the base for The Qualistara when I finally put the bits together. I'm also glad you're enjoying the little fluff extracts, the new Crusade system is going to be a great opportunity to write a bit more fiction as Warleader Tulivandrel tries to earn his spurs.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:What a beautiful army! Congratulations on a job well done!

Cheers, it is very satisfying to have it all laid out like that.

youwashock wrote:Ba-da-BOOM. That's a lovely sight. Congrats on getting to 2000. Any plans for additions at this point?

The army is definitely going to take a bit of a backburner modelling wise for a while, but I do have bit for another turtle, another raider and some more Incubi and Wraithblades still on sprue. I'd also like to expand the dinosaur riders a bit, especially as under the power level system I really need 6 Shining Spears rather than five. Finally I've been mulling some Stegaddon Wraithlord-counts as based on Promethean Sun.

While the building and painting stage of the army is largely finished for now the gaming stage is just about to begin as I'll be trying out the new Crusade system with a friend or two. But if Clan Zenil'tar is going to march to battle then I would need something for them to fight for. Clearly that meant I needed to dive into my pile of sprues and knock up some objective markers.





Four objective markers! Consisting of one valuable casualty, two waystones and a banner/command post.

I've also set up a battlefield in anticipation of my first game of 9th edition tomorrow.

Good luck breaking in the new edition! Looking forward to action shots.

So it took longer than planned to get some games in but I have now played my first games of 9th Edition! I took a mutually bloody loss against a Harlequin/Drukhari alliance at 2000pts and then won my first game of crusade as the Death Guard launched their invasion of the Gaian Worlds. There are a few action shots below and I aim to write up a short story around the Death Guard game in the near future.

For those of you who make it through those there is a surprise at the bottom of the post!


The Host of the Broken Blade assembles for battle...


Against a very fast moving force of Harlequins and Drukhari, kin strife has come to the Gaian worlds!


There used to be some Drukhari bikes in this picture... the Dragon Knights doing what they do with a cheeky first turn charge.


Did I mention how fast moving the Harlequins were?


The Exodites counter attack in force, much blood is spilt on both sides.


The Warrior Kinband known as Khaine's Huntsmen garrison a pagoda against the Death Guard invasion.


The foul servants of Nurgle tried to pollute the Gaian Worlds, they did not succeed.

Personal Log of Inquisitor Selene - The Exodites at War - Entry 1
The Exodites of the Gaian Worlds generally eschew open battle, preferring to use their speed, fieldcraft and intimate knowledge of the terrain to engage in ambush and hit and run raids. But when they do assemble for true battle their hosts are a magnificent sight. Standards fly from raised banner poles, dragon knights advance in serried ranks and accompanying it all is the sonorous beat of the great drums mounted upon the backs of the monstrous Bastiladons.

Bastiladon - Wraithlord

Army looks great on the table and in action. The new beast is a fine addition. I like the faceless drummer.

These are an absolute delight to see, absolutely love these conversions. That wine red colour scheme goes so beautifully with the bases. Nice work!

youwashock wrote:Army looks great on the table and in action. The new beast is a fine addition. I like the faceless drummer.

Thank you! Yeah the drummer was left over from the Leviadon and I knew I had to find a use for him as the model was too good to waste.

Olthannon wrote:These are an absolute delight to see, absolutely love these conversions. That wine red colour scheme goes so beautifully with the bases. Nice work!

Cheers! The bases were a real experiment with this army as I've normally stuck to the traditional texture + static grass, it's definitely paid off though.

After my introductory game of 9th and being reminded just how many vehicles have invulnerable saves and how many two wound models are kicking around I decided that a triple Dark Lance Ravager didn't quite cut it and I would be better off with triple Disintegrator Cannons instead. This of course meant I had to paint my second turtle!

Tu'Phun, Chelys Galactica - Ravager

Lovely warm and cold colour contrasts there.