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Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbia, MO USA

Someone mentioned Eldar Exodites to me and the idea of a dino riding space elf army sounds cool. I have not seen this before I googled it, have any of you?

The person who mentioned this to me cautioned me to not take the dino thing too far, to do a dino or two in a otherwise eldar army. Ya right. . . I think: Don't just do a eldar army and scribble 'exodite' on the side, make every model scream "I am not Craftworld Eldar! I am my own army! Who cares I don't have models or rules? I got a 3d printed Dino here and a codex with all the words 'Craftworld' crossed out! I'm a freaking dinosaur riding space elf!"

(Just make sure people can still tell what is what. That is the challenge.)

Dinosaur Warwalkers
Dinosaur Shining Spears
Dinosaur heavy weapon platforms for your guardians
Dinosaur Swooping Hawks
Dinosaur hide cloaks for your rangers

Questions:
1: Are Exodites over done or would they be a cool army.
2: Any ideas on what units that would work to be Dino-fied?
3: Would it be OK to print the Dinosaurs?
4: What am I going to do with my riderless jetbikes?

Thanks!


   
Made in us
Utilizing Careful Highlighting





Augusta GA

I always wanted to do an exodite wraith host army using the sylvaneth models. Dryads and tree men and those big tree guys as wraith knights.

How many people play an army shouldn't really be a determining factor in the army you play. Because this is a big world and no matter what obscure faction you collect, there will be a few hundred people also playing it.

You shouldn't need to do molds of dinos, there's tons of them in every size. Next to green plastic army men they're probably one of the most mass produced toys.
   
Made in nl
Dakka Veteran





I'm also current slowly, very slowly, building an exodites army. For the dinos/dragons I'll be using the age of sigmar range. Just take a look at the seraphon range

 
   
Made in gb
[MOD]
Villanous Scum







Been slowly doing my own force using a mash of CWE, Wood Elves and Dark Elves, heres a WIP pic of jetbike stand in (sorry for poor photo);

For your questions;
1. They will always be a cool army!
2. Anything and everything, before 8th came out I was using the forgeworld Corsairs list instead of CWE.
3. Why not?
4. Sell them, turn them into BFG cruisers, make them into terrain, make them into a mobile...


On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. 
   
Made in us
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General






A garden grove on Citadel Station

Overdone? Heck no! A well done Exodite army is extremely rare, super cool, and takes a lot of effort.

I say go for it, 100%, and don't forget to blog about it here!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Badablack wrote:
I always wanted to do an exodite wraith host army using the sylvaneth models. Dryads and tree men and those big tree guys as wraith knights.

How many people play an army shouldn't really be a determining factor in the army you play. Because this is a big world and no matter what obscure faction you collect, there will be a few hundred people also playing it.

You shouldn't need to do molds of dinos, there's tons of them in every size. Next to green plastic army men they're probably one of the most mass produced toys.
What sort of units would you use the Sylvaneth as? I do love that idea. Are Tree Lords/Durthu large enough to be a wraithknight? Are dryads big enough to be Wraithguard, or would they be Storm Guardians or Aspects?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/09/21 07:25:52


ph34r's Forgeworld Phobos blog, current WIP: Iron Warriors and Skaven Tau
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Made in nl
Dakka Veteran





 ph34r wrote:
Overdone? Heck no! A well done Exodite army is extremely rare, super cool, and takes a lot of effort.

I say go for it, 100%, and don't forget to blog about it here!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Badablack wrote:
I always wanted to do an exodite wraith host army using the sylvaneth models. Dryads and tree men and those big tree guys as wraith knights.

How many people play an army shouldn't really be a determining factor in the army you play. Because this is a big world and no matter what obscure faction you collect, there will be a few hundred people also playing it.

You shouldn't need to do molds of dinos, there's tons of them in every size. Next to green plastic army men they're probably one of the most mass produced toys.
What sort of units would you use the Sylvaneth as? I do love that idea. Are Tree Lords/Durthu large enough to be a wraithknight? Are dryads big enough to be Wraithguard, or would they be Storm Guardians or Aspects?

Dryads are to small for wraithguard, but the kornut(?) hunters are the right size

 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbia, MO USA

That is really true, in this big wide world there is a little of everything going on, and you will see it on the internet.

As far as printing dinos goes, there are free files of them on the internet for me to begin with and I was thinking it might be nice to have no two exactly in the same pose and I may want to heroic scale them. I could also sculpt the rider's legs into them if I wanted to use Guardian Torsos.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/09/21 09:37:05


 
   
Made in us
Powerful Phoenix Lord





I don't think I've ever seen a well done Exodite army. Most are far too stylized for what I would interpret them to be - others are far too laz (with Craftworld models riding dinosaurs).
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbia, MO USA

 Elbows wrote:
I don't think I've ever seen a well done Exodite army. Most are far too stylized for what I would interpret them to be - others are far too laz (with Craftworld models riding dinosaurs).


And that is the rub. I will have to think about how to do that. I need to make them look like unified miniatures, not toys with eldar on them.
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Scotland

I think the infantry can look great with a mix of all the (space)Elf models GW has on offer. However stegadons with grav tank weapons (wraith)duct-taped on them always look terrible and imo you just can't sub in jetbikes for gro-po cavalry even if they are velociraptors.

I think the key is to have the 'Functional' part of the Eldar tech intact but go from there. Keep the Wraithlord's head and weapon hardpoints but put it on a treeman's body, Jetbike engine and hardpoints but with wooden fairing. EDIT: Whta i'm getting at is that if the eldar had access to wooden weapons and dinosaurs as hardy as tanks wouldn't they all use them, why would the Exodites be God-Tier?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/09/21 14:16:10


Mary Sue wrote: Perkustin is even more awesome than me!



 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbia, MO USA

 Perkustin wrote:
I think the infantry can look great with a mix of all the (space)Elf models GW has on offer. However stegadons with grav tank weapons (wraith)duct-taped on them always look terrible and imo you just can't sub in jetbikes for gro-po cavalry even if they are velociraptors.

I think the key is to have the 'Functional' part of the Eldar tech intact but go from there. Keep the Wraithlord's head and weapon hardpoints but put it on a treeman's body, Jetbike engine and hardpoints but with wooden fairing. EDIT: Whta i'm getting at is that if the eldar had access to wooden weapons and dinosaurs as hardy as tanks wouldn't they all use them, why would the Exodites be God-Tier?


Eh, no dinosaurs and the idea dies. It just becomes another Eldar army. Why do it?

If you gave a craftworld eldar a dinosaur they would not use them, Craftworld eldar are locked into a rigid culture and won't change out of fear of repeating the great fall, and they live on sterile wrathbone ship worlds, A Dinosaur, no matter how effective, is beneath them. But to the wondering Exodite who can't stay in one place long enough to craft a large tank, they are a great thing. They are naturally better at getting through terrain than a machine, and if you maintain a heard of them new ones are made automatically every year. They probably use the Dinosaurs for all sorts of things when not at war, so having a trained population of them is not a problem. They just dig out the barding and weapons when the time comes to defend their world and they are ready to go.

As far as jet bikes go, you might have a point. I'll use flying dinosaurs.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This will probably be a project that some people will just not like or hate by it's very nature. I can accept that.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/09/21 18:04:05


 
   
Made in us
Powerful Phoenix Lord





Remember, this is one of the earliest pics for the Exodite "idea". Now, if we skip the obviously-dinosaurs and you can locate other monstery lookin' beasts etc...I think it can be done well.



I know they have a World Spirit or whatever, but I think making wraithguard into tree-men etc. is not really an Exodite thing. It's an interpretation of an idea, but I don't see a real Wood Elf connection (outside of maybe hoods and more rustic clothing).

The original fluff states that on some of these distant worlds Imperil Knight Barons face off with Exodite colonies (picture a massive multi-platform Eldar beastie fighting an Imperial Knight!). Also they mention they're occasionally nomadic and they herd things. I picture Eldar dragon knights as more space cowboy elves. Lances being used to herd large dino-cattle, but also used as a weapon in a pinch (likely with a trusty shuriken pistol on their hip).

Now if you take the idea of the silly old Dino-Riders toys...I think you're heading in the right direction. The trick is to make it look not-goofy and more cohesive.



The only dragon knight I've seen from GW was the old Perry one for that miniature diroama but I think he hits the aesthetic right on the head.



   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbia, MO USA

I think somewhere between 'Dino Riders' and 'Avatar' is where I need to be.

   
Made in us
Stealthy Warhound Titan Princeps







Exodites are very hard to do well, but I've seem a couple of strong efforts on Dakka. I think using creatures that are dinosaurs, but not any dinosaurs we recognize would be the key. The conversions are hard to get right also - as has been said, many of them just don't work super well, though if they make their owners happy, more power to 'em.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
8E does kind of lend itself to this kind of thing though, because the line between vehicle and monster is gone.

A dino with a gun could easily be a weapon platform or walker.

I think you should stick to the slower units though - it always seems a bit weird to me to have jet bike speed riding beasts for example.

I'd be tempted to base an exodite army on dark eldar - simple skimmers (raiders), loading with primative graceful warriors, packs of lizards with handlers, a few giant beasts (talos).

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/09/22 01:30:11


 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbia, MO USA

The more I think of it, maybe a mix of dinosaurs and primitive materials on other things may work. Maybe too many Dinosaurs would look odd. And besides, if I over use them, they stop being cool.

Using a Dark Eldar list, imagine jetbikes with dino skull nose-cones with matching fins made of frills or claws, throw in some dinosaurs as counts as clawed horrors, Make the Hormoculous and racks be some eldar who wish to be closer to their spirit animal dinosaurs and have modified their bodies to be so. Raiders with the bodies made out of giant skulls, A Talos as a big ass Dino with armor and guns. Could work.
   
Made in nl
Fresh-Faced New User




I'm currently working on my exodites, progress here:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/739077.page

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/09/24 12:25:20


 
   
Made in ca
Dakka Veteran





Over-done? No, but it's a big set of boots to fill, and you might have to look at some sculpting to alter things a little.

You could also consider other creatures as lighter systems. Specifically I'm thinking things like spider rider spiders for carrying your heavy weapon platforms - they'd be all-terrain enough to go with the hovering aspect.

It's a big artistic challenge, and it's always interesting to see how people go about the idea.
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbia, MO USA



We will see how they look painted. I’m going to try my best with them. This is a long term project.
   
Made in pl
Wicked Warp Spider





The best thing in making Exodite army is that only few official artworks exist, but the fluff is pretty well established and there are zero models for it. This in turn leads to IMHO best 40K hobby conversion theme - outside of using Cold Ones as common basis every single Exodite army I found was unique - be it Sylvaneth "new school" or Rangers on Cold Ones "old school". Heck, even those Cold Ones are "exoditified" in so many different ways, that they never get boring.

I had done some "classic" variants back in final days of 2nd ed (full metal conversions in White Metal ARE hard...) and came back to the concept a year ago doing some "modern era" conversions (project now on hold due to Necromunda getting most of my attention after 8th hit) and even the basic "throwing Craftworld bits at Dark Elf range until they stick in cool ways" is a lot of fun.

But truth be told, Exodites shine the most if you can also homebrew some nice unique rules for them. "Counts as" for "official" usage cripple this "exodite freedom of creation" due to sometimes ridiculous tabletop results (Cold Ones as Windriders in 7th were just silly). So before you start actually spending money on models/bits/green stuff make a proper "target playable list" and work upwards from that. Conveniently, 8th comes with all sorts of FOCs to do a nice Exodite addition to Aeldari collection or you can "count as" entire Ynnari army as Exodites as this will give you the most freedom in "borrowing" ready-made Aeldari units of all sorts.
   
 
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