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I love them.

The technobarbarian look is definitely something you've achieved.

The autarch idea is really clever, if archons could still take jetbikes I think that is the best way to represent arrogance when it comes to Eldar.

Now I am simply waiting for the vyper riding farseer

~Mikey

No problem at all. I'm really glad to have contributed in some small way to your hunters, who are still (even after the addition of seriously cool dinos and jetbikes) my favourite pick of your plethora of mighty conversions. They just look so badass.

All looks very promising.

gummyofallbears wrote:I love them.

The technobarbarian look is definitely something you've achieved.

The autarch idea is really clever, if archons could still take jetbikes I think that is the best way to represent arrogance when it comes to Eldar.

Now I am simply waiting for the vyper riding farseer

~Mikey

I do too took me a couple of iterations, but I'm really really happy with how these ones look. So happy that I might try and make another squad when the army's all sorted

Personally, I'd be happy to let anyone homebrew the Dark Eldar codex to expand the options for Archons to the normal level for any HQ unit, pricing them alongside Craftworld equivalents. Scourge Wings, Jetbikes, the lot

Also, surely Succubi should have access to Jetbikes too given that they're both Wych Cult units...

theCrowe wrote:No problem at all. I'm really glad to have contributed in some small way to your hunters, who are still (even after the addition of seriously cool dinos and jetbikes) my favourite pick of your plethora of mighty conversions. They just look so badass.

Thanks man!

As I've been making them they've steadily became my favourites too it's so easy to get a lot of character into each model if they're pitched as a roving band of hunters, whose sole employ is stalking trespassers through the forests and jungles of exodite worlds.

Definitely going to make a Kill Team out of them somehow

Also, I get to use my 3rd favourite bit of all time (that Wych head with the face-scarf thing that looks like a grizzled hard-case)

ColonelFazackerley wrote:All looks very promising.

Thanks man

Makes me very interested to see your take on Shining spears, if you go that way... Such an impressive breadth of work so far, it's really inspiring.

I played Chaos at the time but I do remember that Fireheart guy, he had some cool fluff. I love your autarch (and soon to be farseer) on jetbike idea, using the Harlie kits works perfectly for this.

Your DE/glade guard conversions work perfectly, fantastic job there, can't wait to see them painted.

Sauragnmon wrote:
Makes me very interested to see your take on Shining spears, if you go that way... Such an impressive breadth of work so far, it's really inspiring.

Thanks a lot!

I've put some thought into Shining Spears actually, but I'm not really sure what to make them with. I thought of using Dark Elf Cold Ones, but they've never struck me as looking Jetbike-fast so it'd have to be something I did with the rider to make them look special...

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
I played Chaos at the time but I do remember that Fireheart guy, he had some cool fluff. I love your autarch (and soon to be farseer) on jetbike idea, using the Harlie kits works perfectly for this.

Your DE/glade guard conversions work perfectly, fantastic job there, can't wait to see them painted.

Thanks man yeah I can't wait to get some paint on them either. Next on the list after my Dragon Riders.

Managed to finish one piece of paintwork tonight though. My Beastsinger is now ready to go as soon as my flying stand arrives. The picture doesn't quite do it justice (makes the paint look quite flat). Perhaps I just need to be a little less subtle with the highlighting...



Also, I've been cooking up a little more backstory for exodites in general to try and increase the grimdarkness a little.

It all stems from where they get a decent amount of their gear. My thinking is that although they make much of their lower tier tech themselves, the majority of their higher tier weaponry (much more than power swords and rifles) will be traded with their Craftworld and Commorite cousins. I've read in the Path series that there are relatively frequent trade missions to exodite planets, and many foodstuffs from exodite worlds are delicacies in craftworld society. I can see them having fairly standard trade ties with craftworlders.

For Commorites is where the grimdark comes in. I've already cooked up the idea that the drug 'Grave Lotus' is native to many exodite worlds, and is traded with the Commorites.

The other thing they'd be interested in is captives.

We all know that the concept of elves as we know them (including elves...in spaaace!) is rooted in Tolkein's portrayal of elves in the LoTR mythos, and their progenitors the Alfar of Norse mythology.

However, if you read into myths and legends regarding the Fey Folk in Gaelic mythology you get a much different impression.

These beings are malicious alien creatures (in the context of being different to you and I). At best, they were dangerous creatures that although light-hearted often overlooked the impact their pranks had on humans to tragic effect. At worst, they lured children into the woods to abduct them and replaced them with changelings, or beings like Kelpies who lure unwitting people down to the depths of lochs to devour them.

That's part of elven folklore that I'd really like to incorporate into my grimdark Exodites.

The idea being that they hunt through their webway vicinity for feral or feudal worlds with low technology and using psychic enchantments lure unwitting people into dark woods or deep lakes, whereupon they're sold to their dark cousins to sate their needs. Despite authorities' searches continually finding no hard evidence of them, local myths and legends persist of the 'fey folk of the woods' who prey on the unwary and the impious.

Must write up a codex-style story or two for that

The beastsinger looks great, the wings on his ride look suitable leathery and the basing is awesome. Whether or not to put higher contrasting highlights is a personal choice, I tend to go with higher contrast highlights because they are more easily visible when you look at a model on the table but for display purposes they toned down highlights are more believable and if done right can look really nice. It's really up to you on what you want your style to be.

The fluff is really nice, I like the thought you put into it in incorporating much of the old lore that elves are from. I'd totally read a book written about your exodites and how they survive.

Thanks man alas the basing is from a Raider I bought from eBay and is neither my work nor what it'll have eventually. Looks great though!

Hmmm, seeing as it looks good enough in person I think I'll leave it. I'll say it's due to me wanting Exodites to look more natural in their colour-range, but it's most likely purely laziness

Thanks for the feedback on the fluff I've been putting together a couple of little codex-style stories to make an Exodite Codex/Supplement thing. It'd be a big piece of work, but eventually I'd love to make one

Of course, I'll probably get two paragraphs away from finishing it and GW will release Codex: Exodites themselves...


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Little bit of prgress this morning finally finished my Dragon Riders!





Again, really pleased with how these have worked out I have forgotten to paint one of their eyes though...







That means to get to 1850pts, I need to paint up 20x Hunters/Kabalites, my Daughter of Khaine/Succubus, my Wyrdlord/Farseer, 3x Aetherskiff/Raiders, 5x Terradons/Scourges, 6x Cult of Faolchu/Swooping Hawks, 5x Raptors/Khymaerae and my Carnosaur...

Not many left then!

I have been thinking about how to make Exoditey Venoms though which could cut down the acreage that I have to paint, but I don't think the look of Venoms fits very well with the look of my Exodites.

Really, what I want is a sort of mini-Raider. For the twin Splinter Cannons I'd have Hunters hanging off the sides/on running boards holding Splinter Cannons.

Lord knows what I'd use to make that though. I've been eyeing up the Dark Elf Scourgerunner Chariot thing, but I'm not certain it's big enough...

Perhaps I can provide some semblance of an image for something Jetbike Fast for you.

Your use of the Slaaneshi mounts tripped an idea with me, as I had been thinking the key to Fast might be something lighter. What if you took the long, sleek Slaanesh Seeker mounts, and used wings from, say, Tyranid Gargoyles? They'd be sleek, light, and fast in appearance.. you could even consider blending the legs into weapon-arms that incorporate the shuriken catapults?

That's a really cool idea I'll see if I can find some Gargoyle wings somewhere. Are they plastic nowadays? Probably shows the last time I bought anything Tyranid (2nd ever army I bought!).

My other thought was that damn cool OOP Champion of Slaanesh boob-snake thing. Dremel the boobs off and it'd make a really cool Autarch/Exodite Prince mount


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Look what just turned up! As a Lizardmen fan back in the day these little critters make me really happy counts-as Razorwing Flocks



I've got some snake ones too which I'll make at some point I've also got a bit of a plan with one of my excess critters involving this picture:

Your riders looks great. the scourge helmets work really well with them.

Thanks dude the Scourge heads would look good for widespread Exodite use (if I hadn't already used them widely for my Corsairs).

There's something about the feathers interspersed with the hair that has a very strong Exoditey feel


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Well, I couldn't resist painting up my little gribblies




Again, I don't think the washed red shows up very well. There's some excellent detailing on the models themselves with cross-hatched skin that the wash has picked up really nicely in real life but isn't quite caught on the camera. Oh, and I've also tidied up their eyes since these photos which helps a lot

They blend in a lot with the colour of the base, which for most models wouldn't be a good thing but for these guys I think it works wonderfully. I strongly get the sense that they are native creatures to the land and have their sand coloured shells so they can better camouflage in their environs.

I love how they all look like vicious little buggers except for two, there are two chameleons hiding in there.

Thanks man with your description I can imagine them burying themselves in the sand up to their scales and lying in wait for any hapless wanderers to step to close...

I also like that they look like vicious buggers! Even the chameleons if you look closely have an ill-tempered look about their faces.

If you think about the scale of them compared to minis and then scale them up they get even better. These vicious little gribblies are about Alsatian-sized

I love the jetbikes, although they aren't jet-bike-ey and more just bike-y I think they fit the theme of your army very well.

The counts-as razorwing flocks look wonderful too, very cute, until they tear you apart that is

~Mikey

Thanks man I thought about Terradons for Jetbikes before, but dragon riders are just too iconic for exodites to pass up

I'm just finishing off a little footslogging Beastsinger to go along with them as well


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Well, I thought that the flying Beastsinger looked a little out of proportion with his horde of little gribblies so I made a footslogging Beastsinger (plus familiar) to guide them into battle.



Also, I've started painting my Hunters, but what respectable counts-as-Kabalites would go into battle without a ride?

Enter the Exodite Hunting Skiff (any resemblance to Eldar vehicles already extant is purely coincidental).

I like it a lot!

The beastmaster is really cool looking, and I am incredibly excited to see the raider get painted in your scheme!

~Mikey

All great stuff so far!

Thanks guys it's appreciated!

Well, I've been thinking and I'm not overly pleased with how the Raider has turned out. I like it, but it's lacking a little oomph compared to the other big models. So, I've taken advantage of the sales on at bitsandkits and ordered something to spice it up a little Shall post it up when it gets here.

Til then, I've finished my hunters!

Looking awesome!

Im excited to see whats to come!

~Mikey

Thanks man

Well, I've come up with a bit of fluff to help explain things like the night vision rules Dark Eldar have and other such things.

Basically, Exodites go in for the whole 'body modification' thing in a big way (same technology that gives Scourges their wings). The vast majority of exodites have at least a few minor modifications. For instance, one common trait is reflective corneas found in big cats, which vastly increase low-light vision (Dark Eldar night vision). Another common trait is replacement of the lungs with more efficient avian architecture, increasing endurance (Craftworld Eldar Battle Focus).

It also opens up another really cool way you could do exodites which I'm definitely going to do at some point: biologically engineered animalistic eldar!

You could go down some really cool avenues with that. I'm thinking Striking Scorpions would be excellent. To represent the mandiblaster attack, the exodite warrior has venom glands implanted in their neck, and musculature similar to spitting cobras. Just before they enter combat, they shoot corrosive venom at their enemies (if anyone's read Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds, like Tanner Mirabel).

I'm sure there are others which lend themselves to that Howling Banshees' banshee masks would be a good one

Would make for some really cool codex art too

Awesome ideas.

I love the idea of firedragon mages shooting melta out of their hands and the such

Swooping hawks would be very cool, but also incredibly straight forward

Yeah that would be cool could call them Salamanders after the Lizardmen unit. Have some sort of biological naptha production

Swooping Hawks would definitely be cool, but yeah you're right, very straight forwards.

You could have scaly-skinned modifications to represent Wracks and Gnarlskin too

There's loads of things you could do...

Warp spiders would be awesome, spider modifications that shoot around webs and stuff, idk... I'm willing to put my arachnophobia away for that one!

Shadow spectres can do some cool stuff too...

God damnit I'm going to have to do a second exodite army after this one aren't I?

One of the guys had a cool idea over on the Dark City about doing subterranean Drow-inspired exodites.

That's where I came up with the body modification thing. Pitch-black (or albino) eldar with compound insect eyes, bat wings, and 'jetbikes' as Drider eldar with spider legs

Would be a creepy way of doing things

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
God damnit I'm going to have to do a second exodite army after this one aren't I?

One of the guys had a cool idea over on the Dark City about doing subterranean Drow-inspired exodites.

That's where I came up with the body modification thing. Pitch-black (or albino) eldar with compound insect eyes, bat wings, and 'jetbikes' as Drider eldar with spider legs

Would be a creepy way of doing things

Ugh! I am angry at myself that I have started painting my DE, and haven't chopped them all up to be arachnid/insect inspired.

Me too!

I want my venom-spitting cobra-inspired striking scorpions too

Those hunters look great. A very flavorful unit.

Thanks man yeah I had great fun making them. There's a little part of me that wants to re-do my Guardian counts-as in the same style, or at least try and inject a bit more individuality into them...

Maybe I'll do a second squad of Wardens/Guardians with different heads so I can mix them up a bit...

Still, that's after quite a few other bits and pieces to actually make an army out of them!