Dragons IN SPACE!

[ZAChos]

What are cold ones doing in the Warhammer 40,000 section?



Maybe this will help:



More true to life colours on this one:




My good buddies and I have a problem. All of our armies are Imperials. I have an Ultramarine force of 1000pts, one mate has a guard army of 2000pts, and my other friend has an Angels of Absolution army of indeterminate value, mostly because he needs to get off his rump and open some paints.

Actually, the last paragraph isn't entirely true. We also have a 1000pt Tau infantry army, but it's ridiculously underpowered, so we've gone off using that until hopefully the little blue guys get some codex love in the new year.

So in the meantime it's Exodites. Most of our armies are extremely slow, so we decided to get a fast army. The kind of army that will be able to move from one side of the board to the other in one go. Here's what we decided:

Army selection: Everything must either: A] Be fast; B] Infiltrate or C] Be on a dragon.

Modeling: Everything must look Eldar, but not like a Dark or Craftworld Eldar riding a dragon. This was important to me. Most of the dragon knights I've seen look like dire avengers on lizards. This should not happen with this army.

So far, the work I have done has involved painting 5 WayWardens (Pathfinders. Just used the old metal ones. Kinda against the modeling rule, but now that all craftworld eldar have those new style helmets the old rangers look suitably different to my mind.), painted one Dov'aa (dragon) and built 5 Dov'aa'Kiin, or Dragon Knights. They will be painted soon, and posted here.

We've also had loads of discussions about Exodite organisation, language, mythology and army lists, but this post is getting long, and we haven't had a picture for a while so I'll close with this, and post some more with some new pictures when available.

Cheers for looking.
ZAChos

[TheConverter15]

Dov'aa'Kiin? Is that homemade fluff or from the Black Libary/GW codexes? Otherwise someone plays Skyrim

Great start, most exodite armies are great, and you haven't dissapointed with first post. Looks promising, will there be any transports? Maybe some FW stuff too?

[Jo-Jo]

Exodites shout the great enemy away from their souls!

I'm more curious to know have you look at the list in IA 11? It seems like it could work for Exodites, but I was dissapointed when they didn't feature an Exodite list.

Ah well.

[Student]

Looks like you're off to a good start. I look forward to seeing the dragon knights.

[Dayspringer]

Most of the dragon knights I've seen look like dire avengers on lizards. This should not happen with this army.

I agree with this, and look forward to seeing what you can do!

[ZAChos]

Hey guys, thanks for the interest. Yes, we've been playing a lot of Skyrim. There is very little written about the Exodites that we could find, so a lot of our fluff will be made up. Dovakin is such a cool sounding name, I couldn't resist.

Q&A:

TheConverter15: There won't be any transports in the exodite part of the army. I played with the idea of a dragon carrying a webway gate acting as a waveserpent, but couldn't think of a way to make that look cool. At some point in the future they will be joined by a harlequin troupe, and maybe some aspect warriors from Biel'Tan, so forgeworld and transports may well appear then.

Jo-Jo: I've not seen that list. I'll be using a heavily cut down list from the vanilla codex. If it doesn't fit the theme it'll be cut.

And now the moment I have been waiting for: Picture time!


The Waywardens strike at dawn. This first squad is almost completed. I've got a guy sitting in a pool of nail varnish remover to be painted up as their last member.

The first of the dragon knights is also finished:





The Dragon Knights, or Dov'Aa'Kiin, wear red enameled armour to show their adherence to the path of the Noble, or the Peynaar'Eldanesh. They carry weapons that combine shuriken and laser technology, and control their mounts with a combination of mundane ques and psychic suggestion. Their masterful riding skills allow them to twist in the saddle as they ride past their enemies, allowing them to snap off additional shots if the first misses their mark. Imperial troops are often astounded by the ease with which their mounts leap over even the densest or most impassable terrain, and many a commander has been caught out by the impressive bursts of speed that the foul Xenos steeds are capable of.

In game terms, Dragon Knights count as Shining spears.

I hope he meets your approval: I have 4 more assembled ready for painting.

[Student]

The dragon rider looks great. Keep up the good work.

[TheConverter15]

Very nice Dragon rider, great scheme and the conversion , makes the model unique but recognisable as a shining spear

[Brother Alexos]

This meets, and exceeds, my expectations. You, sir, need to give a tutorial, or at least a list of materials used, in the construction of this fine beast. Usually I'm an Imperial Tread-head, but Im beginning to grow into the idea of getting an Eldar army, though I'm somewhat baffled onto which Path I'll take. Corsairs, Exodites, or a Craftworld? so many options...

[Dayspringer]

Yeah, he looks awesome!

[The Marshall]

Lovely stuff. Exodite knight looks fab!

[ZAChos]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It really helps with my motivation to see peope are liking my work.

@brother alexos: Go for a way out there army. The great thing about the eldar to my mind is all the detailed backstory. I'll see what I can do about a tutorial. Hopefully I'll find a way of making the second squad a bit different though.

Well the first squad is almost done, and I should be able to post pictures later today, but as there is a limit to the photos I thought I'd do a quick post for one of the other squads I'm working on. These boys are an elites choice, known as the "Wild Hunters". Their dedication to Kournous takes a different form to the waywardens, who prefer to hunt from the shadows, and they charge in full pelt, whipping themselves up into a frenzy that adds strength to their attacks.




Lets see if you can guess what they represent on the battlefield?

Comments and questions welcome.

Thanks for reading.

Zac

[bildo]

are you using the old list and updating it somewhat?

[Dayspringer]

Harlequins?
The crossbow/catapult mashups look great. Even though I recognized the parts it took me a few moments to figure out how it was put together (which is really what you want from a conversion)
Not sure about the armour yet. I think the scales look too fantasy-ish still.

[Radium]

I'm guessing storm guardians.
But I agree with Dayspringer on both accounts: the conversions look awesome and the scales are still somewhat too fantasy-ish. Maybe smooth them out with some greenstuff so that they're just cloak?

[ZAChos]

I suppose they could be either of those suggestions. They are striking scorpion counts as though. I know what you mean about the fantasy look. Maybe I should give them vanes out of their backs like the guardians have? I've also added dart launchers to their cuirasses since those photos were taken.

Anyway, I promised pictures of dragon knights, and I don't like to disappoint:


The exarch shows his affinity with the dragons, and indeed, kournous, with a crest of horns upon his helm.


I re-sculpted to a greater or lesser extent, all of the helmets of the dragon knights, using the cold one rider ones as a base.


All of the dragon knights have a secondary weapon. Most are sheathed, but this rider carries his.


The painted models so far. I also finished basing the rangers.




Let me know what you think!

Cheers.

Zac

[Kirth]

Fantastic! Looking forward to more!

[Dayspringer]

They look awesome!

[TheConverter15]

Very nice ZAchos, great addition with the horned helm, and lovely freehand banner

[kharandhil]

Impressive, impressive.very convincing army.