New year, old models, same project! I'm sure it's not supposed to work like that, but what the heck. The first model I painted this year was the exarch with fire-pike for the Fire Dragon squad. You're probably sick of seeing me say this, but it's a Jes Goodwin model and it's really good. Quite how this chap is meant to wield his weapon, let alone get it into a grav-tank, I don't know, but this is 40k, after all.
And here is the entire squad.
The first (and best!) Eldar codex includes rules for pirates, which are now represented by Corsairs, and Exodite Dragon Knights. These may be one of the greatest things to disappear from 40K, including the greatness that was zoats. The Exodites were planet-dwelling Eldar who rode about on dinosaurs, an idea that is fundamentally extremely cool.
Sadly, there were never any official miniatures for the Exodites in 40K. A long time ago, I got some Dark Elf cold one riders and hacked up some Eldar scouts to serve as riders. Given that all the models concerned were metal, this must have taken quite a lot of effort.
Anyhow, I stripped down and dismantled one of my earlier efforts, rebuilt him and gave him a new paint job. For reasons unknown, the rider was missing one hand, which I replaced with a hand from Frostgrave. Like all my scouts, he's wearing a green coat and blue armour. I painted the dinosaur drab green and gave it blue scales to make it look a bit more exciting. The base was made to suggest overgrown ruins.
He looks a bit uncomfortable, but then I would be if you stuck me on the back of a velociraptor. Here is the model next to the scout miniature from which he was converted.
This was something of a test miniature. I've got a couple more that I could redo, and I think I'll work on that next. Perhaps my subconscious is trying to collect one of each of the units in the old Eldar Codex.
I just realized that the "fire pike" is being held like an actual pike... took me a few years (decades) to realize that!
ReplyDeleteThe Exodite is very cool although I think he could use some sort of harness sort of thing to control that dino, otherwise he will have some sort of frenzy to deal with during battle, and that is no good. Cutting away the metal of the cloak must have been a treat too... good thing past you did it already.
I did wonder about reins, but I don't think I could do them well enough. Also, some older cavalry models didn't seem to have reins. Perhaps he controls it with psychic power or something equally unlikely!
DeleteDinoriders-esque brain box!
DeleteExactly!
DeleteHow could I get tired of these? Jes Goodwin's work is a pure pleasure, and your paintjob looks delightful on these. The Exodite is simply amazing, what a hell of a work!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I've nearly collected a squad of all the Goodwin aspect warriors. Just the banshees to go (and shining spears, but they don't count).
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