Kill Team: Exodites (Dragon Masters & Dragon Knights)

[Captain Idaho]

The craftworld eldar were restrained, that's why they had the paths. The Exodites were supposed to be harkening back to the simpler times, almost Aimish style of avoiding the Fall.

 

They shouldn't be just "Guardian model cut off at the waist and stuck on a Skink Cold One.

 

Such a wasted attempt by GW. It feels sanitised, which is I supposed the style of 40K at the moment.

[Magos Takatus]

7 minutes ago, Captain Idaho said:

The craftworld eldar were restrained, that's why they had the paths. The Exodites were supposed to be harkening back to the simpler times, almost Aimish style of avoiding the Fall.

 

They shouldn't be just "Guardian model cut off at the waist and stuck on a Skink Cold One.

 

Such a wasted attempt by GW. It feels sanitised, which is I supposed the style of 40K at the moment.

That's fair. I don't think they should go to loincloths, mud and leaves, but I don't think you're asking for that extreme, just a couple of nudges more in that direction? 

[Captain Idaho]

Any obsession with loincloths and leather masks that I may have is entirely coincidental...

 

....but yes, I am just wanting a firey, feral tone to the Eldar. Something different I guess. Doesn't mean they look objectively poorly made at all.

Edited June 27 by Captain Idaho

[Blindhamster]

3 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

The craftworld eldar were restrained, that's why they had the paths. The Exodites were supposed to be harkening back to the simpler times, almost Aimish style of avoiding the Fall.

 

They shouldn't be just "Guardian model cut off at the waist and stuck on a Skink Cold One.

 

Such a wasted attempt by GW. It feels sanitised, which is I supposed the style of 40K at the moment.

I dont think we're looking at the same models.

saying they're just guardian models or that the mounts are cold ones is... honestly pretty laughable. But for what it's worth, here is some official art of them being more or less exactly that:

Spoiler

Honestly though, I thought these guys were great, lots of little details that differentiate them from guardians and craftworld sensibilities..

 

The arm bracelets, i really liked this because it tends to be associated with "primitive" or "ancient" cultures

 

The gloves - again a differentiation from traditional craftworld designs, rangers have gloves, but their design is quite different

 

the almost cowboy style trousers - again a different design to rangers but vaguely reminiscent, looking I'm not even sure these guys have traditional armoured legs? Looking at the knight variant, and the paint job here, its very much implied the feet are leather too, albeit different coloured.

 

belt design is reminiscent of fantasy elves - again creates a distinction and makes them feel less sci fi

 

The cloth over their armour again creates an almost tribal look to them, it also again makes them seem more primitive 

 

I also really like the helm designs, theyre obviously eldar, but they dont actually match up to any other eldar helm designs, again interestingly enough, closest thing is rangers - which are the explorers anyway. I do think perhaps they should have had helm designs a little closer to the corsair ones though.

 

Their still having power weapons, axes, shields, long rifles etc doesnt seem like a problem to me, as others said when they left society there's no indication they just abandoned all equipment, and if they had, they'd probably be dead. 

 

Their mounts are also absolutely terrific, they look like mini dragons without the wings (which makes sense), a nice link to fantasy elves again. 

Amusingly, i did come across this art, which feels like it might have been an inspiration for this group?

Spoiler

https://40k.gallery/eldar-exodites/

The blanche art is cool in the way all blanche art is, but personally, i prefer the direction they went here (and am glad they didn't go for a design like the image i first included in spoiler which really would have just been guardians on cold ones.

 

[Greenfield]

59 minutes ago, Captain Idaho said:

Any obsession with loincloths and leather masks that I may have is entirely coincidental...

 

....but yes, I am just wanting a firey, feral tone to the Eldar. Something different I guess. Doesn't mean they look objectively poorly made at all.

 

The Amish aren't exactly fiery and feral. They live lives of relative simplicity, adhering to older styles of dress and maintaining earlier levels of technology. I think Amish Eldar is a good description – and I think these Exodites fit it. 

[Captain Idaho]

 

40 minutes ago, Blindhamster said:

I dont think we're looking at the same models.

saying they're just guardian models or that the mounts are cold ones is... honestly pretty laughable. But for what it's worth, here is some official art of them being more or less exactly that:

 

You might think it's laughable, rather unfairly and brusque but you're misunderstanding my actual point. I was talking in general terms what impression the models give off, which is very much yes a Ranger sat on top of one, a dire avenger on another...

 

Sure they got leather gloves painted on, but meh that makes no difference to the overall impression they give off. 

 

Edited June 27 by Captain Idaho

[phandaal]

16 hours ago, TheWarmaster said:

I was honestly expecting a more tribal/primal vibe to them. With braided hair, loin cloths, feathers and bones woven in. 
spears/lances and bows/slings etc. 

 

I wasn’t expecting Aeldari style armour and helmets with las weapons tbh. 
 

 

 

Exodites were about rejecting the excess of pre-fall Eldar, not rejecting their technology. More like frontier people than savages. Also remember what is "frontier tech" for an Eldar is probably still crazy high tech for most other species.

 

Tossing some new heads on might make them look a little more wild though. Maybe Corsairs or even Wood Elf bits.

[Castellan Wulfrik]

12 minutes ago, phandaal said:

 

Exodites were about rejecting the excess of pre-fall Eldar, not rejecting their technology. More like frontier people than savages. Also remember what is "frontier tech" for an Eldar is probably still crazy high tech for most other species.

 

Tossing some new heads on might make them look a little more wild though. Maybe Corsairs or even Wood Elf bits.

The reality is every maiden world would have a different culture and different fauna. Jimmy W had the freedom to go in almost any direction with the exodites, but they chose to go with Goodwin's concept, likely Goodwin himself had a role in that decision. It's fine some people like this direction, but there's clearly a popular feeling they look too clean, too modern. A lot of people were expecting a more primitive appearance: feathers, pelts, hides; not cloths and leathers. It also just looks out of place for a jungle setting to be riding around in cloths and leathers over armour. They give more of a gaucho vibe than tribal, it's completely subjective but I do think they would have been slightly better received if they went with a slightly different aesthetic.

It's not worth arguing over, almost everyone agrees they're good but are simply disappointed they didn't get what they actually wanted. If I do get these I'll likely use feathers and other bits to try and add some more character to them, but there's not much I can do about the chaps and gloves which is unfortunate. 

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

8 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

The craftworld eldar were restrained, that's why they had the paths. The Exodites were supposed to be harkening back to the simpler times, almost Aimish style of avoiding the Fall.

 

They shouldn't be just "Guardian model cut off at the waist and stuck on a Skink Cold One.

 

Such a wasted attempt by GW. It feels sanitised, which is I supposed the style of 40K at the moment.

Maybe wait for the full range release before complaining?

have you considered that riding bare chested and bare headed through a forest at like 30 mph might be painful, so the cavalry wears a bit more traditional uniform than the infantry and slow Dino riders?

 

overall though I think some bare heads with wild hairdos would make a big difference for a lot of people

 

17 hours ago, Jukkiz said:

The "alien dino" nitpick of mine is... 

They look like anthro dinosaur, forced to carry eldar. The arms are too long, making them look like more sentient rather then wild animal 

I mean you can google therapods with long arms and there’s plenty of species. But who knows maybe those dinosaurs were sentient.

Edited June 28 by Inquisitor_Lensoven

[Scribe]

Huh, my only desire is literally that the dinos had lasers attached. Otherwise I think they are great as nearly all Eldar of all shades are great.

 

An astonishingly small number of Eldar models are flawed, and I don't think these are.

[kabaakaba]

This dino has arms of an appropriate sizE, just give them lasguns in both hands.

[Iron Lord]

10 hours ago, Blindhamster said:

 

 

the almost cowboy style trousers - again a different design to rangers but vaguely reminiscent, looking I'm not even sure these guys have traditional armoured legs? Looking at the knight variant, and the paint job here, its very much implied the feet are leather too, albeit different coloured.

 

 

 

The chaps do look a lot like ranger chaps, though the "knee pads" built into them, do make them a little distinct, and the guy with the white "shoes", at least, looks like those shoes are part of a full white bodysuit (you can see white bodysuit at the top of the chaps, too). The black shoes, however, do provide enough distinction from the white bodysuit to look like they are separate. Maybe those knights are actually wearing black shoes (their bodysuits still go down below the waist though, so they probably end at the ankles).

 

 

 

The little notches in the face part of the helmet, akin to breathing holes, and the "nose guard" between the eyes, make it look nicely knightly, and that plus the oval domes, make the helmet look visibly distinct from ranger ones.

 

"Cross a knight with a cowboy and make them high tech" seems like the design statement here.

 

 

6 hours ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

 

 

I mean you can google therapods with long arms and there’s plenty of species. But who knows maybe those dinosaurs were sentient.

True, but theropods generally don't have "opposable thumbs" the way these creatures appear to. That does help them to appear more "dragon" and less "dinosaur" (a lot of D&D dragons do look to have thumbed hands, albeit with long claws on the digits).

 

Four digits rather than 3 also makes for a less theropod-ish look (only the more basal theropods had 4 or 5 digits, still didn't have one opposed for a thumb, and most of the more derived ones (allosaurs, tyrannosaurs, deinonychosaurs, etc) had from 1 digit (alverezsaurids) to 2 (many tyrannosaurs) to 3 digits (the rest) on each "hand".

Edited June 28 by Iron Lord

[Captain Idaho]

6 hours ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

Maybe wait for the full range release before complaining?

have you considered that riding bare chested and bare headed through a forest at like 30 mph might be painful, so the cavalry wears a bit more traditional uniform than the infantry and slow Dino riders?

 

Oh because the full range are going to be completely different to these models? Full range, like a unit? 

 

So these models are exceptions even though they're the only models existing? 

 

 

 

6 hours ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

overall though I think some bare heads with wild hairdos would make a big difference for a lot of people

 

Ah so you do agree that they're decidedly anemic and in need of character?

[Iron Lord]

I think a change or two to the paintjob would bring out the "hint of barbarian" quite well. Paint the talismans a darker shade of bronze or copper to make them stand out against the things they're dangling from. More colour in the cloth. And so forth.

 

If the armour was more "steely" than "pastel cream" that would really bring out the "knight" part to them - make them feel like multiclass barbarian/paladins (doable in 4e and 5e D&D but not previous editions).

 

A three-man Knight squad with the squad leader and his mount having more decorative heads (perhaps the Clanblade head and Clanblade mount head) is IMO the way to go to make the Knight squad "pop" on the tabletop.

Edited June 28 by Iron Lord

[Blindhamster]

They still use wraithbone, they still use eldar weapons, they still use psykers. They’re still eldar.

 

@phandaal comment on frontier feels right, the style of boots and how they attach to legs along with the cloth poncho type things does put me in mind of cowboys in a way.

 

to me these look nicely distinct whilst still looking like they belong - similar to how the corsairs do.

 

i also would like bare heads, but that’s not because I don’t like the helmets, I just love bare heads lol.

[Iron Lord]

I've been reading some of the Exodite-related stories (Carnac: Nightspear, and the really old Into The Maelstrom short story The Black Pearl) and it stands out that they use both Eldar and Dark Eldar weaponry - they have shuriken catapults in both, but in Nightspear, their foot soldiers have splinter rifles and laser weapons too.

 

 

They have Warlocks as well (in Into The Maelstrom the de facto army leader of the force was a Warlock with a Singing Spear). And in old games, like Epic, they had walkers and Knights. In 7e a Corsair army with no bikes or vehicles (or perhaps with some dragons with guns on their backs as proxies) might make for a pretty good facsimile of an Exodite army.

Edited June 28 by Iron Lord

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

8 hours ago, Iron Lord said:

 

The chaps do look a lot like ranger chaps, though the "knee pads" built into them, do make them a little distinct, and the guy with the white "shoes", at least, looks like those shoes are part of a full white bodysuit (you can see white bodysuit at the top of the chaps, too). The black shoes, however, do provide enough distinction from the white bodysuit to look like they are separate. Maybe those knights are actually wearing black shoes (their bodysuits still go down below the waist though, so they probably end at the ankles).

 

 

 

The little notches in the face part of the helmet, akin to breathing holes, and the "nose guard" between the eyes, make it look nicely knightly, and that plus the oval domes, make the helmet look visibly distinct from ranger ones.

 

"Cross a knight with a cowboy and make them high tech" seems like the design statement here.

 

 

True, but theropods generally don't have "opposable thumbs" the way these creatures appear to. That does help them to appear more "dragon" and less "dinosaur" (a lot of D&D dragons do look to have thumbed hands, albeit with long claws on the digits).

 

Four digits rather than 3 also makes for a less theropod-ish look (only the more basal theropods had 4 or 5 digits, still didn't have one opposed for a thumb, and most of the more derived ones (allosaurs, tyrannosaurs, deinonychosaurs, etc) had from 1 digit (alverezsaurids) to 2 (many tyrannosaurs) to 3 digits (the rest) on each "hand".

Yeah the thumbs made them look a bit off to me too, but that’s a separate issue from arm length

 

7 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

 

Oh because the full range are going to be completely different to these models? Full range, like a unit? 

 

So these models are exceptions even though they're the only models existing? 

 

 

 

 

Ah so you do agree that they're decidedly anemic and in need of character?

I mean if we judged Corsairs based on the starfang there’d be a lot of space to complain.

 

i don’t agree they’re anemic and need character. I think head options are just one way to solve many of the complaints without changing the actual sculpt.

 

went back a page after my post and it seems that a lot of the people who think these feel off, do indeed think they’d be just fine if they had some bare heads with interesting hairdos 

[Captain Idaho]

2 hours ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

I mean if we judged Corsairs based on the starfang there’d be a lot of space to complain.

 

Why would anyone judge a infantry squad based on a vehicle?

 

These are blokes on dinosaurs. We can judge them based on what they are, for sure, any time we want.

[Blindhamster]

3 minutes ago, Captain Idaho said:

 

Why would anyone judge a infantry squad based on a vehicle?

 

These are blokes on dinosaurs. We can judge them based on what they are, for sure, any time we want.

Probably because it has multiple infantry style characters on it, and they don’t particularly matchup to the wider Corsair range

[TheMawr]

37 minutes ago, Captain Idaho said:

 

Why would anyone judge a infantry squad based on a vehicle?

 

These are blokes on dinosaurs. We can judge them based on what they are, for sure, any time we want.

 

Lensoven implies this is a special unit seperate of the hypothetical army's core I think.

 

That's wrong though, these guys are the core of exodites, always been said to be that,  this is the battleline, there is no core infantry and there shouldn't be. Foot support is rangers their job, this is why rangers where always said to dress like/inspired by exodites and not like craftworlders... even though we didn't have exodites to compare them with.

 

So if you gonna judge direction, you definitely should judge these as such, as these are to exodites what voidreavers are to corsairs.

 

 

Its a shame I'm not at home so cannot make my usual mockups ( as I do it on pc ) though recoloring is rough with such bright colors anyway ( ancient photoshop (3) without smart functions )

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gamiel]

20 hours ago, Blindhamster said:

 

the almost cowboy style trousers

The word you are looking for is "chaps".

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

3 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

 

Why would anyone judge a infantry squad based on a vehicle?

 

These are blokes on dinosaurs. We can judge them based on what they are, for sure, any time we want.

You’re judging a   so far unreleased line of models on one kit…that’s my point that apparently went right over your head 

 

yes they’re ‘blokes on dinosaurs’ if that’s all you’re judging them on they’re undeniably fantastic.

Edited June 28 by Inquisitor_Lensoven

[Magos Takatus]

27 minutes ago, Gamiel said:

The word you are looking for is "chaps".

Quite, old chap.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

2 hours ago, TheMawr said:

 

Lensoven implies this is a special unit seperate of the hypothetical army's core I think.

 

That's wrong though, these guys are the core of exodites, always been said to be that,  this is the battleline, there is no core infantry and there shouldn't be. Foot support is rangers their job, this is why rangers where always said to dress like/inspired by exodites and not like craftworlders... even though we didn't have exodites to compare them with.

 

So if you gonna judge direction, you definitely should judge these as such, as these are to exodites what voidreavers are to corsairs.

 

 

Its a shame I'm not at home so cannot make my usual mockups ( as I do it on pc ) though recoloring is rough with such bright colors anyway ( ancient photoshop (3) without smart functions )

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think people expecting an exodite model line to be exactly like something they read in a codex or a throwaway section of a novel, or some artwork that’s 20+ years old you’re going to be very disappointed.

 

Nothing about any build option for these models implies these dudes are battleline units.

one build option is basically 3 characters, the other is a unit of elite cavalry.

theres almost guaranteed to be an infantry unit of 5/10 dudes that will be the battleline of the range.

 

theres likely a lot more units coming in the next 2-4 years and we’ll just have to wait and see how they turn out.

[Indy Techwisp]

Pretty much every recent Aeldari kit has had a few unhelmeted heads included (for Ynnari reasons initially, iirc) and we haven't seen any of those here yet.

 

I feel the call to have Barbarian styled Exodites kinda misses the mark entirely on what an Exodite is tho, and seems to stem entirely from that one single old as hell art piece.

 

As mentioned further up, Ranger's base their Outfits on Exodites. We never had an Exodite to compare it too previously, but since so many people are now saying these Exodites just look like "slightly different Rangers" I'd say the design team did their job PERFECTLY with incorporating the only bit of modern Lore we have for Exodite designs.

 

Also getting mad these guys have laser lances and power weapons feels like a misunderstanding of where the baseline Aeldari tech level is.

There's not really anything lower than what they have, those are the barebones "low tech" Aeldari weapon options.

 

And again, Exodites fled the whole "We're making a chaos god by being excessively excessive about everything" society of pre-fall Aeldari, not literally everything. They didn't land on the Maiden worlds and instantly regress to pre-Stone Age.

 

ETA:

Also if we got Spiky Leather Bound Aelves on Big Angry Reptiles with Super Low Tech Weapons like people seem to want, that would literally just be a WHFB Dark Elf Cold One Cavalry unit, or at best a Drukhari riding a Cold One.

Spoiler

 

Edited June 28 by Indy Techwisp