Kill Team: Exodites (Dragon Masters & Dragon Knights)

[Scribe]

12 minutes ago, Indy Techwisp said:

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.

  Hide contents

 

 

I will say, I wish the dino's leaned more in that direction. The DE Cold One Riders are amazing.

[Ripper.McGuirl]

2 hours ago, Scribe said:

 

I will say, I wish the dino's leaned more in that direction. The DE Cold One Riders are amazing.

I have wanted exodite dino riders since 1993 and my only beef is I don’t like the dino that much. I like the more recent Seraphon ones a lot. I feel like I’d like to see this one with either a longer or shorter snout, the current head doesn’t quite spark joy.

[Blindhamster]

2 hours ago, Scribe said:

 

I will say, I wish the dino's leaned more in that direction. The DE Cold One Riders are amazing.

Whilst I DO love the DE cold one riders, I think the fact they opted to make the exodite mounts look less like typical dinosaurs and more like fantasy dragons (minus wings) is very cool. It makes them seem both a little more alien and a little more fantastical, it also creates some nods to the wood elves and high elves of fantasy battle days which is nice. I'm also hoping it means we do actually see a full blown exodite dragon at some point. Because THAT would be epic.

[Ripper.McGuirl]

I really liked the old wood elf dragon head with the reallly long snout. That would be fun to add to these.

[TheMawr]

At home,

 

As I thought, the colors are quite difficult to work with, and its still early progress/rougher than my usual things, but :

 

I noticed that seperating the colors on the chest armor from the arm armor already quickly (imho) creates a less sleek feeling. ( I even wonder if you can get away with painting that the arms as skin. ) on the right is quite a simple headswap approach with a much darker and less attention grabbing color.. wich makes it all look more rustic, but also draws the attention to the doodads.

On the left, I wanted to make the white more in tone with the wraithbone colored elements.. still light, less attention grabbing.. I acidentally duplicated the wrong layer and got a bronzish effect wich also was an interesting tone, for the fabric I just did quick dots, but imagine this;

Eschers "fur" is also just painted on.
Though its probably better done on just the cape, the kimono like overcoat ( Im sure that type of clothing has a better name ) might become too busy.

 

Its not a world of change ofcourse.
( head on the left is from the wyches kit, head on the right from the skyreavers kit )

Edited June 29 by TheMawr
clarified "that" as the arms

[Doghouse]

I think this Mike McVey conversion may have influenced the design somewhat.

 

 

 

 

[Scribe]

6 hours ago, TheMawr said:

( head on the left is from the wyches kit, head on the right from the skyreavers kit )

 

And behold, why the Eldar (all types) range is without equal. Just a head swap is a world of difference.

 

Gods of the Warp, I wish I could do the models justice, its the only range I would just collect as art pieces.

[Iron Lord]

11 hours ago, TheMawr said:

At home,

 

As I thought, the colors are quite difficult to work with, and its still early progress/rougher than my usual things, but :

 

 

I noticed that seperating the colors on the chest armor from the arm armor already quickly (imho) creates a less sleek feeling. ( I even wonder if you can get away with painting that the arms as skin. ) on the right is quite a simple headswap approach with a much darker and less attention grabbing color.. wich makes it all look more rustic, but also draws the attention to the doodads.

On the left, I wanted to make the white more in tone with the wraithbone colored elements.. still light, less attention grabbing.. I acidentally duplicated the wrong layer and got a bronzish effect wich also was an interesting tone, for the fabric I just did quick dots, but imagine this;

 

Eschers "fur" is also just painted on.
Though its probably better done on just the cape, the kimono like overcoat ( Im sure that type of clothing has a better name ) might become too busy.

 

Its not a world of change ofcourse.

 

 

Those do showcase just what you can do with the right paint job.

 

I can just imagine the dragon in the old "5e Cold One" shade of dark green, or the rider in metals or leathers instead of "Eldar plastic".

 

Leather saddle and metal helmet and chestplate for the steed instead of wraithbone saddle and helmet would go a long way to making the tech feel like it's archaic and that they save the wraithbone for more important uses than army units.

Edited June 30 by Iron Lord

[Iron Lord]

13 hours ago, TheMawr said:

At home,

 

As I thought, the colors are quite difficult to work with, and its still early progress/rougher than my usual things, but :

 

I find myself wondering what could be done with colour swapping to make them "Dark elf style"

 

On 6/28/2026 at 9:09 PM, Indy Techwisp said:

 

 

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.

  Hide contents

 

Purple shields, purple fabric, silver armour, gold "horns/spikes", black lances (metal tips), metal instead of blue for power sword, and the steeds in Cold One Green.

 

Dark Elf Exodite might actually look quite cool, and with no conversion needed, just the paintjob.

 

For that matter, it might be possible to capture the vibe of "Wood elves wild riders" (with very pale green armour, metal helmets, and pale brown steeds) or "High elves Dragon Princes" (blue helmet on all-white mount, silver armour, blue robes and helmets).

Edited June 30 by Iron Lord
accidental double post instead of editing into original post.

[Wispy]

So some people wanted Noble Savage Elves? Pass.

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, Wispy said:

So some people wanted Noble Savage Elves? Pass.

 

I just want some freakin lasers on them dinos, head swaps and paint jobs can do major lifting up or down the tech ladder. 

[Iron Lord]

3 hours ago, Scribe said:

 

I just want some freakin lasers on them dinos, head swaps and paint jobs can do major lifting up or down the tech ladder. 

 The original raptor-type dragon Knights didn't have them on the mount - only the larger ones (triceratops-type, tyrannosaur-type) did. And the laser lance is a laser - so riders can have them even if mounts don't.

 

Ranger Long Rifles (which appear to be a variation on what the riders carry, though the Leystalker's is the only one with a proper scope) are also consistently portrayed as firing "energy bolts" though the exact nature of the bolt may vary depending on the source quoted.

 

 

 

[Wispy]

Thinking of Exodites as Amish Eldad suggests that the Exodites build barns.

[Evil Eye]

4 hours ago, Wispy said:

Thinking of Exodites as Amish Eldad suggests that the Exodites build barns.

And sell really nice food and drink to non-Exodite locals (who they get on with pretty well despite keeping to themselves mostly). "Hello, governor! Can we interest you in some delicious pretzels and fresh milk?"

[Magos Takatus]

15 hours ago, Evil Eye said:

And sell really nice food and drink to non-Exodite locals (who they get on with pretty well despite keeping to themselves mostly). "Hello, governor! Can we interest you in some delicious pretzels and fresh milk?"

I'm not sure what dinosaur milk tastes like, and I'm uncertain I really want to know.