Dragon Knights are perhaps the most iconic unit for the Exodites: space elves on dinosaurs!
So I suppose it shouldn’t have been a surprise that I struggled to nail it. Especially as I’d decided I wasn’t going to use Cold Ones for mounts.
I’d had a go with Chaos Seekers. But they just felt too chaotic. It just wasn’t working for me. So I had another think.
I remembered seeing the Hurakan Windchargers and thinking they were pretty cool. And they were quite elegant, too, something that was missing from my first go at the dragon knights. Because yes, Exodites should be savage. But they’re also Eldar. Pre-Fall Eldar too. If anything, they were going to be even more haughty and insufferable than they’re Craftworld cousins. After all, they’d been the first to get out of Dodge.
So I got myself some new mounts and had another go.
I was quite pleased with this one.
The mount itself was largely unmodified, though I removed some of the iconography, strapped a skull to its head, as well as a few pouches and accessories to make it feel like the Exodite spends a fair amount of time in the saddle.
The rider was a combination of the Windcharger rider legs, a Shining Spear torso, and a corsair arm and cloak. The head is from a Sylvaneth character. The laser lance arm actually has a Cawdor piece in there.
It is a cleaner Exodite, and I think the next one will lean a bit more to the savage side, but I felt it was a good start. So I made another.
I was super pleased with this one. It didn’t actually look anything like I imagined, but it captured the vibe I was after.
I wanted a bit of a wilder feel to this one, which is why there are a few more Wood Elf and Sylvaneth bits in the mix. The braid was, I believe, from a Necromunda Escher kit. The torso is from a Wood Elf Blood Bowl player, with a small skull for a shoulder pad (it’s Warhammer, big shoulders are a must.)
The laser lance was 3D printed. I wish I’d got more of them; I can’t remember where I got them, but I love how they look a little more functional and a little less graceful than the new Shining Spear versions.
The helm was 3D printed and where it came from I do know: an Etsy store called Elfhead3D. It’s run by a lovely chap who makes some amazing bits. I’ve ordered from him a few times now!
Something I’m really enjoying about this project is that each figure is a little more ambitious and stretching both my imagination and my modelling abilities. It makes each figure an accomplishment in and of itself, which is really rewarding.