Exodites

o/

Well my Guardian box and Dark Elf legs arrived earlier this week an I've started work on the Exodites in earnest. As you can see they blend pretty close with my original 'one-off' model. Still going with the kill-zone idea for now where the original will be a Dire Avenger Exarch/team leader (because he who has the fancy helmet leads). The others are pretty easy to both assemble & paint. Indeed, I painted all four yesterday afternoon. Solid/opaque colors, and a liberal slathering of Delvan Mud to dirty them up. Actually I was painting the red onto the gems after the wash dried, and it looked as though I'd missed several areas in their blue chest plates & the antenna things on their backs, only to realize it was where the wash dried on heavily. In the end I left them as is. Exodites, while still having the same level of Eldar technology, probably don't have the same ease of access to it. So the dark, dirty, discolored and worn look suits them well I think.

As you can see, to call these 'conversions' is a bit of an over statement. Sure it takes about thirty seconds with a hand saw to cut the bottom of the torso flat, but beyond that its no more difficult than putting a Cadian Torso on some Catachan legs.

Anyways, back to their technology access. Whether or not my little war band will be the whole tribe or just a patrol/hunting party split off from a larger one I've not decided. Regardless though, it kinda puts me in a quandary in regards to the weapons platform. True, kill-zone doesn't require me to take one but let's face it, a dozen Exodites armed with the xenos equivalent of shotguns doesn't exactly instill fear. However a nomadic tribe isn't really going to have access to factories (or the Craftworld equivalent), so where are they going to get their platforms from? My thought was to paint the platform in the colors of the Biel-Tan Craftworld. Biel-Tan are pretty gun-ho about the Exodites, and I would imagine that they would have little reservations on gifting weapons/equipment to them.

Another thought on the platform was to treat it as a beast of burden. These guys don't have backpacks, and essentially live off the land, that said, extra gear and equipment are still essential. Craftworld/Dark Eldar engage in raids, and have vehicles for logistical support, Exodites, not so much. So I was thinking of having them strap all of the their supplies onto the weapons platform (or I could convert up some cold ones like baggage Knarlocs). No tents though, I kinda have the mental image of a Warlock planting his singing sear into the ground and raising a force bubble over their little encampment, keeping out the rain, bugs, etc...

Another need for my Exodites is a tribe/clan name. I don't know of any Exodite tribes, and in any case wouldn't use them as I'm making this up as I go. Why be constrained by someone else's ideas? I pulled up wikipedia looking at what is known about the remaining 'hunter-gatherer' societies left in the world. There aren't too many, and while an interesting read, there was little of use to me. However I did come across a name that was rather appealing and had (oddly) a nice sci-fi feel to it, the Spinifex. So for now I'm going with that.

In other news, this is my 100th post! No, no fanfare, giveaways or anything. Sadly my finances really do not allow for such things. However I would like to thank everyone for their feedback, comments and the like over the year. My readership (assuming I can call it that) isn't the biggest, nor is my name all that well known of the blogosphere. However THAT said, so far (and this is only after a counter was added a few months into blogging) I've had over 4000 unique hits from 59 different countries! Indeed a fair few I've had to look up to see where they even are on the map! That's a response that's far in excess of what I ever could have expected (especially when considering the literally bedazzling number of gaming blogs out there).

Currently I have as much intent to stop blogging as I do to give Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop a coherent theme, which is to say: none. So to all of you out there I send my thanks!