Way back in 1994, Geoff Taylor produced one of the most iconic pieces of Eldar artwork ever seen - the cover to the very first Code:Eldar.
Codex Eldar, Geoff Taylor, 1994 (c) Games Workshop
For me, the piece is what the Eldar are all about - massed ranks of rainbow coloured Aspect Warriors, charging to war alongside their war machines (the original Wave Serpent can be seen in the back ground), led by the ornate Aspect Warrior Exarchs.
Not long after the release of the Codex, Mike McVey, legend of GW painting and modelling during the 90's converted the only available Dire Avenger Exarch to match the painting, which was then painted by none other than Stuart Thomas, now of Sublime Brushwork fame (go take a look at his website - he's a true legend of Games Workshop painting!)
Dire Avenger Exarch conversion, Mike McVey, 1994
Stuart also kindly provided a few new pics of the model, which show some of the detail that the image above didn't pick up:
I asked Stuart what he remembered about the model... given it's 24 years ago:
"I did my best to try and match the artwork as close as possible, which was quite a challenge. It was a lot of fun working on the miniatures for the books [Games Workshop released a guidebook of converting and painting miniatures, long since OOP sadly] as they allowed for a little more artistic freedom and experimentation, leading to the type of freehand and sort of proto-nmm on the Exarch'
It's hard to think of a time when the top level painters weren't using techniques such as NMM (Non-Metallic-Metals), so this is a true experiment!
Back to my version...
I'd always wanted to do the conversion, or at least get close to it, but my skills at the time were nowhere near good enough to do it!
Fast forward 24 years, the advent of all-plastic Dire Avenger Kits and an unfulfilled ambition...
Regular readers will know that I'm currently rebuilding an entire Alaitoc Warhost, the first army I ever owned, so including this seminal conversion was a must!
So here we are - my attempt to recreate that little bit of Eldar history...
I've not got the post totally right to the picture, but I feel that this pose is close enough that those who know the artwork will know where it's come from. I twisted the left leg slightly to give the 'step up' effect, and used a small piece of slate to have him stand on. I added a back banner as I think Exarchs look great with them (I've also added the template from the old White Dwarf below for anyone who wants to add banners and pennants to theirs).
Eldar Banners & Pennants (c) Games Workshop
I've also worked on my Revenant, taking it from the green and white base coat it had when I got it 2nd hand, to a fully painted Alaitoc Titan....
It's a great looking kit to work on, and a joy to paint. To create the mottled effect on the blue armour I sponged the lighter shades I normally use for edge highlighting on in a random pattern - it works quite well I think!
The head opens to show the pilot within. The yellow took quite a few coats to get a nice, solid colour but it's one that I'm really happy with.
Now I just need to finish my Phantom to match!!
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