What better time to start a new blog than 2020. Or should I say has there ever been a better time to mash the reset button and start afresh? I don’t think so. As the title asks, what or rather who is the ‘Lost Exodite’? The who is easy, that’s me and I’ve been an active (varying degrees) writer, collector, builder, painter and gamer in tabletop miniature wargaming for a little over thirty years at time of writing. Actually much longer if I additionally factor in my largely ineffective childhood endeavours.

The what? Well that’s a slightly longer tale…

If you are familiar with Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe of races, you may know the ‘exodites’ are a part of the ancient Eldar who fled their homeworlds to colonise often wild and harsh new worlds, thus avoiding the fate of their kin. There’s obviously a bit more to it that that, but its not important to the context why I chose the name. Lore on the exodites is not fully formed but they are popularly interpreted as shunning much of their advanced technology in favour of nature. I however prefer the idea of them being nomadic, innovatively blending ancient technology with the mundane. The relationship the Na’vi  have with their world in Avatar would not be a terrible comparison, or the art direction found in the game ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’. No longer a space-faring race, the exodites make use of the ancient galaxy-spanning webway to travel between worlds. Imagine if you will an exodite traveller experiencing the strange and different places they could potentially visit through the webway in such a diverse universe and you will not be far from the purpose for this blog. The exodite is not just an observer, but I hope also a participant, taking something away from their visit.

A xenos “Mr Ben” if you like, for those old enough to remember who that was and probably a surreal moment for anyone not a certain generation or from the UK.

The second and more tenuous connection is the exodites as nomads are a project I have long wished to do in warhammer, but have yet to start. That has been the case for well over twenty years since I saw an interpretation by a colleague that I had never seen before and that has stuck with me to this very day. Perhaps this blog will become the catalyst to finally bringing that vision to life.

Dropship to Lost Exodite

That explains the ‘who’ and ‘what’ but why start a new blog? The answer to that if you have not already guessed is quite simple; the pseudonym I’ve shared my hobby under since 1998 has unfortunately become more widely confused with another meaning. The origin behind ‘Dropship’ was both a fabulous piece of artwork  by Kev Walker (I think) from “Codex Titanicus” and helping play test the drop pod and dropship rules one weekend in the basement of the Nottingham store. I was already a huge fan of the original game and creator Jervis Johnson frequently held public gaming sessions in the old store to try out new rules, it just so happened those were the rules he was trying out and it kind of stuck. Fast forward a few years and the growth in popularity of so-called ‘drop-shipping’, a retail fulfillment method and you can appreciate the confusion. I’ve been meaning to update the blog for years but covid and the increased awareness of drop-shipping created the perfect time to find a new name.

Although I’m putting the past behind me in that regard I am most certainly not when it comes to my gaming and hobby heritage. Titanicus will remain front and centre when it comes to the blog, as will the Horus Heresy. Both get their own specific sections as befits my main hobby interest, as do warhammer 40K and Middle Earth in the fullness of time. 2020 may have been a grim year globally for obvious reasons, but I’m not going to let that crush my hobby. If anything having a positive creative outlet and way to express it is probably more important than ever in these trying times.