Frank's Great Task, Building a Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh - May (Rank & File)

 

This month's efforts were a bit less focused but had some real gems. The pride of place, without question, goes to the 'Consort of Slaanesh', but we will get round to 'them' in a bit. First off there are a few more daemonettes. 

I painted three more daemonettes not to be another unit, but to be handlers for the Legion's packs of chaos spawn. The Realm of Chaos Slaves to Darkness daemonic legion of Slaanesh army list requires a champion or a daemonette to be included as a handler for each pack of spawn. A Slaaneshi legion can field up to four packs of spawn. I have one champion converted up to lead a spawn pack. In fact, he is almost a spawn himself. But, for the other three packs these three new daemonettes will serve. None of these are original citadel sculpts. The two on the flanks here are Satyr Art Studios sculpts. His offerings are always great at keeping that oldhammer style and fit in nicely with the legacy sculpts. These came from a pack of six the rest of which were retained for another idea. You will, of course, have noticed that one of them is quite different. This model began as a Hasslefree Miniatures sculpt, which was clearly an homage to the "Kinky Chaosette" classic citadel sculpt. 

I conducted some minor conversions to make her a special daemonette model. I clipped one of the hands and replaced that hand with an extra daemonette claw. I then used a whip from another Slaaneshi champion to give her a barbed tail. She was made because there is a slight chance that any individual daemonette comes with a random magic item. In a legion, a player can always buy a model chaos armor as well. This model was intended to allow for either possibility, as well as a daemonette who gained the "chaos lord" chaos attribute. 

The next model added is a familiar. She is an odd little creature who somewhat resembles a daemonette. She was painted with no 'parent' model intended, rather she can server as a familiar whenever one is called for from the random generation of characters. I'm not quite sure where the sculpt came from, maybe Reaper Miniatures. 

This next unit is a bit of a departure from theme as they are mortals (more or less). In a daemonic legion mortal units can be included in the form of units Legionnaires. These models can be of any roughly man-sized race and their profiles are always the same. For my first unit of Legionnaires (The Old World Army Challenge: Frank's: The Great Work - A Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh, Slaves to Darkness Style, "Wildcard", June 2023), I made fallen elves. This time I wanted some 'children of chaos' and opted for classic beastmen. I have had several of these models, in various states of repair knocking around my collection for many years. They were dusted off, rebased, and prepped. One was too thick with old paint so he got stripped, the others just got a clean up and I painted right over them. I also added Slaanesh icons for their weapons whereever that seemed practical.

You will notice that these models are all roughly in the same pose. I believe that they were all created form the same 'dolly', with different armor sculpted on and different mutations. As I had five, I still needed a sixth model, as all units in a Slaaneshi legion have six models. I found another one with a Fiend's head and a snazzy armored corset. I converted him with bits from a champion to make him more of a mutant and to up the armor on him to being proper chaos armor. Now he has two crab claws and chaos armor. He is my sixth legionnaire, but he could be another chaos champion if I needed those mutations, or even a very mutated daemonette. 

Now for the main event, what I'm calling the "Consort of Slaanesh". This model probably should have been in my Wildcard or Leader months, but events conspired to prevent me completing 'her' until this month. This model was sculpted by Satyr Art Studios and is a loving homage to this John Blanche depiction of Slaanesh him/herself from Realm of Chaos Slaves to Darkness. 

I, of course, had to make a few additions of my own. This pose on this model seemed very agile and athletic, and I wanted to depict 'her' as some sort of deadly fast, although still huge duelist. 'She' will serve in the legion as the third and final daemon prince allowed. But, 'she' could also be the sixth Keeper if I so desired. In fact, modern rules for Slanneshi daemons now have a named daemon prince who is a hunter of other greater daemons and some such. So, I gave 'her' a nasty pointy wall-shield, which is really a buckler on 'her'. I also changed her scepter into a full-blown icon of Slannesh. With the new toys, 'She' could stand in for the names Keeper model nicely, and it gave 'her' a distinct look from the other Keepers in my legion.

So, that's all for May. In total, have ten 'normal' models and one 'large', granting an adjusted score of twelve. As to points, well... the Daemon Princess/Keeper of Secrets weighs in at 810, the trio of Daemonettes are 100 each, the unit of legionnaires (without magic items or spell upgrades) cost 168, and finally the familiar costs nothing, as she only appears as a random gift for another model. Total points for May then are 1,278. And as far as my own goals go, this month sees the Daemon Princes for the Legion maxed out. Here they are together looking fabulous.

 

Jaakko and Rugluk - Wild card month

Keeping watch over a lonely crossroads, The Owl has stood for longer than any village record can account for. Some claim it used to be a watch-post during wars against beastmen. Others insist it began life as a small monastery before ale barrels replaced prayer books.

Its sign creaks in the wind: a wide-eyed owl painted on a fading blue board.

The Owl has earned a reputation as a safe refuge on dangerous roads. Merchants, bounty hunters, pilgrims, mercenaries, and even the less reputable folk are all welcome.

There is also a rival inn farther down the road: The Weasel. Once the two inns were owned by brothers who quarreled bitterly over things long forgotten. The rivalry became a feud passed from father to son. Coachmen swear one stablemaster sabotages the other’s horseshoes. Fights are common during market season and customers argue over which inn serves better ale.

Still, when winter storms close the roads and the howling begins in the woods the hatchet is buried. Because whatever feud exists between Owl and Weasel, both know there is something worse waiting in the dark.

-------

A large dwarf camp sat beside the old roadside inn. Lanterns glowed warmly in the windows, and the smell of roasted meat drifted across the fields. Dwarfs crowded the yard, drinking from tankards, their armour stacked nearby in piles. Laughter rumbled beneath their thick beards.

From the trees above the road, Rugluk and his scouts watched in silence.

An orc beside him grunted, “We hittin’ ’em tonight, boss?”

Rugluk stared at the camp. Warm firelight. Full barrels. Fat dwarfs laughing.

”Yeah,” he muttered.

”An’ I want sum ale.”

Hello! I saved the wild card month for May in order to have a bit of a change of pace before the final push in June and July. The theme of this year’s wildcard month was determined when Graeme very kindly sent me a copy of White Dwarf 143. The issue includes instructions to build the Coaching Inn and stables, and I simply couldn’t resist having a go at it. This is the biggest single terrain piece I’ve done, and it ended up taking a large part of my hobby time this month, so no miniatures this month. Anyway, here are more photos:

Tom is actually also making a Coaching Inn and stables as his wild card. We thought it was a really fun coincidence and decided to name them as a pair after the Owl and Weasel. So, here’s The Owl-you’ll meet The Weasel a bit later.

I tried to be faithful to the original in most parts, but I did move the walls a bit so there wouldn’t be a gap between them and the inn, and I forgot a window. I also opted to make a gate that doesn’t open. I figured it would be a bit more sturdy this way.

I did some googling to see other people's versions of the build. The Lost and Very Damned blog (link) had a really nice version of the smithy and I copied some details from there while adding some further items. I might add a similar removable wall to the build later too.

A close-up of the stables. I rather like the look of the plastered walls and might make more buildings in this style in the future.

I like the inn part a lot, and I’m pretty sure it will be used on its own quite often.

I actually built a slightly modified version of the Fantasy Barn from WD 140 first as a test. I built one as a kid too, and I think it’s too tall. That's why this one is adjusted to fit the size of old cardboard houses.

I’m also working on a field and some fences to tie this one into it's surroundings, but I ran out of time. I’ll hopefully add them in later posts, along with some roadside signs.

Here are some WIP pictures. I’ll try to keep the explanations short, but feel free to ask if anything comes to mind.

The shape was first made from cardboard and foam core (after feeding the kids with things that come in cardboard boxes).

I followed my brother’s advice and covered the foam core parts and seams with paper. It’s supposed to make the structure tougher, but I later found out that it also helps a lot with the plastering.

Then some sticks, bits of XPS foam, and lots and lots and lots of small bits of cardboard.

Next, the walls were plastered with a mix of Polyfilla, fine sand, and water.

I happened to run into an ancient box of Polyfilla in December while emptying an apartment full of a literal ton of stuff. As far as I know, the last Rake hardware store closed in ’87, so the Polyfilla was clearly era-appropriate for an Oldhammer build. I had no choice but to save it and use it for the plastering.

And here's a final picture of the painted coaching inn and stables:

See you next month with a leader (or some leaders)!

Adrian's May Rank 'n File month - The Kwae Karr orcs (328 points)

Rank and File month #4

King F'yar's own tribe, the Kwae Karr orcs, must not fall behind the other tribes gathered for the battle against the Grand League. On the contrary, they should make an example utterly crushing the crossroad settlement of Lind Way. 

King F'yar gave orders to one of his chieftains, Magyar Ironfist, to utterly crush the resistance in Linden Way.

However, such a menial task is nothing but an insult. Magyar is made for something more than wacking petty villagers in their homes. He should complete the objective fast and with few casualties, as if F'yar is killed or something bad happened to him at Orc's Drift, surely someone with a powerfull army should arise as the next king of the orc tribes...

I truly wanted to paint this unit. I think that, along Harboth's orcs, these are the most iconic regiments ever produced for the orcs. While I want to play them as regular orcs, I gave everyone of them the crossbows at their back.

Gudruk the champion is not truly armed with a magic sword but the evil lookin two handed sword and the runes demanded it to be painted as something wrong is contained inside that piece of metal. Magyar miniature blend with the rest of the unit pretty well and I think i'll deploy him as a regular boy when I use them in a battle as a normal unit.

Sadly I couldn't get my hand in additional troopers and I didn't want to convert the initial 18 or so from the original box. So there is no Kwae Karr banner as for now.

Look! I finally broke the shield curse and could finnish all the shields for the entire unit! yeah, that includes additional shields for the rest of the 20 or so. While I have to expand up to 30 for the campign I'm aiming at a realistic objective for this year after the challenge.

Ruglud got his shield too. Love how everything went for those shields. However, is not that easy to put a evil face in them, so I managed to include some messages here and there instead as well as the Kwae Karr symbol (a camel dragon? a jabberwork? the bastard child of a cockatrice and a dragon?)

Magyar Ironfist itself. Lovely miniature. Its face is covered by the arms in a pose about to give someone a bad day, and it is a same because the face has a great expression difficult to photograph as it is.

But wait THERE IS MORE

I have the oportunity to purchase the old citadel Legolas which can act as Erdolas (or degraded as Herndil) for ttrpg and make the iconic photograph of the campaign box. If I have Erdolas (or Herndil)... I should have some wood elves to accompany him.

I do not plan to own an entire wood elf army but I wanted to have a small unit mostly based on Scarloc archers, that can be boost up to 25 with a batch of monopose wood elves. which I purchased for this challenge. And that way I also can convert someone to have the iconic banner of the campaign book.

Also, despite not having 100% all the units of the campaign, with the wood elf small unit it gives me the opportunity to proxy the different troops and replace some of them for a good pictures. So I can do an entire report with the proper miniatures deployed.

In an extremely productive month, I got both Erdolas and some elves painted.

I didn't plan this unit originally and while I mix tones here and there, I do not know for now if they should have some pattern in the capes as in my high elves or leave them as they are. But at least it was fun to paint some wood elves for the first time.

Oh, and I could finnish also their shields just in time!

Lastly, as I got free from my curse at least for the time being and I was pretty motivated, I got the shields of the other units (except for the poor four dwarves from Uther company, I do not had time to replace the shield that desintegrated).

And finnish also the bases, now that I've repaired my homemade applicator.

Woah, what a month.

With both units finnished that makes:

Magyar Ironfist + 14 orcs with shield = 170 points

Erdolas + 9 wood elfs with shield = 158 points

For the next entry, the Kwae Karr orcs and let's hope for some surprise I got in the mail.

Until then,
Adrian’s out