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

I got a late start on the month's batch of models due to a new puppy in the house. He's charming, but exhausting. I had planned to finish off the last of the Legion's Daemonettes, but I wasn't feeling them for whatever reason, and time was growing short. Therefore, I pivoted to completing the Legion's undead auxiliary contingent. 

Now in Realm of Chaos - Slaves to Darkness, an undead contingent can be quite large. I wanted mine to still adhere to the "rule of six" in some capacity, but keeping the chaos god's number in unit sizes is optional in an auxiliary contingent. Also, a lot of the draw of these undead units in a legion is to get some larger units than are available in the rest of the Legion. I already had painted 20 skeleton warriors, 12 skeleton archers, and a pair of undead champions of Slannesh (here). I decided to bulk the contingent out to 48 models (a multiple of six seemed appropriate here). To get there, this month I painted another dozen skeleton archers, a liche as the contingent commander, and I rebased a spirit model to be a spectre.

For the skeletons, I followed the same color scheme I used for the rest of the skeletons, with a lot of contrasting red and naked bones. The archers are pretty hopeless on the daemonic battlefield, but one can give any models armed with them missile weapons and magic ammo. At the cost of another 10 points (also what the skeletons cost) they can all have bows which are magical (and can hurt daemons) and never miss. 20 points per model is still comically cheap on a daemonic battlefield, so that is the plan. Like my skeletons who came before, these were Crooked Dice sculpts. That is also where I found the sculpt for the Liche. I gave her a 3D printed Slaaneshi icon on her staff, but otherwise I left her unchanged. Her wardrobe is already somewhat Slaaneshi, so no changes were needed here. I gave her a pallid skin tone and dark eye sockets to emphasize her almost skeletal and undead appearance. I am really quite pleased with how she came out, and kudos to Crooked Dice on a great sculpt.

The Spectre came from a Reaper sculpt I decided to remove from a Keeper of Secrets diorama base, which I painted years ago. She will hide in a skeleton unit until she gets a chance to make a nuisance of herself. 

All told, this month I added 13 models to the Legion. I am not counting the spectre in this count as she was just a rebasing job.  Her paint job was another attempt at using Citadel Contrast paints. I think this effort came out a lot better than when I tried it on the fiends. The lighter tones do succeed in giving her a 'ghostly' feel.  Simple but effective in my mind.

This completes my daemonic legion's Undead contingent, and a merry bunch they are too...

These models add another 785 points to the Legion.

            Skeletons w/ magic bows x12     240

            Spectre                                         200

            Liche (Wizard 20)                        345

For next month's wrap up, I will go over which portions of the Legion have been completed with this year's effort. I will also provide some updated pics and list of the Legion as it stands today. Till next month...

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.

 

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

This month was once again about Fiends of Slaanesh. I was committed to closing out the Fiend allowance for a Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh, which is twenty-four Fiends. In previous OWAC's I had already painted twelve, and in January I knocked out another group of five. I had intended to get another five of these done in March, but since seven were required, I began batch painting all seven. I had gotten a good way through the seven, but life conspired to prevent actually finishing them. So, due to my own slow pace, I was forced to either mulligan or to accept my partially painted models as complete for March. This was nonsense, of course, and I chose to spend my wildcard month as a mulligan and preserve the standard for painting I held myself thus far. Therefore, while no Fiends were brought forth last month, all seven were this month...and pretty little scuttlers they are too. 

An additional seven Fiends are 40 points each, thus adding 280 points to the growing Slaaneshi Legion, as well as an adjusted fourteen models to the count for this OWAC.

This influx of Fiends brings the muster to the full two dozen allowed to a Slaaneshi Legion. I could not resist lining up the full contingent for a photo op. What is the collective noun for a large group of Fiends? A Flux of Fiends? A Scuttling of Fiends?

Lastly, to congratulate them, I let a Keeper of Secrets conduct an inaugural "Running of the Fiends" through the streets of Bogenhafen. They look like they are having a fun time...

Frank's Great Task, Building a Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh - February (Leader)

This month I worked on my leader model, which was already destined to be a Keeper of Secrets. In a daemonic legion battle, greater daemons are free of cost to the legion. However, a chaos power can only field up to it’s sacred number of greater daemons in the same place. Players are asked to agree on the number of greater daemons, but, if the players prefer, Slaves to Darkness has a chart to randomly generate the number. This chart can generate five greater daemons at most. Five is quite a lot, even with the amount of combinations available to the old Keeper sculpts. So, I tried to make each of my Keeper of Secrets models visually distinct from each other through the use of colors and conversions. 

This last Keeper was given the theme of ‘brawler’. I wanted him to look brutal and more mutated than his brothers. To this end, I gave him multiples of the one armored claw on the downward hanging upper arm bit. I wanted four of that claw to maximize the amount of armor on the model and because that claw looks 'stronger' than the others too me. It took a while, but I acquired three more of that upper arm piece. I then did a bit of snipping and affixed those claws to create a quartet of heavy armored claws with no human hands at all. I then took a spare tail/body piece from one of the many fiends I rejected after assembling this year's batch. I used this to give him a convincing scorpion tail mutation. I also used a very special eyepatch head. As Keeper of Secrets heads go, this is not one of my favorites, but this head is all that remains of the very first keeper my teenaged self managed to acquire and paint. I did not strip the original badly painted blue but rather used it as a primer coat and pressed on. I think it works well here, making a vicious model look even more brutal.

When I sat down to paint him, I had a couple basic considerations to keep in mind. First off, he was not going to be the same skin color as any of his brethren. That ruled out orange, pink, green, and yellow. Second, most if not all of his cloth would be yellow to tie him into the rest of the legion's models. I considered jet black for a skin tone, but in the end, I went with a deep purple. Mostly because I liked the effect that scheme had on a Fiend, I did a couple years ago. I went ahead and painted right over the original head. I like that this ties the model, and the legion back to the same effort I began so many many years ago.

This Keeper constitutes my effort for Leader month. Although greater daemons are free in a daemonic legion, they are valued at 900 points in the Realm of Chaos Slaves to Darkness army list. Finally, here he is posing with his brethren in the legion’s command group.

Astute readers may have noted that the sacred number of Slaanesh is six, and while I have maxed out the greater daemons the legion chart could require, I yet have only five here. The sixth slot is reserved for a special final model. I speak of the long lost unreleased Keeper of secrets model. It is pictured in Slaves to Darkness and can be known for the distinctive unarmored rounded crab claws, hanging downward, as well as the open hand not balled into a fist. If anyone reading this has such as treasure, please contact me, I would pay handsomely to acquire it.

[Pic courtesy of 'Stuff of Legends'] 

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

As I explained in this my intro post, I am taking a much more paced and measured approach to this year's OWAC, with the specific goal of maxing out the traditional Daemonic portion of the army. My efforts will therefore be applied to the gaps in my existing collection between what I have painted and what the Realm of Chaos Slaves to Darkness army list allows. This meant Fiends, a dozen more Fiends. So, that is where I began, with five Fiends for the month of January. 

For the paint schemes I continued with my method designed to call back to the classic daemonic legion art in Slaves to Darkness, using wild clashing color schemes which lean towards pastel shades or bright colors. However, this time I tried a new technique, for me at least, contrast paints. I chose to give contrasts a try in hopes to have slightly different results on the second batch of a dozen fiends, than the first batch. I watched a few videos and fiddled with contrast on a few bits and shields. Then I gave it a shot on the old lead. 

I have to say the result of the contrast painting was functional, but I didn't love it. I found the shading effect that contrast provides often felt too understated for my purposes. I ended up in most cases giving a drybrush and highlight on them to get the effects I wanted. In several cases I still needed to do dark lining to provide shading in the deepest areas as well. So, my verdict on contrasts is, they are 'fine', but nothing amazing. It's basically a thick ink that requires you prime in a light tone instead of a dark tone. I found the time saved in this process was essentially paid back by having to line or shade due to having to use a light primer color. I think contrasts will let you achieve functional results in a bit less time and with less prior skill than before, but experienced painters probably can do better or will treat them as just another ink pot.

All that said, the first five came out pretty well. The pastel colors let me get some different looks that my first batch. Fiends scuttle about quite a bit, but I did get them to sit still for some close ups...

Five Fiends is not a full unit. One more Fiend is required before they are a complete unit, but five is a good start, nonetheless. In terms of points, five Fiends weigh in at 200 points, and this is where I stand at the end of January. 

Frank's Great Task, Building a Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh

Welcome dear readers. This is my third OWAC, and, as always, it shall be focused on my Oldhammer obsession, the creation of a Realm of Chaos era Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh. I thought I would start this year's challenge with a quick look at what has come before. This pic shows the fruits of my two previous OWACs, as well as a handful of models done in the intervening year.

This is enough for a proper Legion with appropriate proportions of lesser and greater daemons as well as a few mortals and even undead auxiliaries. My method for planning and building this to date has largely been one of "follow your dreams". Meaning, I collected whatever felt right and spoke to me. This year's OWAC effort is going to be more targeted.

My goal this time around is to max out the daemon portion of the Legion within the limits laid out in the Realm of Chaos Slaves to Darkness. These limits are as follows...48 Daemonettes, 24 Fiends, 4 Daemon Princes, and then the Keepers of Secrets. In a daemonic legion battle a chaos power may field up to its sacred number of greater daemons; so, six for Slaanesh. In daemonic legion games players field an agreed number of greater daemons at no points cost. Slaves to Darkness provides a chart to randomly generate this number if players can't agree or want to leave the number to chance. The most possible on the chart is five greater daemons. 

I currently have four Keepers of Secrets, one (or perhaps two in a pinch) Daemon Princes, twelve Fiends, and 42 Daemonettes. So, doing a bit of math, I want to produce 6 more Daemonettes, 12 Fiends, 2 Daemon Princes, and 1 more Keeper. I shall leave the sixth Keeper of Secrets slot open for the ever-elusive unreleased Keeper of Secrets model (pic from Stuff of Legends), should I ever get the chance to acquire one.

I have been gathering the models for this effort for the past six months. The most difficult portion of which was finding twelve more Fiends in a good enough condition to be brought back to life. I did eventually get them, although this generated some beat up spares I sold along and traded.

Earlier this past year, the fabulous sculptor at Satyr Arts Studio made a set of three mounted Daemonettes. I have managed to aquire a pair of the unreleased Daemonette riders and converted another ten of these from standard Daemonettes. That effort is documented in OWAC6 here. I bought two sets of these and did some minor conversion to mix up the riders. They will fill out the Daemonette allotment of six more nicely. 

Next up were the big boys (and girls). I wanted a different look for the Keeper of Secrets. In order to make him stand out from his brothers I went all in on claws. Then Satyr Arts impressed me once again with a large model with a stunning resemblance to the John Blanche depiction of the Dark Prince. This "guy" was perfect for one of the Daemon Princes.

Taken all together, this OAWC will see me producing the following addition to my glorious Slaaneshi Legion...

    Keeper of Secrets x1            Free         Leader Model

    Daemon Prince x1                810          2 or 4 models

    Daemonettes w/ Steeds x6   720         12 models

    Fiends of Slaanesh x12        480          24 models

    Daemonette x1                     100          1 model

    Chaos Familiar                     Free         1 model

The whole effort will meet the minimum model count requirements, while still adding a whopping 2,110 points. This is the baseline for what I will be painting. If I do more, you can expect some interesting Champions, another Daemon Prince, or maybe some spawn.

Frank's Great Work Continued, A Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh - Wrap-up - July

 

This brings me to the end of my second Old World Army Challenge. I accomplished quite a bit, but not as much as I had set out to. Despite this, there is now a whole new Undead Auxiliaries contingent added to my Slaaneshi Legion. And while these are mostly the daemonic equivalent of cannon-fodder, a number of chaos spawn and other creatures of chaos joined the horde adding middle of the road cost fighters in what is otherwise a very points heavy army. Last, but not least, several powerful spellcaster characters were drawn to the ranks adding some interesting looking models to the leaders of the Legion. Thanks to the efforts of the organizers to herd all us cats and keep the webpage running and churning out all the great inspiration, and a salute to my fellow challengers who slogged through the OWAC 'fighting season'.

 

  

 

In total, for my OWAC IIX, here are the season's additions...

        Cult of the Unflagging Revelers (Undead Auxiliaries)                                                                        

'20' Liche                                                                                                                              345

Undead Minotaur Champion w/ 4 rewards, and daemon weapon                                       230

Skeleton Warriors w/ chaos weapons x20                                                                           200

Skeleton Warriors w/ Seeking bows x12                                                                             240

        Touched of Slaanesh (Creatures of Chaos)

Harpies x6                                                                                                                            90

"The Pale Worms", Minotaurs x5                                                                                        200

'15' Minotaur Champion w/ chaos weapons                                                                        240

Spawn of Slaanesh x5                                                                                                         500 

        Champions and Allies 

"Rippity Rabbity", Independent Daemon Prince                                                                 810

"The Golden Pair", Mighty Champion of Slaanesh & Familiar w/ 10 rewards                    360

Dragon w/o wings, 3+ chaos attributes                                                                               600 

Total Models = 55 (63 adjusted for OWAC8 size standards)                    Total Points = 3,815                                                                                                                         

Finally, I couldn't resist bringing out the entire legion for a parade. They are starting to look like a proper army, and I dare say there are few of its like out there now. I hope they convey the feel of those fabulous pictures of armies in Slaves to Darkness that (to my then 14 year old eyes) were wild, mad, and seemingly utterly unattainable. My collecting, crafting, and painting of this project spreads over many years now and I think I am finally nearing its end. I just might have enough additions for one more OWAC in me though. We shall see...