Druchii Cult of Slaanesh designer's notes

When I was sitting down to brainstorm new units for the Age of Rebuilding project, elves gave me relentless trouble. The reason for this is actually pretty simple: elves are highly intelligent, have a very distinct look and have been making war for thousands of years. And unlike Dwarfs, they presumably don't have a testing period for innovations which the Adeptus Mechanicus might think is a bit long. If they haven't already developed a method of making war, the odds are that it is be cause they simply don't want to make war that way, or don't think it will improve their battlefield efficiency. 

Now, with High Elves I came up with the Shadowflame Guard, based on a similarly named unit in the End Times. With the Wood Elves... treeish things can be relied upon. But with the Dark Elves, I spent a while staring at my notepad in idiocy. The answer came to me, rather bizarrely, whilst I was sitting by a fjord in western Norway.

Eidfjord. Possibly the most beautiful place I've ever been. And rather bizarrely, a good place for hobby inspiration.

The Cult of Slaanesh, of course! One of the most colourful armies to come out of 2004's much underrated Storm of Chaos campaign, the Cult of Slaanesh combined units from the Dark Elves and Hordes of Chaos books. Now, creating a coherent list in the manner of that original supplement is on my list, but I'm also mindful that armies can be expensive. So my first thought was to create units which 'plug-in' to the 8th edition Dark Elves book so that a hobbyist could, if so inspired, use these new units with their existing collection. Now, a few explanatory notes. 

General

Veteran hobbyists will note that the presence of 'forbidden units' in the rules I've created created a bit of an old-school feel (though there are no 0-1 choices). I didn't want to do this at first, but in good conscience I couldn't envision a lore-abiding army where Slaaneshi and Khainites are making friends. 

Anointed

The Druchii Anointed was always a rather cool idea to me - the idea of a warped Dark Elf so consumed by Slaanesh that they can't even pass for normal elven. I tweaked the background a little to have it that a small number of modern Druchii have metamorphosed rather than all of them being impossibly ancient. 

The model is a Black Dragon Dreadlord with a daemonette's head, a Hellstrider's shield and the Daemonic Mount from the Lord of Slaanesh. 

Rules wise, I kept the Anointed as a combat machine, but removed the magical capabilities to keep his role clear. I removed the rule where he can't be the army's general. High point Lords who can't lead armies tend to get ignored even in the most narrative games.

Painseekers

I love the look of Steeds of Slaanesh and of Cold One Knights. That's basically where this came from. I wanted them to seem more in control than Hellstriders, with the same noble arrogance as Cold One Knights. 

The models are a simple rider-swap of Cold One Knights onto Hellstrider Steeds. Warning - it's harder than it looks. 

Rules wise, I wanted them to be incredibly quick and hard-hitting, but a bit glass-cannon-y. With T3 and a 3+ maximum save, you're going to want to be careful where you strike with them.

Vicerunner

Who doesn't want a Steed of Slaanesh chariot?! I did this purely because I thought it would be visually striking and fit the idea of depraved hunters well. 

The model is simply a Dark Elf chariot with Steeds swapped in. The charioteers are: a beastmistress with one of her arms replaced with a daemonette claw, and a charioteer with a Hellstrider's head. 

I was going to give this thing some really funky rules, ut ultimately I decided that a chariot which is so incredibly fast really didn't need anything else. 

Ascendant

Straight up: in 2013, when the 8th edition Dark Elves book was on preorder, I honestly thought that the Medusa was a Cult of Slaanesh concession. It's just so perfect that I had to make a unit using her. I decided to make her a kind of preacher-figure. I've got a feeling I got the inspiration from a scene of a Slaaneshi temple in Fulgrim.

The only conversion to the piece is the Slaanesh icon. 

Rules wise, I thought about giving her the standard Hatred power, but decided that it would make more sense for her to impart Frenzy (excess and all that). 

I hope all this makes sense. And fear not, I shall be tackling the concept of a true Cult of Slaanesh as seen in the glory days at a later date!

The Slaver (caution advised for sensitive readers)

Despite being fairly easy to make, this was one of the toughest conversions I've done.

The problem was not the technical abilities required, it was the fact of what I was seeking to portray.

Slaanesh. The most vile of the Chaos Gods. Now, let me explain this perspective. Let's start with the obvious but sadly necessary to explain point: Slaanesh is not a sex god. Sex is nothing bad or to be afraid of,  but Slaanesh most certainly is. The source material is fairly clear about this, although sadly perhaps not as much as it once was. The reason why Slaanesh seems to manifest through sexualised creatures is that sexuality is an area of our lives which is most conditional on trust and obedience of societal rules and the area where we tend to be least rational. Simply put, a violation of boundaries in this area makes us extremely uncomfortable. And that's what Slaanesh is. Slaanesh was devised, I think, as the Chaos God of going too far. Excess. That excess could as easily take the form of gluttony, vainglory... potentially even puritanism when it goads the puritan into sadistic excesses of judgemental behaviour. Slaanesh is selfishness, nihilism, cruelty and sadism. It is to put yourself before others at all times, and to place your own sensation above any sense of a greater purpose or responsibility. And the ever more extremes of Slaaneshi behaviour mean that you really don't want to meet them.

I'll admit that in making this model, I immediately committed another stupid hobby-ism: you'll far more often find conversions of female models into Slaanesh than other chaos forces. This is an absurdity: there's absolutely no in-universe or real world evidence to suggest that women would be more likely to fall to Slaanesh than men. So I apologise for that. I like to believe that I am above this obnoxious pigeon-holing of women. I felt much more comfortable about sharing the more empowering images of the female Commissar and the Norse Queen. But in an area where misogyny seems resurgent and the industrial scale of sexual misconduct against women has become clearer, this monster is perhaps fitting. 

The recipe is quite easy. The steed of Slaanesh is from the Hellstriders kit. The Slaver herself is an Vampire Counts Coven Throne Vampire. Her head is from a chariot daemonette and her whip arm is from a Hellstrider too. The weeping slave is from Brother Vinni and the gagged slave is from Kingom Death. The rather suggestive mushroom is from one of the GW basing kits from a few years back, as are the ice crystals (painted with Blood for the Blood God to make them look like blood-stalagmites). The chains are cheap jeweller's chain. 

I'd like to talk briefly about paint. You'll notice that the slavers have a fairly healthy flesh tone, whereas the Slaver is chalky pallid with burning eyes. My idea with this is that she has become so obsessed with her own beauty that she's undertaken grotesque surgeries and treatments until she's become a caricature of herself - apparently unaware that her slaves look more like real people than she does. She has become a nightmarish figure of cosmetic exactness. There's nothing beautiful left in her. 

EDIT: Right. I've seen some troubling comments about this. This piece is in no way an endorsement of any kind of sexual abuse. It is not some sort of attempt to stick it to 'PC'. I do not and will not accept misogyny in my life. I will not have my hobby used as a way to promote bigotry of ANY kind. And since human trafficking and slavery are very current issues, any person who is made uncomfortable by this piece has EVERY RIGHT TO BE. It is not meant as a comfortable piece. 

One last thing. I you don't like my saying this last part, take a good hard look at yourself and ask your who is really the easy offended little flower. 

Let's forge a narrative part 2

Part 1 of my story was well received, so here's part 2. Will Belisarius Cawl and Master Pustolion be able to carry their diabolical plan, or will Inquisitor Horn be able to foil them? 

Thanks for your time - let's forge a narrative!

I'm very pleased. I set this blog up on 8th January 2018, and only a few months later I've just passed 2,000 views. I've had some good feedback and a few people have been interested in the methods I use.

Now, the monstrous Lord Eiterfex is still being readied for battle on my painting table, so I thought I'd do something a bit different - use my models to tell a wee story. Thanks to everyone who has visited this blog or commented!