Symphony of Vehement Agony

[BitsHammer]

My FLGS is launching a escalation league style thing for 40k they'll be streaming on Twitch.

 

As part of that, and my poor decision making following the Slaanesh release to start a Slaanesh daemons army, I'll be running a mono-Slaanesh daemon army.

 

This is likely going to end in pain and suffering, but at least it'll be in character for the army! 

 

Because I like having some kind of mental story going on, here's the basic premise in my head of what my warband is and why it fights:

 

Lead by a Keeper of Secrets acting as concertmaster, the warband seeks to write the perfect symphony of pain and suffering using the sounds their victims make. I'm still mulling over names, but basically the idea is that they move from battlefield to battlefield seeking to compose a masterpiece through slaughter.

 

I've always been fond of Slaanesh's whole deal with sound (and weaponizing it to melt your face off in a literal sense) so this ties into that quite heavily.

 

This little PLOG will be a way to track my progress, let me talk about the things I learned playing the army, and to generally lament that I calculated the odds, but was bad at math.

 

And to keep this from being too far off topic, here's an early test model for the paint scheme (some more work is needed to perfect the colors, but the basic idea is there):

[WarriorFish]

Good to see the new releases bringing more devotees to Slaanesh :D I like your test model, seems to capture the GW scheme nicely! Will you be adjusting the scheme/colours much?

[BitsHammer]

Good to see the new releases bringing more devotees to Slaanesh I like your test model, seems to capture the GW scheme nicely! Will you be adjusting the scheme/colours much?

I want to push the pinks further, and do more blending. Basically I want to take the claws from dark purple to bright pink along the sharpest points, and will be doing something similar for the cloth on the Keeper of Secrets and the Enchantress models (with the colors going from dark pink to a bright purple on the inside) with the transition being focused on the folds. Basically trying to capture that riot of color look without painting them like daemonic Harlequins.

[WarriorFish]

Sounds good, looking forward to seeing it in action especially on the Keeper :tu:

[Panzer]

Following. I wish I could start painting my Slaanesh Daemons already but I'm incredibly busy with exams already. Just had a 2 week vacation so I could have a break from my job to work on my coding project. So stressfull. 

Anyway, looking forward to what you're going to show us. Did you already think about the bases? I'll go for snow bases (and having the base snow-free close to the daemons as if it melted away from their daemonic presence) since it'll add great contrast to my daemons colour scheme.

[BitsHammer]

Following. I wish I could start painting my Slaanesh Daemons already but I'm incredibly busy with exams already. Just had a 2 week vacation so I could have a break from my job to work on my coding project. So stressfull. 

Anyway, looking forward to what you're going to show us. Did you already think about the bases? I'll go for snow bases (and having the base snow-free close to the daemons as if it melted away from their daemonic presence) since it'll add great contrast to my daemons colour scheme.

I have thought about the bases, and honestly that's the thing that has me the most concerned. I ordered a bunch of Shattered Ritual bases from Secret Weapon Minatures:

 

But as for when they'll actually get in is another question (I made a largish order to offset that $15USD shipping cost).

 

And for colors I'm looking at doing something cooler to offset the light purple colors as well as the pinks:

 

Though things like bones will be getting a proper boney treatment as well as some other parts of the basing getting some spot colors.

[Panzer]

That's a pretty resin base! Potentially as much work as the models themselves (had that 'problem' with my marble base until I decided to not use them because I couldn't get them in the right size for my Redemptor Dread anyway :P ).

[BitsHammer]

That's a pretty resin base! Potentially as much work as the models themselves (had that 'problem' with my marble base until I decided to not use them because I couldn't get them in the right size for my Redemptor Dread anyway ).

I was mulling over colors for a while before I'd spotted that cool blue scheme and considering the "mystical" nature of the bases and the warmer colors on the models I feel like it makes a perfect stage for Slaanesh.

 

Plus it's AoS compatible!

[BitsHammer]

So madness definitely lies this way: I'm workibg on blending purple and pink to try and create the impression that the cloth changes color as it ripples.

 

I think I have a rough table top standard here:

 

But on closer inspection my blend needs more work:

 

Why try to blend two entirely different colors? All to try and capture that riot of color and spectacle Slaanesh is supposed to have while also creating something that looks like it's not just striped cloth.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I think your blend looks great.

[BitsHammer]

I think your blend looks great.

Thanks! It was my first time trying to wet blend (using the two brush approach), so I'm glad it got some positive feedback.

[WarriorFish]

Me too, more than good enough for the table top! Any more across so many models and it may truly be madness that awaits :lol:;) If you want to up your game, maybe just for the centre piece/character models?

[BitsHammer]

Me too, more than good enough for the table top! Any more across so many models and it may truly be madness that awaits If you want to up your game, maybe just for the centre piece/character models?

It's mostly for the characters (and maybe the standards). But I'm hesitant to practice the blend on such large and pricey models only to have to keep stripping and painting until it comes out right. I'm thinking of priming an index card to get some more practice.

 

For the Daemonettes I'm just going to edge highlight the cloth with pink instead of trying to do anything complicated with the blending. They're too much of a horde army to spend 10+ minutes doing that kind of blend work on a very tiny bit of cloth (if any). After playing with the process though, I think I'm just going to do the claws the same way I'm doing the hair to balance the mini a bit (so the pink frames the body a bit instead of being quite so top heavy in terms of color).

[BitsHammer]

It's been a few days and while painting has stalled a bit while I fail to make it to my FLGS around my work schedule, I feel like there is a fair bit to update.

 

So for starters, my 250 point list saw some revisions. I've managed to wrangle up some input from other Slaanesh players online and found that while there is a chance of being able to do some work with an Exalted Seeker Chariot, the model just doesn't do enough on it's own to support the army, even in a low points list. My initial 250 will be as follows:

 

+HQ+

Infernal Enchantress (Celerity of Slaanesh, Forbidden Gem)

 

+Troops+

Daemonettes x10 (Icon and Musician as well)

 

+Elite+

Fiend

Fiend

 

That brings me in right under 250 points and gives me a way to lock up shooting units, shut down support characters if needed, and generally give my army a chance to succeed.

 

My second 250 points will be to add 23 Daemonettes (giving me a unit of 13 and two units of 10), and a Herald to the list (looking at kitbashing one off the chariot kit as I'm going to have some extra parts when I make Hellflayers). My 250 after that is likely going to be spent on expanding the Fiends by taking a thirt and adding 3x Hellflayers. Going to 1000 I'm looking at adding a Contorted Epitome and a Seeker Chariot. I'll be sliding in a Keeper at 1250 and finally adding more Seeker Chariots, Fiends and adding some Daemonettes to the units. I'll be running multiple FOCs by the end for extra CP as well.

 

My basic strategy in low point games will be running a horde while being able to trap things in combat, while my higher points lists will skew more towards damage output from things that can hit harder than the Daemonettes who will be more of a support role for combat, or for taking objectives.

[WarriorFish]

Numbers is a good strategy at lower points, and more of a necessity at higher ones I think. Your plans sound good to me :tu:

[BitsHammer]

Numbers is a good strategy at lower points, and more of a necessity at higher ones I think. Your plans sound good to me

Thanks! I'll still be fairly horde at higher points, but as other people will be able to bring heavier units onto the table, I'll need ways of hitting harder. The Hellflayers for example, since they can dish out mortal wounds.

[BitsHammer]

The first batch of bases have arrived. I feel like I should be able to have them painted in the next week or so.

[BitsHammer]

So I tried going for the whole flayed look while playing with Blood for the Blood God and while it's glossier and darker than I expected I don't hate it. That said, when I get around to doing the second one of these I am going to go with Carroburg Crimson instead. Well that and a finer tipped brush than my size 0 Series 7. If you look closely you can see some hint of striation, but it's basically invisible at range.

 

[WarriorFish]

Looks great to me, I might steal this idea if my other ones don't pan out (they probably won't )!

[BitsHammer]

Looks great to me, I might steal this idea if my other ones don't pan out (they probably won't )!

Steal away! I stole the idea from.an even better painter in a painting group on Facebook:

 

Needless to say, I feel like they nailed it a bit better. Mine just makes me thing of that scene from the Silent Hill movie when Pyramid Head rips the skin off a person (basically a bloody mess) versus their model which makes me think of something from an anatomy book forced to walk the battlefield.

[Panzer]

Well the other painters version is obviously technically much more advanced, but I think the wet bloody look is great too and in some way even better.

[BitsHammer]

Thanks! I don't hate it either, I just have weird standards for pushing myself when I paint. Hence why I'm learning to wet blend now too (I find the two brush method about right for me).

 

So I played with my lighting and background and managed to get a better picture:

 

And yeah the kneecaps need work.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Fulkes

[WarriorFish]

Two brush blending works for me too, it's about being comfortable as much as pushing yourself as if something isn't going to work for you then it won't :P

 

Keep up the good progress, you're making me want to jump straight into my Daemons (even though I shouldn't!) ;)

[BitsHammer]

Two brush blending works for me too, it's about being comfortable as much as pushing yourself as if something isn't going to work for you then it won't

 

Keep up the good progress, you're making me want to jump straight into my Daemons (even though I shouldn't!)

ETL starts in two weeks so it's the perfect time to start....

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for sharing your work and your inspiration on this - I'll likely be doing my enchantress this ETL, and I didn't have any good ideas how to do it.

 

I think I will use some blood, though maybe only on the strings - I want it to look like they were ripped out of him... I'll need to take a closer look at the back of the model to figure out if that would work.