The Lord of Excess rises once more, sending hordes of daemonettes into battle to give even the most stalwart Stormcast Eternal pause.
Let’s talk Slaanesh, and not in the gross way that he/she wants us to, but rather in a way to best utilize the new Start Collecting box Games Workshop released. With this new release, along with the Generals Handbook 2017, these gentlemen/gentlewomen are ready to mix it up.
In the Start Collecting! Daemons of Slaanesh box, you get 10 Daemonettes of Slaanesh, 1 Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh, and 5 Seekers of Slaanesh, which is going for about $65 on eBay right now.
- 10 Daemonettes of Slaanesh: 100 points, Battleline unit 1 of 2
- 5 Seekers of Slaanesh: 120 points, no unit type
- 1 Exalted Seeker Chariots of Slaanesh: 140 points, no unit type
Daemonettes of Slaanesh: Move 6″, 1 Wound, 5+ Save, 10 Bravery. They do 2 attacks each, hitting and wounding on a 4+, with -1 rend, for 1 damage. They can run and charge in the same turn. If they are within 6 inches of a Daemon of Slaanesh, hit rolls of 6 against them must be re-rolled, and, on their hit rolls of 6, they make an extra attack (rolls of 5+ if 20 or more models). Finally, the leader has a bonus attack, the Icon Bearer adds D6 models back to the unit if you roll a 1 for battleshock test, and the Hornblower makes your opponent re-roll battleshock test rolls of 1 within 6 inches.
Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh: Move 12″, 9 Wounds, 5+ Save, 10 Bravery. They have 3 different attacks. The first attack option is the Flensing Whips with range 2″, 3 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+ for 1 damage. Next, the Piercing Claws have 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, with -1 rend for 1 damage. Lastly, the Steeds’ Poisoned Tongues have with 8 attacks hitting and wounding on a 4+ for 1 damage. The Chariot adds 1 to battleshock tests for all your opponent’s units within 3 inches if it charged. As well, after the Chariots charge, for each enemy model within 1 inch, you roll a D6 and on a 4+ that models unit suffers a D3 mortal wounds. Finally, any 6+ hit rolls of the Claws or Whip attacks allow you make an additional attack.
Seekers of Slaanesh: Move 14″, 2 Wounds, 5+ Save, 10 Bravery. They have two different attacks. First, Piercing Claws have 2 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, with -1 rend for 1 damage. Next, the Poisoned Tongue from the mounts have 2 attacks, hitting and wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. If they are within 12 inches of a Daemon Hero of Slaanesh, you can add 1 to run and charge rolls. These can also run and charge in the same turn, and when they do run, they roll 2D6 rather than 1D6. On hit rolls of 6 for the Claws, they make an extra attack. Finally, the leader gets a bonus claw attack, the Icon Bearer adds D6 models back to the unit on battleshock roll of 1, and the Hornblower forces your opponents to re-roll battleshock test rolls of 1.
The first thing you’re going to do is add 20 more Daemonettes of Slaanesh to your unit of 10 in order to get the point reduction as well as get the bonus to having 20 or more models in the unit. Then you need to finish up your core troops by adding a second Battleline, which should be a unit of 5 Hellstriders of Slaanesh. 20 more Daemonettes will cost you about $40 and the Hellstriders $15 on eBay respectively.
- 30 Daemonettes of Slaanesh (up from 10): 270 points, Battleline 1 of 2
- 5 Hellstriders of Slaanesh: 100 points, Battleline 2 of 2
Hellstriders of Slaanesh: Move 16″, 2 Wounds, 5+ Save, 7 Bravery. You can use either a Claw-spear with 2″ range, 1 attack, hitting and wounding on a 4+, with -1 rend for 1 damage or use a Hellscourge with 3″ range, 1 attack hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. The mounts have 2 attacks eith their Poisoned Tongues, hitting and wounding on a 4+, for 1 damage. They have the Soul Hunter ability where, at the end of every combat phase, roll a D6. If the result is lower than the number of models they killed that phase then add 1 to their attack rolls for the entire game. If armed with the Claw-spears, add 1 to wound rolls when charging. Their Chaos Runeshields allow them to ignore mortal wounds on a 5+. The leader makes an extra attack and the Hornblower adds 1 to charge and run rolls. Finally, the banner has two options: Icon of Excess or Enrapturing Banner. The Icon of Excess allows re-rolls to the dice to add bonus attacks to the unit. The Enrapturing Banner subtracts 1 from hit rolls of enemy units within 6″.
To round out this 1000, we need to add some leaders to this host of excess, and who better to lead than a Keeper of Secrets, supported by the Masque of Slaanesh. The Keeper will run you about $40 on eBay and the Masque is $16 new from Games Workshop.
- Keeper of Secrets: Leader 1 of 4, Behemoth 1 of 2, 280 Points
- The Masque of Slaanesh: Leader 2 of 4, Unique, 80 Points
Keeper of Secrets: Move damage table (14″ down to 6″), 10 Wounds, 4+ Save, 10 Bravery. Two different attacks, the first being Razor-sharp Claws with range 2″, damage table attacks (6 down to 2), hitting and wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for 2 damage. Second, the Elegant Greatblade with range 2″, 2 attacks, 3+ to hit, damage table wounding (2+ up to 4+), -2 rend, for D3 damage. In your opponent’s hero phase, you can tempt your opponent with the Dark Temptations pact, where they get 6 additional attacks. However, if any of those are a 1 before modifiers, they are immediately slain. The Keeper re-rolls wound rolls of 1. He is a wizard that can attempt to cast and unbind a single spell. His unique spell is Cacophonic Choir, with a casting value of 6. The Choir allows you to roll 2 dice and causes D3 mortal wounds for any enemy unit within 6″ whose bravery is less than the result of the dice roll. Finally, his command ability lets you select a Slaanesh Daemon unit within 12″ to pile in and attack twice in the combat phase.
The Masque of Slaanesh: Move 10″, 5 Wounds, 4+ Save, 10 Bravery. The Masque has two separate attacks. First, Serrated Claws have 6 attacks, hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 4+, with -1 rend for 1 damage. Then, the Staff of Masks have 1 attack, hitting on a 3+, wounding on a 5+ for 1 damage. At the start of combat phase, you roll a D6, and whenever hit rolls match that dice roll, the Masque dodges the attack. If the Masque’s move is equal to opponent’s move, you can re-roll missed hits, if its more than you can re-roll missed hit and wound rolls. Finally, all enemy units within 12″ of the Masque halve their movement for that turn.
Loadout: In the new General’s Handbook, as Slaanesh, you can choose to be Seekers, Pretenders, or Invaders. For this army, I recommend choosing Seekers, which adds 1 to movement for units with move value less than 10, and 2 to movement for those with higher than 10. They must attempt a charge if within 12″ of enemy units, however, if allowed to do so. For your general, I would select the command trait Cruel and Sadistic and the artifact Mask of Spiteful Beauty from the Slannesh traits. The trait causes each model killed to add 2 to battleshock test rather than one, and the mask subtracts 2 from an enemy units bravery within 6″. The Hellstriders take the Claw-spears and the Banner that subtracts 1 from hit rolls.
Tactics: Your army will come in waves, the first being the Hellstriders and Seekers, followed by the Keeper of Secrets, the Chariot, and the Masque. The final wave is the Daemonettes. Your goal is to get those Daemonettes into combat ASAP with more than 20 models and use the Keeper of Secrets command ability on them. They will have so many attacks that generate extra attacks that the +4 to wound and hit won’t matter. The -1 rend will help cut threw even heavily armored targets. Use your Masque to slow down the enemies’ troops that might be trying to flank you. A unit with 5 movement that is running even with a roll of a 6 is only going a total of 6 inches. You can really bog down a unit or two. The Hellstriders and Seekers should provide a screen for your Keeper. If they can take out some artillery or archers, even better. Once the Keeper and Chariot are in combat, try and use battleshock to you advantage and make some troops flee. Movement is key for you in this match-up. Your units don’t have much of a save, so keep them in cover if you can but by turn 2 you want to have 90% of your army in combat.
There you have it! For around $136, you have a decent Host of Slannesh force to terrorize (or entice?) your opponents.
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About the Author: Travis Perkins
