AoS 2 - Hedonites of Slaanesh Discussion

[azdimy]

I wonder if we ll get some dice this time? Gw sure knows how to make useless ones and I m curious to see what those would look like if they release some

[Carnith]

Its a real shame about the cultists. Cultists should've had marks from the start. I think an army wide thing for slaves could've been the horde bonus of +1 hit and -1 rend. Shifting this makes marauders good best in Slaves and less in other god factions. Also makes hordes of cultists good and warriors a chance to get much needed rend. 

Back to Slaanesh, I'm really feeling the absence of rules. Anything to fuel the theory crafting and move us away from wish listing.

Which speaking of wish listing... I'm hoping in the future we get a Slaangor Hero. I'm fine with no melee chaff, they gave a good enough reason as to why we don't have one. Low hedonites don't get the thrill of battle in melee, and even when they do, they go get addicted to speed to keep them away from combat. Only those crazy enough switch the bow for the glaive.

Though it does raise a question, how does an archer get to become one of the myrmadesh?

[Enoby]

5 hours ago, azdimy said:

I wonder if we ll get some dice this time? Gw sure knows how to make useless ones and I m curious to see what those would look like if they release some

I really hope we do, but I have a feeling we won't - like if they were going to reveal them, they'd have done so with the battletome. I hope I'm wrong, but GW just don't seem to like giving us dice (not even the Dread Pageant got Underworlds dice).

 

3 hours ago, Carnith said:

Its a real shame about the cultists. Cultists should've had marks from the start. I think an army wide thing for slaves could've been the horde bonus of +1 hit and -1 rend. Shifting this makes marauders good best in Slaves and less in other god factions. Also makes hordes of cultists good and warriors a chance to get much needed rend. 

Back to Slaanesh, I'm really feeling the absence of rules. Anything to fuel the theory crafting and move us away from wish listing.

Which speaking of wish listing... I'm hoping in the future we get a Slaangor Hero. I'm fine with no melee chaff, they gave a good enough reason as to why we don't have one. Low hedonites don't get the thrill of battle in melee, and even when they do, they go get addicted to speed to keep them away from combat. Only those crazy enough switch the bow for the glaive.

Though it does raise a question, how does an archer get to become one of the myrmadesh?

It is a shame, I think the cultists have some awesome models but it seems they've gone out of their way to stop them from working in Slaves. To be honest, I can't help but think cultists were made useless on purpose; I don't know why (maybe to try to stop AoS and Warcry mixing), but they have ensured they have no synergy with anything in that army or any of the god armies. Even though there are some other choices that are poor in Slaves, most of those just seem to be poor realisation - only cultists feel intentionally bad.

 

I'd really like a Slaangor hero at some point - perhaps that's left open to an expansion if this release sells well, same for a mounted lord to help our other cavalry. Without the Slaangor hero, I'm a little worried they'll lack a way to be buffed, but I'm hoping they don't sink down like fiends where they lack a role. 

I'm pretty interested to see the lore of the Hedonites. Our last battletome had some pretty interesting lore, but being mostly daemons it lacked any real society. I don't know if it could apply to our book given how 'hedonites' could really apply to a wide range of people, but I really liked the approach they took with the Lumineth book were it talked about their history and culture. I'm hoping we get more of a look into how these people live; they do seem to have some structure to their society (with archers at the bottom) but I don't know how fluid the society is, or even how it's picked (is it just a time thing, or do they have some sort of test?). 

But mostly I just want some rule previews! 

[Overread]

I want to apologise about the potential lack of dice. Over the years I've noticed that GW has a tendency to never release dice for armies I currently like. Its why there have been no Tyranid dice in ages! Oddly though there were DoK dice, but that's a fluke I think...

[Carnith]

Hedonite dice in purple with gold pips would be nice with a slaanesh symbol on 6. Like, as much as I want the expansion for our units to include something like a mounted lord (seriously, bring back boob snake and make it a dual box, or hell a tri box. Named dude, melee, caster), we have gotten a lot in 2 years, more than I think anyone expected after HoS1 with no mortals. Could we see some more stuff considering the Lumineth situation of having a book and then within a year, they will double their range? Possible. But I would expect some sort of 3rd edition box set where we go up against some faction and thats where we see any new unit/hero. 

[Enoby]

1 hour ago, Carnith said:

Hedonite dice in purple with gold pips would be nice with a slaanesh symbol on 6. Like, as much as I want the expansion for our units to include something like a mounted lord (seriously, bring back boob snake and make it a dual box, or hell a tri box. Named dude, melee, caster), we have gotten a lot in 2 years, more than I think anyone expected after HoS1 with no mortals. Could we see some more stuff considering the Lumineth situation of having a book and then within a year, they will double their range? Possible. But I would expect some sort of 3rd edition box set where we go up against some faction and thats where we see any new unit/hero. 

I do wonder if, like Lumineth, we'll get another big release with a side book. After this I don't feel like we'd need it (certainly not compared to other factions), but at the same time it feels like narratively Slaanesh is the big bad of AoS's current arc and it'd feel a shame if this wasn't realised in a Soul Wars-like narrative event. Slaanesh's escape has been a major plot point since day 1, so it'd be a bit underwhelming if it didn't get a treatment the scope of Malign Portents. 

At the same time, it would feel extremely odd if we got another release in a starter box. It's not that we couldn't have the room for more units, but we are far more well off than Fyreslayers for example. 

On one hand, I'd like to see Slaanesh's escape  fully realised with an AoS 3 boxset, being the main villain of the edition (mostly because of how long has been leading up to this). On the other hand, it would be pretty unfair (though thematically on point) to get even more. 

[Sorrow]

9 hours ago, Enoby said:

I do wonder if, like Lumineth, we'll get another big release with a side book. After this I don't feel like we'd need it (certainly not compared to other factions), but at the same time it feels like narratively Slaanesh is the big bad of AoS's current arc and it'd feel a shame if this wasn't realised in a Soul Wars-like narrative event. Slaanesh's escape has been a major plot point since day 1, so it'd be a bit underwhelming if it didn't get a treatment the scope of Malign Portents. 

At the same time, it would feel extremely odd if we got another release in a starter box. It's not that we couldn't have the room for more units, but we are far more well off than Fyreslayers for example. 

On one hand, I'd like to see Slaanesh's escape  fully realised with an AoS 3 boxset, being the main villain of the edition (mostly because of how long has been leading up to this). On the other hand, it would be pretty unfair (though thematically on point) to get even more. 

Greetings to all!

As a fellow Hedonite player, I would truly love to see more releases for us. Of all Chaos Gods, Slaanesh is by far the most interesting one to properly explore.  For instance, the sense of smell has not been truly explored.  For Slaanesh,  a perfume/fragrance concept would be amazing. Snakes were once a major symbol of Slaanesh and though Lord of Gluttony has a snake as a architectural part of his palanquin, many were hoping to see that classic boob-snake model.  That being said, purple seahorses are magnificent.

 

I am mildly worried by no announcements of new books for our faction. Sure, there are a few short stories about Slaaneshi in AoS but a proper book or two that explores Hedonite society would be amazing.

 

[Enoby]

28 minutes ago, Sorrow said:

Greetings to all!

As a fellow Hedonite player, I would truly love to see more releases for us. Of all Chaos Gods, Slaanesh is by far the most interesting one to properly explore.  For instance, the sense of smell has not been truly explored.  For Slaanesh,  a perfume/fragrance concept would be amazing. Snakes were once a major symbol of Slaanesh and though Lord of Gluttony has a snake as a architectural part of his palanquin, many were hoping to see that classic boob-snake model.  That being said, purple seahorses are magnificent.

 

I am mildly worried by no announcements of new books for our faction. Sure, there are a few short stories about Slaaneshi in AoS but a proper book or two that explores Hedonite society would be amazing.

 

I am hoping that, in future releases, further senses and sins are explored; like you said, smell hasn't been touched on (except in a Malign Portents story*), and neither have most of the sins in Slaanesh's circles. Glutos was a really good start, and I hope they continue with these Lords of Sin in future releases. 

I agree on books; Slaanesh can have some really interesting stories which don't devolve into "Chaos Lords goes to X and kills Y", but it seems like all of the Chaos Gods (bar Khorne maybe?) have been relegated to just being the bad guys in other books.

I'm pretty concerned that we haven't really heard anything about the Slaanesh release at all. We had a Sigvald article late last year, and a weird metawatch article that will be out of date soon, but other than that the community sits has been pretty silent. I'm hoping they at least show us some rules previews soon, or at least a bit of new lore. 

* I say a Malign Portents story but it may have actually been one of the first Realm Wars books where a lord is hunting Neferata

Edited January 27, 2021 by Enoby

[Sorrow]

52 minutes ago, Enoby said:

I am hoping that, in future releases, further senses and sins are explored; like you said, smell hasn't been touched on (except in a Malign Portents story*), and neither have most of the sins in Slaanesh's circles. Glutos was a really good start, and I hope they continue with these Lords of Sin in future releases. 

I agree on books; Slaanesh can have some really interesting stories which don't devolve into "Chaos Lords goes to X and kills Y", but it seems like all of the Chaos Gods (bar Khorne maybe?) have been relegated to just being the bad guys in other books.

I'm pretty concerned that we haven't really heard anything about the Slaanesh release at all. We had a Sigvald article late last year, and a weird metawatch article that will be out of date soon, but other than that the community sits has been pretty silent. I'm hoping they at least show us some rules previews soon, or at least a bit of new lore. 

* I say a Malign Portents story but it may have actually been one of the first Realm Wars books where a lord is hunting Neferata

Hmm, would that Chaos lord be Lascillion? He, if I remember right, basically uses his tongue to taste not scents but emotions. Nice but that is not really exploration of olfactory sense.  Check out the movie Perfume from 2006 for a better insight into this particular sense. Honestly, GW could easily create concept on use of perfume/fragrance and censers. The Lurid Haze are precisely that. Let us hope we get some models in the future and that they will be in our new battletome.

I am getting concerned too, this absence of any proper news on Hedonites is weird. That Metawatch article was, at this point, truly meaningless. But we got that Hateful Stasis short story. But no announcement of any proper books devoted to Hedonites and Lumineth are getting them like hot cakes.

[Enoby]

1 hour ago, Sorrow said:

Hmm, would that Chaos lord be Lascillion? He, if I remember right, basically uses his tongue to taste not scents but emotions. Nice but that is not really exploration of olfactory sense.  Check out the movie Perfume from 2006 for a better insight into this particular sense. Honestly, GW could easily create concept on use of perfume/fragrance and censers. The Lurid Haze are precisely that. Let us hope we get some models in the future and that they will be in our new battletome.

I am getting concerned too, this absence of any proper news on Hedonites is weird. That Metawatch article was, at this point, truly meaningless. But we got that Hateful Stasis short story. But no announcement of any proper books devoted to Hedonites and Lumineth are getting them like hot cakes.

I think it was Lascillion - I think I was misremembering his exact abilities but that sounds right. And yeah, if they continue with the Lurid Haze, having more perfume like powers would be a really good idea. 

It is very odd; I don't know if they just want to save up the hype until the release week so they don't bore people, but it does seem like we've been pushed to the side for new shinies. I have a feeling GW have really tried hard to push Lumineth with their two rule books, second release, and stories; I don't know how successful they've been but it feels like they have a lot banking on Lumineth. Unfortunately for us, it's left our release feeling a bit shafted even though it's a fantastic release. I've not seen really any negative sentiment towards our new models, compared to the mixed reactions Lumineth have gotten. I just hope that our release is successful and we get brought more into the spotlight. 

[Sorrow]

1 hour ago, Enoby said:

I think it was Lascillion - I think I was misremembering his exact abilities but that sounds right. And yeah, if they continue with the Lurid Haze, having more perfume like powers would be a really good idea. 

It is very odd; I don't know if they just want to save up the hype until the release week so they don't bore people, but it does seem like we've been pushed to the side for new shinies. I have a feeling GW have really tried hard to push Lumineth with their two rule books, second release, and stories; I don't know how successful they've been but it feels like they have a lot banking on Lumineth. Unfortunately for us, it's left our release feeling a bit shafted even though it's a fantastic release. I've not seen really any negative sentiment towards our new models, compared to the mixed reactions Lumineth have gotten. I just hope that our release is successful and we get brought more into the spotlight. 

For the record, I sincerely doubt that we will see any more new Hedonite models for years to come. This was our big release. Let us hope Emperor Children get a rich codex like the Death Guard got. Could be wrong and we get a second wave of Hedonites, but that would be truly unfair to other factions.

They are really pushing Lumineth a lot, which leads me to suspect that initial wave was not as popular as they hoped it would be. Once again, I could be totally wrong. But yeah, I did expect rules preview by now. At least something.

[Enoby]

9 minutes ago, Sorrow said:

For the record, I sincerely doubt that we will see any more new Hedonite models for years to come. This was our big release. Let us hope Emperor Children get a rich codex like the Death Guard got. Could be wrong and we get a second wave of Hedonites, but that would be truly unfair to other factions.

Yeah, these are my current thoughts as well. That said, I thought we were done when we got our first release and this second one came out of nowhere. Not that I'm complaining, it was just a surprise. I'm with you in thinking a second wave would be unfair on others, though I could see us getting a few one off heroes here and there. 

14 minutes ago, Sorrow said:

They are really pushing Lumineth a lot, which leads me to suspect that initial wave was not as popular as they hoped it would be. Once again, I could be totally wrong. But yeah, I did expect rules preview by now. At least something.

It's really difficult to tell at the moment. I have a feeling they were expected to sell very well, though no clue if they achieved those targets, and this new release was meant to capitalise on what was meant to be a very large player base. I have no clue on how successful they were, but I think they might be the new Stormcast of AoS for a little while.  

[Lucky Snake Eyes]

The more I look at Glutos the more I think he'll work like Katakros. He starts off as a melee monster but becomes a better spellcaster as his retinue dies and he becomes less distracted. Maybe he gets a buff to spellcasting or the chance to cast an extra spell if a unit died near him as he samples their flesh/marrow/bark to discern the taste.

[Lucky Snake Eyes]

1 hour ago, Sorrow said:

For the record, I sincerely doubt that we will see any more new Hedonite models for years to come. This was our big release. Let us hope Emperor Children get a rich codex like the Death Guard got. Could be wrong and we get a second wave of Hedonites, but that would be truly unfair to other factions.

They are really pushing Lumineth a lot, which leads me to suspect that initial wave was not as popular as they hoped it would be. Once again, I could be totally wrong. But yeah, I did expect rules preview by now. At least something.

Like half of the old HE players I know love Lumineth, the other half hate them but most of the Lumineth players in my area never played HE or even WFB at all so it's interesting to see that the army appeals more to people with no connection to their older incarnation. 

And man as someone who plays Emperors children I really hope we get a codex within the next year or two. Me and the local world eaters player have been stuck trapped in a bad generalist codex for years now.

[Popisdead]

Heard about this list in Goldcon 2021 (I think Australia?)

Godseekers, Ghur

Bladebringer exalted, CAress of the Dark PRince, born of damnation

bladebringer exalted, pavane of Slaanesh

BladeBringer Exalted, Hysterical Frenzy

Bladebringer, Seeker chariot, Lash

Bladebringer, seeker chariot Hysterical 

Keeper, Hunter Supreme, Bindings of Slaanesh, Song of secrets, 

BL 3 x 1 Seeker chariots

Supreme Sybarites

Mesmerizing Mirror.

I think it placed top 15 /60.    8 chariots is neat to see.  Does a late game summon based off early game dmg.  

[azdimy]

I d rather kill myself  than build so many chariots. I almost  cried after I finished building my only exalted bladebringer then to see how ridiculous it looked on the regular chariot base provided, I ended up putting it on a 160mm round base

[Sorrow]

1 hour ago, Lucky Snake Eyes said:

The more I look at Glutos the more I think he'll work like Katakros. He starts off as a melee monster but becomes a better spellcaster as his retinue dies and he becomes less distracted. Maybe he gets a buff to spellcasting or the chance to cast an extra spell if a unit died near him as he samples their flesh/marrow/bark to discern the taste.

Bark? Excuse me since English is not my first language but is not bark wood?

I do wonder how rules for him will work out. Those two mutants (ogors?) with purple crab claws look like they could potentically be melee monsters of Glutos. That Painbringer guy on the left will be a melee combatant. That leaves that guy with whip, the guy holding a platter with food on the right, halfling? and Glutos himself.

 

[Sorrow]

1 hour ago, Lucky Snake Eyes said:

And man as someone who plays Emperors children I really hope we get a codex within the next year or two. Me and the local world eaters player have been stuck trapped in a bad generalist codex for years now.

Same situation here.

I am truly hoping we get a rich codex and amazing looking models. The Slaaneshi units in AoS prove that GW can do proper Slaaneshi models.

[Klamm]

I'm secretly relieved Slaanesh hasn't come out yet coz I've had time to continue my time-inefficient hobby project. Well I guess I've said it out loud, I'd make a crappy keeper of secrets.

I'm working on my Slaangor proxies. I hope they're good enough to field but also not so good that they'll end up the Slaanesh equivalent to eels.

[Overread]

1 hour ago, Sorrow said:

Bark? Excuse me since English is not my first language but is not bark wood?

You are correct, remember within the world of Age of Sigmar there are living trees in the Sylvaneth. So it is possible that, with the right preparation, a glutton lord of Slaanesh might well sample the delicacies. He might have the bark of dryads ground up into  a fine powder to season his food. 

 

 

Bark can also be the sound a dog makes when they go "woof woof". 

[Sorrow]

53 minutes ago, Overread said:

You are correct, remember within the world of Age of Sigmar there are living trees in the Sylvaneth. So it is possible that, with the right preparation, a glutton lord of Slaanesh might well sample the delicacies. He might have the bark of dryads ground up into  a fine powder to season his food. 

 

 

Bark can also be the sound a dog makes when they go "woof woof". 

I know, The Garden of Mortal Delights does play on that idea. A Slaaneshi Lord using Sylvaneth to cultivate plants for food.

Nevertheless, I do have a question and I was hoping people with more experience could answer. As I said above "I do wonder how rules for him will work out. Those two mutants (ogors?) with purple crab claws look like they could potentically be melee monsters of Glutos. That Painbringer guy on the left will be a melee combatant. That leaves that guy with whip, the guy holding a platter with food on the right, halfling? and Glutos himself".

Do you reckon all models on palanquin will have rules or just some?

 

[Lucky Snake Eyes]

2 hours ago, Sorrow said:

I know, The Garden of Mortal Delights does play on that idea. A Slaaneshi Lord using Sylvaneth to cultivate plants for food.

Nevertheless, I do have a question and I was hoping people with more experience could answer. As I said above "I do wonder how rules for him will work out. Those two mutants (ogors?) with purple crab claws look like they could potentically be melee monsters of Glutos. That Painbringer guy on the left will be a melee combatant. That leaves that guy with whip, the guy holding a platter with food on the right, halfling? and Glutos himself".

Do you reckon all models on palanquin will have rules or just some?

 

I suppose they will all be represented as a combination of weapon profiles and special rules. Palanquin bearers, myrmadesh and glutos will probably have weapon profiles while whip guy, platter bearer and halfling servant will probably be referenced as part of special rules for the unit like whip guy buffs units like a bloodstoker, platter bearer and halfling collect and prepare "food" for their lord.  

[Nasnad]

10 hours ago, Lucky Snake Eyes said:

Nevertheless, I do have a question and I was hoping people with more experience could answer. As I said above "I do wonder how rules for him will work out. Those two mutants (ogors?) with purple crab claws look like they could potentically be melee monsters of Glutos. That Painbringer guy on the left will be a melee combatant. That leaves that guy with whip, the guy holding a platter with food on the right, halfling? and Glutos himself".

Could see them doing something similar to katakros, where the painbringers, cook, and other models die, and looses their bonus as the model takes damage. Can't image glutos os much of a fighter himself

[Lucentia]

I suspect the whip guy will provide a buff solely for the mutants pulling the chariot in this case, in the form of a movement bonus or damage output (or both!)  The bodyguard/warrior will obviously be adding some melee attacks, the incense bearer I'd guess would be a debuff aura of some sort? The chef/attendant probably increases Glutos's own abilities in some fashion.

What is quite curious is that the current diorama style heroes both have in-universe justification for bringing back dead models (Katakros via necromancy, St Catherine via miracles) whereas Slaanesh doesn't generally do that sort of thing but we do have access to a fair amount of healing, so I wonder if that will factor into the scroll design at all.

[Sorrow]

1 hour ago, Lucentia said:

I suspect the whip guy will provide a buff solely for the mutants pulling the chariot in this case, in the form of a movement bonus or damage output (or both!)  The bodyguard/warrior will obviously be adding some melee attacks, the incense bearer I'd guess would be a debuff aura of some sort? The chef/attendant probably increases Glutos's own abilities in some fashion.

What is quite curious is that the current diorama style heroes both have in-universe justification for bringing back dead models (Katakros via necromancy, St Catherine via miracles) whereas Slaanesh doesn't generally do that sort of thing but we do have access to a fair amount of healing, so I wonder if that will factor into the scroll design at all.

All around good prediction, I hope.

Question though, I see you mention the incense bearer, but is that not  the platter bearer with food on the right part of palanquin?