New player starting with Slaanesh

[Golub87]

Hello everyone,

I have just picked up an old Slaves to Darkness battlebox and I have some daemon models picked up from here and there. My mark of choice is Slaanesh but I am open to both StD or HoS option when it comes to allegiances.

I essentially have two questions: how to make a decent list out of the models that I already have? What would be the next stuff to pick up?

I currently have:

 

Manticore with rider - I can switch Sorc and Lord - if Sorc is on Manticore, Lord can get a Demonic Mount (Spare horse from Chariot Sprue)

Daemon Prince

Exalted Hero

Sorcerer Lord

Gorebeast Chariot - There is an option to dismount the Warrior from Chariot, giving me a foot Lord with Flail (I know Flails are not great, but that way I have consistency between chariot and Lord weapon options)

15xWarriors (2x Standard, 2x Musician)

10xKnights (1x Standard, 1x Musician)

Chaos Warshrine

The Masque (I guess it can be proxied as regular Herald)

10x Daemonettes

10x Bloodletters (I know, they stick out like a sore thumb, ok for proxiing something else)

 

Edit: my first painted warrior says hi!

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Golub87

[Overread]

With what you've got I'd get the Slaves to Darkness Battletome first. You've basically got ALL Slaves to Darkness models and a functional army. 

Hedonites of Slaanesh is limited to just Demonic models for the main army, so you've only got one leader (Masque) and the one unit of Deamonettes. The rest of your model line is all Slaves to Darkness models and whilst Hedonites can take StD models, there are limits in AoS (get a hold of a copy of the Game Book which contains all the game rules in a handy up to date format - or you can get the core rules free off the GW website downloads; or there's always the Big Rule Book - though its more for lore and art and the whole experience and very big for regular gaming when you only need the shorter rules section).

 

As for next to pick up perhaps the hypnocat being released this weekend on pre-order? Otherwise I'd say get the book and have a read yourself first. You've got a solid core here and could take the army in any one of a number of directions. There's also the really cool looking Warbands you could add to your force as well for some additional visual flavour. 

You might also keep an eye on the Wrath and Rapture boxed set. You get a nice load of Slaanesh and Khorne models at a really good discount with the box. Whilst Hedonite armies can't take Khorne allies; the Slaves to Darkness force can take both sides as allies freely. Plus you get a bunch of slaanesh models to use in a slaanesh force. 

[Golub87]

Thanks for the reply, I actually have both battletomes and I have the first game coming up tomorrow. I will see if I can bash together a list and how it performs.

[Naem]

If you don't mind I would like to hijack your Thread a bit, because I am basically looking at the same question. After painting up a few Chaos dudes for a friend I kinda felt a certain attraction to the faction. The new models are gorgeous and as Chaos Warriors was my first army when I was a kid I got myself a Start Collecting. Now what I am looking to do is a Slaanesh themed army that combines Daemons and Mortals. I would really really love to run the Keeper of Secrets as I find the model just unbelievable.

So how would you recommend to build that sort of thing? In my mind I would like a force that has a big bulb of Warriors and 2 hard hitting Knight Units plus 1 or 2 mortal heroes but the rest I would like to be Daemons and Daemon Princess. The idea behind it is to show a force of mortals that are being turned into Daemons one by one - while some are already full daemon mode, some others are still human - all being led by the great Keeper of Secret.

To start: would you recommend building a Hedonists of Slaanesh force with STD allies or the other way around? Maybe with the host that favors Daemons as leaders in the STD book? 

[KoganStyle]

You should look to build a Sy'll Esske host; an army list found in the White dwarf. Syll and their forces gain benefits for mixing in daemons and mortals which might work out nicely for you!

 

EDIT: You'll want the October 2019 WD 

Edited February 17, 2020 by KoganStyle

[Naem]

Thank you for the advise! Do you happen to know which White Dwarf it was that contained the Syll Forces? 

nvm already found it Plus I really love the model! 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Naem

[Golub87]

Oooh, this sounds great.

I would certainly avoid allies rules. You can freely include all StD units with Slaanesh mark as a part of Hedonist allegiance. You can't do it the other way around, including daemons in StD army, so Hedonist book is a natural start.

While building my lists, I was toying with the ideas of summoning, but I am not sure if that is a viable tactic, given how expensive summoning is.

[themortalgod]

On 2/17/2020 at 1:08 PM, Naem said:

Thank you for the advise! Do you happen to know which White Dwarf it was that contained the Syll Forces? 

nvm already found it Plus I really love the model! 

For any future readers it is in Oct 2019

That said, the host of Syll is not good.  You lose access to both a command trait and artifact table. In my opinion Godseekers make a much better Slaanesh mortal army. In fact, the are far superior at it than a Slaves to Darkness Slaanesh army due to getting twice as many bonus hits for big units.

Hedonites of Slaanesh Marauders are one of the most powerful units in the game in terms of raw damage output relative to pts cost.  For example, with no other buffs than being in the allegiance and being in a big unit. Hedonite Marauders bring more pain per pt spent than a unit of Frenzied Witch Elves wielding paired blades, they also heavily outperform other Slaanesh units. On top of that the Godseeker bonus means they have a minimum charge range of 9" which is insanely scary. (and this is before factoring in Syll'eske's aura)