This weekend, excess reigns supreme as the new Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh rises loud and proud above the Mortal Realms, granting blissful updates to the Prince of Pleasure’s faithful sybarites. Slickbrush Luke from the Warhammer Community writing team, whose first sin is pride,* has swaggered over to show off his own army of dashing duelists. Over to you, Luke.
When the mortal half of the Hedonites of Slaanesh range launched a few years ago, I was in paradise. I generally prefer the devotees of the Chaos Gods to their daemonic comrades, and the Hedonites have carved a wonderful niche within the Age of Sigmar.
With the new Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh tantalisingly close, I was enticed by the dread Lord of Words on Warhammer Community to present my own pageant of pleasure.
Inspired by their Arabian Nights-esque vibe, the many collapsed statues on bases, and the sand texture on the Dread Pageant Warhammer Underworlds warband, I immediately knew I wanted to create a grand Caravan of Slaanesh in the realm of Ulgu.
There, in some forsaken and endless desert of shadows, these misguided souls would quest for sensations that shimmered at sense’s horizon like treacherous oases. I continued the basing theme from the Dread Pageant with careful use of some all-purpose DIY filler and pieces of modelling putty scored with lines to look like mosaic flooring.
After figuring out the basing method on some test bases, the next step was deciding on an overall colour scheme. I knew I wanted to make use of Retributor Armour, and decided to work in the purple associated with Slaanesh by washing it with Druchii Violet for a dark, rosy gold.
For other armour and weapons, I went for a magical mother-of-pearl effect. To achieve this I based these parts with Grey Knights Steel and used thinned Volupus Pink and Akhelian Green to add a shimmering effect. I’m especially happy with how this turned out on larger panels like the Painbringer shields and Slickblade armour panels.
With the metallics secured, I needed a primary colour across the army, and colour theory nudged me towards completing a triad with green – the orange of gold and purple forming the other points. I hit on the idea of shading the green cloth with purple and magenta tones, which works great for adding contrast but also adds a shimmering satin quality to the cloth – Slaanesh is all about luxury, after all.I tried to vary skin tones up across the mortals to reinforce the idea of an endless caravan constantly swelling with new members – plus it helped break up painting two units of Blissbarb Archers. A lot of the colours for the cloth, claws, and armaments shift all over the army, as I prefer to have some variety in a large force.
For the daemons like the Fiends, the Contorted Epitome, and Dexcessa, I went with an unnatural porcelain white, shaded with thinned pinks to make them stand out as creatures from beyond reality – the Twinsouls combine both tones to show off their unique nature.
Glutos Orscollion was the capstone that let me work everything in, and I look forward to rolling his mighty palanquin into battle alongside the shiny new Lord of Hubris. I’ve also got some Slaangor reinforcements already on the painting table, and I’m already eyeing up a second Keeper of Secrets to pal around with my current one.
That’s a lot of miniatures! I guess with a Slaanesh army, there’s just no way of avoiding excess.
Thanks Luke! Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh is up for pre-order this weekend, alongside a new Vanguard box bristling with devilish debauchees, so it’s the perfect time to pledge yourself in service to sensation. Join the Dark Prince – we promise you’ll enjoy it.
* His second sin is not checking his spelling when he types the word “Vasthorr”.