WarriorFish's Slaaneshi Daemons

[WarriorFish]

Next battle was with The Sunder as the main players (as my Daemons can only go so far currently), you can read the batrep here It was quite interesting to get them together again, there's some good opportunities for cross over abilities and bonuses that I need to maximise to help counter the lack of points for the special and fancy units. The final game was once again Daemons only, this time against Blood Angels.

Blood Angels 500pts

Hidden Content

Corbulo

Techmarine

5x Scouts w/sniper rifles

5x Scouts w/bolters, heavy bolter

5x Scouts w/bolter, bolt pistols

5x Death Company

Razorback w/twin-linked assault cannon, storm bolter

Deployment

A lot of capable shooting, backed up with some good combat prowess wasn't a great force to be facing and less so without any cover to work with. However with only the Relic to really worry about there was opportunity enough, it was a matter of seeing what I could do to make the most of my advantages.

Turn 1

I get first turn and decide to keep it as whatever happens there's a lot of bullets coming my way! There's nowhere to go so the only real movement is advancing up a squad to claim the Relic as I wait to see what happens next.

As expected, what happens is lots of bullets but with the Stratagem to increase their save by one and another to auto-pass Leadership the remaining Daemonette holds on to the Relic - for now at least as a single Daemonette won't last long.

Turn 2

The surviving Daemonette moves back as far as she can, but there's not much that can be done as there's nowhere to go. I send the Fiends and Prince up to remove the flanking Scout squad for one less thing to worry about (though the Prince perils, keeping the standard of poor psychic showing). I drop in my reserved Daemonettes behind the other Scouts but they can't make the charge even with a re-roll which isn't ideal. My plan is to try and survive with the Relic and use the Prince and Fiends to push back, but it all depends on if I can obstruct those Assault Cannons...

As expected the line Daemonette can't last, nor can the other squad which is badly reduced with only two left after morale. I'm running out of models quickly and can't expect to hold the Relic unless I get lucky... Go forth, Lord Crutch!

Turn 3

I've got to throw everything I have in as quickly as possible, and try and even the scales. Fortunately the Enrapturess can do this, moving up to gain sight on the Scouts and claim the Relic she shoots them down. The Prince and Fiends Advance and charge the Razorback, just managing to strip it down. With the rear Daemonettes moving up I'm back in the fight, it all rests on how much damage I can inflict so turn 3 will likely be critical both ways!

The Death Company and Corbulo move up, unable to add much with their shooting but the Scouts reduce the Daemonettes and take out the Enrapturess. Corbulo charges the Daemonettes to take them out, but this lets the Prince activate first. Even with a Stratagem to improve their Feel No Pain the DC are no match and four are taken out! Nobody is going to be able to claim the Relic now, so it's now a slugging match...

Turn 4

The Prince has no problem finishing the job, though unfortunately it had to be in the combat phase (he's near useless as a psyker it seems!). I can line myself for some good charges next turn which is just as well as Assault Doctrine and all sorts fires off and the surviving Daemonettes are wiped out after their charge.

The rest of the game is straight forward. The Techmarine moves up but can't do much good. In turn 5 the Fiend engages him and the Prince moves up to Smite the Scouts and prepare for a charge next turn as he failed his. In return the Fiend is finished off, causing a roll for the next turn - it's a two so the game ends! My opponent thought he'd be able to grab the Relic if it had gone on until I pointed out there was no way in hell the Techmarine would outrun the Prince

It was a pretty epic game, and I ended up doing a lot better than I had expected but once again the Prince needed to do the real work along with the Fiends who were again great with their speed and threat for it. All the more so, had the game gone on the Prince would have tied it up easily for me. Hopefully in larger games with more units this won't be the case, as it's not a good plan to rely on one or two models to win you games...

I was glad to get lots of Daemon only games in, aside from the aim being to have a full Detachment of Daemons ready for this it's given me a lot of useful experience to learn the army so I'm feeling like I have a good practical grasp of them now. They're certainly fragile, and much rests on getting those charges in when you need them but very quick. It was quite different to have only the single ranged attack too (which fired maybe half the time ), there's a certain purity of purpose in only caring about stabbing

I'll have a bit of time to mull over my Daemons as I work on other projects as a short break, but after some more Daemonettes and of course the Keeper of Secrets I think I need a Soul Grinder. I've been looking at it for a bit now, and figured that it would be a nice reward for my hard work so far

[Arkaniss]

So many batreps! They were a joy to read, so many great piks with all those wonderfully painted minis on the table   Nice to see an Eldar/Slaanesh grudge match in there too it's not a common sight.

 

The Fiends certainly seem like a dangerous unit, perhaps that second box should move it's way up your list of priorities

[DeStinyFiSh]

Yeah, big thumbs up for the BatReps!

Nice to see you had some success with your Daemons.

[WarriorFish]

It was good to get so many Daemons games in, I feel like I've got a good grasp of them now. Helps that there are so few Stratagems I need to learn One thing I realised too late was the musician also adds 1 to Advance rolls - so they're actually a bit faster than I thought

 

The Fiends are tactically dangerous, perhaps less so in killing and their 4W gives them some durability against small arms - but anything serious and they fade as badly as any other unit. The second squad won't be too far away, though I still need a bit of a break from all those gems It was a bit of a pain to rely on the Prince so much but on further reflection it's unavoidable given the army weaknesses.

 

With more points to play with he'll need wings to ensure he can keep up with anything and dish out his auras. I took the Celerity of Slaanesh WLT partly on a whim because it's not like any are particularly great but that extra 3" movement was significant. Makes me wonder what a Prince with wings and Celerity could do, with the 5s and 6s he kept getting for Advance rolls he could be zooming across the table Shame about the psychic phase though...

 

I need more HQs, to help get more from auras. The Enrapturess is decent but her rules are a bit too situational. The anti-psyker stuff is obviously useless without a nearby psyker, and some armies like Eldar can render it mostly moot anyway. The 6 for a returning Daemon happened twice across all my games, it's only a bonus of course but that feels like what most of her abilities are!

 

I'll still keep her in lists though. Aside from liking the model (and working hard on her) a healthy number of HQs seems essential for Daemons and a support HQ that's less interested in getting into the action herself will no doubt be useful once the brawling starts.

[Panzer]

I need more HQs, to help get more from auras. The Enrapturess is decent but her rules are a bit too situational. The anti-psyker stuff is obviously useless without a nearby psyker, and some armies like Eldar can render it mostly moot anyway. The 6 for a returning Daemon happened twice across all my games, it's only a bonus of course but that feels like what most of her abilities are!

 

I'll still keep her in lists though. Aside from liking the model (and working hard on her) a healthy number of HQs seems essential for Daemons and a support HQ that's less interested in getting into the action herself will no doubt be useful once the brawling starts.

 

Yeah you definitely need the +1S aura. It makes Daemonettes so much more deadly.

While before it only meant taking a regular Herald (with Legends now even on chariot again), I'd probably go for one of the two new ones these days. Syll'Esske is super strong, but you already have your own Daemon Prince, however the Contorted Epitome is a really good pick as well.

There's little it can't do. It's really fast (M12), can cast and deny like a boss (knows Smite+2, cast 2, deny 2, gets +1 to casts and denies), prevent the enemy from falling back almost as good as Fiends do, <10 wounds, a 2+++ against Mortal wounds (yes, really!), the +1S aura and last but not least 8 S6 AP-1/-4 D2 attacks in addition to its 2 S6 AP-2 D3 default attacks.

[WarriorFish]

Indeed, the Daemonettes were struggling against the bikers the +1S aura is what I need as it'll make a big difference. Fortunately Heralds aren't expensive, though I have been mulling over the Epitome as a bit of a project to push my conversion and bashing. From the sounds of it might need to think about this a bit more...

 

Since the games I've been considering a Supreme Command Detachment to ensure I have plenty of auras to go around. Can keep it full with cheaper Heralds so it's not too much of an outlay and will make the Daemonettes much better (and of course benefiting everything else)

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for sharing - I'm glad your forray into demons has gone better than mine. :)

[WarriorFish]

Thanks Rumi, it's only 500pts so small fry currently but here's hoping the Psychic Awakening for Daemons goes a long way :tu:

[WarriorFish]

Bit of hobby this evening, started work on this:

Done a bit of alteration on the head, might see what else I can do. It'll be a slow burn project I'll pick away at but this will suit me as I will want to do things like fill joins and maybe see what else I can do. Watch this space

[Arkaniss]

That's certainly the largest model yet for your Daemons! A new centrepiece for sure, will be great to see him/her done :tu: I'm not very familiar with the model what changes have you made?

 

I spy the Spidershrimp photobombing in the background too

[WarriorFish]

The Spidershrimp had received the texture paint so that was him done for the day - which also meant no active project I could work on so here we are! It won't be my primary project as I want to take it slowly and make sure I get it right, make it the centre piece it should be :) There will be some magnetising too but I have it planned out.

 

So far I've just removed the protrusions on the chin, I'm thinking about what else I can do to bring it a bit more in line with the Diaznettes such as adapting the nose as I did for the Infernal Enrapturess.

[Panzer]

Absolutely love the new KoS model. Looking forward to see it with your paintjob. :)

[WarriorFish]

Thanks Panzer, probably a little way off painting but so far a good start. That said unfortunately the plan to magnetise the left hand isn't going to work out After much careful effort I successfully put magnets in to the left arm and a hand, but when I checked the secondary robes and their connection it was a little too flimsy. Even with the witstealer sword yo hold the right side it was clear that the left needed the connection to the wrist to hold it up and off the inner robes properly. A shame

 

Two magnets are sacrificed to Slaanesh, but at least the snapping claws will be fine to magnetise so I can transport it better. It's a pain as I don't think I'd always want to use the sinistrous hand but I suppose given how squishy they are I will probably end up getting a second eventually?

[Panzer]

Only one won't be doing a whole lot, yeah. They look great and imposing but at the end of the day they are just a T7 W16 model with a 5+ invul save in an army without many other targets for the opponents anti-tank weaponry. In fact looking imposing is probably not a good thing when you aren't much more durable than a Rhino. :sweat:

[WarriorFish]

Yeah, it's not a great combination with being a glass cannon I've made some progress a snapping claw but unfortunately this is another pain in the backside. It comes out quite horizontal so the magnets need to be bigger, but there's not that much room I've managed to create an almost strong enough enough link with a larger and smaller magnet, so I'm going to try replacing the smaller magnet with a matching larger one.

 

If that doesn't work I'll be stuck having to glue the entire model together which will be rubbish. I wish GW would think a little more about the practicalities of transporting models, it'll be bad enough for one KoS - but what about two? Having a daemons army is suffering enough surely

[WarriorFish]

Good news, finally! The second larger magnet gives a strong enough connection. It's not quite as strong as I'd like though, I know that once there's some primer on that'll help a bit but I'm not sure if that'll be enough.

I'm considering doubling up the magnet in the arm (not possible in the shoulder sadly), but having never needed to double a magnet up before I've no idea how much difference it will make. I'd rather not undo what I have and put in even more effort if it won't do much, as I'm concerned that the more work I do the more potential there is for something to go wrong... Anyone got experience doing this?

I'm pausing on magnetising for the moment to have a break from it, so when I'm working on the KoS next it'll probably be starting with GS to fill some joins

[WarriorFish]

Busy day but got the first lot of gaps filled, I also took the opportunity to adjust the face a bit so it matches with the Diaznettes:

I will glue a bit more of the model together then do the next round of gaps, mostly the torso/back but I will need to finish the magnetising first - assuming it all works ok...

[Arkaniss]

Doubling up a magnet will increase it's pull but yeah, you need to work out if it's worth the risk of re-doing it. A magnet only has to hold the part in position, it shouldn't need to be super strong in this case I don't think. Such a model shouldn't be taking hard knocks after all!

 

Anyway, the GS work is looking great, will be worth all this extra prep work once painted :tu:

[WarriorFish]

Yeah, I'm no expert on magnets but my understanding is that doubling magnets up only helps to a degree (as in two magnets together is not doubling their strength) so it's a question of how much. That said, I have since managed to find some 3x2mm magnets hidden away. I've no idea of their strength, they could be N52 so stronger than the 3x1mm ones (extra depth aside) I'm using currently but even if they're more N42s this should be the answer.

 

I'll see how it goes, the next round of assembly and then join filling can't start until the magnetising is finished. I want to keep this ticking over as large projects where you're trying to go the extra mile are vulnerable to stalling...

[hushrong]

Just caught up on the Slaaneshi daemons. I swear I love the batreps you do for the Daemons and your marines. I am also jealous of your old school cool daemonettes and I am looking forward to seeing the KoS take shape.

[WarriorFish]

Thanks hush Over time I've slowly found some good deals second hand but it hasn't been quick. Would be fantastic if GW returned for another Made to Order... The downside is that it limits me a bit as the plastic Daemonettes are a bit too different, but my main issue is they're too static for me.

 

Positive is it gives me the kick up the backside I need to stretch my hobby with some conversion work and the like. Even something relatively minor like adjusting the face makes a noticeable difference - was a lot easier on the KoS than Enrapturess though so maybe I need to do a bit more to make it mine.

[WarriorFish]

Would be nice to say the 9th reveal was a big surprise, but there you go :P With Psychic Awakening yet to come for Daemons there is hope for improvement in the daemonic lot albeit not a great deal I expect. With 9th itself perhaps we shall see some redress for combat armies (in particular ones without shooting to speak of...) and a much needed boost for Daemons? I'm hopeful but tinged with the cautiousness of experience.

I didn't come here just for that, after a delay caused by injuring my thumb while working on the magnetising I have returned to my Keeper of Secrets The good news is the thicker magnet did the trick so I have finished the left claw and completed the right:

The main body is now fully glued To demonstrate the work:

I'll need the GS out again to fill joins at the least but until a new black primer arrives I won't be priming anything anyway. I need to sort how much of the model I'll glue prior to painting also, the head can stay off and maybe the tail. Arms and outer robes definitely. Maybe some of the extra bits too like the decorations.

Still a while to go but so far sliced thumb delay aside things are progressing well enough

[Arkaniss]

Love it! He/she is looking amazing, the GS work will be worth it when painted - it looks really smooth :tu: I'm glad the magnets worked in the end, again the effort will be worth it as I can already see how much easier it will make transportation :D

[WarriorFish]

I have been working away still, this time on matching the Diaznette theme and there's only one thing left there:

I think this is the largest GW work I've ever done? Certainly enough to require more than a single run. The armour piece was something I wanted to do more on to match the curved bits elsewhere but that was a bridge too far for me currently. I did manage to get some in though, with a curved section on the side:

If the armour plate looks too plain I can put a transfer on top Last but not least adding in the necklace piece to fix that. With the base also done I'm ready for priming when the temperature is more accommodating, here's the prep shot:

Nothing glued of course, other than the torso to the base. I have a new black primer ready to go but I don't want to risk any problems Should I get another KoS I might need to think of another way to Diaznette it up that involves less work... be a good opportunity to get better at GS too.

With the Psychic Awakening info being leaked it's unfortunately not a surprise to see little, but nothing short of an update to the codex would do what is needed. 9th Edition on the horizon could help out too. At least the Exalted Greater Daemon addition looks decent, for 1 Command Point you can add some rules which are mostly good. In particular the 4++ is very nice, enough that I might even select it rather than have two by rolling.

Hopefully I get a good opportunity to prime soon as after all this time I'm keen to start painting! Then back to some Daemonettes I think as the next project for my Daemon army

[Arkaniss]

That's impressive GS work :tu: Your commitment to the theme will pay off I think, having different era models is a annoyance so making them fit together better will be worth the effort.