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I've been talking about making a Slaanesh demon and Emperor's Children army for awhile now, with news of the demon codex release I've decided to pull the trigger. Before I go ordering and buying models I thought I'd ask a few questions first.

What are the best sizes for units of Seekers and Fiends of Slaanesh?

If I want to run a unit of CSM Havocs is it worth it to buy the box of Havocs or is it better to get some CSM troops and pick up the guns from bit shops, Ebay, etc.? I plan on magnetizing as many arms as I can. What are some good bits sites?

If you were going to run a Slaanesh/EC list what units would you include. Because I like the models Seekers, Fiends, Noise Marines and KoS are the only auto includes. Obviously this is not a competitive list, so I'm not looking for the best units, just wondering what kind of ideas people have in case I over looked something interesting.

Thanks.

It all depends. Do you want command points? Minimum squads for everything except for your troop choices.

If you have enough CP already, maxing out your unit sizes provides you with the benefit of only needing to get overwatched once, and makes buffing them with auras easier.

For Havocs, NEVER buy the box, unless you are swimming in cash. You're better off getting CSM troops (or just a start collecting CSM) and only putting special/heavy weapons on them. They're almost the same.

Your bread and better would be Noise Marines, and Daemonettes. Do not underestimate the power of an all-melee unit, they can HURT if they get in, and they're a cheap and decent screening unit.

A choice you may not have considered is Obliterators. Being able to deepstrike up, and fire off 24 shots altogether with their special stratagem is awesome.

A few thoughts.

1) Be careful. There's rumors of a new Emperor's Children Codex on the horizon, and maybe a model for Fulgrim. You may find a new range being released not too long from now.

2) Not sure about seekers and fiends. They don't show up in many armies. I have 10 of each and have not used them in 8th edition.

3) Havocs are best bought off Ebay, people are usually selling them. It's hard to get bits for lascannons / autocannons, which seem to be the most popular armaments. If you have the ability to scratch build these items, you may find that's easier. Some people buy the heavy weapons from Forgeworld, it works out cheaper than purchasing Havoc boxed set.

4) I really like the model for the Noise Champion. Not sure if GW still sells it, but it's very cool. The 2nd edition Noise Marine models are more visually striking than the current ones, it's a good idea to look for those. In terms of Daemons, Daemonettes should be part of your lists. I would not ignore their chariots for "fun" games.

The rumored Fulgrim release would still be a long time off even if it's true because Russ is supposed to come first. The more pressing issue is that the Chaos Daemons codex is coming out in January, so it might be worth waiting until then to bite the bullet on anything from that book.

The havoc box was AWFUL when it was metal, I can't imagine it has improved at all in resin - the main issue is that you get a complete mixed bag of heavy weapons, most of which don't synergise well with each other.

Buy a standard CSM box for torsos/legs. They're not great models (they were when they came out, oh a hundred years ago), mostly because the casting for the armour trim can be somewhat ambiguous around where the two halves of the mould join together.

For the weapons themselves, well it depends on what you want to arm your squad with. Forge World sells the weapon packs which are probably the best value for multiple of the same weapon (if you're worried about them looking too "vanilla" consider adding skulls/spikes/daemon heads from the vehicle upgrade kit that comes with all chaos vehicles). The SM Devastator box comes with two plastic lascannons, two plastic heavy bolters and two plastic missile launchers, so that's also an option. I have purchased a couple of the Iron Warriors upgrade kits (because I like the torsos and the helmets as "generic" CSM bits), but it also comes with a meltagun and lascannon. Otherwise, source the individual heavy weapons from bitz sellers where possible.

Heya Discodoggy,

I think you'll have fun with your Slaanesh army. I started one at the tail end of 7th and I'm really liking what tools an all-Slaanesh army brings to war in 8th.

To answer your first question: 6 is the sacred number of Slaanesh, so squad sizes in multiples of 6 are thematic - though maybe not always good tactically.

Others have given good answers on Havocs.

Your third question: Your base units are solid - Seekers, Fiends, Noise Marines, and KoS. You'll get good play from them. I would add Demonettes. They're dirt cheap and can fill some gaps here and there during a game. I'd also suggest a Demon Prince from the Chaos Space Marine codex. Since you're going with a mix of chaos marines and demons, the CSM Prince is ideal, since his re-roll buff affects both marines and deamons! - whereas the Chaos Demons Prince only confers an LD buff to just daemons. Again, since you're army will be a mix of demons and marines, why not take a look at Possessed Marines from the CSM codex? Along those lines, I could see your army including Daemon Engines like Defilers, Forge and Maulerfiends and Soul Grinders, all of which are pretty durable and can smash all those Imperials and Aeldari we hate so much. Finally, you'll want a dirty, nasty, tricky Sorcerer or Herald to boost your army and beguile the enemy in the psychic phase.

Good luck! Keep us posted on your excess!

Thanks for all the feedback.

I wasn't initially planning on many Demonettes, but it would be nice to get a second brigade (the first coming from 3 units of Noise Marines troops). That way I wouldn't have to worry too much about trying to fit in more detachments. My group generally plays at 1500 points, so I'd be happy with 9 CP.

If I do go with a lot of Demonettes I was looking at this:

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Hosts-of-Slaanesh-Army-2017

However, I don't need the Hellstriders, so i would be better off buying 2 start collecting Slaanesh boxes. Which leads me to my next question. I've heard people talking about cheap knock off models on Ebay. What about Amazon? The start collecting boxes are so much cheaper on Amazon ($72 instead of $85). Why is this? Are these deals legit?

Unfortunately Games Workshop is out of Fiends at the moment, I'll have to wait on those beauties.

I have bought a lot off of eBay myself, I find as long as you don't buy from one of those "questionable" locations like Russia of Ukraine then you should be fine. I have never received a "fake" model from ebay, and if I have I have not been able to tell the difference. Avoid questionable colors as well, like "why is that models spruce blue?"

As for what to take, there are a ton of options available to you. What kind of army do you want, because slaanesh chaos marines + deamons can pretty much do it all. Look into chaos spawns would be one hint of advice, they are cheap and pretty effective. You can even take some models that you can get from certain sets and "kit bash" them together, I use some undead horses from the undead fantasy range for mine, but instead of heads I put marine bodies on making centaurs, followed by using arms from possessed to really sell the models as a weird wth is that look. But it works amazing.

I bet if you looked at doing something like that with seekers it could come out even weirder and more chaosy.

Azuza001 wrote:
Avoid questionable colors as well, like "why is that models spruce blue?"

I should be allowed to paint my Sylvaneth any colour I like without fear of segregation.

Took the plunge and went all in for Demonettes with two start collecting Slaanesh boxes, an extra box of Demonettes, the KoS, and some marine bodies for the metal sonic blasters I had laying around for years. With the box of Seekers I already had that's a lot of Slaanesh demons! It feels good to finally pull the trigger on something I've wanted to do for a long time, regardless of how they end up in the new codex. It's a three day weekend and my wife is out of town, I plan on some serious model assembly. I just need to figure out the bases.

craggy wrote:

Azuza001 wrote:
Avoid questionable colors as well, like "why is that models spruce blue?"

I should be allowed to paint my Sylvaneth any colour I like without fear of segregation.

Talking about ebay auctions that say NOS and Unprimed but show a picture of a blue spruce. :p


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Good for you bud! I'm really looking forward to the deamon codex next January, honestly think it's one of the big "you need a codex to fix your crap" armies out at the moment. In the meantime you can still get a lot out of slaanesh and deamons, chaos marines book can help a ton with a simple base 1 hq, 3 noise marine setup to get access to stratagems and relics and such.

I dont have a dedicated slaanesh deamon army (mine is mostly noise Marines with deamonettes as a distraction) so I look forward to seeing how it goes for you.

BFTBG wrote:
Heya Discodoggy,

I think you'll have fun with your Slaanesh army. I started one at the tail end of 7th and I'm really liking what tools an all-Slaanesh army brings to war in 8th.

To answer your first question: 6 is the sacred number of Slaanesh, so squad sizes in multiples of 6 are thematic - though maybe not always good tactically.

Others have given good answers on Havocs.

Your third question: Your base units are solid - Seekers, Fiends, Noise Marines, and KoS. You'll get good play from them. I would add Demonettes. They're dirt cheap and can fill some gaps here and there during a game. I'd also suggest a Demon Prince from the Chaos Space Marine codex. Since you're going with a mix of chaos marines and demons, the CSM Prince is ideal, since his re-roll buff affects both marines and deamons! - whereas the Chaos Demons Prince only confers an LD buff to just daemons. Again, since you're army will be a mix of demons and marines, why not take a look at Possessed Marines from the CSM codex? Along those lines, I could see your army including Daemon Engines like Defilers, Forge and Maulerfiends and Soul Grinders, all of which are pretty durable and can smash all those Imperials and Aeldari we hate so much. Finally, you'll want a dirty, nasty, tricky Sorcerer or Herald to boost your army and beguile the enemy in the psychic phase.

Good luck! Keep us posted on your excess!

Lots of good info here. A couple of thoughts. None of the CSM Daemon engines are really worth taking over a Predator or Obliterators, their BS is too poor. I run Noise Marines squads 10 men strong either with all Sonic Blasters, or 8 Sonic Blasters and 2 Blastmasters. So you can maximize the benefit of whatever stratagems or psychic powers you cast on them. You can split fire anyway so not much point of taking 6X of than fluff. Also don't forget that EC's have the best Helbrute variant. You can take two Blastmasters and a power scourge for 155 pts. Then abuse Fire Frenzy and Flawless Perfection with it. I'd suggest taking two. I like to run my Daemonettes in units of 10 to fill out a battalion for the extra CP.

Just checking in with a quick update. I've played 3 games with my Slaanesh army and so far it is my favorite of my three armies (my others being Eldar and Necrons).

My core has been:
CSM demon prince
1 unit of noise marines

Herald of Slaanesh on steed
Herald of Slaanesh
30 demonettes
10 seekers

I've been trying out different CSM heavies to fill out the force; I've used my forgefiend, maulerfiend, my vindicator and last battle I proxied oblits and a predator. Definitely gonna pick up some oblits.

Finally used my KoS last game, but it didn't get in until round 3 and had we had to quit early on round 4, so I still don't have a feel for it.

First game was against a new player in our group using my Necrons for his first time, so can't be too proud of that one, but I was still glad to get off to a winning start. My seekers were bad because I forgot the +1 str from the herald lol.

Second was against a Khorne CSM army, seekers performed well charging his berserkers. DP was amazing. Demonettes were good for objectives in the scorched earth mission.

Third game was against Tyranids, this one was tough. Mission was scorched earth again. I tried to hang back and get as much shooting in while he advanced since I had more shooting (oblits, predator, noise marines). My oblits barely made a dent in his swarmlord (2 wounds), even with using 2 CP on Endless Cacaphony. This was because of his -1 to hit warlord trait and some poor rolling on my part and some great rolling on his. He used 3 CP on failed saves and saved them all. The demon prince was able to charge the swarmlord on turn 2 and survive long enough to kill it on turn 3, although my DP only had 2 wounds left.

In the end he had to leave while he was winning by two victory points, but we decided that I could easily run around with my seekers for the last few turns and claim the objectives and raze his since he left the ones in his deployment zone unguarded. Perhaps we should have called it a draw, but he gave me the win. Regardless of the outcome we both enjoyed the battle.

Overall I am very happy with my choice, now I gotta get these demons painted so I can get out and face some more experienced players (my group is full of new and inexperienced players). I also need to assemble my fiends, those weirdos are one of the reasons a Slaanesh army was so appealing to me.

One question that came up is that if I have both heralds within 6" of my seekers do they get +2 strength?

I don't think so. Checking the Index...

"Add +1 to the Strength of any friendly Slaanesh Daemon models within 6" of one or more units with this ability."

Nope, only +1.

And don't get Oblits! Do a conversion! Because the actual models SUCK.

You can also only use 1CP/turn for rerolls unless he had some special stratagem.

Azuza001 wrote:

craggy wrote:

Azuza001 wrote:
Avoid questionable colors as well, like "why is that models spruce blue?"

I should be allowed to paint my Sylvaneth any colour I like without fear of segregation.

Talking about ebay auctions that say NOS and Unprimed but show a picture of a blue spruce. :p

You know, many of the new primaris models come on blue sprues right?

JNAProductions wrote:I don't think so. Checking the Index...

"Add +1 to the Strength of any friendly Slaanesh Daemon models within 6" of one or more units with this ability."

Nope, only +1.

And don't get Oblits! Do a conversion! Because the actual models SUCK.

Oops, that mistake may have cost my opponent his genestealers.

That's good advice, those oblit model are not attractive at all.

Leo_the_Rat wrote:You can also only use 1CP/turn for rerolls unless he had some special stratagem.

We have been abusing the hell out of this. I suppose this is the problem with a bunch of new players. At least we've all been doing it. I'll let the group know.