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I now have 3 armies.

Tau - 4500 points.
Dark Eldar - 2500 points.
Space Marines - in the works.

But what I really wanted to get and was talked out of was Chaos Daemons. And so I started Space Marines. Fluff wise and even personal interest in Nurgle, Khorne and Tzneetch are rather low. I find Slaanesh's persuit of perfection and even excess to be more preferable to the others. But I was told that a Slaanesh army in 5th edition sucks. So I have come here to ask why is that the case? Time and time again I am told that if I want to play Daemons and I want to win then I should just play a Nurgle army.

Slaanesh is characterized by somewhat speedy models with medium to low toughness and rending. For Daemonettes against MEQ's, daemonettes went from 1 in 6 attacks rending and an additional 1 in 9 wounding to 1 in 12 rending and 1 in 12 wounding. So, instead of one and a half daemonettes per MEQ kill, it takes almost three daemonettes on the charge to kill a MEQ on average. On the other hand, Slaanesh has access to the pavaane of Slaanesh, the 'adjusted' younger cousin of lash, which can be quite useful in setting up shots and targets for other units.

My personal observation is that in the daemon codex, almost everything has a use except nurglings and furies, to the point where you can practically pick your troops at random and be okay. So just play with whatever you want.

There are some good units available for Slaanesh:

Keeper of Secrets
Fiends

If you are willing to mix your marks then Skarbrand is an excellent for an HQ to field with daemonettes. I also think that the Masque is another solid choice for a Slaaneshi themed army. I think it's going to be tough to come up with a viable list only field Slaaneshi units... daemonettes aren't what they used to be, but I do believe they can fleet now. The Keeper of Secrets (KoS) is one of the best greater daemons in the book, second only to the Bloodthirster. KoS has a lot of tricks up it's sleeves such as Hit and Run, Fleet and I believe they can be upgraded to include Pavane. The Masque is a solid support character and fairly resilient with a 3+ INV save plus a few tricks up her sleeves as well.

G

GBF has the right of it. Nothing helps a slaaneshi army more than including the named greater daemon of Khorne--I've heard this list referred to as 'Skarbrand and his bitches'... On the upside, you can always make your own converted KOS and use it as a counts-as, especially since there is no existing model for Skarbrand.

On the upside, Fiends are utterly fantastic. For my money, they're better than Bloodcrushers in almost every way. Not as durable, sure, but a hell of a lot harder for your opponent to avoid. As I've stated in other threads, the only reason I don't field more fiends in my list is that I would be losing units of Flamers to do it.

If I was going to put together a 2000 (mostly) Slaaneshi army, I'd field a Skarbrand counts-as, a KOS, three full units of fiends, two or three grinders, and then fill up the rest of the points with daemonettes.

You might get less fun out of a Codex if you aim to not use 75% of it's content.

Mono-Slaanesh is fine, probably the second best option after mono-nurgle and slightly ahead of mono-khorne. Possibly even better than mono-nurgle.

Here's a list I'm thinking about for a compy 1500 pt event:

Herald of Slaanesh on Chariot, Unholy Might
Herald of Slaanesh on Chariot, Unholy Might
Herald of Slaanesh on Chariot, Unholy Might
6 Fiends, Unholy Might
6 Fiends, Unholy Might
6 Fiends, Unholy Might
12 Daemonettes
6 Daemonettes
6 Daemonettes
Daemon Prince with Mark of Slaanesh, Aura, Pavane, Gaze, Iron Hide
Soul Grinder with Tongue

(Normal drop is the heavys, fiends, and 12 daemonettes first, then heralds and 2x6 daemonettes second)

Now, the list would benefit from replacing the daemonettes with plague bearers, and replacing the heavy support choices with Flesh Hounds perhaps. But it's not bad.


As an aside, Skarbrand is the Exiled One, it would be unfluffy to have him in a khorne army. Having him leading an army of slaanesh (Khorne's old rival) makes perfect fluffy sense!

Thank you for all the replies. You have given me much food for thought.