Wednesday 30 September 2020

The Slaves to Darkness Daemon Legions.

 In a way, it's been another chaotic month with one thing and another, but also it's been a Chaotic month as well! Due to various family and work commitments, and some (non Covid!) health problems, I have had little time to left to get any painting achieved.

So I have been sorting out my Slaves to Darkness Daemon Legions, with a view to having a particular painting project on which to focus. Of course saying that, with the 'Oldhammer' challenge of 'Orctober', when people are encouraged to paint Orcs (or even Orks) in October, I have been instantly distracted by something else! Anyway, sorry for the half-arsed update of unpainted lead, but they are worth a look, and when I get things sorted out a little more, will be a fine sight to behold.

In case you are unfamiliar with the the idea behind Daemon Legions in the Slaves to Darkness book (3rd Edition Warhammer era) , the idea is to field armies (Legions) of Daemons, plus allies and  auxiliaries. These battles are assumed to take place in the Chaos Wastes and are only fought between other Daemon Legions. Slaves to Darkness only covers Khorne and Slaanesh Legions, Tzeencth and Nurgle of course being covered in The Lost and the Damned.

As Slaves to Darkness was released first, and was the only Chaos volume for a while, I always consider the Khorne vs Slaaneshi confrontation to the archetypal pairing. So with that in mind I also always consider the two opposing forces to be a paired set, both being the flip side of one another and the greatest of adversaries.

In assembling the Legions I followed the guidance in the book. It suggests 5,000 points is a good starting point for a Legion, as Daemon armies are more expensive in points and unsuited for general Warhammer games. In addition, it also suggests that once you have assembled one Legion, why not organise your forces to fight with two, three or more Legions per side? As someone who never does things by halves (well, maybe this blog update, please see above!) I would consider it rude not to take up the challenge!

Given this I have organised the Daemons into three separate Legions per Chaos Power, giving six Daemon Legions in total, with the points breakdown of each Legion being approximately 1,800 points on Daemons; up to 1,650 points on auxiliaries (such as Undead, Independent Greater Daemons, and Chaos Monsters), and the remaining points on Chaos Legionaries and magical weapons. Each Legion will be led by one Greater Daemon, with others added for free as per the rules. In addition, to give the Legions a more coherent feel, I plan to give each Legion, including the Greater Daemon acting as its commander, their own paint scheme to unify them together.

Enjoy. :)

Slaves to Darkness.
The Daemon Legions entry.
The Daemon Legions of Khorne.
For both Chaos Powers I have gone with the idea of having 1,800 or so of Daemons, working out to two or three units per Legion, with the rest of the points being spent on Chaos Legionnaires and Auxiliaries. I also wanted to have one Legion as just ordinary Daemons, whilst the other two having other Daemonic troop choice instead.
Bloodletters mounted on Juggernauts.
These Daemons cost a cool 1,200 points before any additional Daemon Weapons! The ordinary Bloodletters cost 600 points per unit.
Five Bloodthirsters.
The rules for assembling Daemon Legions state that Great Daemons of that Chaos Power do not cost any points, but the number of Greater Daemons to be used (if any) are decided on before the battle, up to the sacred number of the Chaos Power. So I decided to have at least one for each Legion, and then add spares as I go. 
Daemon Legions of Slaanesh. 
Again I applied the same principles to the Slaaneshi Legions as I did with the Khorne ones.
I'm particularly pleased to have a full unit of Fiends of Slaanesh as they are difficult buy now. 
Keeper of Secrets, Great Daemons of Slaanesh.
I only have the four, but like the Khornate Daemons I shall add more as time goes on. 
Fiends of Slaanesh.
Daemonettes of Slaanesh riding Mounts of Slaanesh.
These are cheaper in points, 720 per unit, than the Bloodletters on Juggernauts, and only a little more expensive than the ordinary Daemonettes at 600 points. 
Chaos Legionnaires mounted on Mounts of Slaanesh.
These are part of the Legion proper and so do not count towards the Auxiliaries points allocation.
Independent Greater Daemons.
These can be purchased from the auxiliaries point allocation, and I am looking to field at least one per Legion.
The miniatures are all Citadel and right to left:
Back row: C31 Balgorg; C28 Giant Daemon (Arch Daemon) Amratha Mangorer; CM2 Fire Giant; and
front row: C34 Daemon; C34 Pit Fiend.
TA1 Golgoth, Lord of Balrogs.
He is to be used as another independent auxiliary Greater Daemon.
I do have several other Greater Daemons I can use, but they are requiring assembly/paint stripping too. I just wanted to include this one in the blog update because it's a lovely, and fairly large, old miniature.
Chaos Legionnaries on foot.
These are a mix of Khornate and Slaaneshi Chaos Warriors and will be sorted out into their respective Legions once the points values have been worked out.
The Snakeman in the corner is one of many spare ones I have, and I will probably be using Snakemen miniatures to fill the ranks of Slaanesh's Legions as they fit the Slaaneshi theme quite nicely.
Auxiliary Monsters of Chaos.
Here are a few of the monsters I amy be adding to the Legions, points allowing. There are two Jabberwocks, a Manticore, a Hippogriff, and a Cockatrice. I also have a variety of smaller Dragons, Gorgons, and Harpies, as well as Undead, I might add as well.
Chaos Centaurs, again part of the Auxiliary options.


Next blog update might be on the Chaos Legions, although I am looking at painting up something Orc-ish or Gobliny for 'Orctober'.

18 comments:

  1. You making my mouth watering !!! Looking forward to read your next updating of your blog. Be the owner of two légions, especialy Khorne & Slaanesh is quite rare ... Congrats for your glorious collection of oldies, I love it !

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    1. Thank you. I have been collecting on and off for years, but only recently decided to organise them. I think it was only right to have a Legion of each as a paired collection.

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  2. By the power of Greyskull that's an impressive lead mountain to paint. I only have the metal crab claw Daemonettes from that time.

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    1. I'm looking forward to painting the Daemonettes, but it's a lot to paint. I'm glad I managed to collect some of the Steeds and have mounted Daemonettes.

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  3. Some truly classic models in there Lee, and will be impressive looking legions when painted. Great use of Golgoth, as he is a very large imposing model

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    1. Thank you. I only purchased Golgoth, it's a miniature I always wanted and never obtained. I was surprised on how large he is. but it will just make him look all the more impressive as an independent Greater Daemon.

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  4. I'd probably be disregard posts full of unpainted lead but if I've learnt a thing throught those past years, it's that you're dfinitely one to make it a reality and that makes me VERY interested in the outcome, no pressure of course (actually ALL THE PRESSURE)

    I'm eager to see the next post :)

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    1. Thank you, it's going to take a little while to paint, but I am going to start with the Khorne Legion which might be easier to start with.
      I've got lots of unpainted lead to work my way through, but thought that the Daemons Legions would be a good place to start. I have'nt done much painting recently, so I'm eager to get back to painting!

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  5. My Nurgle Legion
    https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOJiN7rHT3LGKHSqeLvo-MjSx3qcPH71ZG1ABHC

    Nice to see someone else doing the lord's work.

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  6. Great collection of miniatures. I seem to remember the deamn legions were also meant to play battles to up to 10000 points or so. Quite a change for some beginning gamers who had trouble putting together even a 3000point army.

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    1. It is a challenge,how ever the points for Daemons are a lot more, so a 3,000 point Legion require a lot less miniatures than a 'normal' army. The Lesser Daemons are 600 point per unit, and the options for mounts and Daemon Weapons, as well as the Auxiliaries can take up a lot of points fairly quickly.

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  7. Great post! I look forward to seeing the Legion painted up.

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    1. Thank you. I am going to start with the Khornate Legion first.

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  8. Six Daemon Legions? Holy Cats, that's a lot of stuff! The Khorne/Slaanesh era of ROC is one of the highlights of the Warhammer history. It's great to see that you're going after this. Very much looking forward to seeing more posts!

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    1. I thought rather than have two oversized Legions I would aim for two of three (three as it turned out) Legions for both of the Slaves to Darkness Legions. It would make each Legion more manageable, and allow more space and options for adding miniatures and themes. For example this way I can include several more of the independent Greater Daemon miniatures, and other Auxiliaries. Also I can give the smaller Legions colour schemes of their own.

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