Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Chaos/Hosts of Slaanesh

This page is for the Hosts of Slaanesh prior to the Hedonites of Slaanesh battletome.

The various armies dedicated to the God Slaanesh. Slaanesh armies more so than the other chaos armies favour speed and speedy assaults to outmanouver their enemies. They are not as durable as Nurgle's armies or outright strong as Khorne's but make up for it with both speed and sheer number of attacks. Also luckily they have a range of new tricks they can pull thanks to of the general's handbook (they are currently the only god-specific army to not have a battletome, though this will likely change sooner or later).

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

If your army has a Slaanesh allegiance and chose to take the Hosts of Slaanesh allegiance abilities, if so before you select your generals command trait you have to pick which host you want to belong to and these abilities are applied to your army. This includes all units that can take the Slaanesh allegence keyword, so that includes daemons and mortal units like Slaves to Darkness. They are as follows:

• Pretenders: Your general gets two command traits, if you decide to roll randomly you re-roll the second result if it is the same as the first. Also, all units can re-roll hit rolls of 1 during the shooting and combat phase if they contain ten or more models.
• Seekers: Add 1 to all move and charge characteristics in your army. Add 2 if the models move characteristic is ten or more. Units that are within 12 inches of the enemy must charge if able to do so, and they must complete the charge if they rolled high enough.
• Invaders: An Invaders host can have up to three generals in their army. Only one may recieve a Command trait, but all three are considered to be a general when you use a command ability. The drawback however is that they cannot use their command trait or command ability if they are within 12 inches of one or more of your other generals. So you will need to space them out accordingly.

Command Traits

The General of an army which has a Slaanesh allegiance and has chosen to take the Hosts of Slaanesh allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Command Traits:

1. Lord of Excess: Add up all the casualties the general has inflicted and add that number to the bravery characteristic to all units within 6" for the next battleshock.
2. Devotee of Torment: The general can pile-in 6" and can be selected to attack if they are 6 away instead of 3"
3. Invigorated by Pain: Roll a dice each time the general inflicts a wound on an enemy model. On a 6 they heal one wound.
4. Supremely Vain: You can add one to the hit rolls, casting rolls and unbinding rolls for your general if at least 10 friendly Slaanesh models are within 6" of it.
5. Allure of Slaanesh: Subtract one from hit rolls against your general in the combat phase.
6. Cruel and Sadistic: Enemy units must add two to their battleshock rolls for every model slain instead of one.

Magical Artefacts

1. Lash of Despair: During the shooting phase roll a dice for each enemy unit within 6" of the bearer. On a 4+ that unit suffers a mortal wound.
2. Breathtaker: Roll a dice at the start of the combat for one enemy unit within 3" of the bearer. On a 3+ that unit cannot attack until all other eligible enemy units have been selected to attack.
3. Mask of Spiteful Beauty: Select an enemy unit within 6" in your Hero phase, that unit subtracts 2 from its bravery until your next Hero phase.
4. Enrapturing Circlet: Enemy units within 3" of this model at the start of the Hero phase suffer 1 mortal wound. In addition enemy units within 3" at the start of the movement phase may not retreat.
5. Icon of Infinite Excess: One use per battle. At the start of any combat phase all units (friend and foe) within 8" of bearer add 1 to their hit rolls.
6. Fallacious Gift: At the start of the game after both sides have set up but before the first turn begins select a weapon on an enemy Hero. For the rest of the game at the end of every battle round that Hero suffers a mortal wound if used that weapon.

Depravity Points

You can summon units of SLAANESH DAEMONS to the battlefield if you collect enough depravity points. Each time a friendly SLAANESH HERO inflicts a wound on an enemy model but that model is not slain by that wound you receive 1 depravity point. In addition, every time a wound is inflicted on a friendly SLAANESH HERO but that models is not slain by that wound you receive 1 depravity point. Remember that since wounds are applied one at a time this counts for wounds inflicted by multi-wound weapons (for example if an attack with a 2 wound damage characteristic insa-kills a Liberator you recieve 1 depravity point, even though the weapon inflicts two wounds you apply them one at a time to the unit, the first wound to the liberator granting the depravity point, but not the second wound lost that kills the model). Rule of thumb, two wound models will grant you one depravity point; 3 wound models will grant 2 depravity points, etc. One wound models will grant you nothing (so you will have let your heroes get hurt to get points when facing things like Grots, Skaven and Free Peoples).

If you have 6 or more depravity points at the end of your movement phase, you can summon one or more models from the list below onto the battlefield, and add them to your army. Each unit you summon costs a number of depravity points as shown on the list, and you can only summon a unit if you have enough depravity points to pay its cost.

Summoned units must be set up wholly within 12” of a friendly SLAANESH HERO and more than 9” from enemy units. Subtract the cost of the summoned unit from the number of depravity points you have, immediately after the unit has been set up.

• 1 Exalted Greater Demon of Slaanesh (Forgeworld) - 42 points
• 1 Keeper of Secrets - 24points
• 3 Seeker Chariots of Slaanesh - 24points
• 20 Daemonettes - 18pts
• 1 Herald of Slaanesh on Exalted Seeker Chariot - 18pts
• 3 Fiends of Slaanesh - 18pts
• 10 Daemonettes of Slaanesh - 12pts
• 1 Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh - 12pts
• 1 Hellflayer of Slaanesh - 12pts
• 1 Herald of Slaanesh on Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh - 12pts
• 1 Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh - 12pts
• 5 Seekers of Slaanesh - 12pts
• 5 Daemonettes - 6pts
• 1 Herald of Slaanesh - 6pts
• 1 Infernal Enrapturess - 6pts

Warscrolls

The common keywords of these warscrolls are: CHAOS and SLAANESH with semi-independant MORTAL and DAEMON sub-themes.

Heroes

• Keeper of Secrets: This guy/gal is FAST (14" at full wounds, down to 6" when almost dead) and pretty killy, although fragile, and has a few nifty abilities, the most hilarious of which is the possibility to bribe an enemy HERO into gaining up to 6 attacks (your opponent chooses how many) on any of their weapons. However, if they roll any one when attacking with said weapon, they instantly die. Avoid using it on stuff that gets re-rolls and it'll give your opponents headaches. The Keeper itself re-rolls to-wound rolls of 1. Also the only wizard in the hosts (along with the Forgeworld Exalted KOS), who can cast and dispel one spell per phase. His exclusive spell has you roll 2D6 and every enemy unit within 6" whose bravery is lower than the result takes D3 mortal wounds. This is... Pretty weak, especially against other daemons or Death where everything is bravery 10, but it can occasionally be useful against low-bravery armies. Most of the time, stick to arcane bolt for dealing damage. This is all made up by his command ability, which allows any unit of Slaanesh Daemons to pile and attack twice during the next combat phase. This is ridiculously strong and there is absolutely no wrong target when using this - just target whichever unit is engaged with the thing you want dead. (this is a bit of a lie: don't target something that will die before getting to attack the second time). Note: you can target hellstriders (or the mounted lord of Slaanesh) with this, as they have the Daemon keyword. Note: the Keeper of Secrets has been reduced in cost by 20pts to 260pts for matched play in the Generals Handbook 2018, making him slightly better.

• Exalted Greater Daemon of Slaanesh (Forge World): For just over 1.5x the points of a normal KOS (440 points total as of GH 2018, down from 500), you get a slightly bigger KoS with 15 Wounds (and a 4+ save now, along with all the other Exalted Demons) and a few more attacks with slightly higher damage per weapon. In addition, you get two spells per turn as opposed to the KOS's one per turn. The Exalted KOS's ability allows you to pick a HERO within 3", allowing that Hero to re-roll hit rolls of 1 in the combat phase; then at the end of the phase, you can roll a dice for the HERO and on a 6, that HERO is slain. Finally, the Command Ability for the Exalted KOS allows a unit to immidiately pile in and attack for second time, as opposed to the normal KOS command ability allowing the unit to be chosen twice in normal turn order. Incidentally, the Exalted KOS cannot reroll 1's to wound like a normal KOS. Go figure.

• The Masque of Slaanesh: One of the best trolling units there is. The Masque moves 10" and trades the regular herald's abilities for a crappy additional attack, +1 to her save, and some very, very annoying powers. First off, you roll a die at the beginning of each combat phase: each time one of your opponent' to hit rolls matches the die's result when targeting the Mosque, the attack fizzles. This is very hit-or-miss and can either make you ridiculously tough or be absolutely useless. Her second ability allows her to re-roll failed hit rolls if her move characteristic matches her opponent's, and also re-roll to wound if is greater. With a move of 10" and her last ability, you'll often be rerolling both: enemy units that start their turn within 12" of her halve their movement. yes, halve. Either use her as a suicide bomber to glue your opponent down or as a support unit to prevent enemies from retreating.

• Herald of Slaanesh: Does additional attacks on sixes to hit, re-rolls her 5+ save during the combat phase, and... that's about it. She has a lot of attacks, especially when you factor in that she'll do one more on average with her ability, but isn't that killy. Her role is more that of a support unit, activating the locuses on your daemons, especially since she isn't a wizard and has no command ability outside of the basic one (and any scenario-specific one).
  • On Steed The steed is free, so take it. Giving her a steed makes her move 12" and gain the mount's attacks. This isn't as effective as it sounds for cavalry lists, as she will struggle to keep up with speeding seekers; but a couple of additional attacks and some flexibility in locus-activation is nothing to spit at.

• Infernal-Enrapturess: a Herald with a flesh harp with slug and semi-automatic settings. it also disputes wizard casting, cosuesing pairals on doubles, and generates Depravity points each your hero phases (multiple Enrapturess stacks). Enrapturess prefers bing further behind givings ranged support.

• Herald of Slaanesh on Seeker Chariot: See regular seeker chariot, but has three more attacks, its non-rending attacks hit on a 3 instead of a 4, and heroes have -1 to hit against the chariot. Downright inferior to the exalted variant except for always running 6 and being easier to summon, so may have a role as a support unit as daemons are always in need of things to activate locuses with (especially in bigger games). Still decent.

• Herald of Slaanesh on Exalted Seeker Chariot: See regular exalted seeker chariots, but has three more attacks, its non-rending attacks hit on a 3 instead of a 4, and heroes have -1 to hit against the chariot. (notice a pattern here?). As murderously strong as the normal variant.

• Daemon Prince: Fast and decently killy. You can dedicate him to a God, but doing so takes away his decent Monster/Hero-kills-heal ability. All God-specific abilities are good, but the Slaanesh one is pure trolling: When your opponent chooses to pile in within 3" of the Daemon Prince, you can pile in and fight with the Daemon Prince before they are allowed to act.

• Chaos Lord of Slaanesh: This guy has a lot of attacks and hits heroes and monsters on 2+. He still won't do too much damage, but he compensates with a pretty decent command ability: he turns any MORTAL SLAANESH within 12" of him into daemonettes, making them do more attacks on sixes to hit. With the selection of Slaves to Darkness units that already use massed attacks to deal damage, you'll be hard-pressed not to find a decent target. Like most chaos carriers he has a chaos runeshield to avoid mortal wounds on a 5+. Almost required to be run with Slaves to Darkness infantry if you want him to keep the pace with anything at all.

• Lord of Slaanesh on Daemonic Mount: All-around better than the footslogging version in general, except for having no rend. His move of 16" means he can accompany pretty much whatever he wants and his special rule makes everything have -1 to hit against him if they are within 3" of him. Like the footslogging version, he also has a chaos runeshield. His command ability is the same as the Keeper of Secrets, but for MORTAL SLAANESH instead of Daemons, for when your Hellstriders need that extra punch to rack those sweet free attacks. Or, you know, target any Slaves To Darkness unit and rape stuff - attacking twice doubles the effectiveness of pretty much anything.
  • If you keep him close to a unit of Hellstriders with an Enrapturing Banner, pretty much everything will have to take -2 to hit this guy in the combat phase (or even -3 if he's your General and is blessed with the Allure of Slaanesh command trait). Position yourself properly and watch your opponents tear their hair apart as most of everything struggles to even hit your dooder. Just remember, this doesn't work against ranged attacks.
  • Has the DAEMON keyword thanks to his Daemonic snake, so should be able to activate the Locus of nearby Daemonettes, Seekers and Fiends.

• Chaos Lord Daemonicmount: Pretty good actually. Ability-wise he's almost the same as the walking one, Slaanesh gives him the ability to run and charge. Combined with Eye of the Gods, this makes him all but unkillable so long as you feed a steady stream of Heroes to him. His Command Ability allows a Chariot or Knight unit to reroll charge rolls and adds +1 to their Hit rolls. Gorebeast Chariots hitting on 3+? Yes, please.

• Chaos Lord on Manticore: The Lord on Manticore can have a choice between Flail and Sword, with the Sword being better in most circumstances and a choice between Runeshield, Daggerfist, and Lance. The Lance might be awesome, but since everyone and their grandma will be gunning for your Manticore, the 5+ save against Mortal Wounds might be the best choice. Slaanesh gives -1 Bravery to opponents within 3" during Battleshock Phase. Ironically enough, the Manticore itself is actually less damaging than the Lord on it, but it does provide some nice special rules, such as rerolls of 1 To Hit against Monsters for its Claws and Jaws attacks and always rerolling when attacking units in your side of the field. His Command Ability allows a unit of Chaos Warriors within 15" to reroll charge, wound, and Battleshock rolls.

• Chaos Sorcerer: A Mortal wizard that you would prefer to be on a horse. It can provide a re-roll saves of 1 to one unit within 10" every hero phase. Is Unique spell is Daemnoc Power which Re-roll hit, wound, and Save rolls of 1 to a unit within 18" until unit the next hero phase.

• Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Manticore : Blessed with the same awesome "reroll saves of 1" ability as the normal Lord, this here rides a Manticore, who is just as killy as the one the normal Lord gets. Additionally, the Sorcerer Lord gets the Wind of Chaos spell, which is potentially devastating (and potentially utter crap, hope the dice like you).

• Exalted Hero of Chaos: A guy with two axes with the nifty ability to attack twice in the turn he charged (he pileups again between the two attack waves), and when he kills a Hero or a Monster he will deal double wounds in the next turn.

• Lord of Chaos: Has a brutal pair of weapons, both attack thrice, hitting and making wounds at +3. The Reaperblade has a range of 2", -2 rend and 2 damage, and once per battle he has the option to make one attack, but making 2D6 fucking damage. His Slaanesh Mark allows him to Run and charge, and his command ability lets any Slaves to Darkness unit within 10" with his same mark gets the ability too, it's not really the best command ability you have to be honest... If he kills the opponent general, he becomes a Daemon Prince on a whim, but if he dies he becomes... you know what.

Battleline

• Daemonettes of Slaanesh: (Battleline units) Who said Slaanesh was dead? Perhaps one of the strongest massed infantry units around. Daemonettes move 6", can run and charge in the same turn, and each unmodified 6 to hit gives you an additional hit. Sure, you only hit and wound on a 4+, but that's with two attacks per girl and a -1 rend. If you have 20+ models in the unit, they do bonus hits on 5s instead, so if at all possible DO THAT. They only have a 5+ save, which isn't that bad for massed infantry, and their locus forces opponents to re-roll successful hits of 6 in the combat phase, so try to keep that activated at all times. Their champion has a bonus attack and their musician is par for the course for daemons, forcing enemies to re-roll bravery tets of 1. Grant them an icon bearer and a standard bearer, giving the unit bonus models when you roll a 1 on a Bravery test and allowing you to re-roll hit rolls of 1 in the combat phase respectively (so remember to always test for Bravery even if you can't possibly fail - you might very well get more daemons). A sufficient number of daemonettes, once it gets in melee (and it has the speed to do that) will murderize almost anything through a sheer number of attacks. Add a Keeper of Secrets to make them attack twice per phase and your opponents will be brought to tears.

• Hellstriders of Slaanesh:(Can be taken as Battleline units If taken in a Hosts of Slaanesh Army) Odd, but the good kind of odd. These guys are blessed with a move characteristic of 16" and chaos runeshields, but they really don't hit that hard. The catch lies in their special rule: at the end of combat, you roll a die and if the result is equal or inferior to the number of models killed by the Hellstriders this turn, they add +1 to their weapon's Attacks characteristic until the end of the battle. This is harder than it sounds, especially when their mounts usually out damage the riders at first. They have two weapon choices: clawspears that hit and wound on a 4+, but have a rend of -1 and get +1 to wound on the charge, and hellscourges that have no rend or charge bonus but get 3" range instead of 2" and hit on a 3+. Their champion has the usual +1 attack, their nifty musician adds +1 to their Run and Charge rolls and they have two choices of banners: the Icon of Excess which allows to re-roll the die when rolling to see if they get bonus attacks (meh), and the Enrapturing Banner which gives enemy models within 6" -1 to their hit rolls (very good). If you want to play these guys put them in a big unit of 10 or more and use spells and command abilities to get the best of them - the mounted Lord of Slaanesh, in particular, is especially helpful in getting them some much-needed kills, and with enrapturing banner and the Lord's ability, everything will have -2 to hit the lord in combat. Yikes. With 16" they can also do some Warmachine hunting (though seekers are better at that) and try to gain bonus attacks off the crew. Always send them against easily killed chaff and don't sweat it if the dice gods are against you, and remember that they have the Daemon keyword, which means they can, for instance, be targeted by the Keeper of Secret's command ability, but might screw you over if you needed something to tarpit that witch hunter.
  • Alternate tactics: give these guys an enrapturing banner choose a model which you don't want to die and have it escorted by the hellstriders at all time. Your opponent will have much of the sads.

• Seeker Chariots of Slaanesh:(Can be taken as Battleline if taken in a Hosts of Slaanesh army) Inferior to the exalted seeker chariot and in turn inferior to the chariot with a herald on it. 'course, that means it costs less in games with point systems! It's a bit fragile for a chariot, with a 5+ save and only 6 wounds, but eh, it moves 12". Compared to the exalted seeker chariot, the only thing it does better is always run 6 and is easier to summon. It has 9 attacks, 5 of which do like daemonettes and generate more attacks on 6s to hit (though only two have rend), and after it charges you roll a die for each enemy model within 1" and for each 4+ that model's unit takes a mortal wound. Like the other chariot variants, its unit size is "any number" so nothing is stopping you from making a huge cavalcade and playing ride of the Valkyries in the background everytime it charges. All in all, decent, but far from an auto-include.

• Chaos Warriors: Slaanesh Marked Chaos Warriors can be taken as battleline in a Host of Slaanesh army and deserve a special mention. The fact that you can get five of them for a measly 90 points makes them an incredibly effective Battleline unit. Also, your mortal lord's abilities synergize much better with them. The downside in that they are not nearly as mobile as everything else in the army but instead bring a strong anvil unit that is lacking in the Daemon wing of the army. Small squads of Chaos Warriors as backfield objective campers are a perfectly viable strategy.

• Chaos Marauders: When marked as Slaanesh, these make a great Battleline unit as an alternative horde to Daemonettes if you want to run a Mortal Host of Slaanesh army. Very cheap in this army and when paired with a Slaanesh Chaos Lord they can put out quite a bit of hurt to help compensate for their mediocre stats. Somewhat overshadowed by the other battleline available but make up for it with their great CC potential and cheap price.

Other Units

• Chaos Chosen: Chaos Warriors with some really good axes. 3 attacks each 3+/3+/-1/1 that cause mortal wounds on a wound roll of six or more and if they slay a model SLAVES TO DARKNESS within 8" re-roll failed wounds. Thus making them good if you are going for a more mortal Host of Slaanesh army. These guys pack a punch and can be viewed as a weaker and less durable Stormcast paladins squad, but is 60 points cheaper a unit.

• Chaos Spawn: That Which Must Not Be Named. Not actually terrible anymore, though far from reliable. A Move of 2D6" makes for potentially fast movement. Similarly, 2D6 attacks per Spawn is potentially strong, but even better is the special rule these attacks come with: If you roll a Double, instead of Hitting and Wounding on 4+, you Hit and Wound on 3+. Just think about it, 12 attacks apiece with good Hit and Wound rolls... Also, five Wounds with a 5+ save make for pretty hardy models.

• Seekers of Slaanesh: Daemonettes on steroids who move 14", run 2D6 and charge in the same turn, and have 2 wounds each. Their mounts aren't too shabby in combat either, hitting and wounding on a 4+. Otherwise, their special rules are the same as regular Daemonettes with the exception of the locus which adds 1" to their Run and Charge rolls. So yes, that's a potential 16+4D6" charge range for a 40" threat bubble on those girls. They are very much guaranteed to get in combat with what you want them to be in combat with, so either use them to pin enemies down while moving your force or to get to targets in the backlines.

• Fiends of Slaanesh: Compared to the awesome that are Daemonettes and Seekers, those guys are a bit of a letdown. They move 12", which is very fast, but for ogre equivalents, they're neither very tanky nor very damaging. Their locus allows them to re-roll failed hit rolls of 1 when activated, which helps. Other than that enemies have -1 to hit them during the combat phase (and -1 to wound too if you take 4 of them) and if they roll a 6 to wound with their pincers the attack deals D3 Damage instead of 1 (note that the champion re-rolls wound rolls of 1). Their stinger will murder stuff... When it hits, dealing more damage the bigger the model's Wound haracteristic, so recommend to always put stingers into Heroes to get the most out of them. These guys won't let you down, but they're nothing impressive compared to some of the other choices in the hosts. . Now like in 40k, they also subtract 1 from casting rolls of nearby Wizards. New plastic models are here!

• Exalted Seeker Chariots of Slaanesh: This thing is a monster. Well, it doesn't have the monster keyword, but it might as well (and unlike most monsters it doesn't get weaker for taking damage). 12" move, 9 wounds, and SEVENTEEN attacks, nine of which generate more attacks on sixes (though, again, only three have rend). So yeah, that's more attacks-per-wound than the seeker chariot. It has the same thing as a seeker chariot where it deals mortal wounds when charging to units of models within 1", except this time that's D3 mortal wound per 4+. Which is also likely to affect more models, as the exalted seeker chariot is much larger than the regular one. In addition, during the turn in which it charges enemy units within 3" add 1 to their bravery tests. This thing eats tarpits. Charge where you will maximize the impact hits wound count and don't worry too much if it takes a beating. The final hilarity lies in the "any number" of them which you can bring per unit, meaning ride of the Valkyries is a go.

• Hellflayers of Slaanesh: A better version of the seeker chariot that's just a bit slower, now where have I seen that before? These have the same defensive stats as a seeker chariot, 11 attacks base, only 3 of which rend but 7 of which have the do-more-attacks-on-sixes-to-hit thing. They do impact hits like seeker chariots but if any mortal wound is successfully inflicted this way, attacks which can generate more attacks (so, 7) can re-roll failed hit rolls, which is very good. Again, the unit can have "any number" of models. Since Hellflayers are built sideways on the base, you're likely to hit more models than a seeker chariot with the impact hits, too. All in all, not an exalted chariot but don't be afraid to bring them.

• Chaos Knights: This army is fast and Chaos Knights are the right mix of tough and fast that this army can use, 3 wounds and have the same 5+ mortal wound save as Warriors. Two weapon options, Enscrolled Weapons (3x 3+/4+/-/1) or Glaives (2x 4+/3+/-/1) that upgrade to 4+/3+/-1/2 on the turn they charge. These guys obviously hit pretty hard and can synergize well with a mounted Slaanesh Lord. They can be a good alternative to Seekers and while slower and more expensive they make up for it with good durability and damage output.

• Chaos Marauder Horsemen: Much lighter Cavalry and one of your few ranged attack options in the army. 12" move 5+ save and 2 wounds each. They can have the same flail or ax as marauders on foot but the best option is their javelins giving them 2 4+/4+/-/1 ranged attacks each. They have the same re-rolls of 1 to hit banner as marauders on foot too and can shoot and charge on a turn they retreated. A nice cheap skirmisher option in an army that is sorely lacking in ranged combat allowing them to compete with seekers.

• Chaos Chariots: 8+D6" move means these are pretty nippy, this army loves its chariots and these guys. It's decent enough at taking out enemy heroes with the greatblade, with the flail it can potentially pack a bit more punch but only on a lucky roll so it is probably not worth it but that one time you get lucky can come in handy. Not quite as fast as the Daemonic chariots but has a better save and roughly equal in damage output on the other two. Could be an interesting alternative if you are going for a tanker option to the Seeker Chariot.

• Chaos Warshrine: A big tough model that is surprisingly good in combat but is neither a monster or war machine, so that is something to consider. What it does is pretty cool, too. First, it has an Aura that grants Mortal units (almost everything Chaos that isn't a Skaven or a Daemon) an additional 6+ save after their normal save. Can also pray for buffs to Mortal units. There is one Undivided buff and one for every God, the latter of which you can only use by dedicating your Shrine to a particular God. Since you are a Hosts army you will be using the Slaanesh specific prayer. This one, in particular, allows re-roll charges and battleshock, except for Slaanesh marked units just outright ignore battleshock. This is why you bring this thing if you going horde heavy stick this thing behind your big units and laugh as your mass blocks of Mauraders or Chaos Warriors are completely fearless. And the ability to re-roll charges can work wonders for Chaos Knights and Hellstriders when charging. Won't affect the demon wing of your army so plan your list accordingly otherwise this thing will only be a glorified beat-stick without any Mortal units.

• Chaos War Mammoth: This monster has 22 wounds! Although it's only packing a 5+ save. All of his attacks cause at least D3 wounds, making it an exceptional monster-killer when at full strength. Its real strength lies in supporting a Marauder charge, however - as well as imposing -2 to any Battleshock tests to any unfortunate unit that gets charged, the Mammoth can also help Marauder or Marauder Horsemen get in a little extra movement and increase their damage output in combat. Wounding and even killing this thing just makes it cause more damage. If you're playing with a big Chaos horde then there's no finer feeling than running this guy into the enemy's biggest and toughest-looking infantry blob, although expect a few dirty looks for doing so. Keep in mind that he doesn't like magic missiles or war machine fire, however. Don’t forget that it’s MORTAL now, and thus can pile in and attack twice thanks to the Slaanesh Lord on Daemonic Steeds Command Ability.

• Gorebeast Chariot: Don't get the same movement rule as the normal Chaos Chariots but they have the absolutely devastating Gorebeast to make up for it. The beast is just that in combat and also grants you the nice rule the Skullcrushers get where you can potentially inflict Mortal Wounds on whatever you charge in the Charge Phase. How you can use that last fact to your advantage, well... coughBloabRotspawnedcough.

• Gigantic Chaos Spawn: A strong but unreliable monster burdened with random movement, random attacks, and regeneration. He can put out a fair amount of damage with a mix of its tongues and maws, and has 12 wounds and has a good chance to regenerate and possibly gain more wounds each turn. It's worth remembering that he can be given any Chaos God as a keyword, which opens up amusing possibilities like running a Khornate Spawn alongside a Bloodsecrator.

Endless Spells

This section should analyze each new endless spell and their viability in the Hosts.

Purple Sun of Shyish: An angry purple ball that blows up whatever it touches.

• As Slaanesh has access to lots of negative Bravery modifiers, the -1 to Bravery within 6" is great against your enemies to maximise their fleeing possibilities.

Ravenak's Gnashing Jaws: A spell from Ghur that chews through foes.

Prismatic Palisade: A wall of crystal that shields anyone behind it from shooting.

Aethervoid Pendulum: A massive, swinging blade that carves its way across the battlefield.

Suffocating Gravetide: A roiling wave of souls that crushes all who fall beneath it.

Umbral Spellportal: A summonable two way portal that lets you greatly extend the range of your spells.

• Difficult to effectively use as Slaanesh is all about moving. You could probably be in range needed for whatever the spell you're using just by moving either of your Wizards, which move 14" at full wounds. There's better spells for your army.

Malevolent Maelstrom: An orb of energy that unbinds spells, devours them, and then explodes dramatically.

Quicksilver Swords: A mass of semi-sentient blades you can fling at your opponents.

The Burning Head: A massive, flaming head that makes everyone around it fight harder (if it doesn't incinerate them first).

• The re-roll hits of 1 is redundant if you're a Pretender Host, & if you're looking for the Mortal Wounds it inflicts, you have better Endless Spells for it.

Geminids of Uhl-Gysh: A two-part endless spell that confounds anyone it crashes into with a deluge of magical effects.

Chronomatic Cogs: A set of mysterious devices that allow wizards to manipulate the flow of time itself.

• A very interesting little spell. On the one hand it can be very handy as it can give your wizards to use an additional spell, which if you choose to go wizard heavy their is no downside. However, considering this is a Slaanesh army its other ability is very handy and army-wide impacting. This army is already very fast, with already many movement boosting abilities but add in the extra movement the Cogs can give you and have the ability to realistically be pulling of mass first-turn charges. Sure it gives it to your opponent as well, but that is why you make it your goal to tie them up in combat first now isn't it.

Soulsnare Shackles: Mystical chains that latch onto the legs of any who try to pass through them.

• Great way to slow an enemy retreating from your gals. Can be used to cripple your fastest units so be careful.
• unfortunately it doesn't stacks with the Masque's half movement ability.

Emerald Lifeswarm: A mass of insects made of pure life magic that heals units and even resurrects the dead.

• Potentially a great way to heal your Heroes & increase the Depravity points they gain from losing Wounds. Tag along with your Keeper or Daemon Prince to get the most out of it & dart at multi wound units. Even if your opponent gets the chance to use it to heal their units, you can just farm more Depravity points from them.

Battalions

Pleasurebound Warband:

• Technically a Slaves to Darkness battalion, but the Mortals from the hosts are eligible. You bring 1 MORTAL SLAANESH hero and 6 MORTAL SLAANESH units. All units that start with a number of models that is a multiple of 6 gain +2 bravery for the duration of the battle and if any model from the formation dies in the combat phase, all units in the formation gain +3" to their pile in moves. Both bonuses benefit infantry more than they do cavalry, so are less beneficial to the hosts as only the Hellstriders are mortal units, but the lords are very good in general and give great bonuses to the formation. The mounted lord, in particular, has the potential of allowing units to pile in 6" twice, which is essentially an additional free move. But for f*** sake GW allows you to take that battalion, but all units in it will be in Alliance section (spit).

Daemon Cohort of Slaanesh: (min pts; max pts.) 1 Keeper of Secrets or Slaanesh Daemon prince, 1 of any kind of Herald of Slaanesh, 3 units of Daemonettes and 1 unit of any other kind of Slaaneshi daemon.

• For buying that many daemonettes, all models in the cohort add 1" to their already annoyingly high Move characteristic and every time an enemy unit fails a bravery test, you roll a die for each unit from the formation within 3" and on a 6 one model in that unit heals D3 wounds (or you add D6 models to the unit if it is a unit of daemonettes). not much to say here, it's a basic army-template formation that gives neat bonuses. Profit.

Lascillion's Wanton Horde: This one forces you to mix and match hosts and slaves to darkness. 1 mounted lord, 1 unit of chosen, 3 units of daemonettes and 1 unit of seeker chariots.

• The formation's first ability is campaign-only and allows your lord to roll on the Triumph table even if he doesn't achieve a major victory and roll twice and choose the result if you do. The chosen from the formation are also boosted up and when they activate their bonus to wound to nearby units, all units from the battalion are affected as well, and finally, your seeker chariots can move through daemonettes as though they could fly. This is a bit of a schizophrenic battalion that wants the chosen in combat first even though they are the slowest unit in it but otherwise is pretty solid.
  • Sadly, this battalion is not usable in pitched games. Too bad.

Depraved Drove (150 p) (Min: -.pt. Max: -pt.) 1-4 combination of Beastlord, Dragon Ogor Shaggoth, Doombull, Great Bray Shaman; 3-6 combination of Centigors, Gors, Tuskgor Chariots, Ungors, Ungor raiders; 0-6 combination of Bestigors, Bullgors , Dragon Ogors; 0-2 combination of Cygors or Ghorgons.

• Give all units in this Battalion the Slaanesh Keyword and Re-roll failed charge roll if the unit is within 12" of an enemy hero with an Artifact and re-rolls To-Hit if the target has an Artifact. Grans Acces to Bayherd, which fit at home alongside Daemonettes. Warherd can provide heavyer hiting modles. Shaggoth has a chance to heal itself during first turn roll-offs, so he could be used to Gather Depravity Points.

The Choir of Torments (120 p) (Min: 640.pt. Max: 1530pt.) 1 Infernal Enrapturess, 1 unit of Daemonettes, 1 unit of Fiends, 1 unit of Seekers

• Add 1 to Attacks of melee weapons while wholly within 12" of the Infernal Enrapturess from this battalion. From Wrath & Rapture. Make it 30 Daemonettes, 6-9 Fiends, and 5 Seekers, and just keep the Enrapturess screened with the Fiends. Generally worth the price of admission if you want to include Fiends and an Enrapturess in your army (and why wouldn't you?).

Both the Start Collecting Box Warscroll Battalions from Slaves to Darkness and Demons of Slaanesh can be used here.

Army Building

Battlelines: Well, you don't have a choice. It's Daemonettes.

First thing, how many units do you want? 2 is the minimum for Vanguard games and a good place to start, but you may want to skip directly to 3. Why? Because of the Battalion, the Daemon Cohort of Slaanesh. You may think that that Battalion is nothing fancy; you already have high speed, and the bravery test thingy is unreliable at best. And you'll be right. But when you see how cheap it is and then remember that each battalion offers you an extra relic for your army and the invaluable ability to deploy all those units as you like, it becomes far more interesting. Also, 3 battlelines are required for bigger games, so better start pointing in that direction.

How big the units? Daemonettes get a nice bonus if they are 20 or more for sure... but looking at it closely it isn't paragonable to what other battlelines gets (it's not like you get extra attacks like Skeletrons). The bonus is nothing to spit at, but also nothing to write home about it. So, in general, making units of 30 daemonettes just to be sure you'll get in melee with that bonus is mostly overkill, especially considering the difficulty to pile in all those models. 20 is the most solid option. It's cheaper, you'll move around easier, most of them will have a chance to attack, and most of the time you'll get to use your bonus anyway. 10 is too little for a simple fact: Daemonettes are GOOD. We are still talking about one of the finest battlelines in the game, why would you want to go min size?

Leaders: A Keeper of Secrets is basically a must-have. His command ability is the main tactics for the Host of Slaanesh. You can go Chaos Lord if you want mortal allies (aka Slaves of Darkness), but the Keeper of Secrets ability works on every unit in the Host. The bad news? The model is old, and it's a common opinion that it sucks.

What else? Heralds. All Heralds are good, so choose your favorites.

Just remember a couple of things:

• If you choose the standard Herald, remember that there is no penalty whatsoever to give her a Steed... except there is no proper model.
• If you want a Herald on foot anyway, the best way to get it is to avoid the overpriced resin kit and instead buy an Hellflayer Chariot. Inside you will find an extra head and a body, which the instruction manual clearly states you can use that to make your Herald (which is weird from GW, but nice). So, for a few bucks more than the resin kit, you get a free Hellflayer. Who needs a Start Collecting? Don't you like the Hellflayer? Take an Exalted Chariot and get 2 free Heralds. You're welcome.
• "But I really want Herald on Steed, anon!" Ok then. Buy an Exalted Chariot, make a Seeker Chariot and use the 2 leftover armored steeds plus the bodies and heads to make 2 Heralds on Steed. You still get 2 mounted characters for less the price of one of those new fancy plastic characters, so while you are throwing away a lot of stuff on the sprue, it's not bad money-wise.
• You can't go wrong with Heralds on Chariot, whatever you choose the small or the big one. Unless you have more than one and you want a big single unit or you already filled all you Leader slots, consider always running your chariots as Heralds. For a few points, you get some nice extra attacks, a nice little malus to be hit by enemy HEROES and, most importantly, they trigger the Loci of your units.
• Don't look at the Compendium for the rules of the Daemons of Slaanesh. Pick the proper PDF or the Grand Alliance Book. There is a subtle but important difference. In the old rules, units get their Locus if they are within range of a DAEMONETTE HERO, while in the new rules they get the Locus from any DAEMON HERO of SLAANESH. This means you get now the bonus from the Keeper of Secrets, the Lord of Slaanesh on Daemonic Mount and even the Daemon Prince. If you don't want Heralds, you can live without them.

The Lord of Slaanesh on Daemonic Mount and the Chaos Lord of Slaanesh are there if you want to play with the Slave of Darkness. They are still a solid option for a hero, especially the first one which can trigger the Loci, but it's clear they are meant for a more Mortal based army than the Host. If you are running a lot of Hellstriders, they become more valuable and can replace the Keeper of Secrets (but again, the Lord on Daemonic Mount is the only one that can keep up with the Hellstriders).

Others Well, here's come the juicy part. You want the Seekers of Slaanesh. Those girls are amazing, and you can't go wrong with them, especially using the...

• Hunter Seekers Missile: A terrible pun to name a combo which uses, spoiler alert, Seekers. This is, for now, the most frustrating tactic you can unleash on your opponent with this faction. Take a Keeper of Secrets, give him (if you choose instead of rolling, of course) the "Lord of War" command trait. Take a unit of Seekers (10 women strong is enough) and deploy both of them last, where you know you can hurt the enemy. In the Hero phase, declare the Seekers the beneficiaries of both the Command Ability of the KoS and the Command Trait. Cast some Mystic Shield on them too. Now throw the seekers where it hurts more. With their absurd speed they will have no problem charge where you want them to charge. You now have these girls hitting on 3+, generating more attacks on 5+ and making two combat phases. Just make sure they can survive the counterattack between the two attack phases (Mystic Shield will help). The best part? It's cheap, so you can easily keep another unit of Seekers and do it again next turn. This combo loses much of its punch once the enemy has seen it, and will put some meat shields in line in front their valuable units next time. That's where you need to get good at the game and use it intelligently.

• 'Arch Double Pile in (if you know what I mean) :

Take Seekers alliegance option, Archaon, Slaanesh Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount with artifact to take back command point on 5+, Keeper of secrets, Cogs endless spell and full daemonettess. Watch enemy heroes bleed, summoning spam and one turn charge of raping daemonettes.

Allied Armies

Hosts of Slaanesh are blindingly fast, hit extremely hard in melee, and have a plethora of to-hit debuffs, but they have key weaknesses in their lack of magic access, high-damage single attacks and ranged attacks which leave them particularly vulnerable to stuff like monsters when played as a solo army.

• Slaves to Darkness: You might have guessed from reading this that the few Mortal units in the hosts, especially the lords, do much better in a Slaves to Darkness list than in a pure-host army. So do not hesitate to do that as they are tremendously strong supporting lords. You might even want to take some slaves to darkness in a host list just because you didn't bring a keeper of secrets and the lords' command abilities are that good. Slaves to darkness also bring the host a nice selection of good wizards, which they very much lack. Bonus point for the sorcerer lord on manticore for bringing both a wizard and a monster in a single model.

• Tzeentch Arcanites and Daemons of Tzeentch: What did you just hear me say hosts sorely needed? Wizards. What does Tzeentch have in droves? Strong wizards. Tzeentch gives the hosts the magic punch that they so much need, and I, of course, don't need to remind you how broken summoning can be. Tzeentch also is the other daemon army with ridiculously fast units and chariots, so you can mix the two and neither break theme nor risk leaving half your army behind.

• Clans Skryre and Legion of Azgorh: these two bring pretty much the same things to a host army: ranged units, artillery, and even a few wizards, all of which the melee-focused, wizard-deprived hosts will be very thankful for.

• Monsters of Chaos: Well, duh. Use the monsters as you would with any other chaos army.

• Other Grand Alliances: If you want to bring non-chaotic stuff with the hosts, be on the lookout for the same thing as above - Wizards, artillery, and good ranged units, generally in that order.

• Using the hosts as support: Other than what has already been said (USE THE LORDS IN A SLAVE TO DARKNESS ARMY, DO IT), what the hosts bring are terrifying speed, lots and lots of melee attacks (which chaos is good at in general) and impressive tarpit-munchers in the form of chariots. If you want to use them as support, do it for an army which has trouble with tarpits or speed, such as Nurgle. Hellstriders both get stronger against tarpits and are good Warmachine hunters, seekers can and will kill that one unit on the other side of the board which you want dead, and even a single exalted seeker chariot is a very effective tarpit-killer that will not disappoint you.