Slaanesh is an excess army painted with restraint, which sounds contradictory until you try it. The models are covered in silk, hair, claws and polished metal, and if every one of those surfaces shouts you get noise. Choose two loud colours, put everything else in service of them, and the force looks decadent rather than confused.
The signature look
Cool lilac-grey daemon flesh against hot pink and magenta cloth, with bright, almost mirror-finish gold armour and black leather. Mortal Hedonites - Painbringers, Slickblades, Blissbarb Archers - carry more of the gold and less of the flesh, which makes them a useful contrast to a daemon block on the table.
Painting daemonette flesh
- Basecoat Daemonette Hide over a black or grey undercoat.
- Shade the recesses with Druchii Violet.
- Layer Slaanesh Grey across the raised muscle and the front of the limbs.
- Highlight with Dechala Lilac, keeping it to the top planes so the flesh stays cool.
Claws and crab-arms are the accent: Naggaroth Night into Xereus Purple, edged Genestealer Purple, with a gloss varnish if you want them to look like polished chitin. Hair takes Screamer Pink, Druchii Violet, then Pink Horror and Fulgrim Pink at the tips - or Volupus Pink contrast over Grey Seer for a one-coat version that suits a block of six.
Silks and gold
Cloth is where the pink lives. Basecoat Screamer Pink, shade Druchii Violet, layer Pink Horror on the raised folds and edge Fulgrim Pink. Doomfire Magenta contrast over a white undercoat gives an intense, glassy version of the same colour in one pass and is very hard to beat for banners and long robes.
Gold should be bright, because Slaanesh's followers are vain. Basecoat Balthasar Gold, wash Agrax Earthshade, layer Auric Armour Gold and finish the sharpest edges with Stormhost Silver. That silver edge is what turns gold into something reflective rather than merely yellow. Leather and harness go Abaddon Black with an Eshin Grey edge; pale mortal skin is Rakarth Flesh, Reikland Fleshshade and Pallid Wych Flesh.
Host palettes
The three great hosts are a convenient excuse to shift the balance without repainting anything:
- Invaders - the standard reading. Pink dominant, lilac flesh, gold trim.
- Pretenders - regal and gilded. Swap most of the pink for Naggaroth Night and Xereus Purple, and widen the gold.
- Godseekers - fast and feverish. Lift the whole palette warmer with Emperor's Children and Fulgrim Pink over the cloth, and add Wild Rider Red in the deepest folds of the silks.
Speed
This is not a horde army, and that matters. Units are small, the sculpts are open and easy to reach, and daemon flesh takes washes cleanly. Against that, the gold is a genuine time sink - four steps on a Painbringer with full plate is slow work. Painting the daemons first will get you a playable force quickly while you take your time over the mortals.
Tips and common mistakes
- Keep the flesh cool. Lilac against hot pink is the engine of the scheme; a warm skin tone kills it.
- Silver-edge the gold. One thin line does more than an extra gold layer.
- Two loud colours, no more. Pink and gold, with black and lilac carrying everything else.
- Gloss the claws. A selective gloss varnish on claws and hooves reads as polished chitin and costs nothing.
Balance the pink against your gold in the scheme generator before starting a full host.