Mono-God Lists: Slaanesh

It's tough to take a Slaanesh army seriously, which is part of why I like it.  Slaanesh is all about speed, which is more my style than Khorne.  Speed also happens to be critical in 6th edition.  Even though Screamers are better than Fiends by leaps and bounds, Fiends are still pretty good.  Noise Marines are also pretty good.  I still say Daemonettes are the best Daemon troops choice.  The crew in pink has stuff going for it.

Slaanesh is a horde-slayer army.  Noise Marines with sonic blasters are like the shooty version of Seekers with salvo shots that ignore cover.  So, if you play Slaanesh, your tactic is to roll a bunch of dice and hope stuff gets through the armor save while gallivanting swiftly around the battlefield and dancing a sprightly jig.

A Slaanesh army needs to be mobile because it isn't very tough, so it should make copious use of Rhinos.  Fortunately, Noise Marines in a Rhino are awesome because the champ can take a Doom Siren and fire it out the top hatch.  Add a havoc launcher to the rhino, and suddenly your crappy transport is an anti-infantry force to be reckoned with, able to slay MEQ and hordes with extreme prejudice.

Slaanesh is the most versatile of the four mono-forces as you can get a good balance between shooting and assault, or go one or the other.  Slaanesh pyschic powers are the best of the lot, so you can build an army around that too.  Slaanesh CSM assault specialists don't have much to beat things like Assault Termies, however.  Fiends and Seeker Cavalcades can do it with support, but you're better off shooting them with a ton of shots until they die.

Other than Fiends and Daemonettes, Slaanesh Daemons aren't that good, so if you want a combined force, you need to build your CSMs to complement what Slaanesh Daemons can bring to the table.  All Slaanesh Daemon HQ choices are not-so-hot, but I think a Herald with an Exalted Chariot that she may or may not ride can set up a very powerful mechanized force.  I'm not high on Seeker Chariots, but when combined with mechanized CSMs, they provide a high threat to the opponent and force them to make choices with their anti-tank firepower.

Slaanesh cultists don't make much sense because I4 won't help them beat anything in close combat once they get close enough to fight after the shooting they'll have to endure.  I like Noise Marines over Slaanesh CSMs because they are fearless, and because they rock from inside their Rhinos (Get it?).  However, Slaanesh CSMs can bring special weapons so they aren't a bad choice either, though the best reason to take the MoS is to take the Icon, and that gets expensive.

For the anti-air piece, Slaanesh Havocs make even less sense than Khorne Havocs unless you take a whole bunch with the Icon of Excess and park them behind an Aegis, and that adds up for a squad that is totally expendable.  I prefer to keep with the whole volume of shots thing and take some Forgefiends.  While 8 S8 shots is not enough to handle flyers, 24 certainly is.  Plus, if you couple Forgefiends with a Seeker Cavalcade and a bunch of Noise Marine Rhinos, your opponent has a lot of armor to deal with.  Let's throw in a Heldrake too.

After a lot of jiggering, I came up with a solid list I really want to play which will form the basis of my CSM army once I decide start one:

Lord, MoS, Burning Brand of Skalathrax
5 Chaos Space Marines, Mark of Slaanesh, Meltagun, Rhino, Havoc Launcher
5 Noise Marines, Doom Siren, Rhino, Havoc Launcher
5 Noise Marines, Doom Siren, Rhino, Havoc Launcher
5 Noise Marines, Doom Siren, Rhino, Havoc Launcher
Heldrake
Forgefiend
Forgefiend
Forgefiend
Herald of Slaanesh, Exalted Chariot
5 Daemonettes
6 Fiends
Seeker Cavalcade, 2 Exalted Seeker Chariots, 1 Seeker Chariot

1998

It turned out Noise Mariney, but doesn't have sonic blasters, which I find odd, but I like the idea of keeping my scoring units safe in their metal bawkses while still being able to dish out some hurt as they push to midfield.  I didn't bring an Icon of Excess either.  I wanted to, but you end up over 200 points for a squad of a size large enough to make it worth taking if you buy the sodding thing, and they're just not that powerful.  157 points for five Noise Marines and a Doom Siren in a Havoc Rhino is tits (Get it?).  5 Tacticals in a Razorback with a twin-linked heavy flamer is 155 with nothing else.  This setup is way better because you get the twin linked bolter, the havoc launcher and an extra firepoint for almost the same price.  Plus you're better on foot than 5 tacticals.

I'd rather have a second meltagun than the MoS on the CSM squad, but this is a theme list, so no unmarked troops allowed!  Actually, if I were really going to run this, that's what I'd do since I'd run the Lord in their Rhino to give them fearless and allow them to shoot anti-infantry or anti-armor.  I'll just pretend they're Slaanesh neophytes who need some more body piercings before they earn their mark.

I'd be very excited about playing this list because it's super fast, and it has lots of balance between anti-tank and anti-infantry.  Even the Noise Marines can do anti-tank to some extent thanks to Krak Grenades.  The army has 12 light armored vehicles, which is a whole lot to deal with, and my scoring units are fearless.

I'd love to get a Slaanesh psyker on a steed with some bikers in there to outflank meltaguns, but there wasn't room, alas.  In fact, there's a whole bunch of different ways I think a Slaanesh list could work.  Anyway, I think this list is awesome and I want to run out and buy all the models for it right now so I can have a big pink army full of foppish dandies flying all over the place.  Perhaps one day.