Then I remembered they were for Age of Sigmar: a game I have zero interest in playing after what they did to the Old World and the 25 years of background associated with it. If anything was going to tempt me in though, it would be these. They really are gorgeous sculpts.I might even pick some up to add to my 8th edition Druchii army.
Despite having no interest in the gaming system, this reveal still got me thinking. Dark Elves and Slaanesh have always been closely linked in design and imagery. Granted DE have always had a healthy dose of Khainite influence thrown in too, but the resemblance is there to see, especially in older models.
It's been pretty clear for a while that GW doesn't know what to do with Slaanesh. Being the god of Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll, the subject matter he/she/it covers has been rather at odds with GW's more 'kid friendly' leanings in the last decade or so.
Putting aside the fact that their IP is built on a universe where murder, plague and genocide are par for the course, Slaanesh has steadily been getting less and less attention from GW. This was especially obvious from the recent codex release for Daemons.
The question is: how do they reconcile the classic look and imagery associated with Slaanesh with something a bit more family friendly? I think this release is pointing the way.
Witch Elves have always been scantily clad berserker women. The 6th edition models were literally dressed in just shoulder guards and a loincloth. The plastics a few years later weren't much better. It's why I was surprised that they focused on updating the Witch Elves before the rest of the Elf range.
I think GW needs to take a look at what they've done to 'modernise' the look of Witch Elves in this release and apply the same line of thinking to their Slaanesh range. They need to remember that he/she/it is the god of all excess, rather than just being about sex and pleasure. Imagine an updated Slaanesh focussing on pride, gluttony, envy and all the other deadly sins besides lust. It would be something quite glorious to behold.
I would really like see the followers of the Youngest God get some love within both the CSM and Daemon ranges. It's rather galling not even to be able to buy a complete box of Noise Marines for my Emperor's Children atm.
What do you think of these releases? I'd also be interested in hearing your thoughts on the direction GW should go with Slaanesh. It's certainly a thorny issue.
The Dark Elves were always the army that would have got me into WFB but thankfully I never took the plunge.
ReplyDeleteI'm in agreement that GW is still unsure what to do with Slaanesh in 40k. I always thought that they robbed themselves of ideas when they released the Dark Eldar. I had always envisioned the Emperor's Children as something akin to the Cenobites from Hellraiser, Marines that are incapable of distinguishing the difference between pleasure and pain. Beings that take excess to such an extreme that their nature and aesthetics become alien to mere mortals.....pretty much what the Drukhari Haemonculi are now.
Hopefully we won't have to wait too many years before GW share their vision of what a Slaanesh Marine will look like ;-)
The problem with Slaanesh is that Games Workshop has an established 30 plus years of lore. Slaanesh has always been based on drugs and sex. Look at the original designs in the Realm of Chaos books. It may not be politically correct but one of the elements that draws Warhammer gamers to Slaanesh is the titillation of what Slaanesh is perceived to be.
ReplyDeleteYeah, there has always been a risque element to Slaanesh, I just think that the ideas behind the Dark Eldar limited the direction they could go with Slaanesh from an aesthetic view. Torture and body mutilation/modification are now firm edicts of the Druhkari and while Slaanesh embodies the idea of excess in extremis, it isn't straight forward to show such mental obsessions without resorting to titillation, body modification or mutilation.
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of the Keeper of Secrets, I like what they've done aesthetically with the Slaanesh Daemons......then again, I'm one of the few people I know who loves the Fiends of Slaanesh ;-)
What drew me to Slaanesh isn't so much the titillation aspect, but more of how it covers some of the most complex and fascinating sides of the human character. Pride, ambition, envy, obsession, plus of course desire and how it can be turned against someone and bring out the very worst parts of themselves. It's certainly a lot more complex than 'Blood and Skulls!'.
ReplyDeleteI do agree they need to return to the older chaos lore and draw from that, as I definitely think the Dark Eldar robbed GW of a lot of ideas for the Slaanesh line, but there's still a lot of areas to explore, they just have to take a step back from the cliche Slaanesh is portrayed as.
On further reflection, i think it's not so much an issue with the models, more how to convey 'Slannesiness' in rules form.
Rules-wise I'm hoping they make it a debuffing army, as they play with the ambitions and fears of the opponent. I can see leadership being the big one to target, but also stuff like the potential to shut down overwatch and being hard to hit as the whispering voices do their work on the enemy's psyche.
There's elements of that already in the rules for the Masque and Fiends, but they really need to ramp it up.
@Castigator: Don't worry, I love the Fiends too. They're beautiful, but in a twisted, inhuman way :)