As much as I have grumbled about Chaos Daemons I think I am going to come back to then after my wedding is out the way (selling myself 7th Sept, not long now!) and start a Chaos Daemons army. Actually, I like, it will be a Dark Mechanicus army. Reason for Dark Mech is a like dark daemon robots and these guys fit the parts. Plus conversions make your army look really unique. Without conversions my army would just like any other Chaos Daemon army.
My idea for an army is something I always wanted to do and that is big monsters. So I can get the maximum amount of monsters in along with units I like I am going to go CSM allies. It is the first time I have gone the allies route.
This is my 2k list:
Chaos Daemons w/ Chaos Space Marines 'Dark Mechanicus' - 2,000 points
HQ
Keeper of Secrets - mastery level 3 & 2 x greater rewards
Daemon Prince - daemon of slaanesh, wings, power armour & the black mace
Troops
10 x Pink Horrors
10 x Pink Horrors
10 x Chaos Cultists
Fast Attack
10 x Flesh Hounds
10 x Flesh Hounds
Heldrake - baleflamer
Heavy Support
Daemon Prince - daemon of slaanesh, daemonic flight, warp forged armour & 2 x greater rewards
Daemon Prince - daemon of slaanesh, daemonic flight, warp forged armour & 2 x greater rewards
Daemon Prince - daemon of slaanesh, daemonic flight, warp forged armour & 2 x greater rewards
Total: 2,005
Yeah, yeah I am over by 5 points. Yup I am naughty.
Dark Mech Think Tank
Keeper of Secrets
For the Keeper I wanted something like the first picture; multi eyed, tattered robes, bladed arms to resemble a Keeper and various wires. I was stuck on the legs and thought a serpentine bottom end would be great. This is the start of my Keeper, it needs some more work on the tail and cape:
I'll smooth the cape over in areas and make it look slightly more tatty. I'll add greenstuff onto the tail so it doesn't look like an electrical cable and also add greenstuff to the torso as they was quick work just to get the tail attached to the body.
Mace Prince
For the Mace Prince I wanted something CSM-y and thought of a Helbrute. Originally I thought of giving it wings, but I don't think this will work and I think it would be better to make jump packs or something. Only things in my bits box at the moment are havoc launchers, which I was thinking of mounting and then running cables into the head. I am planning on cutting away the entire front facial plate and putting in a CSM Rhino smoke launcher for a head, behind will be mutation using greenstuff and many cables, some of these cables will run to the jump packs.
First thoughts for the Mace Prince is something like this:
I've been having trouble doing a conversion for the black mace. I've had several ideas; use a Soul Grinder sword and add axe heads, use a Dreadknight hammer, use part of the Screaming Bell kit. As much as these will look cool I don't think they are very Dark Mech. Then I found this image:
Giant chain sword! This will be perfect for Dark Mech and look at the size of the thing, surely this is going to wound on a 2+ and generate attack attacks!
Both sample images have sections of the armour cut away revealing the face, if I can put a hood over the smoke launcher and run a cable from between it down into the chest it will look more like a robotic head.
All I would need to do on the Helbrute is add some ribbed robos and servo skulls/tendrils, though at the end of the tendrils will be daemon heads instead of skulls :)
Pink Horrors & Cultists
First thought for these was using Crypt Ghouls, they they maybe a little fiddly. The idea was to greenstuff ripped robes over them and replace an arm with a chainsword. These would be the Cultists and would be Servitors.
Has anyone got any ideas for a big ass chainsword? I think the Stompa one maybe too big.
The Horrors I've had the thought of replacing the tentacles with greenstuff (greenstuff tentacle maker) and adding robes and hey presto, robo tentacle Daemons!
Flesh Hounds
I think the Flesh Hound models are really shit. Plus they are old and in metal, this will make them very difficult to work with. I did think of Dire Wolves, but I use them for Dark Eldar Khymerae plus I don't think the undead look will suit Dark Mech. I did think of Chaos Warhounds, but I do not like them. Then I had the idea of Space Wolf Fenrisian Wolves. I could replace limbs with cable entwined into some kind of foot. Like the Pink Horrors, I could add green stuff tentacles to them giving them a robo dog look. To make them look Flesh Hounds and keep in the Dark Mech theme I would just dry brush them red many times and add silver to the robotic parts.
Heldrake
The Heldrake at first I thought would be the hardest to work with. I am not a huge fan of the Heldrake model as it is very static with the pose. Then I thought of a Zombie Dragon! All this would need doing is remounting on a large oval base and then using the greenstuff tentacle maker go crazy. To give it a daemonic look replace the head with the plasma head from the Forgefiend.
Daemon Princes
For the Princes I'll be using the Daemon Prince models and doing some serious work on them. I'll replace the head with CSM smoke launchers and run a cable from it down to the stomach area, just like the Helbrute. I'll then add a tattered cloak and hood to it. I'll then chop up the left hand and replace that with some kind of ranged weapon plus greenstuff - my Princes will be using the lash of slaanesh gift, so that will do nicely for some shooty. I may replace the other hand with choppy bits or just use the normal Prince arm. All of them will be done CSM style as the Dark Mech tend to wear armour or power armour even.
That's my plans anyway. If you have any ideas I can steal or general feedback and tips that would be super awesome!