With the new Chaos Marine codex changing up point costs and making some units more attractive than before, I figured it was time to re-examine my Slaanesh CSM army and see what I could build out from my collection of abandoned sprues, as well as a few new purchases. First up - I'm adding bikes. Bikes are the new (old) hotness thanks to their massive point reduction and 6th Edition's bike rules, and I just happen to have 6 bike sprues that I've been sitting on for a few years now. That's just perfect for a Lord on a bike and a 5-man bike squad with the Icon of Excess. T5 I5 Feel No Pain bikes? Yes, please. My only conundrum at this point is whether to give the bikers plasmaguns or meltaguns. Meltaguns make them a threat against more vehicles, but plasma guns get more shots, are equally nasty against 2+ armor, and benefit from the bike's Relentless rule. I also have spare plasmagun bits, whereas I'd have to order more meltaguns, so there's definitely incentive to work with what I have.
I'm also thinking of expanding my Noise Marine squads, and that means more sonic weapons. Fortunately, the new Finecast sonic weapon add-on packs are available, and I have to say I'm a fan. I've ordered the old metal bits packs before, and the new packs are superior in just about every way. First, it's not metal. Oh, how I hate putting metal arms on a plastic mini. I'm really looking forward to using Finecast bits instead. Second, I'm impressed with the bits themselves. I really think that GW is shaking out the bugs in the Finecast process, because this set (and the Emperor's Children set next to it) are absolutely pristine. There's no miscasts or bubbles in the entire set that I've been able to find. Is there flash? Sure, but no where near the flash from the early days of Finecast, and it all cleans up very easily. Third, the price is one of the cases (which are slowly getting more common) where the Finecast switch has actually lead to a price decrease. The old metal bits were $22.50 (I verified from old order receipts); the new Finecast pack is $15. That's a win as far as I'm concerned.
Next up is Lucius. Now, while I waxed a bit ecstatic about Lucius in my last post, I've come around to realizing that he's not necessarily the bee's knees compared to a standard Lord - as I said, I'm looking at a Lord on a bike now. I still like him, though, and I promised myself when Finecast was announced that if/when Lucius came out in Finecast, I would buy one. Well, here he is, and once again, he's just about perfect in Finecast. Sharp detail, fits together like a charm, nice and light and easy to work with - everything I like about the material. I know there are people that hate the material, and GW definitely deserves some drubbing for the poor quality of a lot of the initial releases, but I think that their QA department has been stepping up their game over time. I'm looking forward to getting him painted up and looking appropriately scarred and terrible.
Now, this one has nothing to do with my Slaaneshi CSM, but it's more about where they play. I don't have the space for a gaming table in our house, but we do have a round, oblong kitchen table. The rounded edges making playing 40K as-is problematic, but if I had a playing surface to set on it, I'd be good to go. Somehow, my friendly local game store lucked upon a Realm of Battle board back when they were originally released, and it's been sitting and gathering dust for years. I managed to score some extra funds, and on Friday I finally made it mine. Getting this painted, flocked, and prepped for use will be a bit of a project, but maybe I can enlist a couple of friends to speed the process up... and then play games on it!