Space Slann! The Archaeo-Expeditionary Force of Mage-Chief Nohoch-Mul...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I was in a painting mood, so finally managed to plow on and get my Space Slann army to a state of almost completion, and I think that merits a big ol' post!

The force on parade...

More Interstellar Amphibians after the cut...

Background

So, firstly, some background on my Slann. I've decided that they're a small, long-range expeditionary force, who have arrived at the edge of Imperium space and are now flitting between planets, searching for ancient sites containing artifacts from their distant past, on planets long-since abandoned by their Slann ancestors. (Slanncestors?)

Their usual tactic is that their main ship stays in orbit whilst they send down a transport ship with a diplomatic team (along with a small bodyguard retinue) to attempt to deal with the locals in a peaceful manner. Being so far from their spawning planet, their supplies are starting to dwindle, and they frequently trade with planets for goods, weapons and other more arcane artifacts.

If trade fails, or if the Slann find their ancient sites have been desecrated, the diplomatic team returns to the main ship and a larger, more heavily armed force will descend on the planet to collect whatever artifacts they can obtain. If their sensors detect taints of chaos on the surface, they will however forgo the first step and perform a massive pre-emptive strike, occasionally virus bombing the entire planet from orbit and then picking over the remains.

Organisation

The Slann are a Caste based race, with the vast majority of Slann being a plain greeny-yellow colour, making up most of the various warrior and working castes. More exotically coloured or patterned Slann are usually found in positions of power, and the rarer the colour, the more likely they are to exhibit psychic powers.

The Force

Mage-Chief Nohoch-Mul

Mage-Chief Nohoch-Mul

He's not actually converted at all, and probably still available from GW, but is a really nice model and makes a great centrepiece to the army.

Diplomatic Team K'Ulaj

L-R: Head Accountant S'Nclar, Lobotomised Human Banner Bearer, High Lord Ge'Za, unnamed attendant with Fan and Chief Negotiator A'Kaz. 

These are the first Slann to land on a planet's surface and attempt to deal with the natives, offering to trade in exchange for goods and the rights to conduct archaeological excavations. As you can see, their colouring shows them to be of higher castes, with Ge'za's very rare light blue showing him to be of a very high Caste indeed.

Model-wise, these are Space Slann Huvez, a converted WFB lobotomised human slave with a banner made of one of Diehard miniatures shields, An excellent Colony 87 Space Frog, a fan bearer from the old Slann Palanquin, and a converted WFB Slann blowpipe warrior with a gun and RT scanner.

Individual shots: 

High Lord Ge'Za

Unnamed attendant with Fan

Chief Negotiator A'Kaz

Head Accountant S'Nclar

Lobotomised Human Banner Bearer

Warrior Command Cho'o'jinel

L-R: Warrior Priest Chu-Kajaw, Bodyguard, War Chief Q'Alel, bodyguard, Warrior Priest Teox'Ibal

If negotiations fail for whatever reason, then jurisdiction is passed over to the War Chief, Q'Alel, who lands with his retinue and as many warriors as are needed. Q'Alel is accompanied by the two highest ranking Warrior Priests on the expedition, who act as massively powerful psychic warriors to augment Q'Alel's not inconsiderable own powers. He also has two bodyguards to help provide more mundane defence when needed.

Model-wise, these are two lightly converted WFB Slann Priests, the bodyguards are again converted WFB Slann models, with Q'Alel being Space Slann Quinletz. 

Individual shots: 

 War Chief Q'Alel

Bodyguards

 Warrior Priest Chu-Kajaw

Warrior Priest Teox'Ibal

Scout Squad, Clan Riq

These are trailfinders, and scout ahead of the main army in order to map out the enemy's defences and find weak points. They are hardened warriors armed with a varied array of captured trophy weapons, and can easily silence any sentries they may come across, helped by their chameleon-like abilities that enable them to hide when needed. 

Model-wise, these are all converted WFB Slann models with a selection of 40k weapons. 

Ancient Armour Kanoq Ojin pattern

The Kanoq Ojin is a truly ancient piece of Slann weaponry, possessing the immortal soul of a great Slann warrior encased in a near-indestructible robotic armour suit bristling with weaponry. 

Model-wise, This is an old Void War robot I've made up to use as a Dreadnought Proxy with a bunch of GW Lizardman kit parts and some Terminator Lightning Claws. 

Attack Squad, Clan Elam'Aq

Elam'Aq are a veteran Clan who take pride in capturing the weapons of their enemies and using them. Currently they can be seen sporting a selection of Dark Eldar weapons captured from a pirate band they recently eliminated.

Model-wise, again these are converted WFB Slann models with Dark Eldar weapons.

Warrior Team, Clan Ak'koj

 Front View

 Rear View

Clan Koj, identifiable by their R'fftavian Mountain Tiger pelts are a standard warrior team, and armed with a Grenade Launcher.

Model-wise, because there are basically only two trooper variants in the Space Slann range, Llamas and Sschoi (Olassa and Scoitz are tiny so I put them in a separate unit, and the rest are all personalities!) I've had to be a bit inventive with making squads. I've converted one trooper from each squad to be a heavy weapon trooper, and used an individual personality model as the squad leader. Because colour is so important to the Slann, I've differentiated units by the animal fur that they wear as pelts, with the rest being fairly standard apart from some mottling of skin tones etc.

Warrior Team, Clan Kiq

 Front view

Rear view 

This Clan are identified by the Red and orange fur of the Puch'u'm Re'pix, an incredibly rare and dangerous hairy lizard, and the heavy weapon trooper has a Heavy Plasma Gun.

Warrior Team, Clan Q'aq Juyub

 Front view

 Rear view 

This clan wear the pale, mottled fur of the Mixaqaqan Tree Lion, and their special weapon Trooper is armed with a Multi-melta. 

Juvenile Team, Clan Itzel Ak'al

  Front view 

 Rear view 

These are young Slann wanting to prove themselves in battle and move on from the 'training' Clan Itzel Ak'al into one of the 'full' warrior Clans. They have two special weapons troopers, one with a Missile Launcher, and the other with a Shotgun. 

Animal Handler Toq'omel

Utilising huge warhounds from the Deathworld Lustri-4, the handler can rip apart enemy units with ease.

Model-wise this is just the C22 Slann animal handler set with a modified arm to add a weapon.

Skink Suicide Squads

These were just a little experiment I did to provide some variation and add in some more races to the Slann army. I did these and some lizardmen conversions, but have only got the Skinks painted. My initial thought was to use these as suicide attackers, possibly with the occasional bomb pack involved... 

Further notes on Space Slann...

I've basically spent about 12 years in total, on and off, collecting Space Slann models, specifically targeting rank and file models to actually make up an army. As you can see, there were actually only 12 models released, (although there was at least one unreleased model, and rumours of several more.) Of these, only 4 were rank and file, and the rest were characters. Of those 4 rank and file models, 2 were near-unusable as they were practically identical and tiny compared to the other ten models in the range. I've actually utilised them as juveniles in the army as they just looked daft mixed in with the other units. I'd dearly love to get some more models sculpted that fit into the range, just to bulk out a long-forgotten 40k range that I really love.

Anyway, there you go, the results of a very long journey. I've a few extra bits to complete, including another dreadnought suit, some artillery and a spaceship, which I'll put up in the near future.

Have another group shot for posterity: