Slann. Wizard 1

Slann wizard and their slave litters are one of they great army centrepieces and i am luckily enough to have four of them.

With the first slave unit completed i set confident enough to start one. the slaves were based and painted the same way as the slave unit

Metal work added and rusted using Forgeworld powder

Final shading and touches before adding the blue

Figures finished and matched up with slave fighter

Completed base 

The Slann Mage was painted in greens to give the army a more unified feel

 The litter is painted in subdued shades and more natural colours, drawing on the colours from Apocalypto (scene featuring noble in the city marketplace)

It also keeps the focus on the Slann Mage

His fan Bearer/ personal standard I have put on a separate base (still WIP) I also might add a back banner or two to give it more height

Side by side with Mage I painted about 25 years ago

Slann. Baggage Train 1

Going though the rules I found that you are allowed a free baggage train every 1000 points, which for the Slann consists of a train of porters, 5 Slann bearers and 5 human slaves. My initial thought was to also add a terrain piece, a pile of luggage and food baskets under a canopy.
For the Slann bearers I plan to use one of the loin cloth Slann brave figures and cast up some using GS as i don't have that many figures to spare. For the human slaves I looked at casting up some of the slaves from the wizards litter bearers and have the two poles joined up to have a pack slung below but  I  came across some baggage carrier on Wargames Foundry,  Askaris bearers (DA 021) from their Congo range which fit in well with the original slaves

in the background you can see me sketching out the idea for the baggage dump but i will post more on tat when I start it properly

rebasing and then all ready to paint in the same style as the Slave unit. I used a similar colour range with the baggage to keep the contrast with the face paint

Happy with how these have turned out and match up well with the other slaves, will look at getting some more to use for convoy scenarios. The baggage dump and Slann bearers will have to wait a bit until I get the rest of the 1000 completed!

Wargames Foundry

Slann. Slaves 4

With the Slaver completed it was back to the GS and building collars for the 19 slaves, once it had dried I then added the arms and started to Batch paint them.The shields were prepared separately with the skull motifs being filed off and then painted.

The face paint was added after the skin was completed so it could be seen round the edges and it was clear it was applied paint and not a blue face.

I have decided not to give the unit a standard due to their low standing and lobotomised nature, though when I start on the second unit i might review and add some sort of skull/ corpse topped staff.

The completed unit fits in well with the rest of the painted army and will certainly be added the other unit once I have completed the core units on my list and can get hold of another Slaver

Next on the build list is the Slann Mage...

Slann. Slaves 2

Deciding to use the Ansar Tribesmen set from Perry miniatures for my Slann slaves i needed to do a bit of conversation to help them blend in with the Slann slaves that would be bearing my Slann mages.

using my very basic Green Stuff skills I was able to add a slave collar, though i was very mindful I had now committed myself to having to this another 39 times!

I also decided on using another of the shields from the Goblin sprue, these wooden plank style would match up nicely with old pre-slotta slave designs

I wanted to give him a minimal colour scheme that would would work in massed ranks, kept the robes a dirty white, and a painted face that would mark them as sacrifices as well as tie them in with the colours of the army.

One down and 39 to go...

 

Slann. Slaves 1

all for wanting an army based on frogs, the slave unit is actually one of my favourites. The idea that the Slann are using lobotomised human slaves makes for a unique start point and underlines the alienness of the Slann. i always imagine the Slann view of humans similar to that of the Apes view of humans in the original Planet of the Apes, at best a resource or tool and at worst dangerous vermin.

With the original range several Slann slaves were produced,  several warriors pre-slotta and then a club wielding slave and the mage litter for slot base. 

I had a couple back when I first started collecting and even attempted to cast my own using Plaster of Paris and Lead to very limited success, but starting up again the prices and rarity of slaves makes it impractical.

Looking at a modern alternative I looked at Aztec and Mayan ranges from several companies including Wargames Foundry, The Assault Group (TAG), Eureka Miniatures, Outpost wargames service, Perry Miniatures and Gringo 40  

GW Dwarf, GW Knight, Perry Miniatures, Pre-slotta slave, Slotta Slave, Gringo 40, Slann

overall I found Gringo 40 the best in sculpture quality but a bit too tall, I didn't want the slaves bigger than the Slann or too far from the original style if possible as I would still be using the slaves with the Mages.

Both Wargames Foundry and Outpost Wargames Service also supply extras like banners and shields which I will use but the figures looked a bit small and didn't quite match the slave look I wanted.

Slann slave unit using TAG aztecs from Jon's Wargames  mini'sBlog:

jonswargamesminis.blogspot.co.uk

Slann slave from Perry miniature from theottovonbismark blog 

theottovonbismark.wordpress.com

In the end I have settled on the plastic figures from Perry Miniatures, they are slimmer than the GW slaves but i figure these have been bred to fight and minimal unadorned sculpt works well. Being able to field 40 from a singe box is also very appealing!

The Perry Miniatures come with a range of heads and weapons, I will be using the bare heads and will match them up with GW shields rather than those on the sprue to help blend them into the army