Space Slann

 

This one's been a long time coming. Inspired by @court_of_the_yellow_king's #RogueTrader28 idea, I started kitbashing this group of Space Slann in early 2023. A lot of setbacks and breakthroughs happened in that time. Finally they're finished (mostly). More pics, background and homebrew Slann lore below the jump...

Appropriate for an ancient lost civilisation of 40k, there's some archaeology needed in reconstructing a Slann army. The lore is sparse and their designs, despite being excellent, never saw updates past the old world of Rogue Trader. I decided to refer to the modern Aeldari army list to inspire the troop types, since I think they're the closest comparison to Slann. I'm not sure I would have chosen to do this if I started the project in 2025, but my thought process when I started this project back in 2023 is lost to me now! Even thouh I went off track, that process turned up some cool ideas.

The basic Slann fighters then are the equivalent of Aeldari Guardians, with shuriken rifles and/or shuriken pistols and hand weapons. I was also working on a Serpent's Scale shield drone to accompany them, but haven't completed this yet. Each of these models was based on the recent plastic Chameleon Skink set for Age of Sigmar. The tails were lopped off, of course. The guns are made from end-parts of spears from the recent Saurus Warrior kit, combined with the Chameleon blowpipes.

 The leader (Autarch) is the most different in design, and I think it's closer to the original depiction of Slann in its proportions. Unfortunately, the Tzaangor body it's based on is really the only Tzaangor body that works with this design. The scale-mail skirt is unique to that body, and all of the others are much more obviously Tzeentchy. So this one is a one off.

To explain the different body shape, I'm saying this is a Bull Slann. In my lore for these, when a Slann is appointed to lead a unit, the position of authority stimulates a natural hormonal change to its metabolism - the Bull Slann puffs up and grows big and strong and aggressive. This physiological state is temporary, and it goes back to normal when it returns to civilian life.

The breakthrough with this model was realising I could turn the Chameleon Skink heads into convincing frog heads by cutting them down the middle, and then angling the two halves outwards to make the head much wider (green stuff to fill in the big gap and round out the head). This worked perfectly on the Bull Slann, using one of the blowpipe blowing heads which had puffed out frog cheeks already. I replicated this technique to give most of the other Slann wide frog heads too, but the two basic fighters were already mostly built and I didn't want to dismantle them to do this - so they remain with skinny lizard heads. Actually some of the old Blanche art for Space Slann depicts the Slann as amiguously lizard-like so I think this appearance still fits.

The next most unusual Slann is the equivalent of a Farseer. This one connects two bits of my homebrew lore quite nicely: the Slann's amphibian physiology, and their reckless tinkering with the Warp. A Slann Wayswimmer retains neotenous traits that call back to the Slann's larval amphibious nature. But its dual environment is not water and land, but instead realspace and the Warp. A Wayswimmer uses its form to make forays into the Warp to further the Slann's technological and psykic aims. The stone on its back is a fragment that ties it to realspace.

The Tzompantli bearer is perhaps the equivalent of an Aeldari Dark Reaper. The tzompantli (skull rack) was scratch built, with skulls drilled and pinned onto brass rod, and then into two plasticard sidings.

This one could have used a ranged weapon, but at least the single Tau skull on the rack indicates it's a sci-fi miniature and not a fantasy Slann.

As for this chap, I think by now I'd departed from the Aeldari army list. This one is reminiscent of a Skink Shaman, but its staff is actually a rifle. Perhaps it's a sniper.

Finally, two models where Aeldari army list pushed me to come up with some interesting lore. I considered what might take the role of a Wraithguard in a Slann army, and came up with these geometric stone robots. The models are in fact old metal Battletech mechs, which I sought out because of their beautiful geometric shapes. I painted them up like stone and added some grass and moss pads (and also a little red lizard on ones shoulder).

These are Wind Spirit constructs - made by Slann artisans, and animated by "Wind Spirits". In fact the spirits are minor Warp entities, probably the weakest daemons of the warp, with no patron deity, and little strength to act on their own. In return for a bespoke body, the Wind Spirits will obey the Slann's command. And if they show any signs of disobeying, the Slann will banish them without a second thought.

In my homebrew lore, the Slann have an annoying knack for messing around with the Warp and somehow getting away with it. You can see this in the Wind Spirits and the Wayswimmer. This calls back to the Old Ones and their many follies. Perhaps this might prove self-destructive in time...

There's more to this project, but I'm leaving it as "finished" for now. There's more ideas I didn't really accomplish, and maybe a second pass will make me feel happier about it. In the maentime there's more projects waiting on some much needed attention...

Thanks for reading!
Hek