Slann Renegade with looted weapons (1984)

This mini comes from the Magnificent Sven scenario, published in 1984, and it is classified as "Slann warrior". The sculpt is from the Perry Twins. What I love about this Slann are the details that make it special: the crest over the head, making it look special and "punk"; the interesting mix of traditional Slann and metal weapons, which gives it the look of a deserter with looted equipment. The slightly crouched, defensive position, as if about to ambush an enemy.

Besides Imperial Slann and Savage Slann, an interesting and often overlooked faction of Lustria are the Renegade Slann. Those born within the Empire who, for practical or ideological reasons, forsake it and live as outlaws. They may be deserters from the Imperial Army, religious or political dissidents, escaped criminals. Sometimes simply followers of the Forbidden Gods.

They survive on the outskirts of the Slann Empire as bandits, smugglers or mercenaries. They are generally nomadic, always on the run from their foes, but sometimes they may form permanent communities. Unlike Imperial Slann, they have no qualms about adopting foreign customs - they are fond of iron and steel weaponry and they are ready to learn the lore of the ghanazil (non-Lustrians) - if those serve their purpose.

 

The Champion of Xiatapek - Diehard Miniatures Eru-kin (2017)

Yet another Eru-kin off the painting list. After attending BOYL 2019 and seeing so many colourful Slann I was inspired to veer away from the usual green and experiment with something else.

This particular figure has been painted as a Champion of Xiatapek, the Slann god of violence, brutality and rage. Represented as a monkey, Xiatapek shares many traits with Khaine and Khorne: it is a warrior god that revels in bloodletting and the ritual killing of opponents.

Xiatapek's colours are black and vermilion. His temples are often built of black stone and his ritual weapons are the mace and the macahuitl, often equipped with obsidian blades, but many sacrifices are also carried on without weapons: victims are beaten to death with fists, kicks and headbutts, and their throats are then ripped open with a bite.

Followers of Xiatapek are rightly feared by anyone with common sense, as they are often violent adrenaline junkies just looking for trouble. Many among them are protagonists or mercenaries. In battle, they spurn complicated tactics in favour of sudden charges that are as likely to take the enemy by surprise as they are to end in a bloodbath on both sides.

In spite of the bad reputation of its devotees, Xiatapek is a surprisingly popular god and almost every Slann settlement has a temple or shrine devoted to him. He is, in fact, a slayer of monsters and daemons and images of him are often carved on doors to protect a household from dangers and ill-fortune. Before going to war, it is customary to offer a sacrifice to him among Imperial and Savage Slann alike.

A secondary aspect of Xiatapek is the dominion of fear. He is said to be able to instil fear in enemies and remove it from the heart of its followers. Priests of Xiatapek are often completely immune to any fear and they are known to celebrate festivals with competitions of courage that involve walking on this poles over gaping pits or being covered in poisonous snakes or scorpions.

Bolibar the Toad-Slann - Pintamilkada from Citadel C32 Pintamilkada Slann (1986)

This glorious Slann from the C32 range, sculpted by the Perry Twins, is obviously depicting the so-called Toad-Slann, the Emperor's favourite warleaders, blessed with a higher ascendancy compared to common Slann.

His head seems bulkier than other Slann figures in the same range, and he sports a heavy armour and fancy decorations that mark him as a leader. Specifically, he will be the leader of my Slann warband: Bolibar the Great, famous general and fearsome warrior among the Imperial Slann.

I painted his skin a darker shade of green compared to other Slann, to make him more fearsome, and I gave him colourful feathers and plumes to help him stand out. I am not so happy with the yellow of the eyes, armour and the feathers, that looks way too similar to each other. Perhaps one day I'll change them. Notice the obsidian head of his polearm and the jade decorations on his halberd and his lips: the only metal element is his golden armband.

The figure is nice but the paintjob is a bit dull: I need to experiment more, but I learn a couple of useful lessons here, about what not to do :)

Bull Slann with Scimitar - Diehard Miniatures Eru-kin (2017)

I'm starting to like these. This is the second Eru-kin I paint and I enjoy it. It's a nice miniature with the right proportions and fun to paint.

I went for a black and yellow pattern, on a green skin. The shield came out particularly well, and I especially like it since it's a homage to this picture by Paul Bonner - in my opinion, one of the best Slann images ever.

Syssghar the Blademaster - Citadel C32 Slann "Cupacocoa" (1986)

I've looked a long time for this miniature, and when I finally got it on eBay I had to pay a dear price for it, but it was worth it. Perry Brothers's "Cupacocoa" from the Citadel C32 Slann range, first seen on the March 1986 Flyer.

This was the miniature that inspired an unforgettable NPCs in our WFRP game, Syssghar, one of the minions of the mad Slann Wizard Anguissh: he was the honourable nemesis to my Sea Elf PC for a long time, before becoming his friend and ally against the Wizard, who had gone just too far in his research on Gods and Chaos. The best part is that the double knife wielding martial artist is still around in the campaign, a renegade to his own people, hiding somewhere in the slums of Luccini where he probably makes a living as an assassin for the local mobsters.

This miniature is sensational because it is one of the most dynamic from the Golden Age. The combat pose is wide (it actually requires a larger base) and gives the idea of a character ready to leap and strike at any moment. It sums the agility and deadliness of Slann warriors, often underestimated as wild barbarians, but actually possessed of remarkable quickness and combat technique.

The sculpt is full of little details, from the jewellery to the stripes hanging from the headset and the collar. Feathers crown the headset and the belt. Metal rings decorate arms and legs, and more rings are hung at the ears (?) and the neck. The blades are one curved and one straight, suggesting a complementary use within a complex attack and defence system.

I just love it, period. Soon I'll post more Slann - with my Lustria Sourcebook project ongoing, I just can't stop the good vibe about them :)

Citadel Slann and their successors

 

When you reach the venerable age of 38 and you're still into miniatures, most people will tend to consider you a child who never grew up, but that's not entirely true. Children are children, all right, they are in love with the hobby, but something inside of you is different, and that's the part that proves that you are not child, but in fact an old man. A grumbly old man.

All of us, even those who have the bravery to admit that AoS is actually cool, have succumbed at least once (or more) to the urge to grumble. Italians have a nice word for it: brontolone. Bronto- come from the Greek and means "thunder" (as in brontosaurus, yes) and fittingly calls to mind the image of a distant storm on the horizon, lightning flashing, thunder quietly rolling - all of the evening. There might be even some raindrops on your car, just to make it dirty, but no big actual storm. Just this constant and useless rolling thunder. The French have another word: grognard. That's the word I'm gonna use to tag all posts whose content could be summarized into "back in my time, things were different". Young people rant, we do not: we grumble. Face it, it's in our nature.

This was a very long preamble to introduce the subject of Slann miniatures. We all know who the Slann are (or were, back in my time before the retcon). But where do their concept come from, originally?

I believe the first sketch ever of the Slann might be this piece by John Blanche, titled "Troglodytes", which I found on Ratspike. In spite of the name, these are clearly Slann: the shape of the head, the armour, even the pyramid in the background.

A more mature sketch is the following, also by Blanche. Here the Slann have already developed their name and are drawn in more confident strokes.

After this, GW's staff set themselves to work. Tony Ackland drew Slann for the 2nd Edition of WFB (1983), and also in the later articles Kremlo the Slann (1983) and the Magnificent Sven (1984):

Moreover at the same time, in 1983-1984 - difficult to tell if illustrators influenced sculptors, or it was the other way around - the Perry twins sculpted the first, glorious C32 figures.

These were quite succesful and, in 1986, Citadel issued a new series of Slann, sculpted by Trish Morrison. And these were beautiful, too: it was difficult to spot the difference with the Perry pieces.

Then, for no apparent reason, something terrible happened. The 1987 new Slann relase, designed together by Trish and Aly Morrison, came out, and they looked nothing like the originals:

The new Slann looked more like clumsy toads trying to stand on two feet (with little success). Heads became wide and flat, eyes bulged out and torsos almost disappeared. This was the end of classic Slann: the whole "amphibian master-race from Space" concept was forgotten and, in 1997 they were retconned in favour of the Old Ones and the Lizardmen.

What was left to us, with the name Slann, was this. A bloated, big-headed toad:

And that's the end, as far as GW is concerned. But a lot of people still loved the Slann and independent manufacturers tried to support them with new figures. For some reason, though, most of them were more frogmen than actual Slann as we knew them.

I believe Mirliton's Kermitians were the first. I have a lot of respect for Mirliton, and that's why I will not comment on these figures.

Then it was probably Ral Partha who issued their Bullfrogs. They had way more character than Mirliton's Kermitians, but still looked like anthropomorphic frogs.

Reaper Frogmen are suspiciously similar to the previous, with a bit detail, but with the same inherent flaws.

Otherworld Boglings are less frogs, and more TMNT from the movie (the ugly ones).

Mantic's Frogmen are just more of the same. Good figures, mind me, but nowhere close to the original Slann. These are frogmen, period.

Katsina were the first to give up the "frog on two legs" idea and get closer to the original, with exotic weapons and feathered helms. These are nice, but still only a first step towards the original Perry. To put it clearly: put them on a table next to each other, and you will spot the difference from three metres distance.

And just when everything seemed lost, lo! Tim Prow comes out with the Eru-Kin. And let me say: these are the nicest Slann-like miniatures made after 1986.

Diehard brings out all the old colour (light armour of plates + leather strips, round shields, feathered helms, weird weapons and a meso-American feel) and adds some more in the same tune: this is how you do good Oldhammer in the 2010s. Sure, you say, there is significant difference in the heads:

On one side, a big, tall, bloated head. On the other a more lizard-like, long and flat one. Sure, copyright is still a thing and GW isn't kind to those challenging them. You can't call them Slann. You can't do them exactly the same as John Blanche first drew them. Still, these to me look more "right" than the 1987 Citadel toad-people.

In a perfect world, we would have a second set of heads to replace the lizard-like ones, but in the meantime I must say I am very happy about these. Will probably try to fix them with some greenstuff: I'll let you know how it goes. But even without any fix, this is a huge step in bringing Oldhammer back. Well done, Tim Prow!

Slann with Blowpipe - Citadel C32 Slann: Akabylk (1986)

On we go painting Slann, with the second addition to what should, in perspective, become a Savage Slann warband. Here you can see its first member.

To keep the two matching, I kept the same pattern on the skin: the basic complexion is obtained through mixes of Vallejo Olive Green and Lime Green, while the streaks are Citadel Caledor Blue. Everything got a wash of Biel-Tan Green and then a highlighting with the original colours. I'm quite happy with the final result, which achieves a successful mimetism with the grass of the base and the water tank accessories I use as battlefield elements for Lustria.

This miniature, along with the Slann Shaman I did a couple of months ago, is also part of the slotta C32 range, sculpted by Trish Morrison, and was presented in the 1986 Citadel May flyer. It is name "Akabylk" - the pun here was unrecognizable to me and I only learned it from another fellow Oldhammerer's blog - which is a corruption of the name Acker Bilk, a British Jazz musician. Why? He played the clarinet, of course!

The figure looks relatively plain, but there are some nice details here and there. The Slann wears a loincloth made of alligator or crocodile hide, with some fur on the inside which I painted fox reddish. The detail on my miniature was dulled, possibly because of stripping (I got it from ebay). Strings hold the loincloth in place and allow the blowpipe to be hung from the shoulder: I painted both as red leather.

Between the legs is something of which I'm not sure. It could be a wickerwork decoration for the loincloth, or a wicker basket full of something. I just painted it the colour of dried grass. For the base I used a base of Vallejo German C. Black Brown, one of the colours I use most, which I covered with Citadel Stirland Battlemire, washed in black and drybrushed in lighter brown (Vallejo Flat Brown, which has a nice reddish finish). Using vinylic glue I put a couple of reeds from a Noch pack bought years ago at a fair, and I must say they do their job. It looks better than the other base I did for the Shaman - I think it really brings out the character of the crouched figure ready to strike its target with a poisoned dart. What do you think? Let me know if you have the same miniature and found different solutions for painting a basing, I'm quite interested!

Slann Shaman - Citadel C32 Slann: Ribbet Ribbet (1986)

My second Slann miniature is this: Ribbet Ribbet, first seen in the 1986 Citadel May flyer, part of the C32 range.

It's a pretty good piece, designed by Trish Morrison. It represents a Slann, shorter than others, in a seemingly dancing or jumping pose. He holds a staff in his left hand, topped with what could be a wooden image of a bird's head, decorated with feathers. His right fist is raised. His body is covered by a crocodile/alligator skin, with fur on the inside, held together by strips of rope or leather. From the neck hangs a small animal skull.

There is no background for this miniature but I am pretty sure it was meant to represent some kind of shaman or witch doctor, a follower of the animal-shaped new gods of the Slann.

It is a grotesque history, that of the Slann - from all powerful world shapers to a people of savages living in jungles and worshipping gods born from the cataclysm that doomed their own race. A feeling of grotesque, incidentally, is one of the main foundations of Old School Warhammer. Chaos at that time was grotesque and everything it touched was tainted by such feel.

There isn't much background on Slann in the original material, so during my WFRP years our group created a great deal of it for our campaigns. According to our own house fluff, the core cities of the Slann maintain old culture better than peripheric areas. But as one travels to the swamps and hills of the north and east, Slann become more and more primitive. Their skin is often marked by other colours and this shaman displays blue streaks and spots on the back.

Dancing to the rythm of ancient rituals developed thousands of years ago, this Shaman is able to call to the animals of the jungle, speak to them and command them to do his bidding, all thanks to the blessings of the New Gods.

Right, I'll have to build two Slann warbands now: one for the imperial cities, and one for the remote jungles. They will be good factions for Mordheim/Shadespire games set in Lustria. Lots of fun coming!