After many months of work the Slann team is finally complete!

From a modelling perspective this is the most ambitious project I have ever completed. A huge amount of conversion and greenstuff work was needed to change 3 very different model ranges into the different slann positionals as well as convert them to look like Blood Bowl players. I had wanted to do this team last year but ran out of time, scaling back the number of projects I was working on certainly paid off.

The last model I needed to finish was Lotta, originally I had planned on using the jumping khorne herald for him since he has passblock and catch. But since Quetzal has “leap” in his name the model was more appropriate for him. I had to buy a 2nd hand cannon of khorne to get the plastic herald I wanted, though it did come with 2 normal bloodletters in different poses to use as normal blitzers which worked out to be a good deal.



Sadly the model I got had already been glued together and not very well which meant a lot of work was needed to dismantle him and clear off the overflown glue. The most difficult part was getting him pose right, I had hit upon the idea of him being in a similar pose to that adopted by American football players on the LOS. I used that same pose for 3 of the skinks on the lizardman team from last year. This involved chopping up his legs and re-pinning them into a kneeling down position, made all the more complicated by him having an extra joint in his legs. Eventually I got it to work, but am not 100% satisfied as he doesn’t quite fit on a 30mm base and does look a little too much like a monster stalking its prey rather than a player ready to spring into action.



But considering I haven’t seen much in the way of models representing these 2 stars I am pretty happy with them both. For his armour he already came with forearm guards sculpted on and separate thigh guards that I used. I then added a loin cloth and single shoulder pad so that he would match the amount of armour as the standard blitzers. As with them I sculpted a helmet based on artwork from the old 3rd edition Warhammer armies book. Since he was a star I gave it a bit more decorative patterns and a large feathered headdress from a reiksguard knight.



As with the blitzers he was painted a darker shade than the linemen, but being a star he went even darker, somewhere between the blitzers and krox. His equipment was painted in standard team colours, red armour with a yellow border. I felt he was already different enough in appearance from the rest of the team and more colours would outbalance him. His shoulder pad was painted the same way as Quetzal, to show them both as stars.




After going through a few ideas for the display base I ended up with something very similar to the jungle themed one of the lizardmen. With Slann being even more aquatic I added more water with a small river running through it. The team logo was again cut out of plasticard and stuck on a central island, this time with only the krox standing on it. Although this is a time-consuming and blade destroying process I do really like how it turned out and would like to do a team with an entire base like this one day. It would need forward planning to have the bases of all the players done before I started painting them.



As a change from the lizardmen I painted the NAF logo in team colours rather than making it look like an ancient stone and gold mosaic. Although this was brighter I prefer the stone look, in particular the cracks and maybe should have made it like coloured stone with a gold rather than yellow border.
The base itself was painted dark green with the edges of the water done a lighter shade before various flocks, lichens and static grass were glued to it. The water is made from the same clear resin I used last year and a couple of coats were needed for a good covering. I ensured that the water and key patches of grass would match up with the individual player bases as well. Since it can be tricky to match these by eye I have numbered the voids to assist with this.
Since Lotta was a bit too large for his base and both his hand and foot went over the edge of it I had to chop into the foam to make space for him.





With both these items completed the team is now finished. After the rather generic lizardmen and high elf teams I did the last 2 years it was nice to get back to something more unique such as the norse dwarfs or khemri from 2013 and 2012 respectively. Slann are one of the least popular teams with them being so new, tricky to use and not having as many models available as more established races. But they are a interesting team to use requiring new tactics for both them and opposition, I hope the GT winner gets some enjoyment out of them.

Below are pics of all the models with their bases done.