Lathanshar the Emulatrix
Lathanshar gazed upon the glory of Shalaxi Helbane when they were but a common Daemonette. Seeing the impossible grace of Slaanesh's favoured hunter as they fought a raging Bloodthirster, a new obsession blossomed in Lathanshar's mind. They had to be like Helbane in appearance and skills. To this end, they strived for centuries, hunting down and besting in single combat mortals and daemons alike who displeased Slaanesh with their dullness. For their efforts, Lathanshar was generously rewarded, quickly raising to the rank of Herald. As their kills continued, sensoriums sprout from their head to help them in the hunt, then a claw morphed into a hand and to match it, a third arm emerged from their body. They then halted their hunts and obsessively studied under the best daemonic weaponsmiths to forge themselves a long spear and a shield.In the meantime, however, Slaanesh's attention has wondered elsewhere, and though Lathanshar has retaken their hunts, no new rewards come to them. And so the Herald suffers, for they still miss a claw to truly be like their idol. And as they suffer, Lathanshar grows ever more aggressive, their hunts ever more frenzied, their killings ever more gruesome. And yet, they still are denied...
I got the base model for this conversion for free at the Manchester store when the previous Hedonites of Slaanesh battletome was released. Like so many others, it had languished in the bits box until I had to pack my stuff. It was assembled as a regular Daemonette, but I decided to chop it a bit and convert it.
In the bits box, I had a Daemonette Banner Bearer arm, a Tree-Revenant blade left from converting the Shadowkin, a Witch Aelf head and shield from converting the Shroudmaidens and an arm from the Sisters of Silence. The plan was to keep both claws and have a proper small version of Shalaxi Helbane. Hard as I tried, however, I could not keep both the banner and the claw arms without pushing either of them way too much towards the back of the model. So I had to renounce to that. Everything else fitted in just perfectly, including the Tree-Revenant blade which took the place of the chopped away Slaaneshi icon on top of the banner pole.
The slabs of stone on the base are offcuts from an old movement tray.
Painting-wise, I wanted to try a yellow-green palette, rather than the traditional pink-blue-black, against the Daemonette pale skin. I settled for a golden armour and bright green hair, nails, claw and spurs. I still kept touches of blue and black on the tabard, the shade used for the skin and on the stones on the base. The skin looks a bit too rough, but I'm overall happy with the model.
