I’ve got a few list archetypes to dissect so we’ll end up looking at a few units and use cases for them as we do so. In this particular post we’ll be looking at a Control Shenanigans list!

Control Shenanigans (1960 points)

ARMY

Grand Alliance Chaos
Hedonites of Slaanesh
Seeker Cavalcade
1960 Points Limit
Drops: 2

Regiments
General's Regiment
Glutos Orscollion, Lord of Gluttony (470)
 • General
Symbaresh Twinsouls (260)
 • Reinforced
Slickblade Seekers (360)
 • Reinforced
Hellstriders (300)
• Reinforced

Regiment 1
Synessa, the Voice of Slaanesh (230)
Blissbarb Seekers (160)
Blissbarb Seekers (160)


Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App
Exported with App Version: 1.0.0
Data Version: v122

The premise behind this list is to take full advantage of some of the objective Control Shenanigans that Slaanesh is capable of. Now from the get-go you might have noticed that I’ve gone for Seeker Cavalcade for the Battle Formation and not Supreme Sybarites.

Battle Formation – Supreme Sybarites – Godly Ambitions

Add 3 to the control scores of friendly non-HERO HEDONITES OF SLAANESH units while they are within the combat ranges of any friendly HEDONITES OF SLAANESH HEROES.

So Supreme Sybarites would dial the Control Shenanigans the list is named for up to 11 and is definitely an option but as you’ll see when we dive into this a bit more it might be a redundant level of Control boosting.

Battle Formation – Seeker Cavalcade – Reckless Haste

Friendly HEDONITES OF SLAANES CAVALRY units can use a RETREAT ability and still use CHARGE abilities later in the turn. In addition, no mortal damage is inflicted on HEDONITES OF SLAANESH CAVALRY units by RETREAT abiltiies.

The Reckless Haste rule from Seeker Cavalcade means that all of the Cavalry options in this list can take advantage of the extra mobility that being able to Retreat and Charge can provide for them. This means that they can take advantage of their bonuses for charging more often, or can disengage to get on with their job of capturing objectives and/or scoring Battle Tactics. We’ll come back to this, but first we’ll have a look at some of the eponymous Control shenanigans.

It starts with Glutos, whose The Grand Gourmand rule is a smorgasboard of rules that help in the objective game.

Glutos Orscollion – The Grand Gourmand

A different effect applies to friendly SYBARITE units each battle round whilst they are wholly within 12″ of this unit, as shown below. The effects of all previous battle rounds also apply to those units while they are wholly within 12″ of this unit.

Battle Round 1:
Starter: Add 1 to run rolls and charge rolls for those units.

Battle Round 2:
Main: Add 3 to those units’ control scores.

Battle Round 3:
Dessert: Add 1 to Hit rolls for those unit’s attacks

Battle Round 4:
Digestif: Add 1 to the Rend characteristic of those units’ melee weapons.

The SYBARITE units in this list are the Hellstriders, Slickblade Seekers, Blissbark Seekers, Symbaresh Twinsouls and Glutos himself. The Starter makes your units faster at getting across the board (and onto objectives) and works beautifully with your Euphoric Killers to help get them into combat. The Main boosts the Control score of your SYBARITES whilst they’re near to Glutos. Dessert boosts hit rolls – and importantly is all attack rolls so your Blissbarb Seekers can benefit too and help you defend the objectives you’ve captured or steal those that belong to your opponent. The Digestif boosts the Rend characteristic of melee weapons, so whilst your Blissbarb Seekers won’t benefit, the Hellstriders and Slickblade Seekers get even more deadly in the last couple of turns if they can remain near Glutos. It’s worth highlighting that whilst Glutos benefits from some of these rules himself the last two won’t as his attacks all have the Companion rule.

Glutos brings a couple of other really useful tools to the table (as well as being a pretty hard-hitting tank with 18 wounds and a 4+/5++ save).

Spell – Crippling Famishment – Casts on a 7+

Pick a visible enemy unit within 18″ to be the target, if cast, until the start of your next turn:

• Halve the target’s Move characteristic.
• Halve Run rolls and Charge rolls for the target.

Keywords: SPELL

Crippling Famishment can completely shut down an enemy unit by halving their move, run and charge which has only gotten more valuable in 4th edition with Counter-Charge being such a threat (especially with Temptation Dice making Counter-Charge a potentially even more attractive option for your opponent).

Glutos Orscollion – Gorge on Excess

Pick a friendly SYBARITE unit wholly within 12″ of the unit, Heal (6) the target

Gorge on Excess takes Glutos’ tankiness to a whole new level but he can also share the healing around to other SYBARITES. There’s nothing in this list that’s going to need to recover 6 wounds but if the big man himself hasn’t taken any damage then knocking some damage off a friendly unit will never be a bad thing!

Glutos is supported in the Control Shenanigans game play by Synessa’s Voice of Slaanesh ability:

Synessa – Voice of Slaanesh

Pick a visible unit within 18″ of this unit to be the target. If the target is a friendly unit, add 5 to the target’s control score for the rest of the turn. If the target is an enemy unit, subtract 5 from the target’s control score for the rest of the turn.

This ability is massive and can allow a swing of 8 on Control Scores when doubled with Glutos’ ability. If you did go with the Supreme Sybarites that’d be potentially 11 when combined! Synessa has a ranged attack and can give your combat units a buff against enemy HEROES with Whispers of Doubt:

Spell – Whispers of Doubt – Casts on a 7+

Pick a visible enemy HERO within 18″ to be the target, if cast, add 1 to hit rolls and wound rolls for combat attacks that target that enemy unit for the rest of the turn.

Keywords: SPELL

Looking at the rest of the list, there are a few other interactions with Control and objectives in general. The Hellstriders are a surprisingly efficient combat unit (surprising as these minis are getting on a bit and it’s almost a surprise they stayed in the index with the newer Mortal Seeker cavalry about now) thanks to their +1 Rend against INFANTRY and +1 Damage on the Charge (a reason for Seeker Cavalcade being the Battle Formation here – to keep Retreating and Charging again to keep that Damage boost up!). The Maiming Charge rule allows them to take the Control Shenanigans on the road!

Hellstriders – Maiming Charge

If this unit charged this turn, subtract 3 from the control scores of enemy INFANTRY units while they are in combat with this unit.

The Blissbarb Seekers make a great utility unit to operate fairly independently as required but also benefit from some of the buffs to SYBARITES that the list can hand out. With 20 wounds they’re quite a durable unit for their points cost too. They can benefit from the Seeker Cavalcade rule also. Whilst they’re unlikely to want to Charge too often, not taking the damage for Retreating will help keep them alive a little longer. They also help towards the objective game with their Glory Shots rule:

Blissbarb Seekers – Glory Shots

Add 1 to the Rend characteristic of this unit’s ranged weapons for attacks that target units contesting an objective you do not control.

The Slickblade Seekers are an amazing hammer unit. More expensive than the Hellstriders but a little less specialised and effective into a great many targets. Like the Hellstriders, they benefit from being on the charge so will again be looking to make use of the Seeker Cavalcade rules and enjoy a free re-roll to their charges from Unrivalled Velocity:

Slickblade Seekers – Unrivalled Velocity

You can re-roll charge rolls for this unit.

If made EUPHORIC, Slickblade Seekers are moving 12″ able to Run and Charge and reroll the Charge. If they are within 12″ of Glutos when they Run and again when they Charge they’re also getting +1 to both rolls.

Finally, the Symbaresh Twinsouls are in Glutos’ regiment to provide a Bodyguard for him as the General.

Season of War Rules – Honour Guard – Bodyguard

Pick a friendly unit in, but not leading a regiment be that regiment’s HONOUR GUARD. You can pick a unit in reserve. If you use this ability you cannot use any other HONOUR GUARD abilities.
Subtract 1 from the Attacks characteristic of enemy units’ melee weapons whilst they are in combat with the unit leading the regiment if both of the following are true:

• That regiment’s HONOUR GUARD is wholly within 6″ of the leader of that regiment.
• Neither that regiment’s HONOUR GUARD nor the regiment’s leader charged this turn.

Keywords: HONOUR GUARD

With Glutos’ massive base this should be relatively straightforwards to keep up and works in tandem with the Twinsouls Ego-Driven Excess and Fiendish Reflexes rules for a great anti-charge combo.

Twinsouls – Ego-Driven Excess

If this unit did not charge this turn, subtract 1 from the Attacks characteristic of melee weapons used by enemy units while they are in combat with this unit.

Twinsouls – Fiendish Reflexes

If this unit did not charge this turn, it has WARD (5+) while it’s in combat

When you put it all together, you’ve got a solid block in the middle of the field from Glutos, whose aura boosts the Sybarites around him and between that and Synessa you can often push your Control score ahead of your opponents to capture the objectives you need to. You also have a series of fast units that can be spared to complete your Battle Tactics, the Blissbarb Seekers in particular can excel in this role and potentially still impact the battle with their shooting whilst doing so but your Seekers work as a mobile reserve to support wherever needed. Meanwhile, your Hellstriders and Slickblade Seekers give you some really scary combat units. The key thing to remember, is even those scary units are made of glass so pick your battles and whilst you’ll have to accept some trades of units before the battle is done, try and make sure they’re trades in your favour.

Let’s look then at the Battle Tactics in a bit more detail. Battle Tactics are a little different in 4th Edition. For a starter, there aren’t really any automatic choices or freebies anymore – certainly not to the extent that some factions enjoyed in 3rd Edition. Battle Tactics are worth 4VP per turn now so that’s 20VP of your total score potential tied up in being able to complete these. Finally, the difficulty of the tactics themselves in isolation is a little higher than last edition, but the way that 4th Edition works with so many opportunities for your opponent to interrupt and react to what you’re doing there’s a jump in the difficulty there also. Indeed, there are a few of the Battle Tactics that just invite your opponent to use their Command Points to disrupt your scoring.

Every army has 8 Battle Tactics to pick from over the course of the game. 6 Generic ones that are shared across all factions and 2 for each Grand Alliance. So for Hedonites we’ll look at the 6 Generic and 2 Chaos Battle Tactics in the context of how you might approach them with this list.

Before that, it’s worth just highlighting that picking the correct Battle Tactic for the turn is about being able to read the game-state, knowing where your opponent can interfere with your plans and thinking a little further ahead as well – sure you might be able to easily score one this turn but would it be better to save that for some guaranteed scoring later on. You also may have to weigh up the choice between taking the double-turn or scoring Battle Tactics for a round. If you win the Priority roll-off and choose to take the double-turn you can’t score any Battle Tactics in that second turn. This might be fine as you may be ahead, may be looking to score lower so you can pick up the Underdog bonus in later turns or may be able to cripple your opponent’s ability to score later in the game that it’s worth the sacrifice. We’ll talk a little more about some of these factors as we look at the Battle Tactics themselves.

First up, we have Take The Flanks:

Universal Battle Tactic – Take the Flanks

You complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if you have at least 1 friendly unit within 6″ of each short battlefield edge, none of those units are wholly within friendly territory, and none of those units were set up this turn.

After saying there were no freebies anymore, ironically we start with the one that comes closest to it! Depending on the map for the Battleplan this can occasionally be a little trickier or a little easier (on Focal Points for example, one of the short battlefield edges is mostly in your territory. There’s a bit less counter-play here than on some of the Battle Tactics with the requirement being only that your units are stood near the edge – so your opponent would need to remove the unit or find a way to stop you reaching where you need to. Any of the units in the list could potentially run off to score this for you but my gut instinct is that the Blissbarb Seekers or Seekers are your go-to here, with quite a few of the maps, you should be able to get the Blissbarb Seekers where they’re needed and still threaten enemy units on or near some objectives with their shooting. The Seekers with their 16″ minimum move can be useful on the trickier deployment maps where you might have to go a bit further afield to reach the point you need to for scoring this.

Next, Seize the Centre:

Universal Battle Tactic – Seize the Centre

You complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if 2 or more friendly units are within 3″ of the centre of the battlefield and are not in combat.

This one might look like another easier one early game but I do think it can be a bit of a trap. Moving into the centre can very easily be an over-extension, particularly with fragile units and even more than that, the conditions for this Battle Tactic pretty much scream “Counter-Charge” to your opponent, they don’t have to win the combat, just not lose it. As a result I tend to think this may be easier once the lines have already met and you have an opportunity to clear the enemy from the centre just to give you a little more control. That’s not to say you can’t or even shouldn’t go for it early. My thinking with this list is you’ll likely want Glutos fairly central for his Grand Gourmand ability, perhaps he can act as a spoiler for units like the Twinsouls and Synessa to follow up behind and score whilst Glutos engages stuff. There might however be games where you just throw your Blissbarb Seekers up early to score this.

Universal Battle Tactic – Take Their Land

Pick a terrain feature wholly or partially within enemy territory and wholly outside friendly territory. You complete this battle tactic if you control that terrain feature at the end of your turn.

Depending on the battleplan and the game state, this can be a relatively straightforward one to score. The terrain feature has to be wholly outside of your territory and at least partially in your opponents. We do have a lot of maps where there’s no no-mans-land between territories and/or where the terrain suggestions don’t imply we’ll have terrain partially in your opponent’s territory so you’re more likely to have to go into your opponent’s territory to score this than not. Controlling terrain is very similar to controlling objectives… Just as well this is a list that can mess with Control scores to make that happen so you have some counter to the obvious counter-play of your opponent using Redeploy or Counter-charge to get something onto or near the terrain piece you pick. If you can pick something out of the way then again, the Seekers and Blissbarb Seekers become likely candidates for scoring this but keep an eye open for those opportunities to score this with any of your units.

Universal Battle Tactic – Slay the Entourage

Pick a unit in the enemy general’s regiment. You complete this battle tactic if that unit is destroyed this turn.

The theory of this one is nice and simple. Pick a unit in the enemy general’s regiment and kill them by the end of the turn. Timing is a everything with this one and unless it’s an especially tanky unit your opponent will likely try and keep it out of harm’s way. There’s no caveat on how it has to die so it can be through shooting or combat etc. keep an eye open for units already on their last legs or those that even with a Redeploy would be fodder to a charge from your Slickblade Seekers or Hellstriders (and that charging them won’t lead to you making a bad trade if there’s no way of keeping your unit safe from reprisals!) Worth just pointing out the obvious, the General themselves would be an option for scoring this so if you wanted to go Hero hunting that’s an option too…

Universal Battle Tactic – Attack on Two Fronts

You complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if you control 2 or more objectives that you did not control at the start of your turn and at least 1 of those objectives was controlled by your opponent at the start of your turn.

Attack on Two Fronts works quite nicely with this list in theory. You have to control 2 or more objectives that you did not control at the start of your turn but only 1 of those needs to have been previously controlled by your opponent. This means this one will likely be a Turn 2 onwards Battle Tactic but if you’re going second in the first Battle Round there might be a chance to score this easily too. What’s quite handy is you don’t have to pick the objectives – this carries a little weight now as it means you retain a tiny amount of counter-play to your opponent’s counter-play. The nature of the timing of abilities – Active Player followed by Inactive Player means that this will only ever be a tiny factory in your favour, but if your opponent Redeploys to shore up an objective you might still be able to react to that in your Shooting, Charge and Combat phases to either clear that unit down or switch to an alternative objective that will still score you this Battle Tactic. Always handy to remember you don’t have to engage to score this though and that Glutos and Synessa’s abilities to boost the Control score of your units and/or decrease your opponent’s can be crucial in saving you from having to over-commit!

Universal Battle Tactic – Do Not Waver

You complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if 2 or more friendly units fought this turn and no friendly units were destroyed this turn.

Do Not Waver is straightforward in the sense that it’s about getting stuck in with 2 or more friendly units but where it gets trickier is the requirement to not have any of your units destroyed this turn. Hedonites are fragile so if you’re going for this you want to make sure the combats are unfair and entirely to your advantage and that there’s limited counter-play for your opponent through Magical Intervention, Covering Fire and Counter-Charge to leave one of your units facing destruction. Glutos stands out here as with his Gorge on Excess ability your opponent is going to have to commit a lot to remove him in your turn. Your Hellstriders and Slickblade Seekers are other obvious choices as they’ll have the power on the charge to remove a lot of enemies so one of those with Glutos might be the easiest way of securing this. Always worth keeping an eye open for weakened enemy screens or skirmishers who will be an easy kill for your units too to remove some of the danger from this one.

That’s all of the universal Battle Tactics for this season of war, but what about the Chaos specific ones.

Chaos Battle Tactic – Offering of Carnage

You complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if 2 or more enemy units were destroyed this turn.

It might sound like a Khornate Battle Tactic but Offering of Carnage is potentially quite a useful one. Obviously you’ll need to assess if you have enough damage output to remove two units but again, this might be a good one when looking to clear your opponent’s screening units. Also important to note that this doesn’t need to be in combat so you can use the shooting in this list to help score it but between Glutos, the Slickblade Seekers and the Hellstriders you have enough big-hitters to cause some damage and your other units can certainly contribute, especially if targeting weaker or weakened units to score this off of! Again, this Battle Tactic benefits from not needing to pick the enemy units up front, so you can work around your opponent’s counter-play by giving yourself a few options on where to score this.

Chaos Battle Tactic – Ordained Charge

Pick an objective controlled by your opponent. You complete this battle tactic at the end of your turn if 2 or more friendly units charged this turn, 1 or more of those units are contesting that objective, and you control that objective.

Whilst Ordained Charge sounds like a combat related Battle Tactic, it’s only loosely so. Really this is an objective one and thus, works nicely with this list. There are a lot less caveats on this one than some. Yes, you have to pick the objective so your opponent gets plenty of opportunities to disrupt this potentially but again between Glutos, Synessa and the Hellstriders you’ll likely be able to tip an objective from your opponent.

Hopefully his has been a useful deep-dive into list creation and some tactics with Hedonites of Slaanesh and most importantly, I hope it gives you some ideas for your own lists – feel free to try this list out but be sure to also experiment with your own changes. This edition is still very fresh and definitely hasn’t been solved yet. I don’t think necessarily this is an amazing list but I thought it might be useful to explore one of the archetypes of gimmicks that Hedonites can play to as a kicking off point for building elements of this into your own list. Next time I’ll look at another archetype for Hedonites – Daemonic Recursion.

Let me know how your first games with Hedonites are going and if you have any ideas for how to dial up the Control Shenanigans even further!