OrcLord's Challenge; Dechala the Denied One

During a conversation Orclord (of Stuff of Legends fame) mentioned that he had an Old Dechala the Denied one model kicking around his vast collection. I always had a soft spot for that model - only ever having seen it in White Dwarf and reading the character's back history in the Champions of Chaos supplement. The model was released when I was still new to the hobby, conjuring nostalgic pangs of better days.

Take a look at her history, it's still evocative.

Dechala is the mistress of the Tormentors, the greatest of all of Slaanesh's warbands to ever roam the Chaos Wastes. She is as cruel as she is beautiful and as pitiless as she is beguiling.

The earliest records of the ravages of Dechala reach down through the centuries. Some say that she was blessed with great age by Slaanesh, or maybe the legends that she was once a High Elf princess are true.

Dechala The Denied OneDechala is mutated beyond recognition, making her a creature of Chaos more akin to a Daemon than a mortal. Her skin is smooth and milk-white. Her legs have been replaced by the lithe and sinuous body of a snake. Her multi-headed tail cracks like a whip, and drips with poison. Her multitudinous arms grasp heavy-bladed swords and her deep blue eyes glow with an inner light, promising terrible pain and pleasure to any who dare to stand before her. She has beauty that only Slaanesh may grant, but it is as unearthly and disturbing as it is irresistible. Her visage evokes loathing as much as it arouses pleasure.

Dechala seeks the ultimate self-indulgence and freedom from the shackles of law and order, but she desires this pleasure only for herself: others can suffer and die as long as her wishes are fulfilled. She is served by a host of slaves, victims of her hideous poison that erodes both the will and the body.

In battle Dechala is an enchanting sight, her snake-like body dancing to amuse her patron. And as delicate and sensuous as her movements are, they are nonetheless lethal to those who dare to oppose her, and many an opponent has been cut to pieces while entranced by her dance.

Without my nostalgic beer googles on this model has a fair few problems, all known to those who own, or to those who have attamped to paint the miniature. Not only does this model have a but ugly head, a hair cut that belongs to the 80's and details that don't quite mesh (you can't see them, but the model has tassle on the back of one set of arms that don't appear anywhere else on the sculpt).

So, the gauntlet was thrown down. I was to do something, anything to make Dechala more palatable to the eye.

The first thing to do was to change the head. The Alluress head on the standard Daemonette kit is a  visually striking alternative to Dechala's and opens up the model wonderfully. I decided to reposition the arms as if she were expanding herself for her unfortunate victim to have one look at her beauty before they are sliced to bits.

I also went for a red colour scheme. When I think of Slaanesh, I think of sin, sex and lust - the colour of passion had to be red. I balanced the red hair against the red tail. The skin also exhibits a healthy red pallor, at odds with the current 'Eavy Metal scheme of greyish blue. The swords were painted with a cool contrast of green and silver that frames the model nicely.

Whether I succeeded in updating this model is up to you (and of course Orclord). I'm glad I got the oppurtunity to paint up this miniature to stand alongside my Citadel Legend Collection.