Count as - how far is too far?

Hi guys, how we all doing? Today is another slim update day, in the last week I've had no real chance to get any modelling done (although I did get a game in midweek, which was a hard fought reverse versus those pesky unkilleable warriors of chaos of Mal).

But I thought I'd share with you all an interesting topic I started on Warseer regarding "count as". Opinions were well and truly split regarding my proposed count-as unit.

Basically, with my army, the only models that get in are Slaanesh figures, or close friends with one. I like to theme my armies so they have a theme running throughout. Of course, I don't deny that alliances with daemons exist and happen regularly, but these are temporary, fickle agreements. Not something that happen every game, without fail.

But again, it states that daemons come in various forms and guises, and vary wildly in their shape and appearance, and the rules are for the most common servants of chaos.

So, as I've pretty much set out, I want a themed army that is aesthetically Slaanesh. However, with reasonable modelling, I am willing to include as many of the different units from the chaos armylist as possible. And my target for this is a full 5000point army for storm of magic - 4000 from my army book, and 1000 in monsters/pacts.

So, this blurb out of the way, I wanted to include another unit. Now, I saw these cheeky chappies on a certain auction website:

I love adding old school daemons to my armies. One of these units would really add character to a large army. But looking at them, their claws are huge and unwieldly, not like the current daemonettes. I've found a nice comparison picture to show you the differences. 

Ignore the middle daemonettes, they're the beautifully famous 6 tittied "diaz" sculpts that are a pain to find and cost literally hundreds of pounds per unit.

The older daemonettes are more masculine, squatter, and completely bald. I thought they would suit the profile of bloodletters much more than daemonette.

I was thinking of painting them a darker shade of grey, and saying they were older, embittered daemonettes whose beauty has left them. Their claws are now gargantuan, and they've lost their heightened senses, so to get any feeling from the kill they have to bludgeon them (hence strength 5).  They've also spent their entire existence fighting the elves and lizardmen, causing them to have a heightened resistance to magic (MR 1).

I think it's a cool idea, and I'd only be using them in higher pointed games. Some people disagree though, and despite their physical appearance they would still cause confusion as they ARE old school daemonettes, so will confuse my opponents.

Another person said that since I have count as bloodcrushers already in the army, they lobsternettes should be riding them rather than converted current edition daemonettes (although it is worth pointing out, the bloodletter and juggernaut bloodletters have different stats!).

I can see where they're coming from, but I've played all sorts of count as in the past and, once the paint's on and they're lined up with the army, the differences will be apparent, and they will look and play the part.

And, to be honest, I doubt I'll be going to a tournament anytime soon!

I'm interested to hear more input from you guys regarding this topic. I've not yet bought the lobsternettes, but I will be soon. If the differences are too small, I can always just field them as another daemonette unit - it is the models I want, not the bloodletter stats.

Take it easy