How to Play Emperor’s Children in Warhammer 40K
Today let’s take a look at some basics of how to play and get started with Warhammer 40k Emperor’s Children in 10th Edition. The spiky purple dudes!
The Emperor’s Children are the Traitor Legion dedicated to Slaanesh. The warbands fight with a distinct style, but all fight with esoteric and excessive gear and the power of the God of Pleasure. As a relatively new, distinct army, they have a limited roster of units.
Below we offer some tips on how to play the army and get started with the army.
Who Are The Emperor’s Children?
The Emperor’s Children were the III Legion of the twenty original Space Marine Legions, also known after their fall as the Lords of Profligacy. Their Primarch is Fulgrim. One of the nine legions that betrayed the Emperor during the Horus Heresy, they became Chaos Space Marines. They worship the Chaos god Slaanesh and are hedonistic psychopaths who live for experiences of excess.
When Horus was defeated, the Emperor’s Children left a trail of depopulated worlds in their wake as they fled to the Eye of Terror. They were the first of Legions to begin raiding Imperial worlds for captives and plunder. Their excesses knew no limits and raiding alone could not fuel their ever more boundless depravities. In their unrestrained fervour, they soon took to capturing the slaves and servants of the other Traitor Legions, triggering a series of wars within the Eye of Terror. At some point during this period, Fulgrim disappeared from the Legion, rumoured to have retreated to a planet of pleasure gifted to him by Slaanesh.
Why Play Emperor’s Children?
This army brings a special Slaaneshi flavor to the shooting phase especially. Compared to normal CSMs, the Emperor’s Children are quite similar, but lean into Shooting and Battleshock manipulation. They also have aspects such as Cultist hordes, Daemons, and dedication to the dark gods of Chaos. If you like the big armoured dudes, but prefer an eeeeevil (pink) aesthetic, Emperor’s Children might be the army for you.
Strengths of the Army
- Versatility, with a myriad of units.
- Shooting, with Noise Marines being a compelling option.
- Theme – rock and roll
Weakness of the Army
- Like most marines, an elite army with relatively few bodies unless you lean into the weak Chaos Cultists.
- Mobility, this is an army that isn’t about high speed.
Emperor’s Children Army Rules
- Dark Pacts: Just like for Chaos Space Marines, this special rule allows a unit to pick from one of two buffs anytime it attacks, with a small risk a displeasing the Gods and taking some Mortal Wounds.
Emperor’s Children Detachments
The Chosen of Slaanesh
Emperor’s Children have access to all of the detachments that Chaos Space Marines do.
Key Faction Units To Know
The army has an immense unit roster. Knowing what units to take to make use of the Legion’s rules can be tricky. Here are some suggestions to get you off on the right track.
Leaders
Lucius the Eternal
This Epic Hero is mandated to be the Warlord of an Emperor’s Children army and grants Fights First to the unit he leads. If Lucius can strike down Heros as he dies, he will keep resurrecting and be truly eternal thanks to the Armour of Shrieking Souls.
Fabius Bile
This insane doctor Epic Hero greatly enhances the unit he joins due to his deranged experiments.
Battleline
Noise Marines
This army has to contain Lucius, who makes these chaps Battleline. The key unit for this army will form a solid core. Always bring some for your tabletop raiding needs and blast away your foes with sonic weapons.
Cultist Mob
Your other Battleline option is very cheap, numerous, and not that good. But that’s fine, they don’t need to be. Thanks to For the Dark Gods they could be dead and still claiming an objective for you.
Other Units
Chaos Terminator Squad
Though they didn’t quite get as big a glow-up as their Imperial counterparts, Chaos Terminators are a solid unit. They get even more use out of Dark Pacts thanks to their Despoilers rule.
Havoc Squad
Heavy weapon toting Chaos Space marines that can pump out a lot of fire power. They can dish out a lot of punishment for such a small amount of models, but take care of them. Their low numbers are their greatest weakness.
Obliterators
Fleshmetal Guns are incredibly versatile and Warp Rift Firepower is guaranteed to surprise the enemy and means there is no hiding from them.
Accursed Cultists
These units are a bit tougher than normal Cultists, and also return slain models every phase.
Sample Emperor’s Children Starter Army
Leaders
Lucius the Eternal. 1 Model. He is equipped with: bolt pistol; accursed crozius
Battleline
Noise Marines. Ten Models. One Blastmaster. Every other model is equipped with: bolt pistol; sonic blaster
Noise Marines. Five Models. Every other model is equipped with: bolt pistol; sonic blaster
Cultists. Twenty Models.
Cultists. Twenty Models.
Other Units
Helbrute. One Model. It is equipped with: twin lascannon; helbrute fist.
Helbrute. One Model. It is equipped with: twin lascannon; helbrute fist.
Chaos Rhino. One Model.
How to Play Emperor’s Children
Emperor’s Children in almost all ways play like their normal CSM counterparts, with a few wrinkles. Both a good all-rounders which can be effective in any phase of the game. Where Chaos Marines get good effect from their Dark Pacts, Emperor’s Children get that while also leaning into Lucius and the Noise Marines. While Chaos Space Marines have a few more types of units, Emperor’s Children have a focus. This opens up some playstyles not available to the other.
For Slaanesh!
