Warhammer 40K: Meet 1988’s Original Emperor’s Children Armylist
With everyone talking about 2025’s Emperor’s Children, it’s time to take a look at their first Rogue Trader armylist from 1988.
The Emperor’s Children first desecrated Holy Terra in 1988. Let’s take a look at that first Rogue Trader list from many Editions ago. Today we go back to the early days of the game. The chosen Legion of Slaanesh arrived in the Realm of Chaos – Slaves to Darkness from 1988.
The initial Emperor’s Children army list came in Slaves to Darkness, alongside the first World Eaters, Black Legion, and GREY KNIGHTS lists! We’ll cover those another time.
The initial list laid down the foundation for the twisted, debauched Legionnaires of the Dark Prince we all know and love to this day. All the basics you would expect, and few surprises that may return are here. Let’s dive in.
The OG Emperor’s Children ArmyList
Note the pre-Fulgrim version of the Emperor’s Children’s history, and their overt sadism, debauchery, and treachery. The distinguishing characteristic of the legion was their HATRED of all Khornate mortal followers (looking at you World Eaters), in addition to Loyalists. Next take a look at that very not-for-the-kids quote, attributed to Fabius Bile, at this early time the Lieutenant Commander of the Legion.
Emperor’s Children Officers
Now note the crazy 900 point Daemon weapon you could equip your Lieutenant Commander and Captains with. Why 900 points? Because a Rogue Trader Daemon weapon frequently was possessed by a Greater Daemon, who would pop out and fight once its bearer was killed – SURPRISE – Keeper of Secrets! The Lt. Commander could also be a psyker.
Page three has the support characters and it from here we eventually get Dark Apostles, Sorcerors and all the rest. Again note the Librarian who could be BOTH a level 4 psyker AND wields a Daemon weapon! Watch out. Cool how the Techmarines have the Frenzon controllers (we’ll get to that in a bit). These guys all love Hallucinogen Grenades…figures. The text box talked about how the Inquisition hates having to interrogate these guys.
Page 4 has the daemon allies, and most importantly, one infamous Emperor’s Children quote. Things were a bit “edgier” back in the 80s. Note the original incarnation of Possessees. You paid for them based on the type of daemon inside – and it could be a Keeper of Secrets all the way down to a Daemonette! That explains the wide spread of point costs. I like how the Keeper of Secrets have six randomly generated spells.
Emperor’s Children Troops
Page 5 has the core infantry and the auxiliaries. You had the option of mounting Tactical and Assault squads on Mounts of Slaanesh (see minis below, hint, hint for new 2025 minis...). Note the hard life of Beastmen Slave squads. They come equipped with explosive collars, Frenzon dispensers (see Techmarines above), and can be given power shields and power generators! Finally, Spawn to goad into combat. It’s a hard life being a plaything for the Emperor’s Children. Also of note is this original Rogue Trader Emperor’s children list predates Noise Marines who would come into the game in 2nd Edition.
Emperor’s Children Minis
Now we get to the original metal CSM Renegades from way back in the day. There are little callouts to each of the chaos gods here and there in the early range. 3rd row is all Emperor’s Children all the time! There is a lot of single-boob-tastic action going in with those old classics. Down below are the heavy weapons and EC’s riding Steeds of Slaanesh.
There is also some fantastic late 80s artwork in here. Take a look at this Ian Miller classic showing Slaanesh vs Marines:
Fast Forward to the 21st Century Emperor’s Children
Well, it’s been around 35 years and the Emperor’s Children still are awaiting a full fledged standalone Codex in Warhammer 40K – now promised in 2025. They have gotten a couple pages of Legion rules in a couple of CSM codexes from various editions. But only Horus Heresy Age of Darkness came close to giving them a fully fledged “codex” with a bunch of unique EC units, plus the over the top Fulgrim Transfigured.
It appears that the Legion’s time is upon us, and that our current 10th Edition will finally do the trick, completing the full set of 4 Cult Legion codexes. But while we wait, we have this fine fellow. If you hold him close, you can almost hear the music.
Do you have any fond memories of the Rogue Trader Emperor’s Children list or still have some of these minis? Let us know.
