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.
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. 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
- Mobility, this is an army that is all about high speed.
Weakness of the Army
- Like most marines, an elite army with relatively few bodies.
Emperor’s Children Army Rule
- Thrill Seekers: This is a powerful rule with an interesting caveat. It allows Emperor’s Children to Shoot and Charge after they Advance or Fallback, however, they cannot recharge a unit they were engaged with at the beginning of the turn.
Sample Emperor’s Children Detachment
Mercurial Host
- Rules: Quicksilver Grace allows these units to re-roll Advance rolls.
- Enhancements: Tactical Perfection allows two units to redeploy at the start of the game.
- Stratagems: Capricious Reactions is a really classic debuff- give an enemy unit -1 to hit your unit after they have declared their shots.
Key Faction Units To Know
The army has a decent 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
Fulgrim
The leader of the Emperor’s Children has those good, good Daemon Primarch stats and is silly fast with the army special rule. He is a giant combat threat that can mince his fair share of units.
Lucius the Eternal
This Epic Hero is the only character that can join Flawless Blades (more later!) and he can dump out a pile of damage. If Lucius doesn’t join anyone he can play as a Lone Operative.
Lord Exultant
The Emperor’s Children take on a basic Chaos Lord, the Lord Exultant can join the armies Battleline units and really pump them up. His spear is also a really nice piece of kit.
Battleline
Tormentors
These Third Legion Battleline Marines are the most basic type- armed with a bolter! But the Emperor’s Children version is pretty sweet- Infiltrators and Precision Shots on all their guns.
Infractors
The close combat version of Battleline Marine available to the Sons of Fulgrim, Infractors are armed with dueling blades. Similar to their bolter armed brethrens signature, they have Precision Strikes on their blades.
Other Units
Noise Marines
Still the key unit for this army around which you can form a solid core. Always bring some for your tabletop raiding needs and blast away your foes with sonic weapons.
Flawless Blades
The elites combat units of the Emperor’s Children, Flawless Blades have given their body over to a daemon. These Daemonic Patrons give them great boons, but at the risk of losing themselves completely.
Chaos Rhino
The classic old-school Dedicated Transport of the Emperor’s Children, the Rhino gives your pricy infantry some protection as they get stuck into the enemy line. Cheap, decent protection is always welcome.
Keeper of Secrets
This sexy-bovine Deep Striking horror will be a real thorn in your enemy’s side. Fast, hard to take down, and utterly lethal – a Keeper of Secrets MUST be dealt with quickly, and will not be ignored.
Daemonettes
Your bread and butter basic Daemon unit. Daemonettes are cheap (for the army), have Devastating Wounds, are fast, and Deep Strike. The perfect misdirection unit to gum up the enemy’s plans, while the rest of the EC move in for the kill.
Sample Emperor’s Children Starter Army
Leaders
Lucius the Eternal. 1 Model.
Battleline
Tormentors. Ten Models.
Tormentors. Ten Models.
Other Units
Noise Marines. Six Models. One Blastmaster. Every other model is equipped with: bolt pistol; sonic blaster
Noise Marines. Three Models. Every model is equipped with: bolt pistol; sonic blaster
Flawless Blades. Three Models. Every model is equipped with: blissblade
Chaos Rhino. One Model.
How to Play Emperor’s Children
Emperor’s Children are very fast- good all-rounders which can be effective in any phase of the game. Emperor’s Children can lean 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!
