STARTING AN EMPEROR'S CHILDREN ARMY IN 11TH EDITION: PERFECTION IS A JOURNEY, EXCESS IS THE DESTINATION
The Emperor's Children are the newest Traitor Legion to stand alone: Slaanesh's chosen sons, obsessed with perfection in sensation, violence and paintwork. This page covers the Noise Marines to start with, Lucius and a second squad, and Fulgrim as the summit.
Noise Marines in the first handful of kits
Start with the Legion's current starter box. As a young standalone range, the Emperor's Children reward buying the newest core infantry box and treating it as a painting laboratory, because the pink-and-black-and-gold question deserves real experimentation before you commit an army to it. Noise Marines are the soul of the faction: sonic weaponry, flamboyant armour, and the most recognisable silhouette in the Traitor Legions. Whatever else you buy, a squad of them belongs in your first handful of kits. On timing, 11th edition moved points and datasheets across the game, and for a new range starter offerings rotate quickly, so read the current values before you commit a list to any one unit.
Lucius and a contrasting second squad
Excess is the brand; discipline builds the army. Round out the infantry core first, then add Lucius the Eternal, the Legion's peerless swordsman, a gorgeous character kit that drips with story and gives the force a face. A second infantry squad with the same palette in a different balance is a trick this faction rewards more than any other: variety without chaos, which suits the Legion. Lurid pinks and purples with polished golds are why people photograph this army at events, so give the second squad its own accent.
Recommended: Lucius the Eternal
Fulgrim
The Daemon Primarch of the Emperor's Children is a serpentine spectacle of a kit and the summit of the collection, a showpiece that tests everything the Noise Marines taught you about blending, gold, and restraint (or its joyful abandonment). He is a reward. The Phoenician demands a perfect Legion at his back, and he can tell painted devotion from grey plastic flattery.
One swordsman ego per warband
- Fulgrim before your first squad is finished. Perfection has standards, and so should you.
- Duplicate character kits because they are new and shiny.
- Allied daemons of Slaanesh. Tempting, on-theme, and exactly the distraction a young collection does not need.
- A third colour-scheme experiment after the second one worked. Commit, darling.
Fastidious records
The Third Legion documented everything before the fall, every triumph and every masterwork. Catalogue each kit as it arrives: boxed, built or finished. For a faction this young the finished column grows fast, and there is real pleasure in watching a brand-new Legion take shape in real time. The full and growing catalogue of what the Emperor's Children field is on the faction page under Data.