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, and starting them in 11th edition means getting in on the ground floor. Slaanesh's chosen sons are obsessed with perfection — in sensation, in violence, and rather conveniently for us, in paintwork. This is the Legion for hobbyists who want their army to be beautiful in a way no other force dares: lurid pinks and purples, polished golds, and a swagger that makes even loyalist players stop and stare. If your dream army is the one people photograph at events, you've found your Legion.
The first box
Start with the current starter-style set for the Legion. As a young standalone range, the Emperor's Children reward buying the newest core infantry box available and treating it as your painting laboratory — 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 single most recognisable silhouette in the Traitor Legions. Whatever else you buy, a squad of Noise Marines belongs in your first handful of kits. And a note on timing — 11th edition refreshed points and datasheets across the game, and for a new range especially, starter offerings rotate quickly, so check the current points before building your list around any one unit.
The second indulgence
Excess is the brand, but discipline builds the army. Round out your infantry core first, then add Lucius the Eternal — the Legion's peerless swordsman is a gorgeous character kit, drips with story, and gives your force a face. A second infantry squad in a deliberately contrasting scheme accent (same palette, different balance) is a trick this faction rewards more than any other: variety without chaos, which is very on-brand.
Recommended: Lucius the Eternal
The Phoenician
Fulgrim. The Daemon Primarch of the Emperor's Children is a serpentine spectacle of a kit and the obvious summit of the collection — a genuine showpiece project that will test everything the Noise Marines taught you about blending, gold, and restraint (or the joyful abandonment thereof). He is a reward, not a starting point. The Phoenician demands a perfect Legion at his back, and he can tell the difference between painted devotion and grey plastic flattery.
Purchases to defer
- Fulgrim before your first squad is finished — perfection has standards, and so should you.
- Duplicate character kits because they're new and shiny; one swordsman ego per warband, please.
- Allied daemons of Slaanesh — tempting, on-theme, and exactly the distraction a young collection doesn't need.
- A third colour-scheme experiment after the second one worked; commit, darling.
A record worthy of perfection
The Third Legion documented everything before the fall — every triumph, every masterwork — and your collection deserves the same fastidiousness: log each kit as it arrives and state honestly whether it's boxed, built, or finished. For a faction this young, that finished column grows fast, and there's real pleasure in watching a brand-new Legion take shape in real time. For the full and growing catalogue of what the Emperor's Children can field, see the faction page under Data.