Emperor’s Children revealed – The definitive LVO 25 Analysis

The Emperor’s Children are coming!

Finally we have the big Emperor’s Children Miniatures reveal at LVO 2025. As if Fulgrim himself, revealed at Christmas, wasn’t enough (the second Fulgrim in just over a year) we now have the full model lineup, and they are perfection incarnate.

Through the announcement and discussion at LVO, some other information around rules and other models has been revealed as well.

We’ll be going into the usual Shewhothirsts depth in our analysis, however one thing regularly asked for is a quick summary of everything revealed, so without further ado let’s meet that need first and then move onto the deeper analysis and discussion.

Emperor’s Children LVO reveal – Quick summary table

Emperor’s Children LVO reveal – Full summary and analysis

General impressions

First impressions

First and foremost, wow! Just wow. There will be elements of the Emperor’s Children release that hit that perfect sweet spot for some, and others that perhaps don’t ring fully true, but overall you are going to be hard pressed to find a fan who isn’t over the moon with this and itching to get their hands on some miniatures.

Waiting for 25 years doesn’t mean just having any release is cause for celebration. In fact it would be all the more crushing should something that entirely missed the mark have been revealed. Thankfully, overall, this is an absolutely fantastic release for long term fans and newcomers alike.

The faction / hype is real, with huge amounts of buzz and activity. Particularly with the major Cult and Daemon codex shake ups, and us being the last cult faction leaving even longer for the anticipation to build (final release should be glorious).

Play-style

More depth on this later, but Games Workshop seem to have been absolutely nailed the Emperor’s Children play-style(s), pending what some of the detachments bring.

Fights first and movement shenanigans, and perhaps lack of cultists, points to a fragile elite force. Footslogging and Maru-Skara style lightning strikes, yes please!

Mix in some daemons, speed and fluffy rules. It all just rings true.

Generally movement options would put us in the sphere of being pretty competitive if points are aligned well.

This style of army structure tends to mean we’ll be a high skill floor and ceiling, get things wrong and you get wiped out and have few units to compensate. Nightmare to balance as well.

Was this expected?

Overall, yes. There were surprises with Daemons and Game Workshop actually adhering to the recent Emperor’s Children lore with Noise Marines not as the main Battleine unit, but overall this was what we expected to see per our prior analysis.

The future

Raptors and Bikers, as mostly expected, seem to be gone even if very fitting for us. We can only hope there is something tied in with future Raptor and Bike refreshes which have been long rumoured (heavily so in the case of the later)

Perhaps some of the designed Emperor’s Children and World Eater range has been held back to trickle down in the new wave structure of releases Games Workshop have put in place. Looking at poor Thousand Sons who have seen almost nothing for years, that seems unlikely.

In future we can likely expect a character per edition and years (hopefully not nearing a decade like Thousand Sons) before a true second wave. Warhammer 40,000 12th Edition seems likely, particularly lining up with Games Workshop’s new production capacity coming online as well.

On the upside Emperor’s Children may tie in with other mainline Chaos Space Marine or Daemon releases but Games Workshop generally has been moving away from a model range where they encourage kits across multiple armies or game systems (which makes sense from a business standpoint). Maybe we won’t get those new bikes after all.

Deathguard are going to remain the poster children for Chaos Cults it would seem, with a far larger model range, other media appearances and embedded fans but the future looks great for the Emperor’s Children and other cults still. Not a great time to be a Daemon player though.

The hope is Shehowthirsts is here to give a soft landing to many joining, and sticking around with us.

Release date

Per this roadmap, and our own prior analysis on the Emperor’s Children Codex release date, we’re looking like March 2025 with the usual early limited edition army boxset slightly earlier than the main release.

There is a chance, a good one in fact, that we hit in Feb 2025 though as that would keep us in the Winter 2024-2025 slot we seem to have taken from Imperial Knights.

A combat patrol, “Callous Blades” is ‘sometime later’.

Note also that more details of the Codex, and let’s hope that also includes release date, was mentioned as coming ‘very soon’ right at the end of the LVO article.

New Emperor’s Children Miniatures & Datasheets

The main event! In total Emperor’s Children have 7 new kits – 4(!) new Characters and 3 new squads, one of which is dual purpose for a total of 8 new unique units. Broadly in line with prior releases as expected in our prior analysis.

We’ll go into more detail below (much, much, more, as you can expect from Shewhothirsts) later, but for now here is a simple list:

• Fulgrim
• Lucius the Eternal
• Lord Exultant
• Lord Kakonophist
• Faultless Blades
• Noise Marines
• Tormentors / Impactors

We actually gained a fair bit of information on all the specific units and datasheets through the announcement and a lot of it sounded fantastic. There’s still plenty to come of course, but let’s get into what we can gleam from this.

Fulgrim

Miniature rating

Theme / Favour rating

Wargear – Malefic Lash – Daemonic Blades – Serpentine Tail Abilities / Datasheet – Can issue Daemonic Poisons to the Battlefield – Can select a daemonic power each battle round – One Daemonic power is Fights first – Supposedly won 3 times 1v1 vs Angron

A fast Daemon Primarch level statline that can beat Angron and has fights first, plus another ability? Oh yes. But points, what are the points?! Fulgrim sounds like he will be 20-25% of your standard 2000 point army and potentially mandatory as many of the other Primarchs have been.

Absolutely stunning model (though this Author happens to just about prefer the Horus Heresy version, particularly the face, and would have loved a feathered wings option). However, being forced into taking him isn’t everyone’s cup of tea if it turns out to be the case.

Perhaps with the daemons and other large miniatures such as Shalaxi and the Keeper of Secrets and, just generally, more datasheets in the Cult codices now we will have some other viable options. Perhaps mandatory for a certain detachment, but not others.

The Lash is likely the sweep attack with daemonic blades the focused attack. I would expect the Serpentine Tail to be extra attacks as has been on theme with some Slaanesh rules in the past.

How poisons work is anyone’s guess, debilitating a selected unit perhaps if somehow Fulgrim doesn’t kill them? That would be rather thematic if up against a certain figure clad in blue and gold.

What the other two ability options would offer that could compete with fights first is hard to know.

Likely a buff Aura (feel no pain?) for Emperors Children around him and perhaps a debuff (likely leadership based, disturbing / alluring presence, soporific musk etc. would be on theme)

Thankfully we have no mention of a “he comes, he goes” style rule (ah, Doomrider, how I miss you). This could balance a monster stat line. Angron comes back, it would have been on theme for Fulgrim to get bored and wander off potentially.

Lucius the Eternal

Miniature rating

Theme / Favour rating

Wargear – Blade of Laer – Lash of Torment (horde clear weapon) – No Doom Siren (from blurred data sheet)     Abilities / Datasheet M8, T5, 2+/4+, W5(6?), Ld5+, OC1 (from blurred datasheet) – Lone operative – Can join units but “fights better alone” (assume some rules here) – From images appears to be able to join the Flawless Blades – Noted Character Killer – Per prior rules and elsewhere we can Expect precision, likely Fights first again. The commentary was “he will kill your warlord”.

So the Blade of Laer makes it’s proper return. It appears this is the strike option with the Lash of Torment the horde clear.

From images it seems Lucius can lead the Flawless Blades, but how his mechanic of working better alone (as a lone operative no less) works will be interesting. Perhaps it is just referring to the Lone Operative rule, but there seems to be more to it than that.

Unsurprisingly he will be a character killer, hopefully we see Precision and Fights First return. It does really seem to be shaping up the the Emperor’s Children are masters of the blade through and through.

How the armour of Shrieking Souls works, or if it’s still a thing, hasn’t been revealed. If he has Doom Siren style ability you’d think, given the detail we did have, it would have been revealed as well. Likewise with his resurrection ability, weak though flavourful it was.

The distorted facial features were certainly a choice, but overall a vast improvement on the previous miniature. The paint style also seems to match to the Iconic Adrian Smith art piece on the limited Edition cover. Below in all it’s glory for reference.

Lord Exultant

Miniature rating

Theme / Favour rating

Wargear – Phoenix Power Spear – Master Crafted Power Sword – Power Fist – Rupture Lash – Plasma Pistol – Screamer Pistol (new noise pistol) Abilities / Datasheet – Once per battle can use “Euphoric strikes” to become a ‘Blender’ – Assume this will be similar to the Chaos Lord skill, perhaps more attacks rather than stronger. – Also noted as a strong combatant (unsurprisingly)

Stunning model once again, particularly with how different they can look from a single kit. Tons of options as you would expect with some flavourful wargear names.

I expect this kit will be a treasure trove for conversions and flavour throughout the rest of the army and if we see rules that encourage multiple lords, as we had with mainline Chaos for a long time, you may want to pick up more than for either reason.

Again we have the note that they are powerful in melee. No fights first mentioned here, however I’d expect that from stratagems in some detachments than lean into theme. Precision and many weaker attacks with some mortal wound mechanic to push up into toughness seems likely.

They do appear to be able to lead Infractors from the reveal images, which makes sense and it what you’d expect.

Lord Kakophonist

Miniature rating

Theme / Favour rating

Wargear – x2 Screamer pistol or – Pistol and Power sword – Doom Siren Abilities / Datasheet – “Obsessive Annunciation” Sustained hits for Noise Marines – Seems to be our version of the Master of Executions

This miniature, though it does seem a throwback to the previous Emperor’s Children Lord from 2002, doesn’t really do it for me for some reason. Neither did the original.

It’s certainly bang on theme, and great to have a Noise Marine Character. It also looks ripe for some tinkering in conversions though.

Dual screamer pistols will be interesting depending on rules, and perhaps as the sole recipient of a Doom Siren we may see some buffed rules there. However with Noise Marines set to be Havocs, having a melee focused character for them may see wasted points.

This character would seem to be occupying the Elite Character buffing slot, such as a Master of Executions or old Exalted Champion, but with a likely Noise Marine detachment perhaps they will be more along a Lord status.

Sustained hits on noise marines, particularly when we now can have two Blastmasters (assuming the profile is similar to before) is going to prove absolutely brutal though.

Noise Marines

Miniature rating

Theme / Favour rating

Wargear – x2 Blastmasters per Unit – Blastmasters retain varied frequency rules for armour / hordes -Champion known as the ‘Disharmonist’ – Screamer Pistol and Sword options – “Amplifiers on the shoulders as they [Noise Marines] all have” – i.e. no confirmation of a Doom Siren option Abilities / Datasheet – M6, T5, 3+, W2, Ld6+ OC1 (from blurred datasheets) – Units of 6 – Bigger and Tougher’ like havocs (T5 likely, as seen in datasheet)

Here we are, the Iconic unit. Moving Emperor’s Children away from Noise Marines only certainly fits all the recent lore (if not the 2^nd Edition Lore where Emperor’s Children were first fleshed out, back then all Emperor’s Children were Noise Marines)

The models are great, though a bit more of the coenobite / body horror elements would have tipped them further over the edge. They don’t scream Emperor’s Children and excess, a bit too clean.

They appear more like Noise Havocs or even Heresy Kakophoni than twisted marines gone to the full excess of noise with Xenos organs etc. The second edition miniatures arguably had more flavour here.

Speaking of Havocs – moving Noise Marines to heavy support, making them larger and tougher and giving that second Blastmaster option and the entirely thematic units of 6 (lost from prior cult releases it’s worth noting) all hit the right notes, if you’ll excuse the pun. Nostalgia and lore on point, well done Games Workshop.

A named champion with the new wargear (though, sadly, it seems sans a Doom Siren) is fantastic, though as with Havocs expect them to be the first model removed sadly. Some kind of wargear that would have changed that standard approach, even a Sonic Blaster, would have been nice.

There’s no mention of leadership shenanigans or the like that we could have expected from Noise Marines as well. Perhaps that will come in detachment rules rather than abilities this time.

Flawless Blades

Miniature rating

Theme / Favour rating

Wargear – Blissblades Abilities / Datasheet – Units of 3 or 6 – Call upon dark powers for more power, punished with death if they get no kills

As expected we have an new Emperor’s Children elite unit. The heads here will divide some, but they are in keeping with the noble aesthetic and prior depictions of Slaanesh and keepers of Secrets.

Much of the recent releases had shied away from using direct evolutions from the Horus Heresy Lore or miniatures so seeing the Palatine Blades make a noted appearance here (along with Noise Marines being a closer evolution of the Kakophoni in appearance) is interesting. Perhaps Red Butches and Phoenix Terminators are on the cards for a second wave.

The theme and tone here are on point. Aiming for perfection in their own form and taking gifts from daemons without fully giving themselves over to possession. This is closely aligned with the recent lore in the Lord of excess novel. Glad to see that link, albeit weakly, playing out.

There are some great pickups and hint here in the art direction, but more on that in a bit of depth later.

Rules wise hard to know, perhaps the Blissbades and their size will offer us some heavy hitters with the rest of the army likely fast but low strength. Whether two handed or dual wielding makes a tabletop difference remains to be seen as well.

Their mechanic sounds fantastic in terms of theme, and given their likely tabletop use it seems unlikely they’ll be worrying much about not making a kill.

Lucius seems to be able to lead the unit, which leaves a question as to whether the lord exultant can as well.

Infractors

Miniature rating

Theme / Favour rating

Wargear – Bolt pistols and blades Abilities / Datasheet – Movement 7” – Units of 5 or 10 – Precision – Scouts – Murderous Orchestra “term” (likely ability name)

Splitting out the Melee option from the tactical battleline option certainly will make things easier to balance. However forcing us into taking bolter marines (with costed in special rules) for objective  play may be a killer blow for either the Tormentors or Infractors.

However even at OC1 without sticky objectives I could see Infractors being our mainstay if they are just flat out better units for the Emperor’s Children play-style.

Scouting units with movement 7 and access to advance shoot and charge just screams board control. Particularly with Lords joining them, it harkens back to the Chaos Space Marine play-style with Rhino bombs, but just better. And on datasheets rather than supported by stratagems.

The kits of both look great, the MkVI armour is on point to the lore and gives that more lithe, slim look (particularly on the thighs and scaling). The lack of ‘bling’ is a bit disappointing though.

Seemingly being a 5 body kit instead of a 10 body one is really disappointing though for our mainline unit that you’ll probably see the most of. (i.e. it appears a 10 man box a box will be two sprues making 5 marines twice, thus with duplicate heads and poses).

Mixing match matching with Chaos Space Marine kits though will add a lot of flavour and options.

Tormentors

Miniature rating

Theme / Favour rating

Wargear – “Supremely Deadly” Boltguns – Plasma Gun – Melta Gun – Rupture Lash on Champion – Plasma Pistol on Champion   Abilities / Datasheet – M7, T4, 3+, W2, Ld6+ OC2 (from blurred datasheet) – OC2 Specifically noted – Units of 5 or 10 – Infiltrators – Defile” objectives – Sticky objectives

Pretty clearly these are our main Battline unit, aside from a detachment that could give that to Noise Marines and perhaps bump their OC.

Without Cultists revealed and the sticky objectives we see here it seems likely they will be our main objective grabber. This seems to be a little shoe-horned in, even if the description of Tormentors deciding their own objectives almost regardless of the commander being very in keeping.

Infiltrate, Movement 7”, special weapon options and “deadly” bolters (though perhaps that may just be AP -1?) makes them somewhat interesting, particularly as a mainstay unit with some additional shooting / mobility outside Noise Marines.

Will they be as ubiquitous and and required as reqular Chaos Space Marines or completely useless will come dons to points.

Loading up your main ‘throwaway’ objective unit with additional rules and options could make things very tough for us if they, in effect, are over-costed for their role. Marine bodies are still rather fragile after all, particularly in small units.

Perhaps with a Noise Marine focused shooting detachment leaning into them could play dividends. Certainly there appears already, even if few units, the options to lean into one or the other based on detachment rather than see the same in every force.

Datasheets (blurred) from release images

The release does show a very blurred image of some datasheets. It’s hard to make much out but we can gleam a little with a bit of zooming in.

Lucius

M8, T5, 2+/4+, W5(6?), Ld5+,OC1

It appears he has no ranged weapons options, just the Sword and Lash, so perhaps the Armour of Shrieking Souls / Doom siren is gone. He does seem to have a bevy of abilities though!

Noise Marines

M6, T5, 3+, W2, Ld6+ OC1

You can see the variance frequency of the Blastmaster as was already known. The only other ranged weapons must be the Sonic Blaster and Screamer Pistol, seemingly confirming no Doom Siren for the Disharmonist.

It looks like just Close Combat weapons and a Power Sword in Melee options as well. This may indicate Power Fists (and Lightning Claws, though they have long since left Games Workshops wargear as a distinct option) have gone. They may be a need of some remodelling existing miniatures.

Tormentors

M7, T4, 3+, W2, Ld6+ OC2

Stateline as expected, mostly, however Movement 7 seemed at first to be only for Infractors, having it on Tormentors as well would further boost their points costs for what looks to be our main objective grabber.

Those ‘deadly’ bolters hopefully will be up to something or they could well be very overpriced for their role. Looks to be the standard long list of ranged weapons as expected as well.

Daemons and Chaos Space Marine Codex Models / Datasheets

The below is what we have confirmed either directly or from the release images.  The inclusion of Daemons, through long rumoured, was obviously a massive surprise and shift, and will be for the other cult armies as well.

• Chaos Land Raider
• Chaos Rhino
• Chaos Terminators
• Daemon Prince
• Maulerfiend
• Heldrake
• Sorcerer
• Daemonettes
• Fiends of Slaanesh
• Keeper of Secrets
• Shalaxi Hellbane
• Sorcerer

With “all Daemons”, which would be 14 datasheets including the current Characters, to be included.

This will certainly expand out our options and roster, and is a welcome throwback to the prior flavour cult legions had, even if it is a killer blow for Daemons players with collections from multiple factions.

As a reminder prior to this all the cult legions only had an anaemic 23-26 datasheets if you exclude the additional Character Units Deathguard had, taking them to 32.

Our Unique units and datasheets line up almost exactly to the prior World Eater release, so the question really is what can we expect (if anything) to drop from the Chaos Space Marine Codex units that the other’s also had. More on that later in the open questions section.

New Emperor’s Children Codex Rules, Play-style and other content

Nice to see the limited edition using the iconic Adrian Smith image, not to far away from our very owe mock up, shown above, here on Shewhothirsts!

What we know so far about codex content:

• Emperor’s Children Army Rule: Thrill Seekers: Advance, fallback and charge with some ‘restrictions’
• 6 detachments confirmed
• “everything faster than Standard marines
• Lore on what Fulgrim has been up to
• Lore on the fractured warbands (note: in line with other lore and novels out there)
• Flavour text on stims and elixirs e.g. Skalathraxine dust” a Crystaline dust that grows when put into their eyes

Emperor’s Children Play-style

The army rule gives us a great indication of play-style, as does the 7 inch movement on Infractors and “everything faster than standard marines”.

Combine this with the seeming lack of cultists, the entire release range being (on theme for Emperor’s Children notably) footslogging units and comments from the reveal such as “you may not even need a Rhino” and we’re really getting some clarity.

It looks like Games Workshop have absolutely nailed this in terms of theme. Elite units of Emperor’s children, focused on martial combat with blade (plus our iconic noise marines, back as heavy support where they should be!). Perfection.

Movement tends to win games, and is highly priced. We can expect to be absolutely deadly in combat and have a lot of movement shenanigans, fights first, precision etc. but we’re going to be fragile and have a low model and unit count.

The current rules seem to lean into Deathguard being tough, Thousand Sons invulnerable, Khorne strong and Emperor’s Children fast, with feel no pain rather than toughness as our resilience. There was no mention of Feel no Pain through the release so perhaps that has changed and moved back to Death Guard.

Fights First and Precision were mentioned, expect extra attacks to return as our shtick as well. Along with the Army wide advance, fallback and charge, extra movement and (perhaps) some FNP and you get a flavour of our abilities. Low strength, high volume of attacks. Some Mortal wounds to get through tough targets maybe, with all those claws. This really has been our style for decades now.

Depending on points through data slates we are likely to be competitive, most high movement armies cycle through top tables in an edition, however expect us to also be high floor and ceiling in terms of skill. You’re going to need to get your positioning for your go turn spot on.

A fast fragile army with such variety in datasheets and high skill ceiling and floor is also going to make us an absolute pain to balance as well.  We could be so difficult to play that we’re terrible for most players, but still be an absolute menace in the hands of top players.

The knife edge we run on could also have us completely broken and then a few nerfs sending Emperor’s Children to the bottom of the barrel. Expect some big swings in data slates and potentially some rack paper scissors style matchups (remember how Custodes shut down melee armies entirely, e.g. World Eaters, earlier in the edition due to fights first?)

High movement can cover from misplays but when you are running few units you still have very little margin for error. The sticky objectives and move on Tormentors seems to be how we will need to hold objectives with few units and no cultists.

Emperor’s Children detachments

6 Full detachments is fantastic, anyone’s guess what they will be but some speculation from here:

• A noise marine detachment (for those with many from the existing range). Likely making them battleline and focusing on ranged combat.
• A daemon detachment to throw a bone to all the Daemon players losing their codex, but who have full armies.
• A melee focused detachment (perhaps we’ll get “Maru-Skara” as flavour text here.)
• Some standard combined arms (Noise marines, Melee and Daemons detachment)
• Perhaps a Monstrous detachment? Something for Fulgrim, Shalaxi and a Keeper of Secrets (or multiple) together.
• Perhaps a leadership focused detachment, historically we have had a heavy focus on disturbing presence and inciting fear.

Lore / Novel

Hearing what Fulgrim has been up to, more expansion on the shattered Warbands ties in with the existing Lore.

Perhaps on those Warbands more on the Phoenix conclave and Reunification Eidolon has been working on perhaps?

The Fulgrim Novel is great news allowing some extra, and more recent, depth and resolution to some of the other Lore, much of which was from Mellenia ago.

Will we hear what Fabius Bile has been working on? Will we tie in with the Aeldeari lore (you’d have to assume this given the intrinsic link and Fulgrim’s return and releasing at a similar time).m What will be the conflict and will be see another Loyalist Primarch return? Lots to get your teeth into.

Release methods

Fairly standard here. The limited early release for the Codex and Lord with the rest of the Codex and kits after and Characters / lord appearing sometime later.

The Combat Patrol being a ways off is a bit disappointing but the ramp up / change in the release schedule may have imposed this, with  it sticking to the Spring window perhaps.

One worry would be that if there was to be an Imperial Knights launch and we have taken that slot, was our release fully ready? If not then the Main boxset could be even more limited than expected and the fights with Scalpers even more intense.

Games workshop does seem to have gotten over a slump in with releases lately. Both in terms of availability and the speed at which they have churned things out even before the new factories and warehousing is fully online. Hopefully that doesn’t mean many of us miss out.

Art style

Generally it feels like Game Workshop have absolutely nailed here, one for the fans. Perhaps just a bit more ‘Chaos’ and ‘bling’ would have been welcome though. A few of the kits are a bit plain for us.

They really did lean into both Jes Goodwin’s original sketches and the great Adrian Smith artwork.

The flawless blade head being a direct copy of the Iconic artwork right on the Limited Edition  Emperor’s Children codex cover (and hoped for from our own mock-up!) really is one for the fans. As is Lucius’ armour being painted in that same style.

Mark VI armour, per the lore and differentiating from the other Legions, is also right on point.

The range has even more (and recent) influence from Mikhail Savier, particularly some of the pieces shown below in relation to the Flawless Blades.

Hooves have stuck around, however the return of ‘cone heads’ may be somewhat divisive.

It’s on point for nobility and the look has been around for a long time, either through helmets, art or models most notably the old Keeper of Secrets, but it won’t spark joy with everyone.

How did Shewhothirsts do in predicting the Emperor’s Children release

As promised, here we are being held to account for the prior predictions.

Though decidedly biased, I’d say we didn’t do too bad at all. That excessive streak, pouring over any hinted rumour surrounding the Emperor’s Children must have paid off. We even had the mock up of the Limited Edition Codex!

The Emperor’s Children release date estimate was for April 2025 and seems this was correct before the Imperial Knights change.

The Emperor’s Children models were we fairly close to our predictions as well. Particularly in terms of the number of kits, new datasheets and one being dual purpose.

We correctly predicted the new lord and potentially another new character, though sadly were off base with Eidolon.

The possessed style new Elite unit was spot on, however we didn’t think they would be corrupted Palatine Blades (though did give voice to that very thought as possible!)

Cultists were the big miss. It seemed more likely Noise Marines were going battleline rather than following the Lore, given Games Workshop recent history. Having generic marines with the Noise Cult as additional was really on the cards, even if mentioned as lore accurate.

Very happy to be surprised here and it does seem with this release there was more leaning into the lore with units of 6 and taking up the Palatine Blades, when prior cult releases had eschewed the sacred number and Horus Heresy named units.

Whether this was a labour of love from the design team or a shift that we’ll see in other cult releases remains to be seen.

Finally we did predict that there was a reasonable chance of something of a complete surprise. Hello Daemons!

Questions and unknowns related to the Emperor’s Children release

How many datasheets

Prior analysis showed there was a fairly formulaic approach to other factions we could expect the same.

However with Emperor’s Children being first of the rank of the new formula, including Daemons, does that indicate we may see a drop in some of the other datasheets? The Spawn and the Sorcerer being in along with Rhino, Terminators and Land Raider staples indicates not, but let’s go into more depth.

Defiler

Could we see the start of the retirement / legends of the Defiler? It tended to feature prominently in any new chaos release for years, and is still there in the main 10th Edition Chaos Space Marine codex, but it’s an ancient kit seldom celebrated now.

The prior analysis with it appearing in every other cult Codex may now be moot with a seeming multi-cult refresh coming throug the addition of Daemons.

Forgefiend & Helbrute

With a melee focus and lack of a mention when the Maulerfiend was highlighted, is the Forgefield gone and conspicuous by it’s absence? It would seem unlikely given this is another dual kit, but could be the case.

The Helbrute has been a mainstay. Sonic Dreadnoughts were always a pipe dream but with even the Heldrake included it seems unlikely we’ll see a variation from the norm in the other cult legions here.

Tanks

It’s hard to see the Predators going anywhere, but the Vinidcator was always a strength, perhaps this is goodbye.

Terminator Sorcerer / Lord

Another tough one. The inclusions of the regular Sorcerer and generic terminators makes it more likely, but again this is an old kit conspicuous by it’s absence from the World Eaters Codex.

Not seeing either on the release image that featured terminators may be the death Knell for this, and the kit, until potentially a terminator refresh? Unique for each faction? (Hello rumours of Red Butchers and the persistent Emperor’s Children Terminator rumours)

Cultists

This is a big one, you’d expect hordes of mortal slaves to be on point for Emperor’s Children but perhaps they are left behind closed doors to  grind down into chems. However fragile Daemonettes don’t give us much of a cheap objective holders with Tormentor stats seeing them likely fairly expensive.

Though great in that it means we get a second god aligned marine kit (alongside Noise Marines) I do feel lack of cultists leaves a gap in the detachment options and flavour of an Emperor’s Children force, even if Daemons adds much more.

Certainly customising cultists offered some of the widest hobbying options in a Chaos force and it would be a shame to see them go. This isn’t entirely because your author has umpteen bits and pieces sitting for cultist units that will now go, mostly, to waste!

Raptors and Bikers

This was always a big question. Even though absolutely on point for Emperor’s Children and recent lore (Rypax) including them, these are some seriously old kits with rumours of a refresh.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw them out of our Codex for an edition until re-released, they haven’t been in any of the other factions as well, most notably World Eaters.

As noted earlier, Games Workshops move to trying to avoid kit sharing between factions as much as possible could even mean we just never see these return again, or that we get equivalents only years down the track in later waves.

Maybe we could see the return of Marines on Steeds down the track? (this plus Doomrider and Shewhothirsts would be in raptures)

Final Word on the Emperor’s Children release

Well, there you have it. Even with so much revealed there was plenty to get out teeth into for a, likely final, round of speculation and analysis. Very son now we’ll know for sure.

Shewhothists is looking forward to moving onto an absolute flood of community spotlights, competitive overviews and analysis and just revealing in having a full faction at last. As new converts to the dark prince swell we hope you’ll join us for the journey.

Perhaps after the dust settles there will again be rumblings and rumours as we turn ourselves to Warhammer 40k 11^th Edition. Until then there is a lot of painting and playing to be done.

It has been a long (very long) road to get here but finally we are to be made a whole faction and it’s looking absolutely glorious.

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What are your thoughts on the Emperor’s Children release? Feel free to speculate or completely disagree and have at it in the comments below or on our forums.