Few besides daemons can match the depravity of the Emperor’s Children, and for all their arrogance and superiority, Fulgrim’s sons aren’t above enlisting the aid of Slaanesh’s empyrean cohorts.
With the upcoming new Codex, you can deploy a mixed force of Heretic Astartes and daemons, using the wonderfully chaotic Carnival of Excess Detachment.
The big draw of this new Detachment is being able to fill half of your army with daemons, despite them having different Faction keywords. Better still, the new Codex: Emperor’s Children contains full datasheets for all of the daemons you’ll need: Daemonettes, Fiends, Seekers, the Keeper of Secrets and Shalaxi Helbane.*
To the surprise of many – not least the heretics fighting alongside their daemonic allies – mortals and immortals actually fight better when in close co-operation. The Emperor’s Children swell with Daemonic Empowerment while Daemonettes and Seekers roam nearby, twisting reality further than ever thanks to the anchoring presence of a suitably attuned ally.
Daemonic Empowerment
While an Emperor’s Children unit from your army is within 6" of one or more friendly Legions of Excess units, it is Empowered.
While a Legions of Excess unit from your army is within 6" of one or more friendly Emperor’s Children units, it is Empowered.
While a unit from your army is Empowered, weapons equipped by models in that unit have the [Sustained Hits 1] ability. If such a weapon already has that ability, each time an attack is made with that weapon, an unmodified Hit roll of 5+ scores a Critical Hit.
Legions of Excess
You can include Legions of Excess units in your army, even though they do not have the Emperor’s Children Faction keyword. The combined points cost of such units you can include in your army is:
Incursion: Up to 500 pts
Strike Force: Up to 1000 pts
Onslaught: Up to 1500 pts
No Legions of Excess models from your army can be your Warlord.
Mortals and daemons working together in harmony might seem odd, but once you realise they’re just competing with each other to feel the greatest feels, it all makes sense. Nothing highlights this fractious alliance quite like the Possessed Blade Enhancement, a classic faustian bargain of a weapon that bequeaths warp-spawned power onto a lucky champion right up until it kills them for their hubris.
If you feel like giving the daemons something to chew on, the Warp Walker Enhancement can be given to a Keeper of Secrets lording it over your army, letting them slip out of the material world should obstacles become too much of a bother. See, they’re all friends in the end.**
Possessed Blade
The martial grace that this daemon weapon bestows upon its bearer comes at a price.
Emperor’s Children model only. At the start of the battle, select one melee weapon equipped by the bearer; add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of that weapon. In addition, each time the bearer is selected to fight, it can use this Enhancement. If it does, while resolving those attacks, add 1 to the Damage characteristic of that weapon and that weapon has the [Devastating Wounds] and [Hazardous] abilities.
Warp Walker
This champion of Slaanesh is so steeped in the warp as to be able to traverse its maddening depths at will.
Emperor’s Children or Keeper of Secrets model only. Each time the bearer’s unit Advances, do not make an Advance roll. Instead, until the end of the phase, add 6" to the Move characteristic of models in that unit. Each time a model in the bearer’s unit makes a Normal, Advance or Fall Back move, it can move through enemy models. When doing so, it can move within Engagement Range of such models but cannot end that move within Engagement Range of them, and any Desperate Escape test is automatically passed.
The Stratagems available to the Carnival of Excess incentivise this depraved union, as many of them work better when Emperor’s Children and Legions of Excess units learn to share their personal space. Take Ecstatic Slaughter, for instance – the mere sight of daemons butchering hapless opponents is enough to prompt a spontaneous charge, while Sustained by Agony returns the favour with a spot of healing when the mortals bump off a target of their own.
Ecstatic Slaughter - 1CP
Carnival of Excess – Strategic Ploy Stratagem
As the violence intensifies, so does the ecstasy of battle empower daemon and mortal alike.
When: Fight phase, just after a Legions of Excess unit from your army destroys an enemy unit.
Target: That Legions of Excess unit and one friendly Emperor’s Children unit within 6" of it that is not within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units.
Effect: Your Emperor’s Children unit can declare a charge. If it does so and it has already been selected to fight this phase, it cannot fight again this phase.
Sustained by Agony - 1CP
Carnival of Excess – Battle Tactic Stratagem
Slaaneshi daemons feed upon the emotions of others, with agony a particular delicacy.
When: Fight phase, just after an Emperor’s Children unit from your army destroys an enemy unit.
Target: That Emperor’s Children unit.
Effect: Select one friendly Legions of Excess unit within 6" of your unit. One model in that Legions of Excess unit recovers up to 3 lost wounds or, if it is a Daemonettes unit, return up to D3+3 destroyed models to it instead.
This isn’t to say that you can’t use Slaanesh daemons on their own, as the Legion of Excess Detachment found under the Grotmas tree last year remains legal. The same goes for the other gods, whose minions will be joining their counterpart Chaos Space Marine codexes. They can also use their own Grotmas Detachments from the Warhammer Community downloads page at any time.
If all of this has tempted you to add a few purple-skinned predators to your aspiring Emperor’s Children army, don’t miss your chance to get Codex: Emperor’s Children when it slips into realspace as part of the Army Box up for pre-order this Saturday.
* Expect to see the other Heretic Astartes Legions get the same treatment.
** They are not.
