The Emperor’s Children finally have their own codex and army box, and I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time. After the World Eaters got their standalone treatment, it was only a matter of time before Slaanesh’s favorite sons got the same. The Champions of Slaanesh Army Set is the launch box, and it’s packed.
What’s in the Box
The set includes the new Codex: Emperor’s Children, a set of datacards, and a solid starting army’s worth of new models:
Lucius the Eternal gets a new sculpt, and it’s a big improvement over the old Finecast version. The new model captures his arrogance perfectly, all flowing cloaks and that distinctive Armor of Shrieking Souls.
The Noise Marines are the star of the box for me. New plastic kits with sonic blasters, blastmasters, and doom sirens. The sculpts lean hard into the rock-and-roll aesthetic that makes Noise Marines so much fun. These replace the old upgrade-sprue-on-regular-CSM approach, and the quality jump is massive.
There’s also a new Chaos Lord variant specific to the Emperor’s Children, plus Legionaries and other units that round out the force. It’s a playable army right out of the box for smaller game sizes, which is exactly what an army box should be.
The Codex
The Emperor’s Children codex gives them a distinct identity separate from generic Chaos Space Marines. Noise Marines as Battleline, army-wide rules around excess and sensory overload, and detachment abilities that reward aggressive, in-your-face play. The faction finally feels like its own thing rather than a CSM subfaction with a paint scheme.
Worth It?
Army boxes are always priced at a discount compared to buying everything separately, and this one follows the pattern. If you’re starting Emperor’s Children, it’s the obvious purchase. If you’re an existing CSM player looking to branch into Slaanesh, it’s solid value.
The models alone would cost more individually, and the codex is required anyway. My only complaint is that the box doesn’t include any of the new daemon engine variants, but that’s a minor gripe for what is otherwise a great launch product.
If you’ve been holding off on Emperor’s Children until they got proper support, this is your moment. The models are gorgeous, the codex gives them a real identity, and the army plays differently enough from other CSM to justify the investment.
