Three new 11th Edition Emperor’s Children detachments just dropped, each at 1 Detachment Point, so you can stack all three rules into a Strike Force.
Games Workshop dropped the Emperor’s Children Faction Focus today, and like a lot of these previews, this one came with plenty to rearrange how the faction plays. Another three new frameworks are a clear sign that the 11th Edition is leaning hard on the detachment system instead of rewriting datasheets.
The good news is that if you already own the codex, nothing breaks, and the original six detachments still work just fine. Plus, these three just slot in on top at 1 DP each, which is exactly the kind of bolt-on customization 11th has been promising since the Faction Focus articles started.
Elegant Brutes Wants Your Terminators in Your Opponent’s Face Twice
- All three detachments cost 1 Detachment Point and stack into one Strike Force: bolt them onto your existing codex builds without picking favorites.
- Elegant Brutes gives Terminators +1 to charge, Sustained Hits, and a redeploy stratagem: this is the package that finally makes Chaos Terminators a real list anchor instead of a one-shot threat.
- Frenzied Host buffs Battleline; Spectacle of Slaughter gives Flawless Blades baked-in Fights First: two more themed builds without overwriting any of the six original codex detachments.
The Elegant Brutes detachment is the Terminator package, and it should satisfy most Chaos Terminator players out there.
- Eager to Kill (detachment rule): Emperor’s Children Terminator units get +1 to charge rolls the turn they’re set up, which stacks with Deep Strike arrival or piling out of a Land Raider and cuts down hard on the classic Terminator failed-charge facepalm.
- Frenzied Ferocity (enhancement): up to three Terminator Squads get Sustained Hits 1 on their attacks, which, on power fists swinging at S8+, is a real damage multiplier.
- Warp Plunge (1 CP stratagem): at the end of your opponent’s Fight phase, you can put one unengaged Terminator unit back into Strategic Reserves, so you can charge, kill, weather their swing-back, and then pop the unit off the table to redeploy where you need it next turn.
That stratagem is basically a recycle button for your most expensive elite unit, and it’s exactly the kind of rule that will make Terminators a real list-building anchor instead of a one-shot threat.
Frenzied Host Turns Battleline Into a Real Combat Threat
The Frenzied Host detachment is built around Tormentors and Infractors, which is exactly where most Emperor’s Children warbands actually live in 10th.
- Frantic Focus (detachment rule): Battleline units get +1 Strength whenever they Advance or Fall Back, which is a bit sneakier than it looks. Strength bumps from a base S4 to S5 mean you start wounding T4 on 3+ and T5 on 4+, changing what these units can credibly threaten.
- Howling Plate (enhancement): a Lord Exultant-only upgrade that hands the unit’s ranged attacks +1 AP, and Tormentors with their fancy boltguns are going to love it. The Lord Exultant already drags Lethal Hits, Infiltrators, and Scouts 6″ into the squad, so adding AP on top of all that is borderline rude.
- Possessive Mania (stratagem): when your Battleline unit is sitting on or near an objective, and an enemy targets it in Shooting or Fight, you spend 1 CP and the enemy’s attacks lose 1 AP for that activation. That instantly makes Battleline units feel sticky instead of disposable.
Note that this detachment carries the HOST tag and can’t be paired with another HOST detachment, so you have to commit on this one.
Spectacle of Slaughter Is the Flawless Blades Showcase
The third detachment goes all-in on Flawless Blades, and it’s the one that’s going to get the most “ohhh no” reactions across the table.
- Entitled to Victory (detachment rule): Flawless Blades units get Fights First as part of their detachment rule. For a 1-DP rule, this is super solid and really gives you a reason to bring the Flawless Blades because they just fight first, every fight, every turn.
- Eager Patrons (enhancement): +2″ Movement to up to three Flawless Blades units, which, paired with Fights First, means you’re hitting threat ranges that most armies just aren’t set up to deal with on turn two.
- Single-minded Strike (stratagem): when your Flawless Blades start a charge, for 1 CP they can move through models (excluding Monsters and Vehicles), so the chaff screen your opponent put down to protect their characters might as well not exist.
Overall, this is a focused detachment that requires you to bring a decent number of Flawless Blades models to make it worthwhile. But if you’ve got the models, this one could be worth running most games, honestly.
How These Detachments Fit With the Existing Emperor’s Children Codex
The big-picture takeaway is that the Emperor’s Children codex still works the way it did. The original six codex detachments (including Rapid Evisceration, which is the obvious vehicle-forward partner here) are still on the table. Pair Spectacle of Slaughter or Elegant Brutes with Rapid Evisceration, and you’ve got daemon-engines ferrying your premier killers into the right spot.
But as we know now, that’s the 11th Edition design choice in one paragraph. Detachments are the new customization lever, and at 1 DP each, these three become bolt-on options instead of replacements. Your existing army still functions, but the new builds want different units, upgrades, and positioning choices.
Which, if you ask us, is a pretty cool opportunity to try something new, as we covered in the editorial on detachments taking over from wargear.
Best of all , we’ve already seen the new Chaos Space Marines detachments get the same treatment, too, so GW definitely wants Chaos to have plenty of options in 11th now.
Final Thoughts on the 11th Edition Emperor’s Children Detachments
Overall, what these new Emperor’s Children detachments tell you is how GW will handle the next Chaos codex, with similar bolt-on frameworks that complement and not compete with the existing rules from the faction packs (or things like the Lords of Excess battleforce).
The 1 DP cost on all three is the most interesting part of the whole reveal. You can run them in Strike Force games as a stack, mix and match with codex detachments, or build a list that leans entirely into one theme. If that’s the template, expect the next Chaos faction reveal to look a lot like this one, and start watching for which units get suddenly better each time GW drops a Faction Focus.
🔗 Related Reads:
- Emperor’s Children Faction Hub
- New Emperor’s Children Codex Rules Leaked
- The Original Six Emperor’s Children Detachments
- All the Latest 11th Edition 40k Rules Changes
- New 11th Edition Chaos Space Marines Detachments
- Lords of Excess Battleforce Box Review
