Emperor's Children: Frenzied Host Detachment Guide (11th Edition)

The core effect rewards your Battleline troops for moving aggressively — reporting from the Faction Pack points to a Strength bonus when these units Advance or Fall Back, exactly the actions the Thrill Seekers army rule already encourages. That overlap is the whole point: your infantry are already sprinting around and peeling out of fights to chase new targets, and this detachment makes each of those moves hit harder. It converts the army's natural mobility into raw melee threat, and because it applies to numerous cheap units rather than a single hammer, it's resilient to losing models. Treat the exact bonus value as indicative and confirm it in the live rules.

The detachment's stratagems reinforce durable, objective-holding infantry play. Reporting highlights an effect in the mould of Possessive Mania, reducing enemy Armour Penetration by 1 when they target your Battleline sitting on objectives — a defensive buff that turns your cheap troops into stubborn objective-holders exactly when it matters. Hold this kind of stratagem for the enemy's big shooting or charge turn against a squad you need to keep on a point. As with all stratagems, timing and CP are everything: spend it to protect a scoring unit or to swing a key fight, not reflexively. Confirm the exact CP cost, target restrictions and wording in your current Faction Pack.

The enhancements support a character-led infantry core. Reporting points to an option like Howling Plate that improves a leader's ranged output (for example better AP on their shooting) — useful because Emperor's Children shooting is otherwise thin, so squeezing extra value from a character's ranged attacks helps. Place your enhancements on the character leading your most important Battleline block, so the buff travels with the unit doing the heavy lifting. Enhancements are limited and cost points, so prioritise the one that most improves your key squad's survivability or output. Verify the current enhancement list and points in the 40k app before locking a list.

The stars here are Tormentors and Infractors — the Emperor's Children Battleline infantry — taken in numbers so the Advance/Fall Back Strength bonus applies across a wide front. Add a Character to lead a key squad, carry an enhancement, and shore up the unit's melee. Because the detachment scales with bodies rather than a single elite hammer, it's forgiving: losing a squad doesn't collapse your plan. Round out the list with a fast utility unit or two for screening and objective grabs. Check current datasheets, unit sizes and wargear on the Emperor's Children army page.

Take Frenzied Host if you want the most in-flavour, most army-rule-synergistic, and most forgiving Emperor's Children detachment — and if you like fielding numerous infantry rather than a handful of elites. It's the detachment SprueSentry recommends for a first Emperor's Children army: it uses affordable models, rewards the Advance/Fall Back dance that defines the faction, and shrugs off the casualties a fragile army takes. It's less suited to players who want a low-model-count elite hammer (see Elegant Brutes) or a duelist fantasy (see Spectacle of Slaughter). In larger Detachment Points budgets it makes a great backbone to pair with an elite detachment. Confirm the 1 DP cost in your current Faction Pack.