Watchtower check in progress
Checking the latest signal
SprueSentry is loading the requested page and its current information.
SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. The detachment rule, stratagems and enhancements here are read from the printed pages of Faction Pack v1.2. Emperor's Children were part of the 26 August 2026 faction pack reissue, so this is Faction Pack version 1.2 and was one day old when this page was written. Its Detachment Point cost, force disposition, Unique Tag and enhancement points are not in the Faction Pack; they come from the official Munitorum Field Manual v1.3, read on 27 August 2026. This detachment carries no Unique Tag. Only one Emperor's Children detachment does, Frenzied Host, and because no second detachment shares its tag nothing in this faction is blocked by tags at all, so Detachment Point arithmetic is the only thing that can stop a pairing. Enhancement points are dataslate-volatile and are reprinted here only as a planning aid; the Warhammer 40,000 app is the authority.
Friendly FLAWLESS BLADES units have Fights First. That is the whole rule, and it is the shortest detachment rule in the faction. Fights First on a dedicated melee unit is worth more than it looks, because it converts an even exchange into a one-sided one whenever your opponent charges you rather than the other way round.
For 1 CP, when a friendly FLAWLESS BLADES unit is selected to fight, its melee attacks have [PRECISION]. Combined with Fights First this is a character-killing package: you strike before the enemy unit does and you can allocate those attacks straight at the leader.
For 1 CP, when a friendly FLAWLESS BLADES unit starts a charge move, your unit can move through models, excluding MONSTER and VEHICLE models. This is the answer to being screened: you charge through the cheap unit in front and reach what was behind it.
For 1 CP, when an enemy unit that was engaged with a friendly FLAWLESS BLADES unit ends a fall-back move, if that Flawless Blades unit is unengaged, your unit can make a normal move of up to D3+3 inches. Walking away from a melee unit is the standard counter-play, and this makes it cost the opponent ground.
FLAWLESS BLADES unit only. This unit has +2 inches Move. A unit upgrade rather than a character enhancement, and the most straightforward way to solve the detachment's one real problem, which is that Fights First does nothing until you are in combat.
FLAWLESS BLADES unit only. Enemy units cannot target this unit with snap shooting attacks. Cheap, narrow, and aimed squarely at the reactive fire that punishes a unit crossing open ground.
The only unit this detachment does anything for. Its rule, both enhancements and all three stratagems name FLAWLESS BLADES and nothing else, so the detachment is worth exactly as much as the number of these you field. Their Blissblade had its Attacks characteristic changed to 4 in this pack.
See the box: price and offersThe faction's signature duelist character and a natural fit for a detachment built on winning individual melee exchanges, though note that the detachment's own enhancements are unit upgrades on Flawless Blades rather than character enhancements he can carry.
See the box: price and offersThe generic melee character to lead the Flawless Blades block, and the model the wider faction's character enhancements are written for.
See the box: price and offersThe most cohesive 3 DP army in the faction. Court of the Phoenician's Exalted Patron enhancement is recorded as a LEADER: FLAWLESS BLADES enhancement, so the two detachments are written for the same unit, and Sensational Performance adds +1 Strength and +1 Armour Penetration on the charge to a unit that already has Fights First.
Both detachments are about winning the melee exchange. Fights First from one, and a choice of [LETHAL HITS] or [SUSTAINED HITS 1] on the charge from the other, land on the same swing.
Slayer of Champions gives a character [PRECISION] and improved Strength and Armour Penetration against CHARACTER targets, which is the same character-killing plan Honour is for Fools sets up for the squad. Between them the unit and its leader can both go after the enemy's leader.
Fights First is worth nothing until the unit arrives, and this detachment's whole contribution is arriving: re-rollable Advance rolls army-wide, plus Honour the Prince to swap the Advance roll for a flat +6 inches of Move.
The Empowered aura gives your Flawless Blades [SUSTAINED HITS 1] for standing within 6 inches of a daemon unit, which is a real damage increase on a unit that is already striking first.
A transport solves the Flawless Blades delivery problem more reliably than +2 inches of Move does, and Spearhead Striker adds re-rollable charge rolls and immunity to Fire Overwatch on the turn they disembark.
Two 1 DP detachments for 2 DP, leaving a point unspent at Strike Force. Two separate elite melee threats arriving by different routes, which splits your opponent's attention but leaves budget unused.
Two 1 DP detachments for 2 DP. Take the third 1 DP detachment as well and you have the faction's only legal three-detachment army for exactly 3 DP.
The 1 DP duelist detachment: Flawless Blades units have Fights First, full stop, plus the cheapest answers in the faction to screens and overwatch.
BySprue Sentry
ReviewedAug 28, 2026
SourceFaction Pack: Emperor's Children v1.2 (official GW PDF, legal for matched play from 26 August 2026)
Sprue Sentry strategy commentary for 11th edition, not official rules. Games Workshop updates points and rules regularly; always confirm against the current official rules and latest update before a game.
Spectacle of Slaughter costs 1 DP and its force disposition is Disruption. It is printed in full on page 4 of Faction Pack v1.2.
Entitled to Victory: friendly FLAWLESS BLADES units have Fights First.
That is the entire rule. It is the shortest detachment rule in the faction, and one of the most decisive, because Fights First does not improve your attacks so much as it removes your opponent's chance to reduce them.
This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. Written against the official Emperor's Children Faction Pack version 1.2, legal for matched play from 26 August 2026, with Detachment Point costs, force dispositions, Unique Tags and enhancement points from the official Munitorum Field Manual version 1.3, read on 27 August 2026. Enhancement points are dataslate-volatile; the Warhammer 40,000 app is the final word.
Fights First reads like a small bonus and behaves like a large one, for a reason worth spelling out.
In a melee exchange, the side that swings second swings with fewer models, because the first side has already removed some of them. Fights First does not add damage to your unit; it subtracts damage from theirs, and it does so at exactly the moment when the subtraction compounds.
The consequence for how you play is counter-intuitive. You do not need to charge. Most melee units only get their advantage by charging, so their opponent can decline the fight or charge first to seize the initiative. A Flawless Blades unit with Fights First is dangerous to charge, which means the enemy's own charge into you is a mistake, and you can profitably stand on an objective and wait.
That is what makes this a genuine Disruption detachment rather than an assault one. A unit that punishes being charged is a unit your opponent has to route around.
The limitation is absolute, though. The rule names FLAWLESS BLADES and nothing else. No stratagem, no enhancement and no part of the rule applies to any other unit in your army. This detachment is worth exactly as much as the number of Flawless Blades you field, and a list with one squad of them is spending a Detachment Point on one squad.
Three stratagems, all 1 CP, all FLAWLESS BLADES only.
Honour is for Fools gives your unit's melee attacks [PRECISION] when it is selected to fight. Stack that on top of Fights First and you have the best character-killing package in the faction: you swing before the enemy unit does, and you can allocate those attacks directly at the leader. Killing an enemy character before it fights at all is the single highest-value thing this detachment does.
Single-minded Strike lets your unit move through models, excluding MONSTER and VEHICLE models, when it starts a charge move. This is the answer to being screened, which is the standard counter to any elite melee unit: you charge through the cheap chaff in front and reach what was behind it.
Intoxicated by Triumph fires in your opponent's Movement phase, when an enemy that was engaged with your unengaged Flawless Blades ends a fall-back move: your unit makes a normal move of up to D3+3 inches. Walking away is the other standard counter to a melee unit, and this makes it cost the opponent ground rather than buying them a free turn.
Between Single-minded Strike and Intoxicated by Triumph, the detachment has a cheap answer to both of the two ways an opponent normally neutralises a melee threat, which is unusual for 1 DP.
Both are Upgrades on the unit rather than character enhancements, which is worth noting because it means you do not need a character to spend them.
Eager Patrons (20 pts) gives a FLAWLESS BLADES unit +2 inches Move. This is the most important 20 points in the detachment, because it addresses the rule's one real weakness: Fights First does absolutely nothing until the unit is in combat, and a unit that arrives a turn late has spent a turn contributing nothing.
Beguiling Grotesquerie (15 pts) means enemy units cannot target the unit with snap shooting attacks. Cheap, narrow, and aimed squarely at the reactive fire that punishes a unit crossing open ground toward a fight.
Both are affordable enough to take together on a single squad, which is a reasonable plan for a list built around one excellent unit rather than several good ones.
Flawless Blades are the detachment. Every line of it names them and nothing else. Their Blissblade had its Attacks characteristic changed to 4 in this pack, which is a straight increase to the unit this detachment is entirely about, so a page written against the older pack understates them.
Lucius the Eternal is the faction's signature duelist and a thematic fit for a detachment about winning individual exchanges, though note the detachment's own enhancements are unit upgrades rather than character enhancements he can carry.
Lord Exultant is the generic melee character to lead the Flawless Blades block and the model the wider faction's character enhancements are written for.
At 1 DP this pairs with any of the six 2 DP detachments for exactly 3 DP. The most cohesive by a distance is Court of the Phoenician, whose Exalted Patron enhancement is recorded as a LEADER: FLAWLESS BLADES enhancement; that pairing gets its own page.
No. It gives Fights First to friendly FLAWLESS BLADES units and nothing else, and the same is true of all three stratagems and both enhancements. This detachment does nothing at all for Tormentors, Infractors, Noise Marines, Terminators or characters, so it is worth exactly as much as the number of Flawless Blades units in your list.
No, and that is the detachment's real strength. Fights First means the unit is dangerous to charge as well as dangerous when charging, so it can hold an objective and punish anything that comes to take it. That suits the Disruption disposition: a unit your opponent has to route around is doing work even on turns it does not move.
Eager Patrons at 20 points. Fights First does nothing until the unit is in combat, so +2 inches of Move is buying you the turns in which the detachment rule is switched on at all. Beguiling Grotesquerie at 15 points is a good second pick, and at 35 points total you can comfortably run both on one squad.
The detachment itself is printed in full and unchanged by the reissue, whose WHAT'S NEW block lists only changes to Rules Updates. What did change is the unit it depends on: the Flawless Blades Blissblade had its Attacks characteristic changed to 4 in this pack's Rules Updates section, so the detachment is stronger than an older guide will tell you.
Written by Sprue Sentry, grounded in the cited sources. Original commentary, not Games Workshop rules text.