Lucius can’t be everywhere at once, however, and many Emperor’s Children warbands are instead led by one of the many corrupted Chaos Lords pledged to Slaanesh’s service.

These Lords Exultant are sadistic strategists who delight in proving their tactical superiority by weaving complex battle plans across war-torn worlds like artists painting a masterpiece. Their dark charisma and bottomless imagination for audacious cruelty gives them great control over the preening and self-absorbed warriors of the Emperor’s Children, coupled with well-honed combat skills using a wide variety of masterwork wargear.

Other commanders immerse themselves in the rapturous acoustic devastation of sonic weaponry, guiding choirs of Noise Marines as one of the Lords Kakophonist. Where the Lords Exultant fight with their swords and minds, Lords Kakophonist expertly orchestrate an overwhelming tirade of sonic destruction so loud it manifests strange eldritch phenomena, quaking the very souls of their enemies.

The Noise Marines are masters of the lethal application of sound. Their armour and weapons are intricately woven with ornamentation and dark sigils of Slaanesh – just check out those daemonic faces on their sonic blaster barrels – with options for a pair of heavy blastmaster cannons and a screamer pistol for their Disharmonist squad leader.

Those champions of the Legion who give themselves over fully to the thrill of close combat become Flawless Blades, a dark mirror to the elite Palatine Blades of the Great Crusade.

What few gaps their own matchless combat skills leave are filled with a constant cocktail of combat stimms and psychoactive substances that keep them in a constant state of adrenaline-fueled bliss. Their hideous appearance echoes the daemons of the Dark Prince whose gifts they readily accept, though they aren’t possessed like lesser Heretic Astartes – rather, they are far too selfish to share their flesh with anyone save their own perfect form.

Even the most common Space Marines among Fulgrim’s Legion are masters of their own brand of warfare, and are often found collected into two distinct formations. Infractors are obsessed with experiencing every sensation the galaxy has to offer and hurl themselves into close combat with wicked duelling sabres, determined to hunt down the most glorious opponents and prove their superiority at the edge of a blade.

Tormentors instead opt for mastery in the field of ranged combat, prizing speed and aggression over the lumbering defences of their loyalist nemeses. Their highly ornamented boltguns are supremely deadly in the hands of such skilled warriors, and even their endless hunt for ever greater battle sensations doesn’t curb their usefulness as objective-capturing troops.