Hey guys Cavalier here, commission painter for Frontline Gaming and cohost of Splintermind the Dark Eldar podcast here today with some tricks and tips for the new Codex: Harlequins.
The new book for Harlies is beyond excellent. While still challenging to play with their new codex, Harlequins can hit with absolutley devastating force. They are one of those rare few elite armies that really has what it takes to hang in the fight with just about any opponent. The combination of hard hitting, high volume of melee attacks and shooting make them a worthy competitor in any style of play.
In this article I’ll be featuring a 2 Stratagem combo that I plan on using as a core strategy for my Harlequins. This combo has the potential to absolutely devastate your opponent’s infantry core if you can pull it off. So to begin with you’ll need at least 2 Troupe Masters and at least 1 unit of Harlequins and drive them right into the thick of your opponents army to maximize the effectiveness of this 1-2 punch. I for one plan on running at least 3×5 units of Harlequins all in Starweavers just to guarantee you’ll have the proper amount of bodies to pull off this trick and deliver that knockout blow to the infantry core of your opponents.
The lynch pin of this trick is the pair of Troupe Masters.
Troupe Master: M: 8 WS: 2+ BS: 2+ S: 3 T:3 W: 5 A: 5 Ld: 9 Sv: 6+/4++
Abilities:
Rising Cresendo: Advance + Fall Back and Still Charge.
Flip Belt: Move across models and Terrain as if they were not there.
Holosuit: 4+ Invuln
Choreographer of War: In the Fight phase, re-roll failed wound rolls for friendly <Masque> units with 6” of this model.
The second Troupe Master will be upgraded via Stratagem to a “Great Harlequin”.
(2 CP) Great Harlequin: Use this Stratagem before the battle. Select a Troupe Master in your army. That unit gains the Great Harlequin keyword and replaces their ‘Choreographer of War” ability with the following ability; “Will of the Laughing God: In the Fight phase, re-roll failed hit rolls for friendly <Masque> units that are within 6” of this model”. You can use this Stratagem once per battle.
So with both Choreographer of War and Will of the Laughing God in place, we’re looking to get our Harlies into the thick of the action, all with an eye on playing the following Stratagem:
(3 CP) War Dancers: Use this Stratagem at the end of the Fight phase. Select a Harlequin unit from your army that has already fought this phase. That unit can immediately pile in and fight an additional time.
So by using the Midnight Sorrow form which allows you to consolidate up to 6” this is a truly deadly combination. So in effect after a wipe out of a single unit, you can consolidate up to 6” and fight again. Since we are going Midnight Sorrow I’d say their dedicated relic is mandatory for the assignment.
Midnight Chime: Once Per Battle at the Beginning of the Fight Phase, the bearer can activate Midnight’s Chime. Until the end of the phase all Midnight Sorrow units increase their Attacks characteristic by 1 whilst they are within 6” of the bearer.
So with all that in mind, you are looking at a unit of say 5 Harlequins dishing out 25 hits, re-rolling 1’s to hit, re-rolling all failed wounds. I’d recommend at least 3 special melee with weapons to be given out per squad so with 3x caresses in the unit you are throwing down with 15 special weapon attacks whether it be the Embrace at Str 5 AP -2 Dmg 1 hits, with Kisses 15 Str 4 AP-1 D3 Dmg hits , or the Embrace with its Str 4, AP -3 Dmg 1 hits. You should be crushing just about any infantry target you roll up on, and then dishing it all out again to any unit within 6” with all the great re-rolls in place as well.
In an optimal situation you’ll have a number of other Harlequin units nearby pitching in which just increases the potential to deal a true knock-out blow to your opponents infantry core, while the much improved Haywire toting Voidweavers or Skyweaver jetbikes help you out at range against enemy armor and monsters.
When previewing the book this is one of the strategies that immediately leapt off the page at me. However this book is incredibly complex with many, many hard hitting combinations that I’m looking forward to implementing on the tabletop. Let me know any of your own favorite strategies and combinations in the comments section below.
Also if you are interested in exclusive Dark Eldar and all things Aeldari coverage check out our podcast Splintermind the Dark Eldar Podcast, where we have just concluded our indepth Codex Drukharii review and our first installment of our Codex: Harlequin review. Thanks for stopping by!
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Not that impressed honestly. I can do the same trick for the same CP with a unit of 20 Genestealers without the aid of any characters. And instead of a 6″ consolidate I get a regular move of 8″ in between the fights…
To be clear, the purpose of the article wasn’t to persuade you to go for Harlies over Bugs, it was just to highlight an important stratagem combo for Harlies because they are hyper elite and have a low model count. When they disembark from their vehicles, eliminating return fire after their assaults is all-important, because they lack the toughness and/or numbers that Tyranids bring.
With their special CC weapons and the Fusion pistols which they’ll blasting before they go in, they can cause some real mayhem especially with all the re-rolls.
Well ok then. It’s a nice little trick. I’m just giving it some context… 😉
No problem bud. Its true their are other armies that have similar tricks. Good info to know if you are starting up a new army for sure
I’m not sure why Harlequins are being called “hyper elite”. They’re really not. They’re sort of in the middle of the spectrum unless someone insists on putting a CC weapon and a gun on every playa’.
It can work. But never forget:
-you can only fight what you declared as a charge target.
-you have to be within 12″ to declare a unit a charge target.
This is the big danger, here. You have to declare all of your targets you want to fight as part of the initial charge, which means taking overwatch from all of them- and while that might not be so bad in some cases (e.g. Plaguebearers), if you’re running into a line of Imperial Guard or Tau it’s gonna be really dangerous. It’s a very neat trick, but I think that it’s largely secondary to Midnight Sorrow’s main strengths.
ynnari solitaire double shot hitting at 2 will be much easier to set up
But could be a lot easier to neutralize. But if its an option for sure. War Dancer is sick on a Solitaire. The Y’nnari combo is dirty too.
I think it’s situationally good on a Solitaire. Better on a Troupe.
My favourite so far is the Suit of Hidden Knives Enigma. In the fight phase, for every roll of 1 your opponent rolls to hit, you roll a dice. On a 2+ you inflict a mortal wound on the unit that’s attacking you. However, if you cast Fog of Dreams on the unit you charge, Veil of Tears on your unit, and use the Lightening Fast Reflexes Stratagem, your unit is -3 to hit. So on every roll of a 4+, you’re rolling a dice and causing a mortal wound on a 2+. Situational to be fair, but I have this mental image of a Shadowseer jumping out her Starweaver, casting Fog, casting Veil, popping the Strat, and charging something horrible, to walk out the other side, having slaughtered everybody, while not really needing to swing her Miststave at all.
Love it! I’m a huge fan of Suit of Hidden Knives. I’m actually thinking about painting a knife pattern on the inside of my Solitaire or Shadowseer’s coat to represent the relic.
It’s likely an unmodified roll of a ‘1’….
Also so many things reroll ones to hit… It’s pretty good but it will not be effective on many buffed enemy units.
Nope, it’s not an unmodified 1, just a 1.