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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