Hey guys, Cavalier checking in, commission painter for Frontline Gaming and co-host of Splintermind: The Dark Eldar Podcast back again with the another installment of Eldar Trickery. In this article I’ll be taking a look at a Harlequin relic that I’ve seen a lot of potential in: the Suit of Hidden Knives. Its a great relic that can combo really well with a number of Harlie characters. Lets dive in!
Suit of Hidden Knives
So what is the Suit of Hidden Knives? Its a relic available to all the Masque Forms and works as follows
Suit of Hidden Knives
Roll a D6 each time a hit roll of 1 is made for an enemy model targeting the wearer in the Fight Phase. On a 2+ that model’s unit suffers a mortal after the unit has resolves all of its attacks.
Whats great about this Relic is that Harlequins have a variety of ways to impose hit penalties on your opponent via Stratagem and Psychic Powers.
The first and most obvious way is Lightening Fast Reactions which for Harlequins imposes a -1 to hit in the Shooting Phase and the Fight Phase. So with just the ability alone 1’s and 2’s can trigger mortal wounds.
The second and third options are Psychic Powers from the very handy Shadowseer. So before the relic bearer goes off on his merry way, you can Veil of Tears on him to impose a further -1 to hit (totaling -2 to hit at this point). You can then cast Fog of Dreams on the target the relic bearer is going after imposing a further -1 to hit on the target meaning that on 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and 4’s your opponent is triggering mortal wounds on a 2+!
Offense Combos/Who to give the Relic To?
Now choosing a relic bearer can be a bit tricky. The Suit of Hidden Knives really shines with the debuffs slung around by the Shadowseer, but when stacked on a more offensive minded character, the damage output can be potentially ridiculous.
Shadowseer- The Shadowseer is probably the easiest way to employ the Suit of Hidden Knives, but will most likely yield less offense than the other options I consider ideal. By having the Shadowseer carry the relic, the psychic powers will always be available to you. Any other character can get potentially separated from the Shadowseer and losing out on the those psychic powers can really ruin the potential of the relic. However compared to other Harlequin options the Shadowseer is middling in combat and you will most likely be counting on mortal wounds to do the heavy lifting, though the Miststave at Str 5 Ap-1 D3 damage is nothing to sneeze at. Furthermore Shield from Harm ability of the Shadowseer which imposes a -1 to wound to all Harlie infantry within 6 is another frustrating debuff that will help the Shadowseer on any attacks that get through.
The Solitaire
The Solitaire is a natural choice for the Suit of Hidden Knives. With a 12″ movement, 8 attacks normally using either the Kiss (Str 4 Ap-1 D3 dmg) or the Caress (Str 5, Ap-2, 1 dmg) or 10 attacks when on the Blitz the Solitaire is a murder machine. Not only will he crush similar infantry characters but with certain stratagems and the power of the relic he can go after some truly beefy monsters as well.
There are a number of stratagems such as Torment of the Fiery Pit which will add 2 to your Strength and Attacks, or War Dancers which allows to pile in and Fight a second time if you really need to guarantee a kill.
The Troupe Master
The humble Troupe Master is also a great choice. You can customize his gear a bit more than the other choices and the ability to take a Fusion Pistol is not to be overlooked. He carries around some great buffs of his (re-roll to wound) and is a great choice for some tasty warlord traits that pair well with the Suit of Hidden Knives. The Player of Twilight warlord trait will enable the Troupe Master to cause a mortal wound on a roll of 6+ in the Fight Phase. Combining Torment of the Fiery Pit, War Dancers.
Furthermore if anything survives your blitz you can play one of my favorite stratagems Cegorach’s Jest which will allow you to shoot your Fusion Pistol into the fleeing coward as they try to fall back from combat.
Conclusion
As you can see there is some insane offensive potential with the Suit of Hidden Knives and a combo of offensive Stratagems. It is resource intensive, its a requisite to juggle a lot of resources, timing etc. to really get the most out of the army. I for one would love to actually paint a knife like pattern into the long coat of my Solitaire just for the occasion!
Anyway hope you guys enjoyed the article. If there are any other combos let me know!
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