Phew almost done! Today let’s dive into the final part of the review. We’ve seen the krazy klowns dominate the competitive world, how do they stack up in the crusade realm?
Army Special Rules:
The Harlis have a somewhat confusing ability that centers around three different performances. These performances have two phases, the first (the Rehearsal) where they have to complete two tasks over the course of several games and then a final performance, where they have to gamble on getting a great result on a single game. The rehearsal phase requirements aren’t difficult to do, most are things you will be doing anyway and their main encumbrance is an additional level of bookkeeping to layer on top of everything else. As a bonus, when you finish a rehearsal you can upgrade a character with a pivotal role! Once you are ready for your performance you can declare it before any battle. During these battle you will need to get 10+ performance points to get the best result but can get lesser rewards for 4-9 and 0-3 points. Getting these points varies, each dance has an easy level, like: Roll 4 or more D6 for Luck of the Laughing God, kill a unit with a Harli unit, etc. a medium level: usually killing the enemy warlord in a specific way, and a very hard one like: have your warlord lose at least 3 wounds but not die. The top level results are good, every Harli gets 5 exp. and some other bonus such as weapon enhancements or extra RP. This makes Harlis a decent addition to Aeldari crusade armies as they can help you farm RPs which you badly need. You don’t need to have only Harlis in your roster or even in your army to start your dances, and you can wait until you get a good match up for your last performance.
Agendas and Relics
The Harlis get access to what appears to be a mediocre agenda at first: kill the three units with the highest amount of wounds in your opponents army, if you do each unit that kills them gets 2 exp (thought killing more doesn’t get your more exp FYI). However the second effect is crazy: if you achieve this agenda you can count one of your two bullet points for your rehearsal to be completed. This is bonkers as if you focus on getting it you can do a grand performance once every three games! Add in the fact that Harlis are pretty good at killing things and that makes this agenda a must for most armies.
The Harlis also have some good relics. The Mask of Secrets is a decent artificer relics that debuffs enemy LD and keeps your opponent from re-rolling hits and wounds when targeting the bearer. The Serpent’s Tail is an upgraded kiss dealing D3 MWs on a 6 to wound. Finally the legendary Raiment of the Laughing God gives you +1 to all the best stats, T,S, W and A, plus you get a free strat once per game, and get to re-roll any or all of the dice for Luck of The Laughing God. It does cost you your pivotal role though. I feel like the legendary relic is hard to judge as you want it on a character who will stay alive but it also buffs your attacks a lot as well. Might be spicy on a Solitaire though (weird that you can give it to him given the fluff).
Army Traits and Requisitions:
Harli troupes get a small table of battle traits. Most of these are mediocre, or just bad, but one is amazing: getting +1 to wound if within 6″ of a Shadowseer that manifested a power (yes please!) It also doesn’t limit you to melee so get those fusion guns wounding just about anything on a 2+.
In addition, there is a bonus set of rules for the Solitaire. These are the only unique requisitions that the Harlis get. The first gets you additional accolade points for your final performance if you off the enemy warlord with your Solitaire or if he ends he battle more than 6″ away from other Harli models. The other option is for when you fail an out-of-action text with the Solitaire. Instead of taking a scar or losing experience you roll two dice: on a 3+ you get a special bonus most of which are amazing (one highlight makes him un-targetable if he is on terrain and more then 12″ away). However, the more you use this mechanic the greater the chance that you will lose him in the initial role.
Conclusion:
Overall the Harlis are another really powerful crusade army. Their rules can be cumbersome and need a lot of tracking but can boost themselves and an attached Aeldari army quite handily. They can stack relics to make a really annoying character to try and kill but nothing too crazy. They can also mesh quite well with a Drukhari army too. Finally they also integrate into Ynnari nicely too and have some good targets for the soul points. Even when they get nerfed I think the Harlis will provide to be a satisfying crusade army.
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