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Space Hulk

2015-07-13T22:34:52Z

76.193.131.86: /* See also */

In Warhammer 40,000, Space Hulk is both a fluff term and a game produced by GW.

==Fluff==
A Spacey Hulk is a hulk of giant space debris, most often Imperial ships that were either destroyed or lost in the warp that stuck together and drift in space and the warp for their entire lives. Space Hulks are regarded as both dangerous and important for these reasons: lost Imperial technology, information, and relics may be aboard the Hulk, and the bad is that it may be infested by [[Tyranid]] [[Genestealer]]s, a [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos]] warband, or [[Orks]] that may threaten the system they are in.

For this reason, if a Space Marine [[Terminator]] squad is available, they will venture into the Hulk to both purge it of threats and recover anything of value. If they aren't available, the Space Hulk will usually be destroyed by any available battle ships in the area to prevent anything from getting out of it.

Why they send terminators is beyond our understanding, because termies:
# didn't pack enough firepower, armed mostly with stormbolters;
# are huge enough to block entire corridors, so they cannot focus their firepower;
# get slaughtered by Genestealers the second they come in CQC range;
# are absurdly expensive and often irreplaceable;
Seriously, a squad of stormtroopers or even guard veterans with flamers and meltaguns would be much, MUCH more effective. See [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/SpaceHulk this thread] for more arguments on both sides.

The debate's carried over into canon too: in the book 'Death of Integrity', it was mentioned multiple times that Terminator armour had to be used due to the ridiculous amounts of radiation in some parts of the Hulk, enough radiation that would cook Power Armoured Marines in their suits. Once they had accurate seismic scans of the hulk they were able to deploy Devastators and Assault Marines in areas where the radiation was lower, and even space-suited Scouts on the surface to help the Techmarines do shit. Nice to know the guys at Black Library are still awesome.

==The game==
[[Image:Spacehulk_meeple.jpg|thumb|200px|right|How we played Space Hulk during the GDW boycott]]

Possibly /tg/s favorite board game, rivaled by a select few such as [[HeroQuest]] and [[Settlers of Catan]].

Features two small factions from the 40K universe: [[Genestealer]]s, a subspecies of Tyranid who tend to infest Space Hulks so they can OM NOM NOM. The other faction is compossed of a [[Space Marine]] Terminator squad, who enter these hulks to recover long lost technology and pretty much kill everything they see. The game is fucking hardcore for both sides - Genestealers, because they have no ranged weapons and die from so much as a mean look, and Terminators, because they have little mobility, few numbers, and, for all but a select few Terminators, are very vulnerable in close-range combat. (The deficiencies in hand-to-hand can be made up by equipping Terminators with Lightning Claws or the Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, both added in the Deathwing Expansion.)

[[Image:Space_hulk.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Took them long enough to get this done.]]

A vidya version of it for PC, Mac, and iOS is coming out August 15 2013 and produced by an indie studio called Full Control. The single-player campaign features Terminators from the [[Blood Angels]] (fortunately, we evaded the Ultramarines and Matt Ward) on the Space Hulk ''Wrath Of Baal'' fighting against Genestealers, although there will also be a multiplayer mode that plays more like the board game, along with a cooperative mode allowing multiple players to join forces to fight off CPU-controlled Genestealers. (Technically, it's a remake of the 1993 game, but most fa/tg/guys don't have computers that run Amiga.) It's pretty [[skub]]-tastic, and Space Hulk veterans refuse to touch it. We'll let you judge the ups and downs for yourself in [[Space Hulk (2013)|this page]].

==Rerelease==
Around 2014, GW rereleased Space Hulk. That's the good news. The bad news is, it's a limited release. And expensive.....like 40k starter set expensive. You do get some neat models that look like they can be used in regular 40k. Also, there are four new missions, and new board pieces such as boarding torpedoes.

However, this pissed off A LOT of people who bought the previous release of space hulk, as it too was a "limited release." A lot of people felt cheated because of this.

==See also==
*[[Alien Assault]] - A Swedish indie video game that's based around the gameplay of Space Hulk. With enough mods that's listed in the article, you can actually turn the game into Space Hulk, complete with marine chapters, graphics, sounds, and maps.
*[[Space Hulk (2013)]] - 2013 video game adaptation
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaumoYODnDw Space Hulk: Deathwing, now in Unreal Engine, enjoy your trailer (and redirect that money you were going to use in a Titan for a decent PC)!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YROOgLD-wtU| The second trailer, with EXTRA-appropriated tango-pop music because Focus Home Interactive knows how to TROLL you with style!]
*[[Assassinorum Execution Force]] - The latest and greatest board game from GeeDubs, similar in style to Spess Hulk. Actually more similar to X-COM, but whatever.

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]] [[Category:Board Games]]

Officio Assassinorum

2015-05-05T23:44:26Z

76.193.131.86: /* Assassinorum: Execution Force */

[[File:Armyof4byIronShrineMaiden.jpg |200px|thumb|right|Dawwww.]]
''"Ask not for whom they seek, lest it be thyself."'' - Tactica Imperium on The Officio Assassinorum

When the shit hits the fan, these are the guys that get their hands dirty. It's all about the wetwork. This branch of the Imperium recruits, trains and commands [[Assassin|Assassins]], for more information on the individual Assassin types, please visit [[Assassin|this page]].

You can tell you don't mess with the Officio Assassinorium. Anyone, from the lowliest of workers to the [[High Lords of Terra]], at ANY moment, is open to either having their brains spilled on pavement by a sniper round, their spleen torn out by screaming Wry-man, or shanked by dear old mum for no apparent reason.

==History==
[[File:Nemesis_02.jpg|400px|thumb|left|If the [[Imperial Guard]] is the hammer and the [[Space Marines]] are the scalpel, the operatives of the Officio Assassinorum are the poisoned needle. Why does the female Venenum Assassin have a white beard?]]
The '''Officio Assassinorum''' was founded at the beginning of the [[Great Crusade]] as a department for holding any up-and-coming warlords or heretical leaders accountable for their actions. And by "accountable" we mean "disposed of." And by "disposed of" we mean "killed so hard that they will die to death." Formed by [[Malcador the Sigillite]] and the six masters of the Clades (the future temples), it was founded in extreme secrecy in an attempt to keep it out of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]]'s knowledge and maintain his purity (a concept the Big E always found funny). It's even more amusing that they thought they could hide something from someone capable of basically hearing the thoughts of every human at once. And they all seem to know of one another. Technically, a terminatus order can only be issued by the Senatorum Imperialus (AKA the [[High Lords of Terra]]), and the members of the Officio Assassinorum are kept on a very short leash. Unlike the [[Inquisition]], they have no discretionary powers of their own, [[The Beheading|because they tend to horribly abuse them if they do]].

The head of the Officio is known as the '''Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum,''' or '''The Master of Assassins,''' who sits alongside the Fabricator-General of Mars and the Ecclesiarch of the Adeptus Ministorum as one of the [[High Lords of Terra]].

Which, if you think about it, must be somewhat distracting during their meetings. The Lords are sitting around and discussing the fates of trillions of men, and as the debate goes back and forth, one of them says nothing, ever. He just sits there, smoking a lho-stick with his trench coat wrapped around him, almost completely overlooked. And then they remember that a bad decision could get them killed, and this is the guy who does that. And only that. His only job is to dispatch death on swift wings to any high official. It'd be like having the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head everywhere you went.

Members are recruited at a very young age; most of them are children from Feral Worlds or are taken from the schola progenium. Recruits are biologically augmented and trained at the School of Assassins on Holy Terra for ten years before being assigned to one of the Assassin Temples to continue their training and eventually serve the Imperium.

The Assassin specialists approach Chuck Norris levels of awesome, as the Temples have permission make use of "any means or tools to get the job done," even if it means banned tech from the Dark Age of Technology(like 'synskin') or xeno artifacts (like the C'tan phase blade). These Assassins are also given crushingly restrictive psych treatments to ensure they never use these tools except when ordered, which can make them seem kinda spastic during downtimes when said tools are augmentations to their own body.

There are only 2 recorded examples of anyone in the Officio turning against the Imperium. Unfortunately, both times it was the Grand Master, Drakan Vangorich (goes to show, never trust a Russian). The Imperium learned of the first one's butthole treachery when he had the [[High Lords of Terra]] [[The Beheading|wiped out to the last man]]. Very [[grimdark]], though the uncaring [[Eldrad|dicks]] had it coming to them.

After that betrayal, an Astartes retribution force was dispatched to "resolve" the situation. It is not known how many marines were sent; since the force was made up of elements of three chapters ([[Halo Brethren]], [[Sable Swords]] and [[Imperial Fists]]), it was probably at least 1000 marines. As soon as they landed on Terra, the commander of the force was assassinated. The remaining marines broke into the grand chamber of the Assassinorum Temple and found 100 (!) [[Eversor]] Assassins between them and their target. A single marine survived to plug the Grand Master in the brain with a boltgun. This super-hardcore-awesome-ass-kicking marine was definitely [[Darnath Lysander]].

The other one was [[Love Can Bloom|Vindicare Assassin LIIVI]].

Ha, just kidding. The second time was during the Age of Apostasy in M36, when the Grand Master was himself assassinated by a [[Callidus]] Assassin under the orders of [[Goge Vandire]], the insane ruler of the Imperium. Of course, you don't become Grand Master without being an Assassin yourself, and it turned out that he had switched places with a body double. What followed was a civil war within the Assasinorum to mirror the one wracking the Imperium, and ended up filling the Imperial Palace with nerve gas and destroying entire wings of Mankind's greatest fortress with ancient Dark Age and xenos weaponry. Eventually, the Grand Master triumphed, but went into self-imposed exile at the end of it, and might still be alive today. After the war, the [[Inquisition]] set up the Ordo Sicarius to monitor the Assassins and make sure they stay in line.

Alas, they will always be second best, for they can never become [[Ultramarines]]. They only exist in fluff for the purposes of showing just how bad-ass a specific enemy is. For example, during the [[Horus Heresy]], eight(!) Assassins, at least one from each temple, was sent to form an Assassin's Justice League of Doom and kill [[Horus|that asshole who started it]]. For [[Plot armor|SOME REASON]], like everyone else in the Imperium who tried to stop it, they [[FAIL|failed.]] Also, the same thing was tried during the Medusa V campaign, to assassinate the leader of the Chaos faction, and seven of them failed. This is known as the "Worf Effect."

==Divisions==
The Officio Assassinorum has six "temples," or specialist branches, each focused on one particular method of assassination:
* [[Callidus]] - shapeshifters, masters of infiltration. All women ([[Trap|or men pretending to be women]], or women pretending to be Orks, or...just...try not to think about it).
* [[Culexus]] - soulless gothtards that are invisible & immune to psykers, daemons & the Warp.
* [[Eversor]] - cyborg, drugged-up killing machines that have two settings: coma and '''RIP'N'TEAR!!'''1!!1!one!
* [[Vanus]] - leet hacker NERD CHESS PLAYERS. All are geniuses in the fields of intelligence gathering, strategy and JUST AS PLANNED. "The cleanest kill is one that another performs in your stead with no knowledge of your incitement." They are what every neckbeard wants to be.
* [[Venenum]] - master poisoners who can take the things found in a kitchen and kill a [[Space Marine]] with the resulting mixture.
* [[Vindicare]] - snipers that can "BOOM! HEADSHOT!" from the horizon.
* [[Maerorus]] - a failed attempt at creating a living weapon able to operate without support or equipment for a prolonged period of time. The only one created proved to be impossible to control and went rogue; all attempts at making more were immediately discontinued. Think Alex Mercer from Prototype, only even more sociopathic.

[[Death Cult Assassin|Death Cult Assassins]] aren't part of this framework; there are thousands of death cults throughout the Imperium and they each train in their own way to kill enemies of the Emperor, but are not officially-sanctioned and are more autonomous than the Assassins.

==Assassinorum: Execution Force==
[[Assassinorum_Execution_Force|GeeDubs recently released a (rather awesome) Space Hulk-style board game]] for 1-4 players that revolves around an Execution Force - an Officio Assassinorum team comprised of a Callidus, Culexus, Vindicare, and Eversore assassin. Gameplay is a combination of Splinter Cell and X-COM, wherein the four player-controlled Assassins run through the map attempting to find a teleportarium room, which in turn will allow them to move to the second (and final) map. Once there, players must kill a boss of sorts - a Chaos Sorceror who is trying to blah blah kill the Imperium with blibbity bloobity Chaos shenanigans. You've heard the story before. Along the way, Assassins fight Renegades (Chaos [[Cultist-chan|Cultists]] and [[Dranon|Spess Muhreens]]) which are spawned either by revealing rooms (the only way to find the teleportato and its control room) or through random events. Renegades can be alerted to the Assassins' presence by catching them in line of sight or by hearing the sounds of glorious gunplay down the hall. The Assassins, of course, are all badasses with unique attributes and abilities, including Primaris and Omegon Tactics (super special powers that can be used thrice or once per game, respectively). All in all the game is both challenging and incredibly fun, not to mention ''much'' shorter than your average game of [[Warhammer_40,000|Spess-Muhreens-beating-on-Spess-Muhreens]], but the real appeal is the fact that you get [[Awesome|the four new Assassin models]] and a handful of Chaos miniatures. Well done, GeeDubs. Well done.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:AnotherGameNightRuined.jpg
File:Back in the Day by DeadXCross.jpg
File:AssassinsHangout.jpg|Eversors are the [[That Guy]] of Assassins.

</gallery>

{{Template:Imperium}}

Assassinorum Execution Force

2015-05-04T18:26:36Z

76.193.131.86: /* Characters */

[[Image:Executionforce.jpg|thumb|right|You done did it now, enemies of Man.]]

An awesome new standalone board game release from GeeDubs that, as opposed to revolving around [[Pauldrons|Spess Muhreens]], follows an [[Officio Assassinorum]] Execution Force on a mission of [[Troll|life and death for the Imperium]]. Similar in style to [[Space Hulk]]. Fluff-wise, an Execution Force is the Imperium's no-holds-barred response to something deemed so dangerous that four Officio Assassinorum agents are needed to clean up the mess.

==The Fluff==
Chaos Sorcerer Lord [[Dranon]] (or Drask or...something) has come up with ''yet another'' way for [[Chaos|Khay-ohss]] to dick the Imperium over, this time by sacrificing a solar system's star to the Dark Gods in exchange for daemonhood. Oh, also, it'll [[Anal_circumference|create]] a new [[Eye_of_Terror|Eye of Terror]], which is bad. So the Officio Assassinorum sends in an Execution Force to [[RAPE|shut that shit down]]. The Assassins all have names, and there's a whole (ridiculously overpriced) novella that goes along with the game, but do you care? Not for $17.50 USD, you don't. It's more fun to make your own story up, [[Your_dudes|which is what 40K is all about anyway]].

==The Crunch==
===Overview===
The game is intended for 1-4 players, each of whom control one of the Assassins. Chaos Renegades are an NPC faction controlled by random dice rolls and Event Cards. Each type of character (Assassins, Cultists, Chaos Marines, and the Sorcerer Lord) has its own unique rules, abilities, and modifiers. Actual character gameplay revolves around Actions; Assassins get two Actions per turn, and Renegades get one to two Actions (determined randomly by a helpful spread sheet for anything that might go down during the game, located on the back of the rule book). Stamina takes the place of Wounds here, and Resilience is equatable to Toughness + Armour Save: if a D6 is rolled in either a Fight or Shoot Action, and the number on the D6 meets or exceeds the number next to the character's Resilience, the character takes a wound (thereby losing a point of Stamina). If a character runs out of Stamina, they be dead. Cultists have one wound, Assassins and Spiky Muhreens have two, and Sorcerer Lord Derpatron has three.

All four Assassins have the ability to Move six squares, Sprint D6 squares, and heal a wound on a 2+ (thanks to Synskin). They each have a Shoot and Fight ability, determinate on whether they are at range or in CC, and they each have three Primaris Tactics and one Omegon Tactic, which can be used three times and one time per game, respectively. Each Assassin also has two passive Abilities that grant various boons. Assassin gameplay revolves around being Sam Fisher and attempting not to alert the guards (very difficult), all while revealing hidden rooms in an effort to locate the Teleportarium and its Control Room. If one Assassin ends its turn on the Control Room, the Teleportato is activated. Any Assassin who ends their subsequent turns on the Tilapiaquarium are then...er...teleported to the next (and much smaller) map, where they must make their way to and [[RIP_AND_TEAR|assassinate]] the Sorcerer Lord. Assassins have 16 turns, counted by a midget covered in dirty laundry, to accomplish this before the Sorcerer pwns the Imperium.

Renegades that have not been alerted to the Assassins' presence, or who are not otherwise occupied, make a random Patrol move of D6 squares. There are helpful little red arrows on many of the squares that tell you where the Renegades go next if they land on them; some of the arrows branch off in multiple directions, and each direction corresponds to a D6 number (determined randomly...obviously). If a Renegade spots an Assassin or is within six squares of someone who performed a Shoot action, they will go On Alert. On Alert Renegades perform a CC Fight Action if they are in base-to-base contact with an Assassin, Shoot if they are not but have LoS, or Move D6 squares toward the nearest Assassin. If a Renegade is On Alert but otherwise unoccupied and an Assassin wanders into their field of view, the Renegade gets to perform an automatic Shoot Action. Like Assassins, Renegades have special modifiers to their abilities based on what type of Renegade they are.

Last but not least are the random cards. There are two flavors: Room cards and Event cards. Room cards are placed when you discover a new room, and often come with enemies attached to them. To illustrate the surprise one must feel at seeing a walking raep machine ghost through the door when you're taking a shit, enemies that pop up in newly discovered rooms are considered Stunned (unable to do anything) until the Assassins' next turn. Event cards are drawn at the beginning of each Renegade phase, with more cards being drawn (up to a maximum of four total, including the mandatory one) based on how many Renegades are On Alert. Event cards are game changers: they can do a range of things from moving the turn counter back a turn to spawning more Renegades to stunning all of the Spiky Muhreens in the game. Cards negatively impact the Assassins far more often than they benefit them. Some Event cards also trigger a psychic event, in which only the Culexus assassin is unaffected.

===Characters===
The different characters play pretty closely to how they work in 40K proper. Special abilities of each are discussed below.

'''The Assassins'''
All Assassins have 2 Stamina, Move 6 squares, Sprint D6 squares, and heal one wound on a 2+.
*The [[Vindicare]]: The Vindicare is an exclusively Shoot-centered character (obviously). He may make one Shoot attack (which is [[Awesome|awesome]]) or one Fight attack (which is [[Derp|not]]). If he Moves and then Shoots, he gains a +1 modifier to his D6 roll. If, however, he does ''not'' move before Shooting, he gains a +2 modifier to his D6 roll ''and'' deals [[Awesome|two wounds]] (all other attacks from characters, even attacks that roll multiple dice, can only ever wound once) meaning that he is one of only two Assassins who can kill a Spiky Muhreen by himself in one turn (the other being the Eversor). If he is more than six squares away from an enemy that would normally have LoS, his stealth suit renders him invisible (useful for watching the long hallway portion of the first map). He may expend one Primaris Tactic per turn to re-roll a failed Shoot Action, or he may expend his Omegon Tactic to throw a blind grenade up to six squares away. This stuns whoever it hits, in addition to stunning whoever is adjacent to the target.
*The [[Callidus]]: The Callidus offers an okay 2D6 Shoot Action and a single epic Fight Action. In melee her phase sword grants a +2 modifier to her Fight roll, and if she expends a Primaris Tactic she can make a single re-roll in melee. Her unique attributes allow her to move through enemy models (she is the only model who can do this) and make a Hit-and-Run move at the end of a Fight roll, even if she has already expended both of her Actions. Her Omegon Tactic makes her invisible to all enemy units, indefinitely, so long as she does nothing but Sprint. (Sprint - not Move. This means she moves a random amount each turn, and can only move that one time, or the polymorphine wears off.)
*The [[Eversor]]: Is exactly what you would expect him to be. Players controlling the Eversor are required to scream "OH YEAHHH!!!" upon discovering a new room and "WRYYYY!!!" upon killing an enemy. He has a 2D6 Shoot attack and a 3D6(!!!) Fight attack. In addition to his 2+ IWND, he also has 5+ FnP. His second passive allows him to perform the same action twice in the same turn (everyone else can only do a specific Action once) effectively giving him six melee attacks; if he scores wounds on both of his attacks he, like the Vindicare, can kill a Marine in one turn. His Primaris Tactic allows him to perform a ''third'' action in a single turn, meaning that he can sprint in and beat a Marine to death all in one turn. His Omegon Tactic is the infamous bio-meltdown, which allows him to sacrifice himself in order to damage everything within six squares on a 4+. Bonus points if you kill the Sorcerer Lord with this.
*The [[Culexus]]: Last but definitely not least, the Culexus is the only character in the game completely unaffected by Psychic Events, and this null zone extends to any enemy within six squares. In addition, if a Psychic Event is drawn, he gets to twin-link his 2D6 Shoot Action. His other Ability negates any bonuses a Renegade would normally get against him, meaning they only ever wound on sixes. Fighting in melee gives him a single D6+1. His Primaris lets him throw a grenade six squares away that, on a 4+, stuns a normal Renegade or wounds the Sorcerer Lord. His Omegon tactic auto-stuns any Renegade within 6 squares.

'''The Renegades'''
All Renegades that are On Alert get to overwatch any Assassin that moves within 6 squares and is in LoS.
*Cultists come in two flavors: Autopistol and Autogun. Autopistol-chan gets one Shoot and two Fight attacks, and Autogun-chan gets one Fight and two Shoot attacks. Both have one Stamina and are wounded normally on a 4+.
*Chaos Space Marines get two Fight and Shoot attacks, both with +1 modifiers. They have two Stamina and are wounded normally on a 5+.
*Chaos Sorcerer Lord gets two Shoot and three Fight attacks, and they ''all'' have +2 modifiers on them. In addition, he has three Stamina and is wounded normally on a 6. There is an achievement (yes, they shipped the game with an achievement tracker) in the back of the rule book for giving him six Stamina instead of three and still managing to win.

Assassinorum Execution Force

2015-05-04T18:24:33Z

76.193.131.86: /* Characters */

[[Image:Executionforce.jpg|thumb|right|You done did it now, enemies of Man.]]

An awesome new standalone board game release from GeeDubs that, as opposed to revolving around [[Pauldrons|Spess Muhreens]], follows an [[Officio Assassinorum]] Execution Force on a mission of [[Troll|life and death for the Imperium]]. Similar in style to [[Space Hulk]]. Fluff-wise, an Execution Force is the Imperium's no-holds-barred response to something deemed so dangerous that four Officio Assassinorum agents are needed to clean up the mess.

==The Fluff==
Chaos Sorcerer Lord [[Dranon]] (or Drask or...something) has come up with ''yet another'' way for [[Chaos|Khay-ohss]] to dick the Imperium over, this time by sacrificing a solar system's star to the Dark Gods in exchange for daemonhood. Oh, also, it'll [[Anal_circumference|create]] a new [[Eye_of_Terror|Eye of Terror]], which is bad. So the Officio Assassinorum sends in an Execution Force to [[RAPE|shut that shit down]]. The Assassins all have names, and there's a whole (ridiculously overpriced) novella that goes along with the game, but do you care? Not for $17.50 USD, you don't. It's more fun to make your own story up, [[Your_dudes|which is what 40K is all about anyway]].

==The Crunch==
===Overview===
The game is intended for 1-4 players, each of whom control one of the Assassins. Chaos Renegades are an NPC faction controlled by random dice rolls and Event Cards. Each type of character (Assassins, Cultists, Chaos Marines, and the Sorcerer Lord) has its own unique rules, abilities, and modifiers. Actual character gameplay revolves around Actions; Assassins get two Actions per turn, and Renegades get one to two Actions (determined randomly by a helpful spread sheet for anything that might go down during the game, located on the back of the rule book). Stamina takes the place of Wounds here, and Resilience is equatable to Toughness + Armour Save: if a D6 is rolled in either a Fight or Shoot Action, and the number on the D6 meets or exceeds the number next to the character's Resilience, the character takes a wound (thereby losing a point of Stamina). If a character runs out of Stamina, they be dead. Cultists have one wound, Assassins and Spiky Muhreens have two, and Sorcerer Lord Derpatron has three.

All four Assassins have the ability to Move six squares, Sprint D6 squares, and heal a wound on a 2+ (thanks to Synskin). They each have a Shoot and Fight ability, determinate on whether they are at range or in CC, and they each have three Primaris Tactics and one Omegon Tactic, which can be used three times and one time per game, respectively. Each Assassin also has two passive Abilities that grant various boons. Assassin gameplay revolves around being Sam Fisher and attempting not to alert the guards (very difficult), all while revealing hidden rooms in an effort to locate the Teleportarium and its Control Room. If one Assassin ends its turn on the Control Room, the Teleportato is activated. Any Assassin who ends their subsequent turns on the Tilapiaquarium are then...er...teleported to the next (and much smaller) map, where they must make their way to and [[RIP_AND_TEAR|assassinate]] the Sorcerer Lord. Assassins have 16 turns, counted by a midget covered in dirty laundry, to accomplish this before the Sorcerer pwns the Imperium.

Renegades that have not been alerted to the Assassins' presence, or who are not otherwise occupied, make a random Patrol move of D6 squares. There are helpful little red arrows on many of the squares that tell you where the Renegades go next if they land on them; some of the arrows branch off in multiple directions, and each direction corresponds to a D6 number (determined randomly...obviously). If a Renegade spots an Assassin or is within six squares of someone who performed a Shoot action, they will go On Alert. On Alert Renegades perform a CC Fight Action if they are in base-to-base contact with an Assassin, Shoot if they are not but have LoS, or Move D6 squares toward the nearest Assassin. If a Renegade is On Alert but otherwise unoccupied and an Assassin wanders into their field of view, the Renegade gets to perform an automatic Shoot Action. Like Assassins, Renegades have special modifiers to their abilities based on what type of Renegade they are.

Last but not least are the random cards. There are two flavors: Room cards and Event cards. Room cards are placed when you discover a new room, and often come with enemies attached to them. To illustrate the surprise one must feel at seeing a walking raep machine ghost through the door when you're taking a shit, enemies that pop up in newly discovered rooms are considered Stunned (unable to do anything) until the Assassins' next turn. Event cards are drawn at the beginning of each Renegade phase, with more cards being drawn (up to a maximum of four total, including the mandatory one) based on how many Renegades are On Alert. Event cards are game changers: they can do a range of things from moving the turn counter back a turn to spawning more Renegades to stunning all of the Spiky Muhreens in the game. Cards negatively impact the Assassins far more often than they benefit them. Some Event cards also trigger a psychic event, in which only the Culexus assassin is unaffected.

===Characters===
The different characters play pretty closely to how they work in 40K proper. Special abilities of each are discussed below.

'''The Assassins'''
All Assassins have 2 Stamina, Move 6 squares, Sprint D6 squares, and heal one wound on a 2+.
*The [[Vindicare]]: The Vindicare is an exclusively Shoot-centered character (obviously). He may make one Shoot attack (which is [[Awesome|awesome]]) or one Fight attack (which is [[Derp|not]]). If he Moves and then Shoots, he gains a +1 modifier to his D6 roll. If, however, he does ''not'' move before Shooting, he gains a +2 modifier to his D6 roll ''and'' deals [[Awesome|two wounds]] (all other attacks from characters, even attacks that roll multiple dice, can only ever wound once) meaning that he is one of only two Assassins who can kill a Spiky Muhreen by himself in one turn (the other being the Eversor). If he is more than six squares away from an enemy that would normally have LoS, his stealth suit renders him invisible (useful for watching the long hallway portion of the first map). He may expend one Alpha Tactic per turn to re-roll a failed Shoot Action, or he may expend his Omegon Tactic to throw a blind grenade up to six squares away. This stuns whoever it hits, in addition to stunning whoever is adjacent to the target.
*The [[Callidus]]: The Callidus offers an okay 2D6 Shoot Action and a single epic Fight Action. In melee her phase sword grants a +2 modifier to her Fight roll, and if she expends a Primaris Tactic she can make a single re-roll in melee. Her unique attributes allow her to move through enemy models (she is the only model who can do this) and make a Hit-and-Run move at the end of a Fight roll, even if she has already expended both of her Actions. Her Omegon Tactic makes her invisible to all enemy units, indefinitely, so long as she does nothing but Sprint. (Sprint - not Move. This means she moves a random amount each turn, and can only move that one time, or the polymorphine wears off.)
*The [[Eversor]]: Is exactly what you would expect him to be. Players controlling the Eversor are required to scream "OH YEAHHH!!!" upon discovering a new room and "WRYYYY!!!" upon killing an enemy. He has a 2D6 Shoot attack and a 3D6(!!!) Fight attack. In addition to his 2+ IWND, he also has 5+ FnP. His second passive allows him to perform the same action twice in the same turn (everyone else can only do a specific Action once) effectively giving him six melee attacks; if he scores wounds on both of his attacks he, like the Vindicare, can kill a Marine in one turn. His Primaris Tactic allows him to perform a ''third'' action in a single turn, meaning that he can sprint in and beat a Marine to death all in one turn. His Omegon Tactic is the infamous bio-meltdown, which allows him to sacrifice himself in order to damage everything within six squares on a 4+. Bonus points if you kill the Sorcerer Lord with this.
*The [[Culexus]]: Last but definitely not least, the Culexus is the only character in the game completely unaffected by Psychic Events, and this null zone extends to any enemy within six squares. In addition, if a Psychic Event is drawn, he gets to twin-link his 2D6 Shoot Action. His other Ability negates any bonuses a Renegade would normally get against him, meaning they only ever wound on sixes. Fighting in melee gives him a single D6+1. His Primaris lets him throw a grenade six squares away that, on a 4+, stuns a normal Renegade or wounds the Sorcerer Lord. His Omegon tactic auto-stuns any Renegade within 6 squares.

'''The Renegades'''
All Renegades that are On Alert get to overwatch any Assassin that moves within 6 squares and is in LoS.
*Cultists come in two flavors: Autopistol and Autogun. Autopistol-chan gets one Shoot and two Fight attacks, and Autogun-chan gets one Fight and two Shoot attacks. Both have one Stamina and are wounded normally on a 4+.
*Chaos Space Marines get two Fight and Shoot attacks, both with +1 modifiers. They have two Stamina and are wounded normally on a 5+.
*Chaos Sorcerer Lord gets two Shoot and three Fight attacks, and they ''all'' have +2 modifiers on them. In addition, he has three Stamina and is wounded normally on a 6. There is an achievement (yes, they shipped the game with an achievement tracker) in the back of the rule book for giving him six Stamina instead of three and still managing to win.

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-27T18:32:25Z

76.193.131.86: /* Elite */

Eldar Harlequins are back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

'''Reasons the new Harlequins are awesome:'''
*They are fantastic in assault, though this has always been the case.
*They have army-wide access to loads of AP2 weaponry.
*The new Phantasmancy psychic discipline has some very good powers for both defense and offense.
*Army-wide Fear.
*Army-wide (except for Starweavers and Voidweavers) Furious Charge and Hit-and-Run.
*Everybody has an invuln save!
*Lots of easy access to Haywire.
*Your footsloggers ignore difficult terrain and don't face penalties for charging through cover.
*The look on your opponent's face when you Blitz your Solitare 24" and bitch-slap his special snowflakes in melee.
*In certain detachments, the Harlies gain the ability to run ''and'' assault, starting on turn 2.
*You can go absolutely hog-wild when modeling and painting them, and it'll still fit with the fluff.

'''Reasons they are not awesome:'''
*Like all Eldar, they are squishy. A 5++ invuln is still only a 5+.
*Absolutely zero long-range support - their longest ranged weapons are 24".
*No HQ, which precludes them from playing in a lot of tournaments as a solo army.
*Bound armies are hit with some ridiculously heavy taxes.
*[[What|Voidweavers as mandatory Heavy Support choices]] is almost as silly as 3E HS Scourges.
*Starweavers only carry six clowns.
*They're ''expensive'' both points-wise and in IRL monies.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom or Starweaver for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. <s>Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]].</s> Yeah but he Denies on a 2+, so don't bother trying. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is almost certainly the most versatile.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Embraces? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done. Some of the open-hand pieces, plus a little green-stuffery can make useful Caresses, too.
*'''Miststave''' - Unique to the Shadowseer, it grants +2 strength, Concussive, and Fleshbane. This means that, on the charge, a Shadowseer gets five (+1 for charging, +1 for two CCWs) S6 (+2 from Miststave, +1 from Furious Charge) Fleshbane and Concussive attacks at I7. Yes, it's that awesome. It has no AP value, unfortunately, but you're bound to cause at least one wound on all but TEQs. And that one time that you Falcon Pawnch their special snowflake to death in one round of close combat, before anything else happens, is pure gold.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two. Watch out, though, because it does exactly zip to vehicles (while the shuriken pistol can at least glance AV10).
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock or DE Armor of Misery for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul.
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+ against shooting attacks. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. <s>There's also a Formation that,</s> The masque detachment and a formation, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose unless your meta is full of 3+ saves and really short on 2+. It could be handy for challenge-sniping Librarians, some Chaos Champions and maybe Captains who didn't take Artificer Armor, but it's very niche at best.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive. Flip belts and plasma grenades make terrain a non-problem, so stay deep in cover when not actually charging, and make aggressive use of psykic cover enhancement from Shadowseers or allied Spiritseers.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, if you have a Shadowseer elsewhere, use a good defensive power to make sure they live. You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver, unfortunately, but a Shadow/Farseer outside can indeed toss some defensive assistance its way. Unlike a Venom, you can use the transport's S6 guns to crack open someone's [METAL BAWKSES|METAL BAWKS] then charge the dudes inside.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack, so don't forget the haywire grenades, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]].
**'''Alternative opinion''': the wording on Harlequin's Kiss is the same as on Harlequin's embrace, which gives the special rule to the ''model equipped with a weapon''. It clearly means that you don't have to attack with the Kiss/Embrace to use their special rules.
* One last thing of note is that this guy is really not all that great at fighting anything but hordes. He is, essentially, [[Lelith Hesperax]] with Furious Charge but minus the ability to auto-ignore armor. Against TEQ and, honestly, MEQ, he's only going to be useful as a [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]]. His stats look amazing until you actually field him, only to watch your 145-150 point glass <s>cannon</s> assault rifle bounce harmlessly off of MEQ/TEQ armor and, in the worst-case scenario, get pummeled to death before he can Hit and Run. *Sigh*

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon (not that you would want to anyway, because the Miststave is ''fucking baller''). Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. And, to boot, Dance gives you a 4+ cover save, which is almost as good as Sanctuary or Forewarning would be. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5 (although it does still have Bladestorm), and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn (this is not entirely true, and he is in fact far more versatile than this - see below). Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...
* One fun tactic is to ally with Dark Eldar and put your Jesters in Raider gunboats. Model counts are considered way way '''before''' deployment, and independent characters may join '''during''' deployment (deployed together or placed in reserve together), so no shenanigans with dark lances or splinter cannons - but a blaster or shredder is completely legit. So you get that, a bunch of poisoned, twin-linked shooting (you ''did'' take splinter racks, right?), ''plus'' his Shrieker Cannon - which, as we're all aware, can function as both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle (if your rolls are good). All of this in an obscenely fast [[METAL_BOXES|paper boat]] with either an anti-vehicle or anti-infantry deck gun. Cruise around the battlefield wherever he is needed, [[Indrick_Boreale|raining death]] and [[Troll|repositioning your enemy's dudes]] like a puppeteer on crank.

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really'' lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies. (Shadowseers are highly recommended, Death Jesters and Solitaires are fun and fluffy but not super-competitive.)

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Ranged anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. Yes, all Harlies can take AV options, but are you really going to throw all your points into one ludicrously expensive, close-range basket? Use your brain. Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it). Consider them as leaders for Troupes in Starweavers, using their Runes of Battle to buff your dudes and debuff the enemies.

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.
* When trying to inflict a leadership war on the opponent, a Necron Deathbringer Flight can do similar things, but without wasting Warp Charges and toting guns you can actually use. It isn't fluffy and OEO is annoying, but it might be worth it when you simultaneously blow holes in the opponent's lines AND make it impossible for him to actually do anything about it.

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-23T19:19:16Z

76.193.131.86: /* Why Play a Harlequin Army */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

'''Reasons the new Harlequins are awesome:'''
*They are fantastic in assault, though this has always been the case.
*They have army-wide access to loads of AP2 weaponry.
*The new Phantasmancy psychic discipline has some very good powers for both defense and offense.
*Army-wide Fear.
*Army-wide (except for Starweavers and Voidweavers) Furious Charge and Hit-and-Run.
*Everybody has an invuln save!
*Lots of easy access to Haywire.
*Your footsloggers ignore difficult terrain and don't face penalties for charging through cover.
*The look on your opponent's face when you Blitz your Solitare 24" and bitch-slap his special snowflakes in melee.
*In certain detachments, the Harlies gain the ability to run ''and'' assault, starting on turn 2.
*You can go absolutely hog-wild when modeling and painting them, and it'll still fit with the fluff.

'''Reasons they are not awesome:'''
*Like all Eldar, they are squishy. A 5++ invuln is still only a 5+.
*Absolutely zero long-range support - their longest ranged weapons are 24".
*No HQ, which precludes them from playing in a lot of tournaments as a solo army.
*Bound armies are hit with some ridiculously heavy taxes.
*[[What|Voidweavers as mandatory Heavy Support choices]] is almost as silly as 3E HS Scourges.
*Starweavers only carry six clowns.
*They're ''expensive'' both points-wise and in IRL monies.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. <s>Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]].</s> Yeah but he Denies on a 2+, so don't bother trying. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile. <s>(Don't listen about the kiss it's probably the best, in a strong meta having those s6 ap2 auto attacks will keep your Quins moving though things. It isn't about the instant death it's about the s6 ap2 on a s3 model. It's the least of the "gimicky" but your quins won't get boggled down in CC)</s> The Caress is easily the best, no question.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Embraces? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.
*'''Miststave''' - Unique to the Shadowseer, it grants +2 strength, Concussive, and Fleshbane. This means that, on the charge, a Shadowseer gets five (+1 for charging, +1 for two CCWs) S6 (+2 from Miststave, +1 from Furious Charge) Fleshbane and Concussive attacks at I7. Yes, it's that awesome. It has no AP value, unfortunately, but you're bound to cause at least one wound on all but TEQs. And that one time that you Falcon Pawnch their special snowflake to death in one round of close combat, before anything else happens, is pure gold.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul.
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+ against shooting attacks. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. <s>There's also a Formation that,</s> The masque detachment and a formation, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, if you have a Shadowseer elsewhere, use a good defensive power to make sure they live. You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver, unfortunately, but a Shadow/Farseer outside can indeed toss some defensive assistance its way.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack; Only the Troupe Master and the Shadowseer can take Crescendo, the Solitaire cannot, so this isn't accurate. But don't forget the haywire grenades, too, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]]. '''Alternative opinion''': the wording on Harlequin's Kiss is the same as on Harlequin's embrace, which gives the special rule to the ''model equipped with a weapon''. It clearly means that you don't have to attack with the Kiss/Embrace to use their special rules.

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon (not that you would want to anyway, because the Miststave is ''fucking baller''). Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. And, to boot, Dance gives you a 4+ cover save, which is almost as good as Sanctuary or Forewarning would be. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5 (although it does still have Bladestorm), and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn (this is not entirely true, and he is in fact far more versatile than this - see below). Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...
* One fun tactic is to ally with Dark Eldar and put your Jesters in Raider gunboats. Model counts are considered way way '''before''' deployment, and independent characters may join '''during''' deployment (deployed together or placed in reserve together), so no shenanigans with dark lances or splinter cannons - but a blaster or shredder is completely legit. So you get that, a bunch of poisoned, twin-linked shooting (you ''did'' take splinter racks, right?), ''plus'' his Shrieker Cannon - which, as we're all aware, can function as both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle (if your rolls are good). All of this in an obscenely fast [[METAL_BOXES|paper boat]] with either an anti-vehicle or anti-infantry deck gun. Cruise around the battlefield wherever he is needed, [[Indrick_Boreale|raining death]] and [[Troll|repositioning your enemy's dudes]] like a puppeteer on crank.

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really'' lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies.

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. <s>Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour?</s> The Dark Eldar do it ''far'' better, and from longer range. Yes, all Harlies can take AV options, but are you really going to throw all your points into one ludicrously expensive, close-range basket? Use your brain. Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it).

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.
* When trying to inflict a leadership war on the opponent, a Necron Deathbringer Flight can do similar things, but without wasting Warp Charges and toting guns you can actually use. It isn't fluffy and OEO is annoying, but it might be worth it when you simultaneously blow holes in the opponent's lines AND make it impossible for him to actually do anything about it.

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-23T19:11:44Z

76.193.131.86: /* Why Play a Harlequin Army */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

'''Reasons the new Harlequins are awesome:'''
*They are fantastic in assault, though this has always been the case.
*They have army-wide access to loads of AP2 weaponry.
*The new Phantasmancy psychic discipline has some very good powers for both defense and offense.
*Army-wide Fear.
*Army-wide (except for Starweavers and Voidweavers) Furious Charge and Hit-and-Run.
*Everybody has an invuln save!
*Lots of easy access to Haywire.
*Your footsloggers ignore difficult terrain and don't face penalties for charging through cover.
*The look on your opponent's face when you Blitz your Solitare 24" and bitch-slap his special snowflakes in melee.
*In certain detachments, the Harlies gain the ability to run ''and'' assault, starting on turn 2.
*You can go absolutely hog-wild when modeling and painting them, and it'll still fit with the fluff.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. <s>Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]].</s> Yeah but he Denies on a 2+, so don't bother trying. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile. <s>(Don't listen about the kiss it's probably the best, in a strong meta having those s6 ap2 auto attacks will keep your Quins moving though things. It isn't about the instant death it's about the s6 ap2 on a s3 model. It's the least of the "gimicky" but your quins won't get boggled down in CC)</s> The Caress is easily the best, no question.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Embraces? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.
*'''Miststave''' - Unique to the Shadowseer, it grants +2 strength, Concussive, and Fleshbane. This means that, on the charge, a Shadowseer gets five (+1 for charging, +1 for two CCWs) S6 (+2 from Miststave, +1 from Furious Charge) Fleshbane and Concussive attacks at I7. Yes, it's that awesome. It has no AP value, unfortunately, but you're bound to cause at least one wound on all but TEQs. And that one time that you Falcon Pawnch their special snowflake to death in one round of close combat, before anything else happens, is pure gold.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul.
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+ against shooting attacks. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. <s>There's also a Formation that,</s> The masque detachment and a formation, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, if you have a Shadowseer elsewhere, use a good defensive power to make sure they live. You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver, unfortunately, but a Shadow/Farseer outside can indeed toss some defensive assistance its way.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack; Only the Troupe Master and the Shadowseer can take Crescendo, the Solitaire cannot, so this isn't accurate. But don't forget the haywire grenades, too, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]]. '''Alternative opinion''': the wording on Harlequin's Kiss is the same as on Harlequin's embrace, which gives the special rule to the ''model equipped with a weapon''. It clearly means that you don't have to attack with the Kiss/Embrace to use their special rules.

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon (not that you would want to anyway, because the Miststave is ''fucking baller''). Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. And, to boot, Dance gives you a 4+ cover save, which is almost as good as Sanctuary or Forewarning would be. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5 (although it does still have Bladestorm), and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn (this is not entirely true, and he is in fact far more versatile than this - see below). Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...
* One fun tactic is to ally with Dark Eldar and put your Jesters in Raider gunboats. Model counts are considered way way '''before''' deployment, and independent characters may join '''during''' deployment (deployed together or placed in reserve together), so no shenanigans with dark lances or splinter cannons - but a blaster or shredder is completely legit. So you get that, a bunch of poisoned, twin-linked shooting (you ''did'' take splinter racks, right?), ''plus'' his Shrieker Cannon - which, as we're all aware, can function as both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle (if your rolls are good). All of this in an obscenely fast [[METAL_BOXES|paper boat]] with either an anti-vehicle or anti-infantry deck gun. Cruise around the battlefield wherever he is needed, [[Indrick_Boreale|raining death]] and [[Troll|repositioning your enemy's dudes]] like a puppeteer on crank.

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really'' lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies.

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. <s>Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour?</s> The Dark Eldar do it ''far'' better, and from longer range. Yes, all Harlies can take AV options, but are you really going to throw all your points into one ludicrously expensive, close-range basket? Use your brain. Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it).

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.
* When trying to inflict a leadership war on the opponent, a Necron Deathbringer Flight can do similar things, but without wasting Warp Charges and toting guns you can actually use. It isn't fluffy and OEO is annoying, but it might be worth it when you simultaneously blow holes in the opponent's lines AND make it impossible for him to actually do anything about it.

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-23T19:09:56Z

76.193.131.86: /* Why Play a Harlequin Army */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

'''Reasons the new Harlequins are awesome:'''
*They are fantastic in assault, though this has always been the case.
*They have army-wide access to loads of AP2 weaponry.
*The new Phantasmancy psychic discipline has some very good powers for both defense and offense.
*Army-wide Fear.
*Army-wide (except for Starweavers and Voidweavers) Furious Charge and Hit-and-Run.
*Everybody has an invuln save!
*Lots of easy access to Haywire.
*The look on your opponent's face when you Blitz your Solitare 24" and bitch-slap his special snowflakes in melee.
*In certain detachments, the Harlies gain the ability to run ''and'' assault, starting on turn 2.
*You can go absolutely hog-wild when modeling and painting them, and it'll still fit with the fluff.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. <s>Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]].</s> Yeah but he Denies on a 2+, so don't bother trying. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile. <s>(Don't listen about the kiss it's probably the best, in a strong meta having those s6 ap2 auto attacks will keep your Quins moving though things. It isn't about the instant death it's about the s6 ap2 on a s3 model. It's the least of the "gimicky" but your quins won't get boggled down in CC)</s> The Caress is easily the best, no question.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Embraces? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.
*'''Miststave''' - Unique to the Shadowseer, it grants +2 strength, Concussive, and Fleshbane. This means that, on the charge, a Shadowseer gets five (+1 for charging, +1 for two CCWs) S6 (+2 from Miststave, +1 from Furious Charge) Fleshbane and Concussive attacks at I7. Yes, it's that awesome. It has no AP value, unfortunately, but you're bound to cause at least one wound on all but TEQs. And that one time that you Falcon Pawnch their special snowflake to death in one round of close combat, before anything else happens, is pure gold.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul.
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+ against shooting attacks. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. <s>There's also a Formation that,</s> The masque detachment and a formation, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, if you have a Shadowseer elsewhere, use a good defensive power to make sure they live. You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver, unfortunately, but a Shadow/Farseer outside can indeed toss some defensive assistance its way.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack; Only the Troupe Master and the Shadowseer can take Crescendo, the Solitaire cannot, so this isn't accurate. But don't forget the haywire grenades, too, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]]. '''Alternative opinion''': the wording on Harlequin's Kiss is the same as on Harlequin's embrace, which gives the special rule to the ''model equipped with a weapon''. It clearly means that you don't have to attack with the Kiss/Embrace to use their special rules.

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon (not that you would want to anyway, because the Miststave is ''fucking baller''). Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. And, to boot, Dance gives you a 4+ cover save, which is almost as good as Sanctuary or Forewarning would be. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5 (although it does still have Bladestorm), and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn (this is not entirely true, and he is in fact far more versatile than this - see below). Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...
* One fun tactic is to ally with Dark Eldar and put your Jesters in Raider gunboats. Model counts are considered way way '''before''' deployment, and independent characters may join '''during''' deployment (deployed together or placed in reserve together), so no shenanigans with dark lances or splinter cannons - but a blaster or shredder is completely legit. So you get that, a bunch of poisoned, twin-linked shooting (you ''did'' take splinter racks, right?), ''plus'' his Shrieker Cannon - which, as we're all aware, can function as both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle (if your rolls are good). All of this in an obscenely fast [[METAL_BOXES|paper boat]] with either an anti-vehicle or anti-infantry deck gun. Cruise around the battlefield wherever he is needed, [[Indrick_Boreale|raining death]] and [[Troll|repositioning your enemy's dudes]] like a puppeteer on crank.

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really'' lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies.

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. <s>Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour?</s> The Dark Eldar do it ''far'' better, and from longer range. Yes, all Harlies can take AV options, but are you really going to throw all your points into one ludicrously expensive, close-range basket? Use your brain. Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it).

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.
* When trying to inflict a leadership war on the opponent, a Necron Deathbringer Flight can do similar things, but without wasting Warp Charges and toting guns you can actually use. It isn't fluffy and OEO is annoying, but it might be worth it when you simultaneously blow holes in the opponent's lines AND make it impossible for him to actually do anything about it.

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-21T22:27:14Z

76.193.131.86: /* Melee Weapons */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. <s>Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]].</s> Yeah but he Denies on a 2+, so don't bother trying. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile. <s>(Don't listen about the kiss it's probably the best, in a strong meta having those s6 ap2 auto attacks will keep your Quins moving though things. It isn't about the instant death it's about the s6 ap2 on a s3 model. It's the least of the "gimicky" but your quins won't get boggled down in CC)</s> The Caress is easily the best, no question.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Caresses? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.
*'''Miststave''' - Unique to the Shadowseer, it grants +2 strength, Concussive, and Fleshbane. This means that, on the charge, a Shadowseer gets five (+1 for charging, +1 for two CCWs) S6 (+2 from Miststave, +1 from Furious Charge) Fleshbane and Concussive attacks at I7. Yes, it's that awesome. It has no AP value, unfortunately, but you're bound to cause at least one wound on all but TEQs. And that one time that you Falcon Pawnch their special snowflake to death in one round of close combat, before anything else happens, is pure gold.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul. What this means for the Craftworlders, only GW knows...
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+ against shooting attacks. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. <s>There's also a Formation that,</s> The masque detachment and a formation, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, if you have a Shadowseer elsewhere, use a good defensive power to make sure they live. You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver, unfortunately, but a Shadow/Farseer outside can indeed toss some defensive assistance its way.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack; Only the Troupe Master and the Shadowseer can take Crescendo, the Solitaire cannot, so this isn't accurate. But don't forget the haywire grenades, too, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]]. '''Alternative opinion''': the wording on Harlequin's Kiss is the same as on Harlequin's embrace, which gives the special rule to the ''model equipped with a weapon''. It clearly means that you don't have to attack with the Kiss/Embrace to use their special rules.

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon (not that you would want to anyway, because the Miststave is ''fucking baller''). Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. And, to boot, Dance gives you a 4+ cover save, which is almost as good as Sanctuary or Forewarning would be. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5 (although it does still have Bladestorm), and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn (this is not entirely true, and he is in fact far more versatile than this - see below). Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...
* One fun tactic is to ally with Dark Eldar and put your Jesters in Raider gunboats. Model counts are considered way way before deployment, which is where the Jester joins the unit, so no shenanigans with dark lances or splinter cannons - but a blaster or shredder is completely legit. So you get that, a bunch of poisoned, twin-linked shooting (you ''did'' take splinter racks, right?), ''plus'' his Shrieker Cannon - which, as we're all aware, can function as both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle (if your rolls are good). All of this in an obscenely fast [[METAL_BOXES|paper boat]] with either an anti-vehicle or anti-infantry deck gun. Cruise around the battlefield wherever he is needed, [[Indrick_Boreale|raining death]] and [[Troll|repositioning your enemy's dudes]] like a puppeteer on crank.

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really'' lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies.

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. <s>Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour?</s> The Dark Eldar do it ''far'' better, and from longer range. Yes, all Harlies can take AV options, but are you really going to throw all your points into one ludicrously expensive, close-range basket? Use your brain. Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it).

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.
* When trying to inflict a leadership war on the opponent, a Necron Deathbringer Flight can do similar things, but without wasting Warp Charges and toting guns you can actually use. It isn't fluffy and OEO is annoying, but it might be worth it when you simultaneously blow holes in the opponent's lines AND make it impossible for him to actually do anything about it.

Cegorach

2015-04-10T00:45:17Z

76.193.131.86: /* Lady Malys and the Entity */

[[image:Cegorach_the_Laughing_God.jpg|350px|thumb|If you can't tell, he's the one being a dick.]]Cegorach is the [[Eldar]] Laughing God and is a master of [[Just as planned]] and is also a massive dick. His dickery is only rivaled by [[C'tan|The Deceiver]] and [[Tzeentch]]. He's the Patron god of the Eldar [[Harlequin]]s, and probably [[Eldrad]] who looked up to Cegorach's dickishness and general jackassery as a shining example for all Eldar Farseers. He plays games of [[Just as planned]] with [[Tzeentch]], the [[C'tan|Deceiver]] and [[the Emperor]] every Saturday night; it always ends in a tie. He's also one of the only surviving Eldar Gods, the other being [[Isha]] (Who's with [[Nurgle]]) and [[Khaine]], but he's currently in a bajillion pieces so in spirit, he's not "alive" anymore.

Has yet to appear in any of the video games or anything like that, but if he did (and he totally should), he'd be voiced by Mark Hamill. He probably wears several harlequin masks, with troll faces, awesome faces, the tragedy mask, and the comedy mask permanently etched on them, and he also probably wears a harlequin (as in the ye olde clowns, not the eldar) hat and outfit. He is also funny as hell, no one can stay mad at him because he's so damned hilarious, and he actually cares for his followers enough to personally fight for their souls. What a guy.
== History ==

During the war against the [[Necrons]], Cegorach convinced the Outsider to eat other [[C'tan]], which caused the Outsider to become insane because all the C'tan he ate became split personalities within his body. But there is a huge argument as to whether he convinced the Outsider to eat the [[C'tan]] first, or if he was just copying the Deceiver when he told the Nightbringer to eat other [[C'tan]]. It's also possible they're the same story, as <s>[[C'tan|The Deciever]]</s>, <s>Cegorach</s>, BOTH of them get their rocks off by impersonating people.

After the [[C'tan]] and the [[Necrons]] went to sleep, the Eldar pretty much ruled the entire galaxy and because they were so advanced that they didn't have to do any work they started to do whatever the hell they wanted; kind of like The Culture but more [[Grimdark]]. At first it was just video games, amusement parks, walks in the park with SPESS ELF Dogs, sports, movies, fighting the occasional Aliens who wanted to challenge them (which ended in the extinction of most of these aliens save for the [[Orks]] and later humanity),somewhat increased amounts of recreational sex, and television but because the Eldar experience emotions way more strongly than people and time goes by slower for them, and at that point any time an Eldar died they would simply reincarnate in a new body they got bored of wholesome fun very quickly.

They started to do drugs, then they started having orgies, then they started with the BDSM, and it only got worse and worse and even some of the [[Eldar]] Gods started to get in on the "fun." Cegorach was far too busy hosting the Eldar version of Monty Python and being a dick to join in on the hedonism and used it as joke fodder. When [[Slaanesh]] was born and went on his/her/its/hermaphrodite's killing and raping spree (powered by Chaos performance enhancing drugs) and killed nearly all of the Eldar Gods, created the Eye of terror which swallowed the core worlds of the Eldar empire and sent a psychic scream that killed most of the Eldar race; Cegorach hid behind the stronger gods and gave Slaanesh the occasional sucker punch and the (not so) occasional devastating one-liner.

Soon after killing Asuryan; the strongest of the Eldar gods, [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh's]] performance enhancing drugs started to wear off and while he/she/it/hermaphrodite wasted time violently raping Isha, Khaela Mensha Khaine got his shit in motion and started to fight [[Slaanesh]]. [[Slaanesh]] had a hard time of it but soon [[Khorne]] came out of nowhere to fight the prissy little faggot because he rightfully claimed that [[Slaanesh]] had no right to lay a hand on his property, which in this case was Khaine. Cegorach took this time to sneak into the webway while no one was looking and the rest is history.

Today, Cegorach's primary concern is dealing with [[Slaanesh|She Who Thirsts]], but, being a trickster god, his followers do things from time to time just for the lolz, such as the time some harlequins defaced a Land Raider, seemingly just for the hell of it. As expected, Cegorach is also opposed to the necrons. He was there for the original Necron Eldar war, and the Harlequin Masque of the Dreaming Shadow primarily focuses on fighting necrons, but many other Harlequins view that as a cheap side show compared to [[Slaanesh]].

== The Harlequins ==
Cegorach is the patron of the [[Harlequin]]s and keeper of the Black Library which [[Ahzek Ahriman]] really wants to get into. Sometimes an [[Eldar]] with no soul is <s>born</s> made during the Ritual (which is, obviously, an entering trial - surviving being possessed with a Greater Daemon of [[Slaanesh]] and having the ability to expel it automatically confirms that you are an incredible badass), which the Harlequins refer to as a Solitaire. These Eldar have great power but are doomed to be eaten by Slaanesh once they die. While they live, they can assrape any army you throw at them. Seriously. But [[Slaanesh]] never gets to nom one because each time he/she/it/hermaphrodite tries, Cegorach punches him/her/it/hermaphrodite in the <s>face</s> <s>balls</s> ALL of his/her/its balls repeatedly and gives him/her/it/hermaphrodite a devastating insult that causes [[Slaanesh]] to run back to his/her/its/hermaphrodite's palace in tears. <s>Happy end.</s> <s>Not quite,[[Slaanesh]] sometimes wins and sadly ends up raping the Solitaire for all eternity.</s> Only to find out it's actually a blow-up doll filled with explosive confetti, Khorne berzerkers and cold showers. [[Just as Planned]].

==Lady Malys and the Entity==
In the 5th edition Dark Eldar codex, the character "Lady Malys", former lover of Vect, once wandered around the Webway and found a dude made of golden light. He killed all her escorts and [[The_Hobbit|challenged her to a riddle-off, where the winner gets the loser's heart]]. She managed to succeed and the gold dude chuckled and gave her his crystal heart. She then decided to TEAR OUT HER OWN HEART AND JAM A PIECE OF CRYSTAL IN THE HOLE. Somehow this worked, and she got like special powers and whatnot from it. Sometimes, in private, her stern demeanor cracks and she falls into maniacal laughter. The golden entity is unknown but who are we kidding it's obviously Cegorach. <s>Or the Deceiver</s> It's definitely ''not'' the Deceiver, because the [[C'Tan]] are too buttmad to use the webway. [[Matt Ward|Unless you believe this guy]]. Again, the two seem to like to switch places constantly. Confirmed in the new 7E Harlies codex that it's Cegorach.

== Fun(ny) facts ==
* Cegorach is the funniest entity in the universe, bar none, and he's tied with [[Tzeentch]], the [[Emperor]], the [[C'tan|Deceiver]] and [[Creed|CREEEEEEEEEEEEED!]] in just as planned and wanton dickishness.
* Cegorach is the Lolz Master and don't you know it.
* Every can in Cegorach's home has fake snakes in it. Every, single, one. Except the one that says it has fake snakes in it. It has real snakes in it. True Story.
* The Monty Python group is actually the church of Cegorach, spreading his lulzy faith to humanity.
* Cegorach ate pennywise the clown from IT for disgracing the good name of Harlequins.
* Cegorach is the proud owner of the Warp Circus, which travels across reality bringing lulz.
* Cegorach is responsible for Indrick Boreale's accent and Firaevious Carron's hatred of MEHTAHL BAWKSES! Thank you, you clown-faced son-of-a-bitch; we owe you all the Youtube poop and FAIL.
* One day, Cegorach slipped a gigantic whoopee cushion onto Khorne's skull throne, when Khorne sat down, the cushion could be heard throughout the warp, the webway, and the materium, and everyone laughed their fucking asses off. At first Khorne got pissed, but as he thought of ways to get revenge, he found the incident increasingly funny and gave Cegorach a handshake, but Cegorach was using a fake arm with a joybuzzer.
* Cegorach managed to outwit Tzeentch once. Though they were matched in dickishness and [[Just as planned|just as planned]] Cegorach had the sharper wit. So in a contest to see who could make up and then pull off the most contrived plan, they technically tied; but Cegorach's plan involved a ludicrously complicated series of Rube Goldberg-ian interlocked events that ended with a bolter shell fired by Kharn hitting a bucket filled with pepper that released its spicy cargo all over Khorne, causing him to sneeze which created just a strong enough wind to blow a second bucket which was filled with Nurgle's slime, this bucket fell on Tzeentch's head. Since both plans were tied in dickishness and ludicrous complexity, the Judges used humor to decide whose was superior, and they obviously chose Cegorach.
* Cegorach once pranked Slaanesh when he sent him/her/it/hermaphrodite what seemed to be playboy magazines, but when Slaanesh read them; they turned out to be filled with Khornate imagery, which jumped out of the book and beat the crap out of Slaanesh. In addition, the second page of the book contained the Nightbringer, who leapt out of the pages and cut Slaanesh's dick off and essentially carved a whole vagina into him, turning the one she-male Slaanesh completely into a she...well three quarters of the way since Slaanesh still only has one bewb. ''And she liked all of it''.
* Cegorach pulled a practical joke on Nurgle once, convincing him to place a special powder and liquid into his cauldron of diseases. Nurgle obliged and mixed the two together, but the powder turned out to be ground up uber-penicillin which cured everyone in the galaxy and the warp of all disease, and the liquid turned out to be uber-detergent which cleaned everything in the galaxy and the warp until it was sparkly clean. Nurgle however simply smiled and shrugged and happily said that this meant he could dirty the place up all over again and shared a good laugh with Cegorach. Which is pretty much why Papa Nurgle is a cool dude.
* Cegorach is behind every successful meme, Tzeentch is behind every forced meme. Tzeentch's memes fail to become popular since Tzeentch only has dickishness and intelligence, and thus lacks the humor needed to make a good meme.
* Cegorach once managed to have a harlequin slip into the Emperor's palace and sneak a clown nose, a harlequin mask, and a jester's hat onto the Emperor's face and paint him in silly colors on the golden throne and had the image broadcast across the galaxy and the warp. The Emperor quickly became the laughing stock of the universe and more than a hundred Imperial worlds were simultaneously declared for Exterminatus to {{BLAM}} the entire populace for heresy.
* Also known to [[The_Elder_Scrolls|some]] as 'Sheogorath'.
* It's said that a very long ago, during the age of the earth, Cegorach would have sent a joke especially for humans and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwbnvkMRPKM this was the result.]
* Cegorach is the creator of both [https://www.youtube.com/user/DasBoSchitt DasBoSchitt] and [https://www.youtube.com/show/gamerpoop Gamer Poop], which are the results of brainstorm sessions with his first (and fallen) disciple, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_%28comics%29 the Joker].
* Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was once a follower of Cegorach, until he turned to Tzeentch worship and became the butt of the biggest Just As Planned joke of the twentieth century.
* [[Cultist-chan]] is, in fact, Cegorach's creation - and his ultimate plan for dicking [[Slaanesh]] over. Only recently revealed in his super-secret tome hidden in the [[Black Library]], the plan is so complicated and convoluted that none of his Harlequins can figure out the specifics. Only [[Dranon]] knows what exactly is going on, but none of the Chaos Gods listen to him. [[Just_as_planned|Just As Planned]]. It's all for the lulz.

== Warhammer Fantasy ==

Cegorach has no [[Warhammer Fantasy]] equivalent directly, making him the only Eldar god without one. His portfolio is instead held by [[Loec]] who is functionally the same. The Harlequins of Fantasy are more or less the entire [[Wood Elves (Warhammer)|Wood Elf]] race (Legolas meets Hills Have Eyes is perhaps the best description of them).
[[Category:Eldar]][[category:warhammer 40,000]][[category:Gods]]

Cegorach

2015-04-10T00:43:28Z

76.193.131.86: /* Lady Malys and the Entity */

[[image:Cegorach_the_Laughing_God.jpg|350px|thumb|If you can't tell, he's the one being a dick.]]Cegorach is the [[Eldar]] Laughing God and is a master of [[Just as planned]] and is also a massive dick. His dickery is only rivaled by [[C'tan|The Deceiver]] and [[Tzeentch]]. He's the Patron god of the Eldar [[Harlequin]]s, and probably [[Eldrad]] who looked up to Cegorach's dickishness and general jackassery as a shining example for all Eldar Farseers. He plays games of [[Just as planned]] with [[Tzeentch]], the [[C'tan|Deceiver]] and [[the Emperor]] every Saturday night; it always ends in a tie. He's also one of the only surviving Eldar Gods, the other being [[Isha]] (Who's with [[Nurgle]]) and [[Khaine]], but he's currently in a bajillion pieces so in spirit, he's not "alive" anymore.

Has yet to appear in any of the video games or anything like that, but if he did (and he totally should), he'd be voiced by Mark Hamill. He probably wears several harlequin masks, with troll faces, awesome faces, the tragedy mask, and the comedy mask permanently etched on them, and he also probably wears a harlequin (as in the ye olde clowns, not the eldar) hat and outfit. He is also funny as hell, no one can stay mad at him because he's so damned hilarious, and he actually cares for his followers enough to personally fight for their souls. What a guy.
== History ==

During the war against the [[Necrons]], Cegorach convinced the Outsider to eat other [[C'tan]], which caused the Outsider to become insane because all the C'tan he ate became split personalities within his body. But there is a huge argument as to whether he convinced the Outsider to eat the [[C'tan]] first, or if he was just copying the Deceiver when he told the Nightbringer to eat other [[C'tan]]. It's also possible they're the same story, as <s>[[C'tan|The Deciever]]</s>, <s>Cegorach</s>, BOTH of them get their rocks off by impersonating people.

After the [[C'tan]] and the [[Necrons]] went to sleep, the Eldar pretty much ruled the entire galaxy and because they were so advanced that they didn't have to do any work they started to do whatever the hell they wanted; kind of like The Culture but more [[Grimdark]]. At first it was just video games, amusement parks, walks in the park with SPESS ELF Dogs, sports, movies, fighting the occasional Aliens who wanted to challenge them (which ended in the extinction of most of these aliens save for the [[Orks]] and later humanity),somewhat increased amounts of recreational sex, and television but because the Eldar experience emotions way more strongly than people and time goes by slower for them, and at that point any time an Eldar died they would simply reincarnate in a new body they got bored of wholesome fun very quickly.

They started to do drugs, then they started having orgies, then they started with the BDSM, and it only got worse and worse and even some of the [[Eldar]] Gods started to get in on the "fun." Cegorach was far too busy hosting the Eldar version of Monty Python and being a dick to join in on the hedonism and used it as joke fodder. When [[Slaanesh]] was born and went on his/her/its/hermaphrodite's killing and raping spree (powered by Chaos performance enhancing drugs) and killed nearly all of the Eldar Gods, created the Eye of terror which swallowed the core worlds of the Eldar empire and sent a psychic scream that killed most of the Eldar race; Cegorach hid behind the stronger gods and gave Slaanesh the occasional sucker punch and the (not so) occasional devastating one-liner.

Soon after killing Asuryan; the strongest of the Eldar gods, [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh's]] performance enhancing drugs started to wear off and while he/she/it/hermaphrodite wasted time violently raping Isha, Khaela Mensha Khaine got his shit in motion and started to fight [[Slaanesh]]. [[Slaanesh]] had a hard time of it but soon [[Khorne]] came out of nowhere to fight the prissy little faggot because he rightfully claimed that [[Slaanesh]] had no right to lay a hand on his property, which in this case was Khaine. Cegorach took this time to sneak into the webway while no one was looking and the rest is history.

Today, Cegorach's primary concern is dealing with [[Slaanesh|She Who Thirsts]], but, being a trickster god, his followers do things from time to time just for the lolz, such as the time some harlequins defaced a Land Raider, seemingly just for the hell of it. As expected, Cegorach is also opposed to the necrons. He was there for the original Necron Eldar war, and the Harlequin Masque of the Dreaming Shadow primarily focuses on fighting necrons, but many other Harlequins view that as a cheap side show compared to [[Slaanesh]].

== The Harlequins ==
Cegorach is the patron of the [[Harlequin]]s and keeper of the Black Library which [[Ahzek Ahriman]] really wants to get into. Sometimes an [[Eldar]] with no soul is <s>born</s> made during the Ritual (which is, obviously, an entering trial - surviving being possessed with a Greater Daemon of [[Slaanesh]] and having the ability to expel it automatically confirms that you are an incredible badass), which the Harlequins refer to as a Solitaire. These Eldar have great power but are doomed to be eaten by Slaanesh once they die. While they live, they can assrape any army you throw at them. Seriously. But [[Slaanesh]] never gets to nom one because each time he/she/it/hermaphrodite tries, Cegorach punches him/her/it/hermaphrodite in the <s>face</s> <s>balls</s> ALL of his/her/its balls repeatedly and gives him/her/it/hermaphrodite a devastating insult that causes [[Slaanesh]] to run back to his/her/its/hermaphrodite's palace in tears. <s>Happy end.</s> <s>Not quite,[[Slaanesh]] sometimes wins and sadly ends up raping the Solitaire for all eternity.</s> Only to find out it's actually a blow-up doll filled with explosive confetti, Khorne berzerkers and cold showers. [[Just as Planned]].

==Lady Malys and the Entity==
In the 5th edition Dark Eldar codex, the character "Lady Malys", former lover of Vect, once wandered around the Webway and found a dude made of golden light. He killed all her escorts and challenged her to a riddle-off, where the winner gets the loser's heart. She managed to succeed and the gold dude chuckled and gave her his crystal heart. She then decided to TEAR OUT HER OWN HEART AND JAM A PIECE OF CRYSTAL IN THE HOLE. Somehow this worked, and she got like special powers and whatnot from it. Sometimes, in private, her stern demeanor cracks and she falls into maniacal laughter. The golden entity is unknown but who are we kidding it's obviously Cegorach. <s>Or the Deceiver</s> It's definitely ''not'' the Deceiver, because the [[C'Tan]] are too buttmad to use the webway. [[Matt Ward|Unless you believe this guy]]. Again, the two seem to like to switch places constantly. Confirmed in the new 7E Harlies codex that it's Cegorach.

== Fun(ny) facts ==
* Cegorach is the funniest entity in the universe, bar none, and he's tied with [[Tzeentch]], the [[Emperor]], the [[C'tan|Deceiver]] and [[Creed|CREEEEEEEEEEEEED!]] in just as planned and wanton dickishness.
* Cegorach is the Lolz Master and don't you know it.
* Every can in Cegorach's home has fake snakes in it. Every, single, one. Except the one that says it has fake snakes in it. It has real snakes in it. True Story.
* The Monty Python group is actually the church of Cegorach, spreading his lulzy faith to humanity.
* Cegorach ate pennywise the clown from IT for disgracing the good name of Harlequins.
* Cegorach is the proud owner of the Warp Circus, which travels across reality bringing lulz.
* Cegorach is responsible for Indrick Boreale's accent and Firaevious Carron's hatred of MEHTAHL BAWKSES! Thank you, you clown-faced son-of-a-bitch; we owe you all the Youtube poop and FAIL.
* One day, Cegorach slipped a gigantic whoopee cushion onto Khorne's skull throne, when Khorne sat down, the cushion could be heard throughout the warp, the webway, and the materium, and everyone laughed their fucking asses off. At first Khorne got pissed, but as he thought of ways to get revenge, he found the incident increasingly funny and gave Cegorach a handshake, but Cegorach was using a fake arm with a joybuzzer.
* Cegorach managed to outwit Tzeentch once. Though they were matched in dickishness and [[Just as planned|just as planned]] Cegorach had the sharper wit. So in a contest to see who could make up and then pull off the most contrived plan, they technically tied; but Cegorach's plan involved a ludicrously complicated series of Rube Goldberg-ian interlocked events that ended with a bolter shell fired by Kharn hitting a bucket filled with pepper that released its spicy cargo all over Khorne, causing him to sneeze which created just a strong enough wind to blow a second bucket which was filled with Nurgle's slime, this bucket fell on Tzeentch's head. Since both plans were tied in dickishness and ludicrous complexity, the Judges used humor to decide whose was superior, and they obviously chose Cegorach.
* Cegorach once pranked Slaanesh when he sent him/her/it/hermaphrodite what seemed to be playboy magazines, but when Slaanesh read them; they turned out to be filled with Khornate imagery, which jumped out of the book and beat the crap out of Slaanesh. In addition, the second page of the book contained the Nightbringer, who leapt out of the pages and cut Slaanesh's dick off and essentially carved a whole vagina into him, turning the one she-male Slaanesh completely into a she...well three quarters of the way since Slaanesh still only has one bewb. ''And she liked all of it''.
* Cegorach pulled a practical joke on Nurgle once, convincing him to place a special powder and liquid into his cauldron of diseases. Nurgle obliged and mixed the two together, but the powder turned out to be ground up uber-penicillin which cured everyone in the galaxy and the warp of all disease, and the liquid turned out to be uber-detergent which cleaned everything in the galaxy and the warp until it was sparkly clean. Nurgle however simply smiled and shrugged and happily said that this meant he could dirty the place up all over again and shared a good laugh with Cegorach. Which is pretty much why Papa Nurgle is a cool dude.
* Cegorach is behind every successful meme, Tzeentch is behind every forced meme. Tzeentch's memes fail to become popular since Tzeentch only has dickishness and intelligence, and thus lacks the humor needed to make a good meme.
* Cegorach once managed to have a harlequin slip into the Emperor's palace and sneak a clown nose, a harlequin mask, and a jester's hat onto the Emperor's face and paint him in silly colors on the golden throne and had the image broadcast across the galaxy and the warp. The Emperor quickly became the laughing stock of the universe and more than a hundred Imperial worlds were simultaneously declared for Exterminatus to {{BLAM}} the entire populace for heresy.
* Also known to [[The_Elder_Scrolls|some]] as 'Sheogorath'.
* It's said that a very long ago, during the age of the earth, Cegorach would have sent a joke especially for humans and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwbnvkMRPKM this was the result.]
* Cegorach is the creator of both [https://www.youtube.com/user/DasBoSchitt DasBoSchitt] and [https://www.youtube.com/show/gamerpoop Gamer Poop], which are the results of brainstorm sessions with his first (and fallen) disciple, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_%28comics%29 the Joker].
* Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was once a follower of Cegorach, until he turned to Tzeentch worship and became the butt of the biggest Just As Planned joke of the twentieth century.
* [[Cultist-chan]] is, in fact, Cegorach's creation - and his ultimate plan for dicking [[Slaanesh]] over. Only recently revealed in his super-secret tome hidden in the [[Black Library]], the plan is so complicated and convoluted that none of his Harlequins can figure out the specifics. Only [[Dranon]] knows what exactly is going on, but none of the Chaos Gods listen to him. [[Just_as_planned|Just As Planned]]. It's all for the lulz.

== Warhammer Fantasy ==

Cegorach has no [[Warhammer Fantasy]] equivalent directly, making him the only Eldar god without one. His portfolio is instead held by [[Loec]] who is functionally the same. The Harlequins of Fantasy are more or less the entire [[Wood Elves (Warhammer)|Wood Elf]] race (Legolas meets Hills Have Eyes is perhaps the best description of them).
[[Category:Eldar]][[category:warhammer 40,000]][[category:Gods]]

Cegorach

2015-04-10T00:41:50Z

76.193.131.86: /* Fun(ny) facts */

[[image:Cegorach_the_Laughing_God.jpg|350px|thumb|If you can't tell, he's the one being a dick.]]Cegorach is the [[Eldar]] Laughing God and is a master of [[Just as planned]] and is also a massive dick. His dickery is only rivaled by [[C'tan|The Deceiver]] and [[Tzeentch]]. He's the Patron god of the Eldar [[Harlequin]]s, and probably [[Eldrad]] who looked up to Cegorach's dickishness and general jackassery as a shining example for all Eldar Farseers. He plays games of [[Just as planned]] with [[Tzeentch]], the [[C'tan|Deceiver]] and [[the Emperor]] every Saturday night; it always ends in a tie. He's also one of the only surviving Eldar Gods, the other being [[Isha]] (Who's with [[Nurgle]]) and [[Khaine]], but he's currently in a bajillion pieces so in spirit, he's not "alive" anymore.

Has yet to appear in any of the video games or anything like that, but if he did (and he totally should), he'd be voiced by Mark Hamill. He probably wears several harlequin masks, with troll faces, awesome faces, the tragedy mask, and the comedy mask permanently etched on them, and he also probably wears a harlequin (as in the ye olde clowns, not the eldar) hat and outfit. He is also funny as hell, no one can stay mad at him because he's so damned hilarious, and he actually cares for his followers enough to personally fight for their souls. What a guy.
== History ==

During the war against the [[Necrons]], Cegorach convinced the Outsider to eat other [[C'tan]], which caused the Outsider to become insane because all the C'tan he ate became split personalities within his body. But there is a huge argument as to whether he convinced the Outsider to eat the [[C'tan]] first, or if he was just copying the Deceiver when he told the Nightbringer to eat other [[C'tan]]. It's also possible they're the same story, as <s>[[C'tan|The Deciever]]</s>, <s>Cegorach</s>, BOTH of them get their rocks off by impersonating people.

After the [[C'tan]] and the [[Necrons]] went to sleep, the Eldar pretty much ruled the entire galaxy and because they were so advanced that they didn't have to do any work they started to do whatever the hell they wanted; kind of like The Culture but more [[Grimdark]]. At first it was just video games, amusement parks, walks in the park with SPESS ELF Dogs, sports, movies, fighting the occasional Aliens who wanted to challenge them (which ended in the extinction of most of these aliens save for the [[Orks]] and later humanity),somewhat increased amounts of recreational sex, and television but because the Eldar experience emotions way more strongly than people and time goes by slower for them, and at that point any time an Eldar died they would simply reincarnate in a new body they got bored of wholesome fun very quickly.

They started to do drugs, then they started having orgies, then they started with the BDSM, and it only got worse and worse and even some of the [[Eldar]] Gods started to get in on the "fun." Cegorach was far too busy hosting the Eldar version of Monty Python and being a dick to join in on the hedonism and used it as joke fodder. When [[Slaanesh]] was born and went on his/her/its/hermaphrodite's killing and raping spree (powered by Chaos performance enhancing drugs) and killed nearly all of the Eldar Gods, created the Eye of terror which swallowed the core worlds of the Eldar empire and sent a psychic scream that killed most of the Eldar race; Cegorach hid behind the stronger gods and gave Slaanesh the occasional sucker punch and the (not so) occasional devastating one-liner.

Soon after killing Asuryan; the strongest of the Eldar gods, [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh's]] performance enhancing drugs started to wear off and while he/she/it/hermaphrodite wasted time violently raping Isha, Khaela Mensha Khaine got his shit in motion and started to fight [[Slaanesh]]. [[Slaanesh]] had a hard time of it but soon [[Khorne]] came out of nowhere to fight the prissy little faggot because he rightfully claimed that [[Slaanesh]] had no right to lay a hand on his property, which in this case was Khaine. Cegorach took this time to sneak into the webway while no one was looking and the rest is history.

Today, Cegorach's primary concern is dealing with [[Slaanesh|She Who Thirsts]], but, being a trickster god, his followers do things from time to time just for the lolz, such as the time some harlequins defaced a Land Raider, seemingly just for the hell of it. As expected, Cegorach is also opposed to the necrons. He was there for the original Necron Eldar war, and the Harlequin Masque of the Dreaming Shadow primarily focuses on fighting necrons, but many other Harlequins view that as a cheap side show compared to [[Slaanesh]].

== The Harlequins ==
Cegorach is the patron of the [[Harlequin]]s and keeper of the Black Library which [[Ahzek Ahriman]] really wants to get into. Sometimes an [[Eldar]] with no soul is <s>born</s> made during the Ritual (which is, obviously, an entering trial - surviving being possessed with a Greater Daemon of [[Slaanesh]] and having the ability to expel it automatically confirms that you are an incredible badass), which the Harlequins refer to as a Solitaire. These Eldar have great power but are doomed to be eaten by Slaanesh once they die. While they live, they can assrape any army you throw at them. Seriously. But [[Slaanesh]] never gets to nom one because each time he/she/it/hermaphrodite tries, Cegorach punches him/her/it/hermaphrodite in the <s>face</s> <s>balls</s> ALL of his/her/its balls repeatedly and gives him/her/it/hermaphrodite a devastating insult that causes [[Slaanesh]] to run back to his/her/its/hermaphrodite's palace in tears. <s>Happy end.</s> <s>Not quite,[[Slaanesh]] sometimes wins and sadly ends up raping the Solitaire for all eternity.</s> Only to find out it's actually a blow-up doll filled with explosive confetti, Khorne berzerkers and cold showers. [[Just as Planned]].

==Lady Malys and the Entity==
In the 5th edition Dark Eldar codex, the character "Lady Malys", former lover of Vect, once wandered around the Webway and found a dude made of golden light. He killed all her escorts and challenged her to a riddle-off, where the winner gets the loser's heart. She managed to succeed and the gold dude chuckled and gave her his crystal heart. She then decided to TEAR OUT HER OWN HEART AND JAM A PIECE OF CRYSTAL IN THE HOLE. Somehow this worked, and she got like special powers and whatnot from it. Sometimes, in private, her stern demeanor cracks and she falls into maniacal laughter. The golden entity is unknown but who are we kidding it's obviously Cegorach. <s>Or the Deceiver</s> It's definitely ''not'' the Deceiver, because the [[C'Tan]] are too buttmad to use the webway. [[Matt Ward|Unless you believe this guy]]. Again, the two seem to like to switch places constantly.

== Fun(ny) facts ==
* Cegorach is the funniest entity in the universe, bar none, and he's tied with [[Tzeentch]], the [[Emperor]], the [[C'tan|Deceiver]] and [[Creed|CREEEEEEEEEEEEED!]] in just as planned and wanton dickishness.
* Cegorach is the Lolz Master and don't you know it.
* Every can in Cegorach's home has fake snakes in it. Every, single, one. Except the one that says it has fake snakes in it. It has real snakes in it. True Story.
* The Monty Python group is actually the church of Cegorach, spreading his lulzy faith to humanity.
* Cegorach ate pennywise the clown from IT for disgracing the good name of Harlequins.
* Cegorach is the proud owner of the Warp Circus, which travels across reality bringing lulz.
* Cegorach is responsible for Indrick Boreale's accent and Firaevious Carron's hatred of MEHTAHL BAWKSES! Thank you, you clown-faced son-of-a-bitch; we owe you all the Youtube poop and FAIL.
* One day, Cegorach slipped a gigantic whoopee cushion onto Khorne's skull throne, when Khorne sat down, the cushion could be heard throughout the warp, the webway, and the materium, and everyone laughed their fucking asses off. At first Khorne got pissed, but as he thought of ways to get revenge, he found the incident increasingly funny and gave Cegorach a handshake, but Cegorach was using a fake arm with a joybuzzer.
* Cegorach managed to outwit Tzeentch once. Though they were matched in dickishness and [[Just as planned|just as planned]] Cegorach had the sharper wit. So in a contest to see who could make up and then pull off the most contrived plan, they technically tied; but Cegorach's plan involved a ludicrously complicated series of Rube Goldberg-ian interlocked events that ended with a bolter shell fired by Kharn hitting a bucket filled with pepper that released its spicy cargo all over Khorne, causing him to sneeze which created just a strong enough wind to blow a second bucket which was filled with Nurgle's slime, this bucket fell on Tzeentch's head. Since both plans were tied in dickishness and ludicrous complexity, the Judges used humor to decide whose was superior, and they obviously chose Cegorach.
* Cegorach once pranked Slaanesh when he sent him/her/it/hermaphrodite what seemed to be playboy magazines, but when Slaanesh read them; they turned out to be filled with Khornate imagery, which jumped out of the book and beat the crap out of Slaanesh. In addition, the second page of the book contained the Nightbringer, who leapt out of the pages and cut Slaanesh's dick off and essentially carved a whole vagina into him, turning the one she-male Slaanesh completely into a she...well three quarters of the way since Slaanesh still only has one bewb. ''And she liked all of it''.
* Cegorach pulled a practical joke on Nurgle once, convincing him to place a special powder and liquid into his cauldron of diseases. Nurgle obliged and mixed the two together, but the powder turned out to be ground up uber-penicillin which cured everyone in the galaxy and the warp of all disease, and the liquid turned out to be uber-detergent which cleaned everything in the galaxy and the warp until it was sparkly clean. Nurgle however simply smiled and shrugged and happily said that this meant he could dirty the place up all over again and shared a good laugh with Cegorach. Which is pretty much why Papa Nurgle is a cool dude.
* Cegorach is behind every successful meme, Tzeentch is behind every forced meme. Tzeentch's memes fail to become popular since Tzeentch only has dickishness and intelligence, and thus lacks the humor needed to make a good meme.
* Cegorach once managed to have a harlequin slip into the Emperor's palace and sneak a clown nose, a harlequin mask, and a jester's hat onto the Emperor's face and paint him in silly colors on the golden throne and had the image broadcast across the galaxy and the warp. The Emperor quickly became the laughing stock of the universe and more than a hundred Imperial worlds were simultaneously declared for Exterminatus to {{BLAM}} the entire populace for heresy.
* Also known to [[The_Elder_Scrolls|some]] as 'Sheogorath'.
* It's said that a very long ago, during the age of the earth, Cegorach would have sent a joke especially for humans and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwbnvkMRPKM this was the result.]
* Cegorach is the creator of both [https://www.youtube.com/user/DasBoSchitt DasBoSchitt] and [https://www.youtube.com/show/gamerpoop Gamer Poop], which are the results of brainstorm sessions with his first (and fallen) disciple, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_%28comics%29 the Joker].
* Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was once a follower of Cegorach, until he turned to Tzeentch worship and became the butt of the biggest Just As Planned joke of the twentieth century.
* [[Cultist-chan]] is, in fact, Cegorach's creation - and his ultimate plan for dicking [[Slaanesh]] over. Only recently revealed in his super-secret tome hidden in the [[Black Library]], the plan is so complicated and convoluted that none of his Harlequins can figure out the specifics. Only [[Dranon]] knows what exactly is going on, but none of the Chaos Gods listen to him. [[Just_as_planned|Just As Planned]]. It's all for the lulz.

== Warhammer Fantasy ==

Cegorach has no [[Warhammer Fantasy]] equivalent directly, making him the only Eldar god without one. His portfolio is instead held by [[Loec]] who is functionally the same. The Harlequins of Fantasy are more or less the entire [[Wood Elves (Warhammer)|Wood Elf]] race (Legolas meets Hills Have Eyes is perhaps the best description of them).
[[Category:Eldar]][[category:warhammer 40,000]][[category:Gods]]

Cegorach

2015-04-10T00:16:23Z

76.193.131.86:

[[image:Cegorach_the_Laughing_God.jpg|350px|thumb|If you can't tell, he's the one being a dick.]]Cegorach is the [[Eldar]] Laughing God and is a master of [[Just as planned]] and is also a massive dick. His dickery is only rivaled by [[C'tan|The Deceiver]] and [[Tzeentch]]. He's the Patron god of the Eldar [[Harlequin]]s, and probably [[Eldrad]] who looked up to Cegorach's dickishness and general jackassery as a shining example for all Eldar Farseers. He plays games of [[Just as planned]] with [[Tzeentch]], the [[C'tan|Deceiver]] and [[the Emperor]] every Saturday night; it always ends in a tie. He's also one of the only surviving Eldar Gods, the other being [[Isha]] (Who's with [[Nurgle]]) and [[Khaine]], but he's currently in a bajillion pieces so in spirit, he's not "alive" anymore.

Has yet to appear in any of the video games or anything like that, but if he did (and he totally should), he'd be voiced by Mark Hamill. He probably wears several harlequin masks, with troll faces, awesome faces, the tragedy mask, and the comedy mask permanently etched on them, and he also probably wears a harlequin (as in the ye olde clowns, not the eldar) hat and outfit. He is also funny as hell, no one can stay mad at him because he's so damned hilarious, and he actually cares for his followers enough to personally fight for their souls. What a guy.
== History ==

During the war against the [[Necrons]], Cegorach convinced the Outsider to eat other [[C'tan]], which caused the Outsider to become insane because all the C'tan he ate became split personalities within his body. But there is a huge argument as to whether he convinced the Outsider to eat the [[C'tan]] first, or if he was just copying the Deceiver when he told the Nightbringer to eat other [[C'tan]]. It's also possible they're the same story, as <s>[[C'tan|The Deciever]]</s>, <s>Cegorach</s>, BOTH of them get their rocks off by impersonating people.

After the [[C'tan]] and the [[Necrons]] went to sleep, the Eldar pretty much ruled the entire galaxy and because they were so advanced that they didn't have to do any work they started to do whatever the hell they wanted; kind of like The Culture but more [[Grimdark]]. At first it was just video games, amusement parks, walks in the park with SPESS ELF Dogs, sports, movies, fighting the occasional Aliens who wanted to challenge them (which ended in the extinction of most of these aliens save for the [[Orks]] and later humanity),somewhat increased amounts of recreational sex, and television but because the Eldar experience emotions way more strongly than people and time goes by slower for them, and at that point any time an Eldar died they would simply reincarnate in a new body they got bored of wholesome fun very quickly.

They started to do drugs, then they started having orgies, then they started with the BDSM, and it only got worse and worse and even some of the [[Eldar]] Gods started to get in on the "fun." Cegorach was far too busy hosting the Eldar version of Monty Python and being a dick to join in on the hedonism and used it as joke fodder. When [[Slaanesh]] was born and went on his/her/its/hermaphrodite's killing and raping spree (powered by Chaos performance enhancing drugs) and killed nearly all of the Eldar Gods, created the Eye of terror which swallowed the core worlds of the Eldar empire and sent a psychic scream that killed most of the Eldar race; Cegorach hid behind the stronger gods and gave Slaanesh the occasional sucker punch and the (not so) occasional devastating one-liner.

Soon after killing Asuryan; the strongest of the Eldar gods, [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh's]] performance enhancing drugs started to wear off and while he/she/it/hermaphrodite wasted time violently raping Isha, Khaela Mensha Khaine got his shit in motion and started to fight [[Slaanesh]]. [[Slaanesh]] had a hard time of it but soon [[Khorne]] came out of nowhere to fight the prissy little faggot because he rightfully claimed that [[Slaanesh]] had no right to lay a hand on his property, which in this case was Khaine. Cegorach took this time to sneak into the webway while no one was looking and the rest is history.

Today, Cegorach's primary concern is dealing with [[Slaanesh|She Who Thirsts]], but, being a trickster god, his followers do things from time to time just for the lolz, such as the time some harlequins defaced a Land Raider, seemingly just for the hell of it. As expected, Cegorach is also opposed to the necrons. He was there for the original Necron Eldar war, and the Harlequin Masque of the Dreaming Shadow primarily focuses on fighting necrons, but many other Harlequins view that as a cheap side show compared to [[Slaanesh]].

== The Harlequins ==
Cegorach is the patron of the [[Harlequin]]s and keeper of the Black Library which [[Ahzek Ahriman]] really wants to get into. Sometimes an [[Eldar]] with no soul is <s>born</s> made during the Ritual (which is, obviously, an entering trial - surviving being possessed with a Greater Daemon of [[Slaanesh]] and having the ability to expel it automatically confirms that you are an incredible badass), which the Harlequins refer to as a Solitaire. These Eldar have great power but are doomed to be eaten by Slaanesh once they die. While they live, they can assrape any army you throw at them. Seriously. But [[Slaanesh]] never gets to nom one because each time he/she/it/hermaphrodite tries, Cegorach punches him/her/it/hermaphrodite in the <s>face</s> <s>balls</s> ALL of his/her/its balls repeatedly and gives him/her/it/hermaphrodite a devastating insult that causes [[Slaanesh]] to run back to his/her/its/hermaphrodite's palace in tears. <s>Happy end.</s> <s>Not quite,[[Slaanesh]] sometimes wins and sadly ends up raping the Solitaire for all eternity.</s> Only to find out it's actually a blow-up doll filled with explosive confetti, Khorne berzerkers and cold showers. [[Just as Planned]].

==Lady Malys and the Entity==
In the 5th edition Dark Eldar codex, the character "Lady Malys", former lover of Vect, once wandered around the Webway and found a dude made of golden light. He killed all her escorts and challenged her to a riddle-off, where the winner gets the loser's heart. She managed to succeed and the gold dude chuckled and gave her his crystal heart. She then decided to TEAR OUT HER OWN HEART AND JAM A PIECE OF CRYSTAL IN THE HOLE. Somehow this worked, and she got like special powers and whatnot from it. Sometimes, in private, her stern demeanor cracks and she falls into maniacal laughter. The golden entity is unknown but who are we kidding it's obviously Cegorach. <s>Or the Deceiver</s> It's definitely ''not'' the Deceiver, because the [[C'Tan]] are too buttmad to use the webway. [[Matt Ward|Unless you believe this guy]]. Again, the two seem to like to switch places constantly.

== Fun(ny) facts ==
* Cegorach is the funniest entity in the universe, bar none, and he's tied with [[Tzeentch]], the [[Emperor]], the [[C'tan|Deceiver]] and [[Creed|CREEEEEEEEEEEEED!]] in just as planned and wanton dickishness.
* Cegorach is the Lolz Master and don't you know it.
* Every can in Cegorach's home has fake snakes in it. Every, single, one. Except the one that says it has fake snakes in it. It has real snakes in it. True Story.
* The Monty Python group is actually the church of Cegorach, spreading his lulzy faith to humanity.
* Cegorach ate pennywise the clown from IT for disgracing the good name of Harlequins.
* Cegorach is the proud owner of the Warp Circus, which travels across reality bringing lulz.
* Cegorach is responsible for Indrick Boreale's accent and Firaevious Carron's hatred of MEHTAHL BAWKSES! Thank you, you clown-faced son-of-a-bitch; we owe you all the Youtube poop and FAIL.
* One day, Cegorach slipped a gigantic whoopee cushion onto Khorne's skull throne, when Khorne sat down, the cushion could be heard throughout the warp, the webway, and the materium, and everyone laughed their fucking asses off. At first Khorne got pissed, but as he thought of ways to get revenge, he found the incident increasingly funny and gave Cegorach a handshake, but Cegorach was using a fake arm with a joybuzzer.
* Cegorach managed to outwit Tzeentch once. Though they were matched in dickishness and [[Just as planned|just as planned]] Cegorach had the sharper wit. So in a contest to see who could make up and then pull off the most contrived plan, they technically tied; but Cegorach's plan involved a ludicrously complicated series of Rube Goldberg-ian interlocked events that ended with a bolter shell fired by Kharn hitting a bucket filled with pepper that released its spicy cargo all over Khorne, causing him to sneeze which created just a strong enough wind to blow a second bucket which was filled with Nurgle's slime, this bucket fell on Tzeentch's head. Since both plans were tied in dickishness and ludicrous complexity, the Judges used humor to decide whose was superior, and they obviously chose Cegorach.
* Cegorach once pranked Slaanesh when he sent him/her/it/hermaphrodite what seemed to be playboy magazines, but when Slaanesh read them; they turned out to be filled with Khornate imagery, which jumped out of the book and beat the crap out of Slaanesh. In addition, the second page of the book contained the Nightbringer, who leapt out of the pages and cut Slaanesh's dick off and essentially carved a whole vagina into him, turning the one she-male Slaanesh completely into a she...well three quarters of the way since Slaanesh still only has one bewb. ''And she liked all of it''.
* Cegorach pulled a practical joke on Nurgle once, convincing him to place a special powder and liquid into his cauldron of diseases. Nurgle obliged and mixed the two together, but the powder turned out to be ground up uber-penicillin which cured everyone in the galaxy and the warp of all disease, and the liquid turned out to be uber-detergent which cleaned everything in the galaxy and the warp until it was sparkly clean. Nurgle however simply smiled and shrugged and happily said that this meant he could dirty the place up all over again and shared a good laugh with Cegorach. Which is pretty much why Papa Nurgle is a cool dude.
* Cegorach is behind every successful meme, Tzeentch is behind every forced meme. Tzeentch's memes fail to become popular since Tzeentch only has dickishness and intelligence, and thus lacks the humor needed to make a good meme.
* Cegorach once managed to have a harlequin slip into the Emperor's palace and sneak a clown nose, a harlequin mask, and a jester's hat onto the Emperor's face and paint him in silly colors on the golden throne and had the image broadcast across the galaxy and the warp. The Emperor quickly became the laughing stock of the universe and more than a hundred Imperial worlds were simultaneously declared for Exterminatus to {{BLAM}} the entire populace for heresy.
* Also known to [[The_Elder_Scrolls|some]] as 'Sheogorath'.
* It's said that a very long ago, during the age of the earth, Cegorach would have sent a joke especially for humans and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwbnvkMRPKM this was the result.]

== Warhammer Fantasy ==

Cegorach has no [[Warhammer Fantasy]] equivalent directly, making him the only Eldar god without one. His portfolio is instead held by [[Loec]] who is functionally the same. The Harlequins of Fantasy are more or less the entire [[Wood Elves (Warhammer)|Wood Elf]] race (Legolas meets Hills Have Eyes is perhaps the best description of them).
[[Category:Eldar]][[category:warhammer 40,000]][[category:Gods]]

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-09T23:26:07Z

76.193.131.86: /* Elite */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]]. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Caresses? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul. What this means for the Craftworlders, only GW knows...
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. There's also a Formation that, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, <s>if you have a Shadowseer here, use a good defensive power to make sure they live</s> You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver. Wah-wah.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack; Only the Troupe Master and the Shadowseer can take Crescendo, the Solitaire cannot, so this isn't accurate. But don't forget the haywire grenades, too, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]].

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon (not that you would want to anyway, because the Miststave is ''fucking baller''). Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. And, to boot, Dance gives you a 4+ cover save, which is almost as good as Sanctuary or Forewarning would be. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5, and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn (this is not entirely true, and he is in fact far more versatile than this - see below). Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...
* One fun tactic is to ally with Dark Eldar and put your Jesters in Raider gunboats. The rules for Kabalite Warriors specifically state that for every ten '''models''' in the unit, you may take a heavy weapon (i.e. the Dark Lance or the Splinter Cannon). This means that you can have nine Warriors loaded for bear with a Jester at the helm; you may now use the Jester's leadership (which is, naturally, better than a Sybarite's) in addition to having the maximum number of heavy/special weapons ''plus'' his Shrieker Cannon - which, as we're all aware, can function as both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle (if your rolls are good). All of this in an obscenely fast [[METAL_BOXES|paper boat]] with either an anti-vehicle or anti-infantry deck gun. Cruise around the battlefield wherever he is needed, [[Indrick_Boreale|raining death]] and [[Troll|repositioning your enemy's dudes]] like a puppeteer on crank.

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really'' lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies.

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. <s>Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour?</s> The Dark Eldar do it ''far'' better, and from longer range. Yes, all Harlies can take AV options, but are you really going to throw all your points into one ludicrously expensive, close-range basket? Use your brain. Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it).

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.

DISTRACTION CARNIFEX

2015-04-09T20:09:25Z

76.193.131.86: /* Variants */

{{Cleanup}}
''"Remember- SHOOT THE BIG ONES."'' ― [[Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer]] on Tyranids.

'''DISTRACTION [[Carnifex|CARNIFEX]]!'''

'''EVERYONE START [[dakka|SHOOTING]]!!'''

==Overview==
A well-known tactic from 4th Edition, which was actually kind of clever for use by [[Tyranid]] players. The idea was to use the reasonably-priced Carnifex of yore as a gigantic distraction during games. It worked pretty well, since the first inclination of any player seeing a Carnifex on the table is to blast the ever-loving shit out of it with every weapon they have. Because it was very easy to back up the Carnifex's 6 toughness with a 2+ armor save, it was actually pretty difficult to bring down one without using shit like Lascannons. Every round that you had say, a [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]] firing all its weapons at it and NOT at your swarms of Gaunts was generally a good thing, and since it was easy to make a distraction Carnifex mildly intimidating with nothing more than a weapon biomorph (giving it a barbed strangler was a good example), this tactic was very successful against smaller but more elite armies and helped considerably to deal with certain offensive builds.

==Why It Doesn't Work Anymore==
In fifth Edition, Carnifexes don't get extended carapace (so their armor save is, at best, 3+), and they cost a lot more. This generally prevents Carnifexes from being used in the '''DISTRACTION CARNIFEX''' role they used to occasionally serve in. The higher cost for biomorph enhancements is another reason it doesn't work. The big reason, though, is the combination of costs and armor reduction; a lot of weapons that were only reasonably likely to put a dent in a Carnifex in 4th (Missile Launchers, Battle Cannons, etc) are now quite capable of fucking its shit up en masse now.
However in 6th edition the new haruspex can perform this role well as it can regenerate and nomnom on precious space marines to regenerate another wound.
[[Games Workshop|So the new unit replaces an old one that can't do it's job any more]] [[JUST AS PLANNED]]

==Haha WTF==
During one particularly notorious game, <strike>full of hot women</strike> post-codex update in New York - a [[Imperial Guard|Guard]] player allegedly killed a Carnifex on turn 1 by [[Troll|hammering it with Hunter-Killer Missiles]] after [[Creed|CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED]]-ing a mechanized platoon into position. [[Just as planned]]. Something like this also happened in the Ultramarines Omnibus, with a PDF soldier, Pavel Leforto, grabbing a missile launcher, running up beside the Astartes and firing point-blank into the open mouth of a Carnifex right before it could fire a blast of bio-plasma. He then proceeded to pick up a dead commissar's chainsword and fight the Tyranids along side the Ultramarine captain... and he [[awesome|kept up with the captain]].

This isn't that weird, though. I mean, the Carnifex only has four wounds and it doesn't get saves from anything AP3 or better. You'd need, what? Four accurate missiles to kill one? Thanks to higher vehicle survivability and the Imperial Guard being the most <s>frustrating</s> {{BLAM|'''heroic and invincible'''}} mechanized army out there - more difficult to bring down than Nidzilla ever was, so thanks Robin Cruddace - most all-rounder armies have more than enough heavy weapons to kill a Carnifex on a single turn.

...Albeit not on turn one from across the board. Using only Chimeras. [[Emperor|Jesus]].

==Variants==
*'''Distraction [[Imperial Knight]]''' Just fielding one of these guys is going to draw lots of attention from nearly all units that your enemy can afford to throw at it. Also it forces your enemy to rethink where he might deploy his [[Chapter Master Smashfucker|balanced and fair]] units, lest they get pummeled to death by reaper chainswords. 4+ invulnerable save, AV13 and 6hp are going to gurantee hard times for anyone trying to take this guy down unless they have other Lord of War unit with ranged S:D weapon.
*'''Distraction Furioso Dreadnought:''' Drop podding these guys with double frag cannons and <s>Blood Talons is hilarious vs anything that relies on blob armies. Needless to say, these guys will either waste your opponent's time or their tarpits trying to stop these things, which is good for you either way.</s> Now with the new Blood Angels Codex the Blood Talons no longer have extra attacks that generate extra attacks that generate extra attacks. All they are now is glorified Powerfists without unwieldy. No longer viable just like the tool namer.
*'''Distraction Wraithlord:''' It's big, scary, 3+ save, T8 and capable of fucking shit up.
*'''Distraction Wraithknight:''' It's bigger, scarier, 3+/5++ <s>[edit: the Wraithknight does not have a natural ++ save]</s> (but if you want to use it as Distraction Carnifex, you will buy it the option for a 5++) save, T8, 6 wounds and WILL be targeted by any weapon big enough hoping to harm it, even by the cannons of the Empire vs Dwarves game on the [[WHFB]] table.
*'''Distraction Hive Tyrant.''' <s>2+ armour and a +3 to toughness from Iron arm (assuming that he doesn't die before he can cast it)</s>He can't do that anymore, [[FAIL|thank you so very bloody much Cruddace]]. Also intimidates people like the Carnifex used to.
*'''Distraction Stonecrusher Carnifex''' - Someone in Forge World was pretty sad about Distraction Carnifex doesn't work anymore, so they create their own with 2+ armor and 5+ regeneration. It's cheap, durable, intimidating, but a bit slow, meaning it draws a lot of fire. Just as planned.
*'''Distraction [[Battlewagon]].''' <s>Simply give it some guns, a Deffrolla and put some nobs in it and your opponent will shoot at it like no tomorrow.</s> Not as simple as it used to be since the Deffrolla got nerfed. The distraction now comes more from the contents of the transport, rather than the psychotic murdermachine strapped to the front of it. The MANz missile (Minimum squad of Mega Armor Nobz in a stock Trukk) can work for this too, but is even more fragile. Good thing it's cheap enough you can take two or more. With the nex codex, instead we've got:
*'''Distraction [[Morkanaut|Gorkanaut]]/[[Gorkanaut|Morkanaut]]''' Add the kustom force field (Morkanaut only) and grot riggers, and stow a minimum size squad of lootas inside with three of 'em swapped for meks. Almost too expensive for a real distraction Carnifex, but dangerous enough to work, and almost impossible to kill. For more fun, add a Big Mek with Da Fixer Uppers (on a Gorkanaut, he can grab the KFF) or the Mega Force Field if taking the Ghazkull suppliment. You now have an AV13 gun covered walker with S10 CCW, 5+ invuln against shooting (4+ if Ghazkull and taking the MFF), IWND, Ignore crew shaken and crew stunned results, and any actual damage can be repaired by one 3+ and three 5+ rolls each turn. Points wise though it's bordering on a deathstar rather than an expendable distraction.
*'''Distraction Deathwing Knights.''' Put Belial with them, deepstrike them right next to all the most dangerous units in your foe's army, and watch them squirm to murder them all. They may all die either by the sheer amounts of firepower or melee directed towards them, but it's worth watching your foe ignore Devastators, Deathwing Terminators, Ravenwing, and other such unit, just for the sheer infamous reputation that the Knights have gained.
*'''Distraction''' '''[[Chaos Space Marines|MURDER SWORD]]''': Chaos Space Marine one. Give a '''MURDER SWORD''' to a (random champion (NOT LEGAL)) chaos lord or DAEMON PRINCE, stick it in a nest of Cultists, and laugh as the enemy targets it for the rest of the game because they don't want it getting within 400 clicks of their special snowflake character. (Though you are fucked if the enemy has good snipers, fucking Vindicaires.)(wont work anyway because it only works on 1 character that you have to declare and fex isn't a character(lol wut? this is CSM we're talking about)). Still decent for removing faggots like [[Marneus Calgar|papa smurf]].
** (clears throat) "Look Out, Sir!" - on a 2+ for special characters. Even against Vindicaires (but with a -2 penalty so ICs get 4+ LoS while everyone else gets a 6+) and Precision Shots. Yes, I checked before posting.
*'''Distraction Riptide:''' the advent of the new tau codex means you can field a T6 MC with a 2+,3++ save combo and 5 wounds. Give it stimulant injectors and it can shrug off anything you can throw at it for not much more than its base cost.
*'''Distraction Darkstrider:''' Enemy has a charging focused army and you only took one Pathfinder squad, stick this guy in there with a Grav-Inhibitor Drone and laugh as your opponents thrashing, snarling wave of hate never comes anywhere close.
*'''Distraction Stealth Suits:''' With the advent of the new Tau Codex this is arguably far more inferior to the Distaction Riptide above, but a team of 6 Stealthsuits, with 3+ Armour 4+ Cover, one Burst cannon each (24 S5, AP5), 2 markerlights for support, their hardpoints filled with Stim Injectors, and they just started within their 18" range, wellee bob, I think I just saw a first turn rape happen. (and they're probably gonna stick around for at least 1 or 2 more turns with those saves)
*'''Distraction Autarch:''' Autarch on jet bike with mantle of the laughing god, and lance. 2+ re-rollable cover save, and you can move it up to 36`. It can bust tanks pretty well, and will be targeted due to slay the warlord, although there's a one in 36 chance that it will be killed, so hah. (ignores cover S8+ says "free points!")
*'''Distraction Dreadknight:''' Take a T6 W4 Termi with a weapon for ~170 points and see the enemy focus him without really damaging him fast.
*'''Distraction Ogryn Deathstar:''' 10 Ogryn with 2 Primaris Psykers (faq stated each get 2 rolls) with biomancy for toughness and allied dark angel psyker for rerolls on everything and 4+ invulnerabilities. Watch it absorb loads upon loads of fire as your tactical units sneak up on the enemy.
*'''Distraction Eversor:''' With the neuro-gauntlet and melta bombs ''nothing'' is safe from the Eversor's indiscriminate rape, be it snowflake characters, tanks, or infantry. Because of this, your opponent will most likely focus every damn gun he has into stopping this drug-crazed junkie of pure murder before he gets anywhere near the bulk of his army, which is more time for your heavy hitters to move forward without the fear of getting an instant-death hit to the face (can also work the other way around. A single Eversor is capable of crapping all over your opponent's army should he close the distance.)
*'''Distraction Devastator Centurions:''' Three of these guys all with grav-cannons and watch your opponent panic as they try to hide their precocious heavy armor and low Av troops while trying to out right murder these guys. Be warry, however, that this wouldn't work if your opponent have [[Vindicator|S10]] [[Railgun|AP1-2]] [[Medusa|blasts]], [[Doom Scythe|linemakers]] or [[Wraithguard|guns]]
*'''Distraction Lone Wolf:''' Give your Lone Wolf 2 Fen Wolves and Terminator Armor and just let him roam. If you feel generous, slap a Chainfist on him. The fact that you gain points by letting this guy die means you can expend him without much consequence.
*'''Distraction Nurglings:''' Take 6-9 bases of these cute little shits,Infiltrate them as close to the enemy as possible behind ruins, enjoy a tasty 2+ cover save while your army moves up. Just pray they don't have flamers or ignore cover weapons.
*'''Distraction Devil Dog(s):''' Take a nice cheap squad of 2, (270 points) and run them up the side of the board. Give 'em camo gear, and keep them in cover. When they get there, watch as your opponent who has a fetish for tanks (Just Like you!), cries as his precious hammerheads get owned by these tanks. But if he shoots them, the your other, awesomer tanks have a turn or two of not getting murdered. Really doesn't work on swarm armies. Like 'Nids.
*'''Distraction Russ(es):''' Usually done with a Demolisher or Executioner, but can be done with almost any Russ variant. Give it Extra Armor, Recovery Gear and Relic Plating and watch as it slowly crawls it's way up the battlefield dispensing death. As the saying goes - if it hasn't absorbed at least six attempts to destroy it by Turn Two, you're doing it wrong.
*'''Distraction Summoning:''' Drop a bunch of demons in your enemy's face the he'll have to deal with or get charged to death. bonus points if you force a tau gunline to waste most of there shooting on some plague bearers that are in cover, Bonus points for literally be free except for the cost of the psyker.
*'''Distraction Talos Pain Engine:''' <s>For something so cheap it might work as a fire magnet.</s> It works. It so works. <s>If someone played DEldar that is.</s> The best part about DISTRACTION TALOS is precisely that: nobody plays DEldar. Therefore, the majority of the player population has no idea what to expect. Player: "Wait, Toughness seven?!" You: "Yep." Player: "With 3+ and FnP?!" You: "You betcha. Oh, also, enjoy [[Rip_and_tear|haywire and Shred]]." Your enemy then proceeds to unload everything they have at your slow, dead 'ard, floating scorpion beast while your gunboats, Scourges, and Reavers tear them [[Anal_circumference|several new assholes]].
*'''Distraction Daemon Engine:''' A Forgefiend, Maulerfiend, Defiler or Heldrake will be a guaranteed fire magnet. Fortunately, they all have It Will not Die (tied for best name for a 40k rule ever with He Has A Plan, beaten in the category of best overall rule name by My Will be Done) and the Drake has the added bonus of being a flyer when Skyfire is still a relative rarity. The reputation of the Defiler and Heldrake in particular will ensure that literally everything the enemy has will be hurled at you, including the models, the table, the dice, the players at the WFB table, and chairs. Lots of chairs.
*'''Distraction Mutilator:''' Pretty much the only use for Mutilators with the new CSM book, Deep Strike one behind the enemy (bonus points if it's a Tau or Guard gunline) and it will die in style as the enemy wastes a turn of valuable shooting which could have been better spent trying to bring down that Land Raider full of Terminators, or the rampaging Maulerfiend in the corner
*'''Distraction [[Angron]]:''' like this needs explaining.
*'''Distraction Drop Pods.''' Basically the current meta of spess mahreens, which involves sticking everything in drop pods. Whilst not technically distracting, messing up your opponents game plan before the game has even begun [[awesome|is pretty damn cool]]
**If you want a cheap drop podding unit that will scare the shit outta hordes, take a 95 point assault squad in a drop pod with 2 flamers. Good times.
*'''Distraction Chaos Vindicator''' Throw in a havoc launcher and daemonic possession and then watch your opponent devote retarded amounts of firepower to keep the Khorne-incarnate rape-engine down.

===Warhammer Fantasy Battles===
*'''Distraction [[Skaven|Hellpit Abomination]]''' - a giant scary monster, which can wreck whole hordes of infantry with some luck. Any sensible enemy with focus it down... buuuut, it is so adorable in has a chance to RISE FROM THE GRAVE, making the enemy freak out and focus it again - this time with EVERYTHING is has.
*'''Distraction Treeman''' - Being worse than it was in last edition, it is still big and tall, and is a fine monster killer, and its shooting can wreck small elite units, so it is likely to attract much dakka (vs very inexperienced player).

===Warmachine and Hordes===
It can be done here too!

*'''Distraction Centurion''' - The [[Cygnar|Cygnarian]] Heavy Warjack Centurion is made for this - Though reasonably killy in and of itself, it's main job is absorbing stupid amounts of fire and hits while your shooty army gets into place, and with defensive buffs up the arse, Cygnar can easily make it even tougher.
*'''Distraction Beserker''' - Khador is nothing but inventive - Though the Beserker Heavy Warjack is unstable and technologically weak compared to its predecessors, it can still majorly fuck up some unlucky sod with its twin axes. That is not why you use it, though - It is because it have a tendency to explode when given focus. It is fairly cheap too, so send it after whatever you want and watch as it gets blown up by anyone on the field - Your enemy if they manage to bring it down, or you, for the lulz.
*'''Distraction Ghordson Basher''' - This might just be the epitome of distraction - A rather fast Heavy Warjack made for one thing, smashing things with its head. Really. That is what it does. Throw it into the enemy and watch as it bounces the enemy about like gravity went on a break.
*'''Distraction Avatar of Menoth''' - Arguably the best of the Character Heavy Warjacks (The [[Cryx]] Deathjack being the only other real contended for the title), it is big, scary, hits like an a freight train and is hard enough to endure the return fire. Throw the Choir Hymn of Passage, the Vassal of Menoth's Enliven and, if you are playing Grand Scrutator Severius, put Defenders Ward on it for a 12/23 monster that's immune to non-magical shooting, can move after taking damage and can lock enemy units in place/force them to move towards you for your next turn when shit is going to get fucked.
*'''Distraction Colossal''' - Basically every Colossal is a giant distraction tool to draw fire. Especially against inexperienced players who vastly overestimate their threat value.
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-09T18:12:31Z

76.193.131.86: /* Battle Brothers */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]]. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Caresses? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul. What this means for the Craftworlders, only GW knows...
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. There's also a Formation that, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, <s>if you have a Shadowseer here, use a good defensive power to make sure they live</s> You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver. Wah-wah.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack; Only the Troupe Master and the Shadowseer can take Crescendo, the Solitaire cannot, so this isn't accurate. But don't forget the haywire grenades, too, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]].

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon. Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. And, to boot, Dance gives you a 4+ cover save, which is almost as good as Sanctuary or Forewarning would be. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5, and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn. Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really'' lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies.

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. <s>Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour?</s> The Dark Eldar do it ''far'' better, and from longer range. Yes, all Harlies can take AV options, but are you really going to throw all your points into one ludicrously expensive, close-range basket? Use your brain. Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it).

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-07T23:34:39Z

76.193.131.86: /* Heavy Support */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]]. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Caresses? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul. What this means for the Craftworlders, only GW knows...
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. There's also a Formation that, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, <s>if you have a Shadowseer here, use a good defensive power to make sure they live</s> You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver. Wah-wah.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack; Only the Troupe Master and the Shadowseer can take Crescendo, the Solitaire cannot, so this isn't accurate. But don't forget the haywire grenades, too, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]].

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon. Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5, and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn. Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really'' lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies.

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour? Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it).

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-04-07T23:33:24Z

76.193.131.86: /* Heavy Support */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, YOUR warlord's opponent(opposite guy in challenge) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if Shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's still infinitely better than Night Fighting.
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness against fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]]. This is AMAZINGLY powerful when used against some Uber-unit, like a Knight, Draigo with his Paladins, a Baneblade or even a Titan. Also kind of fun to cast on an enemy units with a psyker that casted invisibility, essentially reversing its effects and making the unit useless for that turn. Yes, you wouldn't be able to kill it, but it will also be unable to do shit.
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
===Melee Weapons===
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove (so bad) that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Caresses? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.

===Ranged Weapons===
*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

===Wargear===
*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul. What this means for the Craftworlders, only GW knows...
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
****If you want re-rolls to hit, use a psyker! Then you can re-roll the to-hit rending Caresses attacks as well! Shred is wasted on 1 attack that can only cause one wound!
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. There's also a Formation that, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. Don't forget to take along haywire grenades - first time you have to deal with a Ghost Ark or a Land Raider, you'll be very glad you did. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, <s>if you have a Shadowseer here, use a good defensive power to make sure they live</s> You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver. Wah-wah.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile despite having a 3++ and Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to always go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of small arms fire if he's ever caught within range of the enemy guns. For some number crunching, even without considering special weapons fire, on average it will only take 6.75 bolter shots at BS4, 12 lasgun shots at BS3, or 7.2 pulse rifle shots at BS3, to knock off each of his wounds. So ''use'' that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges (or better still, completely out of sight) until you need him to tear up a high-value unit in melee.
* Normally, the Solitaire lacks a shooting attack; Only the Troupe Master and the Shadowseer can take Crescendo, the Solitaire cannot, so this isn't accurate. But don't forget the haywire grenades, too, in case some jammy bastard leaves something with an AV hanging around in range - the look on their face when you ping the last hull point off that Ghost Ark then massacre the whole squad (that they were sure was safe!) will be priceless.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee and this opens up a problem: due to the wording of the special rule on the Harlequin's Kiss weapon, "Kiss of Death", it would seems that the special attack was intended (RAI) to be used in conjunction with any other weapon you would end up using in melee. Sadly, going by a strict RAW interpretation, the wording of the rule doesn't matter, since a weapon's special rules only come into effect if you actually use the weapon (since weapon special rules require their usage), and once you have chosen which weapon to use for that Assault phase, there's no switching back. Keep in mind that the wording of "Kiss of Death" seems to indicate that the clear intention is to allow both to be used (RAI). Thus, if you play against a reasonable player he should probably let you use both the special rules at once, but until FAQ errata comes out to clear this up, beware of [[That guy]].

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon. Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit. Can take haywire grenades and probably should; you never know when you might need them.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12. Also, the army has close combat stuff coming out their ears - Hammerhand can only make this better.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5, and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn. Don't waste it shooting at anything with a good armor save. Like the other two, he can take haywire grenades. Do so, so that you're not stuck derping the first time that blasted Predator refuses to expose its side armor, and so that you can actually hurt vehicles in melee.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - A tax. Plain and simple. Most formations worth a damn need them so be prepared to throw your points away. This is the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can lance at a measly strength 7, knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

* Alternate Opinion: The Main gun is turret mounted and can be spun to face any direction, so drive your Voidweavers backward. The armor is the same all around, so this gives you the option to fire the Prismatic/Haywire Cannon at one target, and the Shuriken Cannon at a 2nd, instead of being locked into firing your two normally front facing guns at the same target. This doesn't stop it from being a tax, but gives it better options than just driving it forward.

* Another Alternate Opinion: It's only a tax if you make it one. While there are other vehicles that are objectively better when it comes to killing things (Fire Prism, for example) there are few that are as versatile, cheap, and inconspicuous. People who see a Voidweaver will most likely have one of two reactions: either they know about them and, therefore, will write them off as an annoyance at best; or they ''won't'' know about them and, seeing the funky gun on its top, will devote a retarded amount of firepower in an effort to kill it. If scenario A occurs, proceed to blow the '''shit''' out of their MEQs and hordes with the Prismatic Cannon - and, if you're lucky, glance a vehicle a few times (don't forget about the underslung Shuriken Cannon). If you're ''really''lucky, laugh like the Joker when you pop one of their scary tanks in one round of shooting. If it's scenario B, park it in cover and, if needed, pop Mirage Launchers; you now have a very humorous DISTRACTION (almost?) CARNIFEX that can do some (very good) damage and keep an enemy occupied for at least a turn, thereby allowing your clowns to get in raep range. Either way, you'll get your 80 points' worth out of it. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl. A tax, perhaps, but one that you can use to your advantage if you're smart.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Wraithguard or Dragons in Wave Serpents or Falcons; DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters or Trueborn with Blasters).

Alternate Opinion: This is the Masque formation so a minimum buy would be 15 Troupers 3 Starweavers (take two as Fast Attack) and a Voidweaver, then season to taste with elites, or skip them entirely for more points in allies.

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Eldar/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour? Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets. Farseers on Jetbikes could travel with your Skyweavers (but watch the Mirage Launchers) and provide buffs plus some shooting support, while Windrider Jetbikes or Shining Spears provide harassment units that can keep up with your warp-speed dancing clowns. Wraithguard won't fit in Starweavers, unfortunately, but Fire Dragons will; so do that and have a pile of meltas, anywhere you might happen to need them, for all your vehicle- and MC-busting needs. Warp Spiders also fit in with the whole "stupid-fast, hit and fade" style. Spiritseers could provide interesting buffs to your Troupes, too, but note they aren't quite as mobile (and you can't use Battle Focus unless everyone has it).

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins

2015-03-16T16:03:41Z

76.193.131.86: /* Heavy Support */

Eldar Harlequins are coming back as an army in their own right with their own Codex, preview rules for many of their units can be found in white dwarf issues.

==Why Play a Harlequin Army==
If you're an Eldar player for any stretch of time, you'll probably have the models. The previous Craftworld & Dark Eldar codex forced you to choose between Harlequins in Elites, of other units such as Incubi, Banshees, Trueborn, or Fire Dragons, so it became a difficult choice to take the jack-of-all-trades clowns over another unit with a more specialist role.

Now you can take an entire army of the psychedelic laughing trolls as its own force, or as an allied force to one of your own detachments.

==Special Rules==

===Warlord Traits===
Like the Inquisition codex, the Harlequins have their warlord traits broken up into several sub sections, the first three traits are generic while the remaining three depend upon your Troupe Leader's choice of Light/Dark/Twilight.
Note that if you want a Death Jester or Shadowseer as your warlord, you may only roll a D3 (therefore excluding you from the three tables, but also drastically increasing the reliability with which you can predict what your warlord trait will be), but you can always roll on the BRB warlord traits if you want something else.

:'''1.''' - Re-roll 1s to-hit and saving throws of 1
:'''2.''' - Warlord receives a 4+ invulnerable
:'''3.''' - Warlord and his/her unit may add 1" to any form of movement (move, run, charge, consolidate, fall back, etc)

====Light====
:'''4.''' - Add [[Awesome|FOUR]] to seize the initiative attempts
:'''5.''' - Before deployment, D3 units can Deep Strike, Scout or Infiltrate (your choice, in any combination)
:'''6.''' - After deployment and after scout moves, you may remove the Warlord and D3 units of your choice and put them into reserves.

====Twilight====
:'''4.''' - You may add or subtract 2 from game end rolls if you want the game to go on a little longer or end sooner.
:'''5.''' – Any to-wound roll in close combat of a six has instant death (Kisses on 5+ )
:'''6.''' – Once per game instead of moving, the warlord and his unit may “leap” 24” in any direction, ignoring any intervening models or terrain, but cannot charge that turn

====Darkness====
:'''4.''' - enemy units in base contact with the warlord's unit roll an additional D6 when taking Fear or Morale checks, and take the worst.
:'''5.''' - At the end of the game, but before the winner is declared, the Warlord and his unit get [[What|one EXTRA turn]] exclusively to them, so they can move, shoot and assault as normal, or fight on if already engaged.
:'''6.''' - If your warlord ever gets killed in a challenge, roll off with your opponent, if you win or tie, the enemy warlord (weather he killed your warlord or not) gets removed as a casualty as well (ie: no saves or comebacks)

===New Psychic Discipline: Phantasmancy===
::Primaris. '''Veil of Tears''' - Warp Charge 1. You know it. You love it. You swear by it. Anyone who tries shooting at your psyker's squad has to roll 2d6x2. If they're not within a distance equal to the result, you won't get hit. Would be great if shadowseers could take jetbikes, but it's better than Night Fighting twice over (better range reduction and ignores Night Vision).
#'''Dance of Shadows''' - Warp Charge 1. Grants ''Stealth & Shrouded'' to a unit within 18". It is better than '''Conceal''' because it can affect a target other than the Psyker; this becomes very impressive on allied Dark Eldar units (like Wyches) who are generally quite fragile anyway and need some protection against shooting. Cast this on a Venom for 2+ cover jink save, that lets you charge.
#'''Peal of Discord''' - Warp Charge 1. A 9" nova that brings 2d6 S4 AP- Concussive hits. It seems to be good for keeping mobs at bay as prep for a charge.
#*'''Alternate Opinion:''' This one is pure, undiluted shit, since Concussive only takes effect on ''models'' that took damage from it. Most models have only one Wound to start with and most that have more won't give a shit about a couple S4 hits with no AP. And even if you use it simply for hurting hordes, just about every other Nova in the game does the job better.
#**'''Opinion the Third:''' While the attack seems small, it does auto hit all '''units''' within 9" and drops 2-12 hits ''(average 7)'' on each. While you won't wound with all those hits, think of all those saves you force on an enemy, and most enemies only need to roll a single 1 to be taken out. could technically kill air units as well, assuming S4 can glance / wound them.
#**'''Opinion the Fourth:''' Works nice against MC with higher Initiative than Harlequins (namely Daemon Prince) since you need only 1 wound to make him I:1. Average 7 automatic hits, as per nova rules, wounding on 5+ so 2-3 wounds and armour save 3+ means that you can possibly deal 1 wound on average rolls (harder against DP of Tzeentch since he can re-roll 1, but if you're lucky).
#'''Shards of Light''' - Warp Charge 1. 3d6 S3 AP- witchfire shots at 24" with Blind. Not fantastic since many armies have high enough stats to both tank the shots and pass the blind test, but very good for distracting Tau (most Tau suits have Black Sun Filter that gives them immunity to blind, though, so not so useful as it could seem. Retains his usefulness agains fire warriors and pathfinders), Orks, or Necrons with low Initiative scores and foiling their plans to shoot or assault. Necrons in particular will hate you for this power, particularly everything with a Tesla weapon.
#'''Fog of Dreams''' - Warp Charge 2. Forces a unit within 24" to only fire snap-shots and only hit in combat on a 6. Not quite as awesome as the Veil, but this one's useful for combat too, and unlike Shards of Light, it's a Malediction so you don't need to roll for it to hit them or worry about them passing the blind test. Causes a [[derp|rules paradox]] when cast on [[Kharn]].
#'''Laugh of Sorrows''' - Warp Charge 2. A witchfire (range 24) with two ways to screw the enemy over - after hitting the target as normal, they must roll two separate Leadership tests. If the first one fails, they take a wound for every point they fail it by; if they pass the second one, they take a wound for every point they pass it on; in both cases, no armor or cover saves allowed. Quite frankly, this is very capable of being the most trolltastic power ever because it'll have a way to wound literally any enemy who can't deny it or get lucky with leadership tests, since high or low, your opponent's leadership values will catch him out. Remember, invulnerable saves and feel no pain both work against it.
#'''Mirror of Minds''' - Warp Charge 2. Another violently trolltastic power; this one is a focused witchfire (range 24), but remember, 3 dice to cast means double sixes 8.33% of the time. After hitting, you and the enemy model (not unit) each roll a d6 and add your Leadership to the result; if you win or draw, they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed; they win and it's over. Sounds like Purge Soul from Sanctic, right? Well, it isn't; you get to do it again and again for each win you take until your enemy either wins or dies.
* Combo this with the Mask of Secrets and go hunting Monstrous Creatures.

===Harlequin Masque Detachment===
The Harlequins, of course, have their own detachment, which is probably for the best since they don't have any HQ choices to fill minimum slots for any other Battle-Forged FOCs.

The Masque requires 3 Troops, 2 Fast Attack and 1 Heavy Support as Compulsory choices (and no more of these types) and up to seven optional Elite slots for characters. You can now stock up on all your Phantasmancy powers.

For this, you get the mandatory WT re-roll and all Fleet units can run and assault within the same turn at turn 2. You are effectively the best assault army out there now.

==Wargear==
*'''Harlequin's Kiss''' - Done a little differently now, you roll one attack ''separately'' which is resolved at S6 AP2, and any 6s to-wound on this attack have Instant Death.
*'''Harlequin's Caress''' - A power glove that does the old job of the Kiss, grants auto-wounding/glancing AP2 melee attacks on 6s to-hit. This synergizes well with your Troupe Master who has an extra attack and thus more chances to benefit.
*'''Harlequin's Embrace''' - D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks at S6. This combined with Hit and Run makes for some devastating charges.
**'''Analysis''' - Going against hordes? Take Embraces for around 6 hits per model on the charge - just remember that it's the worst of the three when NOT charging. Going against MEQ, TEQ, Armor? Take Caresses for that sweet sweet AP2 better-than-rending. Going against lots of Monstrous Creatures? Kisses are your best friend. In all reality a good mix is a good way to go (not to mention the box only comes with 2 Caresses and 2 Embraces). Kisses are probably the most situational and arguably worst of the three, although an S6 AP2 attack isn't anything to sniff at; the Caress is the most versatile.
***'''Opinion''' - Keep in mind that Hammer of Wrath only triggers for models which get into base contact. This makes the Embrace even more situational, as it can be hard to get an entire squad of them into base contact, and if you just take a few and place them at the front of the unit, you risk losing them to Overwatch. The real choice is whether you want a Kiss or a Caress - the Caress does slightly more damage and can damage vehicles, but weighs in at an extra three points per model.
**'''Modeling Note''' - Need more Caresses? Yank the needle off of a Harlequin's Kiss and add a bit of green stuff. Boom. Done.

*'''Neuro Disruptor''' - AP2 Fleshbane pistol means people are going to die, especially when each player in a troupe can carry one; it costs a fair bit, but is still cheaper (and safer) than a plasma pistol in most other armies, although the plastic kit apparently only comes with the option for two.
*'''Fusion Pistol''' - More expensive and shorter ranged, but good against vehicles. This has always been around Harlequins, and not much has changed with this weapon. Only take if you have no other means of tank-hunting. One thing to note - the melta range is 3" which is TERRIBLE if you cause a vehicle to explode in your T3 face. Great. You killed a vehicle. It exploded and killed three of your guys. The inhabitants of that vehicle shoot the rest of your guys to death. Get your anti tank from allies, skyweavers, or voidweaver, and give this a pass.

*'''Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher''' - Is this...some apology for how crap the Dark Eldar grenades were? Well, here's the lowdown: If a unit's hit by it, they have to test for pinning. If they fail pining, they not only get pinned, but they also take a randomly assigned unsavable wound. Works amazingly with Mask of Secrets and the CW Eldar Hemlock for canceling out overwatch.

*'''Holofields''' - Now they do give a basic 5+ Invul. What this means for the Craftworlders, only GW knows...
*'''Mirage Launcher''' - For one turn, you get to up a vehicle's Invul to a 4+. Considering that they're all about as strong as paper-mache, it's a good thing they're here.

===Enigmas of the Black Library===
*'''Crescendo''' - Troupe Master and Shadowseer only. A Shuriken Pistol that can fire as many times as a model has attacks. Cheap, and baller ability thanks to how many chances you get to use Bladestorm.
*'''Cegorach's Rose''' - A master-crafted Harlequin's Kiss with Shred for a Solitaire or Troupe Master. Pretty useful.
** While it may seem that this weapon is great for your Solitaire, never give it to him. Sure, that one S6 attack is hell on wheels thanks to it, but the Shred does not confer to the Rending attacks the Harlequin's Caress gives you.
***It does, however, allow you to re-roll your Kiss attack if it misses, and there are situations where Shred is more useful than the Caress.
*'''Mask of Secrets''' - Grants a Shadowseer Fearless and enemies within 12" take -2 Leadership, which melds well with their innate Fear. Good with Mirror of Minds, but be careful with Laugh of Sorrows - for example, against an LD 10 unit, this will reduce their average number of wounds.
** Since you can roll your Powers off of Telepathy, you can combo this one wonderfully with Psychic Scream. Ld test on 3D6 with a -2 penalty, taking Wounds that allow no Armour or Cover for the difference? Yes please.
*'''Laughing God's Eye''' - Friendlies within 12" have Adamantium Will. It's handy to throw on a Shadowseer for bonus denying power.
*'''Starmist Raiment''' - Expensive, but it grants the user 3+ <s>cover</s> '''Invulnerable''' when you run until its next shooting phase. That's a good distraction if you know how to kite. There's also a Formation that, starting from Turn 2, lets you run and then assault, which makes you extremely hard to hurt on the turn you charge.
*'''Storied Sword''' - Master-crafted frost sword apparently stolen from the Space Wolves (S+1, AP 3). Quite sadly, it's wayyyyy too expensive to justify. Also, only Troupe Masters can take it. Better off with a Caress or a Kiss or even Cegorach's Rose.

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot.
===HQ===
Nope

===Troops===
'''Harlequin Troupe''' - A change up from what it used to be in the Craftworld codex, they now come in squads of 5-12 and the Troupe Master got a welcome boost of +1 WS, W & I turning him into a viable army warlord in his own right who can take from the relics list, he can also take a power sword, but you're probably better served giving him a kiss or caress to help him chew up 2+ save characters in challenges. The rest of the unit is customisable as you would like, with any model being able to take any harlequin item combination. Like most units with the capability, beware the temptation to give everyone in the unit a special weapon of some sort, as they die in droves the moment any competent unit with guns look at them. At least 1 generic clown per special weapon is recommended... Remember, you want to cripple your opponent and win combat, but not by 10... or you'll be left exactly how a clown doesn't want to be found, with your pants down jerking off in the middle of a crowd. Stick your turn, hit and run out opponent's turn. That is how you stay alive.

===Dedicated Transport===
'''Starweaver''' - Essentially a redone Venom, it has two Shuriken Cannons and can carry up to 6 clowns in here (sadly, no clown car physics are in effect). Being Open-Topped with AV 10 and 2 Hull Points, it's going to crumble at so much as a glance and flamers will incinerate its passengers, but it does have that 4++ for a turn and their basic Holofields. It also has Fear, which is kinda funny considering its frailty. If you're familiar with Venoms, the same rules apply - Alpha strike with the forces inside, <s>if you have a Shadowseer here, use a good defensive power to make sure they live</s> You can only cast Witchfires from inside a Transport, so you can't cast defensive powers from inside a Starweaver. Wah-wah.

===Elite===
'''Solitaire''' - A guy who's been out of the game since the second edition (except for that house-rule codex GW released), and he's making up for lost time. A WS9, I10, A6, 3++, eternal warrior melee beast that is going to lay the pain on his opponents with his Kiss & Caress. Once per game he can "Blitz" which is rolling a number of dice equal to the turn number and moving that distance instead of the 12" he normally gets and does it ''over'' other models and terrain. The boost for doing this is bumping his attacks value to 10 in the following assault phase (basically 12 attacks once you count the charge and the 2CCW bonus). He's ''very'' fragile though despite being Eternal Warrior, since he has only T3 and is forced to go solo; he'll end up getting brought down by a turn of lasgun fire if you keep him within range of the enemy guns, so use that 12" of movement to keep him away from rapid fire ranges and out of sight until you need him to tear up a unit in melee.
* The Solitaire has both the Kiss & Caress in melee (on top of whichever Enigmas he takes) meaning that one of his attacks will always be S6 AP2, while the rest of his considerable number of attacks have that chance of rending as normal.

'''Shadowseer''' - Returning with a power boost, they have tried to turn the Shadowseer into a close combat machine; they now have WS6, I7, A3, 2 Wounds, and an S+2 Fleshbane/Concussive '''Miststave''' which cannot be changed out for another weapon. Unfortunately their BS is still four so they're not as accurate as they could be with those witchfires. Can now be upgraded to ML2 and take powers from Telepathy, Sanctic, and the new Phantasmancy discipline. Since you can have up to seven Seers in a single Masque, you can afford to mix it up a bit.
* While at first it may sound counter-intuitive to generate his powers from Sanctic Daemonology, what with the Perils on any doubles and all, consider the following: What's the biggest problem Harlequins face? They're squishy. But if you manage to get Sanctuary, you have a 4++ with rerolls on 1 in a certain formation, which is certainly better than Veil of Tears will be under normal circumstances. If you get Purging Flames, they have a surprisingly strong Witchfire that, if necessary, can also be used to hurt Fliers that aren't AV12.
* Alternate Opinion: If you think a 4++ is going to save you from even a modest volume of shooting, you are very, very mistaken. Seriously, Phantasmancy offers the chance at 3 defensive powers in Veil, Dance, and Fog, one of which you get as a lock and reduces incoming range to 14" on average. There's more to the game than just raw stats... you need to play some fucking mind games with your opponent when they go to move and say shit like "Oh wow, getting that close to an elite close combat unit is pretty ballsy, hope you don't whiff" and watch them second guess themselves.

'''Death Jester''' - Also received a promotion, but unlike the Shadowseer gets WS/BS5. His Shrieker cannon still does its thing of exploding the dude who gets killed by it and showering his mates in deadly gore. But he has an awesome new rule called "Death is not Enough" which forces enemies who suffer at least one wound from his shooting to take a morale check, exactly as if they had suffered 25% losses, AND they take it at -2 Ld. If they fail, the player who owns the Death Jester may choose the direction they fall back to (at least for the first fall back move, they continue to fall back as normal in following turns). He also got precision shots for additional awesomeness! Keep in mind that his weapon is only AP5, and that his entire kit revolves around that one shot a turn. Don't waste it shooting at anything with an armor save.
* Do keep in mind that the Death Jester can, in fact, fire his weapon as a normal Shuriken Cannon, so if you're sure that one shot won't do the trick, you always have that same awesome 3-shot pseudo-rending cannon your Craftworld cousins enjoy so much. However, ultimately they are a one-trick pony that mostly requires support from a Shadowseer with the Mask of Secrets to be effective, otherwise it's just an expensive shuriken cannon unit upgrade for something that you want in close combat anyway...

===Fast Attack===
'''Skyweaver Squad''' - Two-person jetbikes but nothing like a Vyper, you get 2-6 in a unit with a Shuriken Cannon each. They are expensive, but you get two wounds a piece and the ability to make their 4+ save invulnerable for a single turn (but they have 5++ the rest of the time as well) They get an item called "Star-Bolas" which is a one use S6 AP2 grenade, but you can exchange this for a Zephyrglaive which is an ''objectively better'' close combat item, giving them S+1 ''(S+2 with furious charge)'' AP2 on the charge and then counts as a power sword after that, this unit gets Hit & Run so you want them bouncing in and out of combat like proper Harlequins and peppering them with rending ninja stars over and over. Units of 2 with Haywire Cannons and Star-bolas can be effective (if expensive) transport hunters, and may sadly be the best option available to a mono-harlequin list. Well, unless you like vehicles blowing up in your face from fusion pistols (Hint: You are toughness 3 with 5++ saves. You don't.) Also bear in mind they are Eldar Jetbikes, so small units can do some jump-shoot-jump style shenanigans with sufficient line of sight blocking terrain.

===Heavy Support===
'''Voidweaver''' - the other option in the Starweaver dual kit, this vehicle fills several artillery based roles, since it can purchase a Prismatic Cannon, which is an extremely versatile weapon that can Lance apart enemy vehicles ''(but only at S7 though, meaning it can glance a Land Raider on 5, Pen on 6)'', knock chunks out of MEQ with an AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an AP4 large blast. It also has two Shuriken Cannons just like the Starweaver, but the second rear-facing gun may select a different target but only in the rear facing. The stock Haywire cannon is kinda forgettable, though. It's an S4 AP4 Blast with Haywire, and that's all it can be. If you aren't taking the Prismatic Cannon, you really are making an exceptionally poor decision. If you want Haywire Cannons, get them in Skyweavers.

==Formations==
*3 Troupes, 3 Shadowseers, 3 Death Jesters, 1 Solitaire, 2 units of Skyweavers, 1 Unit of Voidweavers. Beginning on turn two your fleet units can run and assault in the same turn, you get to re-roll 1s on your invuls, and if your Warlord is a part of the detachment he gets to re-roll his WT. This is awesome. You get a warlord trait re-roll and the majority of your army has some amazing special rules. Just take some unbound allied tank hunting units and go to town (CWE - Dragons in Wave Serpents / DE - Scourges w/ Haywire Blasters).

* 3 Troupes ride in Starweavers and join a Voidweaver and two Skyweaver packs. For this, the Troupe Master gets a WT re-roll if he's Warlord and if you use Hit & Run or consolidate, you can use the move to embark on your Starweaver so long as you get within 2" of them. This gives you some great protection against shooting and counter charges.
** Do not actually expect your Starweavers to survive long enough to be able to take advantage of this, but you look like a pro if you pull it off.
**It does allow you to leave combat after your initial charge combat on your turn, as a jinking AV10 transport is infinitely better than being caught up by shooting with only a 5++ to save you.

* A Death Jester and Shadowseer permanently join a Troupe. For this, you get Crusader and you can share this with all allied Elder/Dark Eldar within 6".
** A quick and dirty way to get a few clowns into your Eldar/Dark Eldar army. Unfortunately, Troupe + Seer + Jester means at least 7 models, so no Starweavers for them, and honestly - crusader isn't really that great in a unit that already has fleet and should be in transports anyways.
** On the contrary - Crusader works excellently alongside Battle Focus. 2D6, with re-rolls and picking the highest, allows Eldar infantry (and War Walkers, hilariously) to play the move-shoot-move game almost as well as Tau. It can also help Wraith units close the distance quickly, if you don't want to be That Guy and spam Wave Serpents.
*** This formation was clearly designed for any Eldar/Dark Eldar players who have a Harlequins unit lying around.

* A Troupe takes a Skyweaver and Voidweaver for Craftworld Cheese. After turn 2, your fleet units can now run and assault in the same turn.

* One Death Jester, One Shadowseer and One Solitaire - Each become their own individual unit which can't be joined. For this, you get Infiltrate, Shrouded, and Stealth. You now have an easy way to deliver the Solitaire to anything he wants to murderize, an awesome save for a Deathjester in cover, and a bullet magnet of a Shadowseer.
** For Optimal Trolling - Have the Jester and the Shadowseer travel together (as in just close to each other... obviously, they can't join each other due to formation limitations.) Put the Mask of Secrets on the Shadowseer. Shoot with Death Jester and hope to kills and force leadership at -4 to funnel towards the Solitaire. Follow up next shot with the Shadowseer to attempt to force the pinning test at -2 with the hallucinogen launcher. Charge with Solitaire with no Overwatch and engage trollface if you can actually pull this off.

* Two packs of Skyweavers and one Voidweaver. A cheap way for some mobile firepower, and they can re-roll Jinks.
** Finds a great place in a jetbike-heavy Eldar list, since they can hide between all your other bikes while providing CC-threats and fire support, respectively.

'''The Great Troupe (Warzone: Valedor):''' get 3+ units of Harlequins together and 3+ Dark Eldar Venoms OR Eldar Vypers (You can also take Starweavers too, since they are dedicated transports) and you've got an apocalypse formation that grants all of the Harlequins Crusader (so you can run even further and chase them down), Deep Strike, Preferred Enemy (Chaos) and [[Awesome|ALL]] of their ranged weapons gain the Blind & Concussive qualities and if a unit fails their blind check on a roll of a six, they become [[Troll|"confused"]] and treat all of their melee weapons as Unwieldy for the rest of the game. As an added bonus to this already impressive formation one of your Troupe Masters becomes a Troupe Leader and gets the profile of a Phoenix Lord -1 S/T, badass.

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:''' The Harlequins are a lot like the Dark Eldar, except with a little more staying power. The new Phantasmancy has some neat tricks to help the DE, such as Stealth and Shrouded giving some nice cover to some vulnerable units *cough*Wyches*cough*. Use the Harlequins the same way as your own units. Mask of Secrets and Armour of Misery will stack for a potential -4LD. If you manage to strangle some unit between the Armour and Mask, you can fuck them over even harder with a Death Jester and start drinking that jug of tears. Guess what Harlies lack? Anti-armor. Guess what Dark Eldar have? Boatloads of anti-armor. Really? The only army in which every single unit has the choice for anti armour, has no anti-armour? Scourges can glance vehicles to death in an instant, Ravagers can make short work of heavily armored vehicles, Razorwings can provide anti air and horde control. Reaver jetbikes with heat lances and cluster caltrops can peel open transports like oranges and are still useful when your units are engaged on combat as they can charge in like madmen.

*'''[[Eldar]]:''' Freeing yourself from the Craftworlders gives them a whole new dimension of maneuverability. Your general role should be running distraction with your Hit & Run while the Eldar get to be the gunline. Notable tricks involve grouping a Death Jester with some Dark Reapers or Guardians in Rapid-Fire range for Bladestorming cheese or putting a Shadowseer with Banshees so they can finally get something to protect them for delivery. The Hemlock synergizes well with Shadowseers with their pinning weapons and Mask of Secrets.

==Tactics==

[[Category: Warhammer Tactics]]
[[Category: Eldar]]

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against. The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked. This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Deathjesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome. If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy. A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines. This is good. You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there. This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two. Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters. Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++. The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one. Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points. Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers. Inviting player opinions on this subject.