Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins (section)

==Army List==
The army list is -expectedly- not very large, and mostly contains a single unit per slot. 
Note that you '''can''' play Harlequins in a CAD/Allied Detachment - simply use Yvraine or the Visarch from the Ynnari faction as your HQ and you are set to go (these 2 characters can be taken as HQ choices by DE, CE and Harlequins armies).

===Troops===
*'''Harlequin Troupe:''' A change up from the 6th Ed Craftworld codex, Harlequins 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 too much, 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.

Also, from the Death Masque set are '''The Company of the Threefold Stranger''' and '''Death's Companions'''. Two pre-upgraded troupes, with a unique character in each, one with run and shoot and one with run and charge (respectively). Despite being cheaper, both are pretty terrible; the Death's Companions leader, Dusk, is a normal player with 2W (which means he only gets 2A, compared to the 3A of the normal Troupe Master); he's also equipped with the default (and terrible) CCW. The Company of the Threefold Stranger's leader, the Lambent Prince, is a Troupe Master with a Power Sword, Haywire Grenades, and Shuriken Pistol.

===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 (Venom carries 5, clown physics +1)).  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 2nd Edition (not counting the Citadel Journal list, that is), 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,''' letting him roll 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 as per the May 2016 FAQ, can gain the benefit of both weapons special rules which apply to ''"a model equipped with this weapon"'' therefore he can attack normally with the Caress which auto wounds on AP2 with rolls of a six, while ''also'' rolling one separate attack at S6 AP2 with the Kiss.
** 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* He's a very situational pick, and 145 points is a lot of points. Use him wisely. (E.g. not at all against MEQ armies.)
**'''Alternative Opinion''': Actually use him against anything and watch as 150 point model utterly destroys 500 point death stars. He can even taken on some of the best named characters in the game and come out victorious 75% of the time (Actually game tested and results proven)(<-- Tell me where to get your magic dice plx)
**'''Another Alternative Opinion''': After extensive playtesting, the Solitaire is actually not all that effective at killing hordes of mooks. While he can do it in a pinch, a large number of return attacks is likely to kill him through simple attrition. However, the Solitaire is pretty much the ultimate Imperial Knight killer. The Harlequin's Caress means he auto-glances on 6s to-hit and he has enough melee attacks to make this happen fairly reliably, while the Knight will be hitting back only on '''5s''' and should the Knight actually manage to land a hit then the Solitaire's 3++ and Eternal Warrior means he couldn't care less. However, rolling a 6 on the S:D chart will still wreck your shit. Eternal Warrior means you take ONE wound PER Instant Death Wound. A 6 on S:D causes d6+6 individual Wounds, which are all Instant Death. The thing is, they're still counted as separate wounds, so Eternal Warrior would reduce each of those Instant Death wounds to...one wound each. But you're still copping d6+6 of them. Make sense? Now, is he likely to kill an Imperial Knight or equivalent unit in one round? No - but while the Knight is busy flailing around ineffectually trying to squish the tiny ninja who is steadily ripping chunks out of it, it is not shooting or assaulting anything else, leaving the rest of your army free to do its thing. Don't forget to use Blitz, and Hit & Run on your opponent's turn so you can charge back in on yours to gain the extra attack. This also applies to Wraithknights, Riptides and pretty much any other big nasties you could care to throw the Solitaire at. Long story short, unless your opponent is incredibly lucky with their dice rolls, if you manage to charge a Solitaire into an Imperial Knight, then the Knight is dead - it simply doesn't know it yet.
** Do note - If he is chosen as warlord, he gets no warlord traits.
**Another Alternative opinion* take craftworld eldar as allies, bring a farseer and hope to roll fortune and doom, doom the enemy's warlord and then watch as your WS9 I10 12A blitzing assassin with re-rollable 3++ proceeds to hidden blade Archons, warbosses, overlords and dare I say it even primarchs (happened in my game).
*'''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.
** Death is Not Enough has two main uses. The first is to protect the flanks of your army and funnel your opponent towards the center of the board. Since you can force your opponent to "Fall Back" towards  side edges of the table, this can spell doom for an enemy that flees the battle just because they were trying to encircle you. The second use is so you can Do The Scorpion and have your opponent fall back '''towards''' your army, giving assault units a "speedbump" to work with. A "fluffy" example would be attaching a Death Jester to a unit of Wraithblades so he can "pull" enemies into assault while allowing the Wraithblades to Hit And Run away should they face stiff opposition. A "powergaming" example would be having an enemy "Fall Back" into the ideal location for your Wraithknight to Assault and have the perfect position to Stomp an army to death...
** 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... (when you deploy your troupes to assault accompanying him,  he has no reason to leave the transport, other than to maybe avoid a fiery death... However he is not covered as a cost under the 'Serpents Brood' formations special rules, so leave him inside the transport if you intend to bounce back in.)
**'''Inriam's Spectre (Death Masque)''' - A Death Jester that costs 10 points more than the stock version but comes pre-upgraded with Haywire Grenades, and Shrouded. This is fantastic as Shrouded is conferred to the entire squad that Inriam's Spectre joins, and allows him to have shrouded without the one-man-army trait of heroes path. Since he can be taken in any formation or detachment that would normally allow a Death Jester you can attach him to a Cast of Players or any Troupe squad to give them all Shrouded. Since Harlequins ignore difficult terrain you can keep your squishy space clowns in cover and enjoy something more than a 5++.

===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" or "E-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.
*'''The Blades of Fate''' are the Death Masque buff to Skyweavers.  The unit comes with two Zephyrglaive wielding, Shuriken Cannon Skyweavers.  Costing 125 points for the unit and with no options to take Haywire Cannons, Star-Bolas or more Bikes.  For that extra five points, the Unit gets to reroll Jink saves.  Worth it.

===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 S5 AP3 small blast, or blow hordes up with an S3 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 ridiculous 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, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm_GPkOfVKI| 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.

* Alternare Opinion The Third: The Main Gun is Turret-Mounted, the underlsung Shuiken Cannon is Hull-Mounted and the Rear-Mounted Shuriken Cannon has a 180° (or just less than) firing arc.  Don't drive backwards, drive ever so slightly off of sideways, drift permanently.  Place the target you want your Main gun to fire at at the 45° limit for your underslung gun so that you don't lose shots and then pivot to see if you can't swing something into range with the aft mounted gun.  It's a gimmicky bonus, yes.  But 3 Strength 6 AP 5 Bladestorm shots can cause at least a little bit of harm, and having an extra Shuriken Cannon fire into a unit of Speeeeehhhhs Muhranes before a Troupe charges them can really help.  Hell. If you can pull exactly the right amount of JUST AS PLANNED, you might even get Slay the Warlord out of this thing.  (Happened with a poorly positioned Abaddon in my game)
'''The Serpent's Breath''' The Death Masque Voidweaver.  Take a regular Voidweaver, strap on the Prismatic Cannon at full price and then pay a further 10 points for BS5.