Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Harlequins(8E)

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Why play Harlequins?

Harlequins are a candidate for most improved army in 8E. The 5++ army wide has been increased to a 4++. The Starweaver is one of the best transports point for point in the game. Thanks to Shadowseers and Troupe Masters getting promoted to HQs, They are a viable solo force (though realistically you will want to borrow some big guns from your less silly cousins). Speaking of Shadowseers, they are a fantastic force multiplier that make Harlequins the toughest infantry available to an Aeldari force, in that they make all your opponent’s forces take -1 on all to wound roles against your infantry and bikes.

Harlequins are extremely fast. Nothing in the army moves less than 8 inches a turn, and everything that isn’t the Starweaver or Voidweaver can advance and charge. Every unit in the Harlequin Army list has the FLY keyword or a Flip Belt, allowing them to ignore terrain, so the shortest distance to any enemy is always a straight line. On top of that, the Shadowseer can give units an extra turn of moving and advancing during the psychic phase, pretty much guaranteeing you’ll get at least one first turn charge, if not multiple.

If playing an elite army designed to get in your opponent’s face as fast as possible, with a brutal melee phase is your cup of tea, you’ll have a hard time finding a force that can do it as fast as the Ninja Space clowns.

Pros

• With the ability to advance and charge on the entire army (save their two vehicles), plus the ability to ignore all terrain, Harlequins are hellishly fast. 22 inch movement plus 2d6 charge distance can almost guarantee a first turn charge for bikes, and the 12 inch plus 2d6 movement on a Solitaire Blitz, plus a 2d6 charge also makes it very easy to be in your opponent’s face before they are prepared to death with you.
• 4++ save Army wide means you do not have to care about units with high AP or hiding in cover (short of the line of site blocking variety), you can dive toward the enemy at top speed.
• Shadowseers make your units extremely tough to weed out. -1 on to wound roles for every INFANTRY or BIKE keyword unit within 6 inches makes these psykers worth taking even before you look at their high utility psychic tree. Twilight Pathways makes first turn charges even more likely, and Fog of Dreams giving an enemy unit -1 to hit makes your already shockingly tough army even tougher.
• Due to how targeting rules work, you can get your opponent into situations where much of their shooting is negated. It was ruled in the first FAQ that even if the closest enemy unit is locked in combat, you cannot shoot at a character if they are the next closest visible unit. This will keep your force multipliers very safe (barring snipers), even out in the open, and will often force the enemy to fall back out of multiple combats just to have viable targets, limiting how much shooting back they can do each turn.
• Starweavers are a fantastic transport now, instead of a paper deathtrap. This is thanks in big part to the always on 4++ save, and all enemy units having -1 to hit against it.

Cons

• Harlequins are still expensive to kit out, so you are a quality over quantity army, and therefore a day of bad rolling is going to hurt more than if you spammed cheap units.
• The Voidweaver still isn’t worth the paper it’s made out of.
• Some trouble dealing with high toughness values on their own, but stealing heavy support options from the other elves can help negate this

Reborn Elves vs. Dancing Elves

Losing Rising Crescendo is a big hit to the speed at which you can get your army into combat, and how safely you can get them there. However, with how deadly they are once they reach combat, Strength from Death allows you to more effectively sweep from unit to unit. More a side grade than an upgrade.

Special Rules

• Rising Crescendo: Give you the ability to advance and charge I the same turn, as well as to fall back while still shooting and charging. With the ability to ignore terrain on all of your units (since everything has a flip belt or the FLY keyword) this gets your deadly close combat units where you want them as fast as possible.

Psychic Powers

The Phantasmancy Discipline offers incredible mobility options for damn near guaranteeing a first turn charge, or making your already tough to remove troupes harder to hit. You should have at least one shadower per army, and 2+ is highly recommended for how well they act as a force multiplier for everything else with the HARLEQUIN keyword.

Phantasmancy

Runes of Battle powers allow you to pick one of the following whenever you manifest the power.

• 1. Twilight Pathways: WC6. Select a visible friendly HARLEQUINS unit within 3" of the Psyker. The unit can immediately move as if it were in the Movement phase. You cannot use this power on a unit more than once in each psychic phase. I mean, that's what the Rule of One is for, but still useful to move a unit around.
• 2. Fog of Dreams: WC7. Select a visible enemy unit within 18" of the Psyker. Until the start of your next psychic phase, that unit must subtract 1 from all hit rolls against friendly HARLEQUIN INFANTRY units.
• 3. Mirror of Minds: WC8. Select an enemy unit within 24". Both players roll a dice. If you roll equal to or higher than your opponent, the target suffers a mortal wound. Repeat this process until the target is destroyed or the opponent rolls higher than you.

Wargear

Melee Weapons

• Harlequin Blade: Literally just a bog-standard close combat weapon. It doesn't even give you an extra attack unlike other S:User AP0 close combat weapons like Chainswords or Choppas. Even more damning, it also costs a point. Keep this only if you're trying to keep the troupes cheap.
• Harlequin’s Kiss: S4 AP-1 D D3 melee weapon.
• Harlequin’s Embrace: S4 AP-3 D1 melee weapon.
• Harlequin’s Caress: S5 AP-2 D1
• Power Sword: Troupe Masters only. S:User AP-3. To be honest, not really that useful compared to the three weapons above, but it's cheaper. Take the Embrace instead. With that, you strike at S4 instead of S3.
• Zephyr Glaive: S+1 AP-2 D2. Skyweavers only. It's okay (but not great) at taking out multi-wound targets, but that's it.

Ranged Weapons

• Shuriken Pistol: You know it, you love it. S4 AP0, but if you roll a 6+ to wound the hit is resolved at AP-3.
• Fusion Pistol: 6" S8 AP-4 D D6, and if the target is within 3" you roll 2d6, discard the lowest, when rolling for damage. Take this if you want close-range anti-tank or anti-Monsters.
• Neuro Disruptor: It's S3 AP-3 D D3, but against vehicles it only does 1 damage. It's the most expensive pistol, but it will really struggle to wound T6+ targets which is exactly what you'd want to shoot at.
• Hallucinogen Grenade Launcher: Shadowseers only. 18" Assault 1 weapon that has no profile. Instead, if you target a unit, roll 2D6. If the roll is equal to or greater than the target units Ld value, it suffers D3 mortal wounds.
• Shrieker Cannon: The Death Jester's personal Shuriken Cannon. It has 2 fire modes, the normal 24" S6 AP0 D1 Assault 3 weapon, or the Shrieker ammo which is Assault 1 but does D3 mortal wounds to the target unit if an infantry model is slain by the shot. 6s to wound are resolved at AP-3.
• Star Bola: 12" Grenade D3 S6 AP-3 D1 weapon. The fact that this is now a grenade means only one of these can be thrown in each shooting phase.
• Shuriken Cannon: 24" Assault 3 S6 AP0 D1 weapon. 6s to wound are resolved at AP-3. It comes stock on Skyweavers, Starweavers, and Voidweavers.
• Haywire Cannon: 24" Heavy D3 S4 AP-1 D1 weapon. If you roll a 4+ to-wound against a vehicle, it does 1 mortal wound. If you roll a 6+ against a vehicle, it does D3 mortal wounds. Unfortunately, as a heavy weapon, it suffers a -1 to-hit penalty if you move, which you should almost always be doing as a Harlequin player.
• Prismatic Cannon: Suffers the same problem as the Haywire cannon, being a heavy weapon means -1 to hit if you move. Has three firing profiles, all have a 24" range:
  • Dispersed: Heavy D6 S4 AP-2 D1.
  • Focused: Heavy D3 S6 AP-3 D D3. This is for taking on multi-wound targets like Terminators, Tyranid Warriors, and the like.
  • Lance: Heavy 1 S8 AP-4 D D6. This is for taking on big vehicles and monsters like.

Unit Analysis

Common keywords are AELDARI, ‘’’HARLEQUIN’’’, and the <MASQUE>. You share the AELDARI keyword with Drukhari, Aeldari and Ynnari, meaning you can combine them within any detachment.

TL:DR

• Viable: Troupe Master, Harlequin Troupe, Death Jester, Solitaire, Skyweavers
• Trash: Voidweaver
• Things that are OP: Shadowseer, Starweaver

HQ

• Troupe Master: Shifted over to the HQ slot, so Harlequin players can actually use a battleforged detachment (most likely a Patrol if running solo Harlequins due to how expensive they are). He lets all friendly <MASQUE> units within 6" re-roll all failed wound rolls in the fight phase only, and that's it. He has 5 wounds, 5 attacks, and can take a power sword in addition to the other options basic troupe members get. In all, not much to see here unless you're looking for something cheap.
• Shadowseer: Now, this is the HQ you really want. Much more expensive than the Troupe Master, but rightfully so. He comes with a Miststave (S+2 AP-1 D D3 melee weapon), a Shuriken Pistol (which he can replace with the Neuro-disruptor), and has the Hallucinogen Grenade launcher, which does d3 Mortal wounds to the target unit if you roll 2d6 and the result is equal to (or higher than) the target unit's Ld. Finally, his Shield from Harm ability forces your opponent to subtract 1 from their to-wound rolls against the Shadowseer and any friendly <MASQUE> infantry unit within 6". Given that you're T3, and the wound chart's overhaul, that ability is incredibly potent.

Troops

• Troupe: Your troupes are troops! Starts at 5 clowns, and can have up to 7 more in the unit. Nothing much to say other than the fact that everyone can take any pistol or melee weapon. Also, don't forget that pistols can now be fired while you're in close combat against the unit you're fighting. It's something to think about in case you're still stuck in with enemy models.

Dedicated Transport

• Starweaver: It comes with a 4++, and enemy units suffer a -1 to hit against it in the shooting phase, making it a very durable transport by Aeldari standards. It also has 2 Shuriken Cannons, which is very useful considering how much it should move around. In addition, your clowns get to shoot out of the vehicle too! Unfortunately, it still doesn't have any clown car physics and can only load 6 of them in at once.

Elites

• Death Jester: Has the Troupe Master's statline with only 4A instead of 5. However, with his Shrieker Cannon he can target enemy CHARACTERS even if they aren't the closest model, and if any models flee from a unit in the same turn it was attacked by the Death Jester, you get to pick which models flee instead of your opponent. Have a pesky flamer, Lascannon, and/or Power Fist in that one enemy squad? Say bye-bye when the Morale phase comes.

• Solitaire: Oh boy, where to begin...it has a 12" move, 5 wounds, 8 attacks, a 3++, and comes with a Kiss and Caress. Once per game, it can call its infamous Blitz ability which adds 2d6" to its already fast movement stat and changes its attack characteristic to 10. However, it cannot be declared if the Solitaire was the target of the Twilight Pathways ability. In addition, it does not have the <MASQUE> keyword, so the Troupe Master and Shadowseer's buffs do not apply to the Solitaire. In essence, it's best at performing a kamikaze attack capable of wiping hordes.

Fast Attack

• Skyweavers: Your bike squads. They all start with Star Bolas (of which you should replace all but one with Zephyr glaives because they're grenades) and Shuriken cannons, with the option to replace it with a Haywire cannon. At 3 wounds, T4, a 4++ and forcing a -1 to hit against enemy shooting, they're surprisingly durable for an Aeldari jetbike. Did I mention they have the FLY keyword, and can fall back without any penalties? Use these guys for hit and run attacks, as you always should have been doing.

Heavy Support

• Voidweaver: It's as durable as the Starweaver (with a 4++ and -1 to hit against it in the shooting phase), but considering its main gun is a Heavy Weapon it will more often than not suffer that -1 to-hit modifier when moving. Not to mention the fact that its guns are very expensive, and it's still as trash as it was in 7th edition.