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Hi guys,

I normally run a mech Eldar list at 1000points but I am thinking about a foot slogging list.

I have been looking through the codex and the Harlequin shadowseer seems amazing to me. I would really like to know how people are using Harlequin's in 5th edition. I know they are expensive.

Right now I can see the possibilities of putting a Phoenix Lord (Maugan Ra?) with a Harlequin squad that has a shadowseer making the unit very difficult to shoot at!

Does anyone have any Harlequin tricks?

Cheers.

They've taken a knock with the new rending rules so they aren't as good in close combat as they used to be. My only really use for them is a safe place to put my farseers.

Foot Eldar are not currently as competitive an army as mech Eldar, but

Yes, 8-10 harlequins, most or all with kisses, and a shadowseer is a viable countercharge unit for foot Eldar armies. They're fast enough that they can hang back and then run in where needed, and although nerfed with the new rending rules they can take on most other dedicated assault units in the game, even terminators.

They are extremely vulnerable to anything that can move quickly, get close, and drop a template. So things like HF/MM speeders and hellhound variants are the biggest threat. But even a couple of units of rapid-firing units that get close will usually cripple or wipe them out.

I've never used the death jester or inferno pistols personally. My harlequins are always running somewhere and don't have time to stop and shoot in the shooting phase. The same would apply if Maugen Ra were with them (personally I find that Ra works better with a unit of pathfinders).

I used a full squad of 10 completely kitted with seer, jester, and troupe master, a pair of fusion pistols and kisses all around in the last tournament I played in. The rest of the list was a modified elfzilla with an Avatar, Eldrad, two wraithlords, and jetbike squads.

The seer was a mandatory choice to keep them alive when hoofing it to the enemy and they acted as a nice screen for all the units behind them. Fortune helped keep them from dropping, too. The jester was nice to have when running would have left me out of charge range, but in charge range for my opponent in his round. I was also able to use the fusion pistols to crack open a chimera to get to the juicy guards inside.

If I had to change anything, I'd probably drop the troupe master and one of the fusion pistols. The master was nice for Ld 10, but they never lost a combat anyway.

I've considered running Maugan Ra with them for, what is it S6 power weapon attacks along with a 36" pinning rending shuriken cannon? Sounds nice, but I like my farseers...

I run them now and again for giggles, they are just pretty overcosted now-a-days.

Seer if going on foot is mandatory, but don't be under-cautious because a well placed DS can annihilate them. They are EXTREMELY fragile, but if they get the charge fully kissed they can be extremely deadly.

If on foot keep them at range and use their flip-belts to your full advantage. When you see an opening, get them in and get the job done fast.

Tales of horror though:
Used a fusion pistol on a chimera, blow it up and a 6 is rolled for explosion range. 6/10 die.
Charge a fateweaver killing him, Plague Demon gets in range and uses the AoE s4 ap-... 8/10 die.
Assault a Necron warrior line of 10, kill ever last one, roll 1,1,3 for Hit and Run, next necron firing line tears them apart.

Harlequins are not quite as powerful as they were in the 4th edition, but if use in conjunction with doom on high toughness targets, a 10 man squad with kisses can do an awful lot of rends.

If you get all 10 with kisses in on a charge, against a WS 4 T 4 enemy they will pump out avg. 13.3 1st roll savable wounds + 6.65 reroll savable wounds and 4.4 1st roll rending wounds + 2.2 reroll rending wounds for a total of 20 savable wounds and 6.6 rending wounds.

If it was WS 5 T 5 enemies the numbers would be (6.66 + 4.44)11 savable wounds and (3.33 + 2.22)5.55 rending.

Now everyone knows that harlequins are vulnerable to mass low strength fire. We can prevent this as best we can by putting them behind the rest of our army and equiping them with a shadowseer.

In my list which seems to do well against many lists I employ a few other units to help my harlequins get to the juicy enemy units. I use Eldrad, the Avatar of Khaine, a troop unit of 10 wraithguard with a spirit seer, and a back line of 4 dark reapers including an exarch with tempest launcher and crack shot.

The tactic with this list is to set them up how I have pictured below. Move them up in line with the harlequins normally 6 or so inches behind the front line of wraithguard. As they move up fortune the wraithguard and avatar, after the first or second turn you may want to fortune the harlequins if it looks like they will see combat. For Eldrads 3rd psychic power use doom to doom whom ever you will be charging with the harlys, or whom ever is most beneficial. Once the front line of wraithguard is charged or is able to charge, the harlequins counter charge and hop around the combat with their hit n run capabilities.

The dark reapers are mainly for those units that are dug in, especially since you can fire your exarch at targets that are not even visible, and get two small blast temlpates at str 4 ap 3 that reroll to wound. This guy alone usually kills between 10 to 20 power armored enemies a game.

With this core list, you can add what ever else pleases you, normally some objective grabbers like jet bikes, fire prisms, or falcon/waveserpent with fire dragons.