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Eldar are going to be the best choice for something like this in my mind. Honestly either Dark Eldar or CWE can work pretty well. Harlequins obivously as well, but they are a bit more limited as a stand alone faction.

Overdose wrote:
Getting some mates to return back into the hobby (Kill Team was the bait!)

The person is looking for an army:

a) Which has an HQ that is good at killing things in melee.
b) Can have a relatively low model count.

c) Is NOT any of the following:
Space Marines
Chaos
Grey Knights / Custodes
Necrons
Imperial Knights

I was recommending him Tau but didn't fit his first criteria...

Any suggestions?

Craft Fair have the Avatar of Khaine and even an Autarch with the Shimmer plume is a good tarpit, Ynnari have the Yncarne, Drew Carey HQs are also all pretty reasonable in Melee, the Clown HQs are also great in melee and have some really neat "stop hitting yourself" builds.

All Eldar Factions are pretty elite, they are a bit less elite than Space Marines, but their due to pricey support options and vehicles they tend to have a lower model count on average than most marine lists. I would count "relatively low model count" any Eldar fit this bill reasonably well. Drew Carey elves will be a bit more numerous than Craft Fair and Clowns are a decidedly low model count army if you go pure Harlies

I think you should point him towards the Eldar factions. Possibly Harlequins or Dark Eldar (or Harlequins Allied with Dark Eldar). CWE tends to be much more focused on shooting, and while they can do some decent melee builds their melee builds tend to be significantly weaker than their shooting builds and weaker than DE or Harley melee builds.

I'd suggest an Aeldari list. For a monobuild, probably Prophets of Flesh or Iyanden. At 1000 points you can get something like the following:

Iyanden Vanguard

Wraithseer with D-Cannon and Psytronome
Spiritseer

5 Wraithguard with Wriath Cannons
Bonesinger
Bonesinger

Hemlock
Hemlock

That's a total of 11 models at 1000 points and a a Wriathseer has devastating CC attacks with the Psytronome when it wants to.

For the Prophets I'd suggest a Battalion just to get the CP

Prophets Battalion

Urien

Haemonculus Warlord with Master Nemesine, Vexator Mask, Electrocorrosive Whip and Ichor Injector
(This guy always wounds on a 3+ with an AP-2 2D weapon and 5 attacks against Not Vehicles and forces a unit within 6" to fight last every turn)

5 Wracks
5 Wracks
5 Wracks

5 Grotesques

3 Talos, Haywire Blasters and Macro Scalpels
1 Talos, Haywire Blasters and Macro Scalpels
1 Talos, Haywire Blasters and Macro Scalpels

That's a total of 27 models at 1000 points and is a nice solid Covens list.

You can even get both and combine them at 2000 or expand either to get a solid list.