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Hey guys!

While brainstorming my way to a decent Eldar hybrid list(with the generous help of other Dakka's), I came across this unit, which is the single most non-HQ USR packed unit I've seen so far in 40k universe. Hit and Run, ignore cover, Furious Charge, Rending Weapons, Veil of Tears, WS5, A2, I6, 5++ save...all that sounds amazing for just one unit. On paper, that is.

But how good are they truly, in practice? Basically, I'd like to hear people's experience with them in play. If you field them, what kind of lists do you field them with, how many of them and how many you give the Kisses to? How do they compare point-for-point to Eldar's other close combat specialist units: Striking Scorpions and Howling Banshees...and really anything else that you can think of that might be useful to know about them.

Thanks in advance

Well, I have never used them, but basically they make mincemeat out of my Necrons. :-(

They can be a very difficult unit to use correctly though, because even though they can't be shot at further than 24" (and even then, it's usually less) they are very squishy, T3 with a 5+ invuln is aweful, and if you do get caught out in the open with them a rapid fire necrno/tac squad will just tear them apart.

Even in the assault they can be a little bit tempramental, I remember 10 of them got the charge on a squad of 11 necrons...two rounds later and the Necrons consolidated with 7 guys left.

A popular list is harlequins and pathfinders together. The harleys give the pathfinders the 2+ cover save and the pathfinders just shoot away, hopefully pinning a unit or two.

Those are just my limited encounters with them though. Used in the right hands they are amazing, but they are one of the wmost tactically unforgiving units in eldar, probably even the game.

Well, they look cool....


In all seriousness, if you field them, it should be considered required to have a Farseer to cast Fortune and Doom to help them. The drastic change to Rending from 4th to 5th and getting stuck out in no mans land after an assault in 5th edition really took a lot of bite out of this unit. So much so, I think they are extremely overpriced for what they bring to the table, especially when you consider a Farseer should be mandatory for them.

It's also a good place to store an HQ seeing as how htey have to roll to see the harlies.

Psychologically the Jester and the Shadowseer probably one of the most annoying things ever.

3 pinning shots coming from a unit I can't even see?! Ugh.
But ya, keep them in cover, it won't affect they're movement since they ignore difficult terrain.

Araen
for me they're flamer bait, bc I play vulkan marines. at least against that army I feel they're pretty weak. Against others I couldn't say. The local eldar players seem to like walking these guys. I dont know if thats because of their codex restrictions or what but it seems like an exceptionally bad idea to me. Elite units like harlequins should never walk.
AF

They lose the VoT ability if they don't walk.

honestly it would depend on the rest of the list.for me i utilize them as a counter atk unit which most people use them for. but they do help out in combat for me as i occasionally get my wraithguard stuck in combat. also i do see this alot from people...never use hit and run on your turn its just plain stupid, it needs to be done on your opponents turn...and you know who you are if you do this. now i do run a farseer with them as well with doom and fortune which as you all know makes them a beast in cc...cant argue with a second chance to get more rending hits in. all in all they are more suited for a footdar army if you do it right(*cough* more threatening units *cough*) . but if you decide to go hybrid with it, you can always toss them in a transport for better survivability

Thanks for the input, keep it coming folks!

I walk them up a flank and look for cover, they move pretty fast and I have only had good experiences so far. They finally cracked my cousins deathstar unit of genestealers

Guy i play with uses them pretty well. They mulch my tac squads pretty good with or without a charge. I always seem to roll terribly to get range on them and end up having my marines be all like oops and just stand around fist bumping instead of shooting.

I don't like da idea dat deez Harlies are better than da boyz at scrappin, it's just unkanny.

Well, I used them in 4th ed, 6 Harlies incl. Shadowseer with kisses in a Falcon, and they were absolutely devastating.
They behaved admirable in the qualifying GT heat at 2008.
But in 5th ed, rending became less effective. In my mech Eldar army, I stay away from them.
However, at the moment, I'm working on a footslogging Iyanden army and they'll find a place there.

I hear the Dark Eldar are getting Harlies of their own...if they're the same Harlequins, would it be safe to assume they'll be the same for the 5th edition Eldar too?

Just curious on this one.

I haven't played in 4th, how was rending nerfed?

I thought wyches were DE harlies. w.e.

Rending in 4th, if what everyone says is true, was that rending happened on the to hit roll. So you could reliably expect 1/6 of your attacks in CC for example to just automagically cause a wound.

In fact, rending happened on the rolls to hit. It was more reliable to make damage.

Maybe DE get a 5th ed codex. But that doesn't mean that Eldar will get a 5th ed codex, too.

Hiding Eldrad in them, casting Fortune continuously makes me rage. I hate them.

Another annoying thing is hiding Maugen Ra with a jester and shadowseer in there.

7-8 str 6 pinning shots? Most of which rend? And I can't see them? Ugh.

Well, if you join an IC to the Harlies, they'll lose eventually their special rules.
E.g., if you add Eldrad, they can't fleet as Eldrad cannot.

Because Eldrad is just dying to get in to CC.

Eldrad is generally not dying, with a rerollable 3+ inv save.
In the GT final 2009, my Seer Council came across a C'tan.
The C'tan wasn't able to kill Eldrad and then died horribly against my Warlocks.

Tell that to my dice. Hear that dice, stop failing 3++ with rerolls!

Haha, a list with Harlies, Eldrad and Maugan Ra...gosh...

As for the rending in 4th, it sounds pretty OTT...and as for the Eldar 5th edition dex...dunno, it's already been 4 years, I've checked how long it took them to write the 4th edition one, and it was something like 5 years or so. So I think we can reasonably hope for a 5th ed dex in a not that long a time. But that's just my assesment.

And don't C'tan ignore any save, even invulnerable ones? Or is that just Nightbringer with his war scythe...I haven't seen a Deceiver yet.

I don't think Eldar need a new codex AS BAD as say daemon hunters, de, or necrons. But eldar do need it more then say, CSM=whiners.

Well, Harlies do not belong to a mech force.
But they make a great counter-strike unit if you field a foot slogging army,
since the enemy cannot target them.

Harlies not foot are vulnerable when they approach the enemy.
Here one can use skimmers or jetbikes and throw them in front of them.
This will give them a 4+ cover save and with fortune, they should survive incoming fire, if any

I use them as a "First Wave" in my foot Iyanden list. They go at the very front of the "castle" and provide cover saves to all of my units behind them (except for the Avatar and Wraithlords) whilst being pretty much invulnerable to enemy fire until their close enough to get stuck in.

Right behind them is a unit of 10 Wraithguard with Eldrad in toe, so they are always supported by Fortune and Doom. No unit in the game benefits from Doom like the Harlies.

I usually field them @ 2k like this:

10 Harlequins: 2 Fusion Pistols, 9 Harlequin's Kiss, Shadowseer, Troupe Master w/ Power Weapon

@Envy: How about fast moving units (say with flamers) that can threaten the Harlies walking in front of your 'castle'?

Pre-rending nerf, they were pretty cool. Now, they're alright, but have to compete in the same slot as Fire Dragons. I'm thinking they will get a resurrection in popularity with the Dark Eldar, assuming they get a couple rules tweaks.

Well, DE don't need Harlies. They have Wyches, especially if Wyches get a boost.

wuestenfux wrote:@Envy: How about fast moving units (say with flamers) that can threaten the Harlies walking in front of your 'castle'?

Flamers don't really scare me that much. I'm still getting a re-rollable 5+ and you aren't going to hit them much because I deploy them in a line. You can probably get some hits on the wraithguard behind them, but you'll be wounding on 6's and I'll have a re-rollable 3+. Not to mention, if you've moved a unit close enough to my harlies to flame them, you are now in range of my Wraithguard, Avatar, 3 Wraithlords, and 20 or so guardians.

Okay.

I'd field Harlies only if they are well painted. I have about 20 old Harlies incl. 3 DJs half of them fully painted.