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So I'm trying out a 2000 point list and I am running a nice big 10 man squad of harlequins. In one game they've been shot to little pieces, and in the other they were out CC by a squad of thousand sons. At 262 points, are they really worth it, or should I throw something else in there as my close combat squad. Or should I just embrace the shooting aspect of Eldar completely.

What is your take and why?

Thanks much.

I love them, though I always take all available extra characters and all kisses. So they are quite expensive but oh so fun to watch when they wreck havoc, just dont expect them to survive that long if they go up against other CC dedicated units and dont manage to kill enough of them on the charge.

And as I said they can be quite expensive, but the fact that they dont need a transport and cant be shot at for 18"+flip belts makes up for it I think.
And if you're not gonna run them at 2k points, when are you going to run them as this is usually the max points people play by unless going apoc etc.

Go for it!

What are you using them for? Harlies are great at all kinds of things, but they need to be used just right or they get rapid fired off the board.

In the backfield 10 harlies are great to have around for counter-assault and scaring off objective contesters - they can't be shot at, they can pop midfield transports if they have a jester, and any units coming in to attack your guns can be gobbled up by harlies on the charge. Whether you would need 10 for this is debateable.

If you are whipping them up the board into the thick of it, you have to plan every little move - that 5++ save is nothing. If you assault, do it near cover so you can hit and run out of the line of fire. Don't stick in an assault, hit and run so you can furious charge again next turn. Judge every move to make certain there's no way you will be in rapid fire range during the enemy shooting phase. Try and keep cover and terrain between you and the enemy - you ignore it and they can't. You have to play extra smart, or they die.

Hollowman wrote:
What are you using them for? Harlies are great at all kinds of things, but they need to be used just right or they get rapid fired off the board.

In the backfield 10 harlies are great to have around for counter-assault and scaring off objective contesters - they can't be shot at, they can pop midfield transports if they have a jester, and any units coming in to attack your guns can be gobbled up by harlies on the charge. Whether you would need 10 for this is debateable.

If you are whipping them up the board into the thick of it, you have to plan every little move - that 5++ save is nothing. If you assault, do it near cover so you can hit and run out of the line of fire. Don't stick in an assault, hit and run so you can furious charge again next turn. Judge every move to make certain there's no way you will be in rapid fire range during the enemy shooting phase. Try and keep cover and terrain between you and the enemy - you ignore it and they can't. You have to play extra smart, or they die.

Which is impossible seeing how the poor harlies have a maximum charge range of 18"

As for the OP, how does the rest of your list look like? If running mech then there is no need for harlies, just buy more stuff that shoots

I've dropped them down to 7 now, and just the shadow seer instead of all the special characters. I think I used them badly in those two games and just have to work it a little better.

As to the list it's a bit of a hodge podge. I'm using it in a tourney, but I have a thing about avoiding the trend of lots of the same thing.

I have warp spiders, swooping hawks, harlies, fire dragons, dire avengers, wraithguard, snipers, and a handful of tanks. The idea is I use the superior speed of the eldar to zip around and strike only where unbalanced. Mostly this has worked for me, but the harlequins I used on their own against a single squad.

My experience of Harlequins is solely from the side of the Dark Eldar.

I've run them in a squad of 8 (Troupe Master, Death Jester, Shadowseer, 5 standard w/ kisses). (Death Jest mostly cos he looks awesome.)
In my foot list, walking them down the field was generally successful enough, either the enemy went 'holycrap big threat' and focused on them, ignoring the rest of my army, or they did the same to something to my Grotesques - either way, one of the squads invaribly made it and raped face.

Bringing them out of a Webway Portal is brutal though.

For actual Eldar though I'd possibly drop them to 5 and put them in a Falcon.

I've found that the magic number for harlequins is 8 models. Max squads are nice in larger point games, but I've found that to be excessive and expensive. Definitely upgrade all your harlequins to have kisses. The troupe master is optional, but the shadowseer is mandatory. Unless absolutely necessary, do not take fusion pistols. Ideally, you want to be fleeting more than shooting with this unit, and adding a bunch of shooting elements into the unit will tempt you to shoot. The other thing is if you are using them is to make sure your farseer is nearby to get fortune up on them when you intend to charge with them. The seer should also Doom the unit they intend to charge. Also make sure you are staggering your units so that there is always a unit between your Harlequins and the enemy. A 4+ cover save is better than their 5+ Holosuit save. Practice with deployment and movement with these guys as that is the key to the success with that unit. A final note: learn when it's best to bail out with Hit-and-Run as well.

personally I think Harlies are much better in foot lists as counter charge units with a shadow seer and maybe a troop master. I have found them much more difficult to justify in in mech lists as you need to close with the opponents fire base in order to really get the best benefit with them and require a HS slotted falcon or steeling someone elses transport. Additionally they compete for elite slots with fire dragons. love the models and the units just wish they had transport option of their own or had something like scout/outflank.

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I appreciate it.

I run them all the time in a foot logging list. I run 3x 10 seer,jester with kisses and two fusion pistols. Three wrathlords, 2x 5 man pathfinder squads, 2x 3 jetbike guardian squads, eldrad and maugan RA.

The list does surprisingly well. Just know that to run this list well you need practice. This type of army is VERY unforgiving to play. Knowing distances by eye was the thing that helped me. Nothing sucks worse than not making the charge on a doomed squad.


The idea is to kill off ANYTHING you assault the first time because with t3 they will die as 5+ sucks. The idea with the fusion pistols isn't to pop tra sports really, its to soften up that doomed ( you did doom them right?unit you are about to charge. Using the pistol to pop transports means that you can have alot of dead clowns(blasts kill them pretty easy). Lastly don't fret if they die.... they were made for dieing. I would rather feed more clowns at something than lose my troops.

>>Which is impossible seeing how the poor harlies have a maximum charge range of 18" <<

Not at all - 13" is the sweet spot if you find yourself in the open - but you should never do that. Since you ignore terrain and they have to slog through/around it, you can usually ensure they don't have the movement to hit you with rapid fire and you can still charge them. And get cover. Just have to play smart.

Well, used the harlies for the tournament this past weekend and I really liked them. Turned out I used them for a number of different roles that they excelled at.

I took 6 total. All with kisses except for the troupe master upgrade. I also took the death jester upgrade, but not the shadow seer.

Game one I used eldrad to position them in a far forward spot, they ran along with skimmers full of wraithguard and fire dragons. My opponent misjudged the distance by an eighth of an inch and was unable to charge me. Next turn the harlies came up and ate most of a squad of space wolf bikers. They took out a long fang pack and a good chunk of his command guy squad as well.

Second game I got them into a horde of orks and they did their part to slaughter and then run down a blob of thirty. (rest of the orks kicked my little toushy though.)

Third game I wasn't thinking quite right and didn't take advantage of a full reserve army to run them into the middle terrain. Instead they hid from fire for awhile until they were too depleted, then charged into some purifiers, took out a couple and died horribly.

Fourth game they provided the fire that took out the last missile launcher in a long fang pack. Then charged thunderwolves and mostly wiped them out. Then because there were too many other things to target they took out a squad of grey wolves.

Final game I had a total brain fart and deployed them on the far side of the table from all the action, they spent the whole game un-targeted and without a single enemy to charge.

All in all I was very pleased with them. At 150ish points I didn't mind when they died terribly. Generally the opposition would get scared of them and dump a great big whack of ammo at them while they were in cover.