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So with the advent of all of the uncertainty with Warhammer fantasy and the subsequent departure of most of my friends to 40k I have decided to start up myself! Well I ended up choosing Harlequins because I love the models, the aesthetics and their background, and partially on the basis of nostalgia . I know they are potentially a poor choice first army and are potentially very finesse based but I like the models so much that I am not too concerned if they aren't that ideal, and if I get a win out of them every once in a while that's just a plus! I am also fairly familiar with playing finesse based fragile combat armies in table-top games.

Anyhow to make a long story short I bought a good chunk of models, about 3 boxes of harlequin troupes, a solitaire, some of the bikes and 3 transports. Being new to the game though I am at a bit of an impasse as to what to arm the troupes with assuming I won't be taking allies and looking to build as an allcomers army for our local weekly 750 point fight night. These events are very "anti-jerk" so OP and jerk lists aren't really a thing I have to worry about either.

I know the consensus is towards caresses but is that really the best option assuming I won't be bigger than 6 for the troupes? And furthermore should I keep them with shuriken pistols? Neuro and fusion pistols seem great but for such fragile troops that seems like a risky investment. I have already checked out the harlequin thread in tactics, but I am just looking for some individual advice I suppose as it seems as most people seem to be equipping their harlie squads as allies, and while I may have plans of adding some stuff on way down the road for paint variety, for now it's going to be harlequins only.

I would really appreciate the advice, as I've got 18 harlies sitting on a disk without arms and I am so eager to get painting! And what am I looking to for anti-tank and potentially anti-air?

Thanks in advance guys!

I am taking a mixture of the melee weapons, that way my opponent can say the harlequins caressed, embraced, and kissed my entire army to death. Mathematically, the melee options will do similar amounts of damage. I prefer the caress, due to the possibility of rolling a few 6s and negating 2 other die rolls. I am going to field a few of the ranged weapons, but don't actually expect them to do much.

The thing with Harlies is that the army lists are restricted.
Their formations are locked, and you are best off working out which you have the models for. I got 4 bikes, 2 void/starthingies, a DJ and a seer. That lets me use a total of 1 formation :(

As for how to kit them out, mathhammer.
Work out what your opponents will bring against you, and take an example unit. Take their T and Sv values. Build a troupe squad, and work out how many kills you would get with each load-out scenario. All-carress, all-kiss, with gun-swaps or no upgrades.
Then do it against a different unit.

For AT and AA, I'm going to rely on my bikes and transports. You cannot target air with blasts, so that rules out haywire, but the shuri-cannon should be worth a go.

Hmm 750 is tough as that rules out the army sized detachments.

With a view to all-comers, I'd say something along the lines of maybe this?

Cegorach's Jest: 435
Troupe (6) With Power Weapon, Haywire Grenade, 2 Embrace, 3 Kisses. 155
Starweaver Dedicated Transport 70
2 Skyweavers with Zephyrglaive/Haywire cannon 130
1 Voidweaver - Prismatic cannon 80

Cast of Players:315
Troupe (6) With Power Weapon, Haywire Grenade, 2 Embrace, 3 Kisses. 155
Death Jester 60
Solitaire with ML2 and Mask of secrets 100

If you really want caress instead of the kiss (innuendo bingo anyone?) then you could drop the power weapons for a kiss on the troupe masters to free up the points.

Or if you really want to get your Solitaire in to play, you could drop Cast of Players for Way of heroes, freeing 10 points up for both the power weapons and caresses in Cegorach's jest.

I'm actually playing in an escalation league right now running harlequins!!

My second week 750 list (after the Starweaver kit finally came out) which was quite successful was the formation of 1 troupe, 1 Skyweaver, 1 Voidweaver, and then the Way of Heroes for 1 of each IC.

The troupe just ran 6 man in a Starweaver. My impression is that the optimal troupe is 2 embraces, 3 kisses and then either a caress or PS on the master.

In my low points games the Death Jester and skyweavers have been 100% the MVPs.

Bonus points if you use the spare harlequins from the Starweaver kits to make your Shadowseers and jesters!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My eventual plan for when I build to 2000 points will be a Grand Masque with a Dark Eldar allied detachment.

I'll be using my spare harlequin bits to outfit the DE (no cone hats). I'll probably have an Archon (who allows one troupe to deep strike perfectly), a unit of warriors in a raider (whose poison weapons will help against monstrous creatures), a razor wing jetfighter (anti-air), and a unit of scourges (to provide more anti tank).