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Afternoon guys and gals.
Been wracking my brain as I wanted to start a new army this month, but I wanted something different that's not seen every day.

Now I know there is a reason for that as harlies have a few moderate issues (anti-air being the main one)
However, is it possible to run a pure harley list at 1,850?
I would be running the basic 3 troop, 2 fast, 1 heavy and optional elites.
I know its fixed for points as the units are pretty selected (except elites) but if needed I could add a small formation to boost it.

Does anyone have any suggestions that will make it work better?
Please note I want a pure force like all of my armies, so no allies.

Mainly need ideas on troupe loadouts as the vehicles are pretty much no brainers.

All ideas are more than welcome.

Pure Harlequins are really a tricky army to use, but can pay off wonderfully! I find that the Harlequin Sky Weavers are the real gem in their codex. It's an incredibly potent unit that's useful against a surprising number of opponents. S6 AP2 grenades can deal with heavies, haywire deals with vehicles, their star lances are crushingly effective on the charge, and a good ol' shuriken cannon will never fail in laying the hurt.

These units are likely to be what you want to bring against flyers. And at 1850, I'd strongly suggest exploring which formation to use in place of the Masque Detachment.

If you need to save points, save it on your troops by loading them with the bare minimum, or give them the good guns and plop 'em in a deep striking Starweaver.

Good luck!

Sadly, Starweavers can't deepstrike.

Maximize your shadowseers. I'd go for 5-6 in a pure quin list. You'll want a lot of warp charges for them. I personally love the solitaire, usually with the relic kiss too. Master crafted and shred on that attack is nice.

Skyweavers are solid. Don't expect them to be as survivable as their eldar counterparts, but they'll do well in your list.

Take the prismatic cannon on your void weaver. It's pretty much necessary for some ranged anti-tank.

I've had success with two troupes in starweavers and one 10 man troupe with a few shadowseers on foot. Rising crescendo is amazing and mitigates the lack of transport for the large group. I find 3 kisses per 5 man troupe is a nice balance (one with the troupe master, of course). 10 man go pure caress and enjoy mowing down everything you touch in combat.

Don't buy any special guns. They're too expensive, too short ranged, and you'll most likely want to be running and charging rather than shooting. Haywire grenades on characters if you have the points. Good luck!

I honestly don't think the army was ever intended to operate alone. I'm not sure how to overcome their weaknesses without allies.

I dont know about the prism cannon. It seems more handy for handling Hordes than tanks. I have had much more luck using Haywire, Shuriken fire, and Melee to deal with tanks. With the prism needing a 4+ to do any damage to AV 11, it just doesnt pull enough weight for me.

Shadowseers are very key, Solitaire will either do amazing or draw enough fire to justify him, Jesters have been hilarious for me but are admittedly situational.

Cheers guys for all of the info thus far

The only thing I dislike is the inability to give crescendo to a solitaire, as when blitzing it would be amazing.

In regards to troupe weapons, are the ranged really that bad?
The neuro looks pretty promising for reducing teq before combat.

Also, I assume the masque layout is also quite poor compared to others then?
The reason I was doing that is to access 7 elites, there for giving me alot more hitting power.
No detachment has them that is of any use really.

 Jackal wrote:
Cheers guys for all of the info thus far

The only thing I dislike is the inability to give crescendo to a solitaire, as when blitzing it would be amazing.

In regards to troupe weapons, are the ranged really that bad?
The neuro looks pretty promising for reducing teq before combat.

Also, I assume the masque layout is also quite poor compared to others then?
The reason I was doing that is to access 7 elites, there for giving me alot more hitting power.
No detachment has them that is of any use really.

I've had some mild success with the fusion pistols. The range is not a big issue how I use them. I usually have troupemaster with caress/haywire, 2 models with kisses, and 2 models with fusion for some of my troupes. Often the fusion are not in range for shooting, but harlequins have hit and run so I get them into assault if not in shooting range, and can hit and run out and be in range to shoot next shooting turn + charge again. The range can also be mitigrated somewhat on certain targets if you fire deathjesters off to get the models to move towards the fusion pistols . Of course this can't work against vehicles, but moving things out of cover closer to their fusion death is useful.

The Masque isnt too bad if you are planning on several seers. Otherwise, the formations often offer the main bonus of the Masque plus other nifty bits. For me, the Revenge formation offers me all the slots of a Masque I take anyway. I cant add a Heroes Path, but with a faster army I am happy.

I have found masque combined with heroes path is the best for my near-pure harlies.
(I run a barebones DE detachment with 1 Splinterboat and 1 WWP archon)

The benefits of board control for the harlequins from Heroes Path outweigh the extra 1-3 invuln saves you'll make from Revenge. The masque gives crescendo which is the most important benefit anyway.

Tbh I've considered throwing in a Razorwing for anti air but so far I've just been able to outmaneuver and ignore any planes I've come across.

For AA (or AT even), if you wanted to ally with Eldar you could take the Crimson Hunter formation. 3 CHs with 1 being an Exarch. The always get a 4+ cover save and if they jink it's rerolled. Not to mention the PE Flyers on top of their already murdertastic anti-flyer rules. Downside is that they're 440pts total.

Prismatic cannon is useless vs vehicules, stick to Haywire.

A full Harlequin army is pretty tricky thing to pull but not impossible. However...expect to have your face kicked in a few times as you master the list.

When things go right, they go right. When things go wrong...they go horribly wrong.

Cheers for all the info
I did stray away from the prismatic cannon as it really is bad.

Haywire seems to be the way forward.


Sorry though, but I won't be adding any allies to the army.
I know it hinders me, but I refuse to take allies as they are simply for plugging weaknesses.
If you want to get better then you push on and learn to play around those weaknesses.

Managed to beat countless netlists because they could not use the army properly.

 Rypher wrote:
Sadly, Starweavers can't deepstrike.

Maximize your shadowseers. I'd go for 5-6 in a pure quin list. You'll want a lot of warp charges for them. I personally love the solitaire, usually with the relic kiss too. Master crafted and shred on that attack is nice.

Skyweavers are solid. Don't expect them to be as survivable as their eldar counterparts, but they'll do well in your list.

Take the prismatic cannon on your void weaver. It's pretty much necessary for some ranged anti-tank.

I've had success with two troupes in starweavers and one 10 man troupe with a few shadowseers on foot. Rising crescendo is amazing and mitigates the lack of transport for the large group. I find 3 kisses per 5 man troupe is a nice balance (one with the troupe master, of course). 10 man go pure caress and enjoy mowing down everything you touch in combat.

Don't buy any special guns. They're too expensive, too short ranged, and you'll most likely want to be running and charging rather than shooting. Haywire grenades on characters if you have the points. Good luck!

I disagree with almost everything you said here!

Shadowseers are only ok - and against any half competitive psychic army are generally a waste of points. The solitaire is average at best and massively un reliable. The kiss relic is pants and a waste of points as well for the cost. Skyweavers are fantastic with the glaives and haywire - so good in fact I think the best lists will have half a dozen units of them.

The prismatic cannon is terrible and you should under no circumstances take it.

I do agree that the special pistols are a waste though!

I have played a bunch of games with my harlies and posted a bunch to my blog...

https://objectivesecured.wordpress.com/2015/08/06/harelquin-thoughts-a-reflective-look-post-tournament/

This is after an event with a near pure harlie list (not quite as I ran out of models to use for it!) using the mass seer tactics

https://objectivesecured.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/eldar-harlequins-list-idea-weaver-spam-part-2/

This is my current plan and I think the best way to run pure Harlies - Weaver Spam!

The one thing I find useful for the prismatic cannon is the fact that it can still shoot after jinking. Since Haywire is a blast you will have to chose survivability vs killing. Mind you a single Str. 7 ap2 BS 1 shot isn't much but it is better then nothing.

If you have a few points left over throw Haywire grenades on the Solitaire. You will rarely scatter when thrown. Remember they can be thrown against infantry as well. A BS 9 Str 4 AP 4 blast weapon is a lot better then a single pistol shot imho and helps reinforce his role as bully. You can also chuck it at a tank in the shooting phase and then use your caress in the assault phase to help strip an extra HP off before going in.

The good news for Haywire Cannons is you can use your mirage launchers instead of jinking for a turn to let you get in your turn of blasts.