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Everyone is running around like excited puppies about the deathwatch release, and truth be told so am I. But I'm probably equally excited about the Harelquins getting a little love, albeit very little. I've had some Harelquins sitting in a draw unpainted for ages, and they will be joining the ones that come in the box to make a nice Masque. I've even got a really cool theme in mind....just need to get up the guts to paint it.

However, I'm positively befuddled on the subject of load outs. The Zephyr glances seem to be the logical choice on the jet bikes, and the Voidweaver seems to have a couple of good choices.

But it's the troupes them selves that I'm stuck on, I love the fluff behind the Harlequins Kiss,Mao I'm very tempted to stick a couple of those in, as well as at least one fusion pistol. I like the look of the power sword too...even though I'm sure it's probably not the optimum load out.

Basically I want my guys to be fluffy and look cool, while still maintaining at least a little bit of an edge.

Help me Dakka you're my only hope.

Don't go with fusion pistols!!! They are suicide to use and REALLY expensive. I tend to mix weapons personally, mostly kisses but I throw a caress and embrace in two of my units to help clear hordes and threaten bigger units.

My troupes all have similar damage output to ensure the enemy is afraid of all of them. Be redundant and keep the units close to each other to provide support. Make sure you use your vehicles as roadblocks and fire support. Good luck!

Lythrandire Biehrellian wrote:
Don't go with fusion pistols!!! They are suicide to use and REALLY expensive. I tend to mix weapons personally, mostly kisses but I throw a caress and embrace in two of my units to help clear hordes and threaten bigger units.

My troupes all have similar damage output to ensure the enemy is afraid of all of them. Be redundant and keep the units close to each other to provide support. Make sure you use your vehicles as roadblocks and fire support. Good luck!

Thanks do you find Neuro Disruptors any good then? Thinking about it I guess the fusions are a little hamstrung by their range and cost.

I usually invest heavily in Troupe Masters only, but I run my Troupes with Shadowseers. Those two combined have enough punch in CC that troupers are just 2+L.O.S. ablative wounds. I tried some weapon combos, but usually they were just wasted points. If you realy want mix weapons, put them only on max half models in the squad, including the Troupe Master. I usually put a caress on the Master (more attacks works better with this weapon) and some kisses in larger squads. Embraces are sometimes wasted purely by being unable to place a model in base contact (but I play with a lot of terrain, so if you play on a "flat desert" that is not the case.). If you play against Monstrous Creatures a lot, then Neuro Disruptor gives you one (almost) assured wound more. But again, put it on a Troupe Master only, BS 5 really does mater with single shot weapon. And Haywire grenades are better option than fusion pistols if you want to have some non-CC punch on vechicles, but you can really just glance AV10 rear armour to death on the charge.

Zephyr Glaives for the bikes are a must, but I like to left a single one with Star Bolas if I run 3 bike squads and keep him in front to be the first casaulty, hopefully beeing able to throw that thing before he dies.

I've had some limited experience with orklequins (harlequins proxied with orks) and actually had good results with them. Though i only played against marines and got only 4 games off.

I've run the big revenge formation and some variants of formations + masques. Both are viable.

Here are some of the concepts:

- 2-3 shadowseers seem to be a must. Go telepathy for those in transports and get veil of tears for those on foot.
- Troupes are very dangerouns in melee but extremely fragile for the points. I've always run at least 3 - and at least 2 of which in transports but they can be good both on foot and mechanised. All weapons are viable - i've tried to separate them, to mix them up and it basically all worked. I always got a caress for the character though. It's getting progressively better with increasing number of attacks.
- Jesters are not too bad. I've always kept them solo around the objectives on my side and in the middle of the board.
- Jetbikes seem overpriced from the first glance and i was pessimistic about them until i've actually tried them out. Ran a formation where they get a re-roll to their jink. they are pretty good. Shooty, relatively choppy. But expensive and still fragile. They fit the theme nicely. Optional 4++ is not bad.
- Solitaire is a mixed bag. He's fast and stuff but i'd not get more than one. Just too expensive for 3 t3 wounds. Even with 3++. Even with re-rollable ones.

I find that the damage output of harlis increases dramatically with the purchase of the extra weapons. 15 points is too expensive for a meat shield.

Here is a strat that has worked for me, three troupes, three seers, all in different transports and rolling different tables.

They start about 8" apart. Turn one, all roll forward 6" and then disembark one troupe and the shadowseers from the other two, combini g into a single squad. This claws up the middle with every psychic buff they can get (veil of tears, invisibility and sanctuary if you're a lucky goose) and the other two troupes only jump out if they need to run interference or have valid targets.

The big troupe has 3 kiss and a power sword. Those combined with the 15 fleshbane armorbane attacks and you will mulch ANYTHING they come in contact with.

As for the neurodisrupters, I have one in each of the other troupes, but more as a possible threat/ distraction than because they are very good. Riptides etc. don't want that near them, so they tend to try and bri g them down while I chase them down with the big troupe.

Thanks for all the input guys! Lots to take on board. Those Orklequins sound fun Koooaei. Are you just running some Orks using the Harly rules then? Sounds awesome.

Now I just have to seat myself down and start painting. Have you guys got any tips in that regard? I've got a rough idea of doing a David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust, Ashes to Ashes type theme, so maybe the troupes will be colourful glam rock Ziggy type things, then the solitaire more like the mime from the ashes to ashes video. The death jester seems like it's aching for a Jareth from Labyrinth style conversions/paint scheme. And some wild things going on with the shadow seers, which are some of my favourite looking models.

I generally avoid all pistols with my harlies. The way I see it, run and charge is their major detachment benefit, and using pistols prevents models from using that. I will usually run my three troupes with three different roles. One with Kisses and a Power Sword master (purely because I have the old psword troupe master model, mind you. A caress or Cegorach's Rose is probably better). One with Embraces and Caress/Crescendo master for killing larger squads with the HOW hits. And one with caresses and Starmist Raiment master to take out any targets that need to be auto-wounded.

This lets me plan for a variety of threats, and has served me well in my games. Also, it's more fun than the general spammy method of "just a couple caresses in each unit".

I like caresses more simply because they are so versatile - they work vs vehicles and invisible targets pretty well whereas kisses can't handle av13+ and fail vs invis and embraces are nice vs invis but have no ap and harder to use properly due to being HoW - they depend too much on how well you roll this 2d6.
All in all, you can easilly run full caresses. Other weapons have uses too, more niche ones.

I've had probably about a dozen games with my Harlequins, and even brought them to some friendly tournaments as a solo Masque force.

#1 - The Harlequins work the opposite way of any army you've ever played.
Most of the time people tell you not to mix weapon load outs in units if you can help it. The idea being that you don't want to "waste" firepower. However, with Harlequins, this isn't entirely true. Harlequins are the most ELDAR of all the pointy-eared ones, and their weapons are incredibly potent against very specific enemies, while okay but not great against others. For this reason, you want almost every squad to have a mix of 2 weapons. Harlequin weapons are so potent against their "correct" target, and are so manoeuvrable in reaching multiple targets during a game, that having too many multiples of a weapon actually causes you to waste points. For example, the Star Bolas. It's fantastic. Do NOT discount it! It's power comes from the fact that if your opponent forgets for even a moment about it and groups some models together, a single blast can eliminate literally hundreds of points of models, meanwhile the Zephyrglaive will definitely want you getting into close combat and jumping out again quickly. Careful though, don't overload too much on multiple weapons; maximum of 2 special kinds so they can jump between two very different targets, and keep a few extra low-points-cost bodies around to soak up at least a couple casualties first.

#2 - Fusion Pistols are great, but you will often lose the unit.
AP1 explodes vehicles, and when you're T3 with a 5+ save, that often kills you back. Who knew? You did. That's why you leave these guys in the hatchback of your skimmers, and you used the Once-Per-Game 4+ Inv to avoid dying instead of jinking so they can go and ruin a second vehicle's day the next turn.

#3 - Phantasmancy is the most fun Psychic Discipline
These powers are wonderful in that they really reward you when used appropriately, yet are next to useless when not used appropriately. I always try to include lots of Shadowseers in my force because their equipment and powers are so good, but also so much fun. Try to force as many enemies to be (effectively) Snap Shooting as possible. Really learn the ins and outs of joining and leaving units too, since Veil of Tears can keep crucial units alive, and it's nice to be able to jump between them quickly.

This is my basic Troupe layout for an all comers list:

Troupe
Starweaver
2x Player [Harlequin's Kiss, Shuriken Pistol]
2x Player [Harlequin's Caress, Shuriken Pistol]
1x Troupe Master [Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Caress]

Second one, same as first but Neuro Disruptor on the master.

Third group, right now I only run as a foot squad (need more Starweavers), so has a couple of basic geared and some Embraces for the HoW.

Personally, I don't think that the pistol upgrades are worth it. You want to be running, not shooting.

There are 3 main schools of thought on troupe loadouts.
1: run 3 squads, 1 with each weapon. This lets you throw a dedicated squad at any threat. Hordes? Embraces. Terminators/Centurions? Kisses. MC's/Vehicles? Caresses.

2: Run troupes with a mixture of weapons in each one so you can deal with any threat. Generally, Caress on the master, probably 2 kisses and 2 embraces for the rest. This lets each squad deal with most threats.

3: go minimal with upgrades. This means throw a caress on the master, and maybe 1-2 players. Get Haywire grenades and use those points you saved across everything to run a second Masque, or an allied detachment.

In all these situations you want Starweavers for most if not all your units. They are great, so don't discount them.

 koooaei wrote:
I've had some limited experience with orklequins (harlequins proxied with orks) and actually had good results with them. Though i only played against marines and got only 4 games off.

I've run the big revenge formation and some variants of formations + masques. Both are viable.

Here are some of the concepts:

- 2-3 shadowseers seem to be a must. Go telepathy for those in transports and get veil of tears for those on foot.
- Troupes are very dangerouns in melee but extremely fragile for the points. I've always run at least 3 - and at least 2 of which in transports but they can be good both on foot and mechanised. All weapons are viable - i've tried to separate them, to mix them up and it basically all worked. I always got a caress for the character though. It's getting progressively better with increasing number of attacks.
- Jesters are not too bad. I've always kept them solo around the objectives on my side and in the middle of the board.
- Jetbikes seem overpriced from the first glance and i was pessimistic about them until i've actually tried them out. Ran a formation where they get a re-roll to their jink. they are pretty good. Shooty, relatively choppy. But expensive and still fragile. They fit the theme nicely. Optional 4++ is not bad.
- Solitaire is a mixed bag. He's fast and stuff but i'd not get more than one. Just too expensive for 3 t3 wounds. Even with 3++. Even with re-rollable ones.

The Solitaire's unique, so you couldn't take more than one even if you wanted to.

I will also drop off a shadowseer in the movement phase, let them fire their grenade launcher to cause pinning. Then it would declare the charge first to absorb overwatch. If it survived, I would hit and run the rest of the trouble to safety, leaving the shadowseer to die in the enemy turn. Then slam them again.

I've had very mixed results with my harlequins, but here's what I've found:

* Embraces are surprisingly hard to make worth it. They only help you on the opening charge, and only if you make it into btb, and only if you don't lose them to overwatch. They're fine, but I've found other options to be more reliable. These might shine more against horde type units or as vehicle killers.

* Kisses are awesome. I usually put these on all my normal troupers. The high strength means having a couple of them lets you threaten the rear armor of vehicles. Kisses have half-decent chances of killing problematic things like TMCs or Dread Knights in a single go.

* Caresses are also good! But I find them to be mildly less reliably than kisses. I like to put them on troupe masters because the extra attacks means they're more effective. They really aren't bad on troupers either. It's just that going all caresses means that you end up with a very lacklustre assault if you don't roll a decent number of 6s to hit. Compare to the kiss which is very likely to kill at least a couple guys or put a couple wounds on an MC.

*Haywire grenades are your friend. Put them on your troupe masters. Put them on your shadow seers. Put them on your solitaire. If you have nothing better to spend the points on, strongly consider putting them on your death jester. Having a haywire attack coming from lots of different directions in both the shooting phase and the assault phase has paid off big, especially if my primary anti-vehicle options were dead at that point.

* Fusion pistols are... not ideal. They're expensive. They're dangerous for your clowns to use. That said, they aren't necessarily worth disregarding completely. You can take two-ish of them in a troupe mounted on a starweaver to do a drive-by melta attack. You'll be relatively safe inside the vehicle. Also, you don't necessarily need to get into melta range with this thing. You still have half-decent odds blowing up truks, raiders, or even rhinos from 6" away, and you have to be mildly unlucky for the explosion to reach that far.

Fusion pistols would be less appealing if harlequins didn't kind of struggle with anti-vehicle in general. Sure, you can melee things to death, but then you're stuck sitting around the wreckage waiting for the passengers to hop out and shoot you up. It's much better to blow open a transport, assault the guys inside, hide in combat for a turn, and then either kill them off or hit & run out.

If you want to try them out but don't want to burn tons of points on them, consider giving a fusion pistol to your troupe master, probably in place of a haywire grenade. His higher BS makes him more likely to make that one shot count.

*Neuro Disruptors are cool and have their place, but it's an expensive and niche place. Neuro Disruptors are great for hurting terminators, MCs, etc. Unfortunately, these all happen to be things that a harlequin squad normally excels against. Taking a couple to soften up a target in case your kisses don't finish them off isn't a bad idea, but they're pretty optional. THAT SAID! I rather like neuro disruptors on shadow seers taken as part of the Hidden Path. Normally they're too busy running to use it, but it gives them one more tool with which to harass the enemy.

*Power swords are kind of meh. A power lance would be very welcome among harlequins, but we can't get that. Power swords on troupe masters are rarely a terrible option, but they're also rarely a great one. Consider them when you plan on killing off power fist sergeants and their ilk in challenges. Against anything with a 4+ or worse save, you're probably better off going with a caress or kiss.

*The storied sword is quite nice. It's essentially that power lance I just mentioned wanting, but better!


Regarding the bikes, I love their rules on paper, but I find their points cost is generally way too high for what you get. That said, they're probably our best ranged anti-tank option. The haywire shots generally won't have too much trouble hitting their target, so you can go after key vehicles with them. If you're up against a mechanized army, there's a decent chance you can place the blast to catch multiple vehicles. I once killed three land speeders with a single volley of three haywire shots. It was a glorious day.

Now that said, shuriken cannons are also a solid option. In fact, they're probably the better option against most things. They aren't great against flyers, but they're much better than haywires are. They're decent against MCs, light infantry, heavy infantry, and light transports. I've been trying running shuriken cannon bikes alongside lots of vehicles to drown the enemy in strength 6. it works out okay. Not great, but okay.

I don't like the bolas. People are right that they have their place. Personally, I don't like that you're dependent upon your opponent clustering up a bunch of expensive(ish) models so that you can hit them with a one-use weapon in order for the bola to sort of kind of be worth it. I always go with the glaives because the bikes aren't great at melee without them but are actually pretty solid at it with them!

Now that said, my bikes usually underperform in melee. They're pretty squishy for their points, and it's hard to buff them, especially if you're playing mono-harlequins. They'll often lose guys to overwatch. They're also the only harlequins to not have a way of charging into terrain, so it's easy for your opponent to reduce them to initiative 1 and to force them to make dangerous terrain tests (since they also don't have skilled rider ).

Still, they're fun, mobile, and can potentially hit harder than anything else in the codex if you give them glaives. They're just also about 25 points too expensive per guy.

Thanks! I've so much to consider still, but I'm really excited to be starting a Harly army! Can't wait to clear my hobby desk of Tyranids and get started!

That's a pretty comprehensive analysis of the weapons!

However, consider what you're playing against too - I often find myself fighting lots of vehicles, and the chance for the caress unit to kill that Dreadnought that just charged you is pretty good.

Quick question - does the death masque box come with the usual troupe sprues or is it just the specific unique troupe on there?

NG77 wrote:
That's a pretty comprehensive analysis of the weapons!

However, consider what you're playing against too - I often find myself fighting lots of vehicles, and the chance for the caress unit to kill that Dreadnought that just charged you is pretty good.

Quick question - does the death masque box come with the usual troupe sprues or is it just the specific unique troupe on there?

It comes with the usual sprues.

 General Kroll wrote:

Lythrandire Biehrellian wrote:
Don't go with fusion pistols!!! They are suicide to use and REALLY expensive. I tend to mix weapons personally, mostly kisses but I throw a caress and embrace in two of my units to help clear hordes and threaten bigger units.

My troupes all have similar damage output to ensure the enemy is afraid of all of them. Be redundant and keep the units close to each other to provide support. Make sure you use your vehicles as roadblocks and fire support. Good luck!

Thanks do you find Neuro Disruptors any good then? Thinking about it I guess the fusions are a little hamstrung by their range and cost.

my list is yet to be beaten, I run a suicide squad or two with max neros, carresses and troupe master with Psword. It melts EVERYTHING. I also run the formation with the run and charge

 cosmicsoybean wrote:

 General Kroll wrote:

Lythrandire Biehrellian wrote:
Don't go with fusion pistols!!! They are suicide to use and REALLY expensive. I tend to mix weapons personally, mostly kisses but I throw a caress and embrace in two of my units to help clear hordes and threaten bigger units.

My troupes all have similar damage output to ensure the enemy is afraid of all of them. Be redundant and keep the units close to each other to provide support. Make sure you use your vehicles as roadblocks and fire support. Good luck!

Thanks do you find Neuro Disruptors any good then? Thinking about it I guess the fusions are a little hamstrung by their range and cost.

my list is yet to be beaten, I run a suicide squad or two with max neros, carresses and troupe master with Psword. It melts EVERYTHING. I also run the formation with the run and charge

I ran my list undefeated for about 8 months! Ran into a sky light/endless swarm/ spore minefield nid list and couldn't kill enough of them to stop the endgame. It was also tactical escalation and he won on points by deep striking the resurrected gargoyle onto an objective.

Why couldn't that faq have come out sooner!?!

Why bother with neuros or any special guns at all? You are pretty much going to be running if you aren't already in a combat, and if your Starweavers are flying in they are probably going to be moving 12" or Jinking.

I guess maybe when you hit and run out, if you don't move to far away it could be alright, but you typically don't want to one round a unit anyways...

The guns are not worth it in most situations.

The kiss is the most reliable weapon of the 3. The caress has more potential but lower results on average (the difference is very low mind you)

On the bikes - I never have issues with them charging. With 3-4 models with glaives, they rarely lose models on overwatch thanks to 2W each while being so mobile means I have yet to worry about charging through cover. I actually find most people start ignoring putting their own models in cover against my Quinns since i ignore it with the rest of the assault forces and my weapons don't generally ignore their armour.

I as thinking of having my big unit have caresses while my smaller ones run kisses, since the sheer number of attacks coming out of the bigger unit means that caresses will be bound to have sixes.

Can you get divination on shadowseers? Might help out, after you go for Phantasmacy on the Mask of Secrets one for the old night fight power, and Telepathy for Invis.

 Crazyterran wrote:
Can you get divination on shadowseers?

Nope, Phantasm, Santic or Tele. If you really need it ally in a Farseer.