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How do the harlequins play? What are their strengths and weaknesses? They seem to have a dark elder feel from what I've seen. Can they function well on their own or are they the type of army that relies on allies? (No intentions of ever starting eldar)

They need allies, IMO but apparently some people have done well.

I've fared well against most competitive builds except Gladius Free Transport-palooza. Beat wraithknight/Scatbike Eldar, Centurionstar, Skyhammer, and nearly won vs Decurion in straight maelstrom.

Transports are a must, Dark Eldar allies make their options a lot more interesting with the WWP, Raider etc. I've seen people run them on foot and heard of people doing well with that but never personally managed a win without a mechanized force.

Mid to low-mid tier. Biggest struggle is overwatch and MC spam which DE is also good for.

They're currently my favourite army. They are entirely based on movement, as they are by far the least resilient faction in the game. Their Heavy Support is an AV10 open-topped vehicle with 2 Hull Points! Being able to Run & Charge from Turn 2 onwards is a shock with how quick these guys can be, and being unaffected by difficult terrain is fantastic. Their charges are lethal, with lots of useful attacks, and Hit & Run lets them dart around like mad. Since they're so nimble but vulnerable, you need to use terrain like no one else. Hide like you wouldn't believe! Harlequins also love inflicting Leadership-based attacks on opponents with a mix of Psychic Powers and Psych-Out Grenades that perform based on Leadership. They all have Fear, which is mostly useless... until it's awesome! The Solitaire is also a real Assassin, getting in and out and winning combats and challenges against single-opponents like nobodies business.

They're fun, pure and simple fun.

They are a fun army but your going want allies from either one of your cousins. You lack transports with large capacity, long range anti tank, any sort of flyer defense, and for that matter flyers.

The Eldar actually do bring a couple solid things to the table but most of it isn't the stereotypical cheese. The Autarch with Jetbike and Shard of Anaris turns Glaive Skyweavers from heavily overpriced to extremely deadly overwatch-ignoring monsters that slice through whole squads without a thought.

Hemlock fighters while they don't have AA capabilities can dunk flyrants, and bring more psychic and LD debuffs.

I concur with the other two posters. While scotsman has had success with multiple transports I haven't. To the contrary I have more success with two larger foot units, though I do have one in a transport. The Psychic Phase on Turn 1 is especially important for Harlequins if they're to be preserved long enough to get into close combat.

Harlequins are the fastest assault army in the game and can handle any target save swooping FMCs or zooming Flyers, but if you're engaged in close combat neither of those matter. But as previously stated successfully playing this army requires patience. You have to be willing to hug cover and wait a turn to bait your opponent into disadvantageous positions. Death Jesters can help with this, too, by targeting units that are just out of reach, forcing a Morale check on -2Ld and getting them to run closer to your advancing units in order improve your chances of getting the charge off.

While most other armies deal with vehicles through ranged combat, Harlequins excel at destroying vehciles in close combat. It's one mindset you have to get used to if you want to play an all-Harlequins force. The potential to field a bunch of Haywire Grenades means you can take on super heavies and high AV targets alike.

And on top of all that they are fun, indeed!

That's why I don't like foot harlies. I don't like burning my psychic phase to (maybe) keep my army alive. And if you don't get first turn? You'd better be out of LOS....

I'd prefer to just run Telepathy out of my transports and be psychic shrieking something turn 1. I'll usually get at least 1 cast of invisibility for something that really needs it but with the crazy threat range of weaver troupes after turn 1 it's pretty easy to use LOS blocking combined with mirage launchers to live through the initial fire.

I find that even mono harlequins are pretty decent. They become even tougher with some allies. Oh, and as mentioned above, they are indeed fun to play.

Currently I have IG (shelved until a better codex) SW which I might be selling in the future, Necrons and most recently GK. I tend to collect 2k-3k points of an army and than start collecting a new army with a different flavor. Not wanting to take the route of Space Marines or any more loyalist armies or jump on the Tau bandwagon, I started looking towards the harlequins. I also like to play armies that I don't see others playing at my LGS.

Not so sure how I feel about getting eldar or DE as I wanted to run pure harlies but if they lack the units needed to have a chance to compete I may end up biting the bullet on some eldar allies if I went that route.

My harlequin army is around 1600 points of harlequins and 400 of allies. They do not require allies, but allies open up new, interesting avenues of play for them and do make them stronger.

You could probably do 1850 mono-harlies with some success.

What do some of your list builds look like?

We have two mono Harlequin players here. They are mid to low tier, not more. Not really impressive against top tier lists. I'd stay away from them if you want to play at the competitive level.

I haven't painted mine yet, so I can't say from first-hand experience, but from what I've seen and in my mind (based on how I think I'd play them), they are an army that requires skill to execute. A lot of the armies that are considered "top tier" are also quite forgiving with mistakes made in both deployment and movement.

They are bottom tier because they are way overcosted. The detachments/formations aren't particularly good and there's no way to get the few good bits into an army without having to take a lot of tax.

I love the army. My favorite background, my favorite to paint, and some of the best miniatures in my opinion. That's why I play them. As for how they perform in game, it's a struggle to be honest, unless you are in a pretty relaxed group. If they had access to army-wide deep-strike inherently or at least from a formation, they would be a lot better and their point values would make more sense.

They are supposed to be masters of the webway, it just doesn't make sense. This really could have helped bridge the gap for harlies but as it stands if you face any heavy shooting army (and that's a lot of armies currently) it's an uphill struggle at times.

 koooaei wrote:
I find that even mono harlequins are pretty decent. They become even tougher with some allies. Oh, and as mentioned above, they are indeed fun to play.

My issue with all transports is the army is incredibly susceptible to flamers and there are at most six models in the Troupe, or 5 if you want to fit in a Shadowseer to join it. It really depends what drawback you prefer to deal with.

Talys wrote:I haven't painted mine yet, so I can't say from first-hand experience, but from what I've seen and in my mind (based on how I think I'd play them), they are an army that requires skill to execute. A lot of the armies that are considered "top tier" are also quite forgiving with mistakes made in both deployment and movement.

Definitely. You have to be on top of your game when you attempt to play them. New players or those who prefer to rush in and let dice save you won't do well with them.

Resin Glazed Guardsman wrote:What do some of your list builds look like?

My 1850pt mon-Harlequin list has two 10-strong Troupes, one all Kisses and the other all Embraces (excluding the Warlord w/ a Starmist Raiment and Caress); one 6-strong Caress/Neuro Disruptor Troupe; one 6-strong Skyweaver unit w/ 6x Shuriken Cannons, 4x Zephyrglaives and 2x Star Bolas; 1 Fast Attack Starweaver; a 3-strong Voidweaver squadron w/ Haywire Cannons; 2 Shadowseers (ML2), one with the Mask of Secrets and the other w/ the Laughing God's Eye; 2 Death Jesters; and 1 Solitaire. All of it is in a Masque Detachment. Very fun.

 Resin Glazed Guardsman wrote:
What do some of your list builds look like?

Single-ally list is a WWP Misery archon, a Razorwing and a Splinterboat raider paired with a Cegorach's Revenge formation. I run one Caress, one Kiss troupe in Starweavers, and one troupe with the archon with some Fusions and swords. Both skyweavers run haywire.

My dual allied list switches to Heroes Path with Masque. Swap the Razorwing for a Hemlock, add an Autarch on a bike and switch a Haywire Skyweaver squad to Glaives. A unit of Fusion Storm Guardians replaces the melta troupe, and the third troupe hitches a FA raider and runs 10 man with half Embraces half naked. Only one DJ, only two Shadowseers.

Due to their limited unit choices and small number of available detachments, Harlequins are best utilized with Eldar or Dark Eldar (or even Corsair) allies. However, with allies they are very effective on the tabletop. Freakshow is real, and you should be very afriad; just ask Jimsolo.

From what it sounds like they sound similar to Grey Knights. A small model count army of elite units that need to play very carefully.

Yes, if grey knights forgot to put on their shiny 2++ pants in the morning.

So to splash a little bit of eldar allies in while staying away from any of the cheese, I'm thinking of having a farseer on a bike to ride with the sky weavers, Rangers to fill in the troops requirement and have a few Falcons or prisms to fill in the anti-tank and transport issues the Harlies might have. Pretty much 1600 points of harlequins in a masque detachment and the eldar roughly round out to 400 points.

Not the worst idea, but harlies basically require assault transports which falcons are not. I would take a Crimson Hunter to cover the biggest harlie weak spot: anti air.

Do eldar or DE have assault transports?

every dark eldar transport is open topped

All Eldar transports are closed topped with no fire points.

DE transports are open topped. Venoms are basically the same as Starweavers, Raiders have 10 man transport capacity which is sometimes nice.

Corsairs have some nice open topped stuff too.

Alone, they have gaping holes and are bottom tier. With allies they can be decent but theres a reason you don't see very many Eldar in top 8 of tournaments running Harlequin detachments. They just take points away that could be used for more powerful units.