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So we recently got a look at the contents of "Death Masque" and what it does, and the rules for the unique units in the set may be substituted for any of the generic versions of their unit.

So we've now got access to:

-A unique Death Jester with Haywire grenades who pays 5 points for the Shrouding rule
-A unique troupe who may always run and charge with set wargear (2x caresses 1x kiss 2x neuro disruptors all on players) at a discount price
-A unique troupe who may always run and shoot with set wargear (Power Sword master, 2x kiss 2x neuro disruptors) at a discount price
-A unique Voidweaver who pays 10 points for...something... forum suggests it is +1 Ballistic Skill, description seems to show it as a heavier armored voidweaver.
-A unique 2 man unit of Skyweavers with zephyrglaives who reroll jink saves.

And these may be slotted into any harlequin formation or detachment as well as all fielded in the Death Masque formation with Eldrad, which gives a 6++ invuln on any unsaved wound, and Eternal Warrior for Eldrad.

So, are you considering using any of these units in your detachments? To me, the obvious winners are the skyweavers and death jester.

The big drawback to using the unique troupes is definitely the poor wargear choices on the troupe masters (CCW/pistol TM in the run and charge troupe...uuuuugh....) and the lack of a dedicated transport starweaver. The best use I can see for them would be in a Cast of Players formation, particularly the run and shoot troupe who seems to have a bit more synergy going on with the elite-hunting wargear and the run and charge allowing you to use your Death Jester and possibly the Starmist Raiment as you move up the field. They also might be interesting paired with an Eldar character as their run+shoot effectively lets them battlefocus. Plus, if you take them in a masque or Revenge, they get Run+shoot+charge. The only use I can see for the Dusk troupe would be maybe sticking them in a masque where you wanted to have a Fast Attack starweaver anyway, for the option of a cheeky turn 1 run+charge.

The Death Jester is a serious boon to pretty much any Harlequin detachment except a Hero's Path, as Shrouding transfers to the unit, so there's not much to be said about him. He's just awesome.

The skyweavers are kind of a neat way to bring the benefit of Faolchu's Blade out of its taxweaver-heavy formation, the only shame is there's only 2 when I would rather field 3 or 4. However, sticking them with an allied Banshee Mask bike autarch (for skilled rider) gives you a very durable, very cost efficient close combat bully squad that can hunt things like heavily armored infantry, light vehicles (if you give the autarch a laser lance) or monsters (if you opt for the Shard of Anaris instead). Another option would be a farseer fishing for Shrouding to get that rerollable 2++.

The voidweaver is a voidweaver. This seems like kind of a tacit admission by GW that the unit is a flying trashcan you only take because they make it mandatory in every single detachment. Unless the statline gets some serious boosts, it's not worth considering.

Autarch's don't have skilled rider do they?

Apparently the voidweaver shoots better.

Uhm, as far as I can make out the Troupes do not have a discounted point cost. Quite the opposite. Death's Companions (run+charge) would be 131 points as a normal Troupe with the listed wargear, and Company of the Threefold Stranger (run+shoot) would be 145 points. They are 135 and 155 points, respectively. Am I missing something here? Edit: I'm a moron. I was assuming 5 models total per squad, not 6. So, a saving of 14 and 8 points.

Also, the wargear is absolute trash, so the usability is pretty narrow.

The Skyweavers and Death Jester are auto-takes wherever relevant, but I wouldn't bother with anything else.

pm713 wrote:
Autarch's don't have skilled rider do they?

No. Autarchs do not have skilled rider. If I recall properly, only Shining Spears have that particular rule. They may have once had move through cover, which would have been the same effect (although now that I think of it, I do not think that rule is share-able), but they do not have that either anymore.

The Banshee Mask would still be a good addition to any unit that is predominantly melee-oriented, and using the Autarch to add versatility to the group would generally be worth it.

Also note these names units can only replace the required ones in formations - not the masque detachment

 Massaen wrote:
Also note these names units can only replace the required ones in formations - not the masque detachment

Note the symbols at the top of the datasheets - this allows them to fill the corresponding slot in any detachment that uses force organization slots.

So, for instance, The Blades of Fate are a "new" unique fast attack choice with the Harlequins faction.

Would taking the new formation with a Heroes' Path take you to around 1000 points?

And would this be a decent list at that point level? It feels like it would give you a lot to play with at 1000 points compared to any of the alternatives.

Taking the formation plus a barebones Hero's Path is 1035, sadly. There's not a lot of wiggle room in there to add another harlequin formation. The only thing I could see coming close to working would be that formation plus a Cast of Players which gives you just 15 points to spare to buy upgrades with.

with the upgrades I generally favor on the Path, you can get to 110 points.

Sadly, in terms of reaching very specific points values, harlequins are an exceedingly awkward army to work with.

The Harlequin's voidweaver has a BS of 5 (so +10pts for +1 BS).

And the named troupe master from the Dusk's troupe (the one that can run and charge) has the stats of a normal player, with an additional wound (so -1 WS, A, I, and Ld compared to a normal troupe master). The other named guy has normal stats. I think it's a really weird move, and one more thing to remember when playing...

I'm pretty sad that there's no way to include Eldrad outside of this formation. Even though the formation seems pretty good, it's very restrictive, and costs 770 points, which is pretty difficult to work with. I'll try to paint Eldrad quickly to play test this formation, but at the moment I'm wondering what psychic powers to get with him.
Compared to a shadowseer, he opens Divination and Sanctic (I consider Sanctic a valid choice for him, since the risks of perils are pretty low). Prescience is a solid power, and can be obtained reliably since it's a primaris. On the other side, Sanctic's primaris is pretty useless. So I was thinking about rolling 3 times on Sanctic, and then get Prescience as the last power.

Source on the voidweaver stuff?

pm713 wrote:
Source on the voidweaver stuff?

It's on the BoLS website.

fresus wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Source on the voidweaver stuff?

It's on the BoLS website.

Spoiler:

Thanks.

Well that's...disappointing. I still don't understand why the Harlie skimmers aren't AV11 on the front an sides. It'd be a perfect way to represent how they are the middle-ground between Eldar and Dark Eldar. I don't think that is asking much for a HP2 vehicle that costs almost twice the cost of a Rhino/Razorback.

I don't think the DW stuff is a game-changer for the Harlies. It still doesn't change the fact that Harlies cannot function as they should: an allied force for Eldar & DE. The formations/detachments are just too big or have too much of a tax on them to add anything to their parent armies.

Seriously, how hard would it be to add an special allie detachment that only requires 1 Elite & 1 Troupe? Then add OPTIONAL additional Troupes, Elites, Fast Attack & Heavy.

-

 Galef wrote:
Well that's...disappointing. I still don't understand why the Harlie skimmers aren't AV11 on the front an sides. It'd be a perfect way to represent how they are the middle-ground between Eldar and Dark Eldar. I don't think that is asking much for a HP2 vehicle that costs almost twice the cost of a Rhino/Razorback.

I don't think the DW stuff is a game-changer for the Harlies. It still doesn't change the fact that Harlies cannot function as they should: an allied force for Eldar & DE. The formations/detachments are just too big or have too much of a tax on them to add anything to their parent armies.

Seriously, how hard would it be to add an special allie detachment that only requires 1 Elite & 1 Troupe? Then add OPTIONAL additional Troupes, Elites, Fast Attack & Heavy.

-

While generally true, the contents of Death Masque do provide significant boosts to the two weaker-performing Harlequin detachments aimed at being used exactly as you describe.

Cast of Players now essentially comes stock with Shrouded (becuase why wouldn't you take the unique DJ?), and Cegorach's Jest can now include the rerollable jink bikes.

I run pure harlis mostly, looking forward to adding the caste of players with the new shrouded giving deathjester to my masque for 2000 point games.

I have a small pile of harlequins with fusion pistols and an extra shadowseer I don't normally field. Having the added protection to get close and not worrying about losing the run and shoot benefit makes the whole thing a bit more appealing...

That would also mean I would have a grand total of about 8 death jesters on the table. I leave them separate and let my enemy try to pass that many morale tests every turn

Edit: run, not rum...

The idea of the run and charge squad in a FA starweaver making a T1 charge (yeah, its a long charge but not unachievable) is kinda interesting. Its a shame the unit is armed so poorly

Death jester joining a squad of Dark Reapers in cover.

Farseer joining the skyweavers and casting shrouded for a 2+ rerollable cover save sounds nice.

Not sure how to use the Troupes though...

Inriams Spectre is pure gold, he's going to be my standard go to Death Jester for anything other than a Hero's Path. The bikes are good though it's a shame they're onyl a unit of 2 and the Voidweaver is BS5 so if you've got to take one it can at least be better at shooting.

Saddly the Troops are lame ducks, if your not going to give them all weapons then there's no point.

Well, this is strange to me. When I read tournament reports with people going and doing really well with Harlequins, you see something like this:

https://www.frontlinegaming.org/2016/03/11/playing-an-all-harlequin-list-in-a-gt-reflections-on-the-laughing-gods-place-in-competitive-play/

troupes with 2x or 3x weapons, and several members of the troupe with basic CCW/pistol is pretty common.

Granted, weapon setups like 2x caress 1x kiss nothing on the troupe master is certainly unoptimized compared to the above, but the real question is: Does the already-established points discount and the extra little rule outweigh the edge you'd get with say 1 extra caress attack with the TM vs a player.

Now in my own experience, I do use fully-equipped troupes. But I can see in a situation like the one above tossing the troupe that has the possibility of a cheeky turn 1 charge in might be a good idea.

EDIT: Also, something I just now noticed:

Rising Crescendo: Any UNIT that CONTAINS ONLY MODELS with this rule may run and charge.

Red Dusk Falls: MODELS FROM DEATHS COMPANIONS may run and charge.

Because of how charging works (a unit may charge so long as no model in the unit is disqualified from charging) and with the clarification of how running works (by model, not by unit) a Death's Companions troupe has the unique ability to bring along attached ICs and have them choose not to run, and still make the charge.

Make of that what you will.