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Trying to work out how to equip squads of harlequins. So far I have 1 squad, there's 3 kisses, a caress and 2 Nuero disrupters. I have 12 more on the way, is my first load out any good? Is something like that any good or are there better more effective load outs?

I go all kisses, no pistol upgrades.

All kisses on every player?

I do. That being said, there's a good argument for mixing and matching the melee loadout.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/699351.page

I specialize my squads as well. 2 are pure embraces, 1 is pure caresses.

No pistols as most of my quins are running and charging.

I try and run all caresses and no pistol upgrades, I find the sheer amount of attacks the troupe throws out means you're a massive threat to everything from Imperial Knights to Tactical Marines. From a gamplay perspective not mixing and matching your melee upgrades just makes assaults less of a chore tbh.

Just need a way of how to keep the killer clowns alive...

 Torus wrote:
I try and run all caresses and no pistol upgrades, I find the sheer amount of attacks the troupe throws out means you're a massive threat to everything from Imperial Knights to Tactical Marines. From a gamplay perspective not mixing and matching your melee upgrades just makes assaults less of a chore tbh.

Just need a way of how to keep the killer clowns alive...

The most effective tactic I've found has just been the designated tank in front, and overwatch shepherding. I run a bike autarch with banshee mask and the solitaire basically just to break overwatch and get my clowns in unshot, and then for instances where they will get shot I will have some combination of the Starmist Raiment, sometimes a Shadowfield archon, and I've even used Jain Zar before (2+ armor, some large quantity of wounds and EW).

Definitely going to start working in Imiriam's Spectre though, that Shrouded is going to be pretty sweet.

I am a fan of having at least 2 players per Troupe to have absolutely no upgrades no matte how big the unit is. Run them in the front to absorb casualties. After that I run all Kisses, with a Caress on the Troupe Master. I'd like to use mostly Caresses, but they make the squad expensive quick.

As a Daemon player as well as Eldar, I cannot help but compare Harlies to Daemonettes. Harlies are better, but die just as fast. You need to make the inevitable casualties hurt less.

I'd avoid Embraces. They look great on paper, but in practice they are hard to use. You will almost never get all of them into B2B to gain the HoW and the Embrace only works on the turn you charge, unlike the Kiss and Caress that work every turn whether you charge or not.
In order to make Embraces work, you have to give every player one (effectively doubling their cost, since only about half will reach B2B), or be very skilled at model placement to ensure the models with Embraces reach B2B without dying to overwatch.

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Indeed. You will take some casualties no matter what you do - it only takes one guy with a flamer to flambé three times his points value in a single overwatch attack.

A couple of bullet catchers are important.

Overall, I'd go for only 3 Troupes. 2 units small enough to fit in StarWeavers and 1 max unit joined by the Spectre DJ for Shrouded, staying in cover.

I'm a huge proponent of specializing my units. I like running a Heelequin force with two 10-man Troupes and a 6-man Troupe in a Starweaver. Each 10-man Troupe specializes in a weapon upgrade; the Warlord's unit has all Players equipped with Embraces while the Troupe Master has a Caress and Starmist Raiment, while the other unit typically specializes in all Kisses with a Troupe Master armed with Cegorach's Rose. The small Troupe usually has all Caresses and Neuro Disruptors as an Elite killer.

The latest release of the Death Masque units altered this a bit. The Warlord unit remains unchanged, but I used the Company of the Threefold Stranger as my small Troupe since it can Run, Shoot and Charge Turn 2 onwards. This forced me to modify the other 10-man unit a bit with 5 Kisses and 4 Caresses; the Troupe Master was unchanged.

The Warlord unit has paid off multiple times in one game about 2/3 of the time for me. I actually improved its efficacy recently by having Inriam's Spectre join the unit to give it Shrouded. Hugging cover providing terrain coupled with Veil of Tears ensures that first charge is always achievable, especially when a second large Troupe, a 5-man Skyweaver squad and a full squadron of Voidweavers is also bearing down. Target prioritization becomes difficult for most armies to handle.

Tropic Thunder wrote:
I'm a huge proponent of specializing my units. I like running a Heelequin force with two 10-man Troupes and a 6-man Troupe in a Starweaver. Each 10-man Troupe specializes in a weapon upgrade; the Warlord's unit has all Players equipped with Embraces while the Troupe Master has a Caress and Starmist Raiment, while the other unit typically specializes in all Kisses with a Troupe Master armed with Cegorach's Rose. The small Troupe usually has all Caresses and Neuro Disruptors as an Elite killer.

The latest release of the Death Masque units altered this a bit. The Warlord unit remains unchanged, but I used the Company of the Threefold Stranger as my small Troupe since it can Run, Shoot and Charge Turn 2 onwards. This forced me to modify the other 10-man unit a bit with 5 Kisses and 4 Caresses; the Troupe Master was unchanged.

The Warlord unit has paid off multiple times in one game about 2/3 of the time for me. I actually improved its efficacy recently by having Inriam's Spectre join the unit to give it Shrouded. Hugging cover providing terrain coupled with Veil of Tears ensures that first charge is always achievable, especially when a second large Troupe, a 5-man Skyweaver squad and a full squadron of Voidweavers is also bearing down. Target prioritization becomes difficult for most armies to handle.

Why would you use the Company of the Threefold Stranger when most harlequin formations provide you with run and charge anyway?



I think you should go with two embraces and the rest kisses as that's what you get in the box and seems reasonable to be able to get these two into base to base contact. It might be more efficient to have one or two without upgrades to take the wounds from overwatch

Also for survivability Shadowseers to cast veil all the way, denying an enemy to shoot you at all is always better than any save you could take. Just got to be careful when within 24"

Threefold Stranger can run and shoot. So if you include them in a masque they can run and shoot and charge.

Also, shadowseers are indispensable on foot but aboard a transport they're far less useful as they can't cast any defensive powers.