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I've been working on my Harlequins since Christmas, but I was really struggling to find the drive to actually get them done before the new edition dropped. Now with 8th they're actually pretty good and I'm finally getting some serious work done (having holidays now helps too ). Right now I'm trying to figure out what to equip everything with. From looking around it looks like I'm probably going to be going with 3 Embraces and 2 Caresses per 5 players, although any further opinions on this would be welcome. The main question I have is what should I equip my Troupe Masters with? Right now I have 3, 2 with Kisses and 1 with a caress, but I could quite easily swap over to embraces for all of them if that seems like a good idea.

I run a Fusion pistol (this will need to be 2 per unit) 3 embrace, 2 caress. (or I have the 3 and 2 backwards).

Yeah this is my big question too. With the ability to pick and choose who dies - it seems like bullet sponges are slightly less important. In 7th Ed, I used to run 1 or 2 Players with just blades to soak overwatch and such, but now i'm thinking that everyone will probably want a weapon especially with how cheap and effective the Embrace is. As well as the ability to use our transports to mitigate overwatch by charging. My plan is to run 2 Caresses and 3 Embraces per troupe. Still unresolved regarding how to fit in the fusion pistols. Do I put it on the remaining 6th guy? Do I save that spot in the transport for a Shadowseer or Troupe Master? Which person do I double up with a Fusion Pistol - on the Caress or Embrace? Still undecided.

I'm thinking probably 2 Fusion pistols per transport. Either 1 on the Players and 1 on the Troupe Master, or 2 in the squad. It seems pricey but damn are they effective and nice to spread out throughout the army.

I like embraces, especially since the re-roll from the Troupe Master mitigates the low strength.

I'll still run at least one unit of caresses, and probably put caresses on the Troupe Masters, for dealing with T8+.

This afternoon I went through my entire Harlequin collection to update them to 8th Ed. Lots of snapping off arms. Luckily it went pretty smoothly.

8 Players with Caresses
8 Players with Embraces
4 Players with Embraces and Fusion Pistols
4 Players with Swords and Fusion Pistols
2 Troupe Masters with Caresses and Fusion Pistols

That gives me 4 squads of:
6 Players (3 Embraces + 2 Caresses + 2 Fusion Pistols)

I think I'm going to be running units of 5 with 3 embraces, 2 kisses and 2 fusion pistols. Still trying to figure out the Troupe Masters though. I have one with a caress, should I do the same with the other two? Or should I give them embraces?

I have been running squads of 5 + a Troupe Master in clown cars with nothing but Embraces and Fusion Pistols for every model. I've found it to be very effective.

Mathematically the Embrace, when benefiting from the TM re-roll, is better against non T8 targets than our other options. The fusion pistols give you a way to handle the T8 and multi wound targets that the Embraces can't deal with.

Is it more expensive? Yeah, sorta. But I can field 5 full clown cars with nothing but that at 2k and still fit the Yncarne into the last 1/6 of the list. It's stupidly strong overall, as you measure distances for open topped shooting from the model on the clown cars, so you have a deceptively long threat range with which to dunk tanks. If I didn't take the fusion pistols I could basically afford one more car full of clowns, but then I would have zero anti tank.

It's also nice since I like just throwing whatever looks cool onto my harlies, and so my opponents have a much easier time accepting proxies if I tell them that literally every model has the same weapons no matter how they look.

I ran all embraces with them for my first 8th battle yesterday and was happy with how they did. I don't understand why embraces are cheapest, they easily seem the best to me.

vs. GEQ: All 3 wound on 3+, only the kiss doesn't ignore armor completely and the d3 damage is pointless. Embrace is cheapest and best tied for best.

vs. MEQ: Caress gets better to-wound roll and Embrace removes one more point of armor, so they're a wash. Kiss is still pointless. Embrace is cheapest and tied for best.

vs. TEQ: Finally a multi-wound target, time for kiss to shine? No. Compared to a basic attack, the -1 armor doubles the number of wounds, and d3 damage doubles it again *assuming no damage is wasted, which is highly unlikely*. The embrace's -3 AP still quadruples the wounds without any chance of wasted damage. And, it's cheaper.

Against high wounds and bad armor, the kiss is best. Against high toughness and bad armor, the caress is best. Against almost anything you normally will fight, the embrace is best, AND it is cheapest. Sooo... my decision was easy

Yeah there really isn't any reason to take a weapon that isn't the Embrace. Even the odd use cases where the other weapons do well are handled by the other tools in our army (shuriken cannons, fusion pistols, etc).