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Hi, hope you all had a merry Xmas. Just a few questions regarding the Harlequins. I believe it is mentioned each Harlequin assumes a role during performances. Why is it that the troupe miniatures all have the same costume? Are troupe warriors just backing dancers?!

I was wondering since I'm starting a skirmish army of Harlequins how I could make each one unique. I've read that Harlequins play out tales during battles so I would rather each model had a different role to play.

I understand that for regular 40k you would want individual models in each unit to be armed and styled the same but not really sure that fits the fluff, unless I'm missing something.

In your opinion should each Harlequin have a different costume? Should each Harlequin have a different role on the battlefield?

Also I really wish their performances were more reflected in the rules. I would have liked rules and units that sow fear and chaos amongst their enemies. Maybe something like drukhari power from pain abilities - each turn of the battle represents a different act of the story or something. Anyway sorry for going wildly off my own topic.

A troupe unit is pretty analogous to a Greek chorus, they don’t necessarily play different roles within the unit.

Sorry for not posting any excerpts atm that’s what I’ve got.

If you look at theater, musicals, ballet, you often have main and secondary characters which have unique styles. On the contrary all the extras tend to be the more homogeneous the possible.


So it makes sense that harlequins' troopers do not deviate a lot one from the other. Following this line, you could differentiate on a unit base, with each unit having its own style. Like in performances you have extras representing the plebs, other a group of soldiers, courtesans, chorus... Whatever group of unnamed individuals they represent.

Thanks for the replies. So I guess the Troupe Masters are likely the lead characters then?

Harlequins also wear holo suits and normally appear as a bunch of shards of light and colour. So what it looks like is very variable.

Troupe Masters are probably secondary characters. Great Harlequins lead the whole army so they'll be the lead.

Shadowseers "tell" the story and use mild hallucinogens to "enhance" the audience's perception of the play.
The Troupe Master and Death Jesters play individual characters while the Troupe members themselves often play the basic Aeldari people of old.
The Great Harlequin (the lead Master) plays the Laughing god himself, while a Solitaire plays the dreaded role of Slaanesh.

It's also likely that the Troupe players take the roles of the Aeldari Pantheon during the War in Heaven. They likely dress the part by using prop masks on sticks in the same way as ancient Greek Chorus members. But as these roles are less significant (because they die), the players don't need to fully dress that part all the time

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