Updating Codex Harlequin Ideas

[MikhailLenin]

I dont post much anymore (anywhere really) mostly because my job has drained me of time and drive to write about 40k but with the arrival of Death Masque and Death Watch, I was invigorated to write this out. Let me caveat this that I am not one for Fandex but merely wanted to express and share some ideas about an Army that I own way too many models for and that I rarely put on the table because I am so emotionally invested in them perform like their fluff or mechanic but just watching evaporate in almost every game. Or getting demoralized that to make them not necessarily terrible, the army starts looking less and less like a Harlequin army. I know a lot of codex suffer this, especially Tyranids and CSM but what I saw was a glimmer of hope in the new Death Masque Dataslates because they kinda of tackled some of the biggest issues I had with Harlequins and this segways into what I am proposing.

 

Today Harlequins are Ninja Death Clowns that depend on Psychic and Wargear that creates Mirages to bring their tool of trade upon their enemies. In summary a glass cannon melee army. Unfortunately unless you are Daemons, Khorne Daemonkin, Wulfen or actually any Libby Conclave + Whatever Imperium Formation/Detachment, your melee is going to have a hard time making into melee and even harder time winning combat against the army concepts previously listed. This edition is not the greatest for Close Combat which is perfectly fine because 40k isn't a game of Close Combat but designing a melee army like Harlequins without some of these recommendations I am going make is just plain stupid in my opinion.

For those who don't know, Harlequins for the most part are WS5, T3, S3, 1W, 5++, Furious Charge, Fear (if that was even a thing), Hit and Run and Fleet. What makes them really shine in melee (cause when you look at that stat line, all you can probably think is "Wow, so they are [big bad swear word]tier versions of White Scars") is the weapons options they have. The Harlequin Caress being the most expensive and the closest to the traditional old Harlequin rules (which was the old Rending, worked on Hits not Wounds) gives the user the ability to cause Automatic AP 2 wounds or an automatic Glancing Hit on a roll of a 6 to hit (which for a while didnt work against Immobilized Vehicles cause you never rolled to hit, thank you GW FAQ). The Harlequin Kiss is a Melee Weapon that grants 1 of the attack of the user to be a Str 6 AP 2 swing (rolled seperatly and still gets to do this attack without actually using the weapon, just as long as he has it on his character) and on a 6 to wound with that hit, causes Instant Death. The last of the weapon is the Harlequin Embrace which grants the user D3 Hammer of Wrath resolved at Str 6. The fluff of the Kiss and Embrace is that employ the same technology as the Warp Spider monofilament weapon except mean for delivering that nasty thing through PUNCHING. The Caress is a Power Glove that phases the users hand in and out of reality allowing him to tear literal fabric of things. Now all these sounds amazing and they are pretty good but keep in mind these are on T3 1W 5++ models which cost 15 Points base, 5 for Kiss or Embrace and 8 for Caress (What a weird point cost). So not exactly the cheapest models but not that crazy expensive. Well now that you have a WS5 T3 Str 4 and 4 attacks on the charge death clown platform, how do you get them into combat?!

Well you get them there on Foot. Harlequins have 1 Transport option which is a 70points, 2 Hull Point AV10 Fast open Topped skimmer that causes Fear (WTF) and once per game can get a 4++, pretty good but not 70 points good especially since you can only fit in 6 models and on an explosion result you are probably going to kill 2-3 harlequins because the explosion is Str4 vs T3 with a 5++. Thats why running and walking is the safer option and they gave Harlequins some mechanics on making that happen. Certain Formations and their own Detachment gives them the ability to Run and Charge after turn 1 (the Detachment has some pretty large taxes and no obsec, also you cannot run a Harlequin CAD or Allied Detachment) and their Psykers, Shadowseers, have the ability to shroud their unit with a Veil of Tears (salty f'ing tears) forcing their opponents who want to shoot at them having to "spot them" by rolling 2D6 and multiplying that number by 2 and thats how far that unit can see and if that distance is enough for the unit to see them than they can shoot at them, if they do not they forgo shooting that phase. Its a great blessing to allows your Harlequins to cross the field virtually untouched unless you go second or you face a Drop Pod/Reserve army taht can just enter the game next to your Harlequins units and not care about your salty tears veil. Thats why they get other powers like making enemy snap shoot or gain stealth and shrouded but keep in mind these need to be succesfully cast, rolled on (except for Veil, thats a primaris) and also actually get to have a psychic phase before your opponents shooting phase. You can also roll on Telepathy for Invisibility or take Eldar Psykers through another Detachment and try to get Invisbility through them or Fortune on your 5++ or if you are lucky on your Stealth and or Shrouded units in cover. Even then, in ITC, a Single Flamer unit can absolutely wreck a Harlequin unit as their entire psychic defense is nullified by 1 form of weaponry. Fine, they should have a counter and flamers should be the one but the problem in today's meta, there is a ccrazy amount of ways to get shooting that ignores cover and gets reroll to hit without psychic powers and thus Harlequin armies are just afraid of Flamers but of any army with a bloody Hunter's Eye (I mean every army in the game does).

Well enough of my griping, lets talk about about my recommendations:

When Death Masque arrived, there was a pattern of changes which made really hopeful. Firstly all the Troupe Dataslates get the ability to Run and Charge as part of the Dataslate with no turn restrictions indicating that perhaps the Run and Charge will become the core basic power of Harlequins (like Wulfen) and is no longer a result of specific taxing formations and detachment. They also introduced a really cool Command Benefit from the Formation they introduced which grants Harlequin an addition "save" against any unsaved wounds  (like FNP or Reanimation) where they can discard any unsaved wounds on a roll of a 6. Thats pretty cool actually and would go a long way in the grand scheme of things. Those two cores changes to Harlequins would be amazing. The other things I would like to see is giving all the Harlequin Characters Shrouded as a USR like they gave the Death jester in Death Masque (or at least all of the Death Jester) which would help out on those games where you get seized on or go second. Giving Solitaire Smash USR would also help resolve that model huge problem. The Solitaire is one those models where one is like "OMG THIS IS SO COOL" and its only a 145 points but then you play it like 1 or 2 games and you realize really quickly how much of a wet noodle that unit is. Its a 3W T3 S3 3++ death machine that only kills things on rolls of 6 to hit. Smash on it would make it at least partially scary, at the moment it dies to Overwatch against ANYTHING. 

These are my ideas to making the Harlequin Codex an army someone wants to take an event that actually has the majority of the army points in Harlequins and not Eldar with a sprinkling of Clowns.

(They are a few more things I could gripe about like the 50 point Bikes they have access to but I wont for today)
 

[fluger]

I think the big takeaway here is balancing a game as complicated and granular as 40k is SUPER hard.  Just a few outlier units here and there virtually invalidate entire armies.  

 

I would love to see Harlies be feared again.  

[galahad911]

I think the big takeaway here is balancing a game as complicated and granular as 40k is SUPER hard.  Just a few outlier units here and there virtually invalidate entire armies.  

 

I would love to see Harlies be feared again.  

 

I remember Harlies being something people were scared of. But that was in 4th edition with unkillable holo falcons dropping them anywhere you wanted, the Harlies being able to clear the kill zones at initiative and the enemy not being able to retaliate, and being able to consolidate into new combats.

 

None of that is true anymore.

 

Good luck?

[Romans832]

I remember Harlies being something people were scared of. But that was in 4th edition with unkillable holo falcons dropping them anywhere you wanted, the Harlies being able to clear the kill zones at initiative and the enemy not being able to retaliate, and being able to consolidate into new combats.

 

None of that is true anymore.

 

Good luck?

Forget the Falcons

 

Veil of Tears was all you needed for Harlequins. I had a wicked time with them on foot, screw a transporter!

[fluger]

Back when Paul used to use them all the time, I remember WestRider calling it "Punching mist that cuts your hands."  

[WestRider]

Up until I converted some Gargoyles. I miss 4th Ed Bio-Plasma.

[galahad911]

Forget the Falcons

 

Veil of Tears was all you needed for Harlequins. I had a wicked time with them on foot, screw a transporter!

 

There was no reason not to take them, they were unkillable.

 

Veil got you a 14 inch range usually. You got shot once before charging most times if you were just walking. With the Falcon you just set it next to your opponent's army one turn, watch him be completely unable to do anything but shake it, get out and charge on the following turn. Falcon Flies away and spend the rest of the game shooting and tank shocking stuff and continuing to be unkillable. Win win

[Romans832]

Cool, Never thought of that.

I did Footdar with 2 Squads of Quins, Laughing god (Avatar), Farseer & 4 Locks on Bike, 3 Walkers, 2 Fire Prisms, & obligatory 2x10 Dire Avengers... Hell half the time the DA did nothing but hold objectives. hehe

 

There was no reason not to take them, they were unkillable.

 

Veil got you a 14 inch range usually. You got shot once before charging most times if you were just walking. With the Falcon you just set it next to your opponent's army one turn, watch him be completely unable to do anything but shake it, get out and charge on the following turn. Falcon Flies away and spend the rest of the game shooting and tank shocking stuff and continuing to be unkillable. Win win