Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar Harlequins (section)

==Tactics==

'''Troupe Unit Composition''' - Troupes are great hard hitting infantry units that can be kitted to be excellent at killing anything they specialize against.  The problem you are faced with is what you add to the unit. Shadowseers are a safe bet as they give you psyker access (though honestly CWE psykers are far better) and hit like bricks in CC. However, while Phantasmancy looks promising on paper remember - you will not be footslogging a unit of incredibly expensive Troupes across the map which means that that Shadowseer will be in a transport, which in turn means that it can only cast Witchfire attacks while embarked.  This means that Telepathy is the way to go as by the time you disembark the Phantasmancy primaris power will be useless. Death Jesters have potential against hordes and anything with 5+ armor, but really suffer from one weapon syndrome.  If you take them put them in units of scouts or as snipers and take potshots at hordes. Allies offer some interesting synergy.  A DE Succubus w/ Armor of Misery to lower enemy leadership by an additional -2, stacking with the Harlequin Mask (-2), and a Deathjester make for some utterly hilarious horde killing.

'''Troupe Size''' - A Troupe of 5 with a Shadowseer and a mix of caresses and embraces will kill most of a 10 man unit of Tactical Marines.  This is good.  You do not want to kill the entire group because then you are open to shooting, the largest weakness of the Harlies - bullets. You want to stay in combat until the end of their combat, so you can hit and run your way out of them and charge again on your turn, proccing furious charge and your extra attack on the charge. A unit of ten has potential in a Raider, but only if thrown at something that has a lot of staying power. You do not want to let a lot of attacks come back at you, which makes the number of troupes you bring to a fight an interesting mathematical dilemma.

'''FOC Shenanigans and Army Balance''' - If you want to take a Bound army you are sadly, incredibly limited in what you have to take due to the lack of an HQ choice. Luckily there are a few good formations to choose from, and the Masque itself isn't half bad. The problem you are faced with is Anti-Armor/Air. Voidweavers and Skyweavers have potential, but if your Harlequins are going to get anything done by charging into that unit of Space Marines, the transport they are in had better be dead before they get there.  This means you need a way to consistently murder the hell out of a choice few vehicles on turns one and two.  Harlies don't have a way to do this. Your best bet is to take an allied detachment to cover their weaknesses. Dark Eldar offers Realspace Raiders for Scourge and Ravager spam, as well as Raiders for those big meaty units of Players. Eldar offers shenanigans for days, strong Psykers, and Wraithknights.

One of the sticky problems with using allies for anti-vehicle is one of speeds and ranges. Harlequins are fast. They're pretty quick even foot-slogging. That means that a lot of options will have difficulty keeping up. Good options to cover that problem are either high speeds and long ranges. High speeds suggest options like Eldar Shining Spears or DE Reavers, possibly Scourges or Warp Spiders, or either Blasterborn or Fire Dragons mounted in a Starweaver or Venom. Wraithguard in a Raider are a possible (wicked expensive) option, as well. Long range suggests other options - Fire Prisms or Tau Hammerheads (if you prefer to ally with Tau) have fantastic range; Wraithknights, Falcons, Wave Serpents, Ravagers and Vypers with Brightlances combine speed and range.

All in all, however, don't focus too much on getting that one-shot transport explosion - a transport glanced to death by shuriken cannons and haywire grenades is still dead. Don't forget that when you disembark, an attached IC can intentionally disembark out of coherency to be able to chuck an extra haywire 'nade - a good bet if you've got a Shadowseer, Succubus or Archon palling around with your Troupes. If the transport is AV10, your shuriken pistols might be able to put in the finishing shot, too.

'''Mono Harlequin Army Tactics''' - Really? You sure you want to do this? Alright, fine. Do stupid things you stupid person. Ok so - Basic concept goes like this - throw units of 5/6 Harlies in Starweavers with the occasional Shadowseer. Bring a Mask of Secrets on a Seer and take potshots with Death Jesters.  Caresses are great because they are versatile and can glance vehicles to death, something you lack in spades. Voidweavers have meh but versatile damage, but you need them to take on armor, as the only other options are bikes with haywire cannons, and because their primary defense is jinking, well, at least you have pretty models and a free turn of 4++.  The formation that gives you a reroll on your invulnerable saves is gold, as every unit in your army has one.  Your next choice is taking formations and wargear to full the remainder of your points.  Good night and good luck you magnificent psychotic clown faced bastard.

'''Allies Tactics Discussion - Hemlock Wraithfighter''' - With the ability of the Mask of Secrets and the Death Jester's inherent -2 to leadership from shooting, this opens up a rather unique question on the Hemlock Wraithfighter. While normally utterly shit, the Hemlock could, potentially, be utilized in a mostly Harlequin force to wreak havoc on the opponent's battle line and send units fleeing and being pinned all over the board between Terrify, Death Jesters, and hallucinogen launchers.  Inviting player opinions on this subject.
* When trying to inflict a leadership war on the opponent, a Necron Deathbringer Flight can do similar things, but without wasting Warp Charges and toting guns you can actually use. It isn't fluffy and OEO is annoying, but it might be worth it when you simultaneously blow holes in the opponent's lines AND make it impossible for him to actually do anything about it.

'''Allied Jetbike Death Star''' - Take two Eldar CADs with two Jetbike Farseers each, all with singing spears. Put them with a squad of 4-6 Skyweavers with Zephyr Glaives. Give Runes of Fate to two of the Farseers, and telepathy to the other two. With Fortune/Invisibility/Both on the unit (and the possible Veil of Tears from a nearby Shadowseer), you have an impossibly hard to hit unit with terrifying psychic power and disgusting assault ability That will generally be more effective at killing than a standard Jetseer council. You will probably lose friends if you field this against them.

'''Leadership Bomb''' - A particular way to get rid of enemy deathstars and other scary infantry is as follows; take the Caste of Players formation; the Shadowseer gets the Mask of Secrets and an upgrade to Mastery 2. Then, in a Dark Eldar detachment, you get an Archon or Succubus with the Armour of Misery and a Webway Portal. Between the Mask and the Armour, anyone in 6" is now at a -4 leadership penalty. The Shadowseer rolls on Telepathy and gets Psychic Shriek. Psychic Shriek on a unit that's already at -4 leadership is pretty good, because on a target that's normally leadership 10, that's an average of 4 wounds, and a theoretical maximum of 12. Do keep in mind that Invulnerable Saves and Feel No Pain can be taken against Psychic Shriek, so this won't get rid of already tough units that have that. For a more personal leadership-raping psychic spree, see Assassin Squad.

'''Assassin Squad''' - Use means of your choice (Rune o' Battle, Dark Eldar, Intero.) to reduce the ld of the target model to 5 or less, then cast Mirror of minds on it. As there is no way for it to win the roll off, you will do an infinite amount of wounds, assuring the model's destruction. If you can get their Ld to 6, then MoM requires you to roll a 1 to have a chance of failing, with them getting a 6. This could be great against ANY lynch pin model, and is plausible against deathstars as most rely on a key models giving out buffs. GC's, Smashfucker... create the right situation, and most anyone can die to this.

[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(7E)]]
[[Category: Eldar]]
[[Category: Warhammer Tactics/Old]]

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