Equipping harlequin troupers

[Adoni-Zedek]

Any of you play Harlequins? Fought harlequins? How would you recomend equiping the basic troupers?

I was thinking powerswords, harlequins' kisses, and refractor fields. For a ranged attack, I'm torn between shuriken pistols and krak grenades. Shuriken pistols have a longer range, (12"), but don't hit as hard. Krak grenades are S6, but only have an 8" range when thrown by harlequins, and are -1 to hit. BS 5 means they still have a 2/3 chance of hitting, so that's not a big deal. The 4" range difference seems almost insignificant, but I've never fielded them before, so I thought I'd get some opinions.

I'm also giving them smoke/blind grenades, depending on who I'm fighting (orks and tyranids get the smoke)

[tturen]

Although some of our group members have used them that was long ago before my time. For my part Iv'e never seen a Harly in battle and they are but a mystic legend. As for equiping them though I think it depends on the foe and your mobility. Krak grenades are great hat destroying hard targets but the a pistols range can be handy when the krak is just plain overkill or modified to hit rolls make it unreliable. As a single choice though I'd take krak and your enemy certainly will respect it right down to the tank crews!

[El Capitan]

Ive never witnessed the Harlequin's either. I remember Michael Pang having some models, but he never fielded them.

It woukd be decent to develop the Harlequins list into a decent working full on army type one. With units the basic Eldar list cant take. Any ideas?

[Adoni-Zedek]

The harlequins list I have is based on one called the Harlequins Compendium. I can't find it on the web just now. (Charley found it...see his post below) They added the basic troup Mimes, (same stats as a trouper, but can infiltrate) which you could have 1 for every 3 troupers. It also added shadow Acolytes, (Lvl 1-2 shadowseers), a Master Mime (1 per army, if you had a mime troupe), and my favorite, the Avatar of the laughing God. I still have a copy of them, that I downloaded from their site. I could send it to you if you're interested.

[El Capitan]

yes, please do

[Adoni-Zedek]

I'm actually on a business trip right now, so I won't have access to the original until I get home on Friday (May 5th). I'll send you my modified version right now, though.

[El Capitan]

Cheers, ive written yp a provioisnal harlequins list so ill see how this list compares.

Have you tried these rules out yet? [oh, your email already said ]

[Charly]

id love to see a harlequin army in action, i imagine it to act quite differently to a normal eldar army, plus it would look amasing! send me ur rules mike n il upload them so every1 can comment.

[Adoni-Zedek]

For jetbike harliquins, equiping is easy. Give them a powerfist for hit-and-run attacks, and a refractor field. Use the tuelean or Buanna (I love that name for the Shuriken Cannon!) for any ranged attacks. The only other arangement I was considering was powerswords and melta bombs. But powerfists are cheaper.

[Charly]

cheers for sending me the codex, seems pretty good, id love to play as or against that army, would be well fun. rules that uve got seem fairly sound. i looked around the net for other codex's. this one seemed quite good..

www.cop.ufl.edu/safezone/doty/dotyhome/40k/HC/List.pdf

[Adoni-Zedek]

Good Job, Charly! You found the one I based mine off of. I couldn't find it, but I was probably using the wrong search terms. You'll note many similarities, I'm sure. Hopefully that site has the concerns, explanations, and other background info as well. Those guided me quite a bit in making the changes I did to the original codex.

If that site doesn't have the additional background info, I've got it at home, and I can probably get it to you and Mike (and anyone else) on Monday.

[tturen]

I'll take a copy! For some reason I can't open that link. If you could ship me a copy at [e-mail]

Thanks!

[Adoni-Zedek]

One of the really cool things about this codex is that after it was finished, this guy Doty had a bunch of friends look it over, and they came up with all sorts of suggestions and concerns, and they tracked thier discussions in a concerns file. Those files really helped me in creating my version. None of them are actually implemented in Doty's .pdf's though.

For those of you who have my version, these are the things I'd really like your opinions on:

The Avatar of the Laughing God, the Glimmer suit, and the Blades of Vaul.

The psychic powers.

The new wargear items.

The harlequin dreadnought.

The deathjester warwalker.

The price for heavy weapons I just took from the eldar dreadnought. In the concerns files, some people thought giving a character (death jester) access to heavy weapons ought to have a very high cost. Certainly higher than the cost for basic eldar. So I went with the dreadnought costs (adding 15 points to account for the cost of the powerfist), as both have the same Ballistic Skill (6) and the dreadnought has a targeter on top of that.

The Harlequin's main weakness is Electrohull. Any vehicle with electrohull is immune to harlequins in close combat. And Harlequins aren't exactly overflowing in ranged anti-vehicular weaponry. I'm hoping no one will notice in my gaming group, because it is a serious weakness. Presumably hit-and-run attacks by jetbikes would be okay (the jetbikes are not grounded, so there's no reason for the electrical charge to jump to them, so they don't get shocked), but it's not specified in the rules anywhere.

This is the first time I looked at displacer fields with open-topped vehicles. Kind of fun repercusions there. Get shot and displace right off your jetbike. Hope you weren't moving too fast!

Also, if any of you have any unneeded harlequin mini's lying around, I'm in the market. (Of course, shipping from UK to US is usually prohibitive, and with the codex, you'll probably suddenly find a need for them. Oh well)

[Adoni-Zedek]

That, and I'm looking for a model harlequin that's roughly as tall as a wraithguard to serve as the avatar. Roughly Inquisitor scale, maybe a tad smaller. He's supposed to be taller than a harlequin, but shorter than most monstrous creatures, and a wraithguard is just about right. Any suggestions on where to look? Alternate model lines that might have a suitable figure?

Just noticed that I didn't send you guys the latest version of my Harlequins Codex. That will have to wait until I get home as well. Just minor changes mostly. The Neuro Disruptor has been changed so it's a bit more effective. Also included the Eldar name for it . Possibly some other changes as well, but I can't remember what they are off the top of my head.

[Simon]

Can I get a copy of the list too?

email address is [e-mail]

also, should the Laughing God have an Avatar? It doesn't seem to fit in with the concepts of Khaine's Avatars.

[El Capitan]

I found my notes on the Harlequins; theyd been given 4 unit types with theatrical names, and some vehicles. Though Id noted that Harlequins should not have spirit stones - a far greater mystery lies within

The Avatar was a nice idea, tho it reads like the Deciever C'TAN and it doesnt fit in with Khaine, Khaine split into the Avatars whears the laughing god remains roaming around like Gork and Mork.

Psychic powers are good though, i think they'll be lifted into the OGC list (it'll be on the site by end next week, it needs writing up properly) with appropriate credit of course.

I'll look more into it soon, im too busy just at the minute

[Adoni-Zedek]

Simon, I'll try to get you a copy tonight. I'm headed home from my business trip today, so I'll be able to give everyone both the newest version (a few small changes from the one Mike, Charley, and Tturen currently have) as well as all the files I got from the original codex from the link Charly found. Actually, it will probably be Saturday. Keep in mind I'm 7 hours behind you guys, as well.

As far as the Avatar, fluff has Cergorach roaming the webway, posing as a normal harlequin. The actual Laughing God himself would be far too powerful to take part in a table-top game, so the Avatar route is about the only way to bring him in. You're right though, Cergorach was never defeated like Khaine was, he's not locked into his avatars. I think the idea is just that he deliberately sends a portion of himself to the battle.

I especially like the disguise option, that let's you bring him in as a normal trouper. Kind of like having a greater daemon possess your aspiring champion after sneaking him in close. Suddenly out jumps the Avatar. Surprize!

He's going to need some very close looks, and careful playtesting to make him fit his designed role, though. Looking at your Necron rules, is he really so similar to the Deceiver? I though the C'Tan had much different abilities.

One thing I probably need to add is the Venom, an open-topped transport capable of carrying a bunch of harlequins. I guess we'd better make it ten, as that's the minimum squad size. Perhaps a bit better armor than the Vyper, but probably not much, as it's still a very fragile-looking vehicle. Give it twin tuelean, upgradable to a single Buanna for +5 points, just like the jetbikes.

On another note, how would you guys feel about giving the harlequin's Kiss an Armor Save mod? Maybe -1, or -2? The deathspinners get a -2, and they work nearly the same way (and cost an exarch 20 pts for two, or 10 for one, same as a kiss). A thunderhammer is also autowound, and nearly always autokill (D6 wounds) with a -5 save mod, all for also only 10 points.

[Simon]

How about any ideas for converting the Eldar Harlequins?

I know some people who are interested in playing as the Eldar who want to get some, but they keep wondering whether or not it is worth getting the old models or just converting them out of some other stuff. I've been having a look around and spotted the Eldar Storm Guardian Squad set for £15 (8 models). It seems pretty reasonable for the basics and then just using green stuff to make the masks etc. Anyone got another suggestion?

[Adoni-Zedek]

I just keep an eye on ebay. I can sometimes get harlequins for roughly $2-$3 a model including shipping, if I'm patient. They almost always go for less than $4 a model, unpainted.

The old epic scale Phantom Titan makes a great dreadnought.

I avoid buying anything from GW directly, or even through the retailers. Last time I bought something full price was probably early 2000. Bought lots of close-outs (got a Mk III landraider at 50% off; or $22.50 in late 2002).

I've seen storm guardians converted, Jain Zar as a great harlequin, as well as various Dark Eldar wyches, warriors and incubi converted to harlequins. Howling banshees with Harly paintjobs would probably work as well.

[Adoni-Zedek]

Mike, can you give me more info on your notes? What were the 4 units? What kind of roles did they have? What vehicles were available?