Harlequin Playtesting and Battle Report

[Adoni-Zedek]

I was going to add this to my Equipping Harlequin Troupers thread, but even though it's only 6 months old, it's already buried back on page 4!

Anyway, I’m taking my Harlequins out for another spin on Saturday night: 1500 pts vs my buddy’s Chaos.

Here’s what I’m bringing:
Characters
The Avatar of the Laughing God (270 pts) (18.1%)

Troupes (House Rule: Troops other than terminators get a 25% discount)
Harlequin Troupe 1 (9 strong) Refractor Field, Kiss, Chainsword, Murehk, Krak
Leader Refractor Field, Kiss, Powersword, Laithiriar (Neuro-Disruptor), Creidan (Pack Laucnher) w/ Frag & Krak (390 pts)

Harlequin Troupe 2 (9 strong) Refractor Field, Kiss, Chainsword, Murehk, Krak
Leader Refractor Field, Kiss, Powersword, Laithiriar (Neuro-Disruptor), Creidan (Pack Laucnher) w/ Frag & Krak (390 pts)

Harlequin Troupe 3 (5 on Jetbikes) Refractor, Chainsword, Meltabomb, Murehk, Refractor, 1 Buanna (+5 to upgrade) (232.5 pts)

Troupes Subtotal: 1012.5 (68.0%)

Support
Harlequin Dreadnought: Ablative Armor, 2 pack launchers with krak and plasma grenades, two powerfists with Tuelan (207 pts) (13.9%)

Total: 1489.5


I’m likely to face Abbadon (and his bodyguard) or a Chaos Lord in Post-heresy Terminator Armor, a dreadnought and/or predator, probably a high-level psyker and/or exalted champion, and probably 2-3 squads of Marked marines, and perhaps two 3-man squads of heavy weapon marines. I could be facing some raptors as well.

The Pre-Battle Plan
The jetbikes are there to take out any enemy armor with drive-by melta bombs, then turn on ranged weapon squads.

The Avatar is there to draw lots of fire, and handle any tough characters, such as Abaddon, or any terminators.

The dreadnought is there to draw fire, and do whatever damage it can. In a previous battle against orks, It was very effective, so my opponent will probably go to great lengths to try to take it out.

The two squads of Harlequins are for taking down troops and characters in non-terminator armor, and with Harlequin’s kisses, they should be able to march through just about anything other than berserkers in close combat.

This will be my first use of Cergorach’s Avatar, so I will pay particular attention to his performance, to see whether changes to his cost/profile are needed. (The role of the Avatar of the Laughing God will be played by a Rabbit BattleBeast, slightly shorter than the Avatar of Khaine)

If I remember my digital camera, pics and a battle report may follow.

[Yarlen Fireblade]

From the looks of it you've made a characterful army instead of an actual effective one right?

For instance, as cool as harlequins kisses sound, they are without a doubt one of the most pointless weapon options avaliable in 40k.

"For 10 points, any enemy that fails an armour save dies instantly."
Big whoop, a power fist costs 10 points, a power fist will kill anything a harlequins kiss can better, and can be used to annihilate vehicles & anything with a high enough armour save that a harlequins kiss will never scratch.

Hell, a 6 point powersword is better.
A 7 point power axe is also better.
In most cases a 2 point chainsword will perform just as well.

Why is your avatar only 270 points? the avatar costs 300 points.

[Adoni-Zedek]

Characterful? What are you talking about, I only have one charact....oh. Nevermind.

We've decided to add a -1 to the armor save for the kiss. This will be the first time I try it against actual armor, though (last time was against orks in flak armor) so we'll see how it goes. We may need to up the save mod to -2, like a deathspinner which operates on similar principles.

You will note that the Avatar I'm using is the Avatar of the Laughing God, Cergorach, not the Avatar of the Bloody-Handed God, Khaine.

Avatar of the Laughing God
270 points (0-1)
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
8 8 8 5 6 6 11 5 10
Dodge (3+ unmod save). Wields the Blades of Vaul, and wears the Glimmer Suit (-2 to Hit, Ld on 3d6 or –1 WS, -1 to I for detection). Causes Terror. May flip out of combat. Immune to biochemical weapons, including Needle weapons and Hellfire ammo. Immune to Psychology. Friendly Harlequins within 12” may use his Leadership value for break tests. Provides a Strategy Rating of 4. Must be the army commander if not Disguised at the start of the game. May ignore obstacles up to 2” in height. May not be included in an army that also includes the Avatar of Khane, the Bloody Handed God

The Glimmer Suit is the original, godly, version of the holosuit. This makes Cergorach -2 to hit, in addition to other modifiers, and he may only be detected when hiding, not spotted. Enemy models have their initiative reduced by one for determining the range at which he may be detected. Models in close combat must pass Ld test on 3d6 at the beginning of each close combat phase or suffer a –1 penalty to WS. Even models that automatically pass Ld tests still need to check against this. (It’s divine power, and thus a step above even the Hive Mind.)

Disguise: The Avatar of the Laughing God may begin the game disguised as a normal Harlequin, in which case a normal Great Harlequin will be the army’s commander, even after the Avatar is revealed. Instead of deploying the Laughing God, deploy an alternate model and note on your list which model he’s disguised as. At any point in the game, the Avatar may cast off his disguise. He retains any wounds sustained while in disguise (use the disguised model’s stats until the Avatar reveals himself), and discards any equipment in favor of his own.

(Note: The Laughing God is not intended to be a model capable of beating all comers in close combat, but rather one that can fight greater daemons and similar close-combat experts to a standstill. Hence, the parries, Glimmer Suit, and 3+ dodge. Good offence, but excellent defense. Most greater daemons and similar close-combat monsters are the opposite, and thus the Laughing God should be quite capable of tying them up for several turns, without necessarily dispatching them. A suitable model for the Laughing God should be smaller than a greater daemon, but larger than a Harlequin. Perhaps something roughly wraithguard-sized or a little larger?)

Blades of Vaul
Range To Hit Save Armor
Short Long Short Long Str Dmg Mod Pen Special
0-9 9-18 - - 7 D3 -4 D6+D3+7 Close combat (+D12 AP),
Force Weapon, 2+ parries.
The Blades of Vaul are a pair of stilettos crafted for Cergorach by the Eldar Smith God Vaul. Counts as two close combat weapons, and both may be thrown each turn with the above profile, though they may be thrown at different targets. Because of the Laughing God’s skill and agility, these daggers provide 2 or more parries (always at least one more than his opponent), and multiple combatants do not gain bonuses against him.

If you'd like, I can send you a copy of my version of the codex.

[Yarlen Fireblade]

(Note: The Laughing God is not intended to be a model capable of beating all comers in close combat, but rather one that can fight greater daemons and similar close-combat experts to a standstill. Hence, the parries, Glimmer Suit, and 3+ dodge. Good offence, but excellent defense. Most greater daemons and similar close-combat monsters are the opposite, and thus the Laughing God should be quite capable of tying them up for several turns, without necessarily dispatching them. A suitable model for the Laughing God should be smaller than a greater daemon, but larger than a Harlequin. Perhaps something roughly wraithguard-sized or a little larger?)

Umm ok, so you've quite clearly stated that this 'laughing god' is designed specifically to hold up combat masters like greater daemons & monsters (Tyranids?) but isn't designed to beat all comers in close combat.... that sounds like a contradiction to me.

Initiative 11, wtf?
As for your codex no thank you but i appreciate the offer, i could sit around all day making king cheese characters but it would be a pointless endeavor since we don't use characters.

I have an idea for a representative model for your character.
Have you ever seen the original Rogue Trader Avatar of the bloody handed god?
I have one sitting on my computer table unassembled, it's pretty cool.


It would be an excellent basis for a conversion, he even has a cape

[Simon]

My only issue with the avatar of the laughing god is that in GW fluff it doesn't exist. While it is an interesting idea, it has no merrits to put it in (in fact the Avatars of the Laughing God is just another name given to the harlequin lords so there is no need for the rules)

Not saying trying to wag my finger or anything like that, just my opinion.

[Adoni-Zedek]

I didn't create the Avatar, just modified it a bit. He's designed to hold-up, but not necessarily kill greater daemons and such. If he can tie up that bloodthirster that erupted just in front of your lines until the end of the game, even if he doesn't kill it, he's still been worth his points. The guys who created him ran a bunch of simulations that determined that Cergorach could kill a Bloodthirster roughly 1/3 of the time, but the match would typically take 17 rounds of close combat, which means that most likely, the combat will be unresolved at the game's end. So he's designed to stall the close combat monsters, without necessarily killing them. Initiative 11 means that he wins all ties in close combat, even against Quickened Initiative 8 Inquisitor Lords on Combat Drugs.

This is the first time I'll be using him, so some tweaking of his characteristics may follow.

That's a great idea for a conversion, Yarlen. I'd probably need to cut away the exensive head-gear, and the cape is nice. As I recall, it's also shorter than the current Avatar, which fits nicely with the desired size. Only problem is it's not very acrobatic-looking, and might look silly holding two daggers instead of a spear. Hmmm....

Fluffwise, the official story is that Cergorach frequently disguises himself as a regular Harlequin and roams the webway. But the actual Laughing God would be far too powerful for perhaps even a large Epic game, so these guys (Doty, and his crew--2nd link of the 2nd Ed. Websites threadwww.cop.ufl.edu/safezone/doty/dotyhome/40k/HC/consortium.html) figured maybe he could create an Avatar of himself so he could still have a tabletop presence in a 40k-scale game.

[Yarlen Fireblade]

Wouldn't large beasties like greater daemons and the larger tyranids simply break from combat and continue on each time they were engaged by the laughing god avatar?

That's a great idea for a conversion, Yarlen. I'd probably need to cut away the exensive head-gear, and the cape is nice. As I recall, it's also shorter than the current Avatar, which fits nicely with the desired size. Only problem is it's not very acrobatic-looking, and might look silly holding two daggers instead of a spear. Hmmm....

Yea it is substantially smaller than the current avatar, about one inch taller than your average infantry model.

[Adoni-Zedek]

We've always played that big models can only break from combat with smaller models. It doesn't make sense that a Hive Tyrant can leave combat with a Bloodthister or a dreadnought, and the Avatar of the Laughing God still counts as a monsterous creature, so if they did break from combat, he'd get free hits on their backsides. Anybody else play that way?

Also, anyone who has the codex, I just noticed an error. The Death Jester War Walker should have the Death Jester's stats, not a guardian's. Bump up the WS, BS, I, and Ld.

[tturen]

Yep, we play the same way models only get free breaks from smaller models so even Ogryns can hold up nids and such.

[Adoni-Zedek]

Okay, here’s how it went. I won 8 to 6, but it was a VERY narrow victory. If Rex had killed one more member of my Green squad, he’d have scored two more VPs for a perfect tie. So really, I’d consider it a draw.

adonizedek said:

with Harlequin’s kisses, they should be able to march through just about anything other than berserkers in close combat

So naturally, I faced an entirely Khorne Army….
Kharn the Betrayer led the army, along with an Exalted Champion with Mk1 Plasma pistol and an Axe of Khorne on a Juggernaut(Rough Rider), a Mighty Champion in Terminator Armor with Lightning Claws and Praise of Khorne (Sandy Claws), and an Aspiring Champion with an Axe of Khorne and a bolt pistol (Chop).
Also, a squad of 6 Berzerkers with Chain Axes and Bolt pistols, a squad of Berzerkers with chainswords, pistols, and bolters, a squad of 3 Berzerker Terminators with chainfists, two reaper autocannons, and a flamer-bolter combi-weapon, and a Dreadnought with Havok Launchers, Twin Lascannons, Combi-Melta, and a ThunderHammer. Plus a Rhino with a Super-charged Engine (for carrying the terminators).

I deployed first, with a squad lined up behind a major source of cover on each half of the table. I placed my dreadnought and Laughing God toward the center, so they could quickly reach any terminators or super tough characters. I debated, and finally placed my jetbikes on my far left flank. I figured with a 35” move, they could probably reach the rhino on turn one to deploy their melta bombs. Harlequin Deployment


Then Rex set up. He placed his dreadnought on his right flank (opposite my dreadnought), his chain-axe squad (led by his aspiring champion) next, with Rough Rider on his Juggernaut. Berzerkers and Juggernaut
Next was his bolter-armed squad, Berzerkers, and after a gap was Kharn, and on his far, far left flank (as far from my jetbikes as possible, despite the fact that he knew nothing concerning my meltabombs) was the rhino.

Well, naturally, for first turn, I rolled a ‘1,’ so Rex went first. Nothing spectacular, he just moved everyone forward. His rhino sped toward the center of the board, and I harbored thoughts of turbo-charging my jetbikes his way to unload the meltabombs.

On my first turn, I measured for my jetbikes, and came up 8 inches short of his rhino. So I sent two down the flank, and sent the other three at fast speed down my lines to my right flank, so I could melta-bomb the rhino the next turn. My Avatar ran forwards, getting closer to the Termi-filled Rhino, and the blue squad on his side followed. My dreadnought ran into a patch of heavy cover, and my green squad ran into trees, leaving a couple members slightly exposed. My dreadnought had no visible targets, so no shooting went on.

Chaos Turn 2:
The Chaos Dreadnought Advanced, targeting my dreadnought with its lascannons, and aiming its Havok launchers at the green squad behind it. Rough Rider and his Juggernaut advanced to unload his plasma gun at green squad (I really need to come up with some names for my squads). Chop’s Berzerker squad advanced slightly as well, angling toward the center of the table. The other berserker squad crested the hill, but still found no targets. The Rhino advanced a whopping 4”, and disgorged Sandy Claws and the terminators, with the reapers deploying to the center (the better to hit my dreadnought) and Sandy himself and the Flamer terminator deployed closer to my Avatar. Thanks to hard cover, moving quickly, and holofields, my dreadnought and harlequins were all -4 to hit this turn, so the dreadnought missed, (though a havoc missile did hit close enough to kill a member of green squad on my left flank), the reaper-armed terminators missed, and Rough Rider’s Mk I Plasma Pistol misfired, inflicting a S2 hit (yeah, that’ll do some damage! Not!), jamming the weapon. The Avatar dodged the flamer, and no further shooting took place.

Harlequins Turn 2

After debating with myself for a minute, I decided to charge my Avatar at the Terminators (that was why I brought him, after all) I had my dreadnought charge Rough Rider (who was just closer than the Chaos Dread). I had the two jetbikes on my left flank perform hit-and-run attacks on the dreadnought, the two with Tuelan did the same to the (now empty) Rhino, and the last, armed with a Buanna, flew with the other two, but didn’t attempt a hit-and-run so he could aim his buanna at the bolter-armed berzerkers. As the jetbikes flew by the Chaos dread, the first took a Thunderhammer blow before he could place his charge. His refractor field failed him (out of 20 refractor field checks in the game, I passed about 3, only one of which actually managed to save my model). The second jetbiker managed to plant his charge, but it only blew off ablative armor before he too, fell to the thunderhammer. Two jetbikes flew by the rhino, placing charges, but only manged to create a couple of explosions inside the hull, neither of which managed to hit the driver. The last jetbiker unloaded his buanna at the khornate berzerkers, rolled 3 hits, and managed to wound only one berserker, who promptly rolled a 6 for his armor save. As the Avatar charged, the sheer terror of his presense brought a sudden sense of mortality into the hearts of the terminators, and they turned turned and ran 12” back towards their own lines. Blue squad ran up behind the avatar, and green squad maneuvered into charge range of the chaos dreadnought. My dreadnought pounded Roughrider, but his displacerfield protected him, leaving him 4 inches behind my dreadnought. The Juggernaut was not so lucky, and was pounded 3 times, failed its saves, and melted back into the warp. My dread followed up into the Chaos dread, 2 inches away.

Chaos Turn 3

Kharn decided to charge the Avatar, Roughrider, deprived of his mount, still charged into the back of my dreadnought. The rhino pulled around the hill to unleash two bolter rounds into my blue squad (killing one), and Chop’s squad moved toward the center, to unload their boltpistols at the jetbikes there in support of the other squad. Sandy Claws and his squad ran a further 5 inches, exhausted by their previous sprint, with Sandy and his flamer companion just making it into the cover of the boulder field, the two reaper-equipped members just behind. Both squads of Berzerkers fired on my bikes, and here my refracter filed managed to stop the one shot that actually hit a rider, while the other shots all pattered harmlessly off the body of the bikes. Roughrider ploughed into the back of my dreadnought, managing to rip both arms off, and damaging the engine. The Chaos dreadnought crushed one of the legs off with its thunderhammer, and followed up towards green squad. Kharn, unfazed by the shifting colors of the Glimmersuit, managed to wound the Avatar twice, and took two wounds in return.

Harlequins Turn 3

Green squad decided to charge the Chaos Dreadnought (with the Leader going after Rough Rider), and most of Blue squad charged up to help the Avatar fight Kharn, while two of them charged the rhino with their krak grenades. My jetbikes stupidly forgot to move (okay, they weren’t stupid, I was), so they aimed at the berzerkers (missing completely), while the buanna jetbike fired on the retreating terminators, killing one with a reaper autocannon. The fight with Kharn resulted in a dead squad leader, but despite about 12 hits, Kharn made all his armor saves (or his rerolls for Praise of Khorne). The Avatar missed with all his attacks, but managed to dodge the blows Kharn aimed his way. The two Harlequins who charged the rhino managed to damage a tread (slow speed from now on) and trigger another internal explosion that, again, managed to miss the driver. On my left flank, green squad planted 5 krak grenades on the chaos dreadnought, blowing off the thunderhammer and lascannons, and causing the engine to burst into flame, immobilizing it. Plus they damaged the leg plates, making it miss its next turn’s movement (helpful, that. ) The squad leader failed to penetrate RoughRider’s armor, and fell to his Axe of Khorne.

Chaos Turn 4

RoughRider charged Green squad, the Terminators made it the rest of the way into the boulder field, and Chop’s squad moved closer to get more shots at the stationary jetbikes. Kharn was still tied up in close combat. The rhino took aim at the jetbikes, but failed to hit. The combined fire from the Berzerker squads brought down two of the three jetbikes (by killing their riders), but the buanna-equipped one managed to survive. The Avatar managed to finish of Kharn, and followed up toward the berserker squads. Roughrider killed two members of green squad (leaving 6), and they broke and ran, fleeing up and over the hill.

Harlequins Turn 4

The Blue squad charged the berzerkers, except for the two members trying to finish off the rhino, who charged it again. The lone jetbike, moving at slow speed, moved backwards, placing a grove of trees between it and the berserker squads. The Avatar moved closer to the berzekers, throwing a dagger that took out a member of Chop’s squad. Green squad continued running away, making it back to their original position. With a hill and forest between them and Roughrider, they were temporarily safe. The jetbike popped up (having moved at slow speed) and loosed another salvo at the terminators, but failed to bring any more of them down. Only four members of Blue squad made it into combat with the bolter-equipped Khorne squad, and they managed to kill 2 of them (2+ armor is just too tough for Kisses to easily penetrate, even with a -1 save mod). The squad held firm, however, and refused to break.

Chaos Turn 5

The Khornate squads both countercharged my Harlequins, and Rough Rider chased the broken Green squad, but failed to crest the hill between them, leaving them hidden from view. The Rhino took another shot at the jetbike, but failed to wound or penetrate. Chop and the berzerkers killed all but three of Blue squad (including the two still back by the rhino) but they held firm, and refused to break. The terminator squad, finally finding itself in cover, held tight and managed to rally at the end of the turn.

Harlequins Turn 5.

The Avatar charged the berzerkers, the lone member of blue squad charged also, while his two companions again assaulted the rhino. Green squad, finding itself in cover, went into hiding. The jetbike popped up and fired at the terminators, but a 2+ save on two dice, combined with poor to-wound rolls, kept them all on their feet. The Avatar killed two berzerkers, breaking their squad, and the two members of Blue squad finally managed to blow a track of the rhino, while another internal explosion missed the driver (again!). At least it was pretty much out of the game, now. Now I just had to get Blue Squad back in coherency. Green squad rallied, and that ended the turn. We play random games lengths, and a roll failed to yield a 4+, ending the game.

Final Score: Harlequins: 8 Chaos: 6

Even though I won, if Rex had killed one more member of Green squad, they would have been reduced to 50%, gaining him another 2 VP’s resulting in an even tie. So we both considered it a draw. We didn’t have any missions (didn’t even think about them until the middle of turn 2). I think my jetbikes suffered the worst luck, as well as the worst of my stupidity. Four of my jetbikes accomplished nothing but the removal of ablative armor on the Dreadnought. One of them did go out-of-control after the rider was killed, and hit a terminator, but no damage was done. The other managed to kill a single terminator. Most of this was due to stupidity on my part. First, I deployed them on the far left. If I’d put them in the center, they could have hit the rhino before it unloaded, perhaps killing a termi or two. I also charged the Buanna-equipped one way forward, when I should have kept it back, and done pop-up attacks from afar. Then I forgot to move them, which made them easy prey for the berzerkers.

Actually, my dreadnought performed pretty poorly as well, killing only a 50pt juggernaut. I think that was mostly bad luck, as it’s done quite well in previous battles. Still, anyone who gets caught between an exalted champion and a Thunderhammer-equipped dreadnought is in big trouble any way you look at it.

The Avatar performed well, tying up Kharn for a few turns before killing him, which I felt was okay considering the Avatar costs 270 points, compared to Kharn’s 215. The only reason I won the combat was because of the multiple wounds inflicted by the Blades of Vaul. And a -4 save mod doesn’t hurt, either. Even with Praise of Khorne, Kharn still needed 6s to save, giving him a 25-in-36 chance of failing his save.

Another mistake was failing to use my Laithiriar (Neuro disruptor) on RoughRider when I had the chance. It was the best shot I had of taking him down after the dreadnought fell, and I botched it. That would have earned me another 3 VPs, and left my harlequins in position to assault the berzerkers.

On a side note, Rex does have a chaos dreadnought, but it's still in assembly stages. Then we can "say good-bye" to the Ronald McDonald lego eye-sore.

[James 40K Champ ***]

A note on models leaving combat:

A bloodthirster for exapmle could break combat with another monsterous target, however, you cannot declare a charge if you are in combat.. so you could break off and move away, but not engage until the following turn, obviously if youve not moved far enough, youl get charged again by that avatar.
Although a blood thirster could opt to fly away 20" you basically beaten him off, by keeping that avatar near the bulk of your army your protecting most of them, a clever enemy may be able to get a turn or two of combat in with their monster, but you will be able to keep chasing him off quite effectivley.

[Adoni-Zedek]

For anyone interested in relative sizes, here's a pic of the eldar and harlequin dreadnoughts, avatar, battlebeast stand-in for the harlequin avatar, and a regular harlequin all In a Line.

Any comments on my report? (Crappy, poorly written, horrible use of colons, you needed to purge yours after reading it, etc, etc.)

[tturen]

A closely fought game and it sounded fairly balanced all round. Always nice to read a bat rep. I am looking forward to one with pics though. Its a touch difficult to visualize the unit dispositions. Nice report though!

[Yarlen Fireblade]

I think you got lucky that the terminator squad fled, they probably would have turned the battle around.

A few of your tactical decisions are dubious.... Jetbike hit & run attacks on a Chaos dreadnaught are you out of your mind?
I'm sure your crazy close combat changes didn't help things.

[Adoni-Zedek]

Sorry there aren't more pictures. I got caught up in the game and forgot I was doing a battle report. So you're stuck with a lousy 6 shots. (they are underlined in the report, just click to see them)

Charging my bikes at the dreadnought was really dumb. No arguement there. In the future I will limit my hit-and-runs to models that can't fight back. Or at least models with a lower WS than mine. Hitting first really doesn't help you much if you can't hit at all. My crazy close combat rules actually helped, as I got to hit first (high initiative), but I still had to beat that high WS 7 the dread had. Still a waste of good (and expensive) jetbikes.

If the terminators hadn't fled, they'd have tied up my Avatar, and with Kharn's help, might have finished him off before moving into my harlequins. I was a little leary about charging the Avatar into the terminators, but since that was really the reason I brought him in, I figured I might as well use him as I intended.

[tturen]

Aplogies as I had missed the pic links entirely!