[Autarch_Kalesh]

Please rank the difficulty of using this very versatile troop choice. Please assume the following: no transport, equipment upgrades, and combat effectiveness. Please back up your ranking with a post explaining why. As with all the other difficulty polls I am trying to put together a comprehensive rating of the Eldar armies list for our newer players.

*** I will be abstaining from this one because I have not played them yet ***

I am posting this as the Harlequins seems to be quite popular on the boards lately. LETS HAVE THAT ADVICE!

[Mystweaver]

7


I will give my reasons for my rank in the order of your catagories:

No Transport
The way I see them is that if you have a shadowseer, you dont need a transport. Area terrain does not slow them and they can fleet. Due to their cost it is not wise to provide transport them in a serpent; therefore if you are going to use transport a smaller unit in a Falcon appears to be the most popular option. If you are using a Falcon, chances are you are going to want to shoot with it too - this means moving up to 12"... so... on foot they are faster.

The most important factor to my decision here is not just that they are faster but that they are also protected greatly by the Veil of Tears power.

Due to their flip belts and their fleet I think they are the most manuverable footslogger available. The ONLY difficulty is if you include a Death Jester. If one of these is in your squad you will need to judge distance for two very important reasons: 1) You want to keep in range of the Shrieker Cannon and charge on the second turn & 2) Remain far away enough that there is a good chance you cant be shot at due to Veil of Tears.

Equipment Upgrades
In a previous post, there was the option of taking naked Harlequins. At first this might seem like a ludicrous idea, BUT it isnt possible although thier save is by far the worst out of the elite choices, they could be stuck in transport and get into combat that way. If so, on the charge they are better than Scorpions (but only because they have a very high initiative otherwise they are identicle).

Bare in mind this has not been play tested and all reasoning would suggest to NOT do this... Harlequins are made by their upgrades.

Shadowseers for me are a simple must take. If I take Harlequins, there will always be a shadowseer. Veil of Tears completely offsets any issues you might have with being worried about their crap save simply because its so darn hard to shoot at them. The only issue here is how you are your group play the rule. We play it as you read it i.e. It says that if you target the squad you have to roll... so for us this includes artillery and any other such thing. Reason behind choices are the fluff behind the shadowseer and the description of the spell... (a psychic power that misleads and confuses).

With my view on Death Jesters please read my post here.

I only ever take a Troup Master when I have the points to spend. I never give him a kiss and he always gets the power weapon. His 5 attacks on the charge are just horrific but then you are paying for it quite heavily in an already expensive unit. For that reason I use a Troup Master only sparingly.

Harlequins Kisses are a must without a doubt. But you have to be careful with them. It is recommended by most that you take give them out to only 60-80% of your squad. The reason for this is that when you massacre your harles will end up out in the open. I usually go with the 80%-100% simply because I am confident with them. So long as you engage every model but the back line - but at the same time ensure that the back line is within 2" of an engaged model you can wipe out a squad and have enough movement to give you enough of a chance to survive the return fire.

Kisses are so useful against so many things. Banshees and Scorpions simply cant deal effectively with anything with a high toughness... with the rending the kisses supply, they can murder anything... even armour (and when you get all your attacks in there you can even get those evil Armour 14 tanks!).

Fusion Pistol's I think are not worth the points. I am yet to take any as I would rather spend the points on Kisses and rely on the rending to kill whatever I might have shot the fusion pistol at.


Combat Effectiveness
Everyone fears Genestealers and Assault Cannons because of their rending. Harlequins are better. Spend 250 points on a squad and you get 10 Harlequins including a Shadowseer and 10 Kisses. On the charge thats 40 Rending attacks with the same strength as a Scorpion and a higher initiative than a Genestealer. Your opponent will be hard matched to meet or beat it.

If you allow your harlequins to be charged, chances are you will retain intiative and butcher them. If you do not kill them all odds are you might lose one or two harles... the ones without kisses go first. Then, you hit and run and charge another unit allowing another section of your army to finish off an already decimated squad.

Alternatively you can charge a unit, smack it about and when you dont kill it - hit and run through area terrain and remain behind it. If you get them into the right position it means the terrain is blocking line of sight and there is a very good chance they cannot charge you as they will have to move through the terrain or around it.

For this reason I will again restate that I think they are the most manuverable footslogger available.

As mentioned above, if you are so inclined; Harlequins are capable with kisses able to scramble the insides of a tank just as well as they scramble the insides of that Monkeigh they just gutted. Don't be afraid to put one or two harlies on that vehicle near that squad you just charged... chances are you will do some damage. Sure, it means you need to roll a 6 and then a 3 or more, but well.. you should get at least a glancing.



Anyway thats all for now.... gotta get back to some work.

[Wingates_hellsing]

I put 8, due tot he no upgrades, i believe that this is the factor that gives Harlies all their power.

[Yriel of Iyanden]

Actually, provided you have a basic understanding of Harlequins and essential upgrades, I don't find harlies to be a difficult unit to use. I voted "5".

There are only 2 essential upgrades for halries IMO- Shadowseer and the Harlequin's Kiss. Once you understand the importance of these upgrades- actually using the Harlies on the battlefield isn't terribly difficult.

The Shadowseer upgrade is ridiculously cheap if you think about it. For the cost of two basic marines I get the equivalent of plasma grenades, and the most severe targetting rules in the game. Harlequins are at their best moving through difficult terrain, so it only makes sense to buy them plasma grenades- via the Shadowseer option. And as if that isn't reason enough- who does prefer to get targetted past 24"?

The Harlequin's kiss is also a must. I liken it to having an option of taking a Space Marine without Power Armor. The squad's killing efficiency is radically increased with this obscenely reasonable upgrade.

The rest of the upgrades aren't absolutely necessary for Harlies, and more often than not I don't take any further upgrades.

Once you have figured out this unit well enough and field it with essential upgrades- it really isn't all that difficult using the unit.

[40kenthusiast]

I put 3, would have been a 1 or a 2 except for the fact that you have to get used to Hit And Run. Harlies are to assault troops as Immortals are to shooty troops. Misusing them would have to be deliberate.

[GedofParagon]

Mystweaver,

Excellent post on the utility of Harlies, and a nice recap of several recent posts. (I think of it as a refinement of raw materials! ) +1 Karma for your efforts.

Ged

PS: I have never used the harlies as they are out of character for my army, though I may create a harlie Kill team and then use them in some battles.

[Farseer_Emlyn]

Originally Posted by Ged of Paragon

Excellent post on the utility of Harlies, and a nice recap of several recent posts. (I think of it as a refinement of raw materials! ) +1 Karma for your efforts.
Ged

I concur - excellent assessment. BTW - I love your little kick butt avatar guy. I don't play Harlies so I can't really say for certain. They have enough special rules to warrant a slightly higher difficulty, though.

[LordBlacksteel]

I voted a 6, In my club I am the only Eldar player thus far. I have no Knowledge how they work. My only refrence is the Most Recent White Dwarf, and the Tactica they provided.

I look forward to trying them, when the new box set comes out.

LordBlacksteel

[korik1]

I voted 7 because they have to be used very precisely, they're like a scalpel that you use to lobotomize your opponent. However, they do break easily under certain conditions, such as close range shooting.