40K 8th Edition Harlequins
One of the weird choices I made was to collect Harlequins before collecting Eldar. My reasons were not based on the models or their stats... I was attracted by their lore. I've always played Bards in Dungeons and Dragons, and the idea of an army of the spoony clowns was just too good an opportunity to miss!
My experience with them has been similar to everyone else's: Everything goes well, and then the enemy hits back.
The rules for 8th Edition Harlequins have dropped over at Warhammer Community, and since the Grey Knight reveal is taking an age to sift through, we'll start with this.
Rampant speculation, but since the Troupe Leader is now missing from the Troupe data sheet, we can quite safely say that Harlies have an HQ.
About time really.
Are your Troupes. The data sheet below is... well, stunning really.
Yes, you read that correctly. Four base attacks. on each Player. Ouch!
But the Toughness 3 and Invulnerable save are still there, but it's bumped up to 4+. This is still fairly fragile, but what do you expect for Eldar? The one wound for each also makes them easy to knock down, but the clowns that do make it into combat will have more than enough attacks to make up for it!
8 inch move is ridiculous, particularly combined with the Rising Crescendo rule below. Flip belts are like a light version of Fly, but without any of the issues that may affect models with the Fly key word. It lacks the nifty bit about Falling Back and shooting, but... well read on.
The weapons are better. With Hammer of Wraths gone, the embrace becomes a super rending weapon (or a power sword wielded by a Space Marine). The Caress has lost it's auto-glancing capability, but now is just generally better at hitting stuff thanks to a high strength and AP-2 (or a Space Marine with an axe). The Kiss has become solid again, with a single player maxing out at 12 damage a turn with lucky rolling (or a Space Marine holding a... actually this one is unique!).
The Shadowseer is mentioned, and appears to be rocking his Miststave from before. It's just a rebranded Force staff, so +2 Str, -1 AP and d3 Damage. No word on any Psychic powers he has, but his ability (Shield From Harm) gives a -1 To Wound rolls for nearby Quins.
With him around, close combat with Marines basically becomes even, but with the Harlequins winning out due to sheer weight of attacks.
Probably not surprising Games Workshop are leading with this guy, as he's easily the most potent of the Quins.
At a base speed of 12 inches, he's already lightning fast before you pile on the Harlequin special rule. he has the Flipbelt, so will ignore terrain and other models. This can put him right in charge range of that character who thought he was safe behind of wall of meat shields, as he does a 100m summersault over their heads.
He has a 3+ invulnerable save, which gives him a nice shell of protection, and since Instant Deaths are gone, can probably make it to combat before getting vaporised by a lascannon.
Blitz is back, as a one time use extra 2d6-inch move, along with 2 extra attacks. This stacks really well with the Harlequin special rule, which I'v been saving for last... or now actually
This single rule turns all your Harlies into flying units, but better. Running and charging is good on its own, effectively turning the Quins into the 40K equivalent of Ironjaws... not just fast, but deceptively faster.
Troupes will be moving at an average of 11.5 inches, and then charging an average 7 inches after that.
The Solitaire maxes out at a 30 inch move and a 12 inch charge! He literally back flips across the battlefield to stomp your standard bearers face in!
Which is why they had to make the transport so good for people to still by the model...
This was revealed a while back in the vehicle reveal, and there's a little more information to be revealed now.
Miarage Launchers now give a -1 To Hit against shooting attacks. It's also cheap compared to the Harlequin Troupe... and hits about the same in combat. And can tank better.
Why is it cheaper? Oh less attacks.
Since disembarking from a transport happens at the start of the move phase, you're unlikely to get a first turn charge with your passengers. You can, however, charge with the Starweaver for a reasonable chance at getting to into close combat.
It has the Fly rule as well, meaning you can zip out of unfavourable combat and shoot your canons in the next turn. It's open-topped, allowing your passengers to shoot with pistols even in combat. They've basically turned the Harlquins into confetti Dark Eldar with this, but with an even stronger focus on close combat.
I'd like to know if you can disembark into close combat, or if the transport can Fall Back and then have it's passengers disembark. That would make for some really cool synergies for the Harlies, but I think most armies will want to Fall Back from the close combat clown car anyway. At which point you disembark/tumble out of the burning wreckage and charge!
The changes to how blast templates work make Haywire canons a really viable alternative to Shuriken canons, and with the Jink rule being made redundant by a 4+ invulnerable save and not being in this edition, your Skyweavers can become a fairly nasty tank hunting unit.
Jury will be out on the Voidweaver, but I can't see many of those kits being made into anything but Starweavers any time soon... despite good changes to Haywire and Prism blast weapons.
The fact that anything can be wounded on 6s now despite weak strength is a massive buff to the Quins. Strength 3 matters a little less with the new To-Wound chart, and Toughness 3 is less of a problem for any weapon below Strength 6.
There's probably something else I'm missing here, but I have to get back to boarding duty. Needless to say I'm glad I gave my Quins a Dettol dunk so I can repaint them for 8th Edition!
Until next time!
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you have anything you want me to look at, let me know in the comments below. I'll probably be able to write an article about that topic within a day!
If you really love what I do here, you can make a one off donation at my PayPal, or become a true hero to table top education and make a regular donation to my Patreon. Every Little helps!
My experience with them has been similar to everyone else's: Everything goes well, and then the enemy hits back.
The rules for 8th Edition Harlequins have dropped over at Warhammer Community, and since the Grey Knight reveal is taking an age to sift through, we'll start with this.
HQ
Rampant speculation, but since the Troupe Leader is now missing from the Troupe data sheet, we can quite safely say that Harlies have an HQ.
About time really.
Troops
Are your Troupes. The data sheet below is... well, stunning really.
Yes, you read that correctly. Four base attacks. on each Player. Ouch!
But the Toughness 3 and Invulnerable save are still there, but it's bumped up to 4+. This is still fairly fragile, but what do you expect for Eldar? The one wound for each also makes them easy to knock down, but the clowns that do make it into combat will have more than enough attacks to make up for it!
8 inch move is ridiculous, particularly combined with the Rising Crescendo rule below. Flip belts are like a light version of Fly, but without any of the issues that may affect models with the Fly key word. It lacks the nifty bit about Falling Back and shooting, but... well read on.
The weapons are better. With Hammer of Wraths gone, the embrace becomes a super rending weapon (or a power sword wielded by a Space Marine). The Caress has lost it's auto-glancing capability, but now is just generally better at hitting stuff thanks to a high strength and AP-2 (or a Space Marine with an axe). The Kiss has become solid again, with a single player maxing out at 12 damage a turn with lucky rolling (or a Space Marine holding a... actually this one is unique!).
Elite/HQ?
Since we don't know where these units will fall yet, we'll just leave them as a question mark.Shadowseer
The Shadowseer is mentioned, and appears to be rocking his Miststave from before. It's just a rebranded Force staff, so +2 Str, -1 AP and d3 Damage. No word on any Psychic powers he has, but his ability (Shield From Harm) gives a -1 To Wound rolls for nearby Quins.
With him around, close combat with Marines basically becomes even, but with the Harlequins winning out due to sheer weight of attacks.
Solitaire
Probably not surprising Games Workshop are leading with this guy, as he's easily the most potent of the Quins.
At a base speed of 12 inches, he's already lightning fast before you pile on the Harlequin special rule. he has the Flipbelt, so will ignore terrain and other models. This can put him right in charge range of that character who thought he was safe behind of wall of meat shields, as he does a 100m summersault over their heads.
He has a 3+ invulnerable save, which gives him a nice shell of protection, and since Instant Deaths are gone, can probably make it to combat before getting vaporised by a lascannon.
Blitz is back, as a one time use extra 2d6-inch move, along with 2 extra attacks. This stacks really well with the Harlequin special rule, which I'v been saving for last... or now actually
Special Rule
This single rule turns all your Harlies into flying units, but better. Running and charging is good on its own, effectively turning the Quins into the 40K equivalent of Ironjaws... not just fast, but deceptively faster.
Troupes will be moving at an average of 11.5 inches, and then charging an average 7 inches after that.
The Solitaire maxes out at a 30 inch move and a 12 inch charge! He literally back flips across the battlefield to stomp your standard bearers face in!
Which is why they had to make the transport so good for people to still by the model...
Transports
This was revealed a while back in the vehicle reveal, and there's a little more information to be revealed now.
Miarage Launchers now give a -1 To Hit against shooting attacks. It's also cheap compared to the Harlequin Troupe... and hits about the same in combat. And can tank better.
Why is it cheaper? Oh less attacks.
Since disembarking from a transport happens at the start of the move phase, you're unlikely to get a first turn charge with your passengers. You can, however, charge with the Starweaver for a reasonable chance at getting to into close combat.
It has the Fly rule as well, meaning you can zip out of unfavourable combat and shoot your canons in the next turn. It's open-topped, allowing your passengers to shoot with pistols even in combat. They've basically turned the Harlquins into confetti Dark Eldar with this, but with an even stronger focus on close combat.
I'd like to know if you can disembark into close combat, or if the transport can Fall Back and then have it's passengers disembark. That would make for some really cool synergies for the Harlies, but I think most armies will want to Fall Back from the close combat clown car anyway. At which point you disembark/tumble out of the burning wreckage and charge!
Other things
The changes to how blast templates work make Haywire canons a really viable alternative to Shuriken canons, and with the Jink rule being made redundant by a 4+ invulnerable save and not being in this edition, your Skyweavers can become a fairly nasty tank hunting unit.
Jury will be out on the Voidweaver, but I can't see many of those kits being made into anything but Starweavers any time soon... despite good changes to Haywire and Prism blast weapons.
The fact that anything can be wounded on 6s now despite weak strength is a massive buff to the Quins. Strength 3 matters a little less with the new To-Wound chart, and Toughness 3 is less of a problem for any weapon below Strength 6.
There's probably something else I'm missing here, but I have to get back to boarding duty. Needless to say I'm glad I gave my Quins a Dettol dunk so I can repaint them for 8th Edition!
Until next time!
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you have anything you want me to look at, let me know in the comments below. I'll probably be able to write an article about that topic within a day!
If you really love what I do here, you can make a one off donation at my PayPal, or become a true hero to table top education and make a regular donation to my Patreon. Every Little helps!
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