Dark Eldar + Harlies 1850

Hello again,

Now I bring a more "direct" list with lots of AP2, a must in today's meta.

CORPSETHIEF CLAW FORMATION

- 5 Talos with TL Splinter Cannons 600

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

- Lhamean in a Venom with two Splinter Cannons 75
- 3 Mandrakes 36
- 2 x 5 Kabalite Warriors in Venoms with two Splinter Cannons 105 x 2
- 2 x 3 Reavers with Cluster Caltrops 63 x 2
- 5 Scourges with 4 Haywire Blasters 120

HARLEQUINS MASQUE DETACHMENT

- Shadowseer level 1 mastery and The Mask of Secrets 75
- Troupe: Troupemaster with Harlequins Caress and 4 Players with Caress 135
- Troupe: Troupemaster with Harlequins Caress and 4 Players with Caress 135
- Troupe: Troupemaster with Harlequins Caress and 4 Players with Kisses 123
- 2 x Starweavers with 2 Shuriken Cannons 70 x 2
- Voidweaver with Haywire Cannon 75

I take the Masque Detachment as it gives the Crescendo rule, and it is very necessary to run and assault on the same turn for our paper-mache Harlies (they need to be assaulting every turn)
Also, the idea is to leave the Lhamean with 3 Mandrakes scouting and avoiding any enemy scouting's on my face. Her Venom would be then free, so it can transport a troupe, even if they cannot begin the game embarked in it because of the new FAQ's.
Scourges and Voidweaver give some ranged AT, but the task to chew up big things like IK's or WK's will lay on the troupes equiped with Caresses.
The Shadowseer would go in a Starweaver with the troupe with Embraces, and they are supposed to be close to the Talos formation to create a bubble of -3 Ld around them.

I hope you like this list!

Hey,

This list looks like it could be a lot of fun! I would definitely love to run it at my next tourney if it wasn't for the list building restrictions!

I think Ichor Injectors are awesome on the Taloi but I suppose with all the other power you've got they may not be necessary. That AP2 with Flesh Bane is just brutal though....I could see dropping the drakes for it but I'm not sure what else to make up the rest of the points.

You mention the Shadowseer would go in a Starweaver with a troupe with Embraces?? You mean the Kisses? But the -3 bubble could be hilarious for a Laugh of Sorrows etc.

Think the list could be very effective as you've got a lot of hard hitting units albeit flimsy but also some staying power in the Corpsethief. Maybe not the easiest to pilot but definitely rewarding! Love it!

Lhamaens are not Independant characters and thus can't be attached to other units.

One thing about Harlies is that they dont work well in small units. They are squishy, your gonna lose some, and that means in small squad they will drop below combat ready level on the first loss.

Thats why im not really excited about Starweaver squads.

Shadowseer needs level 2, desperately. Veil of Tears is the only realistic defense for Harlies.

Corpsethief, well, sometimes you take heavy stuff to act as fire magnet. And this thing is so hugely tough that it isnt. When i see something like this - im sure as hell would shoot other things and plainly ignore it. Harlies on foot would be number one, harlies in starweavers number2, reavers and scourges number 3.

And i think i will have some sucess killing squishy part of your army, while Corpsethief will slog forward spewing fire 6 a turn. Or slogging slightly faster 6+d6 not shooting anything. Whats your plan?

I do not agree with @Azdrubael. I've been playing harlequins allied with DE this past year to great success and MSU is definetly the way to go with them. Big squads gets killed as easily if not more than big 12 man squads on foot unless you get them invisibility+veil of tears, for wich you have to invest loads of points into shadowseers that turn useless if you dont have the initiative. Keep the squads as cheap and expendable as you can.

That being said, I really dislike this version of the harlequin kiss. Caresses are the way to go, not even debatable.

1 Scourge squad is not gonna get anything done. I would get rid of it and for its points swap the kisses for caresses (10p), an additional starweaver for the 3rd Troupe (70p), mastery lvl 2 for the shadowseer (20p) and heat lances for both 3 man reaver squads (10p each), or even better swap them for 2 extra venoms.

Corpsethief is amazing in the right hands and agains armies that doesnt have anything that can beat it at close combat or spam D or Grav weaponry. This means that is really good against some armies and really bad against anothers. A meta SW/DA, Eldar or marine list will ruin their day, so be wary of that and try to get creative in those matchups (remember outflanking with them is a possibility)

I see you are from Barcelona @Sturmvogel, I have some articles on spanish that might be of use.
Harlequin codex review
What harlequins bring to a Dark Eldar Army
How to use harlequin troupes properly

EDIT: Apparently you have to be logged in to see the links.

Hi again and thanks for your suggestions, are highly appreciated!

Ethan, yep Ichor Injectors are one of the things maybe I'll probably miss but Harlies provide a high amount of AP2 power so it would be a little redundant to take this upgrade on the Talos (and points are very tight) and yes, I meant Kisses, had a small internal debate between them and finally wrote the wrong ones :S

Amorrowlyday, you are right, I made a mistake there as I'm quite used to use Archons and Haemonculus, so I didn't realize that.
What I'll do is drop off the Mandrakes from the list and use those points to level up the Shadowseer and swap kisses for caresses on the third troupe.

Azdrubael, I disagree with you on the size of the squads, a big squad on foot is extremely easy to wipe out even with bolter fire and it is more difficult to hide it behind scenery.

Hi Bizarre! I had read all your articles and they have been extremely helpful to me, in fact I consider them "the Bible" about how to run Harlies!
That being said, are you sure no realiable ranged AT is the best way to go? I know Harlies can scratch hull points on everything but relying all that task without a plan B is a good idea? Also I won't be able to take down any high priority objective until turn 2-3 and that worries me...
I've never played DE with at least 1 unit of scourges (normally I run 2) and I feel a little uncomfortable with that idea. Voidweaver is not reliable enough to count on more than scratching one or two things during the game...
Also swapping reavers for venoms, do you think is it a good idea on Maelstrom? I love Venoms but this list has 5 TL Splinter cannons plus 4 more on the 2 Venoms, do I need more poison saturation?
Don't misunderstand me, I have great respect for your knowledge and experience, I'm just a little worried of not being able of capturing a far objective or not having a backup resource for f.e. a Vindicator sending me big "tortillas"...

Now I'm also quite excited to test the new formation on the Death Masuq box, doesn't look OP but could be fun to test it...

Well, I wouldnt describe Haywire Scourges as Reliable. They are a T3 4+ save unit with 24" range. They will get blown to bits after a round of shooting, specially if you only have one of them. If you really want haywire power, Talos can get twinlinked ones. Problem with them is the same as counting them as extra poisoned firepower if they carry twinlinked splinter cannons - They will likely not even use them becouse they most likely will be running all game long, wich means no shooting phase for them. Its not a bad choice though.

I think that with CTC and harlequin CC + 3 Starweavers + Voidweaver you have more than enough AV to work with, taking into consideration that the only army that really spams vehicles in the current meta are Space Marines.

If you wanna take reavers instead of venoms be my guest, they are a good unit. I just like the reliability of the venom more.

Thank you for the kind words!

@BizarreShowbiz - I have to disagree with you now!

Harlies in MSU are pants! The loss of 1-2 models means they wont get the job done. Running them in 8-10 seems to be the sweet spot in my experience with a shadowseer. Veil is all you need on them.

Also - the caress is actually worse on average. Its got a higher potential for damage but point for point - the kiss is more reliable statistically speaking. The kiss on every model with haywire on the troupe master is the way forward in my mind.

To each their own I guess. Problems I see with 7+ units of harlequins:

1. They cant start embarked in a transport. This means at best they will have to start disembarked and get aboard an empty FA Raider turn 1, and at worst, they'll have to go anywhere you want them to be on foot. Moving an average of 10UM per turn.
2. Veil of tears does nothing if you dont seize the initiative, and with T3 S5++, you are not gonna survive against any army with even mediocre long range firepower.
3. Veil of tears does near to nothing once you get 12UM away from the enemy. Exacly where you want to be.

The way I see it, there are only two ways you can try to field harlequins on foot:
1. Via webway portal with an archon with 2+ invulnerable save, hitting the backline of the enemy army and using the troupemaster to redirect wounds to the archon via LOS.
2. With the new Death Jester character of the Death Masque box, the Inriam's Spectre, that comes with the shrouded USR for 70p. With proper scenery and a shadowseer to give them veil, I can imagine them getting across the board given that the enemy has no ignore cover weapons. Still very risky.

And speaking about kisses vs caresses, I use troupes to deal with walkers, gargantuan creatures and invisible units becouse DE suck big time against those. Kisses do nothing against this targets hence why I think they are useless. If I wanted to field raw close combat AP2 I'd rather field Talos or Incubi. Both are more resilient and more cost efficient than kisses harlequins in that task. Heck, I'd even field embraces before kisses.

But hey, If foot slogging harlequins with kisses gets the job done for you, wow, I'm actually very impressed. You must be one hell of a Troupemaster, becouse I wouldnt be able to even get them to midtable against any meta list.

I might turn the response I had planned into a new topic to keep this thread on track...

Massaen wrote:

I might turn the response I had planned into a new topic to keep this thread on track...

Keep me posted, I would love to read what you have to say

BizarreShowbiz wrote:

Massaen wrote:

I might turn the response I had planned into a new topic to keep this thread on track...

Keep me posted, I would love to read what you have to say

Linky