Harlequins

I'm thinking about adding harlequins to my force by converting witches. Additionally: what kind of formations do exist to field them?

Infantry based formations.

Cast of player.
1x troupe
1x shadowseer
1x death jester
IC must deploy with the troupe and cannot leave the unit.
Crusader, allied eldar factions in 6" gain crusader.

Heroes Path
1x shadowseer
1x death jester
1x solitaire
They cannot join with units or IC.
Stealth, infiltrate, shrouded

Thats what I can remeber off the top of my head. Don't have my codex with me at the moment.

In addition to Heroes' Path and Cast of Players, there are several others of varying utility. All of them, apart from Heroes' Path and Cast of Players, require jetbikes and vehicles.

Cegorach's Jest
1 x Troupe
1 x Skyweaver jetbikes
1 x Voidweaver
Fleet models get the ability to Run and Charge in the same turn from turn 2 onwards.

Faolchu's Blade
2 x Skyweaver jetbikes
1 x Voidweaver
All models in the formation get to re-roll Jink saves, which can be decent if the Skyweavers are equipped for assaults.

The Serpent's Brood
3 x Troupe
3 x Starweaver transports (must be taken as dedicated transports for Troupes)
2 x Skyweaver jetbikes
1 x Voidweaver
If you take a Troupe Master as a warlord, you get to re-roll your Warlord trait if it's from Codex Harlequins.
Troupes may use Hit & Run and Consolidate movements to embark on Starweavers

Cegorach's Revenge (aka "The Big One")
1 x Solitaire
3 x Death Jester
3 x Shadowseer
3 x Troupe
2 x Skyweaver jetbikes
1 x Voidweaver
If you take a Troupe Master as a warlord, you get to re-roll your Warlord trait if it's from Codex Harlequins.
Fleet models get the ability to Run and Charge in the same turn from turn 2 onwards.
Re-roll all invulnerable save results of 1 (particularly good for Solitaires, models with the Starmist Raiment, and vehicles using Mirage Launchers)

Then there's the Masque detachment, which is 3 Troupes, 2 Fast Attack (Skyweaver jetbikes or Starweaver transports), 1 unit of Voidweavers, and up to 7 Elites (Solitaire, Shadowseers and Death Jesters).  It's basically the same as Cegorach's Revenge, except you don't get to re-roll 1s on invulnerable saves.

Not a bad one in the bunch. I prefer the Heroes Path, because that's got everything my Freakshows want in one place.

in the heroes path, do they come as a unit or just 3 standalone guys

doriii wrote:

in the heroes path, do they come as a unit or just 3 standalone guys

They are stand alone, and the easiest to add. The next easiest to include is the cast of players, or falchu blade.

I like all of the harlequin formations except the serpents brood. It's good but once I have to take that much stuff I would rather have the run charge. The nice thing about the masque detachment is that you don't have to take a specific set of elites. The annoying part is that most of them are hard to add into an army, they are just so spendy.

I use The Heroes' Path, which is so so for me so far (2+ cover is awesome only if the enemy have no means to ignore cover, and they're T3 5++ except for Solitaire)

I've ordered a box of troupes today to try Cast of Players. Does anybody use this formation? Can Crusader (+ Ld shenanigans) be helpful to my covens?

Up until recently, the Cast of Players (usually in a Raider) and the Heroes' Path (all of whom I mount in Venoms) were my only options for Harlequins. I just got a hold of some bikes, so I can start fielding the other formations, too.

I find the Venoms give your Heroes' Path ICs much greater survivability. (Plus Deep Strike, which is tasty.) I almost exclusively run Freakshow (the Leadership shenanigans you mention) lists, and the Heroes' Path is one of my powerhouse picks.

Falchous blade. 12 bikes total and three voidweavers that reroll jinks of 1.

So far I've only run my freak show with a cast of players. Could you please walk me through how you would do it with the heroes path?

how do you normally/best equip the players? and squad size

I tried the cast of players last week and have to say I wasn't that impressed. They were good in close combat but the fact that the Death Jester can't leave the unit made him almost worthless as he could either fire his gun or let the unit run. I was partially hindered by having their transport be shot out from underneath them (despite invisibility and a 3+ jink) and leaving them out of position but even so it felt like a tax.

I usually stick them in a raider with an archon with armour of misery and a webway portal. Add a shadowfield, and keep him at the front so he can soak up any shots.

I give the raider torment grenade launchers, disintegrator canon, and night shields. He will almost certainly be jinking.

I found that a second archon with the archangel of pain can also be ridiculously effective, not only because it can take out a whole gunline by itself, but the extra shadowfields saves are crazy.

Honestly the more points you sink into that unit the better it becomes; its one of the few strategies where marginal returns definitively increase, so don't be too afraid to pay those points.

I think the ideal loud out to make them a complete jack of all trades is having 4-5 players with kisses, then giving all your characters, except maybe for the troupe master and the shadowseer, haywire grenades. Sprinkle in 3-4fusion pistols if you want to take out a knight on the turn they come in.

That unit won me last week's game against tau; I highly recommend at least giving it a shot.

Tried heroes path, won 24-0. Opponent asked for a re-match. Won again, but 20-5.

They're awesome (except the DJ) if you know how to use them. Take psy shriek and one roll on Phatasmwhateversy. And mirror mask. He one-shots small marine unit with it. They work as great distractive (And destructive) hammers while the rest of your army can focus on achieving TOs.

Do you have a reliable way of getting the seer close enough to get the effect of the mask? Tips to keep him alive? One reason I prefer the cast is to add in a bodyguard unit.

Sounds interesting though, I do have an unpainted solitaire waiting. How do you use him by the way? I've never played him, but feel like him being used successfully is very circumstantial.

Why not putting him in a spare Venom or Raider to keep him safe?

chickendinner wrote:

Do you have a reliable way of getting the seer close enough to get the effect of the mask? Tips to keep him alive? One reason I prefer the cast is to add in a bodyguard unit.

Sounds interesting though, I do have an unpainted solitaire waiting. How do you use him by the way? I've never played him, but feel like him being used successfully is very circumstantial.

Give him a Venom as a DT and Deep Strike him.

Lol the seer in his private venom:

They see me jinkin'
They hatin'
Testing to see if I'm shreiky or scary

In all seriousness it sounds good. I'll give it a go.

He has stealth + shrouded + move trough cover which gives one hell of a cover save + he's often surrounded or near high priority targets.

Jimsolo wrote:

I almost exclusively run Freakshow (the Leadership shenanigans you mention) lists, and the Heroes' Path is one of my powerhouse picks.

Could you show me some example lists for this tactics? I'm so interested in it!

Add: The Heroes' Path ICs cannot confer their stealth/shrouded to their venom, right?

Here you are. That's a link to part 4 of the series: sample army lists.

No, alas, the Stealth and Shrouded don't confer. If your vehicle is wrecked though, you can always hop out on the other side, in order to get a 2+ cover save for the occupant. Since it isn't a Dedicated Transport, their Infiltrate also doesn't grant the Venom Outflank, but of course it can still deep strike!

A Solitary Path special rule is applied to the members of the heroes' path

Quote :

Models in this Formation cannot join other units, nor can they be joined by other characters

Is it allowed to put these models in Venom, Starweaver, or the other Eldar transports?

lelith wrote:

A Solitary Path special rule is applied to the members of the heroes' path

Quote :

Models in this Formation cannot join other units, nor can they be joined by other characters

Is it allowed to put these models in Venom, Starweaver, or the other Eldar transports?

Absolutely. Embarking on a transport is in no way the same as joining another unit.

Count Adhemar wrote:

lelith wrote:

A Solitary Path special rule is applied to the members of the heroes' path

Quote :

Models in this Formation cannot join other units, nor can they be joined by other characters

Is it allowed to put these models in Venom, Starweaver, or the other Eldar transports?

Absolutely. Embarking on a transport is in no way the same as joining another unit.

Thank you so much! I'll try this tactics as soon as I paint my Solitaire!