reavers or harlequins

Im running a boat heavy kabalite army with 284 points left to fill, I'm thinking either two squads of seven reaver jetbikes with cluster caltrops, or adding a cast of players formation from the harlequins? want to know others opinion. Thanks in advance

I'd go with the Reavers as I'm not a fan of the Cast of Players formation, due to the characters being forced to remain in the squad.

Is it for a friendly or competitive match-up?

In ITC missions or missions that have turn by turn scoring the reavers are a superior choice.
With a 36" turbo boost and skilled rider you can get to any objective or table edge to score points
Since you can take 2 6 man squads with x2 CC for the cost of a Cast of Players that gives you twice the scoring

however

Harelquins with Caress (allows auto wound or auto glance on a 6 to hit) hits like a ton of bricks
(unit of 5 on the charge has 16 attacks, so 2 2/3 HP on average) vs Reaver bikes (on average 7 CC HoW hits at ST 6, of which 1 rends). The Shadowseer does not generate enough WC on his own so vs psyker heavy armies you will rarely get your powers off (Eldar, Libby Conclaves, Summoning Demons) but against non psyker lists (Necrons, KDK, Green Tide) you have more options.

example
Move forward - Psychic Shriek - run with Fleet back behind cover or
Move forward - Hallucigenic Launcher - charge
(combo both with Mask of Secrets & Freak show or other artifacts that lower Ld)

Veil of Tears & Dance of Shadows & Fog of Dreams keeps units alive
Cast of Players gives DA & EC units Crusaser (limited 6" range) handy but not awesome

Bottom Line - in my experience I have a tough time keeping the harlequins alive compared to the reavers. On paper it should work either way, so I blame pilot error (ie me)

Very nice breakdown Render Noir. Just a small note, you can't use Fleet to re-roll Reaver assault moves. It specifies rerolling an Charge range and moving in the Assault Phase isn't Charging.

Moreover, reavers don't have fleet

Looking forward to the next DE book where every Reaver bike can have Cluster Caltrops...

Dyemor wrote:

Looking forward to the next DE book where every Reaver bike can have Cluster Caltrops...

Considering how GW treat "some" codi, they will rather nerf reavers to crap. And then boost necron wraiths once again.

Like removing skilled rider, and making bladevanes AP5 rather than rending? Of course, this will happen in 9th edition...  

A relevant question: Will your cast of players be on foot, or they hitching a ride in a raider?

apologize for the confusion

The fleet reference was talking about the Harelquins, not the reavers

I've just bought some Reavers myself. As much as I like the background on Harlequins I'm very much trying to play my Dark Eldar without the need for allies.

Saying that, I may get a Shadowseer and Deathjester in for negative leadership lols

Reaver units. They are far more versatile

Harlequins are far more fun

Thanks for your responses, to answer chickendinners question its for semi-competive gamrs amongst friends, and as for paynetrayns question the quins will be on foot due to lack of points for spare raider

If the harlequins will be on foot, I'd say Reavers for the enhanced mobility.

Yeah, +1 for Reavers in that instance. The 36" turbo boost is invaluable.

Definitely no harlequins on foot!

The heroes path is similar points to a cast and fairly durable with stealth and shrouded. Infiltrate positions the shadow seer well for all her powers. The death jesters "death is not enough" rule is just fun and I used it the other day to force two squads into charge range of my solitaire who just ate 3 backfield squads of marines.

I second a Heroes Path if you want something fun with lots of special rules and adding a psyker. Also probably cheaper money wise if you don't get the bikes off ebay. Still crazy expensive for 3 tiny plastic men, but I guess if we wanted a fat wallet we'd have another hobby.

That said, the reaver jetbikes are probably the most flexible and sensible choice.

To second what some have already said, if the choice is between Reavers and Harlequins on foot, then go with Reavers. Harlequins on foot die to a stiff breeze and lack the versatility of Reavers. However, if hte choice is between Reavers and Skyweavers (Harlequin jetbikes), then I'd probably go with the latter even though they are VERY pricey, as they in addition to their movement, they come stock with Shuriken Cannons and if upgraded with Zephyr Glaives, can wreck face (without relying on sixes) in close combat. I think they're the real gems of the Harlequin codex.

Reavers would be my choice as well. However for just under 700 pts you can get a masque formation with transports. 3x5 caress armed troupe are pretty tasty and give you something to do with those wyches you might have lying around lol. The other thing worth considering is that they will deal with wraithknights and mech better than reavers, especially if you include some shadowseers. That army generally stomps all over high value models/units.

sweetbacon wrote:

To second what some have already said, if the choice is between Reavers and Harlequins on foot, then go with Reavers.  Harlequins on foot die to a stiff breeze and lack the versatility of Reavers.  However, if hte choice is between Reavers and Skyweavers (Harlequin jetbikes), then I'd probably go with the latter even though they are VERY pricey, as they in addition to their movement, they come stock with Shuriken Cannons and if upgraded with Zephyr Glaives, can wreck face (without relying on sixes) in close combat.  I think they're the real gems of the Harlequin codex.  

Hmmm Skyweavers, really? I'll have another look at those...