2000 Point Freakshow: Dark Eldar, Craftworlders, Harlequins and ... ?

Hey everyone I have an army list that I think is really interesting. The list is what some call a "Freakshow" in that it takes advantage of negative modifiers to Leadership values. In addition, I took care to make sure it's balanced, although it does lack a bit in the anti-air department.

The other concept or theme running through this list is that I want it to be very appealing and interesting to look at, showcasing my best painting talents, while also presenting the onlooker with a coherent yet wide range of colours. The idea here is that the Harlequins are the ones pulling the strings, and I want that to be showcased by showing how the different shapes and colours of the miniature collection can be brought together to form a coherent whole.

The force begins with Harlequins, includes Dark Eldar and Craftworld units. Plus there's a guest appearance made by the Blood Angels. I've always liked the idea of Space Marines and Eldar working together, and for aesthetic reasons I went with "the red ones". I chose the Blood Angels because they're red and the miniatures have a lot of artistic value in terms of the details on the sculpts. Plus I soon realised that they're by far the most durable ob-sec unit in the army.


- 1x Troupe Master & 4x Players + 5x Harlequin's Embrace
- Death Jester
- Shadowseer + Master-level 2 psyker + Mask of Secrets
H.Q.: 170
- Succubus + Archite glaive + Webway portal + Agoniser + the Armour of Misery

Troops: 105
- 5x Kabalite warriors + Venom + Splinter cannon  

H.Q.: 150
- Haemonculus + Scissorhand
- Haemonculus

Elites: 230
- 5x Wracks + Venom + Splinter cannon
- 5x Wracks + Venom + Splinter cannon

H.Q.: 210
- Autarch + Banshee mask + Power weapon
- Farseer + Singing spear

Troops: 490
- 10x Dire Avengers + Wave Serpent + Bright lance
- 10x Dire Avengers + Wave Serpent + Bright lance

Fast Attack:
- Crimson Hunter

H.Q.:
- Sanguinary Priest

Troops: 165
- 5x Tactical Marines + Chainsword on the Sgt. + Heavy flamer + Razorback + Twin-linked lascannon

Total: 2000/2000


- The Autarch, Farseer, Succubus and the Haemonculus with the Scissorhand join the unit of Harlequins. With the Webway Portal they can deep strike without scattering, where needed. The Farseer can make use of the Telepathy psychic discipline to ruin someone's day in the psychic phase after deep striking, and the Shadowseer can use Veil of Tears to help isolate the unit against ranged attacks while the unit as a whole focuses on one opposing unit at a time.

When it comes time to assault in any of the preceding turns, the Deathjester can encourage the targeted enemy unit to move closer, the Shadowseer can use her Hallucinogen grenade launcher to help deny overwatch, but ultimately the Autarch with the Banshee mask will guarantee that overwatch isn't an issue.

All in all, this unit drops leadership values to at least -5 to -7 thanks to the combined presence of the Succubus and her Armour of Misery, the Haemonculus and his special rule Freakish Spectacle, the Mask of Secrets worn by the Shadowseer, plus the additional -2 granted by the Deathjester's special rule Death is Not Enough when he kills a model with the Shrieker Cannon. Note that the unit is Fearless thanks to the Haemonculus.

- Next are the anti-vehicle guns which are loaded on the Troop transports: two Bright Lances courtesy of the two Wave Serpents and a twin-linked lascannon thanks to our noble guests, the Blood Angels. For added insurance there's also the Crimson Hunter plus the Farseer's Singing Spear.

- As far as anti-infantry goes, the army has it in spades: three Venoms hanging back and causing havoc with two Splinter Cannons each, the Harlequins themselves can dish out more attacks than necessary, plus they have the support of all the Independent Characters that have joined them. There's also the Deathjester who has his Shrieker Cannon, there are Dire Avengers and of course the Spess Mareehnz with boltguns and a heavy flamer who can all wade in, on the action.

Note that the Succubus is kitted out to deal with anything too tough for Strength 3 space elves thanks to the combination of her Agoniser and Archite Glaive. Her wargear is basically the main insurance against things such as Monstrous Creatures, should they make it to close combat. I love the fact that she really gets to play out her role as the one who was chosen to take on any and all challengers.

When it comes to dealing with infantry, I worry that this unit might be so efficient so as to wipe out units, then get caught out in the open, only to be targeted by heavy ranged fire the next turn. The plan here would be to consolidate behind cover and/or use the Veil of Tears.

- For grabbing objectives, I like to work with objective-secured units. Nothing's more glorious than using a single model to steal the winning point from a horde of Orks or Cultists. In any case, I might have overdone it here but what we're looking at are two units of Dire Avengers with their dedicated transports. One of the units is joined by a Haemonculus from the Covens supplement and is therefore Fearless. The Blood Angels are in their Razorback and have Feel No Pain thanks to their Sanguinary Priest, and -- if need be -- there's a Venom with Kabalite Warriors that can steal the rug right from under the opponent, or at least contest an objective.

The main issue for me was deciding to go with Dire Avengers or Guardian Defenders. Ultimately I wanted to focus on giving my ob-sec units the best chance of survival, so I went with the Avengers.

- Finally there's the lone anti-air asset: the Crimson Hunter. Its' role is simply to patrol the skies and if it's the only flyer in the game (or alive), then it can hunt vehicles on the ground below.

That's it. Thoughts?

I feel like you have a lot of points wrapped up in a unit that is fairly vulnerable to shooting. That unit is 660 points, and their best saves are the 4++ on the farseer, and the 3+ on the autarch. Everyone else is rocking a 5++ save or worse for the most part. So, that being the case, any time you have a few mediocre to bad rolls for manifesting veil of tears, or on the range of veil of tears, this unit might just up and disappear. Sure, you have about a 50% chance of having invisibility. I'm talking about the OTHER 50% of the time. I don't like just accepting that 50% of the time my army won't function like I want it to.

So I'd either get some more psychic redundancy, or at the very least make the death jester in the cast of players the special death jester from the new board game that gives shrouded, that way you can at least get decent cover saves to make up for your lack of other saves.

This list, even modified, is never something I'd use. I have a completely different design philosophy when it comes to deathstars. In my mind, a deathstar must do 3 things, in order of importance: Survive, present a threat to a lot of units simultaneously, and have reliable mobility.

I feel like this list is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole when it comes to the idea of melee deathstars, putting too much into it for what it will output. When it really comes down to it, since they can't assault on the turn they arrive by webway portal, many units will be able to avoid being assaulted by this unit simply by playing keep away.

If I wanted to run a melee focussed eldar/DE coalition, I'd probably use either grotesques or khymera as my base. Khymera are nice because they're cheap and they can actually get really buffed up by farseers with sanctic and fate powers. Basically, you put sanctuary, fortune, and hammerhand on them, and suddenly they're S6 T4 12" move beasts with rerollable 4++ saves and 4 attacks on the charge for 10 points each.

For what you're currently spending on your deathstar, you could make 2 of these khymera pseudo-deathstars:

2 Farseers 200
12 Khymera 120

2 Farseers 200
12 Khymera 120

Or you could invest in grotesqueries, or whatever. Right now, you're all over the place with your list...no cohesion, and the one place you're focused(deathstar) doesn't look like it'd be all that effective for the points. That's enough points for 2 wraithknights.