On Harlequins

Now that I have a few games under my belt with the new dex I wanted to take a little time and discuss my experience. Firstly, this is going to be a positive review, so I figured I'd warn people about that up front. That said I do acknowledge that Harlequins will not fit in with everyone's play style and those people will simply find them too expensive and noncompetitive.

I have experience primarily with two formations, the Cast of Players and The Heroes Path.  These two formations work well together, but also hold up independently if used correctly.  While the anti infantry shooting is particularly destructive now the most fun aspect of using them is that having them in my force has restored assault to my games.  I don't just mean a little, I mean I'm disrupting opponents and dictating phases of the game by using them to pressure opposing spearheads or vulnerable forces.

Don't discount their shooting.  The Death Jester rule combined with the Mask of Secrets is an enormously mean combo.  The Cast of Players benefits from that combo immensely because it rewards aggressive play.  A unit that is most likely out of charge range can take a casualty from the jester and suddenly launch itself forward all but guaranteeing that your unit will suddenly make the charge.  It means the cast can slingshot across the board far quicker than your opponent expects and this can quickly collapse their line or stall their entire army as they attempt to fend off this new, dire threat.  A supporting Heroes Path jester has the freedom to support the cast with a second chance to break a unit, or fire at a separate threat and stand a good chance at breaking them.

Don't be afraid to add in the occasional fusion pistol or neuro disruptor.  The dependable ap2 can be a shock for opponents, especially when a couple bladestorm rolls go your way.

Psychic Support from a farseer has been integral for me.  Fortune can make even the 5++ a real headache for your opponent.  At other times Guide, Prescience, and Doom have all made drastic differences for the unit as well.  I haven't had much luck with the Harlequin powers themselves, but that's more due to my lackluster dice rolling than anything else.

I still like the Harlequin's caress, but the real money, for me, has been the Kiss.  having a cluster of them is like insurance.  When I first saw the rules I was pretty skeptical about the Kiss, but in play it really won me over.

Warlord trait: I pretty much always give the trait to a Troupe Master now because in general I don't really like the standard Eldar traits at all.  When playing a mixed Harlequin/Craftworld list a farseer becomes far more survivable since he's not worth a point for warlord.

The Solitaire: He gets his own little section because he's such a unique unit.  He's so vulnerable, but so effective... if the dice hold up.  I have had situations where his blitz move had a great roll but duffed his attacks, and the opposite.  I recommend, when you do use the blitz move, that you make certain you've got a unit near enough that you can get in to charge range even with an abysmal roll (an insurance target).  I've become less of a fan of the Deep Strike technique for him, preferring to have him speeding across the board from cover to cover, but it really depends on the opponent and what is in his force.  For all the threat the model embodies, I think there is the danger to try to expect too much from him.  He will excel in most challenges, and if possible he's excellent pairing up with a charging squad of harlequins in order to slaughter or stonewall a combat character that would otherwise tromp through the squad.  Most characters that are forced to give and accept challenges will learn to fear the Solitaire.  

That wall of text is pretty much all for now, but I hope to get some more info up and available as I get some more games played with the new units.  My current preconceptions are that the Voidweaver's Prismatic Cannon will most often be something I swap out for a haywire cannon because I'm not a fan of the lance version, and I'm slightly worried that the Skyweaver bikes won't work like I'm imagining and I'll be slow to pick up their nuances.  I'm looking forward to more testing!

I am Solitaire!

After more than 15 years the solitaire is back in my army.

Fully painted and ready to slay.

Photographed in natural light:

One Year On - Unit Review: Fast Attack

Oddly there is a rumor of a new Harlequin codex or supplement coming soon, which will hopefully address some of the concerns I mentioned in my post on Elites. I look forward to it, despite my surety the Solitaire will have no rules in the book.

Crimson Hunter

I want this unit to come as a squadron because it would feel right as an aspect. I enjoy this unit.

Game Play - a solid unit, and I use them often. Vector dancer is an amazing rule, but it is a fragile unit.

In 7th: pretty much the same as in 6th, though Jink has improved. One is ok, but two are better. If you roll as poorly as I do you'll also upgrade one to an Exarch, and then probably fail to pen anyway.

Swooping Hawks

This unit received a huge boost in a point reduction and an additional shot per weapon and deep strike without scatter. Also the exarch received the ability to simply purchase a power sword without giving up a good gun.

Game Play - there isn't much not to love about this unit. In a pinch they can finish off a wounded vehicle with a Haywire thrown by an Exarch, and the squad can take down an Imperial knight in a single round of combat. What their guns lack in strength they make up in volume.

Phoenix Lord - I have not used Baharroth, but I like his rules (the addition of the invul is notable) and he makes the unit even faster, capable of repositioning very quickly. blinding units on the deep strike allows them to affect multiple units in a single turn, as can clever positioning compared to where the grenade pack drops.

In 7th:  Scoring is an improvement on a solid unit.

Warp Spiders

This unit was awful in 3rd edition, and has seen steady improvement ever since. It is now, in my opinion, the best unit in the game. Fast, solid save, powerful short range shooting that threatens anything shy of AV 14. The only down spot is the models are over 20 years old and static.

Game Play - If wielded like a scalpel they are brutally efficient. They are flexible enough to target heavy or light infantry, monstrous creatures or light to mid armor vehicles. With deep strike or their insane move distance per turn they can get where you need them when you need them.

In 7th:  The ability to score objectives has boosted them from stars to super stars.

Hemlock

Possibly the most maligned unit in the book at its release I enjoyed its less than direct approach to warfare.

Game Play - be aggressive and keep it close to opponents you intend to force break tests on.

In 7th:  now it can cast psychic shriek and cast on the turn it arrives (and shoot swooping monstrous creatures). 7th has made it a nightmare to units like broadsides.

Shining Spears

Shining Spears received a 10ppm price reduction in this book making them a unit I strongly consider, but they retained the AP3 in close combat.  They also received skilled rider and outflank thrown on.

Gameplay - In 4th edition they were a unit I would aim at terminators, but now they're a unit only suited to taking on small units of heavy infantry as they've been reduced to AP 3.  Their actual damage output is very low on the charge because they cannot get a bonus attack, but their shooting is slightly improved with bladestorm.  They need support in the form of an attached Autarch (who now only gives 5 bonus attacks, as opposed to the 6 he could previously give with the scorpion helm.  An exarch is still required (for hit and run and a little oomf), but the overall cost of a unit has thankfully been reduced.  I ran a unit of 5 supported by an autarch, which made them expensive, but deadly.  I haven't run them in 7th, but with the reduced cost I might simply run 5 with no support character and see how it goes.  The ability to run 6 fully tricked out for under 200 pts is an excellent option as well, but they are one of the units that are not for amateur players.  You need to have a plan, and stick with it, and once you've had a good game with them expect they become a priority target for your opponents.

Vyper

Here have some BS4 and bladestorm.  Really that's the only change from the previous book, but if you liked to upgrade your turret weapon the upgrades got cheaper.

Gameplay - This really hasn't changed.  For me I run them in a squadron of 3, each with dual shuriken cannons.  The change to jink does hit their output, but if you focus more on intervening terrain to provide cover rather than jinking you'll get an idea of just how gross their firepower can be.  They hit more and are occasionally AP2, all in a tidy package for 180 pts.  They're flexible enough to take on light to medium vehicles and have a high enough volume of fire (That's 18 BS4 shots at str 6 ap 5 bladestorm) to scare light and heavy infantry alike.  Also, opponents often deprioritize them in favor of other targets, so in the early game you can use them aggressively and force your opponent not to ignore them.

OVERALL

Eldar may have the best Fast Attack section in the game.  Most players will take Warp Spiders in just about every list, and Swooping Hawks finally 

BUILDS

Warp Spiders: 8 with an Exarch with Spinneret rifle and Fast shot.  You can absorb a couple casualties and still be terrifying.

Swooping Hawks: 7 with an Exarch with sunrifle allows you the big blast when you drop, small arms fire that will shock your opponent, and their grenades make them a counter to the ever-present threat that is an imperial knight.

Crimson Hunter: Exarch.  That upgrade is worth it for the bump in BS.  The Marksmen upgrade is solid if you want to surprise your opponent and force some look out sir rolls.

Hemlock: it has no options, but should definitely be run.

Shining Spears: 6 with an Exarch with star lance, hit and run, and monster hunter.

Vypers: 3, each with dual shuriken cannons.

The Stand - an apocalypse scenario

Well, it's been just over a month since I published something, and that's mostly been because of the holidays, but I also spent a few weeks in Hong Kong.  I've been working on editing a battle report from November, an Apocalypse game I played, but it takes a while.  For anyone that's watched one of my reports, I try to do quite a bit of editing.

As a pre-amble to the completion and eventual release of that video I figured I'd share the scenario that we played.  As a caveat, this scenario was built and agreed to by both my opponent and me.  I used a scenario from Valedor as the foundation for this scenario.  In the Valedor scenario the Eldar go First with no chance to seize.  I also crafted fluff to build this game in to the Myrddin Campaign and it had an effect on the army design.

The Stand

Myrddin is in ruins as the Imperium has become embroiled in a war that rages across the whole of the planet.  The destruction wrought by the forces of chaos, and no available assistance from the Ordo Malleus have forced the hand of humanity to reach out to the Tau Empire for reinforcements.  As a powerful Space Marine Librarium in a nearby strike cruiser scours the ephemeral aura of the planet to divine the location of massive warp incursions they direct a combined force of Imperial Guard and tau in a pincer attack towards a powerful pulse of psychic energy.  Little do they know it is not a nest of daemons they approach, but an Eldar warhost, freshly entered from the webway and empowered with the psychic might of nearly the entire Farseer Council of Ulthwe.

Deployment: The allied forces must set up within 18" of either short edges.  The Eldar player must set up within 12" of the (short) center line of the table.  Infiltrate and scout rules are not used in this scenario.  Allied forces entering from reserve enter from either short edges, decided as if they were outflanking.  Eldar forces entering from reserve enter from either long table edges decided as if they were outflanking.  Units that fall back do so towards the nearest appropriate table edge (short - allies, long - Eldar).

First Turn: Allied forces get the first turn, however Eldar units count as having moved in the prior turn.

Game Length: Random Game Length

Victory Conditions: If the allied forces hold the gate they win.  Otherwise six objectives will be placed as normal and strategic victory points will determine victory.

Advance EMP: At the start of any Eldar Movement Phase after the first turn any Eldar Skimmer or Flyer that is within 12" of an allied force MC with the Jet Pack rule or flyer vehicle type must take a dangerous terrain test.

Masters of Divination: On the first turn of the game the eldar player may cast blessings during the opponent's psychic phase.  These blessings expire at the start of the Eldar player's turn as per usual.

40k Scale Void Spinner.

I finally finished it.  I'd been working on it off and on for a few months, mixed with some other projects, but now she's finally done.  The void Spinner.  I'd been inspired to try and track down an old Forgeworld Night Spinner kit and convert one of these for over a year, but it wasn't until a couple months ago that  I saw the parts come up on ebay and snatched them up as quickly as I could.

Below I have pictures of the finished conversion next to my other painted Vaul's engines, and next to its smaller cousin the Night Spinner.  The flash blows out the layering in the yellow on the void spinner array, but it looks quite nice in person.  once I get a basic Scorpion done and dusted I'll have the entire quartet of Vaul's engines.

Below are the rules I developed with my friend Saunders, a constant opponent, for the Void Spinner.  I really liked the description in the epic rules about the Void Spinner being another weapon that the Eldar consider somewhat horrific to bring to battle because it mixes their terraforming technology with their most gruesome form of weaponry.

Void Spinner 700 pts

Super heavy fast skimmer tank

Hp 9

Shuriken cannon and upgrades, see scorpion.

Void Spinner Array

Range 60" str 8/7/6 ap 3/5/- primary Weapon, apocalyptic mega blast, barrage, ignore cover, pinning, monofilament, abomination.

Abomination: The bacteria and wraithbone parasites, normally used for terraforming, unleashed in the monofilament salvoes are horrifying to behold as they reduce, metal, stone, flesh, and bone to organic compost. Pinning tests caused by wounds from this weapon are taken at -3 ld.

I'm also reprinting the Storm Serpent rules from a prior post, for those who missed it, since it's visible in the top picture.

Storm Serpent 475 pts

Super heavy fast skimmer tank transport*

HP 9

Pulse laser

Shuriken cannon and upgrades, see scorpion.

Up to 6 units with the infantry, Jetbike, fast skimmer, or walker unit type may be embarked upon the Storm Serpent at the start of the game. No units may embark upon the transport once the game has started.

Wraithgate: each turn up to 3 units embarked upon the Storm Serpent may disembark from any point along the front or sides of the Storm Serpent's hull. If the Storm Serpent is destroyed the embarked units suffer no negative effects and are instead immediately placed into ongoing reserve.

Spring Thaw

7 months to the day that I completed revamping the Guardian Defender unit Winter's Wrath, I have completed revamping and expanding Spring Thaw.  I've sized up the unit to a full 20 man squad, revamped the highlighting and basing and changed the breastplates to be bone white to make the unit visually stand out more.  In two weeks time I have an Apocalypse game scheduled, and I made two lists... one that worked entirely with models that are painted, and one that forced me to finally complete my work on this unit and also paint two more Farseers.  I still need to get the Farseers done, but this unit, which has been hanging over my head for quite some time, and had been put aside for shinier projects, is done.  Below I have an image of the original way they looked for comparison to the revamped look.

Even though my horde of infantry will probably die very fast I hope it looks truly impressive on the table before getting churned to little pink clouds of mist.

Gaming Aid for Psyker Units

As an Ulthwe player I was a big fan of the old GW psychic app, which helped me keep track of my psychic powers.  Once 7th launched they killed the app, changed and expanded the powers, so the old app doesn't really assist all that much.

That being the case I've created a handy sheet to help me for larger games.  I have a draft of the Farseer one in progress, but this is the Warlock/Spiritseer sheet.  It's a sheet with pictures of all my models with check boxes and I laminated the page so that I can use it  over and over again.

All in all it should make book keeping during a game that much quicker, and speed up my game.  Feel free to use this idea to make your own.