Warhammer 40K: Harlequin Weapons Just Got Even Stranger
Harlequin weapons were already pretty weird. Now their abilities are triggered by Stratagems? This is about to get into strange territory.
I guess the Harlequins are getting ready for Valentine’s Day early with an update do their Kisses, Caresses, and Embraces. Don’t let the names fool you as this is no love-fest. These agile clowns are about to bring the pain in a whole new way thanks to the Stratagems that are triggered off the keywords in the unit. This is about to get weird.
“The Harlequins are best known for dancing into battle and eviscerating their enemies with a variety of deadly melee weaponry. And now the three most famous Harlequin weapons have all been updated to have the same lethal stat line in the new Codex: Aeldari.“
To start, this is a pretty straightforward change. All the different weapons are now using the same profile. That should keep it simple, right? RIGHT?!
Not So Simple
“Each variant gives the model that carries it a different keyword, which can be triggered with Stratagems to really unlock the devastating impact of these unconventional weapons.”
The Warcom article is saying that each model that carries a specific weapon gains a keyword. Okay that’s clear so far. So let’s see what the Stratagems say.
So this is where things are getting a little confusing. Where’s where we are getting tripped up:
- “when a Harlequin’s Kiss unit is selected to fight” – Is the model with weapon giving the unit the keyword similar to how Deathwatch mixed-units work? Does that make a unit a Harlequin’s Kiss unit? But the text above is saying it’s JUST the model with the weapon that is gaining that keyword.
- “each time a model in that unit makes a melee attack” – that doesn’t limit the attacks to just models equipped with the Harlequin’s Kiss weapon. That makes it sound like ALL the melee attacks from that unit.
How about another example?
This rule can’t be combined with the Kiss of Death Stratagem but the wording for who and how you trigger this is the same.
- “when a Harlequin’s Caress unit is selected to fight”
- “each time a model in that unit makes a melee attack”
It’s sure starting to seem like the entire unit is going to get to ignore Invulnerable saves…
And one more example:
Again, similar wording. The unit has to be a Harlequin’s Embrace unit. And it’s each model in the unit generates a die roll.
So again, either the Harlequins units are getting the keywords from the models with the specific weapons a la Deathwatch or the entire unit needs to have the same weapons. Which seems counter to the change to make all their weapons the same statline. Reading the stratagems as written, it sure seems like it’s all the attacks from the unit (and not just the models with those weapons) are gaining the benefit. By the same token, you DO have to spend CP to activate the Stratagems. So…there is a cost.
How about a weapon that ISN’T confusing?!
Hey, look at that! A weapon with an ability that is simple and clear. Makes sense and doesn’t have and confusing or ambiguous wording here! Why didn’t GW do that with the Harlequin melee weapons? It couldn’t of been to save on text — they added 3 new stratagems. I have no idea! At least this Voidweaver Haywire Cannon is going to slap and is honestly kind of good vs vehicles.
At least we can expect an FAQ roughly two weeks after this book launches.
