Warhammer 40K Meta Hotness: Harlequins Starweaver!
Harlequins are pretty amazing! The Starweaver transport is one reason you should be scared of the dancing doom from the Webway.
I think every competitive player feels like Harlequins are still pretty busted lately. The army is a bit hard to play but the power is extremely high with the list. They can do a lot of damage, have amazing secondaries, and in the hands of a good player will just run circles around you as you try to dig them out of all their layers of protections. Oh and they shoot pretty dang good too.
Starweaver Basics
Hey this is a Venom that holds a bunch of Harlies that can shoot out of it with a ton of powerful guns. Oh and if you pop them out they can kill you in close combat too. On top of that the vehicle is tough as heck as normally it can stay a decent bit away and still be hard to hit. They also – count as stationary when they move and advance so they shoot well too. The guys inside do not – but all those Assault weapons sure love zipping around the tabletop. Really it is just a very fast troop transport that is aggressively costed.
Starweavers are Just SO Fast
So yeah we know that Eldar stuff is fast but the Harlequins Starweaver is super fast. It will move, advance, and still grab that objective from you. At the same time with easy to complete secondaries they can easily outscore you all while zipping around the tabletop. The old “parking” lot is back just with a heck of a lot more colors and fancy logos on it.
Damage Output
The Starweaver itself isn’t insane it is all the models inside that can just murder you. Fusion pistols and Neuro disruptors are going to cause you a ton of problems as the army feels like it has answers for everything. You need to get close with a lot of options to kill something? Zip and zoom you are over there doing the damage you need. It is just so fast and hard to deal with them as they can quickly move and change their location of attack just as soon as you try to engage.
Sample List
Mike Porter won the Conventry 3 day GT with the following list this past weekend. It runs all the boats and just – zips around the board causing you troubles. Everyone can shoot out of the boats and it is loaded to the bring with murder options on top of being tough to kill. It was a 155 player, 8 round event which is a huge amount of games to wreck shop thru. Good job to Mr. Porter for taking clowns to the top.
++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Aeldari – Harlequins) [66 PL, 1,530pts, 3CP] ++
+ Configuration +
Game Type: 4. Chapter Approved: War Zone Nephilim
Saedath Characterisation: Light: Blaze of Light
+ HQ +
Shadowseer [5 PL, 100pts]: 3. Mirror of Minds (Witchfire), 5. Shards of Light (Witchfire), Shuriken Pistol
Troupe Master [5 PL, 115pts, -3CP]: 3: A Foot in the Future, Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss, Player of the Light, Queen of Shards, Stratagem: Favoured of the Laughing God, Stratagem: Relic, Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Warlord
. Cegorach’s Rose
+ Troops +
Troupe [4 PL, 95pts]
. Lead Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Caress
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
Troupe [4 PL, 95pts]
. Lead Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Caress
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
Troupe [4 PL, 95pts]
. Lead Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Caress
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
Troupe [4 PL, 90pts]
. Lead Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Blade
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
Troupe [4 PL, 95pts]
. Lead Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Caress
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
Troupe [4 PL, 95pts]
. Lead Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Caress
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
+ Elites +
Death Jester [4 PL, 90pts]: Lord of Crystal Bones
+ Fast Attack +
Skyweavers [4 PL, 90pts]
. Skyweaver: Shuriken Cannon, Star Bolas
. Skyweaver: Shuriken Cannon, Star Bolas
+ Dedicated Transport +
Starweaver [4 PL, 95pts]
Starweaver [4 PL, 95pts]
Starweaver [4 PL, 95pts]
Starweaver [4 PL, 95pts]
Starweaver [4 PL, 95pts]
Starweaver [4 PL, 95pts]
++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (Aeldari – Harlequins) [21 PL, 470pts, -2CP] ++
+ Configuration +
Detachment Command Cost [-2CP]
Saedath Characterisation: Light: Blaze of Light
+ HQ +
Shadowseer [5 PL, 100pts]: 1. Twilight Pathways (Blessing), 3. Mirror of Minds (Witchfire), Shuriken Pistol
+ Troops +
Troupe [4 PL, 90pts]
. Lead Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Blade
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
Troupe [4 PL, 90pts]
. Lead Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Shuriken Pistol
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Kiss
. Player: Fusion Pistol, Harlequin’s Blade
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
. Player: Harlequin’s Blade, Neuro Disruptor
+ Dedicated Transport +
Starweaver [4 PL, 95pts]
Starweaver [4 PL, 95pts]
++ Total: [87 PL, 1CP, 2,000pts] ++
Harlequin Starweaver Final Thoughts
I would love these guys to get another hit to balance them out a bit. But most likely the hope is 10th Edition might do something to even things out. They are just too fast, too deadly, and too hard to counter punch when they can just as quickly dance away. It feels a bit like the old Dark Eldar nonsense when they first came out. Players tried to punch back but the army had already moved away and stole more candy from your models.
Let us know what units you think are hot right now, down in the comments!
