Harlequin Baby Steps // Imperial Assault first play

So still haven't managed to get my Raiders finished as I spent Friday evening playing Imperial Assault with some friends from work and didn't get much time for hobby bits Saturday/Sunday evenings.

My willpower did however fail on Saturday evening and instead of pulling out my paints to put some finishing touches on the Raiders and start on their bases, I pulled out some of the new Harlequins to start assembling instead.

Managed to get two normal troupes and a Shadowseer assembled over the two nights and was impressed with the kits and how well they go together, while similar in form to my Wyches, the shoulder pads come together much nicer and are far less fragile.

One thing I did notice is that the weapons I had hoped to kit out my Harlequins with, I'm not going to be able to do without conversions and/or buying bits online, as you only get 2 Caress in the box. (I wanted 4)

For those interested, there appears to be 2 Caress, 2 Embrace, while there are plenty of Swords and Kisses.

For the first box I'll probably just do the Troupe Master with Sword (Storied Sword) and 2 Caress with the rest being Kisses, as my conversion skills just aren't likely to end up looking good and I don't want to mess these guys up.

For the rest of my Troupes though, only being able to do 1 caress plus the TM with Caress is not going to be great, any ideas where I could get extras? Most of the bits sites I can find in the uk seem to either not have them in stock, or not even have them listed yet.

-------------------

On a separate note I played Imperial Assault for the first time on Friday, initial thoughts are that it's a decent game, but the time limitation on the Rebels makes it really tough and they kind of have to power through as quick as possible to achieve the mission.

We played through the tutorial before moving onto the first campaign mission Aftermath, which was fun, they used the characters from the tutorial so we had 2 melee and 2 ranged, with the Jedi and Wookie as melee, and the Smuggler and Veteran as ranged.

Came down to the last action of the last hero to smash the final terminal and win the scenario for the Rebels so couldn't have been closer really.

Second mission was a Side mission and the group chose to go for Fenn Signis' class mission "Bushfire", this was a really tough mission and it felt next to impossible for the Rebels to win it within the time restriction, perhaps if this had been done with a more experienced group later in the campaign it would have been easier.

Overall I think it will see some play, and I'm interested in my next session on Friday as I'll be trying it with some friends I normally play 40k / X-Wing etc. with so it's something of a change of pace. If that group enjoys it then we'll likely play through the campaign, if not then I'm not sure this will get pulled out again and may end up being ebayed.

I think it's got potential, and we did enjoy it, but I'm not quite sure why it's got the rave reviews it has from some quarters unless it's purely because it's Star Wars.

Anyone else played this?

Thoughts on sources for Harlequins bits?

Harlequin Weapon Math - Anti Tank and Final Conclusions

Hi guys,

Next instalment and likely the final one looking at the various Harlequin Weapons and their effectiveness vs. a variety of targets.

These are the findings for the various weapon options on the charge vs Vehicles, followed by a summary of the various findings so far and my conclusions.

AV10

Weapon	Glance	Penetrate	Total	Efficiency
Caress	1	0	1	0.04
Kiss	0.44	0.22	0.67	0.033
Embrace	0.33	0.67	1.44	0.072
TM with Caress	1.25	0	1.25	0.031
TM with Kiss	0.55	0.22	0.78	0.019

As expected the Embrace leads the way here as those additional S6 hits make the difference, whilst their normal attacks are still effective for glancing on a 6 with Furious Charge making them S4. If you're going after AV10, Embrace is far and away what you want.

AV11

Weapon	Glance	Penetrate	Total	Efficiency
Caress	0.67		0.67	0.030
Kiss	0.11	0.11	0.22	0.011
Embrace	0.33	0.33	0.67	0.033
TM with Caress	0.83		0.83	0.021
TM with Kiss	0.11	0.11	0.22	0.006

Depending on what you want here the Caress and the Embrace are equally as effective, if you're just trying to knock off HP then they're both just as good as each other, you can't destroy it with a penetrating hit unless it's open topped anyway, so although you might shake/stun/immobilise/weapon destroyed, you're more likely to glance it to death. 

There is definitely a bonus in having those results vs. not having those results though so the Embrace would still come out on top here, with the disclaimer that if you're charging something with 1 or 2 HP left, you're likely to pop it either way.

AV12

Weapon	Glance	Penetrate	Total	Efficiency
Caress	0.67		0.67	0.03
Kiss	0.11		0.11	0.006
Embrace	0.33		0.33	0.017
TM with Caress	0.83		0.83	0.021
TM with Kiss	0.11		0.11	0.003

Definitely start to see the tables turn here and the Caress is twice as effective as the Embrace, still causing 0.67 glances per model while the Embrace is half of that, at this stage 4 Caress would give you 2.64 Glances, while your 4 Embraces are at 1.32.

AV13 + AV14

Weapon	Glance	Penetrate	Total	Efficiency
Caress	0.67		0.67	0.03
Kiss
Embrace
TM with Caress	0.83		0.83	0.021
TM with Kiss

Obviously no competition here, the Embrace can't touch the higher AV vehicles while the Caress is still just as effective, it's likely however that you won't see as many high AV vehicles, and if you do see them, it's quite possible you'll be shooting Haywire from elsewhere in your list into them, so although it's a big advantage to the Caress, depending on your local meta, you may not want to read too much into that.

Summary:

So what I wanted to do is to put various configurations suggested into play against a variety of targets and give you an idea of what wins out where, from that, you can come to your own conclusions as to how you'd want to include in your lists.

I'll be using 3 different loadouts that I think could be effective, namely 4 Emrace, 4 Caress and a mix of 2 Embrace and 2 Caress. In every case I've included the Troop Master with a Caress as it's the most effective weapon on him in the majority of cases.

So the end result seems to be... It depends!

If you're charging any infantry target, and expecting to be there for 2 rounds of combat, the Caress is definitely the best option.

If you're charging infantry but only expecting to be in combat for 1 round, then they're the still the best option, unless the infantry is T3 5+ save in which case the Embrace wins out by forcing lots of saves.

If you're charging a vehicle, then again, it depends on the circumstances.

If it's a single AV10 Vehicle, charge it with whatever you like, it's likely to go down through weight of attacks. If it's a multiple charge on several AV10 vehicles (Not sure how relevant that it) the Embrace wins out, but against one vehicle, it's likely just overkill.

If it's an AV11 vehicle then the Embrace is the best option, both the Caress and the Embrace average 3.5 Hull Points, but half of those from the Embrace are penetrating, so you'll likely get shaken/stunned/rip a weapon off etc. if it survives.

For AV 12 the Caress is much the better choice and a unit with 4 Caress and a Troupe Master with Caress will basically average 3.5 HP off anything, which is nice easy math. :)

Obviously for AV13-14 only the TM is contributing for the Embrace, whereas the Caress still do the same damage, so again, against high AV the Caress is the best.

Conclusion:

I think when building you'll need to think about what you'll be charging into, but hopefully this little series has given you the information you need to make an informed decision based on your meta.

If you see a lot of infantry hordes, or AV10 packed closely together, then the Embrace is great, for me, I feel that the Caress is the best option for most situations, and if I want a cheaper option I'll throw the Kiss in there with it as I like the option for Instant Death, as well as the AP2 and the fact that it's an iconic Harlequin weapon.

I can see why the Embrace seems great when you look at charging in and doing those impact hits, but I feel that in the vast majority of situations you want to stay in combat during your opponents turn, and then hit and run out to charge in again or move elsewhere, and in that second round of combat the Embrace offers you absolutely nothing.

For me, based on the above I'll likely be running a mix of Kiss/Caress, or purely Caress. Prior to doing this series I had thought of 2 of each in a 5 man unit but looking at the results I think  I'd likely go with 3 Caress and 1 Kiss.

So depending on what I'm running in (Star Weavers / Raiders / On Foot) I'll be doing something like:

5 man Troupe (3 Caress // 1 Kiss // TM with Caress) - Insert Shadowseer here (In Starweaver)

8 man Troupe (4 Caress // 1 Kiss // TM with Caress) - Insert Shadowseer and Succubus here (In Raider)

Hopefully this has been useful / interesting - If anyone has any questions or thinks any of the math is wrong please let me know.

Rich

Further Harlequin Weapon Math - Best option vs Invisibility

Hi guys,

it was pointed out to me on another blog that while the math was helpful, that I hadn't accounted for the fact that the Embrace hit automatically and as a result was much better against targets with Invisibility.

I wanted to make sure I was giving the full information and so I figured I'd do additional math on the effectiveness of the weapons vs a unit with Invisibility (For now I've stayed with MEQ but I believe this would also work for Eldar Jetbikes as they're T4 3+ save?)

Once I've done the rest of the math I'll put up results for the various weapons against Marine Bikes with Invisibility and anything else that might be requested in the comments.

Ok!

So your unit of 5 Harlequins somehow gets into contact with a unit of Eldar Jetbikes with Invis on them, we'll assume all 5 hit home simply because the casualties would be the same regardless.

On the Charge the weapons match up like this:

Weapon	Kills	Efficiency
Caress	.67	0.029
Kiss	.22	0.011
Embrace	.67	0.500
TM with Caress	.83	0.019
TM with Kiss	.25	0.006
TM with Power Sword	.42	0.008
TM with Storied Sword	.56	0.009

So unless there are Invulnerable saves, the Caress and the Embrace are pretty much equal, with the Embrace being slightly better as it's cheaper, however there is something to be said for hitting at I10 and then 6, and with Invulnerable saves it weights more heavily towards the Embrace. I don't know how to model this though, how many Invulns are you likely to get in a Deathstar type unit like that?
What sort of invulns?

My concern is primarily about the second round of combat, as you've now hit home with your embraces and gain no further benefit, whereas each roll of 6 to hit with the caress is a AP2 Instant Death.

The second round of combat (or if you're charged) works out as:

Weapon	Kills	Efficiency
Caress	.50	0.022
Kiss	.18	0.009
Embrace	.06	0.003
TM with Caress	.67	0.017
TM with Kiss	.19	0.005
TM with Power Sword	.89	0.018
TM with Storied Sword	.33	0.006

So putting those together this is how the combats average out when both units are charging a unit of Invisible Jetbikes:

Loadout	Kills
2 Kiss, 2 Caress, TM with Caress	2.61
4 Embraces, TM with Caress	3.51

And this is if the unit is charged by the Jetbikes or is in a subsequent round of combat:

Loadout	Kills
2 Kiss, 2 Caress, TM with Caress	2.02
4 Embraces, TM with Caress	0.89

Across two rounds of combat:

Loadout	Kills
2 Kiss, 2 Caress, TM with Caress	4.63
4 Embraces, TM with Caress	4.40

If anyone has any feedback regards the loadout of a unit of jetbikes so I can see what else comes into it I'm happy to incorporate that, but for now I still hold out that a mix of Kiss and Caress is a very good option for the Harlequins, especially given that ideally they'll be spending two rounds of combat, then using hit and run to get out of there and charge again.

Embrace does have more punch on the charge however and that difference of 0.9 casualties on the charge could mean 1 less model hitting you back so I can definitely see the value there, I would just prefer something that can still cause damage if charged and/or in subsequent rounds.

If the target is T5, it swings back in the favour of the Caress.

*Updated with correction from Charlie*

Any questions or comments around further things I need to take into account guys?

What other units should I be taking into account?

Thanks for reading,

Rich

Harlequin Weapon Math and Exe-Wing

Hi guys,

Just a brief update, I went to an X-Wing store championship event over the weekend and had a great time, it was held by Kirton Games who normally have a store up in Crediton, Devon - However it was held at the hall where our club is normally held on a Wednesday night.

Wasn't expecting to do well at all as I haven't really played for a long time. We went to the release event for the Phantom/Defender a while back and since then I've only played twice, both times using Phantom and 2 Royal Guard.

I decided to go with what I knew though as I've played a lot with 4 x Royal Guard so put "Push The Limit" on them and took them for a ride!

Ended up coming fourth which I was really chuffed with given the lack of playtime and picked up an x-wing dice bag and a set of acrylic focus tokens.

----------

I've also been doing some math on the various Harlequin weapon options and thought I'd share here so that others can either:

a.) benefit from the info
b.) point out my errors

I assumed in all cases that I'd be facing MEQ type troops (WS4 // T4 // 3+ Save) and did the figures for on the charge, and subsequent combat.

Efficiency is calculated as Kills / Points, so a 10pt model with 1 kill would be 0.1, whereas if the same model cost 100pts it would be efficiency of 0.01. The higher the better.

This does not take into account additional uses such as anti vehicle (they all contribute in some way S6 attacks) or taking on other troop types, I may at some point in the future do those separately.

On the Charge:

Weapon	Kills	Efficiency
Caress	1	0.043
Kiss	.89	0.044
Embrace	1	0.50
TM with Caress	1.25	0.029
TM with Kiss	1	0.025
TM with Power Sword	1.67	0.033
TM with Storied Sword	2.22	0.037

Subsequent Combat Round:

Weapon	Kills	Efficiency
Caress	.67	0.029
Kiss	.70	0.035
Embrace	.22	0.011
TM with Caress	.89	0.022
TM with Kiss	.78	0.019
TM with Power Sword	.89	0.018
TM with Storied Sword	1.33	0.022

Conclusions:

Pretty much as expected and the Kiss seems to be the best option for most circumstances in my opinion which is great as it's the iconic Harlequin weapon. Saying that, the Caress or Embrace have more hitting power on the charge and can glance vehicles easier with the S6 auto glance on the to hit roll for Caress (Although no possibility of penetrating AV10 or AV11 which a kiss could do), and the S6 HoW hits from the Embrace. 

From a pure efficiency point of view there doesn't seem much downside to just running Kisses, but I'd probably put in 2 Kiss and 2 Caress I think in a 5 man, potentially with a plain one to soak up the first casualty if I ran them as a 6 man troupe.

For the Troupe Master I will probably run one with the Storied Sword as my Warlord, then the others will just have the Caress to keep them cheaper.

For those interested in the combined hitting power, a unit of 5 averages the following to MEQ on the charge:

Loadout	Kills
2 Kiss, 2 Caress, Storied Sword	6
2 Kiss, 2 Caress, TM with Caress	5.03

And subsequent (or they're charged)

Loadout	Kills
2 Kiss, 2 Caress, Storied Sword	4.07
2 Kiss, 2 Caress, TM with Caress	3.63

Hope that helps some people with their decision making anyway, if any of the Math is wrong, please let me know.

Rich

1500pt Harlequin List using Formations - 2++ re-rollable Jink?

So just thinking of some lists today and I came up with the following, would be interesting to hear if people thought it was viable:

Faolchù’s Blade - 945pts

6 Skyweavers + Zephrglaive	360
6 Skyweavers + Zephrglaive	360
3 Void Weaver	225

(Re-Roll cover saves while jinking)

Way of Heroes - 310pts

Death Jester	60
Shadow Seer (ML2)	85
Solitaire Cegorach's Rose Haywire	145 15 5

(Infiltrate // Shrouded // Stealth)

Company of Actors - 245pts

5 man Troupe (TM with Caress)	100
Death Jester	60
Shadow Seer (ML2)	85

(Crusader)

Basic idea would be Shadow Seers cast Shrouded/Stealth on the Bikes for 2+ re-rollable jink saves, Heroes all have Shrouded/Stealth already.

Void Weavers for Heavy Armour and Bikes should deal with light armour (36 S6 shots, 42 with the Jesters)

Strong in combat with 30 I think? Ap2 attacks on the charge from each unit of bikes, Death Jester can pull things about a bit as and when that works. 

Just some random thoughts anyway but seems pretty nasty and very aggressive whilst having some durability with the shrouded/stealth giving 24 T4 2++ models and once you're through that, you've got the Solitaire tearing through you and still have Death Jesters, Shadow Seers and a Harlequin Troupe as well as the Void Weaver offering anti horde and.or anti heavy armour

Harlequin List Thoughts and Formation Points

So I've been thinking about how to run my Harlequins and what each of the formations would cost me in "wishlist" points and "minimum" points so I know roughly what points value each would slot into.

Short version above, long version below. If anyone tells me this is against any sort of T's and C's I'll get them edited.

Formation	Wishlist	Minimum
Cegorach's Revenge	1500	1065
Cegorach's ???  (Can't remember the name right now)	1000	770
Company of Actors	429	215
Cegorach's Jest	423	270
Way of Heroes	310	265
Faolchù’s Blade	315	275

The "Wishlist" version is how I would choose to run them, the "Minimum" version is the least it would cost to get the absolute minimum of these formations in a list.

I had escalation in my head when running through these as we're doing an escalation league at our local gaming club currently and I wrote the following for Kill Team and Combat Patrol (Adepticon 2015 rules)

Kill Team:

6 Troupe Haywire (TM) Harlequins Caress (TM) Harlequins Kiss x2	110 5 5 10
Star Weaver	70

Combat Patrol:

 

5 Troupe Haywire (TM) Harlequins Caress (TM) Harlequins Kiss x2	95 5 5 10
Star Weaver	70
Shadowseer	60
3 Sky Weavers	150

If anyone is interested I'll spend a few posts going through what lists I'd write for each of the formations, but I did it more for myself so unless it's requested I'll leave it for now.

Currently fighting with myself for focus as I am enjoying my Dark Eldar at the moment and getting some good work done on painting them up but I also REALLY want to get started on the Harlequins.

I'm thinking of rewarding myself with a Harlequin to paint each time I get a unit finished for my Dark Eldar or something, any ideas on how you've dealt with similar in the past?

Also, I've seen a lot of posts online saying they would run the Troupes without transports but maybe because of my Dark Eldar I've not even considered this at the moment. 6 S6 shots seem great for popping transports open which is something the Harlequins seem to struggle with, and the additional speed and protection it can offer the Troupe for me seems a no brainer.

So, with Star Weavers or without? Why?