Harlequins

[Dalveldrin]

Would love to see an Eldar Harlequins mod. Sadly though, they have never added too much to their army. Looking at the Games Workshop site where they show some "beta" rules for an army of them only contains 7 units. 2 Characters, and 2 of the units are actually Minor Characters. Hopefully someday soon they will come out with a Harlequin Codex that would elaborate on this cool army and gives us a chance to make a Mod for them. So what does everyone else think, wait for a Codex or new models, or should we attempt to come up with our own just to complete them for a Mod? Using variations of the units they have now, could possibly allow it but just not sure.

I guess deep down I know its impossible without containing cheesey units of our own design, but I can dream that one day they will try to complete at least an army list and concept art if not models.

[Entek-IO]

exellent idea
Got to check my compendium, i think there were rules for them in it.
Maybe they could be implemented as a special force ,similliar to the SM Terminators .

[SideshowJoker]

:jest: Great Idea!!! :yippee:
as entek wrote, in the compendium, there are rules for Harlequins, u´ll love them!!
They got really cool units like Death Jesters!
dressed in black, with a shuriken cannon and wearing a grining mask!
Really cool!

[Lord Dante]

I was just looking at the 4th gen 40k rules! and still no Harlquins...

[SideshowJoker]

unfortunatly the rules and army lists are in the compendium, which is a addition to the first edition rules.
but if u ever get it in ur hands, take a look, it´s worth it!
in there are great rules for robots, squats ´n stuff!

[Keslov]

in the new eldar codex they are counting eldar as a race in its hole there havin a giant codex (i'm an eldar online rumor mill junky) and harlies are in it... wat i would like to c is exodites

[Lord Dante]

the new rule book is rather tasty - lots of new fluff, and first codex is 'chapter creation' ... ive held it my hands!

[Keslov]

ooooo cool i cant wait for that chapter creation codex (NOT BEING SARCASTIC I SWEAR IT!)

[Entek-IO]

ELDAR HARLEQUINS
Hrythar had seen a Harlequin troupe only once before - as a child several decades ago - but now he had been choosen as Lavair,to welcome the Masque of the Dance Without End to Saim Hann craft-world.He fought down tension as the warpgate opened and two dozen figures stepped out of the shifting,coruscating colours.
It was said that Harlequins could smell fear,and as the spokesman for his craft-world,it was not seemly to show any.
The newcomers appearance certainly lived up to the storys.Three little knots of troupers each manhandeled a trunk like a garishly-couloured coffin,which hovered just above the deck on suspensors.
Three skull-masked Margorach Death Jesters glided forward with their great reapers and flame lances on their backs,moving automatically towards the chamber`s cardinal defence points.Four esdainn Warlocks strolled forward in a group,their mask bobbing in an animated discussion that had evidently begun on the other side of the warpgate.
The Athair - the Avatars,who played the Laughing god in the masque - and lead each troupe in battle - emerged last, the fixed ironic half-smiles on their masks seeming to comment on what had come before.
"Lavair." said one of these.It was a statement,not a question. Hrythar struggled to seem relaxed and slightly offhand, as courtesy demanded.

"Hrythar Dreamweave," he answered. "Saim-Hann is gladdened by your presence."

"Dreamweave," the voice was rich and even,despite the mask`s distortion, "A fortunate name."
Unsure whether this was compliment or mockery,Hrythar held an expression of bland courtesy.
Inclining his head to the Avatar, he turned to lead the Harlequins to the quarters set aside for them. Even though he concentrated on his movements as he walked, beside their fluid,gliding figures he felt clumsy as an Ork. He burned to ask if and when the masque would perform, but it was for them to say, and for none to ask.

A hush descended as the performance began.
The first work was performed by a single troupe.
It was one of the many stories about the Great Harlequin, the Harlequins only master. The Warlock stood to one side, his dathedi suit cycling throug the shifting reds, greens and golds of the Storyteller as he wove a commentary with the projectors of light, sound, psychic impulse and programmed hallucinogen from the Creidann unit on his back.
The Avatar danced the part of The Laughing god, with his suit projecting the ever-changing lozenge pattern of the Great Harlequin.

Death entered, his suit cycling through the decomposition of a corpse from flesh to bone to dust to nothingness and back again. Troupers danced around him, falling at his touch. The Laughing god danced around the outside.

Suddenly, the performance stopped. The High Avatar of the Dance Without End walked to the front of the stage, and looked out into the audience.
Then he bowed - a bow of courtesy to a superior.

The audience sat in stunned silence. Then one figur rose.

Those few who recognised him knew him only as an undistinguished Infinity Matrix technician. He had lived on Saim-Hann for over a century, humbly tending the circuitry that maintained the countless Ancestors as the spirit in the body of the great ship. Now the High Avatar of a Harlequing masque had bowed to him. He nodded - curtly, as to a subordinate - and walked toward the stage.

"Saim-Hann is fortunate." The High Avatar`s voice seemed uncomfortably loud after the silence. "We shall perform The Dance."


"The message flashed around
the craftworld at the speed of
thought. All normal functions
were suspended, and every
Eldar on Saim-Hann came to
the talaclu hall. Even the
Ancestors in the Infinity
Matrix watched through the
craftworld’s internal sensors.
At least once in their lives.
every Eldar should witness
The Dance – the greatest of the
Harlequins’ works, retelling
the story of the fall of the Old
Race – and keep the lessons of
the Fall alive in the spirits of
the survivors. But The Dance
is rarely performed, since the
key part cannot be danced by
any member of a masque.
Only the mystic Solitaires –
those touched by the Laughing
god himself, who pass
unrecognised as whim or
design moves them – only
these may dance the part of
Slaanesh.
The nine troupers bounded
into the centre of the stage.
their dathedi suits projecting a
weaving pattem of colours as
they danced the part of the Old
Race. The Shadowseers took
up positions around the
outside: emotions were
monitored, amplified and
returned by their equipment as
the Eldar lived the fall of their
ancestors: felt their joys. their
prides, their petty rivalries and
their driving passions. Three
Great Harlequins danced the
parts of the Fallen gods,
leaping. cartwheeling and
somersaulting around and
among the dancers of the Old
Race.
The dancers of the Old
Race became wilder, their
passions stronger and their
joys more extreme, more
menacing. They came
together like a whirlpool, and
broke upon something unseen
– hurled back as the Solitaire
leaped into view,
somersaulting from his
unseen entrance to the centre
of the dancers.
An involuntary shock ran
through the audience at the
sight of the allegorical figure
of the Chaos god Slaanesh
His suit projected a
constantly-writhing mass of
figure, in attitudes of decadent
pleasure.
From behind Slaanesh.
seven figures appeared one by
one to mingle with the Old
Race. First came the foul
Mime, passing their sensual
and disturbing movements to
the other dancers as the
Daemons they represented
had spread the corruption of
Slaanesh. One by one the
dancers of the Old Race began
to project the pattern of
writhing figures on their suits.
Next came three dark figures:
the Death Jesters suits
displayed skeletons as they
leaped and slew, dragging the
inert forms of the Fallen gods
to the feet of Slaanesh. As the
last fell. a psychic scream
from the Shadowseers echoed
through the minds of the
audience. It shifted and
writhed like the patterns on
the cancers’ suits, gradually
coalescing into a chilling
gibbering laugh of madness.
corruption and depravity.
But in the laugh there was
another voice. A clearer
laugh, an ironic laugh. A
laugh which laughs because it
chooses not to weep. Then. at
one side of the stage, the
Great Harlequin entered. His
suit projected the
ever-shifting multicoloured
lozenges of the Laughing god
as he strolled casually
onstage, still laughing at the
cosmic folly of the Fallen. He
looked at the triumphant form
of Slaanesh atop the mound of
writhing dancers, and he
laughed. He looked at the
Mime-Daemons and the
Death Jesters as they bore
down upon him. And he
laughed.
For a moment. he could not
be seen among the press of
Slaanesh’s minions. but with a
cry he flew above their heads
tumbling in flight to land
facing them. As they turned
he leaped again: two figures
dropped as he touched them.
and five more clawed the
empty air as he somersaulted
across the stage
His laugh now was one of
glee as he leaped and
tumbled. evading the hunters
and turning now and then to
strike back. He picked up the
body of a Death Jester and
hurled it at the figure of
Slaanesh, who reeled slightly
at the impact. With a wild cry
the Great Harlequin leaped
forward, pulled a single
dancer from the feet of
Slaanesh, and withdrew. At
his touch. the writhing figures
on the dancer s suit dissolved
into the lozenge pattern. and
the dancer also began to laugh
as he danced the dance of the
Harlequin. The two of them
put the remaining Daemons to
flight. and as last fell.
Slaanesh joined the battle
The confrontation between
Slaanesh and the Great
Harlequin seemed to go on for
ever. Other dancers melted
from the stage as the two
figures leaped, cartwheeled
and somersaulted around each
other. Slowly. in the
background, the
Mime-Daemons and the
Harlequin troupers took up
the dance resecting the
movements of the two
principals in perfect unison.
The Dance ended abruptly.
with the struggle unresolved.
It was indeed the Dance
Without End. The hall was
quiet. The dancers left the
stage The audience sat
stunned."
The Dance Without End by Graeme Davis
(originally printed in White Dwarf 105)

[DarthVaygr]

Interesting story.....dance........gives insight into the society of the craftworlds *if but very little*

[Entek-IO]

Story start added from the Compendium.

[Proud Kiwi]

ive read that before not sure where
yeah it would be awesome to see the halies in dow with their cool as solitaires and death jesters

[Angelus]

Yeah, the graphics for holo-fields would be cool, as well as all the other special abilities. I'd love to see what a DoW Solitaire could do...

[captain_merkin]

harleqins were my favourite units when i used to play 40k all those years ago, was amazing what a harlequins kiss could do to a terminator

turn em to juice from the inside out with a mono filliament wire :P

id love to see harlequins in dow more than any other unit, shame i dont know how to mod or anything