The latest revision of the Harlequins by GW, that in Citadel Journal 39, the Mimes were moved off the "harlequins with Stealth"-spot and turned into apprentices. As the harlequins have such a high basic cost already this makes perfect sense as far as list-building goes, and has been propagated in further CJ revisions, in the EO Codex and in the Troll list during EoT.
As this was not an unnecessary revision (as many others might have been) then this has been embraced, and playtesting using the Troll list, CJ list and later the EO-list has confirmed that the Mimes work a lot better that way than as harlequins-with-stealth.
Well, you argued that the Aspirants made no sense according to the fluff, and that the Mimes filled that role. I was merely showing that I had indeed looked into the fluff. I think that the Mimes work as I have shown them, and that Aspirants do indeed make some sort of sense. My decision is not very different from the way GW alters things as they go, and - at least in my thinking - is fitting and doesn't contradict any previously posted fluff except for the ret-con of Mimes from uber-Harlies to new recruits. As the title of the thread says - this is merely my take on the Harlequins. You and everyone else are welcome to disagree with my choices.
After having read through this a few times I can see that you have put a lot of thought, but very little playtesting into this. This reflects in the feedback below, based on the playtesting I have done for the EO Harlequin Codex.
Also your grip of the Harlequin fluff seems a bit flimsy at times, which means that your list breaks with the fluff actually written about the harlequins (as little as it may be).
That being said, I like the approach, but the list is simply far from done, or balanced.
I am in the playtesting phase on this so, as you mentioned, a lot of things will probably change - especially points costs - to balance things out a bit. I'm very open to suggestions, but ultimately, the final decision is of course mine as this is my project. (I hope that doesn't sound defensive, I'm just explaining my position.)
I'm not really sure what you mean about breaking with fluff. As I mentioned earlier, the Mimes, in my opinion, should retain their veteran status as given in the older RT era rules. I think they work better, fluff-wise, in that manner. They are supposed to be the Harlequins who play lesser daemons and other evil things, so I think they would need to be a bit more skilled and experienced to handle those roles. (This is based on the Solitaire being the only one who can play Slaanesh without going mad - I would think other evil roles would hold similar, though less potent, dangers.)
The names of the Dances are a bit off. I would rather have them tie in with Eldar mythology than with French theatrical tradition. Harlequins are not French, after all.
I come from a theater background. The Harlequins are nothing if not performance artists. I like these dances, and they will probably stay.
Aspirants makes no sense in the fluff. The Mimes are the Harlequins in training, prior to their ritual, so the aspirants do not fit in. This of course makes the Ritual-roll make no sense either. I like the idea, but this is clearly not the way to do it. It is too much Death-Company.
I addressed the Mimes above. As far as Aspirants being the Harlequins in training, I see this as pluasible. They aren't initiated into the Masque, so they don't use the Harlequin gear, but a Harlequin hangs with them to show them the ropes. And you would expect them to eventually take the ritual, so that rule seems interesting. It may not work very well, which playtesting will show, but I don't think "It is too much Death-Company" is a reason to leave it out.
There is no such thing as "High Shadowseer" in the fluff. A Psyker is called "warlock" and the superior is "High Warlock". The High warlock is sometimes called Shadowseer. He is the top of the tree, and trains the others. There is nothing above him. It what you are doing is giving each guardian unit a Farseer instead of Warlock, and adding High Farseer. Tracks badly with the fluff, again.
This was actually a conscious decision. The Warlock has become a fairly established Path-type character in the Craftworld army. I realise that the RT era Harlequin psykers were Warlocks and High Warlocks. The name Shadowseer appears first in 2nd Ed 40K if I recall, and I thought it was a good change then - they have a different role than Warlocks. I chose to keep Shadowseers roughly on the level they are in the Harlequin Troupe entry in Codex: Eldar, and add in the "High Shadowseer" (based on the "High Warlock" from the RT list) as the head honcho of the Psykers. Again, I don't think this really breaks with fluff - merely makes it easier to tell what is what when comparing Harlies & Craftworlders.
Riveblades (or Stormglove as it was originally called) was not a Solitaire weapon at all, but given to the Shadowseer. I see no game-mech reason to make it Solitaire only.
I was just trying to give him an additional option to make him a bit more deadly, but it has become apparent that this is not necessary.
Your variant of the Acrobatic dismount makes no sense, unless you mean for the Harlequins to be able to walk up to the venom (say, move 2"), mount, then dismount on the other side (and move the remaining 4"). That would be spectacularly bad. I would scratch that.
I think lessening the strength is the wrong way to go when it comes to mitigating damage from the Destroyed-result, as it adds unwanted complexity, but that's just me.
The first part of Acrobatic Dismount is nothing more than a re-name of the Dark Eldar scaling nets. It allows the squad to disembark at any point during the vehicle's move, allowing you to better position the Venom after dropping off the squad, in case it wants to fire, or to pick up the squad after moving a few inches and continue to move. It isn't a huge advantage, but it is an advantage. I see there may be some confusion in the wording - "during its move" should mean the vehicle's move, not the squad's move. I'll look into better wording.
As to the damage mitigation, I just wanted to show that they were better at getting out of harm's way when it goes down. This might be better served by simply allowing them to have successful wounds re-rolled. Not sure there - thoughts?
Giving force weapons to Eldar psykers (of any variety) was removed in 3rd ed, and good riddance. You have brought them back. For what reason does the option not include a witchblade, the prevalent weapon of Eldar psykers, rather than the force weapon?
You may be right here. I just wanted something to add to their potency a bit. Maybe moving the Riveblade here instead would help...? (Since you said it was a Shadowseer weapon.)
The options also include the capacity to have Veil of Tears AND Conceal. That is an incredibly powerful combination, as you do not have any rules to regulate if you can use both in the same turn. That would make the unit neigh-invulnerable to... well, most anything.
Is a 6+ cover save really that powerful? They already have a 5+ Invulnerable save (combined with Veil of Tears), so this would only come into play against things like Psycannons that ignore Invulnerable saves in the first place (or for Aspirants). It isn't like they get the cover save and the invulnerable save.
As you have made the Mimes into harlequins-with-infiltrate rather than aspirants, their cost is vastly inflated, not for what they can do, but again, it makes no sense in the fluff.
Well, like I said their original fluff had them as Harlies with uber-infiltration skills. They have their choice of Infiltrate or Scout, and of course by extension Outflank. They need to pay something for that, though 7 pts each might be a bit much. Playtesting will tell...
Drop the jumppack off the Solitaire. That or up his points. He is a terrifying thing, and the only thing keeping him in check right now is the fact he cannot use transports. You neatly step around this by giving him a jumppack, making him a cruise missile.
Hmm... You may have a point here. I used him without the Phase Shifter in my first and only game with him, and he tore a unit to shreds - enough that they failed their morale and ran, only to be cut down. He was left out in the open and slaughtered by massed bolter fire. He's a bit of an oddity - he is so deadly that he can cut the other unit to pieces and be left standing in a kill zone. I'll think about dropping the Phase Shifter, or boosting its cost.
The price for your jetbikes is quite interesting. It is low. I mean really low. It is standard Harlequin to which you add toughness, save, weapons and speed, all for less than the price of another Harlequin. I would like to see your math on that.
Don't have math for it - more of a gut feeling. Yes, they gain speed, but they loose the option for kisses, and can't get Veil of Tears unless their is at least one 10-strong (300 point!) unit of them AND you pay to upgrade the Shadowseer with a Jetbike. (Well, you can join a non-jetbike version to them, but that kind of kills their speed...) They bring a decent number of attacks to the table, and they gain some survivability, but they are still rather fragile. They haven't accomplished much in my playtests thus far.
Giving Deathejsters Dark Eldar weapons really breaks off from all they have been before, but that's an argument that has been made before, so I won't bring it up here in full. Suffice it to say that it does not reflect the Harlequins as they were originally written.
The Dark Eldar didn't really exist when the Harlequins first appeared, but I think it isn't much of a stretch to think that the Harlies visit them. If they do, why wouldn't at least these macabre types get access to some of their grim, spike-covered weapons?
Why is the Mockingbird - a weapon on a vyper, moved to heavy?
It mounts a pretty impressive gun. Everything else in the Harlequin list (aside from the Marionette) is at least swift due to being Fleet, if not faster. Most things in the Harlequin list are very light on shooting, which is why the Mockingbird and the DJ's are Heavy Support. (You could just as easily make a case that DJ's should be Elites if you are going down those routes. Ultimately, what role does it fill?)
I get why you would want to have the Venom as a taxi, ferrying units around, but does make it considerably more powerful, especially that you now allow the Solitaire to get on it and zip across the field. That is exceedingly powerful.
Um, the Solitaire can't ride the Venom. See his "Individual" rule. The Venom is a FA choice by itself so that you can't just give one to every Harlequin Troupe. I wanted to limit transport usage, not encourage it!
I have updated the Codex with a number of your suggestions, as well as a few from elsewhere. The latest version is still available in the Scribd info above. Here is a summary of the changes in this new version:
- Added Riveblade as an option for the High Shadowseer
- Removed Force Weapon as an option for the High Shadowseer
- Removed Riveblade as an option for the Solitaire
- Raised the cost of the Phase Shifter for the Solitaire from +25 to +35 points because he's deadly...
- Clarified the Venom's "Acrobatic Dismount" rules a bit, and changed the "Explodes" mitigation to a re-roll
- Reduced the cost of Mimes from 25 pts each to 22 pts each
- The costs of the Troupe Master's Dances have been raised