vi esta review no 3++ e achei simplesmente genial e completa. Ler para compreender 
The Day the Clown Cried (Codex: Harlequins review)
After quite a long time spent being little more than an entry in other people's codices, Harlequins have gotten their own book once more. As seems to be the case for a lot of the new “mini-codices” it's not really enough to easily field a full-sized army with (although theoretically you could), but it does make a nice little package to add into another army.
But, of course, that raises the real question: how good is it? Because Harlequins, as they were in the Eld/DE books, hadn't really had any meaningful influence on the game for quite a long time for a variety of reasons. Does the new book shore up their weaknesses enough to be useable, or is it another Legion of the Damned-esque blank slate?
Overlook
So, many things in the Harlie codex are the same as they were before, but many others are very different- the best place to start a discussion of them would be to remind everyone to throw out their previous conceptions of the unit and start anew. The old Harlequins were a melee deathstar unit; the new ones… not so much, even if they do have some of the same functionality. But, from a competitive perspective, they are a totally different animal.
The basic Harlequin Troupe is pretty similar; the rank and file models have the same profile, abilities, cost, etc, as they did before. However, a Troupe always has a Troupe Master as a squad leader, who benefits from +1s to his stats almost across the board (including Wounds, but not Str/Tough.) With four bodies and the Master, the squad is 95pts- additional bodies are 15pts each. Anyone can take a Fusion Pistol for 15pts or a Neuro Disruptor (AP2 Fleshbane) for 10pts- not strong options, but not complete garbage. The squad can also mix-and-match close combat weapons, including some new options.
The three Harlequin CC weapons are actually worth discussing on their own; the old Kiss has been renamed to the Harlequin's Embrace. It has faux-Rending just like many Eldar guns do, but also causes an automatic glance on a roll of 6- that is a significant upgrade over the old version, and while it's more expensive (+8pts over the base model) it ends up being a non-ignorable threat against almost everything. To keep things confusing, there is also a weapon called the Harlequin's Kiss (+5pts) that makes one (but only one) of your attacks each turn S6 AP2 and will make any 6s to wound with that attack cause Instant Death. The neo-Kiss is a lot less impressive in general, I think, as it's just too easy to miss/fail to wound with that attack- however, it will occasionally be a total pain in the ass for MCs and characters and it's at least cheaper than the Kiss, even if it lacks the utility. Lastly, there is the Harlequin's Embrace (+5pts), which gives the model d3 Hammer of Wrath hits, resolved at Strength 6. Although the autohits with good Strength are nice, I think it's easily the worst of the weapons- Harlequins already have large numbers of attacks, what they need is a way to kill off models with good saves and/or Toughness values.
The army also has access to the Starweaver as a dedicated transport; it is, for most intents and purposes, a Venom with the serial numbers filed off. At 70pts it's a big more expensive, but it has the same statline (AV10, 2HP, capacity 6) and largely the same equipment (5++ save, two main guns.) It has Shuriken Cannons rather than the Splinter ones mounted on the Venom, but that's largely a sidegrade- worse against MCs, about the same against most infantry, better against vehicles. The Cannon's 24″ range is a major disadvantage on such a fragile platform, however, and the one-use 4++ save the vehicle can get in lieu of Jinking does very little to mitigate this problem. With its inability to carry a large squad and shoddy protection (without a suitably-cheap price tag), the Starweaver is not a vehicle that impresses at all.
The shooting version, called the Voidweaver, makes it look like an all-star though. 5pts more expensive than its cousin, the Voidweaver trades the transport capacity for a Haywire Cannon (24″, small blast, Haywire) and inexplicably turns one of the two Shuriken Cannons to face ONLY into the vehicle's rear arc. (It totally is allowed to shoot a different target, though!) You can also take its extremely mediocre chassis in triples if, for some reason, you hate yourself and its Haywire gun with a Prism Cannon, which makes it into Babby's First Fire Prism. You get your choice of a S3 small blast, a S5 blast with AP3, or a S7 AP2 lance shot- none of the profiles at all impressive for what is nominally a gun platform.
The Skyweaver Jetbike squads are something of an improvement; they come in squads of 2-6 for 50pts per and essentially a pair of Harlequins riding on an Eldar Jetbike, with all of the stats you would expect to come with that. However, they only have a 4+ armor save, a major strike against them, and for some reason have neither Grenades nor Flip Belts nor Skilled Rider or any other equivalent; they are quite likely to crash into trees and die and/or get slowed to a crawl on the way into combat and subsequently punched to death by whatever it is they're trying to assault. The bikes come standard with a Shuriken Cannon and Star Bolas (one-use S6 AP2 weapons that can be fired in addition to anything else); the Cannon can be swapped into the Haywire Cannon for 5pts and the Bolas into a Zephyrglaive (i.e. slightly-better Power Lance) for 10pts. While not terrible, the middling armor save on Skyweavers largely dooms them to irrelevance in a world where high-strength multishot weapons continue to dominate the environment. They are mediocre at both shooting and melee and offer no obvious advantages to an army over the options already present. They're not bad, but they are eminently forgettable.
Finally, however, we come to the real gold in the codex: the “HQ” choices. I put that in quotations because, strictly speaking, they are not HQ selections- they are Elites. However, they function the way most other codices HQs would, so it's pretty safe to call them as such as long as the understanding is kept.
The Solitaire is the one that was previewed first and raised a lot of eyebrows, but he's also the least impressive to my mind; he's got a pretty crazy-high statline most places, but with S/T3 he will struggle to hurt most things in melee and suffer a disproportionate amount of damage in return. Eternal Warrior and a 3++ save at least mean that he won't simply explode when anyone glances at him, but if he suffers a round of shooting from a Wave Serpent, full Tactical Squad, etc, you can expect him to go down pretty easily. However, for additional points in his favor he at least gets a 12″ move as well as his Blitz, which once per game lets him move a number of inches equal to the turn number in dice rolled (so 3d6 on turn 3, etc) and bumps his Attacks to ten for the turn. He comes with a Kiss and Caress, but you're probably better off using the Caress most all of the time (unless you REALLY need that chance of IDing something this turn.) All in all, the Solitaire is a neat model, but probably not a very good one- he's just too fragile for the 145pts price tag.
The Shadowseer, however, has always been good (even mandatory) and this time is no different. Coming in at 60pts for ML1 (and the standard +25 for ML2), Shadowseers have a respectable statline and fairly standard gear (+2 Str Fleshbane weapon, 5++, etc.) They can roll on Sanctic and Telepathy, but you'll pretty much always want to be going for their unique discipline because it's really good. Phantasmancy is a mix of buffs, debuffs, and shooting attacks, but it almost all boils down to a couple things: first, the Primaris is awesome. It goes old-school, forcing enemy units to check 2d6x2″ and if they're outside that, waste their shooting attack. Second, it has several other strong defensive abilities (force an enemy to make only Snap Shots, give Stealth/Shrouded to a unit) that can be cast on anybody (whereas the Primaris only works on the psyker's squad.) Third, many of its attacks are Leadership-dependent (pseudo-Shriek, pseudo-Mind War), which will be important later. The Shadowseer is an extremely strong buy at 85pts and in concert with other stuff is the basis for the army's potential.
The last character, however, is the surprise. Death Jesters are cheap (60pts) and fairly generic in their statline; two wounds and the Shrieker Cannon (essentially a Shuriken Cannon that is also Assault) are nothing to write home about. The big key, however, is his special ability: when his gun causes any casualties to a unit, they must test Morale at the end of the shooting phase with a -2 penalty, and if they fail, the Harlequin player can choose which direction they make their fallback move in. This allows for all kinds of shenanigans on the Harlie player's part and begins to set up the army's main theme: Leadership tricks.
The relics available to them cement the theme. Most of them are quite cheap; ranging from 5pts (multishot Shurkien Pistol) to 25pts (fancy power sword.) However, the standout piece is The Mask of Secrets, which for 15pts gives a 12″ aura of -2 Leadership. Normally that would be a very good piece of gear, but in combination with some of the other stuff they can get- and that their allied armies have access to- it's crazy good. A Death Jester (or other character- it doesn't actually matter who wears it) with the Mask is essentially the basis of any functional Harlequin army, inevitably in alliance with Dark Eldar and/or Eldar.
Their warlord tables are… wonky. Like the Inquisition, they actually have access to three tables, but the 1-3 result on each of them are identical. Death Jesters and Shadowseers that roll on the tables only roll a d3; Troupe Masters are the only ones with (potential) access to the full spectrum of traits. Many of the bonuses are extremely good- +4 to Seize, Infil/Outflank/Scout to d3 units, +/-2 to game length rolls, redeploy d3 units, or take one “bonus” turn after the game ends with the warlord and their unit. I'm not sure exactly how good they'll end up being (it's hard to compete with the raw utility of the Strategic table), but taking a Harlequin warlord definitely opens up things for room for a lot of wacky antics, so at the very least they have the potential to be pretty fun.
The Harlequin detachments are similarly unusual; they do not qualify for Allied or Combined Arms detachments (as they have no HQ units) and must thus use their own Masque detachment or one of the formations. The Masque is extremely limiting; exactly three Troupes, two Jetbikes (or Starweavers), and one Voidweaver squads, with up to seven optional “HQ” units. You can reroll their warlord traits, as usual, and can Run + Charge with units in the formation. Not awful, but the major investment (minimum of 560pts) makes it rather unattractive for a lot of uses.
The Serpent's Brood may as well just be an offshoot of the above; it loses the option to add characters in and instead has a Starweaver required for every Troupe. In place of Run+Charge, you can re-embark on your transports during a Hit and Run move- a cute trick, but the chances that you'll want to do so (and that your paper plane will be alive) are rather low, so it's of pretty limited usefulness.
Cegorach's Jest is the cut-down version: one Troupe, one Bike unit, one Voidweaver. It can Run+Charge, but gets no other benefits. If you're looking for an easy inclusion to another army, this is probably the way to go.
The Hero's Path offers the first really “unique” alternative- it consists of one of each of the three characters that cannot join or be joined by anyone, but get Infil/Stealth/Shrouded. While it does solve some of the Solitaire's problems (thanks to being able to deploy forward and having 2+ cover), the Shadowseer not being able to give his buffs to the squad is a definite downside. If you have a lot of LOS-blocking terrain in your area, you might try it; it's definitely got some potential.
Faolchu's Blade wants you to buy tanks: two Starweavers and one Voidweaver, specifically. Why would you take such shitty vehicles? I guess they can reroll Jink saves or something, but that's unlikely to save you for long and it it means you're not going ot be doing any damage if you do. There's no reason to bother.
However, I've intentionally saved the best formation for last: The Cast of Players. It's cheap, it's effective, and it has everything you want and nothing you don't. It consists of one Troupe, a Shadowseer, and a Death Jester- that is to say, two models you care about and the ablative wounds you need to buy for them. All of the models form a unit that can't break apart- slightly unfortunate, but not actually problematical. (Note that, by the wording, they cannot LEAVE the Troupe- if the Troupe is destroyed, however, they are not prohibited from joining other units.) The unit has Crusader and passes it out to Eldar/DE units nearby. Yawn. But that's missing the point, and the point is that it gives you the two powerful characters for a minimal investment (~255pts, more if you want a few more bodies) that can then be shanghai'd into lending a hand for the rest of your army.
Terror at 40,000 A.D.
So, Harlequins can still theoretically do their usual thing: you could buy some Troupes and some Shadowseers and buff up and march forward with your melee upgrades, hoping to get into punching range. Hell, maybe you buy transports or steal them from one of your allies or whatever; it doesn't really change anything. It's a mediocre, if not actually terrible, plan, but they still output a bunch of pseudo-Rending attacks on the charge and have HnR and are obnoxious to deal with, even if you probably won't have Fortune or any of that to help.
But you know what's a lot stronger? Making the enemy take Leadership checks at a -4 or -6 penalty. With those numbers, even Space Marines will be fleeing like idiots towards wherever you want them, and the best part is it doesn't have to stop there. You have two psychic powers on the Phantasmancy list that key off of the enemy's Leadership, wargear that does the same, and strong allies in the form of armies with access to even MORE Leadership penalties/effects. Dark Eldar have the Armor of Misery, and while it's only a 6″ radius, it comes along with the Webway Portal and empty Raiders that are perfect for delivering your terror-bubble. Eldar have the Serpent Shield, obviously, but also have the Hemlock Wraithfighter (which forces rerolls on morale/pinning and comes with Terrify) and extensive access to excellent psykers that can roll on the Telepathy table- Iyanden is great for this, obviously.
Casting 5+ Telepathy or Phantasmancy spells at the enemy could easily break the back of any army that doesn't rely largely on vehicles. Psychic Shriek, Dominate, and Laugh of Sorrows are all excellent ways to kill or cripple anything with a Toughness value and when you can place your flying terror boat literally anywhere it can fit with perfect precision, it can make things really awkward for the enemy. Naturally you'd need to shore up your AT game with the rest of the army, but that's not hard- I hear Eldar have some pretty okay units for doing that sort of thing if you care to look.
Is this combo going to break the tournament scene? No, I don't think so- it doesn't have a lot of utility against Knights, Serpents, or Flyrants (all of which are still highly relevant parts of the meta) and it's contingent on passing a bunch of psychic powers, which the enemy can easily shut down if they have dice of their own. The Shadowseer has no protection against Perils and thus is likely to die pretty easily most games, and all it really takes is one good turn of shooting for the enemy to vaporize your gimmick unit. So no, it's not going to revolutionize the game, but it is a pretty nasty trick that you'll want to keep an eye out for, especially if you're playing an army that is vulnerable to its abilities.
The End
Harlequins are, all things considered, a fairly alright release. The army doesn't really do what GW thinks it does very well (get in close and assault/shoot), but that's hardly surprising- GW's perception of what models are good at has never been anything but skewed. However, the models are pretty, the fluff isn't atrocious, and the abilities are interesting enough for players to do some cool tricks with, so in the end I can't be too sad about it. While I find the limitations on the Masque detachment rather silly- why such an extremely-particular setup? why not just make it more like other optional detachments?- the formations offer enough variety in ways to field Harlequins that even players just looking for a small add-on force won't be disappointed. I think we can safely call this a marked improvement over some of the other mini-codices that we've seen.
The Day the Clown Cried (Codex: Harlequins review)
After quite a long time spent being little more than an entry in other people's codices, Harlequins have gotten their own book once more. As seems to be the case for a lot of the new “mini-codices” it's not really enough to easily field a full-sized army with (although theoretically you could), but it does make a nice little package to add into another army.
But, of course, that raises the real question: how good is it? Because Harlequins, as they were in the Eld/DE books, hadn't really had any meaningful influence on the game for quite a long time for a variety of reasons. Does the new book shore up their weaknesses enough to be useable, or is it another Legion of the Damned-esque blank slate?
Overlook
So, many things in the Harlie codex are the same as they were before, but many others are very different- the best place to start a discussion of them would be to remind everyone to throw out their previous conceptions of the unit and start anew. The old Harlequins were a melee deathstar unit; the new ones… not so much, even if they do have some of the same functionality. But, from a competitive perspective, they are a totally different animal.
The basic Harlequin Troupe is pretty similar; the rank and file models have the same profile, abilities, cost, etc, as they did before. However, a Troupe always has a Troupe Master as a squad leader, who benefits from +1s to his stats almost across the board (including Wounds, but not Str/Tough.) With four bodies and the Master, the squad is 95pts- additional bodies are 15pts each. Anyone can take a Fusion Pistol for 15pts or a Neuro Disruptor (AP2 Fleshbane) for 10pts- not strong options, but not complete garbage. The squad can also mix-and-match close combat weapons, including some new options.
The three Harlequin CC weapons are actually worth discussing on their own; the old Kiss has been renamed to the Harlequin's Embrace. It has faux-Rending just like many Eldar guns do, but also causes an automatic glance on a roll of 6- that is a significant upgrade over the old version, and while it's more expensive (+8pts over the base model) it ends up being a non-ignorable threat against almost everything. To keep things confusing, there is also a weapon called the Harlequin's Kiss (+5pts) that makes one (but only one) of your attacks each turn S6 AP2 and will make any 6s to wound with that attack cause Instant Death. The neo-Kiss is a lot less impressive in general, I think, as it's just too easy to miss/fail to wound with that attack- however, it will occasionally be a total pain in the ass for MCs and characters and it's at least cheaper than the Kiss, even if it lacks the utility. Lastly, there is the Harlequin's Embrace (+5pts), which gives the model d3 Hammer of Wrath hits, resolved at Strength 6. Although the autohits with good Strength are nice, I think it's easily the worst of the weapons- Harlequins already have large numbers of attacks, what they need is a way to kill off models with good saves and/or Toughness values.
The army also has access to the Starweaver as a dedicated transport; it is, for most intents and purposes, a Venom with the serial numbers filed off. At 70pts it's a big more expensive, but it has the same statline (AV10, 2HP, capacity 6) and largely the same equipment (5++ save, two main guns.) It has Shuriken Cannons rather than the Splinter ones mounted on the Venom, but that's largely a sidegrade- worse against MCs, about the same against most infantry, better against vehicles. The Cannon's 24″ range is a major disadvantage on such a fragile platform, however, and the one-use 4++ save the vehicle can get in lieu of Jinking does very little to mitigate this problem. With its inability to carry a large squad and shoddy protection (without a suitably-cheap price tag), the Starweaver is not a vehicle that impresses at all.
The shooting version, called the Voidweaver, makes it look like an all-star though. 5pts more expensive than its cousin, the Voidweaver trades the transport capacity for a Haywire Cannon (24″, small blast, Haywire) and inexplicably turns one of the two Shuriken Cannons to face ONLY into the vehicle's rear arc. (It totally is allowed to shoot a different target, though!) You can also take its extremely mediocre chassis in triples if, for some reason, you hate yourself and its Haywire gun with a Prism Cannon, which makes it into Babby's First Fire Prism. You get your choice of a S3 small blast, a S5 blast with AP3, or a S7 AP2 lance shot- none of the profiles at all impressive for what is nominally a gun platform.
The Skyweaver Jetbike squads are something of an improvement; they come in squads of 2-6 for 50pts per and essentially a pair of Harlequins riding on an Eldar Jetbike, with all of the stats you would expect to come with that. However, they only have a 4+ armor save, a major strike against them, and for some reason have neither Grenades nor Flip Belts nor Skilled Rider or any other equivalent; they are quite likely to crash into trees and die and/or get slowed to a crawl on the way into combat and subsequently punched to death by whatever it is they're trying to assault. The bikes come standard with a Shuriken Cannon and Star Bolas (one-use S6 AP2 weapons that can be fired in addition to anything else); the Cannon can be swapped into the Haywire Cannon for 5pts and the Bolas into a Zephyrglaive (i.e. slightly-better Power Lance) for 10pts. While not terrible, the middling armor save on Skyweavers largely dooms them to irrelevance in a world where high-strength multishot weapons continue to dominate the environment. They are mediocre at both shooting and melee and offer no obvious advantages to an army over the options already present. They're not bad, but they are eminently forgettable.
Finally, however, we come to the real gold in the codex: the “HQ” choices. I put that in quotations because, strictly speaking, they are not HQ selections- they are Elites. However, they function the way most other codices HQs would, so it's pretty safe to call them as such as long as the understanding is kept.
The Solitaire is the one that was previewed first and raised a lot of eyebrows, but he's also the least impressive to my mind; he's got a pretty crazy-high statline most places, but with S/T3 he will struggle to hurt most things in melee and suffer a disproportionate amount of damage in return. Eternal Warrior and a 3++ save at least mean that he won't simply explode when anyone glances at him, but if he suffers a round of shooting from a Wave Serpent, full Tactical Squad, etc, you can expect him to go down pretty easily. However, for additional points in his favor he at least gets a 12″ move as well as his Blitz, which once per game lets him move a number of inches equal to the turn number in dice rolled (so 3d6 on turn 3, etc) and bumps his Attacks to ten for the turn. He comes with a Kiss and Caress, but you're probably better off using the Caress most all of the time (unless you REALLY need that chance of IDing something this turn.) All in all, the Solitaire is a neat model, but probably not a very good one- he's just too fragile for the 145pts price tag.
The Shadowseer, however, has always been good (even mandatory) and this time is no different. Coming in at 60pts for ML1 (and the standard +25 for ML2), Shadowseers have a respectable statline and fairly standard gear (+2 Str Fleshbane weapon, 5++, etc.) They can roll on Sanctic and Telepathy, but you'll pretty much always want to be going for their unique discipline because it's really good. Phantasmancy is a mix of buffs, debuffs, and shooting attacks, but it almost all boils down to a couple things: first, the Primaris is awesome. It goes old-school, forcing enemy units to check 2d6x2″ and if they're outside that, waste their shooting attack. Second, it has several other strong defensive abilities (force an enemy to make only Snap Shots, give Stealth/Shrouded to a unit) that can be cast on anybody (whereas the Primaris only works on the psyker's squad.) Third, many of its attacks are Leadership-dependent (pseudo-Shriek, pseudo-Mind War), which will be important later. The Shadowseer is an extremely strong buy at 85pts and in concert with other stuff is the basis for the army's potential.
The last character, however, is the surprise. Death Jesters are cheap (60pts) and fairly generic in their statline; two wounds and the Shrieker Cannon (essentially a Shuriken Cannon that is also Assault) are nothing to write home about. The big key, however, is his special ability: when his gun causes any casualties to a unit, they must test Morale at the end of the shooting phase with a -2 penalty, and if they fail, the Harlequin player can choose which direction they make their fallback move in. This allows for all kinds of shenanigans on the Harlie player's part and begins to set up the army's main theme: Leadership tricks.
The relics available to them cement the theme. Most of them are quite cheap; ranging from 5pts (multishot Shurkien Pistol) to 25pts (fancy power sword.) However, the standout piece is The Mask of Secrets, which for 15pts gives a 12″ aura of -2 Leadership. Normally that would be a very good piece of gear, but in combination with some of the other stuff they can get- and that their allied armies have access to- it's crazy good. A Death Jester (or other character- it doesn't actually matter who wears it) with the Mask is essentially the basis of any functional Harlequin army, inevitably in alliance with Dark Eldar and/or Eldar.
Their warlord tables are… wonky. Like the Inquisition, they actually have access to three tables, but the 1-3 result on each of them are identical. Death Jesters and Shadowseers that roll on the tables only roll a d3; Troupe Masters are the only ones with (potential) access to the full spectrum of traits. Many of the bonuses are extremely good- +4 to Seize, Infil/Outflank/Scout to d3 units, +/-2 to game length rolls, redeploy d3 units, or take one “bonus” turn after the game ends with the warlord and their unit. I'm not sure exactly how good they'll end up being (it's hard to compete with the raw utility of the Strategic table), but taking a Harlequin warlord definitely opens up things for room for a lot of wacky antics, so at the very least they have the potential to be pretty fun.
The Harlequin detachments are similarly unusual; they do not qualify for Allied or Combined Arms detachments (as they have no HQ units) and must thus use their own Masque detachment or one of the formations. The Masque is extremely limiting; exactly three Troupes, two Jetbikes (or Starweavers), and one Voidweaver squads, with up to seven optional “HQ” units. You can reroll their warlord traits, as usual, and can Run + Charge with units in the formation. Not awful, but the major investment (minimum of 560pts) makes it rather unattractive for a lot of uses.
The Serpent's Brood may as well just be an offshoot of the above; it loses the option to add characters in and instead has a Starweaver required for every Troupe. In place of Run+Charge, you can re-embark on your transports during a Hit and Run move- a cute trick, but the chances that you'll want to do so (and that your paper plane will be alive) are rather low, so it's of pretty limited usefulness.
Cegorach's Jest is the cut-down version: one Troupe, one Bike unit, one Voidweaver. It can Run+Charge, but gets no other benefits. If you're looking for an easy inclusion to another army, this is probably the way to go.
The Hero's Path offers the first really “unique” alternative- it consists of one of each of the three characters that cannot join or be joined by anyone, but get Infil/Stealth/Shrouded. While it does solve some of the Solitaire's problems (thanks to being able to deploy forward and having 2+ cover), the Shadowseer not being able to give his buffs to the squad is a definite downside. If you have a lot of LOS-blocking terrain in your area, you might try it; it's definitely got some potential.
Faolchu's Blade wants you to buy tanks: two Starweavers and one Voidweaver, specifically. Why would you take such shitty vehicles? I guess they can reroll Jink saves or something, but that's unlikely to save you for long and it it means you're not going ot be doing any damage if you do. There's no reason to bother.
However, I've intentionally saved the best formation for last: The Cast of Players. It's cheap, it's effective, and it has everything you want and nothing you don't. It consists of one Troupe, a Shadowseer, and a Death Jester- that is to say, two models you care about and the ablative wounds you need to buy for them. All of the models form a unit that can't break apart- slightly unfortunate, but not actually problematical. (Note that, by the wording, they cannot LEAVE the Troupe- if the Troupe is destroyed, however, they are not prohibited from joining other units.) The unit has Crusader and passes it out to Eldar/DE units nearby. Yawn. But that's missing the point, and the point is that it gives you the two powerful characters for a minimal investment (~255pts, more if you want a few more bodies) that can then be shanghai'd into lending a hand for the rest of your army.
Terror at 40,000 A.D.
So, Harlequins can still theoretically do their usual thing: you could buy some Troupes and some Shadowseers and buff up and march forward with your melee upgrades, hoping to get into punching range. Hell, maybe you buy transports or steal them from one of your allies or whatever; it doesn't really change anything. It's a mediocre, if not actually terrible, plan, but they still output a bunch of pseudo-Rending attacks on the charge and have HnR and are obnoxious to deal with, even if you probably won't have Fortune or any of that to help.
But you know what's a lot stronger? Making the enemy take Leadership checks at a -4 or -6 penalty. With those numbers, even Space Marines will be fleeing like idiots towards wherever you want them, and the best part is it doesn't have to stop there. You have two psychic powers on the Phantasmancy list that key off of the enemy's Leadership, wargear that does the same, and strong allies in the form of armies with access to even MORE Leadership penalties/effects. Dark Eldar have the Armor of Misery, and while it's only a 6″ radius, it comes along with the Webway Portal and empty Raiders that are perfect for delivering your terror-bubble. Eldar have the Serpent Shield, obviously, but also have the Hemlock Wraithfighter (which forces rerolls on morale/pinning and comes with Terrify) and extensive access to excellent psykers that can roll on the Telepathy table- Iyanden is great for this, obviously.
Casting 5+ Telepathy or Phantasmancy spells at the enemy could easily break the back of any army that doesn't rely largely on vehicles. Psychic Shriek, Dominate, and Laugh of Sorrows are all excellent ways to kill or cripple anything with a Toughness value and when you can place your flying terror boat literally anywhere it can fit with perfect precision, it can make things really awkward for the enemy. Naturally you'd need to shore up your AT game with the rest of the army, but that's not hard- I hear Eldar have some pretty okay units for doing that sort of thing if you care to look.
Is this combo going to break the tournament scene? No, I don't think so- it doesn't have a lot of utility against Knights, Serpents, or Flyrants (all of which are still highly relevant parts of the meta) and it's contingent on passing a bunch of psychic powers, which the enemy can easily shut down if they have dice of their own. The Shadowseer has no protection against Perils and thus is likely to die pretty easily most games, and all it really takes is one good turn of shooting for the enemy to vaporize your gimmick unit. So no, it's not going to revolutionize the game, but it is a pretty nasty trick that you'll want to keep an eye out for, especially if you're playing an army that is vulnerable to its abilities.
The End
Harlequins are, all things considered, a fairly alright release. The army doesn't really do what GW thinks it does very well (get in close and assault/shoot), but that's hardly surprising- GW's perception of what models are good at has never been anything but skewed. However, the models are pretty, the fluff isn't atrocious, and the abilities are interesting enough for players to do some cool tricks with, so in the end I can't be too sad about it. While I find the limitations on the Masque detachment rather silly- why such an extremely-particular setup? why not just make it more like other optional detachments?- the formations offer enough variety in ways to field Harlequins that even players just looking for a small add-on force won't be disappointed. I think we can safely call this a marked improvement over some of the other mini-codices that we've seen.
