Dark Eldar Harlequin Army

So I must be kind of special when the first image that comes up under Dark Eldar Army is that of my old 3rd/5th edition army?  Haha, am I famous yet?! While that army has been sold off, I am working on painting and assembling my new Dark Eldar army... however I'm still trying to determine what I want to have in it.

My Eldar army is my current go-to competitive army, and I don't see my Dark Eldar taking their place anytime soon.  So the question becomes, if I want to build a Dark Eldar army based on casual gaming, but can still hang with some competitive lists, what should I do?



Well, this would be an easy decision if Games Workshop had left Harlequins in the Dark Eldar Codex.  I would simply proxy a Solitaire for Lelith, a Great Harlequin for an Archon / Succubus, load up 2-3 squads of Harlequins in Raiders (by using the Fast Attack slots), max out Venom Warriors, and proxy a Harlequin Dreadnought for a Talos. Done deal!  I get to run pure Dark Eldar and have a Harlequin themed force that can actually make it across the battlefield in one piece. I could even throw in some WWP's for some great shenanigans.  Appearing exactly where I need them to be in a Raider.

This might make you want to build a Harlequin army too!

Well, obviously Games Workshop is going a different direction with Harlequins.  Maybe they will be a formation for Eldar / Dark Eldar, or maybe they will be left out of the book entirely. Or MAYBE, just maybe, they'll be included in some magical supplement with Vect, Baron, and Exodites.  Oh sorry, I must be shrooming.

For now, I could choose to run Dark Eldar primary with Eldar allies for a relatively inexpensive investment.  I could have a Great Harlequin (Autarch or Phoenix Lord), 2 squads of 3 Jetbikes and a squad of Harlequins.  The Dark Eldar primary would incluce Lelith (Solitaire) and either a Succubus, Archon, or even Haemonculi (who I could play off as a Great Shadowseer). Since I am limited to one squad I would almost certainly use a WWP - I need to get them where they need to be in one piece (and not shot up in my own deployment zone).

Dark Eldar Harlequin Army: 1,850 points

Dark Eldar Primary:
Solitaire (Lelith) - 150
Great Shadowseer (Haemonculi w/ WWP, Armour of Misery, Flesh Gauntlet) - 130
6x5 Warriors in Venoms - 630
Raider w/ Night Shields - 70
5 Scourges (4 Haywire Blasters) - 120

Eldar Allies:
Great Harlequin (Autarch w/ Shard of Anaris, Fusion Gun) - 120
7 Harlequins (7 kisses, 2 fusion pistols) - 174
2x3 Jetbikes - 102
6 Warp Spiders - 114
Harlequin Great Dreadnought (Wraithknight) - 240


There are some more shenanigans with Harlequins and Dark Eldar that can be done with Eldar as a primary and Dark Eldar allies (or by using the Dark Eldar Codex Detachment).  More on that next time!