Harlequins... LOTS of Harlequins...

[IJW]

Having had a Harlequin army back in RT and 2nd ed, the news that they are back in the new codex with some stunning new models has prompted me to dust off the old troupers and build up a pure Harlequin force using 'counts as...' rules.

The general idea is to take as many units of Harlequins as possible, then make up the rest of the army using Harlequin models representing suitable units from the new codex. Things like units of Dark Reapers represented by Death Jesters and Shining Spears using Harlequin Jetbike models.

So, here's some of the source material:


(bigger version)

Starting from the top left we have:
- Some Vyper and Raider bits along with a couple of Death Jesters. Model-wise this will become a Venom-style skimmer carrying several Death Jesters, using the rules for a Vyper.
- Harlequin Dreadnought/Wraithlord, to be joined by one of the new plastic ones.
- One and a half units of the better painted Troupers.

Next row down:
- Six metal Harlequin Jetbikes. I also have a pile of regular metal jetbikes which will fit in quite nicely when given a suitable paint scheme.
- Miscellaneous badly painted Harlequins from my early painting days, probably need stripping.
- Nine Warlocks/Shadowseers.

Lower half of table:
- Three units of ten Harlequin Troupers.
- Several models with missing arms, mostly used to make an all-Kiss unit in the past.
- Unpainted Death Jesters, painted ones behind them.
- Behind the DJs is a rather large number of character models - four Solitaires, three High Harlequins, the limited edition Great Harlequin and a couple of High Warlocks/Shadowseers.

- Also on the table are unpainted models of Jain Zar and Maugan Ra which are likely to see use as army HQs when painted in a suitable fashion.

Ian

[IJW]

Detail photos of some of the painted models, some previously seen in my 'one of every Eldar' log:


Kiss-equipped Troupers and Troupe Leader. Most of these are conversions, and are the reason for the big pile of mutilated models in the big picture.


A couple of the characters, in this case a Solitaire model converted for use as a High Harlequin and the Solitaire from the old box set.


Death Jester. This was a Golden Demon entry at some stage, but never got past the shop-level judging. The Masque symbol can be seen on the pennant.

[IJW]

And more...


About eighteen years old, this one is showing it's age. I need to paint the head and cannon, replace the sword blades and rebase it. Could also do with some gems to bring it to life a bit more.


A slightly lower view. The wings are from an Epic Titan, the swords were cut from plastic sheet with bosses made from Marauder DE shields.

[IJW]

Not valid anymore as the fluff has changed too much, but it was fun at the time. Probably a good thing in game terms, as Harlequins assaulting out of a Land Raider would be a bit scary...



Two more variations on the Masque symbol. In these close-ups you can see that the Harlequins have just slapped a coat of white paint over the top of the previous grey imperial paint scheme, but haven'y got around to adding further decoration such as diamond patterns.

Next Steps:

After touching up and finishing the Wraithlord I'll probably start converting the Jetbikes, adding in a mix or regular bikes, and giving one units-worth of models some kind of spear or halberd for use as Shining Spears. Ones without will be used as Guardian Jetbikes.

[IJW]

Masque Name
Probably the Masque of the Last Moment, but possibly the Masque of the Lost Moment. In either case, a Masque who specialise in in-the-nick-of-time interventions.


Masque Symbol
I've been doing some work on the Masque symbol, and realised that the earliest versions as seen on the land Raider had less points and was also the opposite way around from a question mark. Later versions as seen on the Death Jester somehow got swapped around, and had the side-spikes added.

I'm going to be doing quite a few banners and pennants on the computer due to limited painting time (and hands that aren't as steady as they were), so have been attempting to re-create the symbol in a vector drawing app:


First attempt, remembering how bad I am at using bezier curves.


Swapped to Inkscape, a free vector program, where you can show a grid.


By using the grid to draw the first spike and then duplicating it I've got something much more consistent. I think the top curve needs to be fattened up, and the corners sharpened up a bit and it should be there.

[IJW]

And a quick test reproducing the symbol on fire. This is NOT how the symbol will generally be used, but I'd like to experiment with different uses.



Not sure how well this will produce when reduced to a few millimetres high, but the effect could work very well if the flames instead blow sideways along a streaming pennant.

The fire effect was made following an online Photoshop tutorial, found here. Note that it requires a full version of Photoshop AND knowing your way around Photoshop.

Ian

P.S. Comments welcome!

[Scorpio]

Wow those are some old models. I cant wait to see more of this and maybe see your new harlequins when the models come out!

Keep goin!
-Scorpio

[IJW]

Oh, you can be sure I'l be getting some of the new ones...

Once upon a time, many years ago, this model lost it's tab. Time for some repair work, as the foot is far too small to glue effectively.


As you can see from the width of the foot, drilling a hole for the pin was a little... tricky.


Based, waiting for a couple of finishing touches like the ankle bracelet and the thigh sash.

[IJW]

Wraithlord gets re-based:





Always amazing how much it can brighten up the model.

[IJW]

Another of the character models - this time the High Warlock / Shadowseer.



Marine players might want to take a close look at the pointy bits on the powerfist - this model came out a couple of years before Terminators with Lightning Claws...

The High Harlequin/Solitaire conversion in the second post has the same powerfist cut off another shadowseer.

[IJW]

All the troupe leaders and many of the character models will be given banners and pennants, in some cases just to make them distinguishable from the normal troupers. This idea is partially inspired by the limited edition Autarch and Yriel, but lots of long flowing cloth suits the Harlequins anyway.

Here's the first test.


Hole drilled down through from the top of the backback at an angle from the vertical. A chopped down dressmaking pin is in the hole as the banner pole.


With a quick paper pennant on to see how it looks.


Note that the pennant is purposefully narrower than the pole is high - this will leave space for a really long thin streamer underneath the main pennant.

[IJW]

The symbol is finished:



With some colour:



Looks like I just found an avatar at last...

[IJW]

Printed Back Pennant


File prepared much larger in Photoshop then reduced to size. Note thin grey line in the middle to help with alignment.


Printed pennant with model for scale.


Trimmed down to rectangle.


Double-sided tape on one side of pennant.

[IJW]

The sticky tape goes over the halfway point so that it already sticks to the pin at this point in the process.


Folded over, taking care to line it up fairly accurately.


Trimmed banner. It's always best to 'overprint' the edge of the banner and trim it after folding over - if you don't get it exactly lined up it won't show as badly.
This should always be done with a scalpel and steel ruler - most craft knives are either not sharp enough or the blades so wide that the edges of the paper get folded up.

[IJW]

The pennant in place on the model, after painting the edges black and curling it around a thin paintbrush handle.






I'm very pleased with how it's come out, does anyone have any bright ideas for other pennant designs?

[FearFrost]

Neat!

I love the old school back banner look.

I would try various harlequin "patterns" on fields of color, like diagonal checks/hearts/spades/yin yangs.

Cant go wrong with flame on Eldar (winks at my project log link)

[IJW]

(winks at my project log link)

Oh, I've been keeping a close eye on that for awhile now.

Yes, generic diamonds etc. as backdrops could work nicely. I'll mock some up and see how they look, will also have to experiment with slightly textured backgrounds instead of flat colour.

[Great_Destroyer]

Not being an eldar player or ever played one, what are Harlequins exactly?

[FearFrost]

They are like those drama kids in high school...

Drama kids that have rending weapons and personal holofields and can dodge bullets and go toe to toe in close combat with independent characters...

[IJW]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldar_Harlequins is probably the best place to start.

They were the original beardy army in first edition - more special rules than you could shake a stick at, more independent characters than basic troops and the Harlequins Kiss. The CC weapon that automatically killed any organic target that was hit and failed it's save. Now a rending CC weapon.

Oh, and they've basically been out of the game since 2nd edition - there's a 3rd ed 'experimental' codex that was published in the Citadel Journal, but people tend to use it's unofficial status as a reason to avoid playing against them... all the current models are from 1987-8 until the new ones come out in a few months time.