Harlequins v Asuryani Battle Report

Eldrad leads the defence against Harlequin skimmers

After getting in a solid half-dozen games with the new Harlequins this week, I thought I’d try them out against the other new faction on the scene: the Asuryani. This veritable clash of the titans (the factions, not the players wielding them) will be a case of unstoppable force meets immovable object. On the one hand the Harlequins are brutally fast, hit like bricks at range and up close, and can take way more punches back than you’d expect. On the other Owen’s Asuryani list is packed full of teleporting shooting units, massed indirect and sheer psychic might. Who comes out on top? Read on to find out…

Harlequins List

That's a lotta boats

Largely unchanged from the last few games, this list basically relies on the Starweavers and Troupes to claim objectives and provide short ranged firepower, while the Voidweavers blast the enemy off the field and the murder characters take out key enemy models. It’s fast, it’s mean and it’s an incredibly easy list to play. I know that last part is true because it’s been doing well while I’m piloting it, which is normally a tricky feat. Turns out having 22” of movement to fix all my positioning errors helps with that.

 

Asuryani List

Psykers and Weavers and Hawks, oh my!

You may have noticed that both lists are 5 points over the limit. Each could easily make that work by cutting a single upgrade (and obviously would in a tournament), but for this friendly game it’s just simpler not to have to keep track of which Troupe squad is the one without the Neuro Disruptor. Sometimes we’re lazy like that.

Otherwise, this list looks pretty brutal. An absolutely crazy amount of indirect fire is the first thing that stands out, with two types of scary Spinners at 48” that then get joined by their friends the D-Cannons once I get closer. Ouch! Swooping Hawks and Warp Spiders are also effectively indirect fire with how difficult they are to shoot back at, and everything is backed up by a massive contingent of scary characters. 4 Psykers will be Smiting my boats off the table real fast, Karandras is more than a match for any of my characters, and Baharroth may be the most underpriced model in the game right now. I say that as someone running 9 Voidweavers, so watch out. Finally, some Banshees and Scorpions provide strong melee counterattacking for a fairly minimal price, running MSU with the best Exarch powers to make me sweat. Scary stuff.

One central objective is definitely a great thing to see in this matchup

We rolled up the Scouring, which on balance probably favours me. Anything that incentivises fighting over the middle of the table is much better for my durable Harlequins than those fragile Asuryani (I know, it sounds weird to me too). On the other hand, Will of Asuryan means that I’m at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to doing the scenario unique action, as unlike the Asuryani I have to give up a unit’s shooting to do so.

Stranglehold, To the Last and Assassinate

Leaning into the scenario’s drive to the middle, I picked Stranglehold: if I’m not nearly maxing this, things have gone badly wrong. I also nervously picked To The Last; my list is built with scoring it in mind, but this Asuryani force is much better equipped to hunt down lone Voidweavers. Finally, I opted for Assassinate, as there are enough characters running around to max it and I basically need to kill them to win anyway.

Stranglehold, To the Last and Psychic Interrogation

Owen opted for a fairly similar set of picks to mine. If those Support Platform squads go down then he’s probably lost anyway, so To The Last makes sense. Psychic Interrogation seems achievable with his massive array of psykers, especially with the Ghosthelm to force through undeniable casts when he needs to. And while Stranglehold is a bit scary here, it’s probably still easier than trying to run around the field for RND, so it’s in. His plan is basically to sit back and attrition me down, then score big in the second half of the game.

 

Deployment was about what one would expect. Owen castled up behind his LoS blockers, trying to deny me good shots at his artillery, while I basically deployed straight on the line. Those Night Spinners are going to hit me no matter what I do, so I might as well give myself the best chance to take them out in return. The most exciting part of our deployments is the Rangers squad deployed within 9” of my Voidweavers. If Owen goes first he’ll be able to charge me, take my objective for Stranglehold and force me to spend CP to fall back and shoot. If I go first he can Phantasm, or just accept that those Rangers were probably going to die fast in this matchup anyway.

On your marks, get set, go!

Harlequins Turn 1:

Winning first turn is a big deal here. I really want to take out at least those Nightspinners before they get to fire, and I reckon I can get some good angles on them with my Voidweavers. Plus, the aforementioned Rangers. 

The Harlequins attack!

Turns out I’m right about those angles (we premeasured during deployment and there was no way Owen could completely hide the Spinners AND the Support Platforms) so I zoom up, taking out the left Spinner with massive overkill before whiffing against the right one after I split my fire to kill a Support Platform. Ah, hubris.

I was lured into a false sense of security by how badly this squadron bodied their target

 The closer squad of Spiders is also evaporated, as are a handful of Hawks. Of course, the Rangers also disappear in a hail of Fusion and Shuriken. Finally, the Solitaire zooms into combat with the Scorpions and kills all bar the Exarch, who promptly runs away at the end of the turn. A solid first turn, let’s see how Owen strikes back.

Honestly, if I was that Exarch I'd have run too

Asuryani Turn 1:

Owen goes hard this turn, knowing he can’t endure my firepower for long, nor hide from my mobility. Throwing forward the Nightspinner, Banshees and Swooping Hawks, he’s keen to charge my three Voidweaver squadrons to disable some of their firepower next turn. 

The Asuryani start their counterattack

The counterattack starts strong, with his Farseer using a Fate Dice, Seer Council and the Ulthwe boost to get a super-Smite, which then rolls a 6 to wipe out a whole Voidweaver! 

Ouch!

I manage to deny Executioner and the Seer Council’s Smite fails, but Eldrad throws down more mortal wounds and Psychic Interrogation goes off. Next up a D-Cannon rolls hot to obliterate another Voidweaver from that unit, while the Hawks chip some more Wounds onto the rightmost squadron and the Nightspinner and Baharroth badly injure the Solitaire after he flubs several 3++’s through the Luck rerolls. However, the rest of the artillery fails to achieve much more than damaging the last Voidweaver in the crippled squadron, so it’s onto the charge phase.

The centre Voidweavers use the Light stratagem to dart out of reach of the Banshees, while the Hawks on the right flank get so hammered by Overwatch they fail their charge. The Nightspinner does manage to tie down the last Voidweaver on the left, but a Heroic Intervention from the Solitaire strips 4 Wounds from it in return. The Banshees do succeed in flipping the centre objective to secure Stranglehold, as well as badly damaging both Starweavers in the centre.

Banshees howl forwards to take the objective

Finally, Baharroth had taken advantage of some super sneaky tech to dart forward, shoot the Solitaire, teleport into the backfield then charge a Starweaver. This seemingly illegal move is actually perfectly legitimate, because while there are plenty of restrictions on Battle Focus (including not charging after using it), Baharroth’s special rule is explicitly used instead of Battle Focussing. i.e. because he didn’t actually Battle Focus, the limitations attached to it never trigger. I’d expect this to be FAQ’ed soon, but it seemed perfectly clear RAW so we decided to run with it. So Baharroth slams into the backfield Starweaver, before teleporting all the way back to safety (because, again, there’s only a restriction on multiple Battle Focus moves, not multiple Skyleaps). He’s a monster.

 Battlefield at the end of Asuryani turn 1

Harlequins Turn 2:

The turn starts with me scoring 7 points on Primary, having only held one objective but completed the mission-specific action on the middle objective. Realising that the game was totally in the balance, I decide to go for the throat this turn. I do my usual rearrangement of Starweavers, with the two that got tagged last turn disengaging to hold my back objectives, while the rest of my force presses forward. The Troupe Master and the Troupes from the disengaged Starweavers all disembark, with one Troupe darting to the left to clear the Swooping Hawks off the objective while the other charges towards the Seer Council on the right. 

Harlequins surge around the flanks to get line of sight and gun down some Aeldari

The Nightspinner is quickly obliterated in a hail of Fusion fire, while it takes all the shots of 4 Voidweavers to strip three Wounds off Baharroth. The other Voidweavers take out a pair of Support Platforms on the left as well as injuring Eldrad, while Karandras has his first three Wounds stripped by another Fusion Pistol. In the centre, the Death Jester secures a quadruple kill, wiping the four remaining Banshees with ease to leave me in control of 3 objectives and about to charge onto the remaining two.

The Troupe Master and Solitaire strike

In combat, I start with the Troupe Master into Baharroth. 7 attacks translate into 6 hits, then five wounds, any of which would be enough to kill him. Owen passes his first two 4++ saves, before CP rerolling to pass the third and then ignoring the last two through Fate Dice. Baharroth lives! 

5 wounds, 5 passed saves. Urgh, Asuryani are obnoxious

Elsewhere things go somewhat better, with the Solitaire using the stratagem to ignore invulnerable saves to massacre the Farseer (although the Warlock passes just enough saves to survive the onslaught). Baharroth reduces the Troupe Master to a single wound before disappearing to my backfield again, while the lone Phoenix Plume Exarch is left alive and injured on the far-left objective.

Look at that smug Elf. I hate Baharroth (except when I'm using him)

 In the end I decide it’s worth the 3 CP to use War Dancers and fight again with the Troupe he's in combat with, massacring him with a br25 attacks. It’s massive overkill, but I don’t want to have to deal with another hyper-mobile unit disappearing into my empty backfield next turn.

 This poor Exarch didn't know what hit him

Asuryani Turn 2:

Battlefield at start of Asuryani Turn 2

I’d managed to zero Owen on Primary this turn, leaving him behind on points and materiel and needing a huge counterattack this turn. It starts well, with Eldrad Smiting away the Solitaire at last, and the Troupe Master falling to a hail of fire from the Shadow Weavers. 

The Solitaire falls 

Eldrad also manages to cast Will of Asuryan on the Warlock Skyrunner, who zooms into the middle to flip that objective. 

The outnumbered Asuryani launch a desperate final strike

The D-Cannon and recently-arrived Warp Spiders also roll excellently, eliminating the last Voidweaver from the damaged squadron before blowing away two more from the uninjured group. Baharroth snipes out the Starweaver he’d injured last turn, before charging the other one in my backfield to flip that objective. That Elf is so obnoxious. Karandras also had a good turn, absolutely obliterating a Troupe to flip their objective back and secure Stranglehold again. 

Top ten photos taken moments before disaster

There’s still fight left in these Aeldari!

Some hefty casualties this turn! 

Harlequins Turn 3:

Scoring a solid 8 on Primary, I’m determined to end the game this turn. The 4 surviving Voidweavers and two Troupes descend on the last bastion of Asuryani resistance in the top-right corner, while elsewhere the surviving Starweavers and Troupes move to put down those irritating Phoenix Lords.

The Harlequins pounce on the last Asuryani

Both Phoneix Lords fall to Harlequin shooting at last, while the Warp Spiders and Support Weapons are gunned down in short measure. 

'What about if instead of fighting him, we just shot him in the face with Fusion Pistols?'

Glad to finally see the end of Baharroth

At last Eldrad is left alone, and when he fails his Invulnerable save against a Fusion Pistol he doesn’t need his fabled foresight to predict the future.

Difficult to see how you're getting out of this one, Eldrad

In the end there is just one Support Weapon still alive when we call it. 

The last survivor, temporarily holding onto 5 TTL points

We talk through the points and I drop five points from To The Last but max Primary, while Owen scrapes a handful of points together from Stranglehold and Psychic Interrogation. It’s a brutal final scoreline, that probably doesn’t reflect how close the game actually was.

 Turns out Harlequins are good, huh

Post-Game Analysis

The battlefield at the end of my turn 3

Well, that was brutal. Talking it over after the game, Owen and I agreed that the decisive turn was Aeldari turn 1. Like in so many other Harlequins games, that first strike needed to land a lot harder than it actually did. Once I made it through that round I was free to take most of Owen’s army off the table in my second turn, and no amount of good luck or clever play was capable of pulling things back from there. The one thing we agreed Owen could have done differently was not throwing away the Rangers so cheaply. A set of big first turn charges could have been decisive (maybe from the Scorpions as well), but once that was out they should have been pulled back to flip an objective or start an action later. 

Overall, I think my plan worked fairly well. I definitely needed to rush Owen down and take out some of his artillery, and that was helped a lot by going first. I think I’d still have been okay going second, as I’d probably only have lost a couple more boats before hitting back pretty hard. It would have definitely been a much closer game though, especially after those Rangers tied up a squadron of Voidweavers.

Owen’s Aeldari of the match was pretty obvious: Baharroth was an absolute menace, flipping objectives and killing stuff left, right and centre, while resisting a truly infuriating amount of damage. 

Fate Dice: also pretty strong

For me, I think the Troupes were the stars, flipping objectives, charging down fragile Asuryani units and blasting everything else with Fusion Guns. These guys are just so efficient and so incredibly versatile, and I’m honestly contemplating dropping some Voidweavers to fit more in. I probably won’t though, because those things are ridiculously underpriced for their damage output and durability.

As far as the matchup goes, I definitely think it favours the Harlequins. Both sides have so much speed that it’s hard to hide from the other’s attacks, but the Harlequins are a lot more capable of taking a hit and fighting back. Owen threw a lot of damage at my boats, but he just didn’t quite have the muscle to put them down through their stacked defences.

 

I hope you enjoyed this battle report! The Harlequins are definitely a wild ride, I can’t imagine them making it through the next Balance Dataslate untouched. Until then though, at least they’re super fun to play.

Till next time, may your opponent’s Smites never roll sixes!