Horde Harlequins v Custodes Battle Report

Now, anyone who’s been following my last few articles will know I’m a big fan of the Harlequin boats: they’re ridiculously resilient, move 22” a turn and put out blistering firepower. But some rereading of the Harlequin Codex set me wondering whether I could replicate that resilience with foot Troupes, trading out ranged firepower and a little speed for incredible numbers and combat ability. From those musings, this monstrosity was born:

Yes, that’s 96 models, all capable of moving at least 9-14” every turn and murdering stuff in close combat. It’s made of glass, but everything benefits from Light to be hard to hit at range, and all the Players have -1 to Wound as well. Dark would obviously be a much better choice against close combat armies, but my guess is that I’ll already have the edge against those and am better off shoring up the T’au and Asuryani matchups with Light. Of note: we played as if Troupes had Core, because of course they will and we're future-proofing for that. If for some reason Core is meant to mean 'literally just Skyweavers', then this list basically ceases to exist as an option.

Edit: slightly illegal list, accidentally had one too many Troops choices in my Patrol. Just imagine those 2*5 were 1*10, outfitted the same as everyone else, I don't think it really came up at all this game

Against this bizarre force, Owen is taking a much more traditional list, heavily inspired by another recent Competitive Innovations winner: Emperor’s Chosen Custodes. He’s got a Calladius and some Sagitarum to kill stuff at range, an Inquisitor for Warpcraft Secondaries and a whole lot of resilient, fighty models. Classic stuff.

After playing the game we realised that Owen should have gotten 18 points back from his Sagitarum’s misericordias due to the recent FAQ. So glad the suffering Custodes are receiving the buffs they need and deserve. I’m not totally sure what one does with 20 points extra in a Custodes list though, so missing them was probably fine.

We rolled up Conversion, which is probably a good mission for me. Fighting over the central objectives is kind of what my army does anyway, so getting points for that is just money for jam, and I’m a lot more likely to take Owen’s home objective than he is to take mine. A fairly close deployment is also probably a good thing, letting me gun for Turn 1 charges if I go first to try and pin him in his own quarter. On the other hand, needing my glass cannon of a Troupe Master alive to get CP is a bit of a hassle, so I’ll have to play him very carefully.

Webway Gate looming large over the left objective

For Secondaries, I decided to pick Stranglehold, because it’s a 5 objective mission and my army is literally just 90 ObSec combat troops. If I can’t get Stranglehold going then that says a lot about me as a player. I also threw in the new faction specific Secondary- A Deadly Performance- to try it out. Getting a model into Owen’s deployment zone turn 1 seems achievable, and if I can do that then I can probably max this just through positional play. Finally, RND was in because it’s pretty easy to accomplish with this list and on this mission, and Owen had too many Denies to risk a Warpcraft Secondary.

My blank Secondary is A Deadly Performance

Owen had some trouble with his own choices, as my list interferes with a lot of his preferred options. Assassinate was an obvious choice with all my fragile characters running around, but No Prisoners would cap out at 9 points even if he tabled me. Grind seemed like a safer bet, but that left the third slot. Warpcraft was out thanks to my own pair of psykers (and the Death Jesters and Solitaire who would love to hunt down a fragile Inquisitor). That left either the action Secondaries, which Custodes dislike, or Stranglehold. In the end Owen decided that he’d need to play for three objectives anyway, probably by swinging hard against the flank without the Webway Gate and trying to clear the centre, so Stranglehold was in as a probable 9 points.

Deployment went about as one would expect: I filled the front of my deployment with 85 Players and seeded in my murder characters, with the Death Jesters hidden at the back to claim my objective. I only put one small squad into the Webway, because on this map and matchup I can probably get into combat pretty easily without it anyway and I might as well save the CP. Owen clustered up a large force against my right flank, ready to march onto it and the centre and grind me off them in true Custodes style. The bikes were left as a mobile reserve, ready to swing against either flank to disrupt my scoring.

 That Troupe at the back is actually deployed on top of the green blocks, they were just a bit hard to stabilise there

Harlequins Turn 1, 19:10

Winning turn 1 was a mixed blessing, as I could potentially block Owen off but would need to commit hard to do so. This was made more painful by Owen starting in Dacatarai 1 to neuter my combat movement, as well as my own failure to avoid a doubles on my luck dice. Nonetheless, everyone except the Death Jesters surged forward, with Troupes making it onto all three neutral objectives and then launching several big charges against Owen’s deathblob on the right. 

The horde sprints forward, ready to charge some Custodes and die brutally

Annoyingly, due to Dacatarai I wouldn’t be able to score A Deadly Performance this turn unless I either committed my Solitaire or killed three units in combat (for which I’d probably need to commit my Solitaire anyway…). So in he went to the Sagitarum, unable to avoid the Bike Captain using Company of Heroes to Heroically Intervene into him. Good thing I have all those Luck dice to spare, right?

Combat and shooting went tolerably well. The Solitaire only killed one Sagitarum even after I buffed him to D3, and some poor rolling on his 3++ saves saw him reduced to 2 wounds after I burned all my Luck rerolls. Thankfully the rest of the combats went better, with my front squad killing two Wardens and then surviving with enough models to tie up Trajan, the Sagitarum and the Warden. I Retrieved Data on the left flank, so all my secondaries were ticking along nicely, but next turn was going to hurt.

Key thing here is how many of Owen's units are tied up by that handful of Players in the front Troupe

I’ll also quickly mention my psychic phase here, to say it did basically nothing all game. Every turn I attempted to cast some combination of Smite, my other mortal wound powers, and Webway Dance, and over the whole game these accomplished exactly one mortal wound on the Achillus. The Shadowseer auric buffs are good, but Farseers they are not.

 

Custodes Turn 1, 19:16

Owen had a big problem this turn: my first wave had tied up so much of his central push that he only really had his Dreadnought and Praetors to try and force me off two objectives. In hindsight, the right call here was probably to accept that he wasn’t going to get Stranglehold this turn and that I’d start the game on 12 Primary, but that’s a pretty bleak outcome and Owen wanted to avoid it if at all possible. So a squad of Praetors flew to each flank, ready to try and sweep me off them, while the Callidus moved to support the right squad in their attempt. The Inquisitor tried to Smite my Solitaire but failed his roll, while the lone surviving Custodian Guard fell back to let the Sagitarum blast my Troupe. In the shooting phase things started to go quite wrong, with none of Owen’s firepower succeeding in putting down more than a handful of Players. While this felt like bad luck at the time, even the Callidus should only average 2-3 Players per volley if outside Light range, so Owen may actually have spiked upwards a little here.

Bikes go on the counter attack

Either way, in the combat phase things went more his way. The Solitaire was hacked apart by the Shield-Captain, while Trajan singlehandedly wiped the Troupe that had tied up Owen’s battleline. R.I.P Troupe 1, you will be missed. Elsewhere, both squads of Praetors did substantial damage to my Troupe squads, wiping out most of each Troupe in an impressive outperformance of the odds. Neither successfully cleared their objective however, and some lucky morale checks from those Troupes left me in control of all three neutral objectives! Owen was really feeling the lack of ObSec on those bikes now!

Couple of ObSec Players on each of the flank objectives

After a disappointing turn, Owen had managed to pick up points on Grind and Assassinate, but had failed to get Stranglehold or disrupt my Primary at all. Now was the Harlequins’ time to shine.

Battle at end of Custodes Turn 1

Harlequins Turn 2, 47:16

As Owen switched into Dacatari B, I breathed a sigh of relief at my 5 fresh Luck dice. I started my turn by rushing fresh Troupes out to each flank to make sure I could continue holding each of them. The Troupe Master accompanied the leftmost Troupe out to wipe those bikes, while my reserve Troupe also ran in on that flank to bring their Fusion Pistols into play. In Owen’s deployment zone, the Troupe that had survived his Sagitarum’s firepower aimed to get their revenge by leaping over his army and charging onto the back objective. 

Now you see the bikes...

My shooting managed to take out the Inquisitor in a hail of Shrieker fire, as well as finishing off a couple of lone Custodes and downing three Praetors. I also RND’ed in the right corner, keeping that score ticking along.

Combat went largely as planned, with the leftmost bikes being finished off by the Troupe Master while the rightmost were reduced to a single model. Most critically, the Troupe in his backfield used both mortal wound strats to clear out the Sagitarum, leaving me holding his backfield objective for a massive 8-point swing on the Primary!

Now you (largely) don't

After that devastating turn I picked up A Deadly Performance and Stranglehold again, but Owen now had a lot of beefy characters free to charge on his next turn, so things could still go his way.

Custodes Turn 2, 47:16

This turn, Owen again launched a three-pronged attack to secure his Stranglehold. Trajan charged to the neutral objective on my right, hoping to kill enough Players with the support of the lone Vertus and the Callidus to flip that objective, while in his backfield the Vexila and last two Sagitarum moved to sweep his home objective clear. Finally, in the centre the Warden manoeuvred to get within 3” of the central objective, while the Shield-Captain and Achillus tried to clear enough Players to give the Custodes the numbers edge.

Battle midway through the Custodes charge phase

The backfield play went off without a hitch, with the Sagitarum and Auxila sweeping the objective of my Troupe with disciplined shooting and bloody knife work. The rest of the plan went awry, however. The Callidus and Trajan combined to slay 6 Players, but the survivors managed to finish off the Vertus before it could fight to leave them solidly in control of the objective.

The Callidus inflicted 9 Wounds, which translated into 2 dead Players. Ouch.

In the centre, cunning pile-in and consolidate moves got the Warden within range of that objective, but I threw my Luck rerolls at blunting the offence of the Shield-Captain. 

Custodes Warden narrowly within 3" of the objective after consolidate moves

Then when the Achillus stepped up to the plate, I casually passed every save. Sometimes Harlequins are just like that. 

This is what Harlequins do

I also managed to drag down his Warden thanks to the Kiss of Death strat, so my ObSec would have held the point anyway.

At the end of the turn, Owen missed out on both Grind and Stranglehold, as well as the alternate Primary scoring. Things looked bleak.

A good effort, but not enough 

Harlequins Turn 3, 71:16

As Owen shifted into Kaptaris A, I managed to roll another doubles for my Luck rolls. Apparently Cegorach was enjoying the war of attrition.

My psychic phase this turn was notable for achieving worse than nothing: a Perils wounded my Mirror of Minds Shadowseer, ensuring that my two psykers had between them dealt more damage to me than to the Custodes. I’ve said it before, but you take Shadowseers because you have to, not because they’re good.

Why is this character so bad? It should be so good but it's so bad!

Elsewhere, most of my forces on the left flank darted back to the centre, ready to clear out the Shield-Captain and Achillus. One of the Troupes that was in the centre flipped into Owen’s backfield again, ready for another game of ‘Kill the Sagitarum and steal Owen's objective’. 

Moments before I shoot the Achillus off the table with Shuriken Pistols

This they did with abandon, wiping them out in a flurry of mortal wounds and wrapping the Auxila for another 4 bonus Primary points. My Fusion Pistols mostly whiffed, just stripping a few wounds off the two Custodes HQ’s, but massed Shuriken Pistols actually managed to finish off the damaged Achillus. In combat, the Troupe Master succeeded in downing the Shield-Captain, presumably with a beautiful front-flip onto his bike for a Kiss to the throat. The Emperor’s Auspice managed to reduce my output enough that a CP reroll might have saved the Captain, but there were an awful lot of Players still to strike and Owen wanted to save the reroll for Trajan. As it turned out, the injured leader of the Custodes was brutally massacred anyway, failing too many saves to even make a reroll worth it.

Trajan falls at last

With Trajan’s death, we decided to call it. All Owen had left was an untouched Callidus and an Auxila, and after playing around with some movement there was no way for him to pick up any more points on Assassinate or Grind. However, he could deny me the rest of my A Deadly Performance points by making sure the Auxila died this turn (likely against the full Troupe he was fighting) while hiding the Callidus in his back corner.

Callidus ready to retaliate by killing 2-3 Players really dead

With that we came to a final scoreline of 91:16 and a decisive Harlequins victory!

Post-Game Analysis

In hindsight, my prediction that this list would do well against melee factions turned out to be correct. Owen was right up against it from the start, losing units to my close-ranged shooting and melee and struggling to put down enough Players to make a difference. It also made it incredibly difficult for him to compete on Primary, with my clowns easily pinning him into his corner before backflipping over his head to flip any objective he came close to. It was a touch matchup on a mission which probably favoured me, and I guess the outcome was always going to come down to whether he could kill enough models early to claw back the early lead I'd have on Primary.

As far as mistakes go, Owen and I agreed that he should probably have stuck to the plan and let me have the left objective. The bikes that flew over there ended up unsupported and died fairly readily, while they could have potentially done much more on my right or in the centre. On the other hand, if he hadn’t committed to that flank then the two Troupes and Troupe Master that were sent to my left flank would have gone right or into his backfield instead, which could have been a big issue.

 

Lots of dead Harlequins, but not quite enough

Otherwise, I think I overcommitted to the left flank. Three Vertus didn’t realistically need 25 Players and a Troupe Master to kill, and I’d have been better off sending at least one of those squads to the right flank instead. Even if the Troupe in Strategic Reserve had just come out on the right board edge to Retrieve Nachmund, that would have freed up the damaged squad over there to kill the last Vertus instead of doing an action. I also probably should have just accepted the loss of three Secondary points on turn 1 and held the Solitaire back, as he could have been devastating in the midgame.

As far as lists go, Owen’s is obviously a fairly refined one already, although he’s contemplating dropping the Dread for a squad of Venatari. This game would certainly have felt very different if he had access to some fast ObSec. We were both shocked by my list: it was obnoxiously durable and played the Primary incredibly well, while still killing still units at a respectable pace. Even without Dark or Twilight, the melee output of 10 Players is pretty brutal, and the murder characters and massed Fusion are constantly threatening to kill something important. T’au would probably kill 30-50 Players turn 1, but they largely need to get within 12-18” to do so, and all it takes is a few big charges to totally turn that game around. Even 3 Shadowsun-buffed Broadsides should only kill ~4-6 Players a turn, and they’ll probably only get a turn or two to do so. If/when (please let it be when) the Voidweavers get nerfed, I think this list could become a genuine alternative to them.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a very different and potentially less-optimised Harlequin list in action. Let me know what you thought of the report/list below or wherever you’ve found this, and be sure to check back in next week for (probably) more Harlequins content!

Until next time, may your ones always come for morale checks!