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Harlequins Dance Out Of The Net-Ether Showing Off New Kits!
January 27, 2015 by brennon
So that didn't take long. On the back of the video release we have the leaks (although seems silly to call them leaks nowadays) for the Warhammer 40,000 Harlequin re-release complete with new rules and some very nice looking kits. See them HERE...
As you might imagine these dancers of death are some rather deadly individuals and as well as the images of the models they've also come along with some rules to enjoy too. They once again have a mean ability to deal damage in close combat although they're toughness remains just as Eldar-like. The real kicker comes in their kit of course like Holo-suits and Flipbelts so all the bells and whistles are there. Of course the original weapons of choice remain too like the Harlequin's Kiss, Embrace and Caress.
As well as the Harlequins themselves and their Troupe there is also the addition of the Solitaire. This crazy dancer comes with an ability called Blitz. This allows him/her to roll a number of dice equal to the turn number and then that's how far he/she moves. This can be over other models, through terrain, everything. When he/she gets there the attacks ramp up all the way to ten!
They are also armed to the teeth, come with a bucket of special rules and his/her Prismatic Blur means he/she moves a standard 12" regardless of Blitz! Did I mention they come with a standard six attacks?
What do you think of the new miniatures?
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"as well as the images of the models they’ve also come along with some rules to enjoy too"
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Missed oppurtunity, simple as that
Nope
What only that small release for the Necrons? I was expecting at least a few more kits. Now they move onto other stuff just like that.
Bear in mind it’s a weekly release schedule so they can come back to Necrons at a later date if they so wish. But, most of the range is out there and in plastic/finecast and pretty good as it is so I don’t imagine they are in any rush.
BoW Ben
You are right but it just comes off as if they were just shoved into the release queue and done with it.
Run Warren, RUN!!!
What do you know, those are actually rather good.
I love the flavour text for the Solitaire, reads as if it was written by a 14 year old!
Or for a 14 year old…
I’m not really into GW or 40K right now, but I’d consider picking up the “codex” and a few models just for the panting opportunities, and maybe a game or two..
There are colour pics here : http://forofreakfactory.mforos.com/1035375/11580442-primera-foto-de-arlequines-eldar-fotos-y-reglas-a-dia-27/#106146007
Will be interested to have a closer look at options, couple of the poses seem a little odd. Generally a fairly solid release. I actually quite like the solitaire, sufficiently different to set him apart but close enough to match. Be interesting to see what else they get and if the codex offers them as a viable army without allies.
I think these look really nice. So good to see the harlequins get some attention, and also good to see that they’re not as powerful they were in the rogue trader days as I’m more likely to be facing them than fielding them!
I like the Harlequin release, and the Solitaire in particular. As @dags has noted, the Solitaire model is obviously still a Harlequin, yet is also distinct enough that he/she stands out from the other Troupe members. In general the models themselves also have a good sense of dynamism and grace.
The rules seem to strike a nice balance between being fluffy and having a role on the tabletop without being unduly overpowered. Admitedly, the Solitare seems really nasty at first glance, but only until you remember the base stats for strength and toughness, and how much of a glass cannon it really is. That said, Blitz, Harlequin weaponry, crazy high weapon skill and initiative, lots of attacks and in particular precison strikes and hit and run gives the skilfull player all kinds of options for gratuitous murder-in-motley with the 41st Millennium’s most colourful assassins.
Black synthskin bodysuits are just so last season… 😉
I’m really disappointed. Not because they’re terrible, but because they’re just slightly worse versions of the current harlequin models. They’re slightly less lithe, the masks are a bit more goofy and the poses are less dynamic and just kinda wonky.
I could have seen myself actually getting a pack or 2 of these but they’re just so uninspired and a step down in quality from the old ones so once again a potentially awesome GW release slips by with naught but a ‘meh’ from me and a sigh of relief from my wallet.
Holy!! A free-floating miniature in mid-jump??
GW just moved miniature-making forward another 10 years … minimum!
Insane details and options too.
That would put them only ten years behind every other manufacturer. Nothing new in the poses. Some good, some iffy. Curious to see them in the official release.
Lol
Show me one other miniature with a floating/jumping pose similar to the Solitaire, both feet free in the air.
And not some finicky conversion good only for the display case, but an official game model that can stand up to being knocked over by some dice.
This is unprecedented. Nobody in the industry is less than two decades behind GW at this point.
They’re out there. And the cloak doesn’t even flow correctly over the ruin, which has turned a dynamic pose into something that looks a bit off. Unprecedented indeed.
Wyrd did it with one of their Death Marshals in metal, then they did it again with one of their Death Marshals when they went to plastic.
There are others, but that’s the first one that comes to mind.
http://cadwallon.com/index.php/rackham-confrontation/cynwall-elves/khidaryms.html
You mean a model with MINIMAL DETAIL, MINIMAL CHARACTER wearing a Matrix trenchcoat is awesome because… he’s in a “dynamic” pose.
Here’s a pro tip: fling all your miniatures into mid air and they too can become “dynamic” !!!
Good luck explaining why that ELDAR RUINS WITH ELDAR RUNES, that he’s jumping over, is in the middle of an Imperial Skypad or 95% if all 40K worlds…
While I can see most of your points, I’ve never understood why people get so hung up over scenic bases. They aren’t trailing rocks with them as they go any more than other characters are trailing the little bit of ground their standing on (be it road, rubble, dirt or grass).
I mean, the mini is meant to be a snapshot of this character at a moment, and doesn’t really represent him at every moment in every game. In the same way that we don’t imagine that our infantry are advancing while striking their poses.
Is it a full codex release or something in WD?
If I still played any sort of 40k this is a set that I could be tempted with.
I actually don’t like the Solitaire, too Matrix looking for me, and I don’t like the head.
I do like the look of the miniatures. I ran a Rogue trader RPG I would have loved some of these for a big combat encounter.
I really like the look of the solitaire, and all the others with the exception of the troupe master.
Ah the Solitaire returns!
The Solitaire mini looks ok, but has a face when I’m sure they were meant to be faceless…or is that just the seers?
The other Harlequins are awkward and have big heads which make them look silly in my opinion.
The Seers were faceless. The Solitaire risks his soul to Slaanesh so that he can play him/her in The Dance IIRC, so presumably has some sort of Slaaneshi face. The original two Solitaire models didnt have as much Slaanesh going on in the mask region, but they did have faces.
Cheers, I’m still enamored with the old Rogue Trader era Harlequins that Jez Goodwin sculpted so my memory is a bit fuzzy on whats going on with them now.
The old models are exquisite for sure, absolute classics, but it was a very long time ago now and memory lapses are certainly to be expected 🙂
Its sobering to think that I have been promising myself a Harlequin force for over twenty five years now :/ Maybe 2015 is the year…
They were joys those models, The recent metal/resin ones are pretty good too.
Why does the Joker wear a broom on his head in that picture? And why he dressed for playing Golf?
Does the Clown Prince of Crime ever really need a reason?
I see the Necron players are feeling down about their small release. It’s okay though, they’ll get back up.
only on a 4+….so half of then may not..lol
I had to log in just to virtual high five you for that comment…
They are a mixed bag for me. The Solitaire is up at the top and is a gorgeous model, while some of the troops are great, but some of the others look awkward (I’ll admit, it could just be the photos not doing the models justice).
I fully understand that they are meant to be dynamic, but these ones seem a little bit forced (I keep trying to like the Troupe leader, but it doesn’t work for me).
I’d argue that the Dark Eldar Wych models do a better job, or even the Dark Elf Witch Elves / Sisters of Slaughter models, which is noteworthy considering the latter rank up.
Yep, Dark Eldar wyches and Dark Elf witches are much more realistically dynamic and genuinely look lithe and agile… The harlequins looks forced and awkward, the troupe leader especially.
This is a flashback to the very early days of Rogue Trader/WH40K… well apparently bellbottom trousers and mullet hairdo’s are coming back as well 🙂
I’ve loved Harlequins since they were first introduced but i’m sorry, these figures look crap. The Solitare is cringe worthy.
Have to say, the fact that the coat/cloak is part of the figure and not more free’er flowing means it is not easy to repose.
Personally One thinks that while 3d design are useful, they often lack the dynamic feel of real sculpting.
@mattadlard I don’t disagree with some of the troupe and other GW releases looking very much guided by the medium used to design them.
I do feel however if you look at wyrd, the upcoming guildball and some of the privateer press minis that this is more of a sign of the familiarity of the sculptors with the technology that it it a limitation of the technology itself. I think the studios rate of output is probably not helping on this front.
My heart is saying “Harlequins….Cool”…..but I keep looking at them and feel a bit worried.
Certain masks are a turn off, certain poses just look a bit off. Want to like the solitaire but a trench coat? No wonder he has a blitz power he”ll be heading off to Poland. Imagine how far he could go if could open up his stride a bit more!
I think I’ll be inspired to finish painting up my metal harlequins from yesteryear. Especially if they get a cool new vehicle. Does anyone remember when they picked up old equipment/vehicles from the battlefields, painted them bright colours, slapped a holofield on them and ran them into the ground. That was fluffy and made for some good 100% harlequin armies. Although sounds a bit orky now.
Rethinking the poses I hate. May just be what we are used to. I agree the wyches look more naturally lithe but Harlequins do have anti-grav belts…so their movements wouldn’t be that natural I suppose. They may actually hang in the air somewhat. The figure I hated is the leader? with tip toe over a rock but all his weight well behind it and sitting straight up. No physical possibility he will be getting leverage over it. But take into a count his flip belt and perhaps the slightest touch with pull him floating/skimming along. Just looks naff.
They just look…plasticy…
Now I will wait to see the 360 and the video as for whatever reason the professional paint jobs seem to have been making things worse rather than better lately…
There’s a lot of hard lining in those paint jobs, which is hurting the close ups. Also the ‘Eavy Metal crew seems hell-bent on not having any sort of lighting on their minis- and that would look very impressive when combined with the diamond patterns.
It would also take much longer for them to do, and I generally figure that when we get sub-par professional studio paintjobs, it is because we aren’t giving them enough time to do them right.
In other times, I would have gone mental over these.
I like the models well enough, but not enough to replace the ones I have.
The solitair is nice and I would like to have one, for a reasonable price.
GW minis have always been hit and miss if you ask me. there have been some brilliant sculpts in the past and some truly terrible ones. Overall I think the standard of GW miniatures has increased in the past few years, but they are still very variable. These new Harlequins are really mediocre by GW’s current standards. They are much better than the worst miniatures of the past, but the problem is that the old Harlequins were some of the best minis that GW produced. So, they end up replacing some amazing miniatures with some mediocre ones.
I think there are some miniatures in the GW line that are in dire need of resculpting. However the current attitude seems to be that if it exists in plastic then it stays, if it doesn’t it gets a resculpt. So we lose some gorgeous resin and metal miniatures and the truly crappy plastic stays around for years to come.
GW are capable of doing wonders with plastic these days. Some of the releases of the last couple of years have been fantastic. These are not. Not terrible, just a bit of a let down.
The new Solitaire is quite possible the worst model GW have ever made. Pathetic.
@poosh, I can think of a long list of worst sculpts – both in terms of aesthetics and technical aspects. Still each to their own. The original Pedro Cantor – the mini marine and the pumbagorr being two prime examples
Like the old Nagash.
I think this is on par with being as bad as Nagash – though Nagash has a sort of charming “how do you do, I know I’m not pretty, but love me all the same” sort of look to it.
In the eye of the beholder that Nagash model obviously, it was nicknamed bobbo the clown – there was no love there… just the lead tears of a clown :p
One can’t tell the true quality of detail from these pics, yet. Can’t grasp the depth etc.
As I said in the other threat though, you can tell that Solitaire is an abortion of a model.
But this is the curse of plastic. It may be the case that, like most of GW’s new plastics, they are factory-looking models, easily done on PCs, with the lack of detail that plastic produces.
The metal and resin Harlequins were all centre piece models loaded with detail. I remember the 80s/90s ones. GW have the power to reproduce that now in plastic (though they have the power to produce resin a 100 times more detailed now too) but choose not to. Again and again the quality of their plastics seem more aimed at kids and idiots who can’t be bothered to paint the model (asking the question: why not just pre-paint your toys GW and be done with f*cking your miniature-collecting customers fully?, put us out of our misery).
I’d point to GW’s early PLASTIC Empire State Troops (ten years old now/.0. Each model is loaded with detail and depth, every single model in those boxes is a unique character in his own right. GW CAN do better, and have done better.
Is this the result of a brain drain at GW? Or are they dumbing down their models (make em plastic, strip the detail away so easy to paint?).
GW’s back metal/resin catalogue includes pure works of art. It’s difficult if impossible to produce that sort of art in plastic but GW have really put a fight in in the past, if you look at some of thew new Plastic End Times models they are actually pretty damn amazing (if a little *too* delicate to use for gaming models).
@poosh I agree that the Empire State troops are good miniatures, but don’t pretend that they are typical of the plastics that GW was producing at the time. The plastic High Elf spearman, the plastic dwarfs and the original plastic Dark Eldar were all appallingly bad and some are still in production.
This new solitaire is bland, stiff and a big disappointment, but calling it the worst model GW have ever made is a total overreaction.
Nothing wrong with the high elf spearmen imo, and I agree with @poosh about those Empire troops: a very versatile box with goodies in it to make all kinds of things. Not keen on the dwarfs, but these are all preferences in style, not quality. Overall, the stuff from 10 years ago was of a much higher quality than what is being produced now, and the reason those kits are still around is that they are still selling.
I’m perfectly happy with plastic as a miniatures medium. 99% of us don’t paint to a standard where it makes a difference, if the tabletops at the local GW are any indication. Resin is nice, has a good heft to it, but if it’s used as an excuse to gouge customers… no thanks.
The figures coming out of GW in the last few years no longer look like wargame miniatures… they look like hastily designed toys, and appear to be aimed at a much younger demographic. Even in the leaked pics you can see that some are off balance, and not in natural positions. Could be the way they were assembled, but if that’s the case, that’s another black mark on quality control.
A shame they no longer have sculptors that can do the artwork justice. They are all successful competitors now!
You’re joking right? The high Elf spearman are laughably bad. I had forgotten though that the High Elf archers are even worse 😀
The High Elf Spearmen are not laughable. They are basic models. Nothing horrible about them, but they’re nothing special. Elves with spears and shields. No extra bits and pieces to give them character or grit. They’re pretty basic. That’s the problem.
I don’t want GW giving out these low-detailed plastic mono-clam packs, which don’t exploit the positives of plastics. For £18 I’d rather have a resin model with – naturally – better detail and depth. Look at Dark V and Island of Blood plastics – full of detail! Wonderful models. And plastic.
GW’s releases are uneven and confusing. Next month GW will without a doubt release some beautiful plastic models. Sometimes I think they’re making models for idiots who can’t cope using more than 3 paints, and want to avoid using glue … then they release an impossibly complex model which will take a day to glue together!
The spear elves are not laughable because they are basic troops. They are laughable because they are horrible, blocky, badly proportioned and totally artless. In contrast, the Lothern sea elves are also basic troops, have no options and are rather beautiful.
The spearmen and archers are good enough for line troops, and I have 72 of both the archer and spear types split into two brigades with Phoenix Guard command groups. That makes up the bulk of my elven line. I bought them because they are basic, and therefore easy to paint in bulk, and inexpensive in the battalion boxes. They are also pose-able, in a limited way, in that different heads and different spear angles can at least make them look like they are not a unit of clones. And of course you can add things to them to change up their look, using the avalanche of bits I’m sure everyone has accumulated over the years.
I also like the GW take on elves in general (except for most of the crap that’s come out recently) and the rest of my army, light/heavy cav, Dragon Princes, griffon cav, and heavy infantry, are all GW, so it didn’t make sense, stylistically, to buy them anywhere else.
It is an over-reaction :p Hyperbole is one’s friend :p but I don’t think I’m that off, though will have to look at the pics for themselves 3D etc.
You’re right GW have produced lots of zzzz workhorse plastic miniatures but GW have a lot of great plastic infantry/squad models to be proud of – all you need is one example to demonstrate GW can do greatness. GW have a lot of plastic troop/squad kits to be proud of.
@poosh when you use an old kit as an example of GW’s best work, then in the next paragraph you talk about them dumbing down they miniatures, I interpreted that as you saying (or at least implying) that the older kits are better than the newer ones. If that’s not what you meant, then we probably agree. In my mind GW plastics have always been very variable and continue to be so.
Oh heaven’s above no ha ha. GW have proven they can build, in 2015, the best plastic miniatures on the market: mostly due to technology they invest in. But they rarely allow themselves to fulfill their potential and most of the time don’t even bother.
But the existence of kits like the Empire range – dating ten years ago? – proves they could, ten years ago, do wonders.
What’s missing is the love of an artist I think. Miniatures are art, after all. Those State Troops were made with love, from a fan of the Empire. These Harlequins are just copy and pasted from some pictures to a CGI model.
I don’t play Games Wacoshop anymore, but they are just churning out products for the money.
They could have produced some stunning miniatures, but they didn’t! Just like the BA terminators – nice looking, but they are not ‘real’ multipart minis. They are just clip together, expensive toys.
Maybe this is for the Hasbro market they are going to sell-out to.
D.x