warhammer 40,000 started out as a very open build-your own system subtitled Rogue Trader. Many editions later it is the surviving dark science-fiction wargame.

the game is well supported by the hobby's only chainstore and a monthly magazine, and a marketing system aimed at teenagers and their parents money.

 

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In the future there is only war.

Tau (bubblegum) Crisis suit deepstrikes in.I started playing WH40K, or 40K, when I was supposed to (according to Gamesworkshop marketing strategy) as a young teenager, drawn in by an English friend who was already a pawn of the hobby's only superpower, back in the days when White Dwarf wasn't a total advertisement and had articles on other company's products. This was the day of Rogue Trader, the first edition of 40K and remained still the best until the latest Edition, 4th came out, and put an end to the haphazard way the game developed and morphed with each White Dwarf supplement. Then my first armies were Marines and Orks, the stock standard front-cover foes. Who can resist the Emperor's mightiest warriors and their most villianest foes? Not me anyway. Then I added the mysterious Harlequins, close combat warriors par-excellence, so pretentious about their abilities that they wore bright carnival costumes and didn't have any armour. Yes, they were good psykers (if the Rogue Trader psyker die rolls gave a fortunate result), and well equipped for melee, but they rarely got there as with T3 and a poor armour save, these expensive warriors either died or hid behind clouds of blind grenades waiting for the enemy to come through.

As the game mutated and we all got older and wiser, and historical miniatures wargaming in the form of DBM and its requirement of a Doctorate in Ye Olde English to understand waxed for me. Greeks, Romans, Eskimos, lend me your spears. I left 40K behind as it descended into madness, picking up the Dark Eldar Codex for 3rd Ed but pursuing the matter no further, sometimes getting a White Dwarf for the painting or terrain articles, until, having seen the new races, especially the anime-inspired Tau, I waited patiently for 4th Edition and returned to the game when it was released by beginning to collect a Witch Hunters and more specifically a Sisters Of Battle company.

I was after a game that required little thought, could provide instant candy-like gratification, and had nice models to paint. Melbourne, with at least two Games Workshop stores, provided the proving grounds to play and a group of new opponents and friends, even if I was destroyed most of the time. At least my SoB army can faithfully call it martyrdom and the Emperor of Mankind accepts the result.

Sisters of Battle: Witch Hunters! What a front cover, an Imperial Inquisitor plasmaing a heretical mutant corpse, crazed Repentia, and cherry-red armoured battle Nun with a bolter, no one can resist the (Spanish) Inquisition. I like this army on so many levels, not just the potential for background fun, Monty Python, and an all-female force. There are the Arco-flagellants or flatulents as the have been dubbed instore, easily the craziest acting and looking miniatures GW has produced. In fact, the entire SoB range, being all metal, have to be some of the best they have ever done. Towering, easily destroyed Penitent Engines, driver racked to the monsterous frame spewing flamer death to any who stray close enough or crushing all in melee, huge chainsword wielding Sisters Repentia, scantily clad (who says GW put Lost & The Damned: Slaves to Pleasure behind them?) easily destroyed eye-candy, dozens of cherry-red power armour peroxide-white haired rapid firing bolter armed girls easily destroyed in hand-to-hand, a handful of the same hefting huge heavy bolters and flamers, and a Heroine that can be given many tasks expect HTH unless she has a squad to die around her first, and a super Heroine that can come back from the dead, again and again! No longer does a beautiful model sit in the casualty bin for most of the game.

A glorious Living Martyr arrives on bessed wings.The Sisters aren't as tough as the Marines or toting as many tanks as the Imperial Guard but they do come with nice advantages that further increase their allure. Those being: the Exorcist tank buster, like the SoBs other special units, this missile launching platform is completely random. It can be grande, or it can be a total waste of points, with the SoBs that's how all the interesting units play and why I got them. Blame it all on the dice. Then there is Faith - you gotta have Faith. What can be better than turning Sv3 power armour into invulnerable? Plasma bombardments (which the WH can have, hehe) can be a thing of the past, cherry-red ladies walking through without a single white hair being singed. Assassins are fun too, armed with a neuro-disruptor to appear anywhere on the table and mow down a squad with an assault weapon before charging into the next with a sword that ignores ANY save. Whirlwind of destruction (I use an Iron Kingdoms model for the assassin).

Battle Sisters outside their convent searching for heretics to purify.I must say that I like the SoBs so much that I wrote a fanfiction for them, Gloria. I have a fairly big army already, but this list is one that packs so much variety in the form of an Inquisitors enlarged retinue, a pure Sisters company, or a mix, and other Imperial troops can be added in as well although I would only take a Daemon Hunters Grey Knight contingent. You see, I don't think six arco-flagellants are enough, nor two Penitent Engines. I don't think I'd take Stormtroopers however, Sisters are worth their weight in Faith for the extra point, better armoured and better skilled. Just are forced to have larger squads, yet twenty SoBsters in rapid fire range using Act of Guidance is truly a box of dice to be seen rolled.

Tau: My second new army and what got me interested in 40K again, not all the dice rolling. Sleek uninterrupted lines, robotech/gundam mecha. It didn't matter that they are worse in HTH than the Sisters and that the Kroot are fodder even for the Imperial Guard. I only have a small force of these guys, Kroot included (because I have a great colour scheme for them), and plan to mechanize the entire force in APCs or Crisis Suits (the Kroot can tankride). Yet for a shooty army, with a nice S5 Sv5 30" trooper rifle, BS3 is kinda weak.

Harlequins: The ultimate theme army, more so than the Dark Eldar whose upgraded Wyches have made the supposed masters of melee rather poor. I still have all my old, thickly varnished Harlequins in the original box. I've been told to repaint them (maybe that means I've gotten better at painting and can do a nicer job) and maybe I will if I can find a flame thrower to clean them with. I also have an old zine that has the latest army list (in print). It is small and in dire need for an upgrade to bring it in line with 4th Ed's close combat rules as many of the advantages Harlequins had are now available to all. But I still like this army and its introduction to the store caused much amazement and I was able to annihilate the Necron player who had always beaten my SoBs in short order. But even with all their attacks, no armour save and T3 means that they are still too easy to kill. I have read some online army lists but found none that haven't fallen into the 'my favourite army must be the best and can't lose' mentality or don't do justice to what I think the Harlequins are/should be: acrobats, performers with an Italian bent. Here's what I'd do to improve the Harlequins into a more playable army:

  • Psyhics: Bring back the talent. The original Harlequin squad leaders (Avatars) could be psykers and the Troupe could have a High Warlock and many other lesser Warlocks. Skills should be limited to misdirection, chance, and mind control/hypnosis that benefit circus conjurers.
  • Grenade Packs: Warlocks had access to mini grenade launchers. Their return would provide a boost to the Harlequin's firepower.
  • Puppeteers: Never existed, but fix the theme exactly. A Harlequin controlling a squad of suicide bomber Pinocchio robots; added variety.
  • Melee: Here the Harlequins have suffered greatly as all combatants have a 2" kill zone. The Harlequins as masters of melee and acrobatics should have their zone extended to 4", tying into their dispersed formation. A save is also needed now that cheaper Dark Eldar Wyches get a 4+ invulnerable save (and more attacks if armed with Wych weapons) in HTH and will always beat a similar point squad of Harlequins. It is currently better to have a Wych Coven list and use Harlequin models.
  • Armour Save: Should be based on movement as the further and faster a Harlequin travels, the better the kaleidoscope produced by the domino field. 4+ inv for normal move, 3+ inv if fleet of foot is used the previous turn.
  • Points Cost: As they stand, basic Troupers are far too expensive for their capabilities. Sure a well played army can beat any other opponent, but that can be said of any army in the hands of an excellent player. All things being equal, Troupes are overpriced in comparison to the better Dark Eldar Wyches.
  • Webway: As masters of the Webway, it is noticeable that the Harlequins do not have a webway portal as the Dark Eldar do. It would be entirely feasible for the Harlequins to have the same, if not better, technology. I would suggest Deep Strike but able to move the turn arrived. This would let the Harlequins disperse their formation so template weapons don't destroy the entire army in one turn. Immediate Assault is the cry opponents would make, seeing their squads wiped out right away. It would require strenuous playtesting, and a change of tactics to cope with such a dangerous melee enemy, as the Harlequins are meant to be.

Images © Games Workshop, photos self.

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