Objective Secured

The eldar harlequins were my first army for 40k, all those years ago in the dark days of Rogue Trader and the Solitaire still brings a warm glow to my face remembering the carnage he inflicted. Ork Warbosses, Ragnar Blackmane, Blood Thirsters… you name it! They all fell before his dance of death.

Fast forward 20 odd years (or maybe more?!) and we have a new version of this legendary warrior. But is he any good?

Background

Solitaires are incredible warriors, able to move faster than the naked eye can follow. Their impossible acrobatics are such that no blade can strike them, nor bolt or blast find its mark on their flesh. In battle they are utterly lethal, their scything kicks and hammerblow punches coming so fast that most foes are dead before they realise the fight has begun. Indeed, each Solitaire is the equal of a host of lesser warriors.

Solitaires are the strangest of all Harlequins. They conceal themselves amongst craftworld of Commorrite society, hiding their true nature as they wander from place to place. Only occasionally will these dread figures reveal the monster that lurks beneath the façade, joining a masque for a performance or battle before drifting on once more. At such times they speak and are spoken to only in ritual form, and are feared by most Eldar as an ill omen. This mien of horror stems from the fact that, alone among the Harlequins, the solitaire plays the tole of Slaanesh. As a result, the Solitaire’s role commands ultimate fear and respect. It also makes him the most dangerous of all Harlequins, for a Solitaire treads the Path of Damnation, his essence doomed to be devoured by She Who Thirsts. Knowledge of his soul’s forfeit means a Solitaire will ensure the cost to his foes is dear indeed before he meets his end.

Despite the dark fate that awaits them, it is said that Solitaires are touched by the Laughing God – that they have insight into the Fall, and even the nature of the universe. Many Eldar believe that to speak to a solitaire is to invite a grisly demise, and that should an individual accidentally address or touch one of these lonely beings, they would be better to take their own lives there and then.

(From Codex – Harlequins, Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2015.)

So, sounds pretty scary right? In Rogue trader days – it certainly was! Lets see how this super warrior stacks up today…

On the Table

Firstly Solitaires, much as their name implies, are unique and due to a lack of the independent character rule as well as their own Path of Damnation rule, are stuck as a single model unit. This in itself is an issue as any model that must stand alone needs to be mobile, durable and dangerous. As you will see in a moment, he ticks these boxes but only with a pencil… unlike other models in the same boat who use a permanent marker!

Looking at the statline, its a mixed bag. Huge WS and BS of 9 means it rare he will be matched or outclasses on these (in fact only a handful of models at best can match him. We then get the traditional S and T of 3 and it all goes pear shaped. While I admit the S is less of an issue thanks to his wargear and special rules, the toughness is a massive issue. Lasguns wound him on 4+ for heaven sake! 3 Wounds is average for this level of elite infantry but again contribute to the lack of durability when compared to other single model units. Initiative of 10 (along with the Flip Belt) means he will strike first in just about every scenario (I can only come up with 1 or maybe 2 situations he will be simultaneous). 6 Attacks base is great and he gains more again through wargear and special rules. Leadership is 10 and for an eldar hero – expected. He has no armour save of any kind but wargear again saves the day.

Rules wise, its a long list – Deep strike, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Fleet, Furious Charge, Hit & Run, Precision Strikes, Blitz, Impossible Form, The Path of Damnation and Prismatic Blur. Most of those will probably be familiar to the typical 40k player so lets focus on the last 4.

Blitz is a once per game rule activated at the start of any movement phase for the controlling player. The Solitaire see’s his attack stat raised to a whopping 10 (!!!), and sees his movement rules changed. He rolls a D6 equal to the current turn number and adds them together – this is how far the Solitaire can move in inches in that turn! He ignores all models and terrain during this move as well.

Impossible Form gives the Solitaire a 3+ invulnerable save. Simple!

The Path of Damnation forbids characters joining the Solitaire as well as forbidding him from gaining a warlord trait if you chose him as your warlord.

Prismatic Blur gives the Solitaire a 12″ move in the movement phase – again simple!

All this again contributes to the Mobility (deep strike, prismatic blur, blitz, fleet, hit and run), Durability (eternal warrior, fearless, impossible form) and Threat (furious charge, fear, precision strikes) that the Solitaire brings but they don’t seal the deal.

On the wargear front he packs his Harlequins Caress and Harlequins Kiss (leading to a rules argument) as well as a holosuit, flip belt and the option for haywire grenades as well as the option for a single relic.

The Harlequins Caress will be familiar to long time players of 40k – essentially giving the Solitaire the old version of rending. When he rolls a 6 to hit – that hit automatically inflicts a wound with no roll needed and is resolved at AP2. Against vehicles, a 6 inflicts an automatic glancing hit. With his base 6 attacks and his speed and 2 close combat weapons he should be charging most of the time with 8 attacks, hitting on 3+ and triggering the special rule on 6’s. It gets around high armour values, high toughness and low saves – unless you have an invulnerable save – you will take damage from this weapon! on the tuen he blitz attacks – you will be faced with no less than 12 attacks from this thing!

The Harlequins Kiss is the second option you have in your (limited) bag of tricks. When equipped, you  roll a single attack separate to the rest of your attacks which is the Kiss of Death attack. If it hits, its resolved at S6, Ap2 and triggers the Instant Death special rule on a 6 to wound. Sounds nice right! the conflict is that the Harlequins Kiss needs only to be equipped (not used) to gain this rule and thus comes into conflict with the main rule book and using 2 special weapons. Personally, the single attack from the Solitaire with this rule helps to contribute to him being OK rather than bad and he should be allowed to use it as well as the Harlequins Caress – besides, he is modelled this way!

The Flip Belt does a couple of things for the Solitaire. He is not slowed by difficult terrain nor does not suffer the penalty to Initiative for charging through terrain – both brilliant when combined with Prismatic Blur and Blitz. The Look Out Sir bonus is negligible however.

The Holosuit is completely superfluous to requirements – granting its wearer a 5+ invulnerable save. Useless thanks to his Impossible Form rule.

The options he does have are almost laughable. The Starmist Rainment does nothing for the Solitaire (again due to Impossible form), The Laughing Gods Eye is ok – granting him Adamantium Will but the price for this limited bonus is to high. His last option – Cegorach’s Rose – a special Harlequins Hiss is the most likely thing to use – giving him master crafted and shred but only when you actively use the Harlequins Kiss instead of the Caress or on the Kiss of Death attack – a limited bonus at best. Even haywire grenades are a maybe for him thanks to the Caress special rules though you do get a ranged attack this way – always remember to throw grenades!

You pay a whopping 145 points base for this model and it pains me to say it – its just too much.

As I mentioned earlier, you need mobility, durability and threat to make single models work and he is lacking in every category. A 12″ move ignoring terrain is good – but flying (like a dameon prince or greater daemon) is much better and more flexible. Eternal Warrior and a 3++ save is great but 3 wounds and the appalling T3 are to big a gap in the armour (though humorously he cares not for grav guns!). The threat he presents is OK but the lack of constant AP3 or (dare I say it) AP2 is a big issue – the access to the Storied Sword relic would have been ace! S4 on the charge with a bunch of attacks but no guaranteed AP is no worse than being charged a unit of tactical marines (save the WS and I stats I guess).

On top of all of this – there are only 3 ways to run him in a battleforged list!

The Harlequin Masque detachment gives him (and every other harlequin in the detachment) the fantastic rule Rising Crescendo. This rule allows the model (who has the fleet special rule) to perform a Run move in the shooting phase and then still charge in the assault phase but only from the second turn onwards. This is HUGE for the Solitaire and all but removes the issues of mobility I mentioned earlier. With his base move of 12″, then a run move of D6″ with a reroll and then a 2D6 charge (again with rerolls) all of which ignores difficult terrain is a huge threat range. This formation is the most flexible to run a full harlequin force with but the next formation makes him better at the expense of flexibility in the army build.

Put the Solitaire into the Cegorach’ Revenge formation and he gains Rising Crescendo again along with a new rule – Consummate Performance. This rule allows all models in the formation to reroll invulnerable saves of a 1. This means we have a model with a 3++ save and reroll 1’s. Not to shabby at all! It almost recovers him in the durability stakes but at the expense of a very strict formation which even with the minimum models and gear is all but an army alone.

The last (and easiest) way to field a Solitaire is in the formation – The Heroes’ Path. While this formation lacks rising crescendo and consummate performance, you do gain shrouded, stealth and infiltrate – all of which help in terms of mobility and durability. Its probably be the most common way you will see a Solitaire in battle forged armies as it requires very little buy in from a points or cash standpoint.

How do you use him?

Pretty much like any other combat character – pick a target and charge! He is much better as a bully for small, elite units where is 3++ save laughs off (pun intended!) their no doubt expensive and fancy AP3 or better weapons while having too few attacks to reliably take him out before he finishes them off. The last time I used a Solitaire he took out a Fortuned Eldar Farseer on Jetbike and 2 wave serpents in 5 turns – all ideal targets who are high value and pose little threat to him.

By talking up his prowess you can also use him as bait on some occasions. Forcing your enemy to waste fire on him instead of other more important assets.

I am taking a Solitaire in a week or so to an 1850 event – probably as part of the Heroes’ Path as the rest of my Harlequins are not painted yet – so I will post a follow up on how he goes.

Have you used a Solitaire in your games? How did you find him? Do you agree with my thoughts on him? Let me know in the comments!