The Warhammer 40,000 Harlequins Dance Out For Pre-Order
January 30, 2015 by brennon
Games Workshop have secured the Black Library for another week but I'm sure someone will check out a forbidden tome next week too. In the mean time the Harlequins are flipping and dancing their way into the pre-order listings for Warhammer 40,000. Let's not forget that neat looking Solitaire too...
The Solitaire is who we'll look at first. This is a really nice sculpt and I like that they've got him (or indeed her) in full motion leaping over the terrain. It gives you a real sense of motion and considering his rules that have him spinning and flipping across the field it makes for a cool narrative piece.
As well as the Solitaire we have the new plastic Harlequin Troupe that comes with pretty much the standard load-out you'd expect in the case of Harlequins past and present. Admittedly in this case I quite liked the old resin sculpts but I think them being in plastic is a big plus and will certainly help with customisation down the line as well.
Will you be getting yourself some Harlequins?
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They are looking really good. Seem to lack something from the old style, but maybe it is just the darker themed paintwork (which is some beautiful painting nonetheless) that makes them seem less vibrant. I do like me some colourful Harlequins!
Normal Harlequins look perfectly good … no character to them at all though, unlike models of the past. Maybe there are options on the sprue though to change this. Zero collectability. Copy and pasted renders fed into a computer. The £16 Solitaire lmao. Trenchcoat, barely any detail other than a jewel/stone. Plain everything. Terrible mask. But I guess OMGZ he is jumping in mid air! Dynamic! He’s dooosing a cartwheel! Amazing!… A cheap model made on computer. At least the very back of his Matrix coat is interesting I guess. Come to think of it, he actually looks like he… Read more »
Still got 12 of the old metal models to do some time – much more character and fluidity than these. The sculpt’s tried too hard and ended up with awkward angles on some of the limbs – possibly compromised to fit the mold.
Do my eyes deceive me or have they sculpted the harlequin diamond pattern to make it easier to paint?
– The diamond pattern does not appear to be part of the sculpt- you may notice that the same parts have been painted different ways.
So, we’ll be able to put whatever patterns we feel like painting onto them.
Nice looking rocks!
Those are rather good.
Back to the Future… welcome to the 1980’s 🙂
Harlequins never appealed to me, even the first time around.
Not that impressed with these new mini’s if I’m honest, I think if I were to paint up a small band of eldar it would most definately be the space pirates.
After all those years this is what they come up with for the Solitaire? Absolutely “Meh…”
These are garbage. The originals are head and shoulders above these and they came out 20 years ago.
I’ve still got the originals. I’m not in any hurry to replace them with these.
http://www.solegends.com/citrt/Wd106p17EldarHarlequinsx-01.jpg
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Not as skillful or technical, but damn they are far more artful and characterful.
These plastics have no love in them. They weren't made by artists or people who were allowed to be artists.
I wonder if Jes was involved in these ones. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t as I think he’s still heavily involved in concepting and design. They lack all the character and creativity he put in the original ones, though.
Nothing looks worse than something that tries too hard to be dynamic. They all look a bit off, or off balance. The solitaire, now that I’ve seen it in the release, doesn’t really have any motion to it. Looks like it was rendered standing, then tipped on its side.
Overall, looks like my 2-year old granddaughter’s dance class.
And of course they’ll sell out lol.
Its getting close to start recognizing GW as the worst miniature designer in the “high end” market .. and thats not only taking the sculpted detail into consideration, they seem determined to hit rock bottom with silly poses and feet on rocks.
Awesome minis, next time i spot this box at the flea market im picking it up
I…. think those look absolutely awful.
Low detail, terrible poses, glued to bits of scenery… just. Well, to be less harsh… they’re just not for me, I guess.
I actually like these models. They convey everything that I want in a depiction of a Harlequin, and the poses don’t bother me in the least. How would you effectively convey characters that are essentially an alien version of a militarised Cirque du Soleil, for whom every movement is part of a performance, and a battle is as much a dance as it is combat, without doing somethng like this? In the background, they almost never remain still and use superhuman agility and antigrav belts to perform next to impossible gynmastics all the time – can models in conventional poses… Read more »
As for the new rules, I like the return to what I consider a more interesting rules depicition of how the Harlequin’s Kiss works. For people who want rending, you can still get what amounts to rending plus with the Harlequin’s Caress (which seems to be a new version of the old Reave Gauntlet), and now the Harlequin’s Kiss once again functions as a weapon that is driven into the body and then uses monofilament wire to turn the victim into soup from the inside out – a high strenth and low AP (representing the monofilament making a mockery of… Read more »
I don’t think the Harlequin poses are bad as such. though I’ve seen other companies produce far better poses. The OPTION to have them standing on the ground or in mid air would have been a decent thing for GW to do.
The Solitaire’s pose on the other hand is a joke.
The entire range is devoid of love. It reminds me of those terrible new plastic Ogyrns. Copy and paste bollocks.
@vetruviangeek, I don’t dislike them as much as most but the posing lacks something – and the need to be bouncing off bits of ruined eldar masonry is rather ridiculous (troupe master and the one falling backwards like he has been shot). I get your comment but some of the poses just don’t make sense – now if some where crouched low and about the spring up, others do a handstand, some back flipping, or high kicking that would work more – some of the no longer available wardancer poses, shadowblade if you must have a random piece of trashed… Read more »
I do see your point, and I completely agree that the posing could be better than it is, I just don’t think that the poses as they stand are as eye-bleedingly awful as the popular consensus seems to paint them as. When I think of a Harlequin, I am always put in mind of the female Replicant rapidly flipping in a series of gymnastic moves toward Decard just before he shoots her near the end of the movie (a few minutes before Rutger Hauer’s impossibly awesome monologue at the very end) – Harlequins should move like that, only much, much… Read more »
Been a while since I have seen that, but yeah I like that idea. I more had in mind some of the capoeira fighters I have seen.
Now having looked up capoeira, I can see what you mean. I definitely agree that some of the more acrobatic martial arts would definitely be a good place to look for inspiration, like capoeira and the more elegant savate forms.
I dont know, i think they look great. When we see a few different paint ups, maybe with full color and not half black, or the options it might be better. First thing that comes to mind for me is simply cutting them off the base, and drilling a small hole either on the torso of various other spots, and mounting them on flight bases. Now they can be laying flat in the air, upside down, or whatever, as they flip belt along.
That idea appeals to me – it would help convey the notion of a maneuver in mid air. It would also be great for use in duel vingetes.
You are also right that paint scheme can make a huge difference to how a model appears, and I imagine we will be seeing many different takes on the classic Harlequin motley over the next few months.
As an idea, you could also model them up in various stages of ‘dancing through’ a guard unit. However it comes to something when the self-styled best miniatures company in the worlds sculpts are being discussed in terms of how they could be improved and sculpting issues addressed. Or maybe is just me and I am jaded.
No. This happens every time. Something sub-par comes out, everyone recognizes it as such, and all of a sudden this phenomenon pops up: people begin discussing how they can fix them, rather than simply finding better cheaper, better mini’s elsewhere. Bizarre.
I guess two ‘better’s’ is better than one ‘better.’ 🙂
@cpauls1 Or better in many many ways 🙂 personally I think they are best fixed by using my metals and deciding the army is a non-investment. Bit of a shame as harlequins could be a stunning force, will be interested to see the other releases. I think it testament to GWs IPs that people want to fix and like their product. I cannot help but feel the pace of releases are causing these issues but it could equally be a conscious change in direction. They are still capable of stunning quality in my view, but too often just miss the… Read more »
‘Dancing through’ a Guard unit sounds like it would be an incredible set up for a diorama, though perhaps not so awesome for the Guard; no matter how artistically minded you are, there is probably only so much enthusiasm you can summon for how elegantly your buddy has just been decapitated. Unless you are a Dark Eldar, that is. Then you are probably too busy applauding to fight back effectively.
Wow…elf clowns…I wouldn’t want these minis even if they would give me them for free.