Eldar Harlequin customizing

[HarlekissofDeath]

Hey guys,

I am new to this site, and am new to the Warhammer 40k universe but I think the whole game and background is really cool and interesting. The eldar look appealed to me, and the Harlequins really drew me in. I really like the way they look but as I have been painting them and learning more about the universe and rules, i have been thinking of ideas to customize my troupe.
I was reading about them and I know that they are performers and that they are pretty BA, but I was interested in how they have masks that can portray peoples fears and death, so I am in the process of giving all my harles kisses, and cutting off their masks and changing them with skulls for masks. Also I want to use black and darker colors with my troupe to show the stealth of the troupe and the deadliness of them, kind of like ninjas. I know the Striking scorpions are more like a ninja crew, but the harle's are pretty amazing at assualting.
What are your thoughts?

[addamsfamily36]

I like the dark colour scheme, although normally vibrant actors i imagine them having darker more sinister clothing for war that shifts and changes much like their shields. for this i would possibly use dark turquoise and black as these complement well and would give a cold like atmosphere to them.

im unsure about the masks, as the death jester is known to wear a sjull mask, and as each troupe member is meant to represent a different element of eldar history or character, having them all the same might destroy that image. (sorry dont want to like be down on your theme, i would jsut go with whatever you want lol but thats just my opinion as a fellow eldar player)

Having said that, their masks do change in battle i think (im quoting from memory im probably very wrong) so different masks that are terryfying sure, but i would avoid skulls due to the death jester thing.

[gorepants]

The harelquin trope is loosely based on elements perfomance in the Venice carnival (wish I remembered more about this to give better detail!), with an emphasis on the darker side (ie evil clowns). So that is why they mostly have plain and two-faced opera masks, the laughing deaths heads are few and there is the single solitarie. If you want to find out stuff, the best source is probably the Rogue Trader Compendium (1989) - old but they haven't changed much.

That said, don't change what you are doing just because some guy in Engalnd 20+ years ago thought scary clown eldar were a good idea! I like the dark style of harlequin - there are a few up on cool mini or not painted like that. The style is more influenced by the darkness of steampunk than ninja's though. I'm less convinced about the all-skull troupe since I'd worry it will homgenise them a little too much. But if you have good internal narrative as to who they are, and the models work together then what you're doing is fine.

[HarlekissofDeath]

I like the dark turquise for a color to contrast the black. I was thinking of using that, and red, and ice blue too. Maybe having each harlequin in the troupe have their own color with the black, but I am not going to have a lot of it. They are mainly going to be black, and have their collars and cuffs, and maybe boots too have the diamond pattern on them, and everything else be a black, or maybe a black and a wash of leviathon purple over it, and then highlights.
I have the skull bitx from GW, and am using different skulls for the different masks so that they each have a skull masks, but they are each unique all the same.
I think ninja, because of their grace and their belts. they have invunerable save because it is hard to see them, and throw in the shadow seer (one of my favorite units, especially with a kiss instead of a staff) and they can't be seen period. you can't hit them without rolling to for range first, and at best they can only be hit within 24" and how many times do you roll 2d6 and get two 6's? So they create illusions like ninja lore of old, and really by the time the other player can see the troupe they are in assualt range and pretty much on top of the other unit, and it is too late.
My reasoning for having skulls for masks is to be terrifying. Their mask change and sadly I can't exactly do that; have a mask that is always changing, but I thought having a troupe of death mask harlequins would be pretty terrifying, especially if they just pop up in front of you.