If The Audience Doesn't Laugh At The Punchline, They Blow Their Brains Out (Grimdark/Fantasy WIP) (Patreon)

Hello!

New WIPs are coming in hot and I'll start with the Space Clowns!  

So Harlequins hold a very unique position in 40K.  For starters, they are the performers and entertainers of the Eldar, the self-appointed protectors of their race's pre-Fall history.   They are also guardians of the Black Library (not that one) which is a special craftworld/repository of all Chaos knowledge the Eldar possess.  Only certain individuals who are free of Chaos temptation get to enter the Black Library and usually only certain sections.  That screaming sound you hear is Ahriman cursing the Space Clowns for foiling his invasion attempts for the billionth time. 😄

Harlequins are also the only Eldar faction that (mostly) escaped the fallout when Slaanesh was born.  You see, their god Cegorach had the good sense not to fight Slaanesh on her cocaine high so he is the only Eldar god that still exists with all powers intact.  This makes Harlequins kind of lucky because they are immune to the soul drain the rest of their race are cursed with.  Which means the Dark Prince doesn't get to gobble Harlequin souls when they die.

Even though they look like circus performers,  Harlequins are absolutely terrifying on the battlefield.  They are elite even by Eldar standards and have all sorts of nasty toys to kill things with (the Harlequin's kiss is some sort of poisonous dart that makes people explode).  But they don't really take sides and will aide other factions if it helps their goals.  

Their main purpose seems to be countering the Dark Prince's forces and enacting Cegorach's grand plan that will ultimately bring Slaanesh's downfall (there's a prophecy about this in the Black Library written by the Laughing God himself).  Fun fact about Cegorach, he actually switched the birth pod trajectories of the Khan and Fulgrim when they were taking their trip in the warp.  That means Fulgrim was supposed to land on the White Scars homeworld.  Hoo boy, can you imagine what a White Scars Fulgrim would look like? 😄

So what's a Harlequin Solitaire specifically?  Well, remember Harlequins are ultimately performers.  They actually go from Craftworld to Craftworld reinacting the downfall of the Eldar Empire as a reminder of their hubris.  The Solitaire is a unique Harlequin that performs the role of Slaanesh in those plays.  They are actually shunned by other Eldar because they have an effect very similar to a Pariah and make everyone (including themselves) very depressed.  They are also the only type of Harlequin that are not protected by Cegorach and will be consumed by Slaanesh when they die (although Cegorach can apparently challenge Slaanesh for the Solitaire's soul when this happens).  

Sounds like a terrible role right?  But the tradeoff is that Solitaires are absolutely monsters on the battlefield.  They can pretty much obliterate other top tier units, shred Space Marines like paper and even give Custodes a run for their money. 😲

Anyways, I pretty much stuck to the traditional Harlequin design.  Wasn't sure if I should give them boots or just motley pants, I might just do both.  

Next up is my take on the samurai.  I've always liked Samurai style armour so I thought it'd be cool to make a character like that.  Plus I was a big fan of Rorouni Kenshin back in the day.  I took a little inspiration from Ghosts of Tsushima but mostly stuck to a traditional armour set with the katana/wakizashi combo.  I'll include several head variations like the helmet and mask helmet as well.

Okay, poses are up next.  I'm also thinking of making tiny custom bases this month, at least for Alexstrasza and the secret character (still working on it, and will debut later this month).  

The Sci Fi Poll will be up in about a week so please submit your suggestions before then.  Thanks!