Hey everyone and welcome to Roll That Six, I'm Rob and today I'm here to talk about the Solitaire and why I don't think its worth taking and relic investment in your Harlequin army!
A fairly controversial opinion if you look online at most competitive 40k Harlequin list posts.
I say the Solitaire is not worth the points and relic investment, not to just to be controversial, but from personal experience. No longer do I think -1 Armour Penetration (AP) in combat is good enough for a 100pt combat character. 9th Edition brought a myriad of changes to terrain, missions, character protection, meta unit choices and points adjustments that shift the game away from what the Solitaire was best at. The two relics that made the Solitaire a power house in 8th edition are no longer auto includes and those relic spots are hotly contested with other cool relics from the White Dwarf release. Having said all of this I'm not saying the Solitaire is unplayable either. Quite the opposite, but from a cut throat competitive list point of view. No thanks.
What can a Solitaire can do!?
On paper the Solitaire has some meaty characteristics, movement 12" WS2+ 3+ Inv Save, with Blitz (Other pivotal roles available) 10 attacks at strength 4 or 5 depending on which weapon you're attacking with, while adding 2D6" movement plus a charge to that initial 12" movement, combined with all the nifty tricks Harlequins bring to the table Solitaires can get around the table while on a 28mm base can fit into gaps left by unaware opponents or capitalise on movement mistakes to get into combat.
Relics - typically you would see the Solitaire with either the Suit of Hidden Knifes which does mortal wounds back to units trying and failing to hit the Solitaire, but this Relic is no longer viable as a competitive choice as modifiers to hit are capped at +/- 1 in 9th Edition, when the Solitaire can easily be made to be -4 to hit! So this leaves Cegorach Rose, a Relic Harlequins Kiss, Str4 AP-1 and flat 3Dmg vs Infantry with re-rolling to wound, nasty.
Heroes Path Stratagem, Solitaires make up 1 of the trio of characters required to use this 2 point Stratagem, this allows a Death Jester, Solitaire and Shadowseer to be removed from the table and moved anywhere 9" away from enemy models. Very powerful way to play the mission and scoring secondaries.
Lets look at some of those 9th Edition 40k changes!?
Terrain which the Harlequins largely ignore, +1 save in combat Heavy Cover is a real kick to the Solitaire, Marine equivalent units or even worse 2+ armour save units can sit in this terrain getting a normal save against the -1ap Rose attacks, this is even a nightmare vs Guard units with a 5+ save, assuming you hit and wound on average, the Guard squad is only losing 4/5 models, thanks to morale chnages this basically means nothing, which is not ideal. Heavy Cover may not be that prevalent Rob!? Well yes. But this is not the only kicking that Terrain gives the Solitaire. Obscuring Terrain is basically open Terrain while you're "in it" so all those windows and doorways on the ground floor no longer protect the Solitaire like they once did when playing the prevalent ITC ruin rules. So its even more difficult to hide the Solitaire from the enemy once its made it into combat and looking to consolidate to safety.
Character Protection Changes
The change from 8th to 9th edition brought a big change to characters. They can only be protected by vehicles, monsters and units with 3+ models, but only if that character is within 3" and not closer to the unit trying to shoot. This means its actually quite difficult to protect combat characters, wild swings in charge ranges make protecting unreliable and terrain rules changes means it very hard to protect the Solitaire once its charged and then try to consolidate to safety.
I should say at this point Harlequins there are Stratagems to increase consolidation ranges that arent limited to go closer to enemy units, but at this point I think you're investing vital command points protecting a character that wont be hitting anywhere near as hard as it needs to.
This means combats are largely a one way ticket for the Solitaire. Which is nothing new but now it's very very hard to keep the Solitaire alive.
Meta and Mission Changes
Character changes and lists building to play the missions mean characters are much less abundant, the Solitaire loves to pray on those squishy infantry characters then consolidating to safety. Im also finding that when characters are being taken they're been given more protection where possible, Terminator Sorcerers and Bike Captains are much more popular for example.
And while I'm talking about meta changes, 9th has seen a sharp rise in transports and armies need to get around the table, so getting to units has changed and not for the betterment of the Solitaire.
New protection buffs are coming into play, starting with Salamanders ignoring -1ap, but this isnt the only faction, sisters of battle and Custodes all gaining access to this defensive buff leaves the Solitaire struggling even more for targets.
Harlequin Competition
Since the release of White Dwarf 454, the Solitaire has had competition for its spot from a cheaper Troupe Master with Twilight Fang, with a solid number of attacks, hitting on 2's Str5 -2AP flat damage2 and with Darkness Bite pivotal role (2 mortal wounds after attacking), Harlequins have access to another combat monster for less points.
All of these changes have contributed to a sharp decline in the Solitaires effectiveness and why in my opinion the Solitaire is no longer worth taking in a competitive Harlequin army.
Thanks for reading
/Rob