2000pt Coven of Twelve List

Hello everyone,

So below is a list that I'm looking to build and paint, so I'm hammering down the models I'll need. Specifically, I wanted feedback on whether people think that I should keep if fluffy with cool ranged weapons on the Wracks, or swap the exact points for 4 Haywire Blasters on each scourge unit. I plan on this list being mostly for local games, with the possibility of tournaments in the future, so I want it to be a well rounded all comer style list against any opponent. As of now, I'm thinking of running each "lesser" Haemonculus with each group of Talos, the Warlord will run with the Cronos, and be supported by 2 Raiders of Wracks, and the Grotesques/2 venoms will drop down using the Screaming Jets Stratagem to support the Scourges/mandrakes when they drop down in turn 2.  Thanks for looking, and let me know as well if you think I should change the Warlord Trait to something else.

Coven of Twelve Brigade Detachment (15 CP)
Haemonculus (Flensing Blade, and Liquifier Gun) Warlord Trait- Coven of Twelve: Scarlet Epicurean
Haemonculus (Venomblade, and Stinger Pistol)
Haemonculus (Venomblade, and Stinger Pistol)

x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade, and Liquifier Gun)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade, and Liquifier Gun)
Dedicated Transport: Raider (Disintegrator Cannon, and Shock Prow)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade, and Liquifier Gun)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade, and Liquifier Gun)
Dedicated Transport: Raider (Disintegrator Cannon, and Shock Prow)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Flesh Gauntlet, and Hexrifle)
Dedicated Transport: Venom (Two Splinter Cannons)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Scissorhand, and Hexrifle)
Dedicated Transport: Venom (Two Splinter Cannons)

x5 Scourges (All with Shardcarbines)
x5 Scourges (All with Shardcarbines)
x5 Scourges (All with Shardcarbines)

x5 Grotesques
Dedicated Transport: Raider (Disintegrator Cannon, and Shock Prow)
x5 Mandrakes
x5 Mandrakes

Cronos (Spirit Probe, and Spirit Vortex)
x2 Talos (Two Chain-flails, Two Macro-scalpels, and Four Haywire Blasters)
x2 Talos (Two Chain-flails, Two Macro-scalpels, and Four Haywire Blasters)

*Newest List After Feedback*

Coven of Twelve Brigade Detachment (15 CP)
Brigade Detachment
HQ
Haemonculus (Flensing Blade, and Liquifier Gun) (Warlord Trait: Master Nemesine)
Haemonculus (Venomblade, and Stinger Pistol)
Haemonculus (Venomblade, and Stinger Pistol)

Troops
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade)
Dedicated Transport: Raider (Dark Lance, and Shock Prow)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade)
Dedicated Transport: Raider (Dark Lance, and Shock Prow)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade)
x5 Wracks (Ossefactor, and Acothyst with Venomblade)
Dedicated Transport: Raider (Dark Lance, and Shock Prow)

Fast Attack
x5 Scourges (Four Haywire Blasters)
x5 Scourges (Four Haywire Blasters)
x5 Scourges (Four Haywire Blasters)

Elite
x5 Grotesques
x5 Mandrakes
x5 Mandrakes

Heavy Support
Cronos (Spirit Probe, and Spirit Vortex)
x3 Talos (Three Chain-flails, Three Macro-scalpels, and Six Haywire Blasters)
x2 Talos (Four Macro-scalpels, and Four Haywire Blasters)

Looks interesting for sure.

I think coven of the 12 is a solid choice here for more damage in an already sturdy army.

I might drop one of the venoms. There is bound to be at least one backfield objective you want to camp a squad on. It also saves you points for the haywire you were considering as well, without losing the ossefsctors. I might also split the talos 3:1 to better fire and fade them up the board.

Pretty cool list, and a tough one to kill.
Perhaps consider switching to haywire blasters on the scourges. Between the grots and talos you have plenty of anti infantry. The haywire scourges will let you demolish at least one flank of vehicles, plus it'll will take the pressure off of your other big hitters.

Alright, so after feedback, I'm thinking I'll go Haywire Blasters on the Scourges. This means I've gone straight Venomblades on the Acothysts for each wrack unit, which is probably the optimal way to run Coven of Twelve wracks anyway since they want to be in combat. The only other difference is that I'm using a command point on the stratagem "Prizes From the Dark City" to give one of my "lesser" Haemonculus the Flensing Blade, and I've given my other Haemonculus a Flesh Gauntlet, and Scissorhand, which happens to match the models. I also think that the Warlord Trait for Coven of Twelve will work better with the Nightmare Doll on the Warlord. This should make him extra tanky. Let me know if there's anything else people think would help sharpen the current list. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

If you can spare 15 extra points, it might be worth taking Urien to run with the Grots or the Talos. Str 8 Talos are wounding MEQ on 2+ and Knights on 4+ instead of 5+, which when combined with the re-roll wounds strategem makes 3-4 Talos a serious threat to a Knight in CC, provided you’re swinging first. Speaking of which, why are you not taking a Vexator Mask as one of your relics??? Talos and Grots are good but elite CC units will still shred them unless you guarantee they have to attack after you. You’re already decreasing your survivability by running Coven of 12 instead of PoF. The Vexator insures your main damage dealers can go toe to toe with your opponent’s heavy hitters.

Im. Guessing you. Like the fluff of the Coven of Twelve thats why you are not running PoF? PoF are by far the best Coven in my opinion. 4++ is a huge improvement from 5++. And as sweetbacon says the Vexator mask is not a bad pick. My favorite though is just the Helf of Spite, but if you can afford to spend a CP on a second Artefact I would go with the Vexator mask.

PoF also has the best Coven Warlord trait: Diabolical Soothsayer... More CPs and a reroll. Not bad.

I like the double Grots units. But I skip Raiders, they don’t need them Just run then across the board on foot. Use they points to buy more Grots. And I usually have on of 8 or 9. Try them on foot. It’s great. They soak up a lot of dakka but always keep a haemonculus nearby for T6. I’d say maybe keep one 5 strong in a Raider and skip one raider and get 2-3 more Grots for the 2nd unit!

And if you can find points, upgrade at least one Talos unit to three. It make them so much more efficient. move, advance, shoot haywire blasters and the Fire and Fade 7” closer to the enemy. You can stille have 2 units, but find points for 1 more. A unit of three and one of two would be great. Maybe thats where the points saved on the Raider should go...

So I like the fluff, anecdotes in the Codex, and the painting challenge of the flayed Muscle look for The Coven of Twelve. I also tend to enjoy Melee combat in most games or settings, so going with the most rippy makes sense.  I agree with everyone's opinion on the merits of The Prophets of Flesh, the Vexator Mask, the Warlord Trait, or Urien Rakarth, but I don't think The Coven of Twelve is bad, just not as optimal as The Prophets. If you were looking to put a Coven List in the Hands of a very good player, and expect them to win a big Grand Tournament, then you'd probably want to go Prophets with Vexator Mask on a secondary Haemonculus, and Urien Rakarth as the Warlord. I'm not at that level though, so I think they'll still be solid and fun to play against in local games or small tournaments. I will think about switching it to Prophets though, and obviously swapping out for the Vexator Mask.

As it stands now, I've changed the new list by getting rid of the venoms, shifting the Grotesques Raider to carry Two Wrack Units instead, adding Ossefactors to each Wrack Unit, Dark Lances to the Raiders, adding a Talos to one of the units, and put Double Macro-Scalpels on one unit with the extra two points.  I kept The Flensing Blade on the Warlord, but switched the Warlord Trait to Master Nemesine to make him a Character Assassin. He's wounding non-vehicles on a 2+, and doing 3 wounds automatically to characters now, which you can only do with a Coven of Twelve Warlord. The plan would be to drop him in with the Grotesques using The Webway Portal Stratagem, charge screens with the Grotesques, shower the unit with the liquifier gun using the Coven of Twelve Stratagem Administer Punishment, and then charge the Haemonculus into the unit/character and blender. Their stratagem also would seem to be good if you tie up vehicles with one unit of Talos, Wracks, or Grotesques, and then use the other Talos unit to Haywire the vehicles to death to finish them quicker.

This thread actually led me to realize that if I'm going to pick Coven of Twelve, I should build it to maximize any specific combos for them that you can't do with Prophets. So thank you for all the feedback, and I welcome any more!

PS- One other thought I just had after reading the scourge loadout thread, was to replace one of the Haywire Blaster Scourges with Shredders, since they're the same points. The list currently has 22 Haywire Shots, so bringing it down to 18 seems like it still has a good amount of Anti Vehicle, considering the Obsession, and the 3 Dark Lances. Let me know what you think.