750 Coven Battalion

I have been teaching some friends to play 40k, and finally got to the point where we are facing off with 750pt battalions. With all the Covid stuff going on around the world, I thought it prudent to order some Wracks to add to the pile of shame with the ultimate goal of upping my Coven Vanguard to a Battalion.

With a Kabal battalion you can fit in 3 Venoms, 2 Ravagers, troops and some HQs. However, I am finding that Coven are a completely different beast. This is what I keep coming back to:

2xHaemunculi

3x5 Wracks

2 Taloi (Splinter Cannons)

3 Raiders (Disintegration Cannons)

This just doesn’t seem to have the same power that the Kabalites have. This maybe my own inexperience playing Covens (my usual 1500/2k list would involve monster mashing a bunch of Grots/Taloi up the middle of the board while my Kabalites zip around in venoms grabbing stuff).

To do up a 750 Coven Battalion “right”, should I ditch the transports and just go full hoard with the Wracks? Dark Cornucopia does seem strong, and Wracks are just as tough as a Raider (when standing next to the Haemi).

How would you guys build a 750pt Coven Battalion?

You've got the base right, every coven detachment isn't typically that different from each other.

I'd probably switch the splinter cannons to either haywire or heat lances, you're going to need something to deal with vehicles, and shunting talos towards definitley doesn't hurt.

Raiders are a possibility. It's either them to get your wracks forward quickly, or switch them to more talos, who would be your key players.

I typically run my talos with double macro and either heat lances or haywire, either for character hunting or vehicle hunting. Your main pro will be sheer survivability, so it's best to focus on that I find.

Dark cornucupian is only worth it with 10-wracks units. Use haywire blaster, as Sarcron said. I use chainflail and macro. Never tried it yet, but I suspect DT would do wonders with the chainflail.

My theory (based on Kabals) was to have Dissies mounted on Ravagers, then splinter loaded onto Venoms. With Coven, I dont have access to Dissies without Raiders, which leaves splinter on the Talos (need splinter in the army, so wont be changing out to a different ranged weapon).

But with Dark Cornucopia to assist with movement, I am thinking that Coven should probably be a Foot force instead of the usual DE Mechanized list. But then I would be completely dependent on a very expensive Stratagem, which can only be used 1/phase and can only move 1 unit.

Which brings me full circle to: How do you design a Coven battalion? Do I completely do away with the transports and invest in big blobs of Wracks and Taloi (who Fly and cannot be tar-pitted), do I drop the Battalion and go back to my usual Vanguard/Spearhead of Grots/Taloi (and loose out on those sweet CP), or do I stay with the Kabal template of Mechanized (but without the Kabal firepower).

Edit: Just remembered that you can Fire and Fade the Wracks, but only if they have a ranged weapon. That would give the Foot army a little more mobility (but place additional burdens on my valuable CP)

Sorry for the double post, but this doesn’t feel like it deserves a new Topic

Got in a few games online with my 750 point Kabal list, and felt it fall apart when I went up against some Nids.

2 Tyrants – dakka variant walking
3 Hiveguard
16 Genestealers
2x3 Rippers

Was able to deploy out of range of the hiveguard, and they basically didn’t do anything all game. Took out one of the Dakka Tyrants, then the Genestealers and second Tyrant were on me and that was game. Really unimpressed how the Ravagers faired against T7 3+/4++/5+++

The game did give me some perspective on what a Coven 750 should look like.

2 Haemonculus

10 Wracks
8 Wracks
5 Wracks

5 Grotesques

2 Talos (Splinter)

I had to drop down to 8 wracks on one squad to pay for the 5th Grot. Should be significantly tougher than the Kabal list, and be able to deal with bigger monsters/genestealers better.