Let's build a Coven

I've noticed that there aren't that many Coven lists being posted here, so lets try and build a not completely horrid 1850 Point coven list. I'll go first:

Urien Rakarth 190

Haemunculus,Liquifier Gun and Venom Blade, 65

Haemunculus,Liquifier Gun and Venom Blade, 65

Haemunculus,Liquifier Gun and Venom Blade, 65

Elites:

4x Grotesques, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield, 210 (Urien goes here)

Troops:

9x Wracks, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield, 170 (Haemunculus goes here)

9x Wracks, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield 170 (Haemunculus goes here)

9x Wracks, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield, 170 (Haemunculus goes here)

5x Wracks, Venom with SC upgrade, 115

5x Wracks,Venom with SC upgrade, 115

Fast Attack:

10x Scourges, 4x Haywire Blasters, 260

Heavy Support:

Talos, Chain-flails, additional CCW, 125

Talos, Chain-flails, additional CCW, 125

Five points left to spare

GO GO GO!

Torpedo Vegas wrote:

Urien Rakarth 190

Urien's primary advantage is the creation of Pain Tokens - but in a themed Coven list I'm not sure you drastically need that. The only other big amp is the super Grots, and - yeah - that's one way to anti-mech, but that's really what's hurting this list. Lack of anti-mech.

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Haemunculus,Liquifier Gun and Venom Blade, 65

I actually disagree with the above poster. In a Coven build Haemys can be functional to bring along into assault. I'm not sure if I consider it optimal, but it's not a 'need to avoid' situation. I would probably still tend to run them as Flamers in a Boat though - fluffwise it makes a lot of sense that the Haems would just let the creations take all the abuse.

I think loss of Urien and more Haems (Urien is worth functionally, what, 2-3 of them? is overall a better bet.

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4x Grotesques, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield, 210 (Urien goes here)

If you're trying to make a dedicated Coven list, than you need more anti-mech, and Grots are one of our few anti-mechs on the charge. I like this build, but would note that for the cost of dropping Urien (am I picking on him?) you could get in a unit of Trueblasters - which would really help out and isn't un-fluffy.

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9x Wracks, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield, 170 (Haemunculus goes here)

9x Wracks, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield 170 (Haemunculus goes here)

9x Wracks, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield, 170 (Haemunculus goes here)

5x Wracks, Venom with SC upgrade, 115

5x Wracks,Venom with SC upgrade, 115

This is a ton of anti-infantry. I think you need more anti-mech, so I'd probably trim away the Venoms - anything Venoms can make fugly a massed charge of Wracks ought to be able to swing as well. I agree with the poster noting a need for an Arcothyst.

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10x Scourges, 4x Haywire Blasters, 260

Yeah...they're fluffy. (now)
If you insist on this I'd split them into two units of 5, Haywire Blasters primary goal isn't to kill - it's to stun.
You want to stun/shake more than one target a turn - hence two units is better than one. Each will probably generate a shake/stun with 2 shots anyway.

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Talos, Chain-flails, additional CCW, 125

Talos, Chain-flails, additional CCW, 125

I love me my chain flail and +1 CCW Talos(i?) but I think they work better popping out of portals. I think having the shooting upgrade of either the heat lance or Haywire Blaster is important, as these boys will probably want to be focused on being can openers anyway, and you don't drastically need a lot of attacks to serve that purpose.



I like some of the vibe, I think you're hamstringing yourself in a competitive tournament sense by getting excited by how Scourges are made by Haemons now. Yeah, whoo-hoo, whatever. Those points would be better spent on either Trueblasters or a Ravager (or, frankly, even just more Talos or Grots). The army needs something to allow it to get the cans cracked so the poison blades of the Wracks can really go to work.

I think primary advice is drop Urien and the Scourges, get an additional Haemon to lead the Grots, and invest the remaining points into amping up your anti-mech options.

Alright, Coven List, Mark Two:


Haemunculus,Liquefier Gun and Venom Blade, 65

Haemunculus,Liquifier Gun and Venom Blade, 65

Haemunculus,Liquifier Gun and Venom Blade, 65

Haemunculus,Liquifier Gun and Venom Blade, 65


Elites:

4x Grotesques, Liquifier, Aberration with flesh gauntlet, Raider with FLickerfield,240 (Haemunculus goes here)

Troops:

9x Wracks, Liquifier, Acothyst with Agonzier, Raider with Flickerfield, 200(Haemunculus goes here)

9x Wracks, Liquifier, Acothyst with Agonzier, Raider with Flickerfield, 200(Haemunculus goes here)

9x Wracks, Liquifier, Acothyst with Agonzier, Raider with Flickerfield, 200(Haemunculus goes here)


5x Wracks,Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield, 130

5x Wracks, Liquifier, Raider with Flickerfield, 130

Fast Attack:

5x Scourges, two with Haywire Blasters, 130

5x Scourges, two with Haywire Blasters, 130

Heavy Support:

Talos, chain flails and TL Haywire Blaster, 115

Talos, chain flails and TL Haywire Blaster, 115


Even if it costs some anti mech I want to stay away from the omni present Blaster Trueborn.

I like it good and fluffy

For some reason I just can't help but think those Talos's are going to get blown off the board edge. 5 Raiders to serve as distraction just doesn't seem enough to me. Though without proper play testing I won't know the answer. But have you ever thought about trying to fit at least 1 WWP in the list somehow?

Fix'd. I forgot to wire the Raider with FLickerfield part,even though the cost is factored in.

I don't really like Webway Portals, Liberame. I've no real experience working with a webway list, and I'm loathe to rely on reserve rolls.

problem is a big mechanical talos with a big scary stinger for a gun is gonna be target priority when your opponent realizes he cant shoot down your raiders so easily.

That first list is extremely close to what I have ran several times in the past but rather with a WWP mixed in. Personally, it’s hard for me when constructing a Coven list to forgo the WWP but they do seem to be a good candidate as a “Rush” list as well. The only difference in the list in general is that I only use 4 full troop choices but 3 Talos and the scourge squads are split into 2 squads of 5.

Deployment was:

Urien + Haemy + 3 Grotesques (aberration with flesh gauntlet, liqueifier) in a raider and they started on the board – the unit was fearless so the other tokens Urien generated were given primarily to the unit that had the Haemy with the WWP. This unit had the 2 liquefiers and the casket for a softening effect before the charge. I sometimes put aether sails on this raider as I wanted to get the raider past the midway point so they can get a charge off next turn no matter what. I found that they do become a fire magnet and it takes a bunch of fire off of the wwp squad. The aberration has a flesh gauntlet and the Haemy has an agoniser as I felt the squad needed at least one power weapon in the group. I sometimes sent all my raiders forward when I go first and play with reserves more when go second.

The 1 Haemy with the WWP had either a foot squad of wracks to start the game with or a 9 man wrack raider squad to ride with. Depending on the conditions of the game I had a choice of how aggressive I was going to get with the portal placement. Either way, one of these squads was going into reserves – the foot squad would emerge and just head towards an objective or the raider squad would just enter the game from the board edge. Never had a problem with portal placement or the squad surviving the game – I always had cover to deploy from and a 4+ cover and a 4+ FnP T4 squad can really take a beating while being fearless thanks to only 1 token from Urien (father).

The other 3 wrack squads were all mounted on raiders and I may have tried one squad on foot as a dedicated portal user on foot but I have had good experiences with a double liquefier and agoniser squad.

As for the Scourges, double heat-lances have been my choice for a while now as the both the option of deepstriking or using the portal has gotten them close enough for a choice of targets. Sure, the squad is sacrificial but I do usually have one squad surviving and their range has not been a factor for me.

I have at times used a beast squad and I really do enjoy them in a portal list but eventually the theme edged them out for sourges.

3 Talos coming out of the portal have both the Twin-linked liquefier and the Twin-linked heat lance – no matter what the target is coming out of the portal, the Talos excels at punching armor and infantry. The only target I despise though are storm shield terminators with hammers – no thank you.

No need for a Cronos in this list although getting the scourges a token would be nice. The 3rd Haemy I suppose can jump into scourge squad randomly but I tend to put the Haemy in a Wrack squad as to make them a little more durable and deadly.

I love the style of the army and the “in-your-face” move with Urien – the Grotesques have never disappointed me and have always destroyed unit I have sent them at. The only problem really is (other than the point cost of such a deathstar) is once that first assault is over, the unit will usually get shot to death or counter charged by a second squad and they eventually die out – a little kink I need to work out.