a few 35pt coven tourny lists, suggestions plx

[Sparfunk]

hi guys, theres a mk2 tournament coming up at my lgs, and im going to use my beloved coven, however, due to hordes mk2 i havent played with my cryx much in the last few months.

the coven look like they could be a fun jack caster, with some hardcore infernal machine spam going on... id like your thoughts on a few lists ive come up with if i may

list 1:

witch coven (+5 jp, inc at end)
>deathjack
>seether
>deathripper
>deathripper

6 bane knights
bane lord tartarus
machine wraith (had 1 point left over)

40/40

list 2:

witch coven
>seether
>slayer
>slayer
>deathripper
>deathripper

6 bile thralls
6 blackbanes ghost raiders

40/40

list 3:

witch coven
>deathjack
>seether
>deathripper
>deathripper
>deathripper
>skarloc thrall

6 bile thralls.

theres the list, any thoughts would be welcome, i have a month to playtest, so ill be back here with info on the different lists as i try them.

[Sparfunk]

oh well, seems people dont like replying in this forum... ill talk to myself then

i played a game with list 3 last night, against a dawnguard army. now, i hate dawnguard armies to begin with, to me theyre so entirely UN-warmachine.

i lost.

i made some retarded mistakes though. things like forgetting to feat on turn two.

but, did i learn anything from the game about the list? im not sure really. bile thralls still own infantry if they survive long enough to get there.

the deathjack still pwns stuff in combat, if it survives long enough to get there (which isnt that hard with the coven tbh). though i miss his necrovent, dealing with hordes of elf infantry would have been MUCH easier if it werent for that.

seether... im still undecided on this one, i used it badly, i should have trampled through his unit of sentinals, but i was too afraid of getting butt loads of free strikes, and afterall, its only a slayer chassis. sneeze at it and it will die.

i liked having a potential 15 focus though. 2 on deathjack, 1 on seether, 9 on the coven, and up to 3 on the skarloc.

im going to try working out a list or two that includes the withershadow combine. i think puppet master and a free upkeep would really help the coven.

again, if anyone has any advice, itd be much appreciated. i can list my selection of models if that helps.

[PiousVanDorn]

Have you thought about Nightmare? Infernal machine and Prey seems nice (not tried anything close to it mind you)

Does the coven not have a zappy spell anymore?

I still link the cankerworm for 5pts and the Withershadow might be nice...

Stealthy Biles... YUMMY!

[PG_Rave0183]

Hoenstly I like your first list best. Maybe drop the seether down to a slayer and upgrade those bane knights to a full unit.

Bane knights with stealth are great. Other than that the list looks great. I like it the best.

[Vermithrax]

I like your first list best.

I wouldn't be quick to dismiss the Seether especially when paired with a DJ. I've been playing coven a lot in MK2 and really enjoy their style. You are correct about the focus bonus. Two on DJ and 1 on Seether is a big deal even for our 9 focus Perfect Conjunction Coven.

Infernal Machine on the Seether gives him extra charge distance and pretty much guarantees his chain attack will trigger - very nice indeed.

DJ is gold with The Coven. They need spell range and he does that in a reliable survivable fashion.

With any list I think about three threats to deal with - Heavy Jacks, Annoying Solos, and Infantry. With your list you've got:

Heavy Jacks - Deathjack and Seether
Annoying Solos - Deathrippers. Yep Deathrippers. Stygian Abyss has a new job in MK2 and that's killing annoying solos. With a FOC stat of 9 the coven rarely miss. Deathrippers let you get good positioning for the arc.
Infantry - BLT and the Bane Knights.

The Coven have a hard time with infantry spam and its usually the hardest of the three threats to counter in a 35 point Coven list. Bile Thralls I've tried numerous times and I find that as the only source of infantry removal they do not work as well. Mainly because popping a bile removes it from the table so it no longer blocks charge lanes. Not to mention they are slow and a bit pricey these days. At 50 points I'd be taking them but not at 35.

The next option is Bane Knights (reach and vengeance is great) but as you've likely discovered they are expensive. For your list I'd be most concerned about the 6 bane knights. You're not getting full value for Vengeance and 6 will disappear quickly. You may be better positioned to either max the unit out or drop them completely in exchange for something like Bane Thralls.

One of my favorite options is stuff with Thresher. That really amounts to our friend Tartarus and a Harrower. In the list above you could dump the machine wraith and turn the Seether into a Harrower.

Another option is a bit mass of McThralls maxed out on Brutes and backed up by a Necrosurgeon.