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AoS 2 - Darkling Covens Discussion


Chris Tomlin

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@Tullbeard

if i understood the post correctly then we cant Change anything in the list due to model issues?

I too think that you have not enough bodies. You might have difficulties with objectives and the sustain of your army. Without maxing out your troops you dont make use of Point reductions in your army. However it is not a bad list. If you can Change something I would take out two Sorceresses or one dragon for more troops.

Lets talk tactics. You have literally no unit that can last more then one Close combat Phase against a serious attack. So I recommend Holding your troops together. The two objective grabber Units of Khinerai hurt your staying power also. Do not fly the two Dragons off. You Need them behind your Units to generate attack force and threat. Keep in mind that enemy Missile Units are very scary for you. Keep the less important like Darkshards or Spears in front of your elite troops to soak up the first Charge. Donit expect them to do anything. The damage must come from your spells, Dragons with rend and Mortal wound executioners.

Before the tournament your should do a lot of practice games so you trust your force and keep every rule in mind without looking it up.

Try to think about bad matchups for your army and how you would beat your own army. This will make you develop Counter tactics and develop Reactions.

Most games are won in the movement Phase! So study the table were you will be playing and try to figure out how you Keep your strength together.

At last I wish you good luck and Khaines Blessing.

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On 7/24/2018 at 11:56 AM, Kaleun said:

@Tullbeard

if i understood the post correctly then we cant Change anything in the list due to model issues?

I too think that you have not enough bodies. You might have difficulties with objectives and the sustain of your army. Without maxing out your troops you dont make use of Point reductions in your army. However it is not a bad list. If you can Change something I would take out two Sorceresses or one dragon for more troops.

Lets talk tactics. You have literally no unit that can last more then one Close combat Phase against a serious attack. So I recommend Holding your troops together. The two objective grabber Units of Khinerai hurt your staying power also. Do not fly the two Dragons off. You Need them behind your Units to generate attack force and threat. Keep in mind that enemy Missile Units are very scary for you. Keep the less important like Darkshards or Spears in front of your elite troops to soak up the first Charge. Donit expect them to do anything. The damage must come from your spells, Dragons with rend and Mortal wound executioners.

Before the tournament your should do a lot of practice games so you trust your force and keep every rule in mind without looking it up.

Try to think about bad matchups for your army and how you would beat your own army. This will make you develop Counter tactics and develop Reactions.

Most games are won in the movement Phase! So study the table were you will be playing and try to figure out how you Keep your strength together.

At last I wish you good luck and Khaines Blessing.

Thanks a lot for the tips and great advice. 

Yeah it’s a shame I don’t have time to change the army list much at the moment. But I am going to the Gt final in October so I have plenty of time to tweak it for then. 

For that, I could drop a sorceress and the command point to put in another 10 executioners.

What are your views of the Heartrenders? I like them for objective grabbing, but do you think I’d be better putting those points into executioners?

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Yes yes the executioners will do a lot more for you then the command point and the lady with pointy ears!

10 Executioners generate 7 mortal wounds on average every combat Phase.  Before piling them in twice and before rolling for their normal attacks! Try to do tgat with a sorceress. They also double your wound count and are ten obj. holders.

if you would like to work further then i recommend painting the way you want to setup your force and discuss it.

 

batte chronicler can help with that for example:

Battlechronicler.com

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On 7/26/2018 at 9:52 PM, Kaleun said:

Before piling them in twice and before rolling for their normal attacks!

Sorry if I've missed something obvious, but how do you get Execs to pile-in twice??

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54 minutes ago, Roark said:

Sorry if I've missed something obvious, but how do you get Execs to pile-in twice??

Thrall warhost battalion ability I guess. It allows you to choose a unit from the battalion within12" of the coven master hero and you can charge, pile-in and attack with that unit in your hero fase, and of course later on again in your combat case.

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Hi, my druchii friends. I have some darkling covens models and rally love them. Exactly I have 20 executioners, 14 bleakswords, 10 black guards, two sorceress on foot.

with the new AOS release what would you suggest me to arrive at a decent 2000 points army, I mean what do you think is the best tactis: many  wizard heroes and a couple  of endless spells? Élite infantry (two massive blogs of executioners and black guards)? Or basic infantry?

I need suggestions, even for next buying.. 

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10 hours ago, Roark said:

Sorry if I've missed something obvious, but how do you get Execs to pile-in twice??

Alessio said it right. The ability of the Thrall Warhost battalion enpoweres one unit around your Coven Master Sorceress (nominated) to pile in and attack during the hero phase. That doesnt stop the unit fromt piling in later in the combat phase.

This makes maked out units like 30 black Guard very strong and gives the darkling covens its tactics it is famous for: Counter-charge.

@Ferrus65

welcome to the covens!

I recommend to go for a full thrall warhost first. It will make your 20 Executioners very strong.

Sorceress (100)
Sorceress (100)
10 x Bleakswords (100)
10 x Darkshards (100)
10 x Bleakswords (100)
10 x Black Guard (140)
20 x Executioners (320)
Thrall Warhost (180)

Total: 1140

You might want to set your goal to 1000 points first and then experiment with the army. Only you know which way your army should take. Thrall Warhost is my personal way and makes your army semi-competitive. If you want to go full onto tournament heavy lists you might want to focus on executioners, but I see that boring as I really like the battleline models of Darkshards, Bleakswords and Dreadspears.

You can find a lot of army lists in this Thread.

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7 hours ago, Ferrus65 said:

Hi, my druchii friends. I have some darkling covens models and rally love them. Exactly I have 20 executioners, 14 bleakswords, 10 black guards, two sorceress on foot.

with the new AOS release what would you suggest me to arrive at a decent 2000 points army, I mean what do you think is the best tactis: many  wizard heroes and a couple  of endless spells? Élite infantry (two massive blogs of executioners and black guards)? Or basic infantry?

I need suggestions, even for next buying.. 

I fully agree with @Kaleun! Make a 1000pt list and start playing! I love counter charge style as well, but it's tricky. Just some random thoughts:
I like me a sorceress on dragon for a hero with a little more staying power.
I will most likely use the old Reaper Bolt Thrower as an allied Stormcast Balista (better rules ;))
I like a big block of 30 dreadspears. Get them on an objective and they will be very hard to remove (especially supported by a sorceress for the minus 1 to hit) 
And I love, love, love Executioners. Last games (AoS 1 still) I fielded one unit of 20 and one of 10. For me that worked amazingly (@1500pts). :D 

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What are your favourite units to use as allies? The way I see it, once we go over 1000 points, were are just picking more of the same models as the Sorceress on Black Dragon isn't worth it due to her melee / ranged identity crisis, so I'm looking towards maximizing my ally allowance.

I've earmarked the Knight Azyros due to his re-roll 1's bubble, any other favourites? I'm thinking there is room for 2 or 3 ally heroes after picking 2/3 Sorceresses.

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1 hour ago, Galdenistal said:

What are your favourite units to use as allies? 

Yeah, I dig the Knight Azyros too. I think the Archmage is great value, for his spell, which can make those big blocks of Dreadspears etc even harder to shift. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

At 2k points in the Thrall Warhost, how many sorceresses and endless spells have you all been running? My current list has one SoBD and one sorc on foot, and I typically take cogs and geminids. I'm tempted to either take a bunch of cheap spells like shackles, pallisade, and swords, or maybe try including the lifeswarm to have that tiny bit of healing in the list.

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To be honest, I haven't played DC yet, I'm still in progress of building the army. But at 2k I was considering one SoBD and two sorceress on foot.

And I'd like to add a Pendulum (because I love the model, and would like to use endless spells that can't be too dangerous for me..). Alternatives would be chronomatic cogs or geminids.

Right now I'm more doubtful about the rest of the army, I'd like to build an elite army, most made of executioners and black guard (and I could consider changing the SoBD with a celestial hurricanum - properly converted..) but I have the impression that in age of sigmar game is more and more important have bodies, a lot of bodies..

Last but not least, I'd like to take two celestial ballistas as allied (of course converted with big oval base and dark elves crew!)

 

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8 hours ago, Ferrus65 said:

To be honest, I haven't played DC yet, I'm still in progress of building the army. But at 2k I was considering one SoBD and two sorceress on foot.

And I'd like to add a Pendulum (because I love the model, and would like to use endless spells that can't be too dangerous for me..). Alternatives would be chronomatic cogs or geminids.

Right now I'm more doubtful about the rest of the army, I'd like to build an elite army, most made of executioners and black guard (and I could consider changing the SoBD with a celestial hurricanum - properly converted..) but I have the impression that in age of sigmar game is more and more important have bodies, a lot of bodies..

Last but not least, I'd like to take two celestial ballistas as allied (of course converted with big oval base and dark elves crew!)

 

I'm not sold on the pendulum, but admittedly I haven't tried it yet.  The d6 wounds is nice but the limited movement seems challenging to make good use of.  I suppose one good way to do it would be to summon it, hit the unit you want, then dispell it and try again later.  Definitely give it a try and see how it works for you once you start playing!

Darkling Covens is at its heart a horde army that has some elite troop options.  You can absolutely make an army that fields 90 to 120 models of executioners and black guard and still have points for sorceresses and an ally or two.  The two main ways to build the army that I can see are either focusing on the battalion, in which case you definitely want to max out on 30 black guard and 30 executioners, or avoid the battalion and take more elite troops at the expense of all the benefits the battalion gives.  Either way you are going to have a lot of bodies on the board, that's just the nature of the army.

As a side note, you can absolutely do some conversions on the hurricanum to make it thematically fit with the army, but if you want to run Darkling Covens allegiance you can't take the hurricanum since Collegiate Arcane and Darkling Covens aren't allies.  You could run a Grand Alliance Order army and take both, which is probably the best choice if you really want to focus on executioners.  Ballistas are a very decent ally choice to get some long range firepower for relatively cheap.

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I think the Shackles are a no-brainer for DC. Even @Kaleun has a list at 1980 points that have room for them, and the amount of board control they provide is amazing. With the reliance om movement and counter-charge that defines a competitive DC-build, they far outclass a lot of other spell options tactically.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello!  I am absolutely new to Darkling Covens, and I think I like them.  Everything I own is still in their boxes, about 3K in total.

Please have a look at the below list, will Daughters of Khaine alliance.  Please let me kn ow thoughts - thanks in advance.  

 

Allegiance: Darkling Covens
Mortal Realm: Ulgu

Leaders
Sorceress On Black Dragon (280)
- General
- Witch Rod
- Trait: Master of the Sorcerous Arts 
- Artefact: Decanter of Egos 
Sorceress (100)

Battleline
40 x Dreadspears (360)
30 x Executioners (420)
20 x Black Guard (280)

Units
20 x Khinerai Heartrenders (320)
- Allies

Battalions
Thrall Warhost (180)

Total: 1940 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 320 / 400
Wounds: 129
 

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7 hours ago, Gnoblar G said:

Hello!  I am absolutely new to Darkling Covens, and I think I like them.  Everything I own is still in their boxes, about 3K in total.

Please have a look at the below list, will Daughters of Khaine alliance.  Please let me kn ow thoughts - thanks in advance.  

 

Allegiance: Darkling Covens
Mortal Realm: Ulgu

Leaders
Sorceress On Black Dragon (280)
- General
- Witch Rod
- Trait: Master of the Sorcerous Arts 
- Artefact: Decanter of Egos 
Sorceress (100)

Battleline
40 x Dreadspears (360)
30 x Executioners (420)
20 x Black Guard (280)

Units
20 x Khinerai Heartrenders (320)
- Allies

Battalions
Thrall Warhost (180)

Total: 1940 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 320 / 400
Wounds: 129
 

Looks like a good starting point- I’m planning a similar list. But you will need to split those dreadspears up into smaller units unfortunately- you need at least 3 units of dreadspears/darkshards/bleak swords for the thrall warhost

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I've played a fair bit with the Thrall Warhost.  Its an excellent list that people really don't expect the combat power from.  The dragon Sorceress is very resilient and tarpit even the best combat unit with the right spells and artefacts.  

Running Black Guard and Executioners is a very good distraction as the triple threat with the dragon is often too much for an opponent to decide between which to try and take on.  

 

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Has anyone else tried the dragon Sorceress with Gryph-feather Charm and Impossibly Swift? -2 to hit in all phases

To contribute to list discussion,  I've been using this. I really like the Fulminators for some heavy cav - they feel like how the cold one knights used to feel

Leaders
Sorceress On Black Dragon (280)
- General
- Darkling Sword/Witch Lash
- Trait: Impossibly Swift
- Artifact: Gryph-feather Charm
Sorceress (100)
- Artifact: Anklet of Epiphany

Battleline
20 x Executioners (320)

20 x Black Guard (280)

10 x Darkshards (100)

10 x Darkshards (100)

20 x Dreadspears (200)

Units
10 x Khinerai Heartrenders (160)
- Allies
2 x Fulminators (240)
- Allies

Endless Spells

Geminids (40)
Battalions
Thrall Warhost (180)

Points 2000/2000

Edited by SugarMaple82
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6 hours ago, Azamar said:

Looks like a good starting point- I’m planning a similar list. But you will need to split those dreadspears up into smaller units unfortunately- you need at least 3 units of dreadspears/darkshards/bleak swords for the thrall warhost

thanks for the feed back.  This army really interests me, and I think with all of the right "puzzle pieces" in place, it can be a good one.

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@Gnoblar G

as Azamar has already mentioned you do not furfill the requirements of the battalion. You are also quite heavy on the Heartrenders. I see them as objective grabbers or zoning/meatshield Tools. I recommend dropping ten and taking 2x10 Drakshards into your list.

If you have 20 Points free in your list you can take the Soul shackles. Those are great for stalling and wont hurt us as much as an opposing fast army. The geminids are also very good! All in all the endless spells are great for the Darkling Covens in General as we can make up for weaknesses in Speed and mortal wounds.

 

@SugarMaple82

That -2 to hit on your SoBD is awesome and really keeps her in Play. Good idea and solid list. I see your Point on the fulminators, but would take the Drakespawn Knights never the less for Duchii reasons. You might want to drop 10 Dreadspear for 10 additional Black Guard or Executioners. As you get 10 better Units for the same Points when you already have Units of 20!!

 

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