It occured to me the other day, whilst comparing similarly priced infantry formaitons that Coven Formations seem a bit overpriced to me:

For an extra 50 you get a guard company; with longer range, better guns (i know statistiaclly a full formation of LatD cultists has the same chances of scoring x hits but those extra 15cm of range go a long way) and a better firefight value (FF is, in my exoperience, ALWAYS used more in epic that CC and thus worth more). They are also likely to get a fearless inspiring leader in the form of a commisar.

ORKS, for the same point value get 10 units, all with the same guns but they get two expendable units in there too, 2 leaders, nobz have a better armour save and, although ork stats are comparable to a beastmen/mutants they don't lack a shooting attack.
Orks are of course limited in the type of move they can more regualrly make.  You could say that LatD are more dependable.

For those 200pts LatD COULD get a leader int he form of a space marine (though it must be said that a demon prince for +50 is a far beeter buy!) but i still feel there's something lacking. Demagogues are a good buy as are icon beaeres but a demagogues power is only useful if you purchase a pact; what if all Covens came with a pact for free? Maybe this would enhance the amount of demons people like to use? One pay's a premium to get them to the battlefield i would say already.

Yes, i AM lpaying LatD at the forthcoming tourney. No, this post isn't based on the fact that i don't think the army are a viable one; i'm looming forward to cutting up titan's with two lords of battle! :-)
Comments and criticism welcome!
R>

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I think the covens are spot on at 200 points.

The covens are far more flexible (as in upgrades/options etc.and styles of use)than their IG and Ork counterparts which to me makes up for any shortcomings on the initial stat comparisons.

The list is a viable tournament list but I think it has to be played as a cultist style list not as a cheap IG style list for it to work best (although I can only use my actual gaming and tournament experiences with them to add validity to my views   )

I´m also ok with Covens @ 200 Pts.

Tactically, I favour shooting over assaulting now since gearing up for assaults makes for pretty expensice formations, engaging on a 3+ or even 4+ with BM and retaining, which fails too often for my tastes, while with formations tooled for shooting, holds means some fire downrange anyway.

Current builds add Hydras, Leman Russes and Hellhounds or Griffons (in that order) to Covens in order to increase their range/firepower (and yes, Griffons, a 1BP 30cm template is better than none, and there is nothing worse than bunched-up IG in good cover)

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