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I am going to try out my light council list tonight and I was hoping to get some CC and a little advice on what to run for core. At the moment I am running to 2 tiny units of spearmen for mage bunkers and some archers to help clear chaff and provide some back up bunkers.

Lords
Archmage
Hand Weapon, Level 4 Wizard
Magic Items
Jewel of the Dusk
School of Magic
Light

Heroes

Mage level 1
Hand weapon
Magic Items
Dispel Scroll
School of Magic
Light

Mage level 1
Hand weapon
School of Magic
Light

Noble
Battle Standard Bearer, Great Weapon, Hand Weapon
Armour of Caledor
Talismans
Dawnstone

Core

Archers
10x Archer, Musician

Archers
10x Archer, Musician

Spearmen
Musician, 24x Spearman, Standard Bearer

Spearmen
Musician, Sentinel, 24x Spearman
Standard Bearer
Standard of Discipline

Special
Sword Masters of Hoeth
Musician, 30x Sword Master
Standard Bearer
Banner of Eternal Flame

White Lions of Chrace
Guardian, Musician, 30x White Lion
Standard Bearer
Banner of Sorcery

Rare

Great Eagle
Great Eagle

So there it is Str6 magic missiles galore, Ld 10 thanks to the Ld bunker and 2 biggish combat units go give it some teeth. My planed playstyle is to backline it and spam magic missiles and force the enemy to come to me or advance around turn 3 once ive taken off all my enemies toys.

I think that its too many points on the magic phase, but I could see it working. Good luck!

If you're going to play that magic missile game, I think you'd be better playing it Teclis style. I don't mean use Teclis (though it wouldn't be a bad option, if you don't mind losing friends and\or the comp allows it). In any case, keep doing what you're doing, except give the Archmage the Book of Hoeth, give your second lvl 1 Mage an Annulian Crystal (added with Teclis, that's an automatic 2 more dispel dice every enemy magic phase, just saying).

From there, since it seems you're playing defensive, make two massive bunkers. I'd say 50 White lions in a horde up front, give them a Banner of Sorcery (d3 more power dice in a magic phase with 3 mages\archmages? yes please). For a bunker, massive horde of spearmen, I'd say 50-60 strong. Mages go there, in the spearmen, behind the White Lions, with the BSB (side note, does he have enough points to take a dawnstone, talisman, AND AoC? I don't think he does).

Fill in with Archers in core as needed, but I think you'd be better off with more spearmen in the bunker. From that point, I'd grab 2 more eagles for a total of 4 (redirecting and warmachine killing powerhouse that is), park your bunker in a corner with the White Lions guarding your front to annihilate any would-be chargers, and have at with your mages dishing out plenty of Str 6 magic missile goodness. Coupled with your very strong anti-magic enemy magic phases (+5 to dispell, dispel scroll, and stealing a power dice...not great odds for your opponent actually).

The only thing I really see is not having Pheonix Guard to tar pit and let the glass cannons of Swordmasters do their thing. You have way too much invested in magic and could probably get away with removing both the lvl 1's and putting in a small regiment and get better results.

Aipoch wrote:
If you're going to play that magic missile game, I think you'd be better playing it Teclis style. I don't mean use Teclis (though it wouldn't be a bad option, if you don't mind losing friends and\or the comp allows it). In any case, keep doing what you're doing, except give the Archmage the Book of Hoeth, give your second lvl 1 Mage an Annulian Crystal (added with Teclis, that's an automatic 2 more dispel dice every enemy magic phase, just saying).

From there, since it seems you're playing defensive, make two massive bunkers. I'd say 50 White lions in a horde up front, give them a Banner of Sorcery (d3 more power dice in a magic phase with 3 mages\archmages? yes please). For a bunker, massive horde of spearmen, I'd say 50-60 strong. Mages go there, in the spearmen, behind the White Lions, with the BSB (side note, does he have enough points to take a dawnstone, talisman, AND AoC? I don't think he does).

Fill in with Archers in core as needed, but I think you'd be better off with more spearmen in the bunker. From that point, I'd grab 2 more eagles for a total of 4 (redirecting and warmachine killing powerhouse that is), park your bunker in a corner with the White Lions guarding your front to annihilate any would-be chargers, and have at with your mages dishing out plenty of Str 6 magic missile goodness. Coupled with your very strong anti-magic enemy magic phases (+5 to dispell, dispel scroll, and stealing a power dice...not great odds for your opponent actually).

Its only 2500 points. My main reason for using the little units of spearmen is so I can deploy my mages in them and use them like little turrets if I put them all in one big unit I end up having to showing my flank If I want to blast something off the flanks. And I tend to not bring Teclis or The Book unless my opponents have given me the ok. Same for putting more then 500 points into a unit as I tend to play under west coast comp. I agree about the eagles but I only have 2 painted models atm. If the little units of spearmen dont work I will go back to running big blocks like you suggest.

You have nowhere near enough focus on magic for a true Coven of Light approach. If you want to go this route you need at least 4 Light mages to get Banishment up to Strength 7. I would recommend a lvl4, lvl2, lvl1 and a BSB with the Radiant Gem. You should also take the Seerstaff on the lvl2 so you get Banishment twice - it's literally the only reason the Coven works so you need to take advantage of it.

I don't really like SMs much myself. WLs are so much better. I don't think you'll get much mileage out of that unit. I would recommend putting the points into something else - possibly ranged or into buffing the hero level mages. Maybe take a scroll and the crystal for really good magical defence.

With respect to the other guys who've posted here, I'm not sure any of them actually play High Elves or the Coven of Light. I would recommend checking out Ulthuan.net and in particular Brewmasters blog.
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=35454

As an example, something like this might classify as a true 'Coven' list:

Archmage [Light] + Crystal, Loremasters Cloak
Lvl.2 Mage [Light] + Seerstaff
Lvl.1 Mage [Light] + Ring Corin, Am.Light
Lvl.1 Mage [Light] + Scroll, Other Shard
Noble BSB + GW, Dragon Armour, BoSorcery

26 Spearmen + CMS, SoDiscipline
3 x 10 Archers + M

2 x 27 WLs + M
2 x Great Eagle

 John Rainbow wrote:
You have nowhere near enough focus on magic for a true Coven of Light approach. If you want to go this route you need at least 4 Light mages to get Banishment up to Strength 7. I would recommend a lvl4, lvl2, lvl1 and a BSB with the Radiant Gem. You should also take the Seerstaff on the lvl2 so you get Banishment twice - it's literally the only reason the Coven works so you need to take advantage of it.

I don't really like SMs much myself. WLs are so much better. I don't think you'll get much mileage out of that unit. I would recommend putting the points into something else - possibly ranged or into buffing the hero level mages. Maybe take a scroll and the crystal for really good magical defence.

With respect to the other guys who've posted here, I'm not sure any of them actually play High Elves or the Coven of Light. I would recommend checking out Ulthuan.net and in particular Brewmasters blog.
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=35454

As an example, something like this might classify as a true 'Coven' list:

Archmage [Light] + Crystal, Loremasters Cloak
Lvl.2 Mage [Light] + Seerstaff
Lvl.1 Mage [Light] + Ring Corin, Am.Light
Lvl.1 Mage [Light] + Scroll, Other Shard
Noble BSB + GW, Dragon Armour, BoSorcery

26 Spearmen + CMS, SoDiscipline
3 x 10 Archers + M

2 x 27 WLs + M
2 x Great Eagle

Ok this is some advice I can use I had no idea the seer staf would let me get Banishment twice so thanks for that. I do tend to avoid http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=35454 because like all race specific forums some of the advice I see there is pants on head stupid. Is there a reason why the BoS is on the bsb and not in the unit of WLs? Now I need to go paint yet another mage

Ulthuan.net is all right for high elf tactics. They've been around for long enough that they're advise is sound (for the most part... i mean, it is the internet and all) and they're not as rule-lawyerish (and frankly annoying) as the house of portent.net.

I'm with you on the Banner of Sorcery on a BSB. Its kinda a waste on a 2 wound model that is the only thing that can get the banner of the world dragon. Banner of sorcery is probably one of the best banners for white lions as they need nothing to kill/stay in a fight. I wouldn't change that in your initial list.

My bad, the reason that banner is on the BSB in that list is that it was designed to be used in a competition where there was a 450pt cap on units. Putting the BoS on the BSB allowed the WL units to get the max. number of bodies in them. If you're not worried about this I would go with the Radiant Gem on the BSB. Just FYI, that list was run by a guy called Travis from the USA ETC team when I played against him at a tournament - I thought I should credit him for putting it together and not claim it as my own.

I really do think you should take a look on Ulthuan - at the very least take a look at the blog I linked to. Brewmaster D has a fantastic army blog going and has done a lot of the 'ground work' in terms of trying out different combinations for the Coven list. I have gotten a huge amount out of the forum and have to disagree with your comment about underpants! I think you could get quite a lot of useful stuff out of his playtesting and BatReps too.

As for the Seerstaff, the rules allow you to double up on spells as long as they aren't selected randomly. The Seerstaff lets you pick spells so you can get Banishment with it and then get it again when you roll randomly for the other mages. Like I said, this is why the Coven works. Potentially 4d6 of Str.7 wounds with rerolls on ward saves can nuke pretty much anything. Just remember that the coven has to stay within 12" of the Banishment casters.