Tips for an Iron Lich in Training

So, actually looking at lists

15pts
Aggy
Death ripper
Slayer
Reaper
Machine wraith
Min raiders
-ua

Machine wraith to walk up, grab a jack and walk him back to the reaper, make sure the jacks back arc is to the reaper

25pts
Min to max raiders
Add siren

yep, i was thinking of witches. 

thanks for the correction.

You can play them for sure but they aren't as good as the previous edition. If he wants to play Banes, show him Dark Host (I don't know if the builds have settled out but it would likely benefit from a wraith engine). Infernal Machines is workable for mechanithrall / carrion thrall horde, but probably wouldn't be used outside the theme so I can't recommend buying a ton of mechanithrall units for it.

In terms of ''jacks, Stalkers are awesome. An Inflictor can be pretty great too.

Jacks?

Hmm, as much as i hated it when mk3 dropped, the leviathan is a staple in most of my lists with 2 scavengers.

I usually play gaspy so cankerworm is always included. Even out of caster, hos hit boxes make him hard to remove systems. His defense of 14 is actually a good number.

Batharaum or however you spell it, is great for his pts.

Id honestly stay away from dj and nightmare. At 23 and 18pts, theyre a huge part of the army at low levels.

If he gets a mulitkit, magnitize it.

Banes and Thralls both work well, but not really together, so if he wants to focus on just that aspect, I would recommend playing in theme. If you don't want to go the theme route, you could recycle dead Banes into Thralls I guess, but meh. It will also make the purchases more guided, with more limited options.

Aggy would work better with the Thrall theme though, as Ghostly doesn't benefit Banes at all (they already have it) and her Stealth feat is less useful because Dark Host hands out Prowl. She doesn't help the Thralls hit, but Soulhunters have no problem doing that on their own and the Mechanithralls have a great volume of attacks to make up for their pitiful MAT. Hyper Aggressive should also be pretty funny with her Hellwrought jack.

For Dark Host, a few casters will work well. Skarre 1 is kicking up a storm lately, she can help them hit and even if most of them die, her feat will make sure they still wreck everything in their path. Goreshade 2 and Asphyxious 2 both bring powerful control and recursion elements to the Banes and Terminus always likes a swarm of Undead infantry. Deneghra 1, as usual, will play well with anything.

Both themes can do well with a Wraith Engine (certain builds with 2), but it is an expensive purchase and I wouldn't recommend starting with it.

Skarre 1 and Denny 1 should work well with both themes.

For the expansion lists, perhaps something like this:

[Theme] Infernal Machines
(Agathia 1) Bane Witch Agathia [+29]
- Deathripper [6]
- Reaper [13]
- Slayer [10]
Mechanithralls (max) [9]
- Brute Thrall (3) [6]
-----
- Skarlock Thrall [4]
Machine Wraith [2]
Warwitch Siren [0(4)]
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls [4]

The Brutes can protect Aggy and your fragile jacks by taking some shots, they also hit like a ton of bricks and have a decent enough MAT to actually connect sometimes. You could go with a minimum unit, but as this is just starting out and they are bought as a full box, this will work just fine.
Skarlock can help by casting Ghost Walk to free up focus for Aggy, a Hellfire in a pinch can also help. The Warwitch Siren can help with some focus pressure, but could be swapped for a (free) Pistol Wraith if that tickles his fancy more. Necrosurgeon will help your main unit stay in the fight longer. Machine Wraith is great for messing with your opponent and it's a good filler.

If you ever get stuck in a prolonged combat, try to abuse Ghost Walk to walk into back arcs so you can hit more easily.

Random side note: that spell is single model, not unit like it use to be in mk2.

ive made the mistake the first couple times ive played with it.