Just a thought, the dogs are out front and possibly 6" away if they go to max range. They have Df 5 and only Wd 3. They arent all that hard to kill. If you are having problems with them getting and passing tokens to Nico, just shoot them or spell one or two..you have now cut down his effectiveness at gathering parts.
Ramos has those wonderful spider bombs, send a few on mission to kill the dogs and then you can make more later. They have the same speed, one lower Df and 6 more Wd. Nico player would be able to get one turn of searching before you hit his dogs.