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So this thread keeps popping up, I thought I'd try to write up something to help you getting started with Nicodem. At this point you have probably bought the Open Graves boxset. So you have Nicodem, Mortimer, 3x Punk Zombies and the Vulture. Let's start with that assumption. Good buy, Nicodem is absolutely the boss and you are within the righteous faction of Malifaux, good for you. Nicodem is a toolbox to no end. What you need you get. Nicodem can be played in different ways, the most obvious being the Summoner he is. Do remember though, that you have the option to summon, it's not mandatory for you to summon all the time. Giving out Fast is a superb ability. To heal your models is also amazing. Slow your enemies? That is golden. He recycles cards like no one's business. Gives out to attack, defense and to damage (with an upgrade). So simply put: he's the King for a reason. You are probably wondering where to go next? What to get for him? Well let's start breaking that apart. You might want a big beatstick? That you can support, give flips to, make it even better than it is. Very solid options are: Beatsticks: Izamu (my personal favourite). Very solid Enforcer and a good carrier for Decaying Aura in a Nicodem list. Give him fast and he goes up to 4 attacks a turn with to attack and to damage built in with ml6 that are unpreventable, that will make some seriously dead models. Rogue Necromancy. Has already built in to attack and damage. Nicodem can give even more of those for him. Also Fast for this monstrosity is quite terrifying. Also Nicodem can heal him to keep him with his Three Headed rule so he keeps on getting those flips. The Valedictorian. Our beatstick henchwoman. Sold in the University of Transmortiis boxset, which is a very solid buy for Nicodem because then you can choose to summon the exact weapon you need as all the students are tailored to counter Constructs, Living or Undead threats, so you can wait to see what your opponent brings to the table and then summon a counter, beautiful. Valedictorian hits hard, is very durable, fast on it's own. Just make it worse for your opponent by giving her Fast and keep her even longer on the table with the healing. Everybody loves flips too. These are 3 solid options for a beatstick role. You want and can afford to bring one from the get go. Remember Decaying Aura to make things worse for your opponent. Support: Then the Support models. Nicodem can afford to bring more of these than others, so let's start with a few options on this department. Nurses. I rate these models as one of the best models in the game and my Nicodem always has one. Two? Some people use two, I never use more than one. What they do is make your beaters even worse than they are with +2 to damage, they can paralyze enemies from leaders to peons, everything with a very solid ca6. They also make everyone a scheme runner when in need. Or make your opponents on :-fate on all duels. Just solid gold for 5ss. (Sold separately but they also come in the McMourning boxset, a very good buy as you get a Flesh Construct, two of these, a Canine Remains and Sebastian. Plus one of the most fun masters in the game, McMourning.) Chiaki. Removes conditions, heals, pushes enemies, is durable. Synergizes very well with Nurses as you can Full Heal and Paralyze your own models. Say Nicodem or Izamu is at very low wounds. You full heal it with a Nurse and paralyze it. Then you take Chiaki and remove that Paralyze. Voila. Full wounds. (Sold in the Yan Lo boxset. You also get Ashigarus which are good minions.) Rotten Belles. Depending on schemes and points you have to spare these are solid gold. They cost 5ss so you can hire one from the get go or summon it in game if you see fit. You should get these though, they are another model that is among the very best in the game. (Sold separately but you find these in the Seamus boxset, where you get 3 of these, Sybelle who is a very very good Henchwoman too, as well as Seamus who is one of the most fun masters again in the game). Henchmen: Well you get Mortimer with Nico and he is just solid gold, one of the best movement tricks in the game for you whole crew basically with right positioning! Chatty to prevent and disrupt enemy schemes and Corpses to fuel the Summoning engine. Corpse bloat is a great upgrade for him to get even more out of him. Sybelle is a cheap and a very solid Henchwoman. She has amazing triggers with her upgrade and she becomes even worse with Fast which Nicodem as mentioned gives out like Candy. (sold in the Seamus box set) Toshiro for even more Fast, flips and support for minions. He is quite durable too, he hits quite hard and brings even more support. A solid consideration. (sold separately) Summonable minions: Now we get to where Nicodem shines. He just brings a solid list to the game from the get go and from there he builds it even better. Good go to minions that you will most likely like to summon is: Hanged. Seriously these are absolute monsters on their own, with Fast even worse for your opponent. You won't be making friends with these bad boys but you will be wrecking face. I wouldn't ever hire these with Nicodem, ever, they cost 9ss and you can summon them very easily, solid buy. (sold separately) Punk Zombies. I wouldn't hire these either. They cost 7ss which is a lot and they are quite easy for Nicodem to summon. Also they have Hard to Kill so they won't suffer from low wounds all that much. Solid solid summons. They hit hard as well. The Students. I mentioned these already but they are very solid to counter what you see on the other side of the table. Very good. I wouldn't hire them again either, because you never know what you will be facing and they are quite easy summons again. (Sold in University of Transmortiis) Mindless Zombies. These guys will be doing a lot card cycling and activation control. You take Maniacal Laugh and Undertaker upgrade, laugh up the corpses to Zombies and then start summoning out of those Zombies, so while you summon you also draw cards. Yeah. (sold separately in a 5 box.) Flesh Constructs. They have a ton of wounds, they hit quite okay but the best thing here is Devour. Which synergizes very well with Nurses Paralyze trick as they can insta kill models with Paralyze with a Ca6 and a (sold separately, but recommend getting the McMourning boxset) Rotten Belles. Board control. Get the enemy where you want and dispose of it. Just solid minions really. I can't speak highly enough of these. (sold in a 3 pack, recommend getting the Seamus box though) Scheme runners: Now we get to one more section I'd like bring out. You can bring these from the get go if you feel like it or summon them in game. Another good thing with Nicodem. Do note that the runners you summon can not interact the turn they are summoned in. Summoning sickness and all that. Canine remains. These are solid little critters with Nicodem. They can dig up corpses, do schemes, harass the enemy and when they die, you summon something even more worse out of them. Just very solid. (sold in a 3 pack) Necropunks. These are amazing. Among the very best of scheme runners in the game. With leap and 2 AP naturally that go to 3 AP with Nicodem giving them Fast. Well they do schemes like no one's business. (sold in a 3 pack, not available in plastic atm) Crooligans. Very good scheme runners too. (Sold in a 3 pack as well as the Molly boxset, good consideration to get the boxset again) Totems: Here we have 3 options really. Vulture. Nicodem's own little totem who is very solid indeed. I don't use it that much myself actually. But he is solid. Also a fun trick is to use the Vulture as a mobile pod for Undead Crowning to have the to damage where you need it. The Eyes and Ears that the Vulture has is a really potent and cool ability. Also for fun you can use the Vulture to carry around Mindless Zombies and drop them to enemies. Graveyard Spirit. This little bugger is very good with Izamu giving it armor 4. Armor 4 is no joke on a model such as Izamu. Haven't tried this one yet with other beatsticks but I've seen it used with a Rogue Necro and it was pretty annoying to face. (sold separately) Malifaux Child. Even more Fast for your models. (sold separately) There we have it a start of a Nicodem crew what you might want to consider and get. I will be updating this a long the way and I'd appreciate feedback and thoughts how to better this. Nicodem might be a bit expensive to start with as he likes to have a lot of models. But he is an absolute blast and well worth the money and time you put into him. You can always PM me for more info and if you want to talk tactics or ask questions or post them here. Cheers for reading, it was a long read but I hope it helped a bit with your struggle!