Nicodem - May The Man Survive!

[Clyde_Davis]

So, I've played 4 games with Nicodem and in two of those games Nico has been cut down. Now, in those two games the deployment was Flank. I think, to a large extent the deployment had played a huge part in making him vulnerable with such close deployment to the opponent. In the first instance a flying Coppelius engaged Nico and slowly beat him down and the second instance was a manifested Seamus talking a Back Alley Action to get right up to Nico very quickly.

Both my opponents were experienced players that recognize the importance of taking out Nicodem quickly to undermine his crew for the rest of the game. From both these games I'm now seeing Reaper Grin's Zombie Fodder as the easiest way of protecting Nico from future onslaughts. However, at the same time it costs an upgrade slot in which I've been playing Avatar upgrade (auto-take), Love Thy Master and Necrotic King.

Do any Nico players have some suggestions to protect the ol' man?

[Yosh]

Graveyard Spirit for +2 armor, a Nurse for a desperate healing (which you can paralyze the attacker too...)

 

Or just simply: leave an unactivated Punk Zombie next to him for retaliation.

[TheLostOne]

I've been taking a carrion effigy with nico mostly to counteract the damage he takes from corpse bloat because I've found dogs to be so unreliable for corpse markers, but back on point, it can be a decent heal that only requires you drop a card and something else gets to activate when its done doing its thing

[Ratty]

It's a huge deployment agreed, but my suggestion is if you win set up ask the enemy to chose corner and set up first.. That way you can see where they set up their big hitters and make sure Nicodem is not too near them.

[Clement]

I've been taking a carrion effigy with nico mostly to counteract the damage he takes from corpse bloat because I've found dogs to be so unreliable for corpse markers, but back on point, it can be a decent heal that only requires you drop a card and something else gets to activate when its done doing its thing

Do you find carrion effigy's corpse eating to be better then Nico's built in corpse eating? I always liked the card draw aspect of it.

[EnternalVoid]

Do you find carrion effigy's corpse eating to be better then Nico's built in corpse eating? I always liked the card draw aspect of it.

 

Well with the Carrion you can also discard a card rather than a corpse marker for the healing, so it can be a different resource you are paying for the wounds back.

[MasterDisaster]

It's a huge deployment agreed, but my suggestion is if you win set up ask the enemy to chose corner and set up first.. That way you can see where they set up their big hitters and make sure Nicodem is not too near them.

 

I do this every time I win the deployment flip. I make my opponent deploy first so I can deploy my crew in an attempt to manage their crew more effectively. If I see a big ass beat stick on the left flank, I'll deploy something to try and counter it in an advantageous position when I get to deploy. I've seen Nico melt on a number of occasions when he gets into combat so this is always a good idea so you can position him with a wall of undead meat shields nearby to keep him safe. 

[DeleteAccount]

Also, never forget about the chime of sorrow action, that has bought me a couple of extra turns in a lot of games. Nico is surprisingly hard to take down, just make it a bit of a bad plan to get into a slugfest in his death circle and should keep most big targets honest. Also, if you are really scared of it, the Nurse/Chiaki combo lets you heal without paralysis which is huge for a 14 wd model and thanks to the accomplice on the nurse, can be done easily. It does have a hefty price tag, but is probably worth it.

[hrnyjackal]

Anyone thought of taking Chiaki with a nurse, full heal and paralyze then accoplise and remove condition?

[HtUnliving]

Also, the Nurse could give another +2 armour on top of Grave Spirit.

Chiaki is an interesting choice for Condition removal, she could also remove Downers, I think. 

 

Nico can be hard to kill (no pun intended), but when something melee oriented comes to town (in my case 4 Sisters), he is toast. Zombie Fodder is a lifesaver (this time pun totally intended), and Clyde, I'd take it before Crowning if Nico needs to be kept alive. Especially w Avatar Fodder is awesome.

[Mxbedlam]

I second grave spirit. I use him over the Vulture all the time with NIcodem. The other model that does good, "haunting" Nico is a Hanged. Anytime you keep a Hanged around people are cautious

[Fireuser]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but Love they Master is really not needed, but if you like it, Mortimer could carry it instead, freeing up the slot for you.

 

I usually just run Shadow Embrace when I play him, mostly for the empty vessel.

[Clyde_Davis]

Thanks guys for all the feedback! There's some really great ideas/combos mentioned that I can't wait to try out!

[Sklertic]

You got to remember, that you dont have to deploy as close to the enemy team as possible. Deploying inside your own zone instead of the edge of it can mean that coppelius is a few inches shy of murdering the life out of Nicodem.

[vonevilstein]

My Nicodem playing friend uses a wall of Flesh Contructs in choke points to cut down access to Nicodem and then counters with Punk zombies. It's very effective on tables with the recommended amount of scenery as those Flesh Constructs are just everliving tarpits. You need to be careful of crews with push shenanigans though - they'll just move the roadblock!

[Wake of Godzilla]

As a counter point to crew construction I would recommend looking into what VONEVILSTEIN has suggested.

 

Nicodem is a lot like the quarterback in American Football - he needs to be near the action but not in the action. He should always have minions providing a buffer between him and the enemy. Even if they are weak minions they let him keep away from direct hits. 

 

Also think about what you want him to do and when - Nicodem is arguably the best summoner in the game but he can also do other things such as slowing down or speeding up your minions at the right time. Finally his attack while it doesn't do a lot of damage can be supplemented with corpse counters to be a very high CA. This can be great to just finish of the enemy minion and doesn't come with a ranged icon so can be targeted into combat.

 

Finally I find by turn 3/4 I'm out of stones/cards for summoning so it can become worth "giving up" Nicodem so that your opponent wastes AP killing him rather than focusing in on what will get you your VP.

[MasterDisaster]

Nicodem is a lot like the quarterback in American Football - he needs to be near the action but not in the action. He should always have minions providing a buffer between him and the enemy. Even if they are weak minions they let him keep away from direct hits. 

 

Tell me about it! I decided to try a few different upgrades on Nico the other night. On the same turn I managed to raise something like 15 Mindless Zombies using Muahaha I'd used up all my good cards and sent Nico perilously close to the carnage to maximize my Muahahaha's effect. At the end of the turn my friend re-activated his Flesh Construct after Paralyzing Nico and then Devoured him! 14 Wounds gone in an instant... I was not amused! Still... I had a tonne of Zombies to play with 

 

I wont make that mistake again!

[Falconrider]

I just purchased Nicodem and plan to try him out with Toshiro for extra summoning and his    aura and Chiaki to boost his Ca.  Anyone else tried it.

If Nico is the QB Toshiro will be my Fullback.

[Wake of Godzilla]

I've looked at it but I think it might be a little redundant- you would just run out of cards/stones very quickly and the multiple positive flips I think will only turn you deck over quickly. I would run Nicodem with the Undertaker upgrade and Mwahahahaha! for card draw

 

But that's just my theoryfaux so I would like to know how it goes.  

[MasterDisaster]

 I would run Nicodem with the Undertaker upgrade and Mwahahahaha! for card draw

 

But that's just my theoryfaux so I would like to know how it goes.  

 

I basically consider this combo with Nico almost mandatory, at least for my play style. Having come from a competitive Yu-Gi-Oh background the ability to mill the deck for good cards and replenish the hand for strong cards is something I value very highly. Nico has been very card intensive in the games I've used him so having Undertaker and Maniacal Laugh make his life infinitely more easy. I then often take Reaper Grin to add survivability or something else like Necrotic King or Love Thy Master if I want to take a different direction. 

 

On top of this I will rarely take his crew into an encounter without a minimum of 6ss. He needs every one he can get his hands on for the suits on summons or straight up survival should he get jumped some a big nasty beat stick. This usually makes him tough as nails and having the defensive trigger from Reaper Grin has more than once annoyed my opponent. 

 

"Haha! Red Joker Damage Flip on Nico!! Suck it!" is usually how my opponents turn goes followed by....

 

"Defensive Trigger, Sacrifice Undead, 0 Damage taken.... Who's sucking what now?!"