Is anyone using Nekima?

[The Godlyness]

I think she is the best outflanker objective crushing model never have.

Reasons.

I give her fears given form. So that means I don't want her near me. So she is regulated into a corner. If I deploy first you won't see them putting fast objective runners in front of her. If I deploy second I put her in front of those objective runners. And then everything meets in the middle. They either have to deal with my crew or her pushing towards the center. And you can fake people out if entourage or bodyguard is in the pool cause now they have to decide to split their crew or go full force at her and then you crew gets to move on up doing objectives.

So fears given form and pact cause well flipping black on my 15ss model makes anyone a sad panda.

Also treat her like a bully. (Well cause she is) and pick on things she can kill in two swings. Not saying do go after other beaters but if they hit back df 5 just doesn't help her out to much.

Also her 0 actions are golden. Wp 14 horror duels in a cluster of models will burn a hand quick or paralyze things. And free points of damage from black blood is nice (free as in they can't resist)

[asrian]

You say that Godlyness (Black blood = free damage) but I found out the hard way on my last two opponents (Von Schill crew, then an Ironsides Crew with Joss and Ironsides receiving buffs from the mages) that there are some evils that can resist.

[Sybaris]

I just took her in a hardcore match. She wasn't the leader: Widow Weaver was (so that I could deny Assassinate VP to my opponent, and start with more stones). She was the star of the show. Absolutely effective.

 

Does this actually work? I sadly don't have my books/cards here, but i thought the weaver was 8ss (which would mean 21ss total with nekima).

[decker_cky]

Weaver is the leader, so you don't pay for her.

[Sybaris]

Wow, for some reason i didn't think that applied to hardcore mode. Thanks!

[Myth]

The Godlyness, on 16 Sept 2014 - 7:52 PM, said:

I think she is the best outflanker objective crushing model never have.

 

Yeah, this is generally where I've had the most success with her. Having her take part in the front lines of battle will get her killed off awfully quick. If she plays more cautiously, operating more as a counter-charge unit, she often will spend a few turns wasting her good mobility, and while she'll do some damage when she hits, she still tends to get focused on and brought down quickly once in the thick of things.

 

But, especially with schemes/strategies where the enemy is committing only a small force to one side of the other, she really shines. Quickly advancing along the flanks, often out of sight of the main enemy threats, she can very swiftly reach isolated targets and take them out with minimal risk - while also working on schemes herself. And once she is hunting vulnerable models in the back ranks of the enemy, they have to either send stronger models back to deal with her - weakening their board position - or just let her run rampant until she rolls into the main fight to mop things up on the last turn or two of the game.

 

Now, she's still quite expensive - is it worth those 13 points to fill that role? Does her absence weaken the rest of your crew enough that they will be at a disadvantage? That can depend on what Master is being used and what force you are up against. But, similar to how I play Lilith, I like the idea of using her more as an assassin who goes after targets of opportunity, rather than a brute that mixes it up in the main fighting directly.

[Hateful Darkblack]

Does this actually work? I sadly don't have my books/cards here, but i thought the weaver was 8ss (which would mean 21ss total with nekima).

 

It worked really nicely! I made a mistake and failed to have Nekima kill the Weaver when she was getting close, so my opponent got Assassinate VP.

 

There are a few different variants of hardcore I've seen people use:

Sometimes you can hire up to 4 models, sometimes 4 models are max.

Sometimes you're allowed extra soulstones, sometimes you have to spend all 20 and extra go to waste (so your cache is just your pool)

Sometimes Summoning is allowed, usually it isn't.

Sometimes there's a 20 minute limit, sometimes it's 30 minutes, sometimes there's none.

 

Nekima is nice with hardcore because she can put out so much damage, she's durable, and she's very mobile. Going in with 0 cache is a big weakness. Needing three other models is a drawback if it's exactly 4 models.

 

Having another Henchman hire Nekima gives some big advantages: more cache, and Nekima can Birthright to deny or at least delay Assassinate. The drawback is that you only have 7 soulstones left for two models. Which means basically you're hiring an Alp and either a Wicked Doll or a Terror Tot.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Its actually because of Nekima that the variants of Hardcore I've seen say you must have 4 models exactly, and can't bring extra stones into the game.

[Justin]

Couldn't that also be avoided by saying the Crew must have exactly one henchman and it must be the leader? Also strikes me as rather thematic. (For hardcore I mean).

[Hateful Darkblack]

Justin, that would probably help! I've seen a lot of strong hardcore Crews built on multiple Henchmen.

[hypoking]

That cuts out a lot of fun henchman tag-teams.

[The Godlyness]

I personally believe that can only use your cache in hardcore is quite dumb indeed. Mainly cause it singles out nekima and makes her sad. She does like her stones. Course my list of kill joy 2 alps and nekima might seem unfair or something also. (Hint cache of zero when I give her fears given form.) Down side ofc is that if you kill nekima or killjoy can't score on turf war lol.

All. The. Funseys.

[Kadeton]

Nekima with no stones seems like a very easy target in Hardcore. At only Df 5 and with no other defensive abilities, 12 Wds don't go very far.

[Mastershake]

You know in hardcore you could totally take Hungering Darkness as your leader, then add Nekima a Tot and a Primordial Magic and get two really serious Henchmen with five stones and a random 1pt upgrade.

[Omenbringer]

I think it would be very difficult to balance this format any way you try to restrict it. The models were intended to be balanced at 50 SS higher or lower and the balance quickly skews.

[rancor709]

Hardcore is not a balanced format it is a fun format that is built around speed play and crazy bits. Personally its a format I enjoy I would do a few tweaks to it that I think forces a more balanced approach to it and levels out the format. But its a fun format not so much a competitive format.

[Sybaris]

Heh, agreed i don't think 20ss can be balanced from a competitive point of view. It's a good way to learn the game though, and have a Malifaux fix when you don't have time for a normal game.

 

Nekima with no soulstones is relatively easy to fend off in my opinion, in fact even in 50ss games you have to keep a part of your cache for her defense and to induce some reliability in her critically important attacks (she has no   anywhere). If prevented from keeping ss for cache, this also means you (as the player) have absolutely no way to affect the random flow of the game (initiative flips, control card drawing), it's too big of a tactical cost imho, and that has nothing to do with the 13 value of henchmen.

 

It's probably cool for 3-5 cache henchmen, but for a 0 one...  Again Nekima proves to be at the extreme end of balancing efforts.

 

Using birthright on a henchmen leader may be the only use of the trigger i could foresee, actually. I never could manage to see a point in killing one's master at all (we know that's intended in design, sadly), but...Melee master+4 healed wounds may be worth it on some occasion on a henchmen, and so cool to watch. As a side note the additional melee AP gained takes a while to pay off, as you need to use some to kill the leader first.

[The Godlyness]

Df5 12 wounds goes a lot farther when she heals from a zero and heals one when activating. And remember killjoy puts out the same hurt. So they can't burn though both before something is dead. And everyone forgets that alps make things slow with their attacks. Or just by being around lol.

But as a whole nekima wants to beat on things she can kill in one go. She dislikes retaliatory action. But loves killing minions and enforcers.

[asrian]

I used her, Killjoy, and Mctavish to good effect recently in a few Lilith Reckoning crews. Slap Fears Given Form on her, run her into 3" of multiple enemies, the use the Cherub's Hazardous Terraing ability on her makes it painful for an opponent to activate.

[StuffedKiwi]

Like others, I've used Nekima mostly with Lilith, though also some with Pandora. I've found it tough to get the balance right between being cautious with her enough (yes, Izamu can kill her in a single activation if you let him charge), and reckless enough (13 points is a lot to leave hiding behind a wall just because there's a Dawn Serpent 15 and 1/4 inches away), but she has been devastating, too. In grow lists, especially for Reconnaissance strategy, where you will often expect to see lots of not-so-tough minions, she is awesome; for Reckoning, often fabulous. As others have said, for Turf War not so great since she's way better at hitting other things than she is at surviving being hit.

She suits specific schemes well, too: Make Them Suffer, obviously, and Assassinate, come to mind. I often find that my opponent targets her with Distract, which is always annoying, since once she's in combat (a) I really want her to hit things, rather than not, and ( with a 3 inch melee range it can be hard to get her out of engagement to be able to un-distract, even if you want to.

With Pandora, her (0) action to make enemies take terror tests when she kills something can be brutal. Especially for Reckoning, I find her great with Pandora since it can sometimes be hard for Pandora to kill exactly 2 models in a turn -- death by a thousand cuts tends to take more time to kill the enemy, and then it kills then in bunches.

Even when it seems she's not really doing much, she presents an enormous threat to your opponent, and that can be hugely productive, drawing attention away from whatever else it is you're doing -- like, scoring VP with your Tots/Doppleganger/Primordial Magic.

I have used Fears Given Form on her some, but find it much more effective on other models like Candy and Pandora. Mostly, I don't want anything to be activating next to Nekima: she should be killing anything she ends her turn next to. I guess Fears Given Form might be thought of as a kind of defensive bonus, then, something that helps her survive those situations, but I've found that I'd rather save the SS for damage prevention. If you're planning on getting close to a number of minions without killing them, then Bad Juju or Barbaros are probably better options for that role.

All in all, I've found her very effective, in the appropriate situations.

[Danishdwarf]

I have a question about bad juju and Nekima. would Nekimas birthright work if she "killed" bad juju and he just burried?

[Fetid Strumpet]

Read Bad Juju's ability. If it's like Bete's then when the ability kicks in the ability specifically says the model is not killed but buried. Thus Birthright, which triggers on actually killing the model, wouldn't work.

[Eclipse]

Oh no, some of you guys are doing it wrong! Lilith is too obvious of a master for Nekima. Instead, take her as a heavy hitter+flanker with another master. Just like other Neverborn bruisers she is costly, hitty and rather easily killed. This is why you want to keep her away from the rest of the crew, flanking and getting easy kills, engaging models, pulling the opponent's attention towards her. I have slotted her successfully in Lynch and Lucius and she is marvelous! I always take The True Mother upgrade (because, seriously, she is the real mother, I mean look at her hips  ) and Grow on her, making her a one-model wrecking ball + growth machine. For MORE flanking and growing, take two terror tots with her - although this is costly at 24 SS it gives you a lot to work with. With the Dashel/Riflemen pack I have ranged cover fire with fast moving flankers that can also grow in power. With Lynch you can be more flexible and choose units that will surprise your opponent. I love the looks of ridicule when I get out three sorrows on the table which quickly turns into horror and *cough cough* misery  Do be careful though, like other Neverborn beaters she can go down easily if you leave her exposed. We have a running gag in our playgroup, "A Teddy last for a turn-time"  Use Nekima's movement well, engage on your own terms. Make it costly for the opponent to attack her. This way they have to decide whether to let her kill and grow her children or go after your other units that are doing their thing and probably winning you the game.

[D_acolyte]

I often take Nekima with Dreamer and use the dreamer healing aura to keep her alive. I once tried to warn a 10 thunder about Nekima and Teddy but they would not listen as I steamed rolled up there center with more speed and killing power then they thought.  Nekima killed probably 4-5 models that game and Teddy got the other 3 vs a shooty Shenlong. I do not know why when i do a quick explanation of my crew for those that have not seen it they just brush it off.

I like use the tank equation with Nekima, 1 tank has the durability and fire power of 1 tank but two tank have durability and fire power of 3 tanks. Yes it is a little strange if you think about it but it actually works most of the time.

I have also thought about running Nekima with Pandora and had some great fun with her and Lucius making use of Lucius "teleport" action. Yes, I can not recall what it is called but it is great fun to place a scheme and then have the two of them switch places.

[Eclipse]

 I have also thought about running Nekima with Pandora and had some great fun with her and Lucius making use of Lucius "teleport" action. Yes, I can not recall what it is called but it is great fun to place a scheme and then have the two of them switch places.

"What Lackeys Are For"