Nicodem Addicts Anonymous

[Whut]

So I basically can't even think of playing something other than Nicodem all the time. I go out of my way to theory Yan Lo lists and McMourning lists, but every time I sit down to play and roll for schemes and strategies I immediately go "Nicodem is my best master for this." Every time.

And it really comes down to 3 things:

1) Versatility. Being able to summon in exactly what you need (such as a student of steel against a construct list or a belle when you need some desperate movement shenanigans) This also adds to your models on the table over time which helps with activation order.

2) Survivability and Recovery. First of all, he himself will rarely if ever go down. With 14 wounds and impossible to wound it basically takes two full heavy beatstick activations to kill him. On top of that he gives almost everyone +flips to defense which if played right during cheating can make you get away with (not being) murder(ed). And add to that his full heal. Positioned Izamu improperly and he took 7 wounds from a dedicated attack? How about getting rid of all that hard work for an 8 card and a corpse token? Full heal anything, while even AoE healing for a little bit.

3) Fast. And this may be the biggest one. Nico is not fast himself, but he gives it out like candy.And that's what makes it amazing. You get fast when you need it, where you need it. This allows for some crazy plays. Fast a necropunk, have it leap over a wall, walk, and deliver a message. Or give a flesh construct fast and uppers from a nurse to deliver him 21" to an annoying choke point for your opponent. Or just tie up that annoying sniper. Give Izamu or the Valedictorian an extra AP to deliver more damage to an enemy's force. The incredibly effective things you can do with fast, especially with interact actions, are impossible without it.

So my question to you is this: when do you NOT take Nicodem? What strats and schemes are unfavorable enough that some one else would do better? Or against what enemy faction would someone else do better?

[MasterDisaster]

1) Versatility. Being able to summon in exactly what you need (such as a student of steel against a construct list or a belle when you need some desperate movement shenanigans) This also adds to your models on the table over time which helps with activation order.

 

I totally agree with this. His versatility is probably second to none. No other Master has such a versatile summoning pool to draw from making them able to react to situations as well as Nicodem. He is King of the Summoners for a damn good reason. This is one of the many reasons I use Nico although I do play a lot of Masters. 

 

2) Survivability and Recovery. First of all, he himself will rarely if ever go down. With 14 wounds and impossible to wound it basically takes two full heavy beatstick activations to kill him. On top of that he gives almost everyone +flips to defense which if played right during cheating can make you get away with (not being) murder(ed). And add to that his full heal. Positioned Izamu improperly and he took 7 wounds from a dedicated attack? How about getting rid of all that hard work for an 8 card and a corpse token? Full heal anything, while even AoE healing for a little bit.

 

Nico is actually surprisingly vulnerable. With some dedicated ass kicking he WILL go down. I've had him paralyzed and devoured in one turn before whilst at full wounds making impossible to wound useless. His ability to recoup his losses and heal his crew is just awesome though. He is definitely a support master first and a summoner second. His Df Trigger can also be incredibly useful to negate damage if he takes the relevant upgrade. 

 

 

3) Fast. And this may be the biggest one. Nico is not fast himself, but he gives it out like candy.And that's what makes it amazing. You get fast when you need it, where you need it. This allows for some crazy plays. Fast a necropunk, have it leap over a wall, walk, and deliver a message. Or give a flesh construct fast and uppers from a nurse to deliver him 21" to an annoying choke point for your opponent. Or just tie up that annoying sniper. Give Izamu or the Valedictorian an extra AP to deliver more damage to an enemy's force. The incredibly effective things you can do with fast, especially with interact actions, are impossible without it.

 

Fast is great sure and he does dish it out by the bucket load but never forget the versatility of also handing out Slow with the same action. Sometimes denying your opponent AP can be more crippling than increasing your own AP. Throw Toshiro into the mix with War Fan and Daimyo's price and Nico's fast shenanigans just become crazy. 

 

 

So my question to you is this: when do you NOT take Nicodem? What strats and schemes are unfavorable enough that some one else would do better? Or against what enemy faction would someone else do better?

 

When you absolutely HAVE to blow away an entire enemy crew with the poison bomb.   Really it's the only reason I can think to not take Nico ever. (zFiend know's all about this urge and I'm sure he'll rear his filth mongering head at some point during this discussion)

 

Reckoning can also be somewhat problematic for Nico if your not careful, he is really the only way in the crew to effectively heal serious damage without the penalty of also being paralyzed. Summoning lots of weaker minions can seriously hurt in Reckoning and often you may not have the cards required to bring out the heavy hitters like Punks or Iron Zombies when you want. 

 

I've also struggled against Masters with superior mobility. The Viks for example can REALLY lay down the law against Nico. He tends to have his little death party surrounding him to benefit from his auras. This is prime killing grounds for the Viks, Mei Feng, Justice, Lilith, Izamu etc. Additionally Nico can struggle against Masters who use similar tactics to himself in my experience. I utterly smashed a Nico crew with Hoffman once or twice in the past. Hoffman can buff and support his crew just as well if not better than Nico and having a rampaging Rail Golem in his face is not a place Nico likes to be in. 

 

Also Nico isn't a fan of the poison bomb (Let's be honest though, who is?). It basically ignores his primary defense (ItW) and strips him of an obscene amount of health, especially if Expunge is being used in conjunction with Decaying Aura. He's also particularly vulnerable to conditions such as Blighted, Burning and Poison. For example Kaeris can quite happily stack up Burning +7,8,9 on her own. Throw the Firestarter into the Mix and they can easily put Burning +14 on him with his pathetic Df of 4. Unless you have Chiaki or another form of condition removal at his disposal he is done for with that kind of punishment. 

 

Overall Nico is by far my favorite Resser and as awesome as he is he will not win every fight. Then there are the times when the Guild, Ten Thunders and Outcasts come calling and I must answer those calls. Gotta get my Viks fix in every now and then 

[Nicodemic]

Omg where do I join? 4/5 games are nico for me, seamus is creeping up in frequency due to his opposite play style ( at least in my opinion)

But generally nico shows up the most for reasons already stated.

[zFiend]

I played a ton of Nico sometime back, he is just simply put amazing and absolutely among my favourite masters, though the are some schemes I wouldn't probably take him in.

 

Reckoning, that scheme just has McMourning written all over it (Seamus works too)! Expunge the world! Also Squatter's Rights I suck at, I almost always just lose those games, I have started playing Seamus in that and I have started to make some points actually. Those two are the ones I don't immediately look at Nicodem. Turf War? No one does it like Nicodem and his Death Bubble of Doom, Reconnoiter? Instantly Nicodem, he does that strategy like no one's business. Stake A Claim we haven't actually even played, it just hasn't come up, but most likely Nicodem because of Fast.

 

But yeah Nicodem is just simply put, amazing and super fun to play. Especially when you can tailor the crew as you go.

[turtleclub13]

So what type of games does one play molly or seamus? It seems like nico and mcmourning have the bases conved.

[MasterDisaster]

So what type of games does one play molly or seamus? It seems like nico and mcmourning have the bases conved.

 

Around my parts if you don't want verbal abuse and lots of joking directed at you you just don't play them at all. 

 

Seamus and Molly are very similar in that they can quite happily do well at pretty much any Strategy thrown at them. It's really your crew selection that determines the success of a game rather than your choice of Master. I've been told to never use Nico for Reckoning because he's no good at it. Turns out that's a load of crap because he is a support Master first and foremost and a Summoner second. Just because the objective is killing doesn't mean I have to be pounding out all the summons and feed them to my opponent. You can make pretty much any Master do well at any set of objectives so long as the crew is built for the job. Obviously some are better than others at certain things but the game is really well balanced so you shouldn't often feel much of a handicap for taking your favorite Master all the time. 

[jonahmaul]

If Entourage or Breakthrough are in the schemes then Seamus is golden.  Being able to teleport around the board pretty easily by using No Eyes on Me and being incredibly hard to take down means he is usually around late game so he can support the crew in the early turns then teleport behind enemy lines to get you Entourage and/or Breakthrough.

 

What do people think about taking Nicodem in a tournament with a time limit (fifteen minute crew construction/set-up then hour and half to play the game)?  It's a fixed pool tournament (100SS) which I've been practising with recently but not sure I like my choices (Seamus and McMourning as Masters but more worried about my options within the crew) so thinking of taking Nico.

[MasterDisaster]

What do people think about taking Nicodem in a tournament with a time limit (fifteen minute crew construction/set-up then hour and half to play the game)?  It's a fixed pool tournament (100SS) which I've been practising with recently but not sure I like my choices (Seamus and McMourning as Masters but more worried about my options within the crew) so thinking of taking Nico.

 

I think it's a good idea so long as you have a great understanding on Nicodem and his summons. Nicodem can be used under those circumstances to create a basic skeleton crew designed to help Nico set up the summons he needs turn 1 & 2 and get exactly what he needs for the rest of the game doing their thing turns 2-3. For example something along these lines would be a pretty good skeleton crew to fire up the summons you need to complete pretty much any objective. This would save you on setup time and crew selection as it would be pretty much the same every time and you build your crew as you play. 

 

Nicodem

 +Maniacal Laugh [1]

 +Undertaker [1]

 

Canine Remains [4]

Canine Remains [4]

Mortimer [9]

 +Corpse Bloat [2]

 +My Favorite Shovel [2]

Nurse [5]

Rotten Belle [5]

 

 

This setup gives you pretty much everything you need to get the ball rolling turn 1 and leaves plenty of SS remaining to flesh out the remaining crew with some tanky or hitty models, more support or additional upgrades and of course your choice of totem should you wish to take one. Once the game gets under way start to summon more things to suit your needs once or twice per turn using Mindless Zombies to Sacrifice for Summons and the Patchwork Trigger to have your summons come in at full health and for the card drawing advantages as well due to the Undertaker upgrade. 

 

As for the 100ss pool I'd go with something like this so you can also use McMourning

 

Canine Remains [4] - Objective Runners + Corpse Generation

Canine Remains [4]          "             "               "               "

Chiaki the Niece [6] - Condition Removal + Heals

Flesh Construct [6] - Tanking + Damage

Flesh Construct [6]         "               "

Guild Autopsy [4] - Cheap Poison + Ranged Attacks

Guild Autopsy [4]        "        "                "           "

Mortimer [9] - Coz an Ml 7 Shovel is awesome + Corpse Generation + Interact Denial

Necropunk [5] or Crooligans [4] - Objective Running

Necropunk [5]             "                        "            "

Nurse [5] - Support

Nurse [5]         "

Punk Zombie [7] (Or Iron Zombies) - Smashing Face + Tanking

Punk Zombie [7]             "                         "             "            "

Rotten Belle [5] - DUH!

Rotten Belle [5]       "

Sebastian [8] - Poison Support 

Vulture [3] or Graveyard Spirit [3] - Personal Preference

Zombie Chihuahua [2] - Poison Support

 

Just my 2 cents but that is how I'd play it if I had a 100ss pool. Saying that I play Guild and Outcasts more than I do Ressers so take that into account. What do you think?

[jonahmaul]

Looks good.  Forgot to mention that summons don't need to be included in the pool so I'd probably drop the Punks for 4 x Night Terrors as I love them for Reconnoiter (we know the strats in advance and it's one each of Turf War, Reconnoiter, Reckoning and Squatters).  I'd probably still want to get McMourning in for some Reckoning action too (or maybe even Squatters if MtS is around.  I also find he's pretty good at Entourage and Breakthrough as well due to poison push).

 

The main concern I have is taking time with summons etc. but I've played a handful of games with Nico and lots with Ressers so I think I have it down pretty well.

[MasterDisaster]

I'd also consider Shikome as summons, for Reconnoiter if Nico summons them within his 6" bubble of anti-slow then hits them with Decay for Fast they can move 18" with Flight in one turn which is just insane. zFeind has used this tactic against me with deadly effect, he used it to either murder my Kaeris crew or dump markers / take corners of the board and there was little I could do to stop him... he is Finland's resident filth monger though so it's to be expected. 

 

Also if summons aren't included in the pool then you totally NEED Izamu in the Pool. Nico + Izamu is devastatingly good. Personally I often hire 1 or 2 Punks with Nico purely because it's one less high card required for the summoning which can be spent on more useful summons like Iron Zombies! 

[jonahmaul]

Yeah, I was thinking I want Izamu and he's not in my current pool but I love the big guy (especially when given fast!).  I was also thinking of trying to squeeze Bete in as she's great for Deliver a Message and annoying people!  Shikome are another favourite but I dropped the one in my pool so I could fit Chiaki in for some condition removal.

[HtUnliving]

I don't know if I'm totally doing something wrong, but have anyone else had trouble with getting that second crow in Reanimator? SS burned to fast, yeah, that I know was probably the biggest mistake. 

 

Also, if one would be forced to play purely summon Nico (4 turns in a row, including 2 corpses into Chime and 1 ss into cards and not a single crow of 7s or higher >_-> ), what would you use? 

 

Izamu's been covered pretty good.

I love to play the old gentleman necromancer, my first master and with the exception of a Sonnia-matchup, my first choice w. Rezzers into anything, just getting some inspiration here.

 

Also, what Totem? And is the Malifaux Child any good?

[jonahmaul]

It's only worth summoning if you have a high enough card in your hand.  If it's a crow then ideal, if it's not then you need to burn a SS to get the crow which is the most common way of getting it.  If you don't have the cards to summon then concentrate on his other tricks (you can get Fast with a 4 of anything which is incredible and handing out Slow to an enemy is also good).  Unless it was a really desperate gambit I never risk a summon off the top of the deck.  You want a high SS pool with a summoner (I typically run 6 with Nico) to make sure that you have to burn for summons plus anything else you might need them for.

 

As to what to take with him it depends on the strats/schemes.  You always design your crew around these so it's difficult to give too much advice without knowing what you'd be playing.  But Nico can be great at all the strats and most of the schemes because of the way he can support his crew.  Handing out Fast like Candy means you can get models to where they need to be for Interact actions and if you move him up so he's dishing out bonuses to his troops for his Aura then they become very efficient killing machines!

[MasterDisaster]

I don't know if I'm totally doing something wrong, but have anyone else had trouble with getting that second crow in Reanimator? SS burned to fast, yeah, that I know was probably the biggest mistake. 

 

Nope... Never... I always play Nicodem with a SS Pool of 6 or 7. This gives me plenty of SS to use for the Extra Crow if I don't draw one. I rarely feel the need to summon something every turn. As I stated above in an earlier post Nico is primarily a support Master and a summoner second. I summon models to fulfill roles I need as the game goes on so I will often hold onto a high card or save a SS or two for when the time  is right. 

 

Also, if one would be forced to play purely summon Nico (4 turns in a row, including 2 corpses into Chime and 1 ss into cards and not a single crow of 7s or higher > _-> ), what would you use? 

 

 

I'd probably take Mortimer + Corpse Bloat + My Favorite Shovel, 2x Canine Remains and a Nurse then summon anything else I needed as and when required and the rest of my crew would be tailored to any strategy or scheme requirements. I also find myself never using Chime of Sorrows as I use Maniacal Laugh for the Mindless Zombies a lot. 

 

 

 

Also, what Totem? And is the Malifaux Child any good?

 

Entirely up to you, they all have merit. I have no experience with the Malifaux Child in a Resser crew but personally when running Nico I don't feel the need to go out of Faction. I've had a lot of success with the Vulture and the Grave Spirit has some incredibly useful tricks up it's sleeve. It combines with Izamu really well.