Spindle Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 (edited) My group recently ran a shifting loyalties campaign in which I enjoyed excellent success running a Rusty Alyce/Ronin/Johan crew that expanded to include many of the Freikorps and eventually Leveticus (yes I am aware this makes me a terrible person). I think another campaign is in the offing in the new year and I'm itching for a chance to test drive all these lovely new models I got in the Plague Cometh and Brotherhood of the Rat boxed sets.However, looking at Nix's card I get the impression that he's a lot less viable for leading a crew and may suffer when Hamelin isn't around with his ratty tricks. He seems a little squishy with his average defensive stats and 6 wounds - granted that incorporeal adds a reasonable amount of mitigation but it feels like he'd go down very quickly under concentrated fire, especially considering that he seems to be intended for use in the thick of melee combat.My other issue is building a crew. I'm debating just how viable the rats, catchers and rat kings are without Hamelin to lead them, or whether I'm just better shoring up a crew with monsters like Killjoy or similar to take the focus off Nix (I also really want to fit Sue in there too since his new model is just great)I'd love to hear any input you folks may have on the viability of a Nix-led crew in Shifting Loyalties. I could always just plump for Rusty Alyce until I can finish my bounty and bring Hamelin to the table but I just fancy a bit of Variety. Edited December 18, 2015 by Spindle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paxmiles Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 Nix is a strong crew leader in the respect that he's durable and a solid support character. He isn't very offensive on his own and that makes him appear lacking.I have not played shifting loyalties yet.As for him with the rat focus, the main issue is that he can't have LOS blocked by rats or any in that chain. For the small crews, his blight is a loss, you just won't be able to reliably blight them enough to make good use of his blight reliant attacks. I'd focus on that hollow upgrade which grants immunity to damage from pulses, blasts, and auras. That aura he's got which downgrades damage is also very impressive/useful. Outcasts really need a long range unit with blight, like a blighted sniper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lusciousmccabe Posted December 19, 2015 Report Share Posted December 19, 2015 Nix can be obnoxiously hard to remove if you pit him against the right opponents. He's not all that killy though so tends to act more as a tar-pit and you'll have to play more carefully against crews with a decent number of cast attacks, particularly ones that don't randomise. You can probably shore up some of his weaknesses with campaign upgrades as well.I'd say go with it if you're interested. You'll want Nix when you get Hamelin and it'll certainly offer a different play experience from Rusty Alyce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khoregard Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 Nix is devastating early on if you face someone without any Ca damage attacks. the trick is to see those for what they are and keep him far away from them. I'd pair him with another henchperson early on and you have yourself a very potent pairing. Personally I just finished a campaign with Montresor as my first hire - he is an absolute blast to play with at the same time as Nix, but if your worried about power curve, I'd recommend shoring up Nix' weaknesses with a strong WP defender piece like hannah or vanessa. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nasty Nathan Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 Nix is great, but I find he goes one way or the other. He gets smashed to pieces or with his aura's just keeps healing up and reducing the damage, I guess his weakness is from ranged, especially casting. If he is leading you can take survivalist upgrade as well which gives him a chance to heal but he'll need to be in the action though.Saying that if your up for a challenge I would go for it. If you take the Obedient Wretch and 2 rats you can start to produce more rats and a rat king quick enough. I would then be tempted to bring someone like Ama No Zako or a Strongarm suit in.How many SS crew do you start with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spindle Posted December 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 Thanks for the input and advice guys, I'm a little more encouraged by this and I'm more that up for the challenge of fielding Nix as my initial crew leader. 3 hours ago, Nasty Nathan said: How many SS crew do you start with? If I recall correctly it's a 35SS crew to start with, including the cost of your henchman. I'm fairly sure there's a model limit too, but I'll have to double check. Sue's 3 inch Man in Black radius will help shield Nix from some incoming damage and shore up his weakness to spells and I'm hoping to fit in at least a bit of rat summoning as you suggested with a wretch. I have the strongarm suit and I've been weighing up between him and Killjoy (which is another model I'd love to use sometime). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lusciousmccabe Posted December 21, 2015 Report Share Posted December 21, 2015 Killjoy is extremely effective with rats and infectious melodies as a delivery mechanism. Probably worth bearing in mind going forward with the limited options in the campaign. Strongarm suit is probably less gimmicky but I've not used it so can't comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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