Tips on how to play Nicodem faster

[Grumpy Strongman]

So, I have been playing Nico for a few months. I have lost a few games due to the time constraints. I have also have had some close wins where turn 4 and 5 the summoning engine allowed me to out activate and essentially get the needed points to win.

 

What tips and tricks do you have that could speed up my gameplay that will cut my time on the mechanics of the summon and spend my time achieving my objectives for strats and schemes?

[FacelessOne]

Well one thing to try if you don't already is to have models you will be summoning out on the side of the table on top of their cards, so that you don't spend play time looking for cards/models. That is probably the easiest way to speed up play. Its like a wargaming mis en place, except with plastic and cards instead of vegetables...

[benjoewoo]

Memorize cards. Not saying memorize everything in the game, but memorizing at least the stuff you most commonly use or encounter will greatly speed up game play.

Let's assume it takes roughly 30 seconds to pick up a card, read 1 line of text, and put the card down. Not including reading triggers or explaining to your opponent, just reading text of an attack for skill, resistance, and damage track/effect.

If you're running 7 models, that's 3.5 minutes of simple reading per turn, or almost 18 minutes after 5 turns. Over 3 turns that's 10.5 minutes just reading.

Hiring your crew generally takes between 5-10 minutes assuming you pick models outside of your core crew and/or have to decide upgrades. Deploying takes around the same when including flipping the card and putting models down to maximize Turn 1 set ups.

Over 3 turns you're looking at around 20.5-30.5 minutes of set up and reading. That's between 15-25% of your round time. You can speed that up by doing two things: (1) knowing what your master(s) does so you can hire and upgrade more quickly; (2) doing some pre-game research. Look at the GG 2016 rotation for the month's deployments and strategies; GG 2016 has quarterly rotations--maybe your TO has released the schemes as well. Plan as much of your crew as you can with general thoughts for the factions, so when your opponent declares a faction, you have 40-60% of the crew already decided. Saves time and allows you to consider your counter picks/ugprades.

It's very important to know what your setting is. Knowing what your models do is more important, so I discuss it second. It cuts down the most time, because you can directly affect how much time you spend on your own activations, unlike in hiring or deployment where your opponent may take more time as he/she needs. You should know that for summoning, every resser summon's cost outside of Karina = printed SS cost + 4. Don't read the card--it's arithmetic and your summon's card is more useful. Know the Ca value on lure, Ml skill for punk zombie melee, and built in trigger effects for Hanged. You should know your common models' damage tracks, which have blasts, and what stats resist their attacks. 

Know the above for Nico, Mortimer, and the models you pretty much always use, e.g. punk zombies, hanged, belles. Your turns go by a lot faster when all you have to do for a belle activation is say, "This belle activates, lures model X, Ca 8 vs. Wp, flip. Your cheat. Declare crow trigger, discard a card. Move up 5. Repeat." and you end a belle's activation in less than a minute. 

Might seem like a lot of work, but you probably have most of the model information in your head already. Avoid reading your cards as reassurance and you'll be using the common stuff as second nature. The other stuff is just research and thinking before a tournament, e.g. 10-15 min. the night before or morning of.

As a side note, if you play against the same people regularly, or just play against the same masters/factions regularly, start working on knowing their stuff. Ramos needs a tome source for each spider he summons beyond 1, Dreamer needs masks to summon and having a 5SS upgrade means he can summon enforcers, Arcansists have a larger number of armored models, etc. Not having to ask your opponent for explanations will shorten delays, though do not hesitate to ask if you don't know or something seems off, like dumb luck going off on a tome and the gremlin is 10" away from all friendly models.

Hope that helps!

[thebarbalag]

Limit your summoning pool. Nicodem has access to the entire roster of Resser undead minions - he does not need it to be successful. Pick a couple of minions, perhaps one for each of a few purposes, killer, tank, runner, learn them, and stick to them for summons.

Is a Crooked Man sometimes better than a Drowned? Sure, but if the fatigue of trying to pick which one is exactly best subtracts from your abilities to make other, far more important choices, it's a waste of energy.

I suggest focusing on: Killer - Punk Zombies, Tank - Drowned, Runner - Necropunk/Crooligan (to taste).

Also, don't lean on summoning - Nicodem is a decent turret, and a fantastic buffer/healer, and those functions don't require nearly the resources that summoning does. If you're needing bodies, for activation control, or to mess with your opponent's plans (like, for Interference), try Maniacal Laugh for Mindless Zombies, especially if you're bringing the Emissary (which is really, really good). 

[Gnomezilla]

• Getting out the models you are likely to summon ahead of time is a great idea
• Spend the soulstone for the crow every time, other models will be able to use your high crows in hand
• Get the summoner cheat sheets that list models by the card you flip, and not the duel total
• If you remove corpse markers for +Ca, pile them next to where you flip cards so you remember the additive bonus
• I will go against the other recommendation, don't pick by what you want to summon, only pick by what you flipped

(Picking your summon by what you need is going to be better strategy in the end, but you asked how to be quicker, not better. Cutting out choices is one good way to be quick. If the flipped card says you cannot afford to summon a 9 stone model, you won't waste time wondering whether a hanged is a good summon.)

Last, but not least:

• If your group is anything like mine, your opponent will be HAPPY to do ANYTHING they can to help speed up your play. Ask them! No, I don't mind knowing Nicodem's summonses even though I'm not a Resser, and watching the cards flip and saying "oh no, not a hanged, I hate those" when a 13 is flipped. No, my opponents don't mind if I ask one of them who isn't a butterfingers to shuffle my deck if I'm taking a full minute to do each iteration of the shuffle.

[Anung Un Rama]

 

• I will go against the other recommendation, don't pick by what you want to summon, only pick by what you flipped

(Picking your summon by what you need is going to be better strategy in the end, but you asked how to be quicker, not better. Cutting out choices is one good way to be quick. If the flipped card says you cannot afford to summon a 9 stone model, you won't waste time wondering whether a hanged is a good summon.)

 

Im not sure what you mean by this? Don't you have to nominate what you are summoning before you flip?

Great advice I will take note of for my future games!

[Paddywhack]

Yeah. Pretty sure you need to declare what you are attempting to summon before flipping. You need to know the target number you need to hit. No flipping low and then deciding, oh I'll just summon a canine remains when you were originally hoping for a punk zombie. 

[Kogan Style]

 

• Getting out the models you are likely to summon ahead of time is a great idea
• Spend the soulstone for the crow every time, other models will be able to use your high crows in hand

 

• I will go against the other recommendation, don't pick by what you want to summon, only pick by what you flipped

I like the second bullet point, especially earlier in the game when SS are more 'valuable' i.e. they will have a greater effect on game as a whole. There have been tournament games where I have 3 SS left in the final turn and it feels like a waste. 

On the 3rd point, to echo others, here is the Reanimator action from the card:

"(1) Re-animator (Ca 6 / TN: * / Rg: 10): Name a Resurrectionist Minion Undead model. The TN of this Action is..."

The first thing you must do is declare/name the model you are going for. 

All of Benjoewoo advice should be taken seriously as there is a lot of good stuff in there!

 

[Anung Un Rama]

Great thing about this thread is it has inspired me to get Nico out again for next weeks game!

[Kadeton]

Some fantastic advice in this thread. The only thing I'd suggest from my own experience is that while Punk Zombies are okay at killing things, Shikome are about a zillion times better if you can spare that slightly higher card.

[valhallan42nd]

 

Some fantastic advice in this thread. The only thing I'd suggest from my own experience is that while Punk Zombies are okay at killing things, Shikome are about a zillion times better if you can spare that slightly higher card.

It's that "Ignore Armor" trigger that really helps.

[CactusEmperor]

Three pieces of advice from me. Hopefully they’re of some use to you!

 

First up is to memorize what cards you need for your summons. Using the summoner cheat sheet is also an option. It lets you glance at your cards and determine immediately what you can summon in with those cards. A 10 is a drowned. 13 for a hanged. 12 for a shikome. I also arrange my stat cards in descending order for each summoner I play, so if I draw an 11 at the top of the round, I know that could be a punk zombie which is the fourth card on the first page of the Nicodem summoning minions. Arranging your models in a similar way can help you find them more quickly as well.

 

Next is to use your mindless activations well. Mortimer and Phillip are both good examples of this. They both generally do one thing, especially in the early rounds, and their entire activation takes a few seconds (Morty activates, removes his spleen, finds a bone, flip card look for 9+, done). This gives you two enemy activations to plan for your more important models (like what Nicodem is going to do). If you need time to think the opponent’s activation is a good time to do it. Mindless zombies are also great for this and you can activate them essentially passing play back to your opponent while you think of your next move.

 

The final trick I use requires your opponent’s consent. I’ll usually run through Nicodem’s whole turn, summoning models and buffing them before I bother performing any of the bookkeeping on the cards. I’ll perform the needed flips, place the model on the table, inform my opponent that he’s at half wounds, not slow (because of aura), and then continue on to the next action. Then at the end of my activation, I’ll hunt down the cards, mark all the wounds, and write down fast on everyone that needs it (and usually reiterate to my opponent that I’m doing so). Obviously not every opponent will be ok with this and it’s ultimately your opponent’s choice as to whether you can use it, but I’ve never personally had someone take issue with it, especially when you’re explicit with your end of activation bookkeeping.

[DeleteAccount]

 

Some fantastic advice in this thread. The only thing I'd suggest from my own experience is that while Punk Zombies are okay at killing things, Shikome are about a zillion times better if you can spare that slightly higher card.

Isn't that banking on getting adversary set up with the 0 action? It's the reason why I prefer punks (or student of steel) to avoid having to depend on any extra flips. If shikome botches the adversary attack, it's left with 3 attacks if made fast with worse odds of hitting than a punk and a worse damage spread while the punk gets 4 more reliable attacks. Of course, if the adversary connects she becomes death on wheels but I certainly wouldn't say it's a zillion times better.

[Kadeton]

 

Isn't that banking on getting adversary set up with the 0 action? It's the reason why I prefer punks (or student of steel) to avoid having to depend on any extra flips. If shikome botches the adversary attack, it's left with 3 attacks if made fast with worse odds of hitting than a punk and a worse damage spread while the punk gets 4 more reliable attacks. Of course, if the adversary connects she becomes death on wheels but I certainly wouldn't say it's a zillion times better.

That's fair. For context, I always run Necrotic King on Nico, so any Shikome is usually getting a  on Shrieking Challenge, which makes it far more reliable. Add to that the ability to ignore Armor, and the potential for a (1) Charge (opponents aren't usually so accommodating as to always let you summon a Punk in Flurry range, but Poisoning their stuff is pretty easy) and the Shikome comes out the clear winner for my playstyle.

Before I assembled my Shikome, I found the Resser Faction to be pretty pillow-fisted and was getting frustrated with the inability of "hitty" models like Punks to deal with hard targets. Now my life is much easier.

[Grumpy Strongman]

Plus flesh constructs can be summoned or hired with 5 poison. Instead of using it to heal, there is an upgrade where you can transfer poison from one model to another. So then the Shikome can go to town.

[Daysleeper]

My Nico lists usually have two guild autopsies to put poison at range at unsuspecting targets wich then get charged by summoned shikome.