Rethinking Nico's starting crew

[poulpox]

Hello there!

So after having played now a few games with old Nico, I'm starting to see something of an issue repeating itself: I have everytime selected my crew as is usually suggested on the forum (1 beatstick like Bete or KJ, and bucketloads of cheap minions like canine and necropunks), with the idea of summoning better models later.

BUT, although in theory this seems nice, in practicality I hardly ever have more than 3 oportunities to cast Reanimator per game (lacking the suit usually). I often end up he game with loads of corpse counters/MZ and either rubbish models on the board, or no one else but Nico for that matter while he paralyzes everyone. Mid-game turns often show a slaughter of my cheap minions which go down 3 by 3, while at best I can summon 1 model per turn (I admit I did have some games where I had more opportunities, but those were really rare).

Because all that Nico is surrounded by is rather lame models (often joined by Mortimer, who's neither the greatest of anti-opponent models, unable that he is to benefit from Bolster Undead), even with Bolster Undead they tend to fall way faster than can be raised.

SO, I wondered if Nico players out there have had a similar experience?

I am now about to shift my initial crew with the idea that I won't summon more than 3 models in the game, which means that I'll get those counters either from Mortimer either from a few cheap minions (but not both as I'm starting to realise now), and spend more ss on more fiesty minions, something like this (for 35ss pool):

Nico (7ss cache)

2 Vulture 4ss

3 Canine 6ss

Bete 9ss

2 Crooked 8ss

1 Belle 4ss

If I take Mortimer I would then drop both cheap minons and one expensive one (as I have little use to have 8 MZ haging around on the board doing nothing), like this:

Nico (8ss cache)

1 Vulture 2ss

Bete 9ss

Mortimer 7ss

2 Crooked 8ss

1 Belle 4ss

This would allow for more initial umph while having a smaller corpse counter pool to match the rate of Reanimator casting.

Any thoughts on this?

Cheers,

T.

Edited August 8, 2011 by poulpox

[emissary]

I haven't had as much problem summoning with him. Mainly it's because I'll happily spend the soulstone to add an extra card if I have a lower crows suit in my hand. I'll also usually rez up my 2 flesh constructs early along with a crooked man.

I'll also say that I usually give my undead the extra CB when things get going then the mindless zombies. Just personal preference on my part and a reaction to what is happening in the game at the moment. You can't beat CB 8 flesh constructs.

[Stryder]

Why no Necropunks? a 3ss model with leap, hard to kill and slow to die that can make opponents slow and has good Cb/Df (great when bolstered). Their only downside is the low damage output. My Nico crew is as follows:

Nicodem

2x Vultures

3x Necropunks

2x Rotten Belle

1x Desperate Mercenary

1x 'Big thing' (Bete, Dead Rider, Jack Daw, Molly (swapping 1 Vulture for a Necrotic Machine) etc.)

Cache: 5/6

[sephiroa]

wow, weird, the other day i was playing against a friend. he summoned 5-6 punk zombies and 1 rouge necromancy in the game, you almost always use his soulstones to raise his small crow (5-8:crows) when you have a 1-4:crows don't try it,, it can miss,,

and using 1 ss to summon somthing like a rouge necromancy or a flesh construct is okay, and don't forget that you get a card for each counter discarded,, my friend had 10 cards in his hand.

[Shank Seamus!]

I had a lil play with a nico list the other day,

Nico,

1 vulture

Mortimer,

Sebastian,

2 bells,

1 canine,

Feel free to blast it.. but if all goes well you could summon that necro hydra beastie turn 2ish..

[poulpox]

Why no Necropunks?

Nicodem

2x Vultures

3x Necropunks

2x Rotten Belle

1x Desperate Mercenary

1x 'Big thing' (Bete, Dead Rider, Jack Daw, Molly (swapping 1 Vulture for a Necrotic Machine) etc.)

Cache: 5/6

I had a lil play with a nico list the other day,

Nico,

1 vulture

Mortimer,

Sebastian,

2 bells,

1 canine, ..

Yes these are the lists I have been using: dogs, necropunks, mortimer and vultures.

The issue with these lists is that if you can only get one reanimator within first 3 turns (time to build your counters) you usually start getting pounded (less when KJ is down, but with Bete is happened several times).

One thing though: do you guys kill your own low cost models on turn 1-2 or do you send them in the fray first? It seems killing them straight away might ensure you have the right counters when you need them (as old Mortimer is sometimes refusing to dig deep enough...)

don't forget that you get a card for each counter discarded,, my friend had 10 cards in his hand.

Good point I had completely forgotten that point! Must return to my ref card...

[emissary]

I send my dogs in early to either shut down ranged attacks at me or make them waste AP to deal with them. What's nice is when I'm up against models that can discard corpse counters in play I can use the vultures/dogs to round them up and shuttle them back to Nicodem. Nico only needs a 9 of crows to cast Reanimator, so with a soulstone, you can reasonably use most crows cards in your hand (I usually won't go for it with a 4 or lower, but those cards are usually saved for Mortimer).

Forgetting about the extra cards for reanimator makes it tougher, especially when you're raising necromancies or flesh constructs. I've had several times where I drew a high crows with Reanimator which allowed me to cast it again. Getting Stop and Go (what I've nicknamed my two flesh constructs as one has green robes while the other red) engaging in play at the same time has been demoralizing to my buddies several games.

[poulpox]

I shall not forget to pick up my cards!! Thanks guys

[karavak]

I'm having mixed results with the dog's. I do think I will use more support models once I get them painted at the start.

I also forgot about the drawing a card but I tend to suffer from wrong suit for reanimate.

The dogs have worked well as a in the face and Bette delivery system and then the rest of the force tends to move up.

I was making a mistake about the Fog so wasn't using that much but that will be changing now.