Crash course on Nicodem

[Blog]

I play him, but he's my least played master. Most of the time when I use him, I don't know what to do, he's really slow (no I will not pay 10ss just to drag my master around) Belles help with movement for him, but they should be luring other things. All his offense targets Wp witch is usually higher than Df

all you more experienced nico players give me a crash course on him, I need to start him over from scratch. What to do, what not to do's, staples, non staples.

Make me want to play him more.

[Gruesome]

I think if you ask 3 Nicodem players how to play him, you will get 3 answers.

I think maybe you should not be so quick to rule out things like Dead Rider and Belles being used for maneuvering your own crew.

The reality is that you often DO need to move faster than he can normally and Belles and Dead Rider are hardly dead weight if you do NOT need to move.

With the exception of Kirai, I pretty much auto-include AT LEAST one belle in every list.

Sometimes you will face a crew that WP attacks are USELESS against. Belles are STILL useful for your own crew. I cannot overstate the usefulness of pulling your own model out of a melee that you do not want to be in.

Dead Rider with Grave Spirit attached is very nice for a couple of reasons.

1. The armor +2 granted by the GS makes the Dead Rider much harder to kill because of the damage reduction + his Regeneration + his (0) Adjust Purpose. So he effectively can heal up to 3 wounds a turn.

2. The grave spirit gives a target for Decay if you are needing some emergency heals for the Dead Rider. He cannot be directly targeted because he is immune to influence but you can get him in a blast off the GS.

As far as Nicodem goes, I am in the Dog Killer camp. I like to kill at least 3 dogs turn 1 and Arise them. It gives me fodder in case I am attacked, corpses for tactical summons and also takes care of a manifest requirement. (Did I NOT mention his Avatar? )

I take his Avatar.

I love the model. I love the card.

But, I no longer rush to manifestation. I rush to get requirement #1 and then wait for key moments where a manifest can impact the game.

Preferred moment is when there are plenty of MZ around and I have a high crow. I manifest and immediately convert 2 MZ into well-placed punk Zombies. Fun times!

Crooked men are nice models. Get some.

Rafkin vs. Mortimer vs. Neither... Easier to link to that talk:

http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?36455-Mortimer-vs-Rafkin

Something I keep meaning to try, but have not yet is HORDES OF NECROPUNKS!

Basically Nicodem + as many Necropunks as will fit into the list. (Minus his soulstones. I almost always take 7 or 8)

My thinking on HORDES OF NECROPUNKS is that they are pretty mean little models for 3 points and Bolster Undead is, in theory, being maximized when given out to as many models as possible. (They have flurry)

Remember, 3 points:

Significant

Flurry

Leap

Hard to Kill

Slow to Die

Drops a corpse counter!

Seems like it should be the most economic and useful model ever, yes?

[Blog]

The necropunk swarm sounds brilliant. One problem I had was being out activated alot. I will give that a try.

[Gruesome]

The necropunk swarm sounds brilliant. One problem I had was being out activated alot. I will give that a try.

Don't take me wrong, I have no idea if its good or not as I have never tried it. Its just something I have always MEANT to try.

Of course, if it turns out to work really cool, then I totally knew that it would...

[Blog]

for 18 stones that gives me 6 models to activate. I would think it would be good, they can lay the smackdown if need be, they are fast, and they are really cheap.

[merlinman]

Jack Daw

The Hanged

Nico bolster undead making Hanged hit and give - twist to all wp till end of game from his weapon hitting so nico paralyze can almost go off 100% of the time. I got this off on a master and they were not happy when nico would chain paralyze turn after turn haha.

i also run jack daw up in middle of couple models and nico can decay them as jack is undead he wont take any dmg if he is hit in melee, better if he target as you can make damage severe!

I also take 1-2 belles to lure people to me and can do the 1st trick mentioned to give them - twitst to all wp duels.

And most of the time a couple dogs

[Somnicide]

The Aethervox podcast #8 has quite an extensive interview on him and his crew - not sure if you have listened to that yet.

[rancor709]

Necropunks are great ive been using a trio to great effect recently.

[Ausplosions]

The Aethervox podcast #8 has quite an extensive interview on him and his crew - not sure if you have listened to that yet.

That podcast is horrible. EDIT: That EPISODE.

The podcast itself is great.

[Kutuzov]

I was thinking on doing Nico or Kyrai, I got Levy and some undead, someone ever tried SPA's in Nico crews? they pretty much work on thier own.

[ravenborne]

Once you get good with Nicodem, and you have enough models, just about anything you take that makes a corpse counter is good. You will be summoning what you need and bolstering the rest.

You should read the "pull my finger" wiki on Nicodem.

[Gruesome]

Necropunks are great ive been using a trio to great effect recently.

Have they had a specific role?

[Golden]

First, get it out of your head that you are paying 10 ss to "drag your Master around." You are paying 10 ss for a resilient model with high movement, that also has a good damage profile. After he drags Nicodem 10 inches in 1 turn, you have also effectively purchased 3 extra AP for Nicodem because you won't have to spend it walking toward the opponent.

I played Nicodem in the Pre-Dead Rider days, I still think Mortimer is a great model, ANYTHING that will stop you from having to use his valuable AP on his pathetic 3 inch walk is, more often than not, worth its weight in stones. Or gold...

Hell, if they made a solid gold Dead Rider model, Id buy it.

Ballin....

[rancor709]

Have they had a specific role?

Necropunks have been in my lists for several reasons. One is the speed and card cycling of Leap, even when its not going off its guaranteeing cards coming off the deck. Additionally I use the punks as my main decay targeting stations. There lack of h2w means I can set it up to cheat damage and get those blasts off on what i want to hit or heal. Under Nicodem aura they become def 7 pains in the butt to kill off. The joys of hard to kill and slow to die. They are excellent little minions that earn there keep every game.

[Ausplosions]

Indeed, I should paint up more than one...

[Lost Demiurge]

Nicodem's a complex one. His weaknesses are apparent, but his potential is great! As long as you get decent cards, he can be the lynchpin to a heaping horde of undead hurt...

That said, the key to playing him is configuring your crew to the situation. Because used properly, Nicodem is a hell of a general. He can do a fair bit by himself, but he is much better when you coordinate his crew with him, and use THEM to do the work.

If you really need him to do some heavy lifting and know your foe is going to target your weaknesses, then throw in a belle and an Onryo. The belle can lure him, and the onryo can use Mark of Jigoku to temporarily remove immune to influence from foes. And they're decent models on their own... The belle is a low-cost sturdy speedbump and lure works fine on your foes, and the onryo brings some ranged to the table, and a few utility tricks.

The glorious part, is that so long as you've got corpse counters to play with, you can reconfigure your force as needed. SAVE those high-value crows! Hell, save those mid-value crows, because you can soulstone bump as needed to get that spell through...

I guess what I'm trying to say, is don't worry so much about getting Nicodem to the action. Figure out how to bring the action within his range of influence, and rely on your crew to carry the weight until he can get where he needs to be. After all, they can afford to take a few losses, so long as you can use their corpses to replenish...

[Turtlesauce]

So for a newly found Nico player, how's this list sound? I haven't heard Bete mentioned once which scares me a bit..heh. A blister of Punk Zombies, The Hanged, Dead Rider, Bete Noir, and Grave Spirit? Along with three blisters of MZ's. This is just starting mind you, I have every intention of getting necropunks, his avatar, and even Jack Daw.

[ravenborne]

Those are all good models, but it is a much more expensive model list than I like to run. I like a good portion of cheap models, 2-4 points. Then you can take 1 maybe 2 expensive ones.

The Hanged is situational. He does not drop a corpse counter, and he doesnt really contribute much to Nicodem's playstyle-- at least the way I play him. Others will say they love him.

I think more so than any other Rezzer master, Nocodem's crew selection is very dependent on the strategy. For example, I have run 6 Necropunks to great effect in Destroy the Evidence. (Don't forget that 2 near a model can make it slow). Then I throw in something scary like Killjoy or Bette with them.

Also, you need some Canine Remains. They are fantastic models for 2 points. Don't be so quick to kill them-- they can cause all kinds of trouble and you will get your corpse counters soon enough.

Also, took me a while to discipline myself to do it, but in some strategies, early on you generally just have to get Nicodem up the field, even if that means walking. If it takes Belles or the dead rider, that is bonus free movement as far as I am concerned.

[Turtlesauce]

I felt a bit worried not having the necropunks starting out, but I didn't think about canine remains much. Well once I have gotten some games in with Nico and my current list I'll definitely have to get some canine remains as well as the punks to finish out my crew.

[Gruesome]

So for a newly found Nico player, how's this list sound? I haven't heard Bete mentioned once which scares me a bit..heh. A blister of Punk Zombies, The Hanged, Dead Rider, Bete Noir, and Grave Spirit? Along with three blisters of MZ's. This is just starting mind you, I have every intention of getting necropunks, his avatar, and even Jack Daw.

Those are all great models that you will want for various reasons.

Crooked Men, Belles and canines would really give you a solid selection on top of that to cover a number of areas for different reasons.

Beyond that, there are specialists you could look at for different reasons but for starting out, you'd cover a lot of bases with that set.

[Turtlesauce]

Those are all great models that you will want for various reasons.

Crooked Men, Belles and canines would really give you a solid selection on top of that to cover a number of areas for different reasons.

Beyond that, there are specialists you could look at for different reasons but for starting out, you'd cover a lot of bases with that set.

Awesome, I know soon enough I'll have to pick up some canines as well as belles in the near future. Just gotta get myself comfortable with him first.

[iamthefly]

I've recentlybeen taking Nico with the Necrotic Machine, Mortimer and Convict Gunslinger (Desperate Merc might also be good instead of Slinger). I fire a dog up field, use the totem to make Mortimer undead, then he doesn't get left behind when I 'fresh meat' twice or once plus exhume. Once zombified the Slinger is now paired cb 8! At range and cc. This also means I can heal cb8 df 7 regen 1 Mort or Slinger with decay. I really like it and I like Mortimer, it's just right to have him with Nico. I also think the Slinger's 'covering fire' has some potential with Nico who can generate cards of his own when summoning. Dogs can also make enemies -2df.

[Zephir]

Here are some blindingly amazing Nicodem Ideas.

http://tehmongoose.blogspot.com/2012/06/nicodem-tactica.html

Its my advice on Nico. Not everyone would agree with everything I said, but 5 more months of playing him haven't really changed my mind on anything I wrote

[Dustcrusher]

And on the flip side of Zephir, I can tell you how not to fail with Nicodem, because I've failed with him a lot. Read his tactica- it's got some good advice.

Here's some more thoughts:

Necropunks- don't forget Overpower. If a model is within melee range of 2 or more 'Punks they are automatically Slow. No resist, no nothing. This can be really nasty against the more complicated models.

Rotten Belles are also an excellent tarpit with 6 CB pre-Bolster. They won't hurt much but an 8 CB is hard to escape. EDIT: Not as much. They are good roadblocks as they are a pain to kill off, and bolstered CB 6 still isn't that easy to escape. I've found that anything with a CB of at least 4 (which the Belles have) is annoying to have to disengage from for anything with a Df of 5 or less.

If you take a Punk Zombie to start with, make sure to take something slightly more expensive so it's not the default for Kill Protege- Punk Zombies are an easy 2 VPs for your opponent with that scheme.

I wouldn't start with a Flesh Construct, either. Use Dogs or Punks against a tough model, and when they die drop ol' Frank on them- you should be running Canine Remains or Necropunks in packs when possible.

Nico's avatar is great fun. It's a good choice for Reconnoiter as you can spawn zombies then upgrade them into significant Punk Zombies. Fun times. If you ever play in a timed tournament, be careful- pass if you don't absolutely need to move or hit with a friendly Mindless Zombie lest you run out the clock. Take Rafkin for even more zombie shenanigans.

Don't be afraid to take mercs. The Gunslinger is a good choice, as is Taelor- the latter provides a very nasty melee threat that is hard to ignore.

I find the board control of the Crooked Men a bit overrated, but that's mainly because my luck in casting Shafted is really bad. On the other hand, their weapon having a Paralyze trigger is nice, and they are one of the best ranged options you have.

Another bit of fun- not for a new player, but if you already have Leveticus, try starting with Steampunk Abominations. Slingshotting Aboms into melee with someone and popping a Desolation Engine in the face creates a huge problem to deal with, especially if you can maneuver in such a way as to keep the Engine in Bolster range. I wouldn't call it effective, but it can catch your opponent off-guard (not to mention be pretty funny).

Edited November 21, 2012 by Dustcrusher
rules fail, other clarifications

[sharpobjects]

Here are some blindingly amazing Nicodem Ideas.

http://tehmongoose.blogspot.com/2012/06/nicodem-tactica.html

Its my advice on Nico. Not everyone would agree with everything I said, but 5 more months of playing him haven't really changed my mind on anything I wrote

That link as not working for me.