Keeping Nix alive

[Tigerstyle]

I've played my first three games with Hamelin now, and I'm really enjoying playing with him. One thing I am struggling with though is keeping Nix alive long enough to live up to his nasty potential. I haven't had him alive past turn 3 yet (twice he's been dead on turn 2).

Where am I going wrong? I keep wanting to try and push him forward to get his negative on duels aura up while Hamelin moves in with him but this has generally led to him dying off quite quickly.

Any tips on playing with Nix and keeping the poor dog alive?

[Finnegan]

In the first couple of turns, you want to keep Nix hidden, focus on pushing Rats and Stolen forward and maybe producing more Rats form any weak ennemies coming close.

Only bring him out when the swarms reach their targets. Then either help the swarms or bring him to another target for Hamelin to focus on.

[Lucidicide]

The key to keeping Nix alive is knowing what can kill him. As a Spirit with Magic Resistance, it's really only Magical Weapons that tear through him. Know what in your opponent's crew has them, and work on avoiding them with Nix as best as possible. That is step one.

If Nix is in a bad spot, the key is to activate him, (0) to give everyone negative flips, and use your Spirit attribute to great effect to get out. Since Nix is easy enough to heal, you should be able to get him back in the action. Living to fight another day is step two.

Step three is recognizing that Nix doesn't have to do everything in his own arsenal. Activating Hamelin and using Obedience on Nix lets you sacrifice a model near Nix (giving Nix a chance to (0) and then charge in. And heck, maybe you'll hit Submit so that on Nix's activation he can destroy any model.

Don't forget Nix can push 8" toward a model that suffered a Wd, and Rats can do that intentionally to give Nix a way to move quickly.

Overall, I'd say the biggest key is understanding your crew fully. Hamelin wants to stay grouped together. He likes being in a big ball of plague. Your opponent is best served splitting up and not giving him this opportunity. However, if they split up, this creates great Obedience'd Nix targets, as negative flips, a charge, and 2 AP will destroy most solo models without much chance of retaliation.

If you are using Nix to win you games, you will lose. If you are using Nix as an all purpose model, you will do much better.

Hope this helps.

[Kalkris]

I've found that (0) Emptiness is a godsend when trying to keep Nix alive. The only downside you have there is that the Rats and 'Catchers all have negative flips as well as they aren't soulless (among other things, but I am assuming you're using models on-theme). Beyond that, definitely stay away from magical weapons. That's really the only issue you may run into unless we're talking about an extreme heavy-hitter of some sort.

Healing any amount is your friend. Nix being a Spirit is not going to be enough, considering his low Wd stat of 6. I *would* say you are best using him as an Emptiness bomb, but only so long as you can keep him healed enough. I played against Misaki yesterday and Nix died T3 because of initiative issues and Misaki's Bisento (which is magical). She flipped into a red joker and a moderate, dealing a painfully over-murderous 10 Dg to Nix, which was a big deal. I was able to keep Hamelin on the sidelines, making folks Insignificant, but it was a mistake to manifest as early as I did because I ended up with a single card in hand (and no SS), and while Misaki was Insignificant, she still passed the Ruffian check and managed to decapitate aHamelin. I had some Stolen close enough by him that if I hadn't manifested I'd be much better off, but still... ugh.

I must say, it was quite a game. I had contain power and my foe had slaughter (I just basically had to go for my schemes and strats and deny him his schemes as Slaughter is very difficult for Hamelin). I had Gather Soulstones (which I was going to get if Hamelin survived, due to Drain Souls) and Bodyguard. He had Assassinate and Bodyguard. After we called the game, he had 26 slaughter points to my 15 which meant he got 4vp for it, as well as getting all his schemes done for a total of 8vp. I ended up with 0vp with the potential for 2 if I could still swarm over Misaki with other things (which I figured was unlikely).

But to be fair, even though I lost, I still think Nix was the single biggest thorn in my opponent's side. I was able to bomb Nix in pretty well since he heals a Wd per duel lost within 2" anyway. I wish I was more capable of spamming Emptiness, but losing Initiative was what did me in. I have to applaud my opponent though. It was only his third game (the second scrap he has done on his own, and the first scrap over demo-level), and he took the Piper down with aplomb. I will say it was my first time picking up Hamelin in a long time (see the Writing board's story "Fresh Ham" for more) but I still knew the ropes of this game, and to a lesser extent Hamelin (pre- and post-errata). I give him major props for his efforts.

And yes, playing Hamelin is now much more fun than it had been haha

~Lil Kalki

[Hunter-thom]

One of the biggest reasons I love Nix is the fact that as soon as I pull out Hamelin. I hear where is Nix. After I deploy, i'm asked where is nix. when I activate a stolen or something the person across will keep half an eye open and maybe be reading a card or something. But I say, Activating Nix. everything is dropped and all eyes are on the board. I love it, and I'm starting to really use it. I move nix left they move there master left (or big ugly beatstick ) he is just the biggest tasty piece of bate in malifaux. I find its all down to range, i'm getting better at it too. if I get him out front first, not so far as to get into combat but looking like I want to. they come at me pretty quick. then its just a case off getting the rats out in front. and taking down what ever was sent after him with the swarm. mean while I redeploy with nix to go after a non magical weaponed minion with all his nastiness. This has been working great for me. How many rats is the most that anyone would start with. I have plans for this and that to do this and that but in the end its always the rat catcher and his swarm that ends up doing the deeds. I love it its a lot of fun. Go the mighty Hamelin

[Nephilim Nate]

I've had the same Nix issues starting with Hamelin.

Really happy to read some of these suggestions. I think I understand how to use him much more.

[Hunter-thom]

I have a quick question on Nix. When he has his Emptiness bubble up and a non soulless Model off mine say a cat pride trying to cast a spell like Devour is the casting flip a neg? (is the casting of the spell classed as a duel I guess) and would the receiver of the spell have a neg on his/her DF?

[Lucidicide]

I have a quick question on Nix. When he has his Emptiness bubble up and a non soulless Model off mine say a cat pride trying to cast a spell like Devour is the casting flip a neg? (is the casting of the spell classed as a duel I guess) and would the receiver of the spell have a neg on his/her DF?

Yes. The Ca is a duel, as well as the Rst.