Nekima as Leader

[daemonkin]

Hi folks,

 

Got a tournament coming up and I'm going Neverborn for a change as it's my #ToMB (Tale of Malifaux Bloggers) project. The tournament will be 3 rounds 40SS and 2 rounds 50SS. As a surprise I was considering running Nekima as a master for at least 1 of the smaller games and try out her grow abilities.

 

Anyone got any experiences using her solo? It seems her True Mother upgrade gives a pretty big aura to allow Growth, particularly with the Rapid Growth either on her or on another enforcer.

 

I know she may be limited in her abilities leading a crew but I think she could potentially throw a spanner in the works.

 

Thoughts?

 

D.

[EntrepeNinja]

I love her- she's got a lot of really cool stuff to play with. Black blood shaman give her more survivability while also maximizing her black blood shenanigans. 

 

Beware models that prevent healing- I had perfect positioning for destruction. Healers in the backfield, she was in a cluster of models that were primed to become terror tots. And then a hanged dropped half her wounds and made it so the shaman shouldn't help her, and her black blood tricks were in the pooper. Food for thought.

 

I haven't run her as a leader, only as a beater for Lilith, I also haven't gone for the "Nekima becomes the master" trigger, which is also a very interesting ploy. Hope to see that work some day.

 

ENinja

[zFiend]

If such conditions is to be expected then maybe try to fit in Johan.

[daemonkin]

Thanks guys. Yes the shaman is going to be used and possibly a tot to run in and be spammed with black blood pustule. Maybe even kill the tot with Nekima to splash black blood and then grow a tot from the mess that is made.

 

D.

[Sybaris]

I've been using her alot in the past year, in fact almost every game. She is a very high threat as long as she's on max wounds. Once she drops below 8, she's on life-support until she either regenerates or heal back up.

 

Models that can be highly beneficial to her:  Black Blood Shaman, Doppleganger, Lilitu (luring into melee range before activating her), Barbaros (best bodyguard we have).  Tots are obviously a necessity if you pick Nekima, not necessarily for "The True Mother" but really for objective grabbing. Given you take her as leader is a bit of relief on the ss pool, but her cache is 0 so you need to dig deeper there. You won't "save" much by taking Nekima as a leader, in fact you handicap yourself  by loosing the master's abilities, but that's the fun part of playing Nekima too. Your challenge is to bring just enough support for Nekima, so you don't only have a threat where Nekima is...as that makes it easy for your opponent.

 

You need a large cache (min 5+) You can't afford to loose her early (turn 2-3), and you need her strikes to hit. Expect all the ss to be eaten by Nekima.

 

Avoid protracted duels, try to have her "close in for the kill" or steal an activation by winning initiative (with Doppleganger) with her prey already within her range (that's where she's the most violent). In fact protracted duels with Nekima pretty much mean "staying within an elite melee model's range for 2 turns"...as almost anything given 2 activations on Nekima will cripple her. Once she's lower than 8 wounds, she's almost always within 1 activation of being killed. Opposing ss users are especially effective vs Nekima. Be wary of "trap" models with sub zero, armor +2, squeal. Some models present a peculiar challenge for Nekima: Desolation Engine - you really have to kill it before it strikes back. Rail Golem with a bunch of burning and a full control hand. The Coryphée Duet can hardly be killed  by Nekima (1 strike per turn, armor 2, +df 7), you may be tempted, but don't fall for it, it's too fast and will heal up.

 

A Mature is also a good buy (imho) because he'll really have a usually hasslefree game when Nekima is on the board. Fact is, his attack is more reliable than Nekima's over time. Then if the opponent realize the threat, Nekima will get less pressure so it's a win-win cooperation. Target saturation as usual, and you can try to split the enemy forces. The Mature is a good Growth/Flay carrier (since he really doesn't need anything to be operational).

[daemonkin]

@Sybaris thanks for this was kind of hoping for a young to mature if I can kill a leader, henchman (or enforcer?) with Nekima. Luring with Lilitu is also a nice touch but eats up SS - her, shaman and young is 20. 13 is left for objective grabbing tots or silurid if I want 5 cache and True Mother upgrade. Idea was to keep young nephilim in the 6" bubble for Growth.

 

Will try it out and see how it goes.

 

D.