The Nicodem Tactica part 2

How I handle each strategy with Nicodem.

1 - A line in the Sand - This is a little tricky, but not impossible. I like Necro Punks for this mission personally. You grab the frings markers and then use your rolling crew to work up and hold on to the middle 3. I would also use Riggor on anyone who gets next to a marker.

2 - Claim Jump - This is a solid one for Nicodem to work on. Move up towards it, kill anything in your way, and summon heavy hitters onto it as soon as you get to it. Then Riggor away any enemies who try to hit back.

3 - Contain Power - I dont care for this mission as a resser player. It lends itself to using McMourning. Nico can do it. its just not easy. Decay is your only damage dealing ability, his cane does not count. Soften the enemy up with summoned Punk Zombies, and try to use Riggor Mortis to work through their stones, most people will always burn a stone to not be paralyzed. Once they are low on stones start the Decays up if they are low, channel one to get to that 5 damage spot.

4 - Deliver a Message - There is a fun trick to this one I learned. If you are close to the enemy and holding a Joker, summon a Flesh Construct right on top of them. Then Ditch the Joker to Dumb which will cause fast to cancel out slow. take the 2 AP and deliver. If you want more reliable methods Use 2-3 Necro Punks and be ready to resummon them.

5 - Destroy the Evidence - This is an easy one actually. Have Nico roll forward with his crew as usual. Then use Summons to place models directly on the Evidence tokens and use pop them. Necro Punks also work great for this mission.

6 - Distract - Riggor the Enemy master into oblivion. They can't more if they are paralyzed the whole game. Also you could kill them. Bolster makes most Resser minions a threat to masters. especially a guy like the Dead Rider.

7 - Escape and Survive - I hate this fucking mission. a lot. Use the Avatar here and chain summon zombies so you have as many or more minions then you started with by popping out a ton of mindless zombies.

8 - Plant Evidence - Copy paste Destroy, its the same thing, just easier.

9 - Reconoiter - This is an easy on for Nico, I would definetly attach the Avatar here. And make a ton of models, then kill your enemy and on turn 6 have them all scatter.

10 - Slaughter - I love Nico for Slaughter. there is a trick. DON'T SUMMON. He can still control a board with decay and riggor. Now I do summon models with Nicodem, but I'm the best with him ever, and it is a bit tricky to pick your spots. If your comfortable or need a gamble then summon something, but really its not usually a good plan. This is also the only mission where I might auto leave out the avatar.

11 - Supply Wagon - Easy as pie, have Nico himself escort the wagon. Pop up a few zombies and just try not to get in its way too much. Summon as much as you want and Riggor any threats.

12 - Treasure Hunt - Roll foward and then backwards. Its a pretty easy mission for a slow crew, since your opponent can't touch the treasure until you do.

13 - Turf War - Keep your crew moving, and use the Avatar. Once you get on their half, summon as many Punk Zombies as you can. to try and keep you numbers up.

So the big thing here is these are pretty general ideas. Most plans die the second I engage. But keeping the big picture in mind with Nicodem is huge.

Schemes are too hard to explain since they have way too many variables. I do tend to use Stake a Claim, Breakthrough, Kill protege, and Body Guard.

The Nicodem Tactica

I say THE Nicodem tactica, because I am conceited and believe I am the best player with him ever. Really. But lets not get into that. What this really is, is the sum of my experiences with him over the past few years. A lot of people keep telling me he is bad and I think he's more misunderstood. So hopefully I can clear some things up about him and the models he works well with.

Nicodem himself is a low wk, low def high cast master. He fits in alongside, Levi, Criid, Ramos, and Raspy. The difference between him and the rest is that his spell list runs through a lot of different things. The others are more focused. With his versatility I have come to believe that Nicodem has the best spell list in all of Malifaux. Lets break them down.

Decay - One of my favorite spells. Does damage, has solid range, and the best part of it all, any time it hits your guys instead of blasting them it heals them 2 wounds. It lacks the punch of Raspy and Criid's blasts, but it still can pack a whalop, and the heal in return is very solid.

Reanimator - This is the spell that trips people up. Nicodem can summon anything. This does not make him a minion factory. Use Reanimator to replace lost troops. Dont get caught up trying to dig out corpses and constatly have him summon new dudes. Its not his best spell, but it is a clutch one. My rule of thumb for reanimator is Summon a Flesh Construct or Punk Zombie, unless you have a specific goal in mind. Need to pull an enemy off and objective make a Belle. Need to go take one make a Necro Punk. Otherwise the hitting power of those two will cover a lot of bases.

Riggor Mortis - The Best spell in all of Malifaux. (Pandora's flee thing is a trigger, so its different) The Ability to paralyze models will win games. If you cast it 3 times in a turn, you should be able to take advatage of your opponets crew nicely. But this spell needs a 10+ to cast and people will sell out to stop it. Pick your spots and only burn stones on really nasty foes (Like Lelu or any master)

The Fog - A great spell to protect your crew from shooting on the way up the field. It needs a low mask so you can hold one if need be. I like to cast it on turns 1-3ish and not so much once you engage.

Nicodem's (0) actions. Both of which are amazing. The problem becomes when to use each one. I have a method thats pretty easy. If there are corpse counters on the board and you don't have any Mindless zombies use Arise. Pretty much otherwise use Bolster. If you only have like 1 MZ I would make more. Thats pretty much it. Choose wisely.

All right lets focus on something that can be trouble, keeping Nicodem alive. He has a poor defence of 3, but has a nice 12 wounds and hard to wound. So its easy to ensure he only takes minimum damage from attacks. He has the ability to pass off attacks onto Mindless zombies too, so be sure to take advantage of that and keep 2-4 of them around him at all times. The other big thing to do is start every game with 8 soul stones. He will need them to stay alive and ensure key Riggor or Reanimator spell goes off. You can take less stones if you really need the points, but Im telling you very often those 8 stones are better then most models he will take.

Nicodem's Avatar. Its awesome, plain and simple. In just about any game I would pay the 2 stones to attach it. It is a solid upgrade and his manifest is easy to acomplish. generally only achieving 1 requirement can work fine, and I would focus on the use arise to make 3 Mindless zombies requirement. Once Manifested he keeps Riggor Mortis and Decay so his offensive spells stay the exact same. But he gains a new (0) action which freely makes 0-4 Mindless Zombies depending on a card flip. I would always use it if you have less then 2 on the table. If you have several Zombies up then use his other (0) to start making Punk Zombies out of them. The Resser Men have FANTASTIC avatars, I would almost auto-attach all 3, they are that good.

Ok so now we move onto crew choices. This is where I feel like people get tripped up with Nicodem. I'll break down some common choices for him.

The Dead Rider I would take him in just about any list with any reser master. He really needs the Grave Spirit to shine to keep that in mind when you buy him. Nicodem doesn't need a totem so the Rider and Grave Spirit combo is perfect for him. The Dead Riders biggest weakness for Nico is he leaves only 1 corpse. But its not that huge.



Mortimer I hate Mortimer. He is 7 points and prety useless. All he does most games is lag behind the crew popping out Corpses. Its not enought to justify the cost and resouces he commands. Ignore him please. he is dead weight and his points can be spent on models that will actively help Nico win.

Punk Zombies I have a rule for Punk Zombies, Only Summon. Never pay points for them, they are slow and very easy to take down. Its a lot more difficult to handle them when they appear in your face. That is their strength. Don't over pay for your minions, the 4 stone guys are way better early game.

Crookedmen This is my favorite Minion. I like to take 2 with Nico, Seamus, and McMourning. They have range attacks, board control, and their hammers do great damage with the chance to paralyze and the kicker, cheap. There is very little to dislike about them. If you don't use them, try them they will change your games.




Rotten Belle Coming in at a close second on the minion chart is the Belle. They are also a bargain, but don't really need company. 1 is enough for most games. They can move Nico more, or bring enemies into your lines if you set it up right.

Canine Reamains These are the tough ones to figure. I've been taking them with the Avatar, but not with Regular nico. I have decided that I liek them to a certain extent, but for Nicodem I would never take them just to kill them. That slows down your crew and is a bit of a waste. Instead I have been using them to run up first cause some havoc and hopefully do some damage before they die. Im not a huge fan of them, but they can be a necessary part of ressers.

Rafkin On paper he seems like the coolest minion we've got. In practice I find him a bit lacking. Not sure if he fits with Nico, but I do think its his best bet to find a spot. More games is needed I guess. at the moment though I rarely take him and when I do he underperforms.

Necro-Punks / Night Terrors These our the ressers best objective grabbers. Its a tough call as to which to take for Nico in my mind. Night terrors are faster and a little more durable, but they dont leave corpses so thats a pain. Night terrors are conditionally fast (needing a mask to leap) but do leave corpses so they aren't usless once their mission is complete. I would leave this one up to play style and choice honestly.

So those are my Nicodem thoughts. Post up any questions or arguements in the comments if you want something explained better or just think I'm way off on this.

Stealing Topics

So Mr White Rabbit put up a reall interesting topic, Favorite Master to Play in Malifaux. And I gotta say I love this idea and am now stealing it. But Im gonna go in reverse order so its different in some manner.

Bottom of the Barrel
I don't really care for these Masters much at all

Pandora - For Pandora its deeper then that. I straight up Hate her. I got her to paint up for a paint contest, and I actually got rid of the crew after what I think was like 3-4 games. She is amazing and usually wins, but I never felt like my opponent had a good time facing her and I never really enjoyed it either. Also she is my least favorite to play against.

Sonia Criid - I'll admit I've played only a couple times. In those games I have been unimpressed by, yeah all of her.

Perdita - I played her a lot back before book 3 came out. I liked her for a while, and then felt every game was 1 dimensional. She wasn't fun to play as or against so I kicked her aside and haven't played her since. I did paint her crew up in a cool blue and khaki look though.

Lucius - Poor guild guys don't get a lot of love from me. I played him a few times and even in a tournament. I like him but felt his crew was lacking. Probably because hes a henchmen and has limited options. Either way he's guild and they are lame.

Raspy - For a while she was one of my top favorite masters. But the more I play her the more she frustrates me. Now I wouldn't mind selling her off. She can put out some impressive damage but she, like perdita, is too 1 dimensional. Its a shame becasue fluff wise I liked her a lot (up until book 3 and she went psycho anyways)

Middle of the Road
I like these guys well enough

Colette - This is purely a style thing. Astheically she is one of my favorite crews. And I basically never lose with her. But I always feel like the games are more like solitare then a competative 1v1 game. I do my thing and avoid my opponent and lock up my points... end of story. Makes her a little bland to play as.

Zorida - My limited experiences with her have been a blast. Including getting blasted by papa loco. But i digress. I really enjoyed using the Hag and I have been tempted to pick her up for myself on multiple ocasions. But she is ugly and her tits hang out in a bad way.

Von Schill - I think hes kind of that middle of the road guy. I almost always take him with the Vicks, but as a leader I've always felt like he was lacking. Still he is a blast to play with. His Vicki friendliness may be bumping him higher then he deserves.

Ramos - He is too similar to my ressers in my mind to stand out. I like him well enough, but not more then any of the resser guys, or my outcasts. Originally I had him higher, but things changed.

Upper Middle Class
These guys I really enjoy, but just aren't my top set

Keris - Punk Rock chick who likes fire. Whats not to like? well limited crew abilities is a big thing. I feel like she is strong enough win, but her crew holds her back.

Marcus - I really liked when no one thought he could win games. It made it all the more fun to play him. I still think hes amazing and Actually writing this makes me want to play with him... he may get bumped over Ramos and Kaeris.

Leviticus - A year ago he would have made my top 3 easily. Now I'm less enamored with him. I still like him since he's in the top half of my masters. But he's not as cool in my mind as he once was.

McMourning - The lowest rated Resser! He is like my neglected child. Rarely making it out of the case. I still like him more then any guild, archanist, or neverborn master. But hes definetly the bottom of the Resser set. Not really sure why, maybe its becasue a lot of other players use him so I want to do different stuff.

THE TOP 5
I'll be honest this is tough

#5 Molly - Ah my lovely Molly. I want to play her so much its wierd. Its also wierd that I win games with her becasue she is bad. All the limited crew stuff I talked about with Lucius, Schill, and Keris is even worse for Molly. Regardless I just like her. If she had a legit crew she could vie for my top Master choice. Im not sure why I like her so much, I just do.

#4 Kirai - I LOVE Kirai. Ok Absolutely love this chick. Her crew is blindingly awesome. She can do anything she wants in game. Hit, survive, move quicly, grab objectives. The only reason I dont have her even higher is that she can be a chore to play from time to time. But 9/10 times I just love having her on the table.

#3 Vickis - Ah the twins who aren't actually twins. These ladies have shot up my list of favorites since I got them at Nova Open last year. They are fun, deadly, and a bit easy to play, which is nice. Plus games are mega quick. Either I wipe out my opponent, or... no thats basically it =P

#2 Seamus - Seamus was the reason I started playing Malifaux, so I like seeing him up here. He is also a common appearance on the tables too. His Big Gun and Hat are the part of the reason I love the look and themes of this game so much. Also His avatar made him competative which is nice since he really didn't used to be. Seamus will always hold a spot atop this list for me. Hell 6 months ago when his Avatar was still shiny and new he would likely have been #1 easily. speaking of shiny new avatars!

#1 Nicodem - So yeah I used the avatar pic for a reason. Its new and playing with it really reminded how much I love playing the old guy. I think part of the reason I take offense to people calling him weak is I know what he can really do. And when combined with his avatar I really think his power potential is otherwordly. So big props to the Old Guy. I think he's guaranteed to see some more table time in near future.

Avatar Nicodem part 2

Ok so 1 game under my belt Im ready to declare myself a master of Avatar Nicodem! Well maybe not yet, but I at least really loved playing him. I'll start with the basics, what changed:

What he lost: Bolster Undead, Reanimator, Living, Arise, The Fog

What he gains: A lot of Speed, Free Mindless Zombie summons, a double summon, terrifying, Undead, and a Mindless zombie buff spell. Also he gets better in melee. Not enough to care about, but it does happen.

The loss of reanimator is negated by the fact that he auto summons 2 guys with each cast now.
The loss of Arise is negated by Mass Grave which spurts out free zombies each turn.
Living is a weakness so thats totally a gain

So the big things that are not replaced are Bolster and The Fog. Which are both good abilities, but the gains are so monumental that I see no reason not to attach the avatar.

In my game last night Regular Nicodem had nearly settled things when I manifested, but the increased speed was amazing to help me track down Colette and keep her Paralyzed. Combined with his mass Grave to keep him rich in Zombies to speed him up turn after turn and The ability to turn 2 of those chumps onto Punk Zombies meant A-Nico was running the board. I need to pick up another 1-2 blisters of Mindless Zombies after that game. Or find a cheaper suitable proxy for them (more likely, they are expensive)

Avatar Nico

So today Im going to be getting A-Nico on the table for the first time. I kind of want to do a before and after thing with him. So at the moment my initial thoughts are that he is strong enough to attach in almost any mission set. He doesn't really deviate from what I usually do with Nico so manifesting him and getting free zombies seems strong to me.

Strongest Abilites: Funny enough these dont change, Riggor Mortis, Decay, and Zombie Fodder are all really strong and keep Nico in games. His summon is different, but I think it wont make that much of a difference. Gotta test it out though. ----------------------------------- Weakness: He relys on Mindless Zombies. Without them he is easy to kill and pretty slow. Im not really sure what they are beyond that though

So I'll have to find some way to keep them on their feet with him. Im facing Colette tonight, so interactions will be limited. By my goal is keep Cassy paralyzed as long as possible and then kill everything else a lot. I'll post up again tomorrow to talk about my post game thoughts and probably a battle report.

Malifaux "Ranked" Tournament

This past weekend on 4-7 Internet Famous Bill of the Gamers Lounge and Dead Tau Project ran a tournament for the local scene. As a way of thanks only 4 people showed up, I declare the rest of you ungrateful.

The small group of players led to a different style of event. We each played each other and went VP grabbing. Who ever scored the most VPs after 3 games would win and so one down the line. 4th Place would be give the honor of the Spoon. Im still not sure what this entails, but there will be a big wooden spoon and name plates attached to it.

Due to a sexy combination of laziness and competativeness I played Kirai in all 3 games.



Game 1 vs Brian and Lady J
I ended up winning 8-0, but it was a lucky flip on damage that sent the game into that score. Until about half way through turn 6 it was 6-4 in my favor. And then I managaed to score a hit on Lady J, Brian had stones to stop the hit, but figured he could take it. On a -- flip the Red Joker came up along with another severe dropping Lady J and sending the game into a total beat down. Had I not killed her like that the final score would likely have been 6-4.

Game 2 vs Pierre and Colette
This game had a rough start as his crew was small but very Elite. I figured I had to wear him down and run through his soul stones to get anywhere. Around turn 3 I killed the Coryphee duet and that swung the entire game. I soon started turning his doves in Gaki with Datsue-ba and making forcing Colette to stay away from my crew. As the turns wore on I took a bigger advantage killing Cassandra and continuing to keep Colette at bay. I won the game 8-4

Game 3 vs Josh and the Vickis
My sole loss came on an unfortunate set of attacks. I needed Grudge on his Convict Gunslinger to force a draw, but Ikiryo's 4 attacks did not produce the damage required to kill him off and I was tabled. Despite my crew's demise I managed a nice 6 vps. Josh achieved a full 8.

When Final totals were calculated they looked like this

1st Me! with 22
2nd Josh with 16
3rd Pierre with 15
4th Brian with 12

I got a cool Line of Sight Laser and some store credit for my victory. I have another tourney in a few weeks down at Victory Comics in Falls Church. My plan is to take the Vickis and Levi as a 1-2 punch.

Quick Paint Update

The Warmachine competition painting is going so poorly I doubt I'll finish. Still just E-Baldur and the Feralgeist are painted. Unless I get on a roll in the last month I may just bow out of this one.

On the upside I've been on a paintin frenzy for Malifaux!
Recently I have painted up
Taelor
Rafkin
Collodi & his Marrionettes
Ashes & Dust, also the Ashen Core and Dust storm
All 3 Drowned

I try to keep my Malifaux painting queue small, and this recent flurry of painting has helped that out. No idea what all is on it at the moment, but the big ones who are likely to get painted soon include:

A-Kirai
Misaki
Desperate Mercenary
Desolation Engine

as for the Hordes crew, Ghetorix will be in hand today so Im not completely out