House rule: Nekima revised

[Sybaris]

Agreed, it might be strong, but then again, we're talking of a 13SS model.

We can find a trend in the "extreme" melee powers of the game. Lord Chompy Bits, Lady Justice, Killjoy... all of them get Onslaught. There's an equivalent for spellcasters too. All of them have good Cb ot Ca and some can even use soulstones

I see it as an alternative to a complete reboot of the card (which i still would prefer), but this simple switch of trigger might be just what Nekima needs in order to reach an acceptable efficiency.

[Fetid Strumpet]

While it is true that Chompy, Lady J, and Kill Joy all have access to Onslaught those models don't have access to a weapon that lets them add whatever suit they want to their Cb, thus the amount of Onslaught that gets triggered will be way lower than if Nekima got her hands on it. I think you should definitely try it, I'm not one to knock looking at upping under-powered models, although I personally don't think Nekima is bad, more that she just isn't as good as other options for her price. Certainly try it out and give your opinions on the matter after trying it. I just feel that a Cb 7, auto positive twist dmg flip, and min dmg 3 model dosen't need to also be given extra free attacks on 50%+ (because of the ability to cheat) of the time.

[Ozz]

Aye, as Fetid said the reason i said it may be over powered is the great sword combined with the picking any suit to go with it But i would be curious to hear what you and your friends think of it as well after you have tested it a few times ?

[Mournafein]

The only other 13ss model I am familiar with is Ashes and Dust... Or whatever it's called... And Nekima is not even remotely CLOSE to being anywhere near that model's sheer beastness.

[Sybaris]

That is correct, hence me looking at solutions so that we can actually play with the model without pulling hairs when it comes to using her effectively.

There is also Killjoy who costs 13ss when you sacrifice a desperate mercenary.

I'll come back to posts when i've ran some tests, but keep in mind that even with onslaught, she still melts in 1 single turn when fighting other masters or potent fighters (especially in the same cost bracket)

[Sybaris]

So far i've ran "duels" so to say, but i'll try to get a game or two this week-end testing the trigger.

They're run without soulstones (to give Nekima a chance), at 15" with a house blocking sight

Nekima vs Snow Storm

Nekima got the initiative and with her speed, she set up a good charge. Needless to say, onslaught is one serious hell of a boost when it comes to fighting power. She inflicted 7 wounds on her first turn. Snow Storm dished 6 in return, only to die in the next round.

Nekima vs Lady J

Boy that was simple...Lady J set up her charge since she doesn't need LOS, and promptly dispatched Nekima in one streak of strikes as soon as she reaches her. Ironically...the onslaught trigger was used by Lady J.

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Will do more, but so far it seems that the trigger made Nekima even more binary than she was. When she gets to charge, she's extremely painful to face. When she's charged or after her activation, she melts like before. It's not enough to say it's "balanced", because this needs to be tested in games, but at the very least she's more interesting to play with that twist.

I'll make sure to test her with the original post's suggestion too, because i still think that's they way the model should have gone...

more soon

[Q'iq'el]

The thing is Onslaught is the boost to Nekima's damage, but the damage hasn't really been much of a problem for her. Even with the pathetic triggers she has now, her height, reach and damage levels mean she can hit otherwise out-of-reach targets and hit them strong.

The primary issue has always been her survivability and we'd discussed it already in this thread. Let's say we get some extra budget to fix her up - if we spend it on even more damage, she's going to provide even more random experience.

Secondary issue is her mobility. She isn't slow, but she is big enough to have problems navigating terrain, despite her ability to fly. A boost to mobility would give her some boost to survivability too - so it's either one or the other which should go up IMHO.

Onslaught is a very interesting idea, but one for a complete re-design of Nekima, I think. If we change her into close combat monstrosity (boosting both damage and survivability) and cut down on her support role, this is the ability to get. But if we want to merely improve her current rules a bit, I'd go in opposite direction - make her buffs useful in combat and give her better survivability.

[Ozz]

On the off chance that you find those previously suggested changes do not work, i am just going to post my thoughts on defensive changes that may help her.

Evasive 2 - She is big, but only because of her wings, and has high movement so i see her as being relatively fast
Bullet Proof 1, for basically the same reason as above.

Those two give her some damage protection at range, and make her the target to generate blasts but does not die so much from them now.

Then +1 Deff (to make it 5 if i remember correctly?)
And Regen 2 instead of one so she can last a little better in mele, if she is not insta killed.
And Nimble, as i as many others have said see her as being rather fast. But not to sure on this one.

I did think of just armour and evasive one, but to me the model does not look like a Mature with armour, she is a small woman with a big sword and bigger wings, and not thick skinned and hard to hurt, perhaps more deff could work but she is a big base model with a lot of height, so i think that would go to far in my opinion.

So short list of my possible changes:
Bullet Proof 1
Evasive 2
Regen 2
Deff 5
Nimble

[Sybaris]

I agree with both of you, the main problem with Nekima is her survivability, but out of the blue i just wanted to toy with the extreme offense solution. Onslaught makes her into an even bigger "Homing missle" than a mature. It has the side-effect of making Nekima an obscenely powerful minion for Obey casters too (that can be a boon or a curse).

Thanks for the imput, now i can't wait to run more tests

[Sybaris]

Ran more tests with Nekima with the Onslaught trigger (replacing Throw aside as the ram and mask trigger)

Nekima vs Ophelia, 2 bayou gremlins (and 1ss)


The soulstone here changes almost everything, depending on when it is used and the result of the flip. If used semi-wisely, Ophelia can litterally maul Nekima, quickly sealing the encounter

If Nekima does reach anything with a charge, it's pretty much gremlin meat over the wall, unless it can squeal away in time (i.e. Nekima does weak damage and gremlin has a mask for Df flip). Again that's where the soulstone came into play for Ophelia. If she had it, Ophelia was safe and could get a few shots in.

Even in the case where the soulstone fluked, Nekima never came out of the encounter with more than 5 wounds.

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We've both agreed that even with Onslaught, Nekima is not overpowered for a 13ss model. In fact she dies just as easy as before, which is saying something already. Her weakness is emphasised against soulstone users.

With the trigger, she becomes a one-hit-wonder in the extreme sense. In fact, with Onslaught, there's almost no reason to use her other triggers (unless you are guaranteed a kill anyway). It does make her "fighter first", but it sure doesn't provide any survivability.

So Onslaught does have its advantages, in that it keeps Nekima in the initially intended avenue of the model's current ruleset. It's a sort of "quick fix" that definitely make Nekima scary for the models who can't use soulstones. That said, i'll concentrate my next tests with the new ruleset posted on the first page.