The Book of Nilfheim

[SamuraiLord]

I had a bad game with Nilfheim the first time I used him, but I just started to use him again recently, and he ROCKED. Of course it helped that I had that new glyph that gives everyone thorian speed.

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by Troy Spiral

The 18-5- part of this guy is a bit frustrating when army building.

Let me finish that thought for you: because we don't have enough 5's. The more 5's that are released, the easier it will be to build armies*. That's not to say most units should be released as 5's, but if they stop making 5's, the problem won't get any better.

*not that it's hard right now, but a lot of players get upset when they can't use every last point.

[Jexik]

People rag on Nilf's wings and enormous hit zones all the time, but it's possible to use this to your advantage. Last week I was playing against the popular Q9/Raelin combo. Raelin was on lower ground, and behind a ruin, but she could still see the top half of Q9 and his bulky shoulder pads. I flew my Nilfheim in between them, and his wing blocked her LoS, helping to reduce Q9's defense back to 7. I only rolled one or two skulls, and the attack was blocked, but I still think that it was a cool maneuver.

[Uprising]

This is the second time I faced Nilf at a tourney and again he decimated my ranks before I even had a chance to move. I can safely say that I fear facing him more than any other unit in the game. He's just so freakin' versatile. He can take it to both squads and heroes successfully. In the game I played I think he took out....Agent Carr, James Murphy, Otonashi, and 4 Microcorp Agents.

[S1R_ART0R1US]

I have jumped on the Jexik bandwagon and I am proclaiming my love of Nilfheim. Every game I used him in on Saturday (3) I won.

The armies I used him in were:

Nilfheim 185 4th Mass x3 395 Reavers x2 475

Nilfheim 185 MBS 235 NGS 325 Romans x3 475

He's just such a beast and he is indeed incredibly versatile. In the game I faced him (I had Braxas, Stingers x3, Rats x2 Isamu vs. the Nilf + Romans army), my opponent surprised me by putting him on the common attack glyph and sending his romans out. They cut through the rats like butter, and Nilf just sat there and Ice Sharded approaching Stingers and Rats.

I used him in my third game as a quick strike force to take out all of my opponent's Arrow Gruts, depriving them of order markers so I could kill Krug.

In my last game, he annihilated Zombies left and right with his special, then swooped in for the kill on the Krav.

In the beginning of my first game, he took out my opponent's rats and put at least 4 wounds on Braxas (with Nilfy at full health the whole time due to successful rat placement) and took out bunches of Stingers in the endgame.

I just love the big guy. My only issues were that he had a hard time landing on Hieways and Dieways-Swarm, which prevented me from getting some choice attacks.

[killercactus]

That's really Nilf's only drawback IMO - sometimes he can't land places.

If you have any sort of blockers out there for him, especially Reavers, he's amazing. He can just bounce around the board unchallenged, unchecked, killing at will. IMO, he makes Zelrig and Sujoah really bad, because he's just so much better for the same point total. I'll basically only even think about Zelrig if I'm going to run Nilfheim in the same army.

[Simpsons Scaper]

The easies way to beat him, in my pinion is a) Boosted ranged squads (Kravs), b) Engage him with a powerhouse, like Sgt. Drake or Jotun or c) Do both. Engage hm and shoot him at the same time, in the same turn. Those are the only ways I can ever kill Nilfhiem.

[Creationist]

Stingers do the best for me. They can have 5 attack easily, and there can always be one to replace the last. The Krav may seem fine, but when Nilf engages them, youll be down 100 points. Besides, they only can have 4 attack before glyphs or powers from others.

[GreenLanturn]

I've lost this big white dragon so many times . The last time I lost him my brother engaged him with Cyprien, and he never got off a chilling touch; he got off 3 attacks (in a row) of 3 skulls and that was the end of my dragon. I managed to do one wound; which he gained back after killing me (ya, I had all 3 order markers on him).

I still love to play Nilfheim; its just that my brother rarely has a bad roll, and its really hard to win when not even Jotun can break 4 defense. Now if he was willing to learn some strategy...

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by killercactus

That's really Nilf's only drawback IMO - sometimes he can't land places.

If you have any sort of blockers out there for him, especially Reavers, he's amazing. He can just bounce around the board unchallenged, unchecked, killing at will. IMO, he makes Zelrig and Sujoah really bad, because he's just so much better for the same point total. I'll basically only even think about Zelrig if I'm going to run Nilfheim in the same army.

Yeah, although I haven't had many problems using him on Highways and Dieways. He can land on pretty much every one of those hills, unless your opponent places his figures in the right spot to deny it. All of my games with Nilfheim have given me a pretty good idea sense for where he can fit, so I'm rarely in the middle of the game cursing about his big wings.

I did play Zelrig in a tournament once simply because one map was so bad for Nilfheim placement. There was a high point central bridge with the walls on it. That'd be a great situation for Nilfheim, but unless you alter his wings or something, he can't land on the bridge at all. Zelrig was a total beast on that map though, and I beat two experienced players with him on it (s_p's Redcoats/Raelin and Codeman's arrow gruts). Zelrig's my second favorite dragon, and probably one of my top 10 favorite heroes.

Sujoah and the spiders need another Predator to get my attention. 2 defense melee is always rough.

Originally Posted by Simpsons Scaper

The easiest way to beat him, in my pinion is a) Boosted ranged squads (Kravs), b) Engage him with a powerhouse, like Sgt. Drake or Jotun or c) Do both. Engage hm and shoot him at the same time, in the same turn. Those are the only ways I can ever kill Nilfhiem.

Krav alone are't too scary, but Krav + Knights or Deathreavers are trouble. I usually smile when I see Krav if I've got Nilfheim though, because they need to get within clawing range to attack him unless they have Laglor.

Knights and Stingers are the two squads I fear the most when I play Nilfheim. Check that. Minions are at the top.

Originally Posted by Creationist

Stingers do the best for me. They can have 5 attack easily, and there can always be one to replace the last. The Krav may seem fine, but when Nilf engages them, youll be down 100 points. Besides, they only can have 4 attack before glyphs or powers from others.

I agree that Stingers are good, but they shouldn't have 5 attack that often. If you give Stingers height advantage with Nilfheim, you're doing it wrong.

Originally Posted by GreenLanturn

I've lost this big white dragon so many times . The last time I lost him my brother engaged him with Cyprien, and he never got off a chilling touch; he got off 3 attacks (in a row) of 3 skulls and that was the end of my dragon. I managed to do one wound; which he gained back after killing me (ya, I had all 3 order markers on him).

I still love to play Nilfheim; its just that my brother rarely has a bad roll, and its really hard to win when not even Jotun can break 4 defense. Now if he was willing to learn some strategy...

Yeah, Cyprien is rough. Theoretically, Nilfheim is favored 63/37 according to the matchup calculator, but I usually have such big plans for Nilfheim that I'll box him in with rats and find another way to kill Cyprien. I'm not comfortable with those odds.

[Zealot]

Originally Posted by Jexik

Yeah, Cyprien is rough. Theoretically, Nilfheim is favored 63/37 according to the matchup calculator, but I usually have such big plans for Nilfheim that I'll box him in with rats and find another way to kill Cyprien. I'm not comfortable with those odds.

Yet another reason why the Blastatron/Gladiatron combo is so awesome to pair with him.

Behold, the perfect army...

185 - Nilfheim
010 - Isamu
020 - Marcu
120 - Blastatrons x2
160 - Gladiatrons x2

It does everything, glyph grabbing, denying Marcu's betrayal, countering Cyprien with soulborgs, multiple ranged attacks, solid melee defense, multiple special attacks, hero killing, squad killing...
and the best part is that there are no A+ units. Wha ha ha ha.

---come to think of it, I wonder why I took Zelrig instead of Nilfheim in this army build to the Florida Frenzy 2 (NHSD 08, but then again, I still won. )

[2xHero]

Originally Posted by Zealot

Yet another reason why the Blastatron/Gladiatron combo is so awesome to pair with him.

Behold, the perfect army...

185 - Nilfheim
010 - Isamu
020 - Marcu
120 - Blastatrons x2
160 - Gladiatrons x2

It does everything, glyph grabbing, denying Marcu's betrayal, countering Cyprien with soulborgs, multiple ranged attacks, solid melee defense, multiple special attacks, hero killing, squad killing...
and the best part is that there are no A+ units. Wha ha ha ha.

---come to think of it, I wonder why I took Zelrig instead of Nilfheim in this army build to the Florida Frenzy 2 (NHSD 08, but then again, I still won. )

How about this twist on your army?

Kaemon Awa 120
Marcu 20 (140)
3x Gladiatrons 240 (380)
2x Blastatrons 120 (500)

Then you have even more Gladiatrons. Of course, then we aren't using Nilfheim in the Book of Nilfheim...