I got the Hoffman crew a while back too, and had the same dilemma. I'm still kind of in love with the idea of brass, but I decided on a dirty, rusty steel look. Mostly because I knew how it would look, it would stand apart from my dark brown bases, and it would be fast and easy to paint. I'm a slow painter, so that last part is a pretty important point for me. Not only because I'd like to finish stuff, but also because I've fallen into the 'get everything'-trap, and after having played Malifaux for only a couple of months, I now have this Hoffman Guild crew, a well-fleshed Rasputina crew, an Ophelia crew, and I also just bought a Shenlong crew too.