Thinking of two crews to start

[Gorsk]

I would like to get into Malifaux with my wife by getting two crews that make for fun/balanced interactions.  Thematically, I love the gremlins (and pigs).  I am leaning towards the guild or maybe arcanists for my wife.  Ideally, the boxes would be good foundations for further expansions in each faction over time.

Would Somer vs Perdita or Ophelia vs Lady Justice be good starting pairings?  Or maybe Sonnia?

[Cinnamon Bear]

Perdita and Lady Justice are excellent for starting out. Sonnia might be a bit tougher to learn the game with and/or more devastating for poor gremlins caught up in her blast markers. I'm not a Gremlin player, but I've heard Ophelia is a great start (but has one of the most difficult kits to put together), and Somer is also a good choice but may involve a larger investment as he can wind up being a summoner.

Guild has some great masters for beginners, but out of Arcanists (which you also mentioned), I'll give a nod to Rasputina. Like Sonnia, she's more of a ranged caster who also lays down a lot of blasts. She functions really well with her crew box and with a minimum of other purchases (i.e. cheaper to get to a really solid level than other masters). Her crew box doesn't contribute as much to other Arcanists (although her thematic crew models December Acolytes, Silent Ones, and Blessed of December see play in other crews). On the other hand, all the Guild crew boxes you mention have fantastic models that are frequently used by others (Perdita, Justice, Sonnia).

[Grayfax]

Personally, I had my wife go through the masters on the Wyrd site and pick one.  I don't know if she read much detail or picked it because of the picture.  I don't care.  She will like that master because she picked it and over time we may add to it or switch factions, but I wanted her to have an investment in the game.  

[Dogmantra]

Ophelia, Som'er and Wong are all great starter boxes for Gremlins. They're solid generalist boxes on their own and contain quite a few models that are commonly seen in gremlin crews. The other gremlin crew boxes require a few more purchases to get them going.

I only really play Gremlins, but for starters for other factions some of the common suggestions are Perdita for guild, Rasputina for Arcanists, Seamus for Resurrectionists, Lilith for Neverborn, Von Schill for Outcasts and no idea for 10T, maybe Jacob Lynch?

Lady Justice is cool, but I'd recommend against her as a first buy vs gremlina unless your wife is set on her - she's very melee oriented and can have a tendency to get shot to pieces before she gets in range, and Gremlins have some of the best shooting in the game (particularly those three starter boxes) so it could end up being quite frustrating.

[Omenbringer]

I would add a small addendum to Dogmantra's post, Som'er while a great master is a bit steeper buy in as his crew box is really not enough to play him. You will want at least a box of Piglets to go along with it and also likely another box of Bayou Gremlins. Slop Haulers are also a fairly good initial purchase for whats in the Som'er crew box.

Given you like Gremlin's and Pigs I defintiely recommend Som'er as a first purchase, followed by Ophelia or Ulix As funds permit. Som'er shares a lot of cross over with those crews.

If you wife likes the Guild then I would recommend either the Ortega crew box or Lady Justices crew box. I would argue that the two boxes are fairly even in terms of melee versus ranged though Lady Justice is the more melee-centric of the two, while Perdita is the more range-centric. Pick up a box of Guild Austringers and she will be on pretty good terms with the Gremlins. Both those crews are relatively easy to learn and able to grow with experience.

[Gorsk]

Thanks for the suggestions!