Hoffman Advice needed

[Manathias]

Hi all

Last night I played Hoffman for the first time, and had my a** handed to me. More than usual. 

My opponent was very pleasant and it was a fun game, but I would also like to win and I really like the idea behind Hoffman.

I tried to make the power loop work, but were very unlucky (2 RJ on Dam from Rasputina) and after that I had no core to my team.

How do you run Hoffman? Which upgrades do you take? Do you have any auto includes?

And when would you consider running Hoffman, when regarding the strats and schemes?

I know that Malifaux is a very versatile game, where you cannot make universal list. I am looking for advise on when and how to run Hoffman.

Thanks!

[longfanz]

Hi,

What list did you play? As far as I know Improved Harness is an auto include with him.

[Ludvig]

Improved harness and the one that lets Hoffman suck ap from a friendly are my preferred picks. Did you have the attendant so Raspy couldn't place her blasts in your bubble?

What did Hoffman do with his ap?

 

I don't pick master to suit the pool, I pick a master and try to tailor my lists for the pool. Hoffman can probably do anything but needs to consider how he does it. Against Rasputina I would try to leverage the middling defenses of her frozen heart buddies to harpoon them to come hang out with me. This should generally put them in a spot where she can't use them as mirrors and you can score whatever you need to score off them. Hoffman is one of the guild masters who can really do mobility schemes well with his pneumatic upgrades, you just need to keep your schemers safe and get in the opponent's face with your big guys.

In general any master getting two red jokers on your big guys will mess with your day. If that happens you really need to be smart about how you score points and try to not give them theirs.

[Manathias]

I played against Rasputina with this list

Hoffman

-Field mechanic

-Remote mines

5 stones cache

Mechanical Attendant

Witchling Handler

Guardian

2 Hunters

Watcher

2 Witchling stalkers

 

I am still fairly new and do not have that many models yet (Lady J crew, Sonnia Crew, Lucius Crew, Hoffman Crew, 2 Executioners and a Witchling Handler)

The strats and schemes were

Corner depoloyment

Symbols of Autority

Punish the weak

Recover Evidence

Set Up

Search the ruins (selected)

Take One For the Team (Selected)

[Manathias]

I had completely forgotten about the null field! Thanks, I will not forget it next time.

[Ludvig]

None of your models are really the big beaters that Hoffman wants and only the watcher will be a decent scheme runner. This pool puts a huge strain on mobility so I would prefer more scheme runners. I have a hard time seing how I would myself score any points on the strat in this game, a cunning opponent will single out the watcher in no time.

Punish the weak is a nice Hoffman scheme but you'll need a beefy non-minion for that.

Take one for the team is a tricky scheme but can give good payout, especially against a master that likes to do her own killing. Did you score from it?

Search the ruins can be decent if you can force the fight away from the middle and have an upgraded watcher put down all those markers in turn 4 and 5. It also depends on if the center is somewhat shielded so you can get there and start placing markers without the opponent blowing you off the board. On an open table I would probably not take it against a range-heavy crew.

Set up might have been possible with your hunters.

Recover evidence can be tricky, you need to know a little about how many opposing models that will be coming to you. If only Rasputina and a gamin stays behind you should be able to recover three pieces of evidence from models that moved forward more. You might also be able to make a watcher nimble and steal evidence right from under Rasputina's nose. In symbols the opponent should be moving models near you for scoring the strat which makes recover evidence a decent scheme in my eyes.

[Ludvig]

9 minutes ago, Manathias said:

I had completely forgotten about the null field! Thanks, I will not forget it next time.

The jokers would still hurt as hell but at least she wouldn't be hitting more models.

[Jammer2omega]

While I am far from an expert. I do suggest reading the pull my finger wiki about hoffman

 

http://pullmyfinger.minercreations.com/index.php?title=M2E_Hoffman

 

I typically run:

Hoffman

   Arcanist assets.

   Tesselating Magnet

   Field mechanic

Mechanical Attendant

Ryle

Rail golem w/ Numb to the world.

2x Guardian

2x Watcher

 

Power loop everything you can. 

Always at least 1 guardian. They have defense of 6. And ML of 7!!!

This gives everyone that is power looped those stats. But. This means all the units need to be close to Hoffman. So you often end up with a "death ball".

[Jammer2omega]

The hardest thing to get down with Hoffman is the timing. First turn you should avoid power looping. Unless against an opponent that can rush.

 

Second turn. Power loop first. So activate Hoffman first. Save a book or two. Everything stays power looped until Hoffman activates. So use the magnets to keep him out of trouble.

 

This way you can maximize power loop time.

And you can easily get three to five units power looped with two AP. With a few books.