Steam: Ramos or Hoffman

[Iron Heel]

Hello,

I'm brand new to Malifaux and am considering getting my first crew. I'm interested in painting up some steampunk stuff so Ramos and Hoffman come to the fore.

Help me choose between them.

What are their playstyles like?

Thanks for your opinions.

[Drazosh]

One of my regular opponents plays both, so I will try to explain them some.

Hoffman is focused on synergy; his crew defines his abilities, and he makes them better at theirs. He can be surprisingly nimble thanks to Drawn to Metal pulling him along behind his constructs, and Assimilate tricks can make him astonishingly difficult to kill until his constructs - who are usually loaded with Armor - are cleared from the table. He tends to lead from the middle or near-back of his crew in a sort of turtle so he can use his tricks - such as Machine Puppet - to handle problems as they come up. The Watcher(s) and the Hunter, if included, may range out a bit, though. Constructs are his thing and, while some non-constructs may occasionally come in handy, the core of his crews will most probably revolve around them. He can hire a few of the Arcanist constructs, though, so he does not lack options.

Ramos, on the other hand, tends to lead from the extreme back; many Ramos players never bother to move him much from the deployment area, largely due to a low Df, relatively low speed, and generally having better things to do with his AP than walk around. Mostly, he sits back and summons Steampunk Arachnids and Electrical Creations - the latter being more of a floating bomb - to wear his opponents down. Electrical Fire, his ranged blast, can be a surprisingly effective deterrent for keeping enemies away while he continues his summoning. His crews tend to depend less on Ramos directly save maybe the little spiders, so there may not be as much of a driving need to primarily use constructs if another model would be more effective for the situation.

Avatar Ramos bears mentioning, as well. It changes his style from the back-line summoner and blaster into a hopping melee beatstick that largely dashes around the table at an absurd speed and bludgeons enemies into insensibility. His summoning remains, and in fact expands to cover slightly larger constructs such as the Large Steampunk Arachnid.

Overall, I'd recommend Hoffman if you want to be more focused on enhancing and controlling your crew, or Ramos if you want to be more of a back-line caster and summoner with the capacity to manifest, jump in, and do some damage up close.

[dsmiles]

Drazosh covered it pretty well, and I play both Ramos and Hoffman. I'll add a little bit:

Ramos can hire the Arcanist Special Forces (M&SU Assets) with no restrictions, and a few of the Guild constructs (all the ones with Shared Tech) as well. His hiring options are very diverse. In a brawl, as long as Ramos is your primary Master, he can take Hoffman as his secondary Master. A crew like that is amazingly versatile.

Hoffman can't freely hire any Special Forces, but is well-served by taking Ryle or Soulstone Miners (can't have both). Ryle is an offensive powerhouse, and the Soulstone Miners (with some Assimilate shenanigans) allow Hoffman to stay out of sight most of the game, only popping his head up during his activation. I haven't used Hoffman as a primary in a brawl, since If I want to use Hoffman in a brawl, I probably want to use Ramos as well.

[micahwc]

I play Hoffman but have only played against Ramos a few times.

Hoffman needs only a few constructs to be effective. Therefore, espesially in a larger game, Hoffman benefits from taking a henchman. Hoffman and Lucius work very well together in these games. Basically you play a Lucius army with Hoffman and a few added constructs. Hoffman doesn't recieve any benefit from having more than 5 constructs on the table.

I think that a Hoffman versus Ramos scrap would be a lot of fun.