Lucius or Hoffman?

[BreachBarfer]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to the hobby, and I'm looking to expand my Guild collection. I've currently only got Sonia Criid's starter crew (Sameal and 3 x Witchling Stalkers).

Mrs Breachbarfer has only allowed enough pocket money for me to get one more boxset really, and I'm torn between Lucius and his Elite Division set or C Hoffman and his constructs.

I really like the look of both (Especially Lucius himself) but I've learnt the lesson of buying on appearance only!

So, to you guys - which would be the best use of my pocket money!?

Thanks in advance

Breachbarfer

[dunce002917]

If you want to be able to use the minions from Sonnia's crew, get Hoffman.

If you want more models, get Lucius.

I played with the Hoffman box set and was impressed on how the synergies worked and was not as tough to play (you just have to read and understand Hoffman's stat card).

That being said, my Lucius box crew is on my painting table and will probably see action in 2-3 weeks.

From what I could tell (and heard from the Aethervox), Lucius is a great character to play but it is limited with the crew selection (special forces and guild guards only).

That being said, for more bang for your cash, get Hoffman.

my 2 soul stones..

[BreachBarfer]

If you want to be able to use the minions from Sonnia's crew, get Hoffman.

Thanks for that Dunce - How useable are Hoffmans constructs with Sonia - could I play Sonia and her minions with the addition of one of his constructs?

[dunce002917]

For starters, you can use the Guardian to protect Sonnia or any model in your crew.

The Watcher is a cheap objective grabber plus if you have pitiful enemies, old Batman (look at the model) will take care of that.

People are 50/50 on the Hunter. Some choose the Peacekeeper over the Hunter but I like the Hunter... it's relatively fast and the Ambush ability helps you against non-activated enemy models. At the very least, it's an awesome machine puppet for Hoffman.

[BreachBarfer]

Thanks for the advice Dunce, it's kind of you.

[dunce002917]

No problem. I'm just passing the kindness forward.. I'm new to Malifaux and these forums really helped me get into the game.

[HaggisMcMutton]

I have both Hoffman and Lucius, and I started Malifaux with the Sonnia Box set. IMHO, both sets are decent, but I would recommend getting Hoffman's box set over Lucius's box set. The hunter is an ok model, but the guardian and the watcher are definitely worth getting. The guardian can work well with sonnia's box set. The guardian can protect sonnia or my boy, Sam Hopkins, who are both two fairly squishy models. The watcher, well, is a freakin amazing model. The watcher is a 3 SS model that has a 6 inch move and is significant. A speedy model that can fly around grabbing objectives is uncommon for guild models. It can also do some deck manipulation or shoot at enemy models to remove their cover or terrifying, setting it up nicely for your other models to shoot. For me personally, it is as close to an 'auto-include' model as it gets for me. Hoffman's box set by itself is 17 (?) Soul Stones. C. Hoffman is a good master, also.

Lucius is a henchman, I personally find him weak as a master, maybe even the weakest of the henchman as masters. Lucius as a minion as a nice ability to slingshot a model forward, and he seems to work well with Lady Justice because of this. He is not really made to fight himself, but to order others to fight. He issues orders to friendly guardsman models to either move or make a strike. One of his zero actions is an aura that gives +2 CB to friendly guardsman models. His box set all can work with him, but I find it to be extremely weak. Guild guards work better in numbers, and the box set only comes with one. (altho if you want the female sculpt of the guild guard , the boxset is the only way to get it.) The captain works best with multiple guild guard. Ryle is decent, some seem to swear by him, I'm personally lukewarm about him. I don't have the lawyer, so I can't speak for him.

So my personal opinion is that Hoffman's boxset is a better option, and works better with Sonnia's boxset. Even if you later expand with Lady Justice's boxset or Perdita's boxset, I still say Hoffman's boxset would work better with them over using Lucius's boxset with them.

Edited April 17, 2012 by HaggisMcMutton

[Requirement]

I started with Lucius then bought Sonnia. I just recently got Hoffman. The thing I would say about Lucius with Sonnia is that you can have Sonnia as the master and basically just bring Lucius' box set as the crew giving you an awesome synergy side (from Lucius, who doesn't really need soul stones) while keeping the full power of Sonnia (who, as you know, loves to eat soul stones.) As much as I love Hoffman... and really, I am loving playing him, his box comes in at a whopping 17 stones. So, unless you plan on playing exclusively 25 stone games, you will be left wanting more, like a $30 Peacekeeper. (I assume Mrs. Breachbarfer wouldn't be too happy about that purchase *grins*) It is also important to note that while, yes, you can bring Samael and Witchling Stalkers with Hoffman, he gains no real benefit from it like he would bringing more constructs.

All in all if you want to add new feel and new models I would say go for Lucius. If you think you can convince the Mrs. to allow a little more than a box set (or if one of your friends gets you a gift card for a present), get Hoffman. And either way... see if you can sneak a Watcher in there... because seriously, they are pretty nifty.