Hoffman crew

[Trevelyan]

I now have a Hoffman crew. Initially I saw his boxed set as a quick way to provide LEveticus with some interesting constructs and give Perdita some backup in the odd brawl at the same time, but after opening the box and the Peacekeeper I bought along with it, I'm falling in love with the models and rather eager to try him on his own merits.

So beyond the boxed set, what should I be looking to use in a Hoffman crew? Ideally I'd like to keep things fairly thematic and construct focused. Is it worth getting another Hunter? they seem to have a poor reputation. How many watchers do I need? What am I overlooking?

[Cadilon]

I am a big Hoffman fan, so I am glad to see you're buying into him.

After the box set, I'd buy a second Guardian, a second Watcher, a Mechanical Attendant, and a Mobile Toolkit. I'd skip the second Hunter. I bought a second, and frankly I've never used either one.

After those, I'd consider Ryle. You'll also want to keep some money set aside to get a Warden or two once they are released here (hopefully) very soon.

[TimeLapse]

I would buy another watcher, the attendant and ryle.

Wardens when they come out, One Guardian is enough two maybe at 45+ss games but then again that's just crazy.

I have had some fun with the steamborg executioner, SPA Swarms they have some interesting things that Hoffman can copy.

I have had some success with the following 35ss list

Hoffman with a 6ss cache

Attendant 3ss

Peacekeeper 9ss

Steamborg executioner 11ss

SPA swarm 10ss

7 constructs when the swarm brakes apart. I also play with 1 watcher and a Guardian instead of the SPA swarm depending on the game.

the spiders melee +2 is fun to copy. the Steam borg's steam-cloud is handy and when he is puppet-ed he is a death dealer with crit strike! also decapitate if fun since it damages and uses the trigger effect. Its an nice model and when paired with the peace keeper your opponent will not know witch one to deal with.

Edited May 1, 2012 by TimeLapse

[Cadilon]

Guardian is enough two maybe at 45+ss games but then again that's just crazy.

I've used two a number of times. Mostly for strategies where I want to add to the protect chain.

[Trevelyan]

I've used two a number of times. Mostly for strategies where I want to add to the protect chain.

Would I be right in thinking that the protect chain is where you have one guardian protect another guardian while the second guardian protects a target (possibly Hoffman who protects a third model?) enabling you to spread the wounds along the chain to whoever can take them while the other members of the chain heal? That seems like a fairly effective tactic, although it does mean you are moving with a large block of constructs. Does it become challenging to keep everyone in position for that sort of tactic?

[TheUnseemlyOne]

That's pretty much the jist of it. I normally have Hoffman assimilate protect and cast it on a peace keeper, while one guardian protects Hoffman, and the other can eith protect Hoffman or the other guardian as needed. As for mobility, it isn't too terrible with the guardians using overprotective to move into base contact at the end of every turn. It just means that sometimes you have to hold off on using the peace keepers relentless and getting too far ahead.

[Headcase2]

T..., while one guardian protects Hoffman, and the other can eith protect Hoffman or the other guardian as needed.

Remember that a model can only have 1 instance of Protect on it (stacking rules), so if Guardian 1 has Protect up on Hoffman and Guardian 2 casts protect on him, the first Protect will drop off.

[TheUnseemlyOne]

Remember that a model can only have 1 instance of Protect on it (stacking rules), so if Guardian 1 has Protect up on Hoffman and Guardian 2 casts protect on him, the first Protect will drop off.

If my understanding is correct it will in this case as it's not a cumulative effect. I of course could be wrong, but I don't think so.

[Cadilon]

The way Protect is worded, you can't split Wds anyway so it doesn't matter. They have to take all or nothing. A PK-->H-->G-->G chain works just as well without trying to double dip the two Guardians on Hoffman.

---------- Post added at 04:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 PM ----------

Also, if you really want to get crazy, you can have Hoffman's totem cast Protect as well via magical extension. It isn't going to add a large number of Wds to the Hoffman Chain Gang Wound Pool™, (5 from Mech. Attendant and 3 from Mobile Toolkit), but it might help if you are surprised by a large amount of damage that would kill one of your other models. Just shuffle the Wds to the end and kill the totem instead.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Cadilon

[TheUnseemlyOne]

I wasn't trying to imply that you could split wounds. Just at times it may be advantageous to reorganize the protect chain, if a guardian was in danger of being killed for example.