Advice for a New Hoffman/Sonnia Player

[Claymore65]

Hello. I have a friend who just recently got into Malifaux, and he chose guild as his faction. He got the Hoffman Starter Box, the Sonnia Starter Box, and a Peacekeeper (for Hoffman obiviously). He's looked most of the advice on the pullmyfinger wiki, but I was wondering what other advice I could give him? I'm looking for a couple of specific things:

-Tips on activation order/general playstyle tips for Hoffman: last time he played the Hoff, it didn't go so well for him (my Freikorps team slaughtered him). Part of the problem was poor choice of activations and not getting into melee fast enough

-Tips for playing Sonnia: Sonnia seems much easier than Hoff, with a misplaced activation less likely to ruin everything and easier overall strategy (she kills things with fire, her witchlings want to get into melee, etc.). Still, any general tips would be helpful.

-Tips on good models to get later for both Hoff and Sonnia: He's a little unsure on what to get for both of his forces. He thinks he should get a Warden or 2 for Hoffman, one to replace the Hunter and another for general use. For Sonnia, he doesn't know much yet, he hasn't played many games but he thinks the Witchling Handler sounds pretty cool. What other units are good for her (Executioner?).

Thanks for any help you can give.

[DocMoen]

As far as additional models to buy:

Hoff: Warden(s) and an additional Watcher are really good investments, Ryle can also be good in some situations and you will want to get either a Mech Attendant or Mobile Toolkit depending on play style. Clockwork traps (once they are released) could prove to be worth-while as well.

Sonnia: Witchling Handler, Nino and/or Santiago Ortega, Executioner, Sue and an Austringer are all good investments.

As Hoffman tactica, starting out just tell him to do his absolute best at keeping all of his constructs as close to him as possible, use Machine Puppet on the Peacekeeper a lot and to not be over-aggressive as Hoff has a lot of defensive options and can often allow the enemy to come to him. Take a look at the Protection String mentioned in other posts on here also, it can make a huge difference. Learning and winning with Hoffman can be a little more daunting than the other Guild masters, but definitely worth it.

[Somer Victor]

I agree with Doc but like to follow up with some Sonnia tactica. I like to play her passive aggressive style. Her spells have ranges of 10 and 12 inches which is decent but can easily leave her in sniper range or even charging range for Nephilim. Having the Witchling stalkers close by to intercept charging models is helpful plus they have a (0) Disrupt Magic which is useful ANY time.

As for sonnia try to get her to a decently defend-able spot close to the middle of the board but not in the open. Next to hard cover is great because of the negative flip and Armor 1 bonus when attacked by ranged strikes. If Sonnia's finds herself alone or in combat inferno can be daunting enough dissuade your enemy from coming too close or staying there. Save high cards (tomes if you don't want to waste the soul stone for Confiscated Lore) for Flame Burst. Don't be afraid to cheat and waste a stone or two to beef this up cuz moderate and severe damage has 2 and 3 blasts counters with a spread of 2/3/5 (important side note: remember to cheat AND spend a stone for spells because they don't work like combat duels where you go back and forth you must alter your spell duel total with one or both before your opponent can alter theirs). Flame Wall is cool but mainly used for board manipulation purposes I rarely use it. Violation of Magic is awesome but situational as well. For one thing there are plenty of models with a cast of 5 or higher but the damage is also dependent on the higher cast to do more damage (1 Wd + 1 Wd per point Ca is over 5) But the benefit being you summon a witchling if the model dies. Also keep in mind her Abilities they are very cool and useful if you remember them. Advanced Counterspell should stop most spells from coming your way as long as you have the cards and remember the timing you must annouce it before your opponents "starting casting total is generated". Magic Seeker comes in handy when hunting down would be spellcasters or for targeting masters like Rasputina. And if in melee the Runed Blade is fairly Anti magic so anything with spells loses the ability to cast them and if they have a casting of 6 or more you gain a positive twist on the attack flip plus it being magical fills it out.

So in essence keep her crew close and blast away.

If your friend is a fan of using Hopkins then remember flip for Flaming Bullets every turn it's a (0) action it's cast is 14 unsuited, worst case you cycle out a low card, or +2 dg with ranged strikes.

His other spells need crows but still pretty nifty, Arrest is good for picking off the enemy's hand and Snare is while shorter in range 6" as opposed to 12" for Arrest it can be handy for stopping an unactivated minion from moving by forcing a Cb duel 15. They fail the duel they can't move until they win the duel. If you do put Hopkins in melee be mindful that his Huntin' Tools can dole out a -2 Wk to enemy's damaged by it, with the the auto trigger Critical Strike or the Drain Magic if there's a crow in the attack flip.

Anyways hope this helps. I too am a big guild fan and also play the Ortega's and Lady Justice so my tips are here for the giving.

[Argentbadger]

I love Sonnia Criid, so I’ll weigh in here with a few things I’ve picked up in my games.

If you’re facing anyone with an Obey (or similar) spell then either keep Samael very close to Sonnia or very far away. If he’s close you can drop cards for Advanced Counterspell, and if he’s far away then he won’t be able to shoot you. Having Samael forced to shoot Sonnia is very bad news.

As stated by Somer Victor, keep the Witchling Stalkers up front to stop anyone from getting into melee with Sonnia. She’s not terrible in melee, but I think she’s generally better served by fighting on her own terms rather than getting charged by some nasty beater. This also has the advantage that the Stalkers are in a good place to shoot with Flame Bursts to drop blasts on bunched up or high defence models. Try to keep them far enough apart that they don’t hurt each other by exploding.

Don’t be afraid to cast Violation of Magic on your own models if they’re down to a single wound left, especially if they’ve already activated or are likely to die before you get more use out of them. Obviously it’s great to turn an enemy into a new Stalker but it is just as helpful to ‘recycle’ your own minions at times. Watch for models with Hard to Kill as that helpfully stops them on that last wound.

I like the Witchling Handler but I think it really benefits from good positional play with the Stalkers so that you can push them where you want to go rather than just reacting to other movement.

For other models to get, I’ve had a lot of success from the Ortega box set. Not only do you get another master to play with, but all the Ortegas are good to take here and there. They also don’t compete with the Witch Hunters for tomes or rams (much) since they mostly want masks for their own triggers.