Building out of the Crew Box
Hoffman has a solid starting box, but he also has a TON of options when it comes to what models to add to it. Hoffman has a very diverse hiring pool between the Guild models and Arcanist M&SU constructs he can hire through his Arcanist Assets upgrade, so deciding what to get next can be difficult. I personally recommend getting a second Watcher & a Peacekeeper before you go too far down the rabbit hole; having a pair of Watchers to run marker based schemes is awesome, and the Peacekeeper is a solid choice of beatsticky tank. These models also run well with other Guild crews, which is a bonus. Play a couple of games with just these models to get an idea for how Hoffman works before you start looking into other models, as it will make deciding what you want to buy next a lot easier. When you start feeling comfortable with the models you have & start looking to add more, my next recommendation is to pick up the Ramos crew box. Howard Langston, Joss, & Steam Arachnid Swarms are all amazing with Hoffman (for reasons we'll break down later), and the plastic sculpts are gorgeous. If you don't want to grab a crew box whose Master and Totem you can't use, then find yourself 2 or 3 Soulstone Miners and a Ryle. The Rail Golem is also a good choice, and a lot of players recommend picking up Metal Gamin as well. You can also look at Guild Wardens, as they're very solid for their price. I'd suggest a buying order that goes roughly like this:
Hoffman Box -> 2nd Watcher & a Peacekeeper -> min 2 Soulstone Miners -> Ramos Box -> Metal Gamin & Rail Golem -> Ryle -> Wardens/Mobile Toolkit
This is just a skeleton idea, you can swap model order around as you like and add whatever you like to it. I've probably missed a few models, but getting all of this together and getting comfortable with it on the table top should keep you busy for a while.
A Tool for Every Job
I tend to mentally divide Hoffman's hiring pool into 3 seperate categories: Scheme Runners, Tanks/Beatsticks, & Support Pieces. We're going to go into each of these categories seperately and break down what models go into each and why they're there. There are several models that are going to fall into different categories, but that's okay.
Scheme Runners
With Hoffman your main Scheme Runners are going to be Watchers and Soulstone Miners. Soulstone Miners are among the best Scheme Runners in the game due to their ability to start the game buried and unbury anywhere on the board that's not within 6 inches of an enemy model or the enemy deployment zone. A pair of Soulstone Miners can almost guarantee you Outflank on Corner/Flank Deployment, and can help accomplish any marker based scheme as well (such as Breakthrough, Protect Territory, Plant Evidence, etc). The only drawback to Soulstone Miners is they won't benefit much from Hoffman's buffing abilities (such as his Modification Upgrades and crew healing) just because they'll tend to run further away from the main body of your crew so they can get markers down in more remote locations. Watchers are solid scheme runners for any Guild master, but given Hoffman's Modification Upgrades become even more effective. If you run 2 Watchers (which if you're playing Hoffman chances are you should be) you'll want to give one Watcher the Hydraulics upgrade & the other Programmed Directive. By making one Nimble and giving the other cheaper Interact Actions a pair of Watchers can pump out up to 4 scheme markers a turn (hello A Line In The Sand) for as long as they're on the board and unengaged. Hunters are going to get a mention here as well because their Prowl ability and Wk 5 can make them decent scheme runners in a pinch. The nice thing about Hoffman's scheme runners is that they're decently survivable due to their Armour +1 and mobility, but make sure you keep your Miners and Watchers away from enemy models so they can do their thing unmolested.
Tanks/Beatsticks
If there's one thing Hoffman does and does well is he makes models that are already strong even more powerful. Models that tank damage well tend to deal damage just as well, and Hoffman has a couple ways of upping both of those tendencies. The primary models in this category are the Peacekeeper, Howard Langston, Ryle, the Rail Golem, Steam Arachnid Swarms, & Joss. All of these models will work well with the Patchwork Plating upgrade (an Armour +3 Peacekeeper is ridiculous), and the Peacekeeper & Ryle benefit highly from the Targeting Systems upgrade (an extra Ram for Critical Strike is always nice, and being able to auto-trigger Ryle's Raking Fire is just magical). Hydraulics is another solid modification so long as you haven't given it to one of your scheme runners already. Steam Arachnid Swarms get included in this category because once you've Power Looped in a model like Howard Langston or the Guardian to make them Ml 7 their Overwhelm trigger can become surprisingly powerful, especially when you factor in their Strength in Numbers ability. This makes them sneaky and unexpected beatsticks, and they're nice for removing enemy scheme markers with their Decouring Swarm (0) action. Due to their high cost you often won't be running more than 1 or 2 of these models in your crew, so make sure you give some consideration as to what the schemes and strategies are before you hire one. If you're playing something like Turf War or Reckoning you'll want to be using Hoffman's heals and Machine Puppets to keep them alive and crammed down your opponents' throats. Use your Machine Puppets to get them in position without using any of their AP (shoot for the double Ram trigger if possible to make them Fast before they activate), this way they can focus on using their AP to either clear models out of your way or score you VP. By playing agressively with your Tanks/Beatsticks you can pull your opponent's attention off of your scheme runners, but be careful about which crews you're aggressive against. Anything that can ignore your Armour or prevent your heals will be very problematic and should be handled carefully (ex: the Viks or Von Schill in combat).
Support Pieces
Your support pieces include the Mechanical Attendant, Metal Gamin, the Guardian, the Mobile Toolkit, Wardens, and Hunters. These pieces can be used as backup scheme runners, or help buff your tanks/beatsticks. Hunters are great for pulling enemy models out of position & can do a decent amount of damage on their own, which makes them ideal for either clearing out enemy Minions/scheme runners or softening up bigger targets for your tank/beatstick to finish off later. The Mechanical Attendant offers condition removal for Hoffman, and his Null Field ability is great against Nephilim crews (Black Blood) or crews that rely on Blasts (like Sonnia or Rasputina). The Mobile Toolkit is useful for buffing your models by passing out Armour +1, or making them more dangerous by giving them Plus flips to Ml actions or a Plus flip to damage. A lot of players like bringing along at least 1 Metal Gamin because when Power Looped in Hoffman can get up to Ca 10, which makes most of his Tactical Actions almost automatically go off, and their Protection of Metal can be nice as well. Wardens work well as back up scheme runners due to their survivability, and are great at softening up enemy models. The Guardian is a popular choice because of his high Df & Ml stats, which when Power Looped in help buff your other models significantly (for example: a Df 6, Ml 7 Rail Golem will make your opponent cry, especially when you make it Nimble through Hydraulics). Depending on which models you choose you're best off running your Support Pieces at mid-range; some of them can do well in melee and will survive contact with the enemy (Wardens/Hunters/the Guardian), and the others you'll want to keep away from enemy models so you can use their benificial abilities to buff your crew and help run schemes (Metal Gamin/Mechanical Attendant/Mobile Toolkit).
Upgrades
The 2 upgrades you should never leave home without are Field Mechanic and Arcanist Assets. Arcanist Assets lets you hire Arcanist M&SU constructs out of faction and gives you the brilliant Frantic Repairs (0) action. Even if you don't plan on bringing any Arcanist constructs I recommend bringing this upgrade because it's cheap and really bumps up your healing abilities, and it works well with your Modification Upgrades. Field Mechanic is a must take in my opinion just because the Modification Upgrades are so incredibly useful, and really lets you tailor your crew to the Schemes and Strategy even further. Remote Mines is useful against Resurrectionists or crews with Lures, but the Detonate action's short range can make it hard to use and competes for the use of Scrap markers, which you need for healing and some of your Modification Upgrades. On Site Assimilation is a situational choice in my book: making Hoffman Fast is awesome, but it requires you to make one of your other models Slow, and the O.S.A. attack action can be difficult to use effectively if you don't plan it out properly.
Picking the Right Tool for the Job
Hoffman is a good master for Turf War, Stake a Claim, Squatter's Rights, and Reckoning; but the crews he will run with for each are very different. A general skeleton for a Hoffman crew is Hoffman with Field Mechanic & Arcanist Assets, 1 or 2 beatsticks/tanks, 1 or 2 scheme runners, and add support pieces to taste. For Turf War and Reckoning your crew should focus more on tanks/beatsticks with a pair of scheme runners for marker based schemes. When running a crew based mostly around tanks/beatsticks for Turf War/Reckoning you'll be looking for schemes like Murder Protege, Make them Suffer, Take a Prisoner, Assassinate, & Frame for Murder. If you include a pair of scheme runners you'll want to take schemes like Breakthrough, Protect Territory, Plant Evidence/Explosives, Power Ritual, & A Line in the Sand. If you flip Stake a Claim or Squatter's Rights you'll generally want to focus more on scheme runners and support pieces, with a smaller number of tanks/beatsticks. In Squatter's Rights/Stake a Claim you'll want to focus more on marker based schemes over killing schemes, because usually these Strategies focus more on interacts than killing other models. Every game is different, so every crew should be built according to the strategy & scheme pool. There are times when you'll want to bring more tanks/beatsticks to Squatter's Rights/Stake a Claim, and vice versa.
Where to Put Hoffman
There are two basic ways to run Hoffman: in the Hoff-ball or in Marker Domination. The Hoff-ball focuses on having Hoffman stay closer to the tanks/beatsticks, passing out heals/Power Loops/Machine Puppets as necessary. The Hoff-ball generally works well in Turf War/Reckoning & killing heavy scheme pools, and generally consists of 1 or 2 tanks/beatsticks that are Power Looped together (like a Peacekeeper & Howard Langston for example) to make an unkillable ball of death that ties up and murders your opponent's crew while the scheme runners do their thing. The Hoff-ball is very powerful because it shares around stats to make models better & takes a ton of work to dismantle and kill, but it is not infallible. The Hoff-ball's main weakness is the fact that it has to run very close together, which makes it succeptible to Blasts and loses a lot of it's potency once it starts to lose models, especially if Hoffman goes down. It can also be weak versus crews with Lures or abilities that move your models around, as it relies on proximity to function to it's maximum potential. Marker Domination works best for Stake a Claim/Squatters Rights & marker heavy schem pools because in this case Hoffman will run with the scheme runners. By having Hoffman hitch a ride off of a Watcher you can use his AP to move your scheme runners into position and drop markers outside their activations, so they can continue to do so with their own AP. Running Hoffman this way makes him incredibly mobile, and makes Entourage on Hoffman surprisingly easy to score. You''ll still want to bring a tank/beatstick or two with you when running Hoffman with your scheme runners to help defend against enemy scheme runners, otherwise you won't be able to deny your opponent VP from their schemes. Marker Domination takes a lot of thought to pull off, be very careful to keep away from the enemy crew because once your scheme runners start to go down it'll become very hard to drop all the markers you need to max out your VP. Be prepared to sacrifice models to keep other models alive if it'll help you score your VP, and make sure you always have a model for Hoffman to hitch a ride off of.
Ther really isn't a lot that can't be done with a properly set up Hoffman crew, but be careful about how you manage your resources. You'll be using your soulstones for damage prevention on Hoffman, extra cards, and suits on Hoffman or your Henchman. Make sure you go into each game with a plan as to how you're going to accomplish your schemes and the strategy, and what models are going to do what. Like with most crews once you start losing models it becomes harder to get things done, so make sure you prioritize your heals accordingly. Hoffman acts as the keystone in all of his crews, so do what you can to keep him alive throughout the game unless him dieing will help you score your VP. I talked mostly about running Hoffman with Constructs, as that's what I mostly tend to run with him, but most Guild models can work well with him as well. Take some time to figure out what works best for you according to your personal tastes; see if you prefer to go all Construct or mix in some living models, and get some practice with both the Hoff-ball and Marker Domination. With a little practice and some thought you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish. Hopefully this helps a few people out and isn't too boring of a read, thanks for checking it out!
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