ARO troopers are like sex toys, anything can be one if you try hard enough. Long range AROs are going to be Grunt Snipers or Minutemen ML in a Grunt Link, Marauder HRL in a Core or Haris is also popular. Blackjack sniper is a good roadblock too. Short Range AROs are easy due the proliferation of flamethrowers. Hardcases and Foxtrot BSGs take advantage of your ability to saturate the midfield with camo tokens and provide a nasty surprise. Desperado SMG and Maverick FO can quickly get to awkward spots and go into Suppression Fire. Inferior Infiltrating Grunts can land themselves in awkward places. Blackjack APHMG, Unknown Ranger, Rifle Bill, Foxtrot/Hardcase with rifle also make great Suppressive Fire speedbumps. Foxtrots have those mines too.
And don’t forget Desperadoes can dismount and get onto building or back in nooks and crannies. With the SSL1 and suppression, they can be really nasty speed bumps.
ARO’s are a weird thing with USARF. All of our long range pieces are decent, but can be overcome by a canny opponent. But so long as you can tar put your opponent to midfield, we have very strong counter attacks. A Marauder Haris with a Molotok can really punch above its weight. And if someone over extends, you can really punish them with Van Zant or even a basic Airborne Ranger.
There have been a number of great podcast interviews about playing US. There was one in particular that talked at great length about a soft defensive. Having a lot of rifles, mines, and shotguns out of LoS, but around corners, so they are engaged in their good range. I think it was White Noise, but I’ll have to go back and look.
After playing USARF exclusively for almost 3 years, I can vouch for the soft ARO. My most recent list doesn’t actually even have link teams in it.
Grain of salt, I wrote this for killing, ground control missions, with minor classifieds. Would NOT use this for Countermeasures, Unmasking, etc. USARF CQB────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 FOXTROT (Forward Observer) Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) FOXTROT (Forward Observer) Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) FOXTROT Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19) FOXTROT Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19) GRUNT (Inferior Infiltration) Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 11) GRUNT (Inferior Infiltration) Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 11) GRUNT (Inferior Infiltration) Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 11) GRUNT Lieutenant Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 10) VAN ZANT AP Rifle / Heavy Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 38) 112 Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 12) GROUP 2 6 2 2 GRUNT (Inferior Infiltration) Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 11) DOZER (Traktor Mul Control Device) Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) TRAKTOR MUL (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (0 | 5) TRAKTOR MUL (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (0 | 5) BLACKJACK T2 Sniper, Submachine Gun, Chest Mines / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 36) BLACKJACK AP HMG, Chest Mines, D.E.P. / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 36) DESPERADO Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / 2 Assault Pistols, CC Weapon. (0 | 13) DESPERADO Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / 2 Assault Pistols, CC Weapon. (0 | 13) 6 SWC | 300 PointsOpen in Infinity Army
I haven’t had a chance to try it out, but based off of how I played USARF and what I’ve been learning from playing MRRF, I think it could work well for me.
Hard AROs are things like Blackjack Snipers or a Grunt Sniper Link. Something that just relies on trading firepower with your opponent during reaction.Grunt flamers are a hard ARO. The hardcase is one of the best units in the sectorial. You really shouldn't leave home with out 2. I often bring all 3.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of defenses that you can mount in Infinity. The first is a couple of big ARO guns, snipers, missile launchers, etc, and just hope to punish your opponent for every order they spend. These units usually leverage MSV, fireteam boni, long ranges, and high damage or templates. These ARO pieces are usually a known factor on the table and do not hide much, at least after an initial attack. They work in an obvious fashion. The second is more of a "soft" approach. Using camo markers, unknown threats, and short-range weapons, you burn orders. The goal with this approach is not as much killing your opponent with every order spent, but making the order expenditure outweigh the gain. Multiple camo markers, especially ambush and mines, guns around a corner, etc. Under this approach, you might give a lot of ground, but you make them spend a lot of orders discovering camo tokens, navigating around threats, and going slowly. USARF does the second version really well, not so much the first. The sniper tower is tempting, but without visual mods or MSV, it ends up collapsing to more efficient enemy units.
I agree about the sniper tower. I found it to be very effective against newer players and someone who hasn’t dealt with it before. But playing against a skilled opponent, they break it apart fairly easy. That said, they still have to spend the orders doing it, which is why I don’t run more than two snipers in the link. Once you lose the SSL2 it’s a fairly useless link. I have also used the Sniper Blackjack, but have mostly only had success with him due to exceedingly lucky rolls every single time I use him. He rolls more crits than any other mode I’ve ever played with. Seriously, it’s about 50/50. It’s nuts. If I use him, it’s for lane control, not tower defense. Ground floor guarding restricted approaches and in cover. He doesn’t have to rely on winning the F2F with such good armor. When he’s on ground floor it’s also more difficult for the opponent to leverage multiple “tricks” against him.
Ye I was curious on the composition, as without FTs, I couldn't imagine any sectorial list. Like, is it full of II Grunts, camos, bikes and so on?
Pardon man, didn't see the list at first. Thanks, seems cool as hell to play, but having no FT makes me afraid lol
I don’t disagree, but I also think it could really mess with your opponents head. With all of those pieces right up on them, I’m not sure they would use Order economy well enough to prepare for Van Zant. Also with the highly mobile smoke and long range power of the Blackjacks, it wouldn’t be hard to open up a gap for him to deploy. Most people also probably would not expect the BS Foxtrot, which can be an absolutely brutal mistake. And if all the Grunts fail their dice to land, it could go bad quick. But it also has the potential to be a turn one Knock Out. I don’t like relying on dice, but man, I can’t wait to try this list out.