Chasseur ADHL going from 0.5 SWC to 0 SWC is big. I've always been an oddball fan of them, and in this heavier meta, I like the threat that any camo token could have a very affordable ADHL hiding underneath. However, sad to say, but I feel like the best use for a lot of MRRF's models (Metro Panzerfausts, Chasseurs, dogged Zouaves HMG Sappers who for 1 CP can start in suppression) are when plugged into a vanilla list, which is a bit of shame, since you want sectorials to be able to stand on their own and add something more than what they could do in a vanilla force. I'm sure there are some tricky things that MRRF could do, but with the TW limit, I just can't see how MRRF have their own niche to compete against much more optimized armies that are bringing equivalent numbers to the table. Also, imagine saying to someone that Camo-ed Metros would be good. As if 2020 could get anymore wild.
For each random merc they add to the army, we loose the slot for a proper new MRRF troop or character. Overall I'm quite disappointed with the update, I'm also concerned about the balance and the quality of design for each faction. It feels like they have way too many factions to be able to give proper attention to each one. If the game keeps going in this direction with powercreep and no intention of proper balance, just adding new random armies and NA2 factions based on army boxes stiched together like a monster I will loose the interest about the game.
Honestly faction bloat is already a major issue for the larger factions, where you have several different models that already do the same thing but slightly differently (see: the FIVE different flavors of Ariadna Line Troops, basically the entirety of Military Orders, etc.). If there's already a model that does the job you want and it makes sense for that faction to have access to it I don't see a reason to introduce yet another sculpt into an already strained production environment. MRRF is a TINY unit in the fluff compared to the other Ariadnan sectorials, let alone compared to full-blown armies like IA or Onyx. It doesn't make a ton of sense for them to have dozens of different troop types spanning the range from LI to TAG. Mercs are a fluff-established way for them to augment their roster and increase the viability of the faction without further bloating Vanilla.
I really feel kosmoflot could have had line kazaks. Metros, Volunteers and Rokots all pretty much do the exact same thing with a bit of factional flavor. And the Rokots are only getting a bare pass because the other two are from retired armies.
Exactly. PanO gets Orcs with different rules for their various sectorials; why couldn't they make a "Militia" unit and do the same for Ariadna? CHA already has the 45th Rifles as their own unique brand of LI, and the differences between most of the others are mostly superficial. They could even keep making unique sculpts for the different factions like they do for Orcs/Fusiliers/etc.
List concept for the MRRF that essentially dispenses with links all together and leans very heavily into the fact that Metros are regular Daylami. Knauf is an active turn piece only, and is there to solve anything that a coordinated Panzerfaust strike can't. I can see the the Group 2 being a real pain for armies to chew through, especially the Zouave HMG who starts in suppression, and the Zouave Sniper who has full flexibility to deploy real far back with sapper protection. The reason I dispensed with the core links is that I'm still not convinced about the veracity of even a Metro core with wildcard or a Briscard link in this day and age where Ko Dali can just drop into smoke and kill anything that she sees, or where other wildcard links can take -6 mimetism shooters and rather easily run roughshod over any non-marker ARO defence Ariadna could put up. My take is that if you go very hard on camo, worst case scenario is that the enemy's firepower is cut in half as even if they are mega efficient and hit all their discovers, it still bogs down their active turn. And with no sniffer bots, sensor is nowhere near as efficient as it used to be. I can very much see myself applying this extremely camo-heavy approach to vanilla Ariadna as well, except in vanilla Ariadna, I have more options about what to put under tokens than just Metros with Panzerfausts. Another thing I didn't like about the MRRF update is that they didn't get any faction-specific profiles. I would have liked to see some MRRF-only NCO Paracommandos, or even NCO Chasseurs, that allows MRRF to play around the hard 15-model limit. Like these are the top-tier French commandos who only work under the direct auspices of the MRRF and are not loaned out to vanilla Ariadna operations. It would have really helped sell the fact that MRRF, while being a small part of Ariadna's total forces, when it works solely in-house is a very tactical and well-trained force.
I’m starting to wonder if this is the route to go a well. Though I still like the idea of a dual biscard sniper with Moblot engineer, paramedic, and lt. I get weird about having lots of specialists in general though. But my thought if you have those dual snipers watching over all the camo it is really going to start blogging down active turn orders. Once the two Biscards are dead, I still have the Moblots to reforge a link with Bruant and a spare metro.
I'm always a fan of defensive links, tried to go for something similar with the Zouave Sapper Sniper and the Metro PF spam. However, b/c of TW, I'm very conscious of slot real estate; I'm still not sure if I can keep that premium Briscard link safe, nor am I sure that the extra bodies to keep that link fueled up are worth sacrificing potential troop slots for metro panzerfausts. That's in large part why I was wary of including unmarkered Metros to throw into links. In N3, you could throw those 8 point bodies in rather freely, but in N4, those 8 point bodies are taking up a slot that could be a more premium trooper. Due to the model limit, there's a real opportunity cost to the 8-point rifle metro that just isn't expressed in points. There's definitely ideas worth exploring - and that's what I like about Infinity, in that players can have that same goals in list building, but go about achieving those goals in different ways.
Here's my bad idea: Heavy Kermit ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 7 1 ANACONDA AP Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / AP CC Weapon. (1.5 | 56) OPERATOR Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 0) MOBLOT (Engineer, Deactivator) AP Rifle, Light Shotgun, D-Charges ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 27) ALGUACIL (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 15) MÉTRO Heavy Machine Gun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 19) MÉTRO Rifle, Grenade Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 12) MÉTRO (Paramedic) Rifle ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 10) MÉTRO (Lieutenant) Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 8) GROUP 2 6 2 ANACONDA Heavy Machine Gun, Chain-colt, Panzerfaust / AP CC Weapon. (1.5 | 55) OPERATOR Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 0) MOBLOT (Engineer, Deactivator) AP Rifle, Light Shotgun, D-Charges ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 27) WARDRIVER (Hacker, Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 14) CHASSEUR (Forward Observer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Flash Pulse, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 20) CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 20) MÉTRO (Camouflage [1 Use], Infiltration]) Rifle, Panzerfaust / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12) WARCOR (Sixth Sense) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3) 6 SWC | 298 Points Open in Infinity Army General plan is to ensure at least one Annie and their Moblot Engineer chaperone survives Turn One so you can throw it into a weakened army and break it. Chasseurs and the Metrofaust keep alpha-strikers away with various threatening pieces of kit while the two Hackers are there to babysit the TAGs, kick any Possession attempts out and inconvenience anything attacking the DZ with their debuffs. Group 1 has a full Metro link with the Alguacile for a competent backup attacker when the TAGs aren't the tool for the job or have already smashed themselves against the enemy defenses.
