Random thoughts on what I would one day like to see for our favorite french army. Metros- are great! Paracommandos- also wonderful Loup-Garous- really do need something to replace the stun grenades they had. I vote for breaker pistols. Or BS Attack viral that way all of their attacks could hurt the dog faces as is what they are made for. Zouaves- would be a great spot to add in some much needed smoke grenades. And mimetism. Right now they serve as mid field roadblocks that can ARO effectivly with their panzerfaust. But only having PH 10. In a faction that usually has high PH is disappointing. Briscards- Climbing Plus would fit thematically as would the Veteran skill. Moblots- are now wonderful. NWI could be very helpful as MRRF as a whole is very squishy. And let the sapper option have and AP HMG please, pretty please. Anaconda- miniturize that bad boy to size 6, give it a smoke grenade launcher, msv1 and +1B then call it "The Bee" BOOM! Ariadna would finally have its TAG. Brigidier Bruant- surprisingly does not have surprise attack. Could really benefit from it. Would like to see a couple of new units but that may be pie in the sky. What are yalls thoughts?
Agreed on most counts! Especially Bruant needing Surprise Attack... not having it seems like an oversight. And Loup-Garous do need a new role. BS Attack (Viral) is a really good idea for them. Also maybe a Discover bonus on one profile? Disagree that Zoaves need smoke. Not having smoke on anything but Duroc is kind of a signature weakness for FRRM. And Zoaves in general do need a boost, but putting them in the Chasseurs' territory doesn't feel right. Maybe letting them Haris... FD 8 with Haris, even on weaker troops, would be pretty great. Makes them a much more serious roadblock. As a special -strength- for Ariadna, I would like to see the Merovingians get just a little more of the tiny taste of hacking they have now. The Alguacile Hacker in Metro links was a good start for that, marking Merovingia as the point where some outside-world stuff leaks into Ariadna. A small tweak to give them more coverage would do. Put a deployable repeater on one of the Zoaves, job done.Pitchers would be way too much, but some dep reps on a forward deploying unit just feels right (and very french-light-infantry). Giving FRRM the ability to create a basic hacker net would also make FRRM a potentially nasty Guided Missile force too using the Muls, which is unique for Ariadna again (FO is pants, not nearly as good as either ARO or active-turn Spotlight!). Give them those nice TAK Kuryer Muls while you're at it, and you have a whole new dimension for the force. Yes, their hackers would die to a stiff wind, but that's if you can get a KHD close enough to them.
I'm mostly happy with FRRM's current incarnation. Most of what I'd like is fairly minor, like swapping out one of the nearly identical Paracommando FO loadouts for one with a Rifle. There are still a couple of bigger things I'd appreciate though: Some kind of Specialist option for Loup Garou, since they're wasteful at the moment due to how far up they need to move without being able to contribute to scoring. Fireteam options for Zouaves; they're fine now on the offensive and can be alright in Suppressive Fire, but most profiles won't see table time with the Chasseur being so much better protected. Kill Wolff, replace with something that isn't a moronic pun. Throw a few harder-hitting options into the army that aren't attached to Characters.
Having had them since n2, I'm pretty confident they're now in a better position than they ever have been. The ava 3 motorized 112 brings smoke, weve got better hacker access than other ariadnans, an actual tag, Wolfgang gives us a really solid pointman for door kicking, knauf is excellent (b3 da, shock dam 15 with msv, shiny!!). Wildcard moblots are cool for slotting in slightly more durable specialists or close range gunners and panzaerfausts give much needed aro punch too. Zoaves are still way outclassed by chasseurs in button pushing but that sapper sniper is a cheap roadblock on a long lane and the HMG in impressive with foxhole and dogged ain't too shoddy for the cost. There's good access to FO in the list and good access to guided and speculative fire, good access to AD and good access to a range of specialists with linkability, speed or some form of advance deployment. Think mrrf is in decent shape for this edition considering how we have been in previous editions
Moblots are wild cards and can stick an engineer or paramedic into the LG team, Bryant can also join them
If lack of smoke is a key weakness of MRRF, then zouaves need to be tool box units make them have repeaters (maybe even a minelayer option) and a hacker profile. Id say they are just as good as as CHA because of Isobel who is also a wildcard along with a flash pulse, and e/m mines. she is just a better tool box unit. Why cant the zouaves fill that tool box slot. How could you sir!! Wolfgang is amazing!!! yes his name is weird but thats my only qualm. He is a great point man for a Briscard haris. I still stand by my "Bee" comment. Would be really cool to have a MRRF specific version of the Anaconda. that way we could have it in vanilla.
Well really what they should have done is update MRRF and put them as the main troops instead of the mishmash of units they did for Kosmoflot. They OOP'd all CHA units except for the Galwegions and the Mormaers just to re-sculpt them (except for volunteers and Grey Rifles). They should have just updated them like they did and discontinued everything from there to redo all the MRRF units. They would have ended up re-scuplting the same amount of models. And it cant be a lore problem cause it would have served the same purpose, MRRF already had all the tech anyway. And they could have still added all the new units Kosmosoldat, Volkolak, ect. to be emissaries of TAK to keep an eye on them. Briscards replace Frontoviks Chassuers replace S.A.S. Loup-Garous replace Irmandinhos Moblots replace Pavel Bruant replaces Wallace Anaconda replaces Uxia Metros replace Cadin Rokots could have filled the gap of what the Irmandinhos did (really thought they were going to be engineers anyway cause their emblem has crescent wrenches on it.) And the Scots Guard spot could have been an additional new unit. Could have been the Ariadna Expeditionary Force that fits into their lore but be a mix of nationalities to show a United Dawn just like Rodinia wants evryone to think. Same everything stats wise except have a Paramedic and Engineer profiles as that's what you would want as part of a main MI that's suppose to be the face of united Dawn. Can't really dig a fox hole is space so all the sapper profiles could have gotten mimetism -6 or some other cool skill and that makes sense, since they were getting help from the nomads anyway. That would have fixed everything and would bring Ariadna into the future. But they didnt. Dont get me wrong Kosmoflot is super strong and fun but I feel they missed a huge opportunity to re-do MRRF this way so they would have gotten the much needed love they disserve.
Had a couple games via TTS using the n4 merovingia. Can confirm they work well. List building is far easier now we've got solid wildcards. Wolfgang is a big help as a team's pointman for cqb, he addresses one of the sectoral biggest problems previously in that we had very poor doorkickers. Now hes a wildcard with cc, 2 wounds and good close range burst with a multi rifle. Knauf is a beast and the change to msv1 propel briscards utility hugely. Being able to stick bs13 ap/shock specialists in to teams via moblots has given us lots of flexibility and the anaconda is serviceable enough with that dam15 AP spitfire. 112s smoke launcher is welcome (if somewhat unreliable). Simplification of camo/infiltration has given metros a boost, being able to shell game "where's the chasseur" is kinda cool and changes to targeted mean FOs are more useful than just for button pushing duty now. Muls might even be viable in a 2nd group
