Those will all be solid pick-ups! I'm badly biased but I'd recommend getting some bikes, you'll have a maverick from the army box but they can form a fun haris (usually with another maverick and a motorised 112), and desperadoes are great too as cheap suicide trade pieces (though OOP for years, you'd need to sort a proxy for those).
Definitely bump the Unknown Ranger up to Priority 1! He's amazing. Marauders are a good second purchase, then Grunts, Airborne, then the Blackjack (or no Blackjack... kind of a points sink really). I'd also recommend a 112 on bike if you are running Mavericks. Being able to revive bikes is worthwhile if you've fielded 2 or your plan relies on flanking.
I gotta say, I've been having a lot of fun diving back into USARF recently, I'll probably start updating all my articles for N4 post the fireteam update (which is long overdue for anyhow). Those are all great tools to pick up! I would probably put getting a 112 or two high on your list. They're inexpensive wildcard specialists that keep your troops fighting. The Ariadna Support Pack will come with one, a dozer, and a kazak doctor, which you could possibly convert to a second 112 with some fancy work. They offer some great and inexpensive link fillers. I might put Van Zant higher on the list than regular airborne rangers, though the airborne rangers are pretty solid and easy enough to proxy as VZ if you want. If you can get your hands on some Desperadoes, do, otherwise there are plenty of decent proxies (The Nazarova Twins are my favorite). For grunts, I'd almost suggest getting someone to 3d print out an extra (though 10% smaller) heavy flamethrower to change out the LGL so you can have a second infiltrator. Personally I bought 2 boxes and some extra grunts so I could make four of them. Additional snipers are really easy to make out of additional rifles with some plastic coated wire to extend to sniper barrel length.
New article time! USAriadna Lieutenant Options https://www.thediceabide.com/blog/2023/2/22/usariadna-lieutenant-options I'm going to be updating all my old articles, and the links on the first page as I do. Updated articles will say (N4) next to them to indicate them being up to date.
I went ahead and updated the Support Units article this morning! I went with this first because the I feel like some of the changes are pretty important (specifically the wildcard 112), and a lot has changed for how a few of the units work. https://www.thediceabide.com/blog/2023/2/23/infinity-unit-review-usariadna-support-units-n4
Grunt article updated! https://www.thediceabide.com/blog/2023/2/25/infinity-unit-review-usariadna-grunts I've really been thinking about them in some fun links, double snipers with a 112 is something I find particularly appealing.
Alright, next update complete, the Marauders; https://www.thediceabide.com/blog/2023/03/infinity-unit-review-marauders-5307th-ranger-unit-n4 I'm sure all of you know how important the Marauder is for USARF, so I'm happy to have the article updated for new players!
I just want to say, you are doing a tremendous work, I branched in USARF thanks to your articles, and seeing them slowly updates is just marvelous.
Glad to help! Ohio article has been updated. I'm trying to get all the linkable units out of the way first so that I can do the fireteam article, since those went through the biggest changes.
Minutemen are such great models, but I can not find a place for them... Sadly it seems I am not the only one with this problem. When I look for a solution to a problem or a tool, I much likely gravitate either toward Grunts, Marauders. USARF is spoiled for choise in ARM 3 W 1 department. Can not wait on your updated thoughts on Blackjacks and Devil Dogs. By your own words in the past, you liked the changes to Devil Dogs in N4, so... :) Anyroad, I will stop flooding this topic with meaningless posts, just wanted to tell you, how much seme of us appreciate the work you are putting in these articles.
Yeah, I desperately want Ohio to get reworked for a handful of reasons (I'd personally give them all regeneration, MOV 6-2, and x-visors, making them more maneuverable and self-reliant, all of which seems very in-line to their background). USARF could actually benefit from a more expensive trooper and Ohio could do it. If you are taking Ohio in fireteams, it's always going to be for a specific reason, the HMG and Lieutenant are easily the options I take the most. In N3 I liked the odd missile launcher in the grunt team. I've toyed a bit with the idea of taking 2x missile launchers with a 112, you don't get any BS link bonuses, but a BS13 B2 missile launcher is nothing to cry about. I'd also consider putting the AP Rifle variant in a UKR fireteam. They overlap bands, but having the AP rifle on the opposite side of your fireteam as your UKR could save you an order moving the URK into position when the AP rifle might do the job just fine. I'd like to give the boarding shotgun a bit more game time, there could be some nice value in that PH13 grenade.
Honestly I am still trying to find a use for them. In one of my lists I have a haris of Blackjacks backed up by Grunts core with two snipers and Rosie. In other list, I have Marauder core with HRL and sniper, covered by Grunts harris with Rosie and Sniper, and two Devil Dogs as a spearhead. Sprinkle Grunt infiltrators, Foxtrots, Hardcases, 112 and Dozers as needed. Do not get me wrong, I like an X visor and I love me some NCO's, but they are not the reason I branched out to USARF in the first place. The main appeal is the feel of the sectorial, the token nature of them with midboard control due to Grunts, Hardcases and Foxtrots, backed by some big or medium threats in Devil Dogs and Blackjacks and UKR. And flamethrowers, did I mention flamethrowers? So much flamethrowers...
The x-visor just feels like a nothing piece of equipment for me. I can't imagine ever wanting to pay points to shoot on 0s, it would just feel like you've made a tactical mistake over ensuring you had a model with good range bands where you needed it to be. It reminds me of the wardriver, dozer and traktor muls too. In my (completely unprofessional and likely irrelevant) experience paying points to cover up a hole with something really weak is never better than just leaving the holes and paying for more of your armies best profiles instead.
They're situationally useful bits of kit. Sometimes the board state means you've got to engage at long range or need a hail Mary play. That's where they come in handy. Not something to build around, but nice to have
You only run 2 lists? I'm always changing my lists for the missions that I'm expecting to play, and to try different approaches. Lately I've been using the Ohio Lieutenant quite a bit, that 5th command token is pretty great... but yeah, still struggling (and have been since 2015) to get really solid use out of Ohio outside of that NCO AP HMG and Lieutenant. I used to run the missile launcher from time to time in a Grunt link, but losing the link bonus now I'd rather just take more snipers. The AP Rifle is probably the next one that I see having some potential, but I need more game time with it. Shooting at 0's is better than shooting at -3's! I've had a few games where shooting over 16" with a rifle was the best option to clear a threat. People often act like >16" just doesn't exist on a rifle, but B3 at -6 vs B1 at -6 isn't the worst shot if you need to take it. Like you said, it's situationally useful, but it does give opportunities.
The other thing to note about X-Visor and a Rifle is that they become more effective if on Suppressive Fire - so you can use them as a tough road-block when placed looking down a fire-lane. [See also those Vet Kazak and Mormaer load-outs who come with X-Visors as well].
I am relatively new to the hobby and extremely crap. I played a handful of games, lost all of them and now mainly shoring up my collection and painting models. I will return to the Infinity in the near future, buuuut... The problem for me is, I lack experience to truly know what is good and what is bad, and I hate meta chasers. It disgusts me when at the LGS people approach me while I play my PanO and ask why I run full 5 man core Hospitaller link, it is crap, yes? They usually immediately follow up with that I need to remove A, B and C from my army and insert D, E and F instead. Well, yes, it is crap and it is like half my points, but I want to try them. Same with my USARF, I just want to try three Blackjacks and two Devil Dogs, but I can not tell what is the problem with my lists, because I do not know the game well enough. To me, my lists make sense, while on the table I usually get destroyed, sometimes tabled by the top of two. And I generally do not understand, what am I doing wrong, apart from that I now know that null deployment is life and any kind of piece I can put out there will die no matter the stats. In my games I am to yet pull off a successful ARO. With time and more games played, maybe I will understand what the problem is, but for now, yes, I have two lists and I play them in everything, because I do not know better.
