Coming in from playing Vanilla CA for about 2 years and being well aware of a delay in updates for MRRF, I'm planning to switch to playnig merovingian for some time, I already bought and painted Zouave HMG, and ordered starter box with loup-garou, but can't figure out a way to build a good llist with loups. With briscards and moblots fireteams I've got some Ideas, but with loups there's a double whammy of an agressive fireteam without specialists and without any significant SWC ivestment. I hope someone could give me an advice on building lists with loup fireteam. Chasseurs are about as close to an auto-include as it can get, but I'm not sure if maxing out their AVA is a good choice, maybe 2 FO's and a minelayer would be enogh? I also feel like a zouave with LGL is a hidden gem for being a data tracker for killing HVT. And what about solo briscards and moblots, are they of any use? My meta has a handful amount of saturation/low visibility zones so MSV1 seems like a good choice, and infiltrating moblots look interresting to mix up with chasseurs and zouaves. Basically I would appreciate any advice on listbuilding and playing merovingian sectorial, and I already read through MRRF breakdown topic here.
Hey great to see that the ranks of MRRF swell (there are literally dozens of us!) despite it languishing in CB's "We Get There When We Get There" department. The couple things you mentioned seem about right. I have a couple comments, and be aware that some of these are strategies that wont necessarily work all at the same time you might have to commit to only a couple or only one. Loups: Dont underestimate their ADHL. In a team and with the X-Visor, they go from "meh" to "WOW!" Shooting at 0 out to 48 with a 5 man team. Then just shoot with viral until dead. This is especially good if you can manage to glue down speciallists. Then they have to focus on engineering out of it, which is fewer orders getting pumped into Rambo units or into button pushing. As a personal annecdote I tend to use them as a defensive link and have my other units do the active turn killing. Chasseurs: Yea they are pretty much an auto include. I usually go max AVA because I take two mine layers and two FOs. The minelayers I try to deploy on the enemies half. That way I can just deficate mines in the most irritating places for the opponent. Worst case if you dont pass either roll you have two capable flank covering units. Its a gamble but its not something I see often so some players may not be expecting it. As a tie in to this I usually throw in some Inferior Infiltrating Metro's with the intention that they pass and become a nuisance or fail and become order batteries. Also since they have limited camo you can start playing that shell game of camo tokens. Briscards: I have tried a link team with them a number of times. My local meta does not usually have low-vis or saturation zones so I typically dont need the visor. Their benefit came from have a burst 2 HRL. That is a killer for sure. Its also a great solo ARO piece. Honestly having two of them in a list would be amazing and not too hurtful on points. Kills the SWC at 1.5 a pop but with MSV and what you said your meta is I think they are definitely a needed ARO piece. Moblots: Cool because they have some infiltrating loadouts. I personally really like the E/Mauler Infiltrator. It allows you to "Mine" a button with a decent chance of Isolating any specialist that is already up there or who runs up or by. Not to mention you have a very capable unhackable HI right there. Really you just end up tying up a unit and probably a couple orders as they try to save their unit. Also the other moblot profiles, specificaly the sapper HMG, can be quite powerful if you have first turn and can put them into Suppressive fire. If you have second turn you have to be much more careful with positioning and use. Not to mention they are a quite capable fireteam with specialists that are cheaper than Briscards and only a couple points more than Loups. Zouaves: If you are interested in the E/Mauler on objectives trick but are on a budget or are looking to save points try these boys. You trade 5 points for 1 SWC but I find myself frequently underusing my SWC (I am really bad about taking enough ARO pieces). I had not thought of using an LGL Zouave as DT and killing the enemy DT that way. Thats definitely not a bad idea. A general thought: I always always always forget about designing a list around a strategy and sticking to it. I end up halfway through a list I think about the things I need to counter and end up with a list that is half-and-half. I have found with MRRF its hard to make sure you are covering all your bases without sacrificing something. I dont feel this way with CHA or Vanilla (or at least not as badly) Hopefully this was useful, but with meta in some places being so different maybe none of this will help you. Enjoy exploring your Baguette Boys
Thanks for replying! I've been thinking of some other armies to choose, but thers's always that inconsistency between new and old models, and I don't want to sort of play with just my left arm because I don't want to mix old and new sculpts, so for me it's better to have loder models that are more consistent in looks rogether. ADHLs are so good, I've played a game proxying MRRF against MO list and managed to glue down Joan of arc, that was kind of fun and ironic and fun. Viral rifles were quite handy for destoying a reactive link team of sergeants even at 0 range, but I've had a go at them with my para-comando and zouave HMG first. So as I tought I'll have to get a lot of chasseurs, at least ADHL one is easily convertable. I tried to use 2 of minelayer and 2 FO's but deployed just 4 camo markers, silly me. I also played against a vanilla ariadna and chasseur in supressive fire is so annoying to remove, espescially if you can't get into his back arc further than 8". As for Briscards I'm not sure that their worth the points and SWC as a solo ARO, there's too much of top-tier attack pieces like linked unidrones or magisters, so I'd better take some inferior infiltrating metros as order sinks for my opponent. But in a full team a couple of HRLs are so much better with their B2 and +3 to BS, and also SSL2, so I'm going to try them out sometime. For moblots - I think that a sapper HMG in a full link is a best brute force gunner we have, BS16 B5 HMG with cover and mimetism is no joke, it's almost like a hospitalier+magisters level of killyness, but for about 40 points cheaper, though with just 1W moblots are so much more vulnerbale, as for link composition I think I would take 2 panzerfausts, sapper HMG, paramedic, and either engineer or mimetism rifle, but second paramedic might be useful too. Zouaves - I will definetly give a go to E/Mauler one, he should do wonders considering that there's a lot of HI and TAGs as main assault pieces in my meta, and as you mentiond that it is hard to fill all 6 SWC the 1 SWC tax is not as much of a problem. Also what you think about a sniper sapper, is he of any use? Sure the HRL briscard is cheaper, but for the most part sapper should be better for ARO. I'm almost always try to maximize optimisation of a list for a mission, for 3 round tournament it is manageable, but my mind boiled when I was building lists for 5-round satelite. Also, what can you say about Mirage-5? It feels too overpriced on the one hand, but Margot is an amazing gunner and great for specfiring cheerleaders or fireteams and can even take on HI and TAGs with that AP rifle, and Duroc is our only source of smoke and dropping it turn one to wreak havoc in opponent's deployment seems good, but maybe it is worth to put duroc on the table without AD for covering up advancement of a fireteam? And how about Knauf, have you used him, or is he too much points and it's better to go for cheaper models as ARO units and for paracommando HMG for active turn?
I have not used the Zouave sapper much at all. And then only the HMG. With the combination of being stationary and the range bands for the sniper I cant imagine you would be using the Mechanized Deployment skill at all so why pay for it on him. I would either say take the briscard because you get MSV instead, or I would take the Loup sniper because they are all the same armor and BS and loup is cheaper. So ultimately (at least for me) I think the sapper sniper profile is a bit of a waste on the zouave. Mirage-5 I have not played with much. They end up being a point hog for me and I end up feeling stretched thin elsewhere. However, I have heard many good things about them so if you can make a list work thats great. One strategy I have been contemplating is if you do not have first turn or the enemy has not left you much of an opening on the table edge you would deploy Mirage-5 from I would spend the order that cancels impetuous. This reveals what you have to airdrop but it also means the opponent is suddenly very terrified and very cautious in upcoming turns because they dont want to leave the backfield open. And if they do then deploy and start feeding Duroc orders. That makes it a very expensive gambit, but I think it could work out if played correctly. I would probably never take Mirage-5 and deploy them regularly. Once they are on the table opponents can usually manage the incoming Dog. I think the value and therefore expense of M-5 is the fact that they tie up the opponent because they are worried about the back field not necessarily the units shooting capability. If you want shooting there are better options for cheaper that get you more orders. Have not used him. I feel like there are reasonably equivalent ARO pieces for much cheaper. I am also of the mind that in terms of ARO I would like to have more models shooting at a slightly lower level rather than one pretty good shooter. But that is really just my prefered strategy and isnt necessarily backed up by numbers or dice statistics.
I've had the opposite use of Zouaves to Contaminator as I've only ever used the sniper version, I mainly use him as an order sink for the opponent, stick them in a decent lane of fire and the Mimetic BS12 ARM5 (with cover) snipers generally pretty hard to dig out. or he dies in one order, but mostly the first one. I personally wouldn't use the E/Mauler variant but that's because I prefer the simple solution of bullets to all of lifes problems. Knauf is great, I've had him gut my only regular opponents force on one or two occasions mostly in the reactive. now if its between Knauf and the Par-Commando HMG its mostly down to preference. Kanuf is area denial and able to hunt down Camoflauge/Mimetic units at range, the Para-Commando is an aggressive gunfighter. if you like a more aggressive approach, use the Para, otherwise Knauf. on the Chasseurs take them often but you need to force yourself not to rely on them, make lists that don't include them every now and again (it will feel odd, trust me) but when you do take them the mind game of "i have six camo tokens, two of them are mines, the rest have LFT's good look" is always a good one to put your opponent through.
Regarding Loup Garou vs Briscards and Chasseur FO vs Minelayer Chasseur: this entirely depends on the mission you play. For direct actions (wher the primary objective is killing troopers) you should take Loup Garous and max out Minelayer Chassuers. For covert actions (where button pushing is key) you should take Briscards and a couple of FO Chasseurs. Mirage-5 is pure awesomeness. Little Red Riding Hood and her Big Bad Wolf is not easy to play but they are the number 2 reason to play Merovingia. (Number 1 being fielding a full 5-man strong Loup Garou fireteam - big fanboi here!)
