Infinity Unit Review: Rosie Munroe

With the release of Candy Cloud, USAriadna now has their very own Dire Foes character! While Kerr-Nau may have received all the attention initially, it's Rosie Munroe that I'm more excited about.

Stats and Special Rules

Despite being a Grunt Spec Ops, Rosie has far more in common with a Marauder. She has a solid BS12 and WIP13, both a point higher than a standard Grunt, and combines the Grunt's Shock Immunity with the Marauder's Dogged, making her quite obnoxious to deal with. On top of all that, she has Forward Deployment L1 and is a Specialist Operative, letting her start closer to, and able to activate, objectives.

Profiles

Rosie has only a single profile, but she brings a pile of fun toys that are not normally available to Grunts. The Light Rocket Launcher is one of my favorite weapons in the game, especially when buffed to B3 and BS15 in a full Grunt link. She has a Light Shotgun to cover close engagements, that can potentially be hitting on 21's in that full link. Finally, she brings D-Charges, which are exceptionally rare in USAriadna, with Rosie fully doubling the availability of them in the sectorial. Her whole toolkit is straight from my dreams.

On the Table

There are essentially two main ways to run Rosie, either on her own, or in a Grunt link. In the Grunt Link, she provides a different toolkit than normally available, giving you a powerful weapon with Spitfire range bands, that allow you to play the Grunts more aggressively in the active turn, advancing up the board with HMG fire, then covering the mid-to-short range bands with the Light Rocket Launcher. If you're taking a Grunt link, I'd almost consider her an auto-include, though not if you're just taking a sniper nest.

My personal favorite use for her though is on her own. Her effective ranges, forward deployment, good BS and WIP, and toughness, all combine to make a very effective solo piece, who can advance, blasting enemies with rockets, push buttons, and otherwise be a pain in the butt to deal with, all at a budget price. Consider using her as your reserve model, with Forward Deployment you can set up in your light rocket launcher's +3 range and potentially land a template on a unit from a position they weren't anticipating. Also, she can work well as a DataTracker in a lot of missions, her resilience with Dogged and Shock Immunity means she can fight her way up the board and blast the enemy Designated Target before she succumbs to her wounds.

Either way you use Rosie, she just brings a solid piece for only 22 points. Don't expect her to go full Rambo, but for her cost, I couldn't really ask for more (except maybe a SMG).