Infinity Unit Review: Wu Ming Assault Corps

Nameless brutal killers, and hardened criminals, the Wu Ming are a penal regiment, equipped with robust armor and weapons. On the table top, they are efficient heavy infantry, armed with the tools to get the job done, and no extra flair bogging them down.

Stats and Special Rules

Their profile is fairly standard for Heavy Infantry, a very solid BS13, backed up with the durability of ARM4 and W2. Their BTS isn't the greatest for HI, so you'll need to take caution against getting hacked. The only special rule they carry is Kinematika, which helps them dodge or engage a little further. There is really no tax associated with the unit, nothing on their profile that you're not going to use, but at the same time, lacking more special rules means they aren't terribly flexible.

Profiles

MULTI rifle + light grenade launcher. A well rounded set of equipment, the MULTI rifle is an incredibly flexible weapon, able to engage heavily armored targets, as well as ones which rely on Dogged or NWI to stay alive. If that wasn't enough, the light grenade launcher means you can blast apart groups of enemies, or perform speculative fire. In ARO, a B2 light grenade launcher, can devastate an unprepared link team, if someone is foolish enough to move a link around in it's sight.

HMG. A pretty standard piece of kit, there isn't a ton to say about an HMG that hasn't been said already, it provides the unit a serious active turn weapon, with high burst, high damage, and good range bands. A staple choice in any link team, and not bad on it's own either.

MULTI rifle + nimbus light grenade launcher. A slightly different take on the MULTI rifle profile, this exchanges the standard DAM 13 grenades for nimbus instead. I actually wrote a whole article on using nimbus grenades, which you should probably check out. If you're going to consider this profile, make sure that you're taking some direct template weapons somewhere in your army to fire through the nimbus zones.

Boarding shotgun + tinbot B. If you're going to take a fire team, this is almost an auto-include, the benefits of tinbot B are difficult to ignore, especially since the Wu Ming only have average WIP, and low BTS. Otherwise, you're still running around with a linked boarding shotgun, which is never bad if you can get close enough to deliver it.

Panzerfaust, light shotgun. One of the cheapest profiles (though it does cost 0.5 SWC), your primary weapon is extremely powerful, but limited ammo. In a link the panzerfaust will probably only fire once, unless you take baggage bots to reload. Not a bad choice really, but after you're out of panzerfaust, you're only going to have a light shotgun.

Boarding shotgun, forward observer. The only specialist profile, and one you'll probably take, because it's a specialist. This means if you want a tinbot, and a specialist, in the same link, you're going to end up with two boarding shotguns. The nice thing about the FO having a boarding shotgun though is that the Flash Pulse helps it out with longer range engagements, while the shotgun murders anything up close.

Heavy rocket launcher, light shotgun. The other big SWC weapon, and one which I've come to adore. In a fire team, you're getting up to B3 with a fire ammo blast, which can really ruin some people's day. One better, when you get up close, you're not stuck firing a pistol, or shooting at -3 like the HMG, instead you've got a light shotgun! Of the two weapons, it's really going to come down to preference, the low burst of the HRL though means it really likes getting that +1B bonus from a fire team.

Chain rifle, submachine gun. Funny enough, this is hands down my favorite profile for Wu Ming. Dirt cheap, lacking any real long ranged choices, but up close it's a monster. When you move into range, your opponent has to choose between dodging a chain rifle, or getting into a fire fight with a high BS, and incredibly tough model, spitting out AP or Shock ammo. To make it even better, you can go into suppressive fire with that SMG and really be a tough nut to crack. In ISS this is the Duo profile, but in Ikari Company, Wu Ming get to Haris with this guy, at no tax at all.

Combi rifle + e/mitter, antipersonnel mines. Of all the options, this one is quite possibly the strangest (right behind the chain rifle, SMG). The combi rifle is not a terribly impressive weapon for Heavy Infantry, but the e/mitter gets a little interesting when firing at B2 in a link. Despite being a risky weapon, the possibility of shutting down a TAG is well worth it. Antipersonnel mines are handy tools too, letting you drop some defensive measures while you advance up the board.

On the Table

Really, these guys only serve one purpose, to advance up the board shooting everything they come across. They don't have hackers, or any much utility beyond brutality. Their array of weaponry gives them a lot of different ways to cause problems though. For solo pieces, I tend to look to the HMG, MULTI + light grenade launcher, or chain rifle and SMG. In links, you can squeeze in a bit more diversity, and really tailor their weapons to best suit your needs. Zhanying in ISS can add more specialist options or a linked missile launcher (and most profiles carry those lovely nimbus grenades). In Ikari their core can be backed up by a Clipper, again providing a missile launcher, and their haris teams may contain a Clipper or Brawler. Either of these mixed link choices will go a long way to diversify, an otherwise purpose built unit.