Infinity Unit Review: USAriadna Support Units (N4)

Not everyone is a big shining star, but that doesn't mean they are not handy to have around. To support the Ariadna forces, there is a small selection of specialists which do the special jobs that may be needed. USAriadna may not have fancy doctors like the Asawira, or Engineers like Tomcats, but they at least have the bare necessities covered without spending points on all the frills.

Dozers, Field Engineers

The humble Dozer is the Engineer of the faction. One of the few troops in USAriadna with D-Charges. All profiles come with a rifle, with the main choice being between the D-Charges and an Akrylat-Kanone, or my favorite, the Blitzen with D-Charges. Nothing about the profile is very remarkable, but there are some applications of the later two that are worth considering. Since they each have a disposable, Burst 1 weapon, in addition to their normal gear, they’re fantastic for including in coordinated orders. The chances of scoring an extra hit with Blitzen or Akrylat-Kanone can be incredibly helpful for tackling more powerful enemies.

Traktor Mul

Traktor Muls are the Remotes in all Ariadna factions, though have a very unique perspective on the role. Their statline is unimpressive to say the least, only WIP12 and no BTS to speak of to defend against enemy hackers. All Muls carry baggage, which can be handy in some occasions, replenishing disposable weapons or counting for extra points in a zone. Ariadna lacks the repeater coverage and hackers needed to make Spotlight into a threat, but it does have plenty of Forward Observer.

The basic Traktor Mul is a dedicated Deactivator. While that isn’t a terribly useful piece of equipment most of the time, the main job of this Mul is really to exist on the table and provide a regular order for a mere 5 points. In missions using Zone of Operations, they can also be handy, weighing in at 25 points.

The Katyusha is dirt cheap on points, but will soak up a chunk of your SWC instead. Importantly, this Mul can make use of Guided BS Attacks with it’s Damage 14, DA, circular template attack, hitting on 16 against a targeted enemy. You can also perform a Speculative Attack, but your chances of hitting will be abysmal outside of 16”.

For almost double the cost of the Katyusha, USAriadna players can instead take the Urugan. This is a beefy weapon. At Burst 3, Damage 14, AP+Shock, with a circular template (or hit mode for Damage 15 and no template), if you can catch some bunched up enemies in sight, you’ll make short work of them. The weapon cannot split burst between enemies, but that’s fine, just unleash a volley into the one in the middle. To make matters worse (for the enemy), this bot comes with Total Reaction, so you’re going to fire 3 rockets in the reactive turn as well. The ranges are short, only +3 from 8-16”, and then -3 from 16-40”, if you use the EVO to give them Assisted Fire, hitting on 7’s with 3 dice isn’t terrible with the blast. On top of all that, you can still fire the weapon guided (both hit and blast mode), so it pulls double duty of area denial and guided artillery.

Last we have the Forward Observer profile, added for ITS 14 (and likely removed shortly after). This is kind of tricky, because for 17 points, it’s not very impressive on its own, but remotes with Forward Observer this season gain both Tactical Awareness, ECM: Hacker (-3) and Marksmanship from the Tachimotos rule. The Mul Forward observer suffers when compared to other factions similar remotes, but if you ignore that, for 17 points, it might be worthwhile. Marksmanship does have an interesting interaction with Forward Observe, letting you ignore cover with it. It’s also the only Repeater in the faction, though it’s not like USAriadna can leverage that well.

Remember that the Forward Observer skill has the BS Attack trait, and so can be used in a Coordinated Order declaring a BS Attack. If you have a Katyusha or Urugan in your list, it’s always worth including a forward observer in a Coordinated Order when you’re attacking an important target, the chance to put them into targeted then rain rockets on their head is well worth it.

112, Emergency Service

Lovingly referred to as "Dr. Axe," the 112 is a decent doctor, that can pack a surprising wallop. Armed with a light shotgun, you can go from cover to cover healing your models, and also taking shots of opportunity when the positioning is right for a shotgun to cause some damage. Despite his axe and PH12, don't go around getting into fist fights, let the medikit and shotgun do all the talking.

USAriadna is special in that it has AVA2, and they are wildcards, this alone makes them valuable in many USAriadna lists. For 12 points you can put a doctor in any link, which can help bring down the cost of our USAriadna Link a fair amount. It does come at the cost of losing the link composition bonus (except in Grunt fierteams), but that’s something you may give up a lot of the time anyhow. At the very least, having a pair of doctors around can be pretty helpful, though Paramedics can often fill the job just as well when it comes to healing higher PH units like Devil Dogs.

In addition to the standard 112 FTO profile, USAriadna has access to AVA2 of a Mounted 112 as well. While they are not wildcard, they are able to join a Haris or Duo of Mavericks. They’re lightly armed and armored, but do come with an important Smoke Grenade Launcher and Mimetism (-3) to protect them while they advance up the table. As a solo unit they can be kept back until a critical unit goes down, then speed up the table to recover a friendly unit. Even on the attack it’s worth keeping in mind that they can always move 8” and then drop a Burst 2 template.

Warcor

Oh, the venerable warcor. Nothing about this model is impressive, nor should it be, but if you have 3 extra points, a 360-visor Flash Pulse is nothing to be ashamed of. To make things better, you can always use his irregular order as a back up plan if you need another regular order and have a spare command token (especially from the Ohio Lieutenant with +1 Command Token).

Wardriver

What's this, Ariadna has a hacker?! It's true, the Wardriver brings a serviceable hacker to USAriadna, with some unique quirks. One of the few, naturally Sixth Sense hackers in the game, they’ll always have the opportunity to hack stealth enemies moving through their hacking area.

The cheapest option at 12 points is a Hacker, and gains a flash pulse, but lacks an actual Hacking Device. This profile is really a Hacker only in name, which can be relevant for some missions and classified objectives (though it cannot spotlight). Defensively, it has the Zero Pain program, which makes them difficult to attack with hacks at the very least, and funny enough it can be used to defend against Symbio Bombs, Jammers, Phero-Boosters, and Cybermines as well.

The Hacking Device profile loses the flash pulse (sorry), and gains a proper hacking device, but for a whopping 1 SWC. I guess they don’t come cheap on Ariadna! There aren’t many hacking synergies within the faction, which is understandable considering USAriadna’s lack of fancy tech, but the threat of possessing a tag, or using spotlight, can be helpful.

The third and newest option is the EVO Hacking Device, which also tacks on an E/Mitter for good measure. USAriadna has no use for Controlled Jump, but Assisted Fire on a Urugan can be terrifying to face. Enhanced reaction can make the Katyusha a bit more of a defensive threat as well. Finally Fairy Dust can help a bit if you’re facing a lot of enemy hackers and you’re using Blackjacks. Funny enough, you can use Fairy Dust to make Ohio harder to Spotlight, but that’s fairly niche.

Conclusion

The support characters in Ariadna are often easy to overlook, they are average at doing their jobs, and don't really bring any fun frills, or crazy combos to help buff up your other units. The upside of this is that they're all economical and effective for what you need them to do. The 112 has actually become a staple unit in many of my lists, just to be a cheap specialist wildcard if nothing else.