Infinity Unit Review: USAriadna Grunts (N4)
Let’s get started with the basics! The USAriadna Grunt is the line troopers of the USARF sectorial. These are the models that sold me on USAriadna (though to be fair, most of the line wasn’t out yet), they look awesome, and their profiles are pretty fun.
Stat Line
The first thing that should jump out on their profile, is their amazing ARM 3, which in cover means you’re going to ignore a massive 65% of the combi hits that come your direction, and still have a >50% chance to stop a damage 15 hit. This level of durability on a cheap line troop can frustrate opponents, who may end up having to put more orders into killing your troops than they expect.
So, after you stop drooling over the USARF standard issue armor (you’ll find most things seem to have Arm 3+), you’ll probably notice their abysmal movement. Back in N3 being 4-2 wasn’t terribly remarkable, but since N4 launched most medium infantry has sped up to 4-4, not these though! It’s not really the end of the world, but does encourage you to spend your second order not moving if you can find anything better to do. Grunts aren’t going to win any races, but they’ll defend an area just fine.
Otherwise, their stats are fairly standard, with a higher STR, but lower WIP than most line troops. Shock Immunity is surprisingly relevant due to the availability of wildcard 112s.
Rifle. Grunt with a rifle… That’s about it. Nothing impressive about the gun or the profile, but from time to time you’d be surprised how annoying an Arm 6 (in cover) rifle can be! Absolutely not a bad troop overall, but not really a bargain either.
Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun. This is an interesting choice for a grunt, coming in at the same cost as the standard rifle, they make fantastic guards for deployment zones and can hit way above their weight should the enemy get close enough. As an additional member to a fireteam it gives you an inexpensive, but strong, direct template weapon.
Heavy Machine Gun. The low SWC cost perhaps saves this profile, they’re fairly inexpensive, but definitely not “cheap”, but does provide a decent high burst, high damage attack to your Grunts. If you’re using a Grunt fireteam to sit towards the back of the table, the HMG gives you a decent long range attack in the active turn, without breaking the bank.
Rifle, Grenade Launcher. Grenades can be very feast or famine, the ability to put a direct template out of sight, onto a clump of enemies is enough to make people’s butt pucker, but the low odds of hitting keep it from being a meaningful source of damage.
BS Attack[Shock] - AP Sniper Rifle (+1 Damage). The amount of special rules on the profile that apply to the sniper rifle turns a fairly bland sniper into something you need to pay a bit of attention to. Their cost of 20/0.5 isn’t a bargain, coming in a little more than something like a Kazak sniper, but firing a damage 16 AP+Shock sniper rifle can put a bit of fear into nearly any target. I’ve had luck running fireteams with multiple of these, as a defensive block for the enemy to chew through, with a nearby 112 to patch up any that go down. With ARM3 and a good ARO weapon, the Grunt Sniper can be really obnoxious to deal with.
Infiltration - Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun. This guy is without a doubt, going to be the most popular grunt profile in the army, and even in vanilla Ariadna. For the low price of 11 points and 0.5 SWC, you get a grunt armed with Heavy Flamethrower and Light Shotgun that gets to start in the midfield! They no longer must attempt to infiltrate over the center line, but with a 40% chance of success it may occasionally be worth the effort. Often times, if I have any SWC left over in my list building, I’ll try and take as many Grunt Infiltrators as I can to fill the gap. Saturating the midfield is something that USAriadna is quite happy to do, and it forces the game to be played in the midfield, far away from your more vulnerable backfield units.
Forward Observer, Rifle, Flash Pulse. Probably the standard specialist in Grunt teams, the Forward Observer has a few interesting uses. The Flash Pulse gives them a decent, longer range ARO option that can stop some even quite powerful units in their tracks, ending their attack run. Furthermore the Forward Observer skill doesn’t get enough love, without hackers, you need Forward Observer to apply the Targeted state for your Traktor Muls to pound to dust. Grunts are also handy to use in coordinated orders, since Forward Observer is treated as a BS Attack, you can throw a grunt into the attack and perhaps target the enemy should they survive the initial attack.
Paramedic, Rifle, Medikit. While the Forward Observer used to be my default choice, I’m slowly incorporating more Paramedics into my list. USARF across the board has pretty high PH, and since they lack cubes, the Paramedic is often just as good as a doctor anyhow.
Lieutenant - Rifle. USARF has a bit of a Lieutenant problem, the identity of which is EXTREMELY obvious to anyone remotely familiar with the army. The Lieutenant with Rifle is probably the easiest one to hide, by taking a handful of Grunts with Rifle, your opponent will have to guess which obvious lieutenant is the real one.
Lieutenant - Rifle, Light Grenade Launcher. While not a particularly amazing profile, it is worth noting that you get a fully SWC discounted Light Grenade Launcher. This can make your obvious lieutenant even more obvious (especially if your SWC is easy to count), but if you have 4 points to spare, landing a template even once per game can more than pay for itself.
Grunt Fireteams have gone through some major changes this edition and can be built in a variety of ways:
1-5 Grunts
0-1 Minuteman
0-1 Dozer
0-1 Wild Bill (Grunt)
112 FTO (Grunt)
Rosie (Grunt)
Unknown Ranger (Grunt)
So that gives a potential 7 different units that can be involved in the link, 5 of which count as Grunts for maintaining the composition bonus. I’m not certain a Dozer is all that important in a Grunt link, but the Minuteman might be worth sacrificing the composition bonus for.
The Unknown Ranger is the obvious inclusion in the link, counting as a Grunt, along with a 112 FTO to keep everyone fighting can get a lot of work done. Grunts are the cheapest means to providing the link bonuses, and you’ll pick up a benefit to discovering plus extra BS as well. This does mean that you’re going to want to be moving the link a lot though, to support the UKR, so you will have to get comfortable maneuvering 5 models at once. If you want to be a bit more conservative, a single Grunt (maybe the heavy flamethrower variant) with the UKR and a 112 can be quite effective, keep costs down, and be a bit easier to maneuver.
Wild Bill can get quite bogged down by the slow speed of Grunts, moving 6-2 while they struggle to keep up with their 4-2, but some missions let you deploy closer so may not need the movement as much. Rosie keeps up with Bill a bit better though, and the 112 has less of an issue as well.
Personally, I often prefer to run my Grunts as defensive links though. A pair of snipers with a 112 or Grunt Lieutenant is a fantastic defensive team without breaking the bank. Since you won’t be using the link as much in the active turn, the composition bonus is less relevant, meaning you can include a Minuteman Lieutenant (for that sweet 5th command token) pretty easily.
Conclusion
Grunts are a really fantastic unit for their cost. Their shocking durability can really spoil enemy plans, both as active turn units and reactive. Furthermore, their link is very versatile in its composition, easily able to be a defensive link with snipers, or a threatening offensive link with the Unknown Ranger or even just an HMG. Grunt Infiltrators can absolutely jam up the midfield along with your Foxtrots, Hardcases, and Beasthunter, which just creates a nightmarish mesh of template weapons. The Grunt profile may be unexciting on it’s own, but they do a lot of work as force multipliers regardless.