Rosie Munroe, The Unknown Ranger, and Wild Bill

First up, let’s talk about Rosie. She’s easily the character that sees the table the most in my USARF lists (even more than Van Zant), both in and out of links. Previously, I had preferred her on her own, providing some maneuverable firepower (Forward Deploy L1 and no link to drag around), delivering templates where the enemy likes it the least. As a Wildcard though, I think I’ll be including a lot more Marauder Haris fireteams. My Marauder Haris always included a Paramedic, but now for a point less, I get a linked light rocket launcher in the midfield! There is a caveat though, since she doesn’t have stealth like the rest of the team, she’s prone to triggering AROs from Jammers, Pheroware, and other ZOC AROs. The lack of Jungle Terrain as well can slow them down quite a bit if you play tables with lots of special terrain (like I tend to). I’ve already mentioned above that she does good work supporting an Ohio fireteam as well, oddly enough, the place I like to use her the least is in a Grunt fireteam.

The Unknown Ranger is one of my favorite models in the USARF army, and I’ve tried to wedge him into my lists from time to time, though I’ve never been terribly impressed with the performance I got from him. One of my suggestions from the beginning was to allow him to join Grunts, as often seen in photos of the model anyhow, well now he can join anything! Adding him to a Grunt link seems the most obvious, as it keeps his cost down and he provides some really good firepower. With mimetism and a 24” gun (Molotok or MK12, he transforms the Grunts into a mobile firebase, instead of a static gun tower. Alternatively, you can think about mixing him into Marauders or Ohio. The choice between MK12 and Molotok is really going to come down to personal preference, they both cover the same range bands, and are close in points, so really it comes down to paying that 2 points and 1.5 SWC for another shot, lower damage, but AP. Adding him to Marauders works against their amazing forward deployment, and while his gun is good, they already get access to a Molotok, so I really don’t prefer him there. Tossing the Unknown Ranger into a link with Ohio is a bit more interesting though. While their SWC weapons are all long range, the mid-range of the Unknown Ranger can really help them out on the move, letting their shorter range weapons (boarding shotgun and light flamethrowers) get into effective range, while providing the team with a specialist. I haven’t thought too much about the Unknown Ranger in Duos could be interesting, but I’m waiting to give it a shot.

Wild Bill is a bit of an odd ball, he’s an amazing gun fighter, but incredibly short ranged. His speed, hyper-dynamics, and NWI make him fantastic to advance up the board on his own, and going suppressive with shock ammo and ignoring cover (thanks to Marksmanship L2) can be really brutal to chew through. I’m not sure he actually links that well with Grunts, since he’s so short ranged and so much faster, but maybe if you also include Rosie or the Unknown Ranger, a short ranged Ohio, and some Grunt specialists, you could get some mileage out of him. Putting him into a full 5-man Grunt (and friends) link transforms him into something truly deadly, able to hit on 13’s out to 32” with his damage 14, shock rifle. Even worse, if you’re within 8 or 16” you can fire his dual MULTI pistols on DA mode, with 3 shots (dual wield plus link bonus), causing a potential 6 saves… gross. Ultimately, Wild Bill is “just” another good, sub-30 point, mid-ranged fighter in your arsenal, if you take him, he’ll shoot things dead.