“Do you think this A stands for France?!”

Marvel quote of the decade from the Ultimate universe Captain America, thing is though…yes it does!

Infinity like all wargames has multiple factions. When starting out it is hard to pick. My instant reaction was to go for the cool ninjas of Yu Ching (a unified Asian block), then to try out some Myrmidons from Aleph (mythical greek/AI cross breed) and then Nomads (Intruders are awesome Medium Infantry!), Haqqislam drew my attention but Kabalite is returning from overseas and is looking to run a Hassassin-themed army, next it was Ariadna.

I’d skipped Ariadna because Bringer runs a Caledonian/Scottish force from Ariadna and we wanted to keep, where possible, distinctly different armies.
But when I was researching my Link Teams piece (linked Dzanbans from Haqqislam? Dirty.) I realised that the so-named Sectorial Armies where essentially distinctly different themed armies from within each Faction.

In fact, the Force Organisation Chart (for want of a better term. What? I’m hung over..) is different for each one, making it possible to run very different armies.
So I looked at the Ariadna models again, primarily because Bringer got his delivery of dudemen in and they look sch-weet!

Then I saw this and I was hooked: (its below the line!!)

How awesome is that dude? I had no idea what the guy does, except clearly he is an entrenched, heavy gun type…but that was me sold. Deal done. I closed myself right there.

I looked him up and found a new rule/skill I’d not come across.

Sapper.

Cool.

The dude digs his own Foxhole (there is even a marker, whoot!) and sets up his gun position. He can even get up out of that hole and go dig a new, entrenched position for himself..

In game terms, when in the Foxhole he counts as in partial cover (so gets a +3 to his ARM (gets a better saving throw) and also -3BS to the attacker (harder to hit)), as well as this awesomeness (come on how cool is it to actually carry around your own cover?!) he also gains 2 skills – Valour: Courage and CH: Mimetism.

Courage means that he is ready to die for the cause and will not have to make a Guts Roll after successfully making an ARMour save. Normally, if you fail the Guts Roll, you have to move into a better piece of cover or at least towards it, without having to roll, he can pass or fail whichever suits him best!

Camouflage and Hiding: Mimetism means he is hard to hit and gets an additional -3BS to any opponents trying to shoot him. Remember (or learn…) that this stacks with the other -3BS from the Partial Cover of the Foxhole, a whopping -6BS to shoot at this guy…I can tell you just from my limited experience already that that is huge. It’ll really help keep this guy alive, when we also factor in his ARM of 3 plus the 3 from Cover and he is ARM 6. Very survivable indeed.

I browsed the rest of his themed army and loved what I saw.

I read the entries in the army lists, came up with a 200 point list and whack..I love it!

Only thing is, these dudes are French.

Cap was wrong…the ‘A’ in Ariadna does stand for France! Lol.

The Merovingian Rapid Response Force.

I don’t like the regular line soldiers, the Troupes Metropolitan, so I’ll be using Death Korps of Kreig mini’s I already have as they look the part and fit in very well.

Aside from that, check out some of the other mini’s that’ll be in the force:

Forgive me, the French aren’t all that bad…and I’m justifying this one thematically and in full FAACer mode…The Ariadna colony went through what was called the Caucasian Wars in the official timeline/history/fluff of Infinity…

It’s on, Scots Vs French!

Vive la revolution!

Lastly, a hot little female...no, sorry not Megan...this one carries an Adhesive Launcher....well, she can have my sticky glue any time! haha! *sighs* What a geek...

Oh, and sorry Cap...don't like proving you wrong big man :)