Ahh, the Merovingian Rapid Response Force or rather, Force de Réponse Rapide Merovingienne (FRRM). You have no idea how hard it was to write this article without it turning into just dunking on the faction over and over again. No idea. That said, Infinity is a beautiful game that rewards the skill of the player more than their choice of faction, so I’m going to insist that FRRM is…a…viable…competi-…-tive…hhnnnnnngggg… Oh, man…is someone making toast?
I think the balanced position here is that MRRF is the worst faction in a game that is very balanced, so they might have a global win-rate of 40-45% (Ed: citation needed, chief) which isn’t so bad for the worst faction in a game.
That said, let’s put on our Rose Coloured Glasses and try to review FRRM from an optimistic perspective, shall we?
If you like playing the Under-est of the Under-Dogs, the least science fiction army in a science-fiction game, then MRRF might be for you. If you own multiple guns and have given them feminine names, then consider signing up to a 4 year contract with the Chasseurs. If you like the idea of strapping a parachute to a werewolf and kicking them out the rear door of a dropship and letting the people on the ground deal with that problem then perhaps we could use you, mon ami, in the Force de Réponse Rapide Merovingienne.
With Equipe Argent being announced as the Reinforcements attached to Ariadnan forces in ITS 15, this is an excellent time to visit this sectorial and discuss its pros and cons.
About FRRM
This sectorial is one of the ones that has been cancelled, discontinued, deprecated, made redundant if you will. This is an ex-sectorial. However, CB have seen fit to keep their rules in the game despite the models being OOP. Some of the key elements of FRRM have been transplanted over into Kosmoflot, the most recent Ariadnan sectorial to be released, so if you want the highlights of the FRRM experience with fewer downsides (and more Rage Bears) I’d suggest you start there.
Furthermore, the question I almost always ask while discussing a sectorial is: Why Merovingia and not Vanilla-ingia (Vanilla Ariadna)? Vanilla Ariadna is, to be honest, a better choice for the competitive player but we’ll outline the things FRRM brings to the table that vanilla doesn’t just so the discerning French Enjoyer can make an educated decision.
Well…FRRM does gets 4x Chasseurs (instead of vanilla’s AVA of 2), which is a very nice option for minelaying in the mid-field (and still having 1-2 Specialists under Camo markers if the scenario demands it). It was better in 3rd ed when warbands and other single-wound models moving around the mid-field (particularly under camo markers) were more common but now HI and TAGs are likely to just blow past your mines and give zero bucks about it.
Also, Apaches. They’re available as Reinforcements or in FRRM but that’s it. Apaches are good. Great even. Will they sell you on playing FRRM if you weren’t already committed to the bit? No, but at least they are the sugar coating to your bad medicine.
There are some Fireteams in there but I don’t find them terribly compelling options. There’s enough in there to do some work but nothing truly noteworthy.
Strengths
Nearly Blank Courtesy Lists: If you want to run a near 100% Camo/Off the Table army, FRRM can do it. The only model that won’t be sitting under camo will be your Lt (Curse CB for taking away Bruant’s Camo Lt option!) but otherwise you can cram in full AVA of Chasseurs, tonnes of Camo Metros with Panzerfausts and then sprinkle a light seasoning of Para-Commando and Equipe-Mirage over the top of it. Is going ham on Camo and Parachutists a good list? No, but at least you’ve got the option to sprinkle those elements into a list as needed.
Distributed Threat and Failure Tolerance: Because nothing in MRRF is elite, you can have a larger number of decent quality pieces in your army, spread across the table. A single decapitation strike from your opponent isn’t going to ruin your game. This extends to Zouaves, who are cheap, solid and Dogged. They can potentially take a hit and still have a go at completing their mission before dropping dead at the end of turn. Normally I don’t love Dogged but for the cost Zouaves are fit for purpose.
Equipe Mirage-5: The poster children for FRRM and, arguably, Infinity and even Corvus Belli (their portrait is painted on the side of CB headquarters), this pair of trouble-makers, likened to Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, are an iconic feature of FRRM. Margot is a BS 14 shooter, incredibly rare in Ariadna, and Duroc is a Werewolf who knows Kung Fu. They both get Parachutist – Deployment Zone, which lets you deploy them on any table edge, which can absolutely ruin your opponent’s plans. The downside is that they are pretty badly telegraphed, being 66 points and 2 SWC so any canny opponent will ‘cover their six’ to minimise any openings for Margot and Duroc. The other downside is that they’re so much better in Reinforcements that you’ll likely only ever see them there.
Weaknesses
Very limited roster: Having always been a limited sectorial, FRRM doesn’t have a lot of tools to navigate the modern meta-game and what tools it does have are arguably not fit for purpose. With very few genuinely ‘new’ releases over the last few years, FRRM doesn’t have any appreciable depth to its roster. Great for a collector, not so great for someone who wants to win games.
Lack of true multi-wound models: Excluding Dogged Zouaves, I believe FRRM has three models with any sort of resilience (and one of them is The Worst TAG): Duroc the Werewolf, Wolfgang Amadeus the Dogface and, of course, the Anaconda. You’re going to really struggle to navigate minefields and Direct Template Weapons with FRRM.
Hacking: OK, you’ve got an Alguacile Hacker and a War Driver. Cool. I guess that’s just enough to add some dead weight to any list you’re obliged to bring to Countermeasures or Highly Classified. Neat.
Notable Elements
Camo Metros with Panzerfausts: The name says it all. Not many factions get to hide their cheerleaders under camo markers for 12 points, and even fewer of them come equipped with a Panzerfaust for presenting a semi-credible ARO threat to just about anything.
Knauf: He’s not strictly speaking a native species found on Ariadna but Knauf is an excellent solo-piece that warrants being called out wherever he is found. BS 13, Burst 3 Sniper Rifle with all the nice Ammo types, MSV 1 and Mimetism is an absolute goldmine of capability you don’t see in Ariadna every day. You can afford him, spoil yourself. You’re worth it.
Chasseurs: Sixth Sense used to preserve the Camouflage state but no longer. There used to be nothing more terrifying than an active model walking past an Ariadnan Camo marker that declared the use of 6th Sense. Alas, how the mighty have fallen. Still, Chasseurs are well priced marker state pieces that can be specialists or Mine Layers among other things. I just think, like potatoes, they’re really neat. Also, they all have Flamethrowers. For burning things.
Apaches: Even if you’re not playing with Reinforcements, FRRM gets access to Apaches, who are rad. 16-18 points for a Regular Pseudo-Warband (Actually, it’s complicated, they’re labelled as WB but have a lot of Warband-adjacent skills and capabilities but aren’t quite a textbook Warband) with good mobility skills and NWI is very, very nice.
Sappers: Cover and Mimetism in a box, wherever and whenever you need it. Moblots and Zouaves get access to this and it’s pretty cool. You’d be surprised how often a critical firelane or position on the table is spoiled by lack of cover (and this goes both ways, with your opponent failing to appreciate a firelane that otherwise appears safe). Fear not, citizen, Sapper Antoine is here to hold the line.
Equipe Mirage-5: Here they come! If you’re playing FRRM and deploy 13 identifiable troopers (Thank god Chasseurs can have Minelayer…) or only generate 13 orders during your first turn, your opponent is likely going to deduce that you’re bringing the pain in the form of Margot and Duroc. Which is fair and reasonable, why else are you playing FRRM? It’s worth noting that while they’re purchased as a package deal you don’t have to deploy them at the same time or even on the same table edge. If you want, they can go and solve different problems in their own special ways. Just remember that Duroc also has Grenades. Why not Spec Fire on 13’s against a model that is within 8” of where you walked onto the table?
Para-Commandos: I’m listing these after Margot and Duroc because Para-Commandos are decent but largely overshadowed by the Dynamic Duo (to be fair, they’re also about a third of the price). The profiles to watch here are the AP-Spitfire and BSG Forward Observer (who comes with D-charges, worth noting for some scenarios). While the Rifle and SMG-paramedic are serviceable I think that if you’re going to commit to using a troop slot to drop onto the table you may as well invest a little extra in it to either be a button pusher or a good shooter. The biggest downer on them in FRRM is that if your opponent has taken out Equipe Mirage-5 insurance and is watching their corners and DZ, your Para-Commando might struggle to find a good LZ that allows them to impact the game.
Fireteams
Metros: A pretty basic Light Infantry Fireteam. I don’t think there’s value in a pure 5-person link as the absolute best gun you’re going to get in there is Bruant’s AP-Spitfire and he’s probably better as a solo piece (preferably under camo). At BS 10 I can’t even recommend the Grenade Launcher as a pure-fireteam artillery piece.
With your Metro panzerfausts unlinkable sitting under camo markers the best ARO piece this fireteam can muster is either a Metro HMG (not even AP) or you can wildcard in a Moblot with Panzerfaust which breaks fireteam purity and feels like a distinctly average use of 23 points. This is not a great static LI fireteam. You could put in the Alguacile Hacker for 6th sense but with only repeaters in the being attached to 4-4 Traktor Muls that start in your DZ I don’t rate this functionality at all.
Your best options for this fireteam is either as an order battery that also happens to contain a Metro HMG for sweeping the ramparts or plug two Metros into a Moblot attack piece (either a budget AP-rifle or go premium with a HMG or the Mimetism AP-rifle) and pretend you’re an effective Haris.
Loup-Garou: I suspect the inclusion of the fireteam is a legacy measure to keep everyone who bought the insanely cool Loup Garou models happy. There might be some play in using those Viral weapons in a Haris or 5-person team but I don’t really see it. There isn’t even a specialist option available to this unit so if you want to push buttons with this Fireteam you’re Wildcarding a Moblot or Bruant in (but then…why aren’t you just doing this with the cheaper Metros?).
Briscards: A slightly more viable option than a Loup Garou fireteam, with better weapon options, access to specialists but still retaining the limitations of BS 12, single wound 20-ish cost infantry. They’re serviceable but not terribly noteworthy.
Moblots: Moblots aren’t HI* so don’t get too excited about Pain-Train fireteams with them. That said, it’s the only way to get an effective BS 16 HMG into your list if that’s a box you’re looking to tick. If you want to be really cute I guess you could put 3-5 Infiltrating Moblots with Mimetism into a Fireteam and deploy them in the midfield. I feel like the cost effective option remains plugging Moblots into Metro fireteams as point men (point-people?) but you’re playing FRRM so you can splurge on the premium options if you really want to.
Anaconda: Two Anacondas is just doubling down on a mistake and getting a wildcard to follow an Anaconda around feels like you’re throwing good money after bad but maybe you want a Moblot Engineer following your giant 55+ point liability? Go for it (Ed: Don’t go for it.). However, if you could Haris the Anaconda to give it extra burst I think we could start a conversation here…
Lieutenants and Command Options
Jacques Bruant: He’s a surly, insubordinate WIP 13 son of a gun attack piece. Seems like a decent way to spend your Lt order but as soon as the cat is out of the bag he’s cooked and you’re in Loss of Lieutenant (see Command options below). Not unplayable but fairly warned be ye. The big downside is that if he’s your Lt you’re not taking his Camo profile which I think is actually quite good. Opportunity Loss.
Metro: WIP 12 sucks but 8 points and 0 SWC worth of Lt sitting in your static fireteam in your DZ is a fine price to pay for mediocrity. There’s also very little opportunity cost in tossing out 1-2 decoy Metros so that your opponent has to gamble when/if they divebomb a potential Lt. Good enough.
Zouave: Not terrible but not outstanding. Not sure how I feel about Forward Deploy +8” on a single wound, no marker state Lt but I guess they’ve got a panzerfaust and Dogged to make your opponent think twice about initiating a F2F roll against them.
Briscard: I don’t see a strong argument for this except if you want to have this Lt keep their head down for most of the game and then try to go ham on Round 3 with that BS 12 Marksman Rifle and MSV. However, if your Lt is going to be incredibly passive for two thirds of the game, why not just make them a Metro and spend your points on someone who will be active during the game?
Moblot: If you’re really committed to spending 20-23 points on a Lt just take a Moblot instead of a Zouave or Briscard. You get a BS 13, Arm 3 platform with a terrain skill and Shock Immunity (for that incredibly niche moment when your Active Lt gets binked by a Shock weapon, falls over, and your paramedic slips them a cheeky dose of Pervitin in the hopes that they do their best Aimo Koivunen impersonation.).
Chain of Command, Veteran and NCO options: No. Just no. None. Napa, Zip, Zilch. FRRM is for the Gigachads who feel that playing Druze isn’t a hard enough difficulty level for Infinity.
Reinforcements Options
I’m very fond of Ariadna’s (and by extension FRRM’s) access to Reinforcements. The big question is whether you’re putting Margot and Duroc into your primary list or your Reinforcements group (to be honest, if you’re taking them at all it should be in Reinforcements: They’re cheaper, Margot gets Mimetism and Tactical Awareness, Duroc gets to live the Impetuous Combat Drop dream and arrival via Reinforcements doesn’t trigger AROs, while Parachutist: DZ does.
As a brief side note, Jacques Bruant gets a T2 Rifle profile in Reinforcements that you don’t see in the core list. I’m not sure I love the option but it’s there if you need the points.
Little Red Riding Hood
Note that Margot gets Tactical Awareness and Mimetism when she Drop Pods onto the table and Duroc maintains his Impetuous state, which is wild. 7 Orders there before you drag your Commlink over. Nice.
Ariadnan HRMC
Take a Loup Garou BSG, 2x Apaches, an FTO 112 Medic and then slap in Wolfgang Amadeus to end up with a 5-person Fireteam (if you’re playing in a Sectorial, at least) packing a BS 13, Burst 5 Multi-Rifle and 5 orders to push it around the table. I didn’t think we’d see many viable Fireteam Core options in Reinforcements but…Surprise! So close to it being a pure Fireteam, as well…
Sample Army Lists
The following lists should be taken as conceptual starting points for the lists that you’ll later refine and adapt to your own personal style or scenario pack for an upcoming event. Goonhammer takes no responsibility for any tournament outcomes that result from ingesting these sample Army Lists (unless you win). If Frenzy-state lasts more than 6 hours, please consult your 112, Emergency Services.
Français Avec Renforts: gS8lZm9yY2UtZGUtcmVwb25zZS1yYXBpZGUtbWVyb3ZpbmdpZW5uZQEggV4DAQEACACA9gEFAACA%2FAEFAACA%2FAEFAACDqwEBAACA%2FAEEAACA%2FAEEAACA5AEGAACA%2BQEEAAIBAAQAgPYBCAAAgPkBBgAAgOkBDAAAgPYBCgADAQEEAIZfAAEAAIZkAQEAAIZdAQEAAIZdAQMA
Group One:
Chasseur Minelayer x2
Chasseur FO x2
Apache x2
Knauf
Para-Commando BSG with FO (the cheaper option)
Group Two:
Fireteam Core: Moblot HMG Sapper, Metro Lt, Metro Commlink +2
Zouave Sapper Sniper
Reinforcements:
Equipe Mirage
Apache x2
Beasthunter
This is a solid list with a variety of specialists, a mid-field filled with camo markers that are either Panzerfausts, Flamethrowers or Mines and a few attack pieces that can swing at various ranges (Snipers, HMGs, Apaches at close-range). With some Minelayers in there you can potentially disguise your Para-Commando but no promises here.
Français sans renforts: gS8lZm9yY2UtZGUtcmVwb25zZS1yYXBpZGUtbWVyb3ZpbmdpZW5uZQEggV4DAQEACgCA%2FAEFAACA%2FAEFAACA%2FAEEAACA%2FAEEAACBBgECAACA9gEFAACA9gEFAACA9gEFAACBLAEBAACA6QENAAIBAQUAhmIBAQAAhmEBAQAAhl0BAQAAhl0BAQAAhloBAQADAQACAID2AQoAADIBAQA%3D
Group One:
Chasseur Minelayer x2
Chasseur FO x2
Camo Metro Panzerfaust x3
Jacques Bruant AP-Spitfire
Anaconda AP-Spitfire
Moblot Lt with AP-Rifle
Group Two:
Metro with Commlink +2
WarCor
Reinforcements:
Fireteam Core: Wolfgang Amadeus, Apache x2, Loup Garou BSG, 112 FTO
Delivering a Fireteam Core via your Reinforcements is very cute. Your first Combat Group is comprised of an Anaconda as well as some defence in depth. Group 2 is a WarCor for ARO duty and the Commlink trooper can just jump straight over to your Reinforcements group when they arrive. It’s a bit of a delayed impact list but that might be useful in some scenarios where the scoring is all about occupying zones or controlling zones at the end of the game. If you feel like your early game is a bit pillow fisted, you can try downgrading a Metro into a Lt and then trading the Moblot out for a Para-Commando.
Beyond the Catalogue: Collecting a playable FRRM Force
Being an ‘Out of Catalogue’ force (which is a fancy way of saying Out Of Print: OOP), it’s not going to be easy for you to source genuine FRRM models. The release of Reinforcements will help a little but here’s my suggestions for a few alternatives for the more prolific/useful FRRM models you might want to use:
Metros: Line Kazaks or Rokots are both fine. Haqq Ghulams might work at a stretch if you’re looking for scrappy light infantry with rifles who look good in urban camo.
Moblots: Veteran Kazaks or Minutemen are both fine as long as you’re playing FRRM and not vanilla, where people might mistake them for their native chassis/profile.
Zouave: I’m a little proud of turning my Volkolak HMG from the Crimson Stone box into a Zouave with a cheeky headswap (and a jaunty scarf). The Sniper and Rifle profiles are a harder pick, perhaps either a Frontovik or Marauder? Spetsnaz also represent an excellent option here but I’d probably prefer them as Para-Commandos…
Para-Commando: Spetsnaz with Rifle or HMG might work for your Rifle and AP-Spitfire needs. We’ve already got a new BSG sculpt, so that’s covered. Additionally, the USARF Airborne Rangers have you covered for AP-Spitfire (if the Spetsnaz isn’t to your liking) and SMG profiles.
Apaches: If you want some variance on top of the incoming single Apache sculpt, maybe try the axe-wielding Van Zant or even Domovoi from Outrage (not that he’s any easier to acquire these days…). Possibly Valkyrie from Foreign Company (particularly the LE axe-wielding option).
Conclusions
FRRM is a hard faction to play and is certainly behind the curve on power levels compared to more contemporary factions but there’s enough gold to be found here if you dig deep enough. Also, this is one of the better Snowflake factions. The models are OOP, it’s under-powered (UP as opposed to OP?), and barely anyone plays it so you can absolutely be The Local Merovingian if you need to base your entire wargaming identity around a ‘bit’.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
*I mean, technically they *are* HI and can be affected by EM ammo but let’s be real: They’re not hackable and they’re not 2W. They’re just elite LI with a weakness to EM weapons. Fight me if you think I’m wrong.
