4-4 vs 4-2

In Caledonia only two units have MOV 4-2, which I find very slow and it is the main thing that stops me from taking the Scots Guard or the Mormaers. My play style with Caledonia is a lot about their speed so I do feel out of my comfort zone playing USAriadna where 4-2 is found more often since their Line Troops are Medium Infantry. So far I only played USAriadna in smaller games (around 200pts) so I had to chose between what to field more than in 300pts army. I spent some time deciding between Marauder who is 4-2 and Minuteman that has 4-4, as their cost for Specialist is the same and they fulfill more or less the same role.

I decided on Marauder because I am big fan of being able to deploy outside of your Deployment Zone and I thought deploying extra 4" forward would give him a speed boost. After the game though I thought about it some more and wasn't so sure I made the right choice. I realized that it takes only two orders for Minuteman to catch up and after that Marauder will always be behind, further and further with another Order. I made this image to demonstrate:

Background picture from http://www.toposolitario.com/workshop/index.html

So as you can see, Marauder gets to 28" in two orders (16+6+6) and it is the same for Minuteman (12+8+8). The only time Marauder gets bit further is the first order. I guess it is simple math in the end but math is not generally something I think about too much before the game, and of course you never really move always in a straight line during the game.

I think 4-2 with Forward Deployment is good to set up your defenses quicker, but in long term 4-4 will get you lot further. So if you are using either of these two for their Specialist profile, I would go with Minuteman as an objective grabber because his faster speed will also let you attack with him more efficiently. Marauder would be better if the objective is just outside of your deployment zone or to use one of his other profiles and as defensive unit.