I was fooling around with the Lyrans again, and ran across the relatively interesting 25th Arcturan Guard. By 3145 they've been folded into the 26th, after making it to Tharkad and getting splattered by the Falcons during the invasion. Since then the new 26th AG is still pretty hammered, high quality units but only 55% strength according to the Field Manual. So I figured, why not get a 'snapshot' of sorts of them, and see where it goes.
I always liked the heavy command structure of Lyran regiments - 132 'Mechs according to the original field manual, which I figured was your standard 3 battalion/9 company setup of 108 'mechs, plus a command lance for each battalion for 120 'Mechs, and then a command company for the whole regiment. Not sure if that's how they do it or not, but I figured I'd roll with it; you gotta have someplace to stick your social generals and their finely polished assaults. And, the math made it simple enough; I rounded down the result and got 72 'Mechs.
Normally you'd just churn out two battalions and be done with it, but I thought I'd go with the idea of a 'lighter, leaner, filled out regiment' that followed the standard organization for command units. So, 12 'mechs for a command company left me with 60, which I broke up into three 20-battlemech short battalions, each of which has a command lance and two two-lance demi-companies. Threw bones on Strat Ops and FM3145 for an A-ranked unit, fudged one roll to get a Mad Cat Mk IV (because big pimpin') and ran with the rest, here's how it turned out.
Command Company:
Command Lance: AS7-D-H Atlas II, AS7-S2 Atlas, SD1-O Sunder, MAD-9W2 Marauder
Fire Lance: Hellstar, GTD-20S Gotterdammerung, GTD-20S Gotterdammerung, MAD-9W2 Marauder
Fire Lance: Hellstar, GTD-20S Gotterdammerung, GTD-20S Gotterdammerung, MAD-9W2 Marauder
Lots and lots of PPCs, plus a decent enough LRM barrage (95 missiles) though light ammo bins. ECM for every lance, plus whatever customization goes into the Sunder...probably one of the short-range models acting as a bodyguard for the Atlas II.
1st Battalion
Command Lance
Mad Cat Mk IV, GTL-1O Gauntlet, GTL-1O Gauntlet, GTL-1O Gauntlet
A Company
WHD-10CT Warhammer, WHD-10CT Warhammer, WHD-10CT Warhammer, WHD-10CT Warhammer
SCG-WF1 Scourge, SCG-WD1 Scourge, TFT-L8 Thunder Fox, Black Hawk
B Company
BHKU-O Black Hawk-Ku, BHKU-O Black Hawk-Ku, BHKU-O Black Hawk-Ku, TFT-L8 Thunder Fox
SCG-WD1 Scourge, SCG-WD1 Scourge, TFT-L8 Thunder Fox, Black Hawk
A Company is pretty straightforward, search-and-destroy. I wish I'd been able to do something with a C3 master for giggles, but I'll live with the C3 slave uselessness - it's a running theme in this force. I kept all the Warhammers together for speed issues as well; everything else is faster and most everything else jumps. B Company is definitely more mobile, and helps give the battalion a feel of a medium-cavalry unit. Not the fastest, but decent, and heavy on jumpers. Between the command lance's Gauntlets and the Black Hawk-KUs of B Co., you've got a lot of options for flexibility. The Mad Cat Mk IV fits well enough here I think, as a cav command unit.
2nd Battalion
Command Lance
Mad Cat III, MGL-T2 Mongrel, NGS-6T Nightsky, AF1 Arctic Fox
Company C
Mad Cat III, Mad Cat III, MGL-T1 Mongrel, RZK-10S Razorback
Mad Cat III, MGL-T2 Mongrel, STR-6S Stiletto, AF1 Arctic Fox
Company D
Mad Cat III ,Mad Cat III, MGL-T1 Mongrel, RZK-10S Razorback
Mad Cat III, MGL-T2 Mongrel, AF1 Arctic Fox, Crimson Hawk 3
Zippity zoom, sort of. Lots and lots of Mad Cat IIIs, which was a surprise. Definitely a fast cavalry force, relying primarily on speed and ERMLs to get the job done. ECM or probes for every lance, some both, and the Arctic Foxes give enough shakeup to make things interesting even if there's only a few of them. Would love to have the Ferro-Lamellor version of the MC3, but I can live.
Command Lance
Arctic Wolf II, MON-267 Mongoose II, WLF-2H Wolfhound, Jaguar
Company E
BTZ-4F Blitzkrieg, BTZ-4F Blitzkrieg, MON-267 Mongoose II, Pack Hunter II
Arctic Wolf II, MON-267 Mongoose II ,WLF-2H Wolfhound, HVC-P6 Havoc
Company F
BTZ-4F Blitzkrieg, BTZ-4F Blitzkrieg, MON-267 Mongoose II, Pack Hunter II
Arctic Wolf II, MON-267 Mongoose II, WLF-2H Wolfhound, TLN-6W Talon
It's a giant pile of hunter-killers and scouts, between the Mongoose IIs and the Blitzkriegs. The Wolfhounds are just there for giggles, while that Havoc driver is just wishing he could get a real 'mech sooner or later. Very fast, heavy on the electronics, very heavy on the firepower-per-ton, can't help but think this would make a fantastic recon/counter-recon unit.
And there you go, one smashed up regiment rebuilt on the RATs just for the laughs. Any thoughts, suggestions, reorganizations, feel free to post away!