Militia units

[greywolf79]

What kind of units would be expected being used in militia units? I'm curious about all time periods, but mostly 3025 Era, war of 3039, 3049/clan invasion, and fed com civil war era... Basically what size and type of units (ie mechs/vehicles/asf/infantry and how many of each).

[Daryk]

First and foremost, infantry.  They're useful for all sorts of things local governments need done.  Vehicles are usually next because they're cheaper than just about everything else (except infantry, of course).  VTOLs fall into that category, too, and ones like Ferrets and Karnovs also fall into the "useful for all sorts of things" category too.  Any 'mechs a planetary militia has will be cheap.  Not necessarily bad, but certainly not expensive.  Aerospace is tricky.  If you're serious about defending your planet from invasion, these are what you'd primarily invest in, but that wouldn't look much like the BattleTech universe...

[greywolf79]

I figured infantry would be the mainstay. I'm more interested in the mixture of the forces. But also for the different eras how would it differ?

In 3025 for instance, would it be common to have vehicles in the militia? If so, a company/battalion/etc for each regiment of infantry? What about mechs? A lance/company/battalion/regiment/etc? I figure it's unlikely to see more than a battalion of mechs in any era for militia... But I'm trying to gather information on a variety of eras as well. Eras ranging from 3000 to 3070ish (just before jihad begins).

[Decoy]

For some reason, I've figured that each planet would have a customs service or interplanetary patrol. A couple of small craft and some marines to go out and check pirate points and the like if something squirrely was happening.

[Daryk]

I walked through a lot of my thinking in my Glenmora Planetary Militia thread in this sub-forum if you want to take a look...

[greywolf79]

I find it difficult to follow that thread... so I'm going to post a idea I had...

3025 era = 1 battalion vehicles (tanks, vtol, etc), 2 battalions infantry. Sound plausible? Maybe 1 lance mechs (opinions please)?

Each era add a company of mechs. 12 x 3025 era light mechs (bugs and less desirable designs that would be traded out for newer designs) in 3039.

Then 4-12 mechs added per era, along with more infantry and vehicles until around fedcom civil war it is a battalion of mechs, regiment of vehicles, regiment of infantry, 12 fighters and a company of cheap low end basic battle armor for special operations.

Think that would be plausible? What changes and adjustments would everyone suggest?

I'm thinking about using it like a formula so I can create 3-4 militia units for planets in a campaign...

[Daryk]

It would depend on the planet's position and population... Glenmora is a front line Inner Sphere planet with a population in the hundreds of millions, and can thus support (and would need) a larger militia than some Periphery backwater like Cate's Hold with a population in the tens of thousands.

And sorry about my stream of consciousness in the other thread... it was very much a work in progress all the way through.

[greywolf79]

Nothing to be sorry about. I find some things others see easily as a difficult thing. Different people, different ways of seeing things.

I was thinking worlds like Bromhead and Rollis...

[Daryk]

Bromhead has a population in the hundreds of millions, while Rollis is only tens of millions.  Using Glenmora as a template, I'd go with about a division for Bromhead, and a brigade for Rollis.  That includes support troops, though, so roughly a brigade of combat troops for Bromhead and a regiment for Rollis.  When I did Glenmora, I "cheated" by combining vehicles and infantry at the company level (one lance of vehicles plus two platoons of infantry).  For a more conventional arrangement, I'd follow roughly this outline:

Bromhead (one Brigade)
Two Regiments of Infantry
Two Battalions of Vehicles
One Battalion of 'Mechs
Mixed Battalion of supporting arms (Artillery, VTOLs, et al.)

Rollis (one Regiment)
Two Battalions of Infantry
Two Companies of Vehicles
One Company of 'Mechs
Mixed Company of support arms (as above)

The trick is that these forces will be spread out to defend cities all over the planet, so they generally won't be concentrated above the battalion level anywhere other than the capital.

[Iron Grenadier]

I've been using the militia generator found in this thread -
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,38373.0.html

[greywolf79]

Bromhead (one Brigade)
Two Regiments of Infantry
Two Battalions of Vehicles
One Battalion of 'Mechs
Mixed Battalion of supporting arms (Artillery, VTOLs, et al.)

Rollis (one Regiment)
Two Battalions of Infantry
Two Companies of Vehicles
One Company of 'Mechs
Mixed Company of support arms (as above)

What era do you believe this would be? I'm thinking about taking half of everything for 3025, then increasing each era to get it up to this level. Or do you think 1/3 for 3025 era?

[worktroll]

IO has a random garrison generator (p368), but it doesn't take populations into account. An average non-capital, non-industrial world will have something like 2-3 infantry regiments, 2 armour battalions, and 0 'Mech battalions.

The Objectives DCMS approach Iron Grenadier linked to seems superior for your purposes.

Remember, militias won't have cutting edge equipment - that'll be routed to the regulars. So lots of ICE, autocannons, missiles. Outback worlds are likely to have lots of flatbed truck "technicals", an "armoured corp" of some Hetzers, and some light VTOLs and hovers for scouting.

When it comes to infantry, I always felt a little more flair was allowable. Clever militia will have lots of field gun infantry and thumper infantry. It's reasonable to have large quantities of mechanised/motorised infantries, riding in locally built trucks and pickups, and hover/track/motorbikes well suited to local conditions. Only the toffs in the "presidential guard" have heavy APC "limos" to ride in ;)

[Daryk]

Era-wise, I was thinking post-4th Succession War, but Pre-Clan Invasion.  That's what I targeted for Glenmora.

[greywolf79]

Awesome. What this campaign will call for is taking command of the planetary militia and utilizing it to hit another world. Then building from there. And  in the end they hopefully will hold 3-4 worlds through a handful of missions each.

[worktroll]

Big problem with doing that, is that it's hard to transport vehicle-based militia units interstellar. Infantry need lots of drop ships to move an attack force, and vehicles aren't much better. It's one of the meta-reasons 'Mechs rule in the BT universe - superior strategic maneuverability allows concentration of force.

You might try organising first world's militia to beat down an invasion, and salvage 'Mechs from the battles. Then the "elite fighting force" of 'Mechs & better vees, with some infantry & artillery support, make the next move, and so on.

A suprise strike to take the second world's garrison (merc 'Mechs?) would also play out well.

[greywolf79]

I figured all troops wouldn't go... it will be the merc group is about 16 mechs, they will pick up reinforcement from bromhead militia, then move to another world nearby... They will take over that world salvaging what they can and sending the bromhead team home. I figure they will have an overlord drop ship (employer provided), and 1 transport each for infantry and vehicles. That will be for the first invasion,  second invasion will be the overlord and maybe infantry. Vehicles may be salvaged but no dedicated transport until reorganized (taken as cargo until transport can be arranged).

[worktroll]

makes sense to me.

[Siegfried Marcus]

I would start by thinking about how the militia was intended to be used. I don't imagine many planets have a standing areospace force that could challenge an invasion.  The militia's job is to help maintain law and order, fend off pirate attacks, and hold out against invaders long enough for a friendly fleet to arrive with reinforcements.

If the people resent the government, they will need lots of low quality, but reasonably loyal troops to police the police.  If the planet is home to bandits or insurgents hiding out in the jungle/canyons/subterranean ruins, they will need some ranger types and lots of garrisons.  If they are near a hostile power, they will want more armor and mechs to challenge invading mechs. 

I like to think that the Great Powers discourage planets from building up their garrison too much, in the same way kings would forbid the building of new castles.  It is easier for a Successor State to take back a lost planet than to live in a world of planets that are capable of defending themselves (possibly against their own government).

[Hellraiser]

What kind of units would be expected being used in militia units? I'm curious about all time periods, but mostly 3025 Era, war of 3039, 3049/clan invasion, and fed com civil war era... Basically what size and type of units (ie mechs/vehicles/asf/infantry and how many of each).

As stated, the size of the population & the location & importance of the world are going to be big factors here for any era.

Typical "average", if there is such a thing, might be the following....

Infantry = Brigade
Vehicles = Regiment
Mechs = Lance
Fighters = Wing  (2 Squads Conventionals, 1 Squad Light ASF)

They are all going to be lighter in size, I think Militias are at a -1 to all RAT size rolls, maybe -2/-3 but I know I've seen a penalty in some book of at least -1

Vehicles are going to be more ICE than fusion & more Wheeled with less Hover/Vtol chassis.

Think Bug Mechs, Hetzers, Wheeled APCs, & Foot Infantry & your on the right track.

I figured infantry would be the mainstay. I'm more interested in the mixture of the forces. But also for the different eras how would it differ?

In 3025 for instance, would it be common to have vehicles in the militia? If so, a company/battalion/etc for each regiment of infantry? What about mechs? A lance/company/battalion/regiment/etc? I figure it's unlikely to see more than a battalion of mechs in any era for militia... But I'm trying to gather information on a variety of eras as well. Eras ranging from 3000 to 3070ish (just before jihad begins).

Liao had a rate of 1 Company of Tanks per 2 Battalions of Infantry.
I don't know if anyone else gave a ratio, but that 6-1 figure is probably a good starting point for most houses & nothing higher than 3-1
Militia Mechs is often 0, but can be up to a company,  instances of more than a company are rare, but they do exist & in some very few cases there are militia mech regiments, but that has only been seen maybe 3 times in 30 years of BT canon that I can think of.
In the later eras you'll get small #'s of hand-me-downs as factories were cranking up but at the same time it didn't all go to them because the FS had boneyards of surplus that was not given to militias but stored & used to recover from the FCCW. 

I'd say instead of 0 being the most common by the CW era you might start seeing Lances be common w/ Companies being Uncommon instead of Rare.  But Battalion+ is still going to be VERY RARE in the IS with maybe 1-2% of planets in a House having a mech Militia that size.

Light Fighter Wings are supposedly in every planets TOE if you look at the IS in Flames rules, I think its them anyway.  But I feel that is more likely a Squadron with the Wing being Conventionals mostly.
That said, by 3067 if you feel like having a SparrowHawk wing attached to your Davion world, etc etc, then I wouldn't say its impossible at all.