Battle armour battalion composition c.3100

[Reaved]

I'm hoping the forum can help me out a little. I was thinking of putting together a battle armour battalion (c.3100). I'm not sure which faction and, more importantly, I'm not sure which suits and support units would work well together. Any suggestions?

[AlphaMirage]

Clan,

More seriously though the DCMS or AFFS are good factions for battle armor as both have a collection of Omnimechs they can deploy alongside. The Kurita Battle Armor in particular is also very stylish looking. I think both sides would use older and slower equipment in support of Battle Armor since they are so slow and they are likely to be popular synergists for tanks as they can provide cover to the vulnerable flanks of vehicles advancing.

For the DCMS you could use something like a Strider, Raptor, or Owens for Mechs or a Schiltron for an omni-tank alongside others like the Bulldog, Shillelagh, and Tokugawa.

For the AFFS VTOLs like the Cavalry would be served by dropping them behind the enemy while the front is pushed forward by a Davion Gun Lance or Tank Squadron preferably after dealing some real damage to the enemy that Armor could crit seek.

[worktroll]

The question is a bit too open, unfortunately, but there are some general recommendations.

The first is to come up with some preferences. Are there BA you're particularly fond of? If so, pick'em, and build your force around them. Like the Longinus? Go Marik. Want to Salamander? Go Clan.

The second is to consider transport. I'm never happy deploying BA or infantry and not having a ride, even if (for example, in a defensive position) you might not put the vehicles on the board. For the Clans, that mainly means Omnis. So if you want a Trinary of BA, you more or less need a trinary of Omnis to carry them. There are some good Clan vehicle transports - the Svantovit & Eldingar are good speedy transports, and the wheeled Anat is ... well, cheap Not all Clans are good at mix & match, but by 3100 there's more openness to mixed forces.

For Inner Sphere BA, you have Omnis - but you also have mag clamps. These little beauties mean any 'Mech or vehicle can carry a squad of mag-clamped BA. Which means cheap heavy APCs and other vanilla carriers with a 4-ton bay can now carry two squads, one in & one out. Then, there are omni vehicles as well, and some have bays as well. I'm particularly fond of the Manteuffel C - not only is the DA mini a good size for use on BT hexboards, if you lean that way, it's got an 8-ton bay - which means two squads inside and one out, each.The armament - two LLPCs and an LRM-10 - are ideally suited to supporting BA, and the armour means you'll get there (eventually), having contributed along the way.

The main mag-clamp BA I can think of are the Capellan Fa Shih, the Marik Longinus variant, and the Feddie Infiltrator II variant. They''re usually a little anaemic compared to the base versions, which is why you put the meatier BA inside the bay and then add the extra squad clinging to the outside.

The last thing to think of is aerial assault - BA with jump-jets can be dumped like advertising leaflets from a VTOL, or troop-carrier like a Karnov. This does enable some fun tactics, although keep those birds moving until they drop their valuable eggs.

Any of that useful to you?

[Reaved]

Thank you, yes, there's some very useful stuff here I'm very slightly in love with the artwork for the Marik suits of the FCCW-era, although the newer DCMS suits are also very nice!

I guess to try and narrow it down a little: When using significant numbers of Battle armour, do people feel it's worth utilising different designs? Looking at traditional 'Mech battalions, they often consist of multi-role companies perhaps with a lance for 'recon', a long range fire support lance and then a brawling lance. Should battle armour formations look to do the same thing?

E.g. Mixing Shen Longs (or Buraqs) with a strong spine of Amazons (or Elementals) with some Hauberks/Centaurs/Fenrir IIs.

Or does the limited speed and war load of Battle armour dictate that they simply can't be used as miniature 'Mech analogs and, therefore, many of the roles an independent Battle armour formation would need would best be plugged by other units (e.g. Boomerangs, LRM-equipped transports, the Manteuffel C that you referenced, etc).

[AlphaMirage]

I think Battle Armor should be deployed in specialized units to support their command.
Light Recon suits would go ahead of armor to check for mines, other traps, or ambushes by hidden units in close terrain. They would not be used with a mech company which should have dedicated Recon Mechs capable of escaping said ambushes.
Medium Combat suits are a multi-role force multiplier to Mechs in particular using their weapons to crit seek, finish damaged foes, annihilate infantry (if properly equipped), and take objectives while being tough enough to survive in that kind of environment.
Heavy and Assault biped suits are better on defense protecting slow and vulnerable units (like LRM carriers, Command Posts, Light Infantry, and Artillery) or lying in wait to ambush bigger units as long as heavier support units are close by (like LRM carriers).
Quad units (Fenrirs in particular) are best used to hunt said vulnerable units as they are speedy and most carry enough weaponry and armor to do the job.