Company Composition & Detachment Questions

[Captain Punka]

I love that the rules include some structure on companies, etc. (e.g. p. 126).  I also love trying to design effective companies while restricting myself to just the 4 lances that are allowed.

When it comes to detachments, it seems in a way they provide a way to cheat the system because you can still have your 4 lances of mechs and not "use" up any of those precious 4 lances towards vehicles, infantry, etc.  Just have those be detachments instead.

So, my general question is what are the downsides of using detachments?

Some specific questions I have using detachments:

1. Do detachments still benefit from formation abilities?  Could I, for example, have a "support" lance of infantry?  (My guess is yes.)

2. Do detachments benefit from the the company's command ability?  (My guess is no.)

3. How do detachments interact with the Battlefield Intelligence rules?  More specifically...

   a. Do I need to account for having enough units with MHQ1+ for the additional units in the detachment?  For example, if I have a detachment with 4 infantry units, would I need an additional MHQ1 to still provide the bonus +1 initiative from battlefield intelligence?

   b. What about battlefield intelligence points coming from the detachment?  For example, if the detachment had some units with RCN and maybe even an MHQ unit, would I increase my battlefield intelligence score for these detachment units?

   (My guess for the answer to both questions is that since detachments are part of that side's "force", they factor in all ways into the calculation of battlefield intelligence requirements and bonuses.)

Bonus related question...

A) Can I have an infantry support formation(i.e 4 laser infantry with support formation benefits) join a vehicle battle lance (a vehicle formation) come together into a "mechanized" "combined transport and infantry formation"?  (My guess is based on the wording of the rules that the vehicles maintain their formation ability, but the infantry do *not* get a separate formation ability, in this case, would not get the support formation ability.)

[nckestrel]

It's helpful if you put the book along with the page number.  I looked up p126 in the AS Commander's Edition, AS Companion and AS 2nd printing and found nothing about what you were talking about.

I have no idea if that would then help my confusion on other things, like where did the restriction on 4 lances come from?

[nckestrel]

A) Can I have an infantry support formation(i.e 4 laser infantry with support formation benefits) join a vehicle battle lance (a vehicle formation) come together into a "mechanized" "combined transport and infantry formation"?  (My guess is based on the wording of the rules that the vehicles maintain their formation ability, but the infantry do *not* get a separate formation ability, in this case, would not get the support formation ability.)

No.  The non-infantry units get a formation, the infantry do not get a separate formation.  The "combined infantry and transport" formation is their formation+bonus ability.    You can have infantry in a completely separate formation (support lance), or you can have your infantry use the combined infantry and transport formation, but no infantry unit can be in both their own formation and a combined formation.

[Captain Punka]

Sorry, I said p. 126 because that what I type in at the top of my Adobe reader.  My bad.  :(

The chart I'm referring to is p. 124 of the Alpha Strike Commander's Edition rules.  Nothing much to see on that page though, I was basically just referencing the fact one can include detachments and that I love having these kinds of rules in the rulebook!  :D

[nckestrel]

Gotcha.

The term detachment has nothing to do with formations or forces.  (Just like company has no affect on formations or force rules).  The detachment can be formed into formations and then get the benefits of the formation and it would follow all the normal requirements for formations.  Being a detachment doesn't change that at all.
And all your units are part of your force, doesn't matter if they are companies, battalions, detachment, demi-battalions, trinaries, etc.

The Combat Manuals have a slight variation on detachments, where detachments can include unit types that aren't part of your command.  So if you are the playing as Grim Determination, they don't have any infantry.  You can have infantry detachments added that are from the local militia or other commands not your own.  And those don't count toward your command abilities and can't benefit from them.   They could still be in formations and gain formation bonuses though.