Force Organisation

[Robert Anstruther]

Hi,
Firstly I apologise for the length of this post but I really needed to get it down before it broke my mind!  I’m so glad the forums are back, I’ve been trying to wrestle with all the books I have and various websites in an attempt to make sense of some questions I have! But I still haven’t managed it. I’ve only recently got back into Battletech after a long sabbatical.  I’ve bought all the main rules books and I am currently planning two forces so I always have a force for club members to play with and hopefully lure them in  ;D

I want to try and stick to the lore as far as possible but so far I have had to stray a little, some of the information has come from different books and possibly different eras.   I have constructed some excel documents to help, I have a Mech list to pick from now.  My chosen era is between 2750-3039. I want to build both forces to be able to play all the rulebooks, so from Total Warfare to Strategic Operations and hopefully also Interstellar Operations. Also I plan on equal numbers and hopefully BV.  Also for each force I want to have combined arms, so a bit of everything within the force.  I already went out and bought some minis a bit hastily, unfortunately the majority of them are from Project Phoenix, luckily I have a great local shopkeeper who said I can exchange them for the ones I actually should of bought!  He also is a big Battletech fan and posts here.  So I am going to get it right this time!

I have a few general questions and some more unit specific, I really hope you guys and gals can help me out.

I’ll start with the specific unit questions.  My two chosen factions will be the Northwind Highlanders Stirling Fusiliers and the 6th Lyran Guard.  I would like to build a Battalion sized force for each faction and also a Navy force.

From my sourcebooks I decided on the Stirling’s Fusiliers 3rd Battalion, The Guardsmen.  This was due to make up of the force.  The Battalion consists of a Battalion Command Lance (Mechs), Mech Company, Armor Company and a Battlearmor Company.  The Regimental Command Company has an Aero Squadron which I will attach to this Battalion.  This covers all the bases I wanted for a combined arms force.   The Northwind Highlanders also have a Navy listed which include a Star Lord, 2 Invaders, 3 Mechant, 3 Scouts and a Magellan JumpShips.

The second force I decided on was the 6th Lyran Guard.  This is more of a challenge to figure out as the breakdown of the force isn’t as well described!  The RCT comprises of 1 Mech Regiment with an Aero Brigade attached, 3 Armor Regiments and 6 Infantry Regiments of varying types.  There is no Navy listed for 6th Lyran Guards.

1.   So my first question, will a Battalion size force be big enough for Total Warfare and Battleforce? (16 Mechs, 12 Vehicles, 3 Platoons of Infantry plus Aero Squadron).

2.   Is it acceptable to remove the Battlearmor (as is it didn’t exist in the Inner Sphere at this point) from the Northwind Highlanders and replace it with 3 Platoons of Infantry?

3.   Only JumpShips are listed as the Northwind Highlanders Navy Fleet, but I want to add a support fleet of Warships.  Is there a structure to building a Warship fleet, like a typical fleet force comprising of different types of ships?

4.   The 6th Lyran Guards information doesn’t break down enough for me to pick a single Battalion like I could with the Stirling’s Fusiliers.  If I want to build a force (combined arms) similar to that of the Fusiliers would it consist of 1 Mech Company and Aero Support from the Mech Regiment and 1 Company of Armor from the Armor Regiment and also 1 Company of Infantry from the Regiment?

5.   There is no mention of the Naval Fleet for the Lyran Guards, how do I go about creating one which is equal to that of the Northwind Highlanders but hopefully trying to stick to what would be realistic for the Lyran Guards?

6.   Is there hard and fast rules of what a Company (of any units) is made up of?  The Lyran Guard force breakdown states the Infantry Regiments are made of single Infantry types (Light, Heavy etc).  The reason I ask if I want some different infantry types, within a company, to go into my Lyran force is that acceptable?  Would I just state they are in one company but from different Regiments?

7.   Last one!  I see alot of reference to different Lances/Platoon makeup; Command, Assault, Recon, Striker, Fire, Pursuit, Support and probably some others.  What do these mean in terms of what the Lance/Platoon should include?  Does each type listed above generally have certain units in them and if so what would they be?

I understand there is alot to answer here, I just hope some of you pity me in my struggle to build two equal size, combined forces whilst sticking to the lore as closely as possible to throw some of your knowledge this way, I will be eternally grateful if so.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Rob

[HABeas2]

Hello,

1.   So my first question, will a Battalion size force be big enough for Total Warfare and Battleforce? (16 Mechs, 12 Vehicles, 3 Platoons of Infantry plus Aero Squadron).

Yes.

2.   Is it acceptable to remove the Battlearmor (as is it didn’t exist in the Inner Sphere at this point) from the Northwind Highlanders and replace it with 3 Platoons of Infantry?

Yes.

3.   Only JumpShips are listed as the Northwind Highlanders Navy Fleet, but I want to add a support fleet of Warships.  Is there a structure to building a Warship fleet, like a typical fleet force comprising of different types of ships?

No. During the Star League period, WarShips fell under a different branch of the service and would likely be attached only as needed.

4.   The 6th Lyran Guards information doesn’t break down enough for me to pick a single Battalion like I could with the Stirling’s Fusiliers.  If I want to build a force (combined arms) similar to that of the Fusiliers would it consist of 1 Mech Company and Aero Support from the Mech Regiment and 1 Company of Armor from the Armor Regiment and also 1 Company of Infantry from the Regiment?

There is little reason why it wouldn't.

5.   There is no mention of the Naval Fleet for the Lyran Guards, how do I go about creating one which is equal to that of the Northwind Highlanders but hopefully trying to stick to what would be realistic for the Lyran Guards?

If this is for Star League era, you would likely need a slightly weaker naval presence, mainly consisting of transports to carry the command, and a few escort ships. Again, like the SLDF/SLN, WarShips would likely be assigned as-needed, rather than permanently attached.

6.   Is there hard and fast rules of what a Company (of any units) is made up of?  The Lyran Guard force breakdown states the Infantry Regiments are made of single Infantry types (Light, Heavy etc).  The reason I ask if I want some different infantry types, within a company, to go into my Lyran force is that acceptable?  Would I just state they are in one company but from different Regiments?

We try to keep the rules for what forces are comprised of fast and loose, so players can either make do with their own collections of minis/stats, or just create as freely as they want without fear of some corporate voice saying "that is not correct!" This is where I tend to say "whatever works on your game table is fine by us".

7.   Last one!  I see alot of reference to different Lances/Platoon makeup; Command, Assault, Recon, Striker, Fire, Pursuit, Support and probably some others.  What do these mean in terms of what the Lance/Platoon should include?  Does each type listed above generally have certain units in them and if so what would they be?

Once again, this is fast and loose. In the Field Manual series, we identified these formation types rather loosely. Command units tend to be an even mix of units, often (but not always) placing the Commanding Officer in a heavy or assault-class Mech. Assault lances are heavy or assault Mechs which carry massive firepower and are used to smash defenses quickly, often at the expense of speed. Recon lances are always fast-moving units, usually light and medium weight, modestly to lightly armed, and typically equipped with EW gear such as active probes, TAG, and ECM suites. Striker lances are medium to heavy weights that are likely faster than average and well armed, used to attack enemy units. Fire lances are similar to Strikers, but tend to be more missile-based than Strikers. Pursuit lances are similar to Recon, but tend to swap EW gear for firepower and may be slightly slower. Support lances are essentially assault-grade lances based around missiles and other long-range firepower, used for heavy stand-off attacks.

Hopefully, this all helps.

Thank you,

- Herbert Beas
  BattleTech
  Catalyst Game Labs

[Robert Anstruther]

Superb, thanks alot Herb, you also helped me previously.  Its great to have help directly from the people making the game, thanks for taking the time!

Rob

[HABeas2]

Hello,

You are welcome!

Thank you,

- Herbert Beas
  BattleTech
  Catalyst Game Labs