Creating an Aurigan Coalition force

[Mursusquad]

I got interested in BattleTech through the video game and ended up quite invested in the whole Aurigan Coalition storyline in the game itself. And then the new plastic sculpts came in from the Beginner Box and A Game of Armored Combat sets, I bought them. Then I waited on for the release of House Arano book. And now I have nearly every single Inner Sphere mech that was available in the Clan Invasion kickstarter coming whenever the second wave is shipped. And the most important thing, a friend of mine recently bought AGOC set after realising that BattleTech is the physical game version of MechWarrior games and is planning on getting the Clan Invasion box as well to reacquaint himself with the trusty Timber Wolf from his childhood. So with all these things, I can finally get around to playing something more than trying to get my friends to try out a demo game with my models.

And with that introduction out of the way lets move onto the actual topic: Aurigan Coalition Military. Now I've read the House Arano book on the subject and I was mildly disappointed that it said that Wolverine is the heaviest mech the ACM can field. I really like the heavy metal ones myself. But then I kind of cheered myself with the fact that it is going to be our game and, well, we can do pretty much what we like in the game itself. And the hired mercenaries probably have all kinds of mechs at hand. So with the plan of dropping a couple heavier mechs into the actual ACM with a couple more coming from Rampart Company and the mercenaries I feel there is much that can be done to make a nice, diverse force all together. And that's when it struck me, that I have no idea what mechs go together well in lances. Or what kind of lances would Aurigan Coalition even build.

So I did some research and the conclusion I came to is basically "Do whatever you like". The standard lance composition was stated to be a light, a medium and two heavy mechs. Then when I tried to search information on different lance types, I couldn't really find much. So all I have to go on right now is that military breakdown list in House Arano books (Royal Guard, 3 Mech Companies, Rampart Company and 5 Mercenary Companies). The plan is to make the Second Company of ACM battlemechs which, going as a typical company by Sarna, consists of three lances. I figured that maybe some kind of command, battle and recon lances would be a nice base to go by, not that the words really seem to mean much. And straying from the source material a little bit, I plan on dropping two heavy mechs into the company. So here are what I had in mind:

Command Lance
- Warhammer
- Shadowhawk
- Centurion
- Raven

Battle Lance
- Thunderbolt
- Hunchback
- Hatchetman
- Jenner

Recon Lance
- Some Fast Medium Mech
- Locust
- Spider
- Wasp

These are, for most part, based on what I used in the video game (when full assault lances were not a thing yet), looks and very minimal amount of information what they do on the tabletop. So, any suggestions what doesn't make sense, what could be replaced to make it better/more periphery themed and if these make sense together in anyway. I've added a list in the attachments of what mechs I will have once the second wave of the kickstarter ships out to help out with suggestions. Any comments, thoughts and such are greatly appreciated.

And as final note, my friend is really big on combined forces approach, so we will no doubt be delving into Total Warfare and adding infantry and tanks to the battles (which seems to be the Aurigan way!). Which brings an additional question, I never found out what kind of organisation tanks use (found infantry platoons and companies tho). So if anyone knows, please let me know too!

So all that said, thank you all for making it this far and for any help you may be able give!

[Kerfuffin(925)]

The hatchetman and raven are the only two that seem out of place, both were prototypes and new to the era (~3025). Thrust would really only be seen in their respective factions prestigious units (Lyran and Capellan respectively). The wolf hound is also fairly new and faction specific for the time period as well if you were thinking about that as a sub.


In your undecided slot the Phoenix hawk would fit in nicely, regardless of what you do about the other two. The trebuchet is could be a good fit with either lance as a replacement for the raven or hatchetman. Same with the Wolverine, they are solid and fairly common, the wolverine more so.

The lances all look solid and thematic, and could ably serve their stated rolls. I haven’t played much so take that with a grain of salt.

That being said, if you like them leave them in. They are cool mechs, and unless you fall in with a real timeline/faction stickler group (which if it’s just you and your buddy it doesn’t sound like it at all) it’s your table so have fun.

[glitterboy2098]

yeah, the Hatchetman and Raven were cutting edge units at the time and had only been out for a few years. so odds are there wouldn't be any in use.

my suggestion would be to look at some of the downgraded SLDF stuff. we know the Aurigan's found some SLDF caches, and the periphery had a lot of SLDF units in it before the exodus which means plenty of chances for salvage or for a machine to have been left behind or even the pilot staying behind. and with the periphery being somewhat more peaceful than the successor states during the succession wars, such machine are more likely to still be tooling around. (while within the IS proper they'd usually have suffered attrition pretty fast)

instead of a hatchetman and raven i'd suggest a WVE-6N Wyvern, and a HER-1A  or -1B Hermes.


as far as vehicles go.. the Scorpion, Galleon, and Striker are the most common vehicles you run into in the game so you can't got wrong with the basic models of those.

 

[Major Headcase]

X

[Giovanni Blasini]

Command Lance
- Warhammer
- Shadowhawk
- Centurion
- Raven

Battle Lance
- Thunderbolt
- Hunchback
- Hatchetman
- Jenner

Recon Lance
- Some Fast Medium Mech
- Locust
- Spider
- Wasp

What about moving the Jenner to the empty recon lance slot, then moving the Warhammer from the command lance to the battle lance, and maybe the Centurion too, replacing the Hatchetman there?  That concentrates your 4/6 movers into one lance of heavy-hitters.

That would leave two spots in your command lance, plus that Raven which, as has been pointed out, is a brand new Capellan design still in the prototype stage in 3025.

Instead of the Raven, what about a PXH-2 Phoenix Hawk? Half ton more armor than standard, which gives you better head protection for starters, but also picks up an ECM suite, giving you something that can do the Raven's job, even if it's missing the Beagle probe.

For another 'Mech in the command lance, how about a Griffin? Matches the Shadow Hawk for speed, gives a bit more long range oomph, and shares a lot of the same general parts, too.

Which brings me to my last suggestion, the commander's ride.  Bear with me here, but how about...yeah, a Wolverine.  It's fluffed as a command 'Mech after all, has an Aurigan connection, is the third BattleMech of the classic 55-Ton Trio, and has absolutely vicious variants available, like the WVR-6M and WVR-6K, if you're not a fan of the perfectly-serviceable WVR-6R.

[Elmoth]

My noob experience is that in general mechs go well if they share movement speed and weaponry with similar ranges. So mechs with LRM as their primary weapon (missile boats) go well with other LRM, PPC and AC5 mechs. Mind you, the AC5 os much worse than in the computer game. A pitty really and ACs something that would benefit immensely from a deserved rules television, but tha tis besides the point.

For mechs that stand back be shot stuff (PPC, Lrm) speed is not that important. For mechs that go towards the enemy, some speed is desirable to be more difficult to hit and get on them position you want faster. At.mid range, large lasers and AC10 are your friends. Medium lasers start to be relevant.

Try to group your mechs by mission (fire support, midrange irmishers, short range brawlers, and fast backstabbers) and by weapon type.

[Mursusquad]

I see plenty of great suggestions and ideas. I didn't actually know that Raven and Hatchetman were new designs around the timeframe. And it is good to know that Raven is a Capellan design, as I will probably use Capellan as a base for a Great House force later on. But yeah, the plan is to make post-Restoration force, as I have to admit, I really liked Kamea's story as Sword of Restoration and everything. I think our plan, for now, is to stay around 3025 and then stretch it out to around the 3050 when the Clans invade. I do like to keep things era-correct if only because it feels more thematic.

So for the mechs, I've really liked the suggestions so far. The Phoenix Hawk to replace Raven seems like the move to make and maybe consolidating heavy mechs into the battle lance would be good too. Griffin and Wolverine are great ideas too, tho I generally favored Griffin over Wolverine whenever I played the video game, I may have to start looking more at the X-Man :) Wyvern and Hermes are good ideas too, but I don't think I am getting either of those as models, but should Catalyst at some point release redesigns of them, I am sure I'll pick them up! And finally the Blackjack. It does seem like it'd be wrong not to include it, but I may be kind of saving it for Rampart Company.

Speaking of which, I was thinking of replacing the Rampart Company written in House Arano book with the mercenary company from the video game. I did read a little on other threads about how Argo and the big lostech mechs the company had would have certain implications but... I just feel better about not having them disappear out into space! Which means, the mech I love the most, Highlander, would make its appearance in the Rampart Company! Which is where I'd probably stick the Blackjack too!

Otherwise, I just really liked the ideas of looking into SLDF and Taurian mechs as well, either gained through found caches and salvage. I do remember there being a passage in the House Arano book under the captain of Rampart Company that the company has managed to bring in about 40 salvaged mechs and six intact ones, so that is something to build upon as well!

I'll post the updated lances later, when I've had some more time to think on the replacements and how to shuffle the lance formations!

[DOC_Agren]

My changes
Command Lance
- Warhammer (6l)
- Shadowhawk
- Centurion
- Crab (use Star League model) 27sl

Battle Lance
- Thunderbolt (5se)
- Hunchback
- Panther
- Jenner

Recon Lance
- Mongoose (star league leftover)
- Locust
- Spider
- Wasp

now the battle lance all jumps, and while u deal with heavy firepower of the 1st 3, the Jenner kills with backshooting

[glitterboy2098]

why a Liao specific 6L "hot hammer" instead of a standard 6R?

and why a rare star league Crab CRB-27sl (with ferro fib, XL, pulse lasers, and DHS), given that such a unit would be far more valuable to R&D for reverse engineering study than as a combat unit? (especially as the design is extinct at the time, and such capabilities would attract a lot of notice from both the successor states as well as Comstar)
my suggestion would be just to use the CRB-20.. it is still a very good unit, and you can still fluff it as being a normal CRB-27 found in a cache, which had the armor replaced so the ferro-fib can be studied.

[Mursusquad]

Alright, so after some more reading and going through the suggestions, I think I've come up with the new lances!

Command Lance
- Wolverine (WVR-6R)
- Shadowhawk (SHD-2H)
- Phoenix Hawk
- Stinger

Battle Lance
- Warhammer   
- Thunderbolt (TDR-5S)
- Centurion   
- Commando (COM-2D)

Recon Lance
- Valkyrie
- Wasp   
- Spider   
- Locust (LCT-1V)

I've marked down the variants I know I'll be using, based pretty much on the fact what kind of load out the mini comes with. As for the shuffling of mechs around, I consolidated the heavy mechs into the battle lance. I noticed both the Panther and Jenner were a little more faction specific based on my reading so I moved the Centurion in and pulled in the Commando as well. Commando seems to pack some punch, so I thought I'd use it as the light mech of the lance.

The command lance went to 3 mediums and a light, I liked the suggestions of Wolverine as command mech for the lance so I did that. The only thing from the original is the Shadowhawk, which I thought I'd keep in as it seems to be like something you'd plug in to fill some gaps. I added Phoenix Hawk as suggested and then I read that it is basically just a buffed up Stinger so I put the Stinger in as well.

Recon lance is basically just whatever light mechs I have in store. I considered swapping Phoenix Hawk and Striker into this one and swap two of the other light mechs into the command lance. Contemplating on getting a second ACOG box just to get second copies of the lights and then use the rest for possible conversions into other variants. Getting more of the light mechs from the upcoming lance boxes seems to be pretty far off as well.

Either way, now the Aurigan 2nd company has the three lances a regular company has and it is 50% comprised of light mechs, which seems to be at least somewhat close to the material in House Arano book. If anything seems out of place, let me know! But if all seems to be fine, then it is time to start looking into making a combat vehicle and infantry companies to accompany the mechs.

Anyway, let me know if anything is off on the lances and thanks for all the suggestions so far, they've been quite helpful in determining what to pick.

[Kerfuffin(925)]

I’d swap the valk and p hawk give the command lance some more LRMs, and the valk is pretty slow for doing any real scouting. The commando could move into either of the other Lances too, but probably should stay, distract with the big boys and then strike and fade with the commando.

Otherwise looks good from my end.

[Giovanni Blasini]

I’d swap the valk and p hawk give the command lance some more LRMs, and the valk is pretty slow for doing any real scouting. The commando could move into either of the other Lances too, but probably should stay, distract with the big boys and then strike and fade with the commando.

Otherwise looks good from my end.

Yup, that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all, given the 5/8/5 movement on the Valkyrie.  It'll mesh well with the Shadow Hawk and Wolverine, and it's still a cousin to the Stinger, since it's basically a non-LAM version of one of the Wasp LAM variants. ;)

Mursusquad, were you planning on going all Intro tech, or possibly running some stuff with advanced tech that may have "fallen off a truck" so to speak in the Aurigan region of space, kind of like in the game?

[Elmoth]

The Valkyrie drags the recon lance back. I would put the commando there in its place and put the valky in the battle lance instead. 

[DOC_Agren]

why a Liao specific 6L "hot hammer" instead of a standard 6R?

and why a rare star league Crab CRB-27sl (with ferro fib, XL, pulse lasers, and DHS), given that such a unit would be far more valuable to R&D for reverse engineering study than as a combat unit? (especially as the design is extinct at the time, and such capabilities would attract a lot of notice from both the successor states as well as Comstar)
my suggestion would be just to use the CRB-20.. it is still a very good unit, and you can still fluff it as being a normal CRB-27 found in a cache, which had the armor replaced so the ferro-fib can be studied.

The Hot Hammer because it is a Liao unit and easy to explain jumping the border.  as for the Crab for that 1 ultra tech Star League era unit. 

[DOC_Agren]

Many Units have a single home they come from, but years of combat has moved them around the Sphere, as salvage or mercs or both.

a Panther or Jenner could be salvage from the LC/DC or FS/DC border, end up on a raid in the CC by a merc and salvaged, etc..  I also would not have been surprised that the DC provide some to the TC as kinda enemy of my enemy can buy my stuff.

Command Lance
- Wolverine (WVR-6R)
- Shadowhawk (SHD-2H)
- Phoenix Hawk
- Stinger

Battle Lance
- Warhammer   
- Thunderbolt (TDR-5S)
- Centurion   
- Commando (COM-2D)

Recon Lance
- Valkyrie
- Wasp   
- Spider   
- Locust (LCT-1V)

I would swap the P-hawk and turn that into your recon leader and move the Valk to command.  Because of Speed plus a P-hawk been fluff as a recon leader mech

also I might swap out that Commando for the Panther for the punch that PPC can give.. or swap the Commando for 1B model that LL can be a surprise reach out and say Hi weapon

[Mursusquad]

Yup, that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all, given the 5/8/5 movement on the Valkyrie.  It'll mesh well with the Shadow Hawk and Wolverine, and it's still a cousin to the Stinger, since it's basically a non-LAM version of one of the Wasp LAM variants. ;)

Mursusquad, were you planning on going all Intro tech, or possibly running some stuff with advanced tech that may have "fallen off a truck" so to speak in the Aurigan region of space, kind of like in the game?

I think I will go with the the basic things for now. I mean as players we are very new so taking one step at a time seems like a good idea. I mean I will probably put the Atlas from the House Arano book with all the snazzy lasers and what not into the Royal Guard company, whenever I get around to it. But for now, I think we'll both be happy with just using the basic tech and getting a game in now and then. Maybe we'll get around to it once we start going into some sort of campaign or something!

As for the swap with Valkyrie and Phoenix Hawk, I think I'll do that too. Also gives recon lance something, hopefully, a little tougher if needed. I think I'll keep the Commando in the battle lance for now and the Panther, while entirely possible to have that thing come up as salvage, feels like it is a bit too far from the Draconis Combine, at this time!

I started the next plan with combat vehicle company being set up. Still reading up on the vehicles themselves, but the Master Unit List is quite helpful with all that. And I am also using this faction mech/vehicle listing that Xotl had posted, which turns out to be very on point on what I was looking for! For their lances, I had thought about going for a main battle tank lance type of deal, long range fire support lance and a fast response/close support lance.

And as after tanks comes infantry, and I don't feel like opening a whole new topic on it, if an infantry unit is mechanized, do you need a model for both the transport and the infantry unit itself or are those on the same hex base?

[Kerfuffin(925)]

...
I started the next plan with combat vehicle company being set up. Still reading up on the vehicles themselves, but the Master Unit List is quite helpful with all that. And I am also using this faction mech/vehicle listing that Xotl had posted, which turns out to be very on point on what I was looking for! For their lances, I had thought about going for a main battle tank lance type of deal, long range fire support lance and a fast response/close support lance.

And as after tanks comes infantry, and I don't feel like opening a whole new topic on it, if an infantry unit is mechanized, do you need a model for both the transport and the infantry unit itself or are those on the same hex base?

Vehicles can do a lot to add some firepower, and can do specialized things very well.

For the infantry type ‘mechanized’ this means they have integrated small vehicles. So a base with a few infantry and a one or two vehicles.

All the different infantry types are confusing. Some are too similar and it’s kind of annoying Imo. When all the infantry I am planning on running foot platoons with external full sized vehicles for transport, more like you described later.

[Annwn]

Here's an alternative thought - why not just play with what is in the Handbook to start?  I bet it would be a pretty epic campaign for a fledgling and under-powered nation to have a hero unit make themselves known and along the way get some more heavy metal to defend the homeland.  The players may then have a better idea in terms of their desired roles, systems/features they like, etc - and they could end up with a favorite mech.  It could be the one they already have and grew to love - maybe you can uncover a prototype system or maybe a SL-era upgrade? - or maybe it's the beast that terrorized them as opposition that they finally took down, etc.  Or they could raid a factory or shipment or storage depot just to try to snag a plump Heavy/Assault that some local black market boys told them was easy grabbing. 

Heck, maybe start them out as infantry or dispossessed or unfairly cashiered by corrupt authorities or even underweight - heroes of Backwater IV - al la Decision at Thunder Rift?

[Mursusquad]

While the idea of going through a campaign to build that hero unit is kind of fun, I see that as more of a roleplaying game type of thing. Having a bunch of people controlling the mechs of the company and then a game master running the opposing forces. I think that if a campaign is going to be run, it should involve the same kind of experience for both/all players, where they can make their own lances and companies into something epic. Still, I am considering on getting some scenarios together so the games are not just "bash other into face until dead" affairs.

My own force building is going slowly as I am deciphering lists of vehicles for their uses and imagining what kind of vehicular companies the Aurigan Coalition might have. And while on that subject, I am utterly stumped by infantry and how they are used. Especially when it comes to transports.

For example, using the Total Warfare book, I take a single rifle platoon (weight 3 tons). The whole platoon is deployed as a single base consisting of 28 soldiers. I want to take a transport for them, I have to take a vehicle that has infantry bay able to carry the unit (minimum 3 tons). So basically I am uncertain on what use is the infantry bay on the regular APC or Goblin, when only infantry options I've found that they can take are the battle armor units that are not really prominent during 3025. Does this mean I'd have to start modifying the sheet for infantry units if I want to shove a rifle squad into an APC or a Goblin?  These things confuse me :)

Beyond that, I am just waiting for a shipment of hex bases to arrive so I can start putting some of the mechs back on bases and start planning a color scheme.

[Weirdo]

A platoon requires 3 or more time of space. A squad only needs one, but it also requires Advanced rules from TacOps to use.

Long story short: just stick to stuff with 3-ton bays if you want to keep things simple.

[glitterboy2098]

or take 3 units with one ton bays for each platoon and accept that you won't be able to actually load the infantry into them during gameplay.

and yes it is a little frustrating that before the clan invasion there aren't that many units with large enough cargo/troop bays to haul a whole platoon around during gameplay. but you still have the Heavy APC's, the Karnov, the Flatbed truck, the Maxim, the Maultier, and the Sleipnir and Vargyr tank's from the House Arano PDF. though only the first three are free of faction complications.