Conventional Infantry 102: Alternate Formations II: Converting a US Army Striker Company to Battletech Standard
Conventional infantry 101 Conventional infantry 102 I:
USMC Conventional infantry 102 III:
U.S. Civil War Conventional infantry 102 IV:
Soviet Motorized Rifle Division Conventional infantry 102 V:
FASA’s Renegade Legion Well, in the previous article we have seen how to work within the rules to adapt a real-world military formation to a fully legal unit in BattleTech. Now, I’ll be tackling something a bit more complicated. By “a bit more complicated” I mean a US Army Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) Infantry Rifle Company.
What’s the big deal, you ask? There are several ways of writing this up in BT, all yielding equally legal-under-the-rules results with vastly different combat capabilities.
First things first; most of those reading this article will be unfamiliar with an SBCT. Let’s break it down: the Stryker part refers to the Styker IFV family of eight-wheeled combat vehicles. I’m sure that a close approximation can be built under the rules or substituted for suitable existing canon vehicles; this article is not about the actual capability of the unit’s vehicles (except in the generic sense), but about the organization of the company as a conventional infantry unit/meta-unit under BattleTech Tech Manual rules; as such, I’ll be using the more generic “IFV” term when speaking of the Stryker IFVs or their BT equivalents. The Brigade part might be a bit confusing to BT players; the Company to be constructed is part of a Battalion (3 companies [more or less; I’ll get to that shortly] to a Battalion), with three [ditto] Battalions to a Brigade. Yes; in other words, a US Army Brigade is equivalent to a BT Regiment. The “Combat Team” part should be familiar to anyone who has had to build a Regimental Combat Team in BT; it is not just one regiment; it is a group of several units put together under a single command structure; make no mistake; the “company” constructed will be similar to a combined arms battalion in BattleTech. That’s where the fun is and the headaches begin.
So let’s start at the beginning; the SBCT Company breaks down into the following components:
Company HQ: This includes two IFV’s, two heavy transport trucks (with trailers) and two light transports (HMMWVs) with trailers and the Company HQ staff.
MGS Platoon: MGS stands for “Mobile Gun System” and means basically a Stryker with a 105mm tank gun instead of an infantry compartment. This platoon consists of three MGS IFV and their crews.
Mortar Section: Another “support” element; this one consists of two MC (Mortar Carrier) IFVs, but instead of regular infantry, each carries (in addition to the built-in mortar) a three-man mortar crew that can dismount and fire independently of the carrier.
Fire Support Team: In BT terms: an IFV with TAG; these are spotters and fire coordinators; one FIST (Fire Support Team) IFV and its crew is the entire section.
Sniper Team; three dudes on foot with a BFG (no, you look that one up). Sniper, observer and bodyguard.
Medical Evacuation Team: An MEV (Medical Evacuation Vehicle); basically an IFV fitted as an ambulance with its crew.
THREE Rifle Platoons; The “meat” of the company; each platoon consists of four IFVs and crews, three 9-trooper rifle squads, one 7-trooper weapons squad and a platoon HQ section of four plus an attached platoon medic from the Battalion pool.
See what I mean about “BT battalion sized”?
Let’s get cracking.
We’ll start with the
Rifle Platoons.
Each platoon has three foot infantry squads of 9 troopers each. Each squad is composed of two fireteams of four troopers (2 rifles, one grenadier, one SAW, just like the USMC fire teams discussed in the earlier article) plus a squad leader. We could do the same thing we did for the USMC rifle platoon and declare each fire team a “squad” and the actual squad would be a BT 2-squad platoon, but given the per-vehicle organization (plus the need for weapons distribution for a Javelin anti-tank team), it would be best to keep the 9-trooper squad as a BT TM-constructed two-fireteam foot squad.
So why not mechanized? After all, these are mechanized troops. The reason is simple; in BT, “BT mechanized” infantry stay with their vehicles at all times (even bringing them upstairs in buildings!), while US Army mechanized infantry dogma stresses tactical separation of squad and vehicle.
So we have each squad comprised of two 4-trooper fireteams plus the squad leader. Three of these squads comprise a 27-trooper foot platoon (but we’ll keep them separate, using squad deployment rules).
But wait! There’s more! These squads come in two basic flavours; Javelin and Rifle. Yes, I know, I’m not actually building specific statted units (yet), but I’m still discussing generalizations (I’ll use “Javelin” as a general term for a heavy infantry support weapon). So these two types are mixed in a Styker platoon, depending on specific units; Javelin teams (these squads have 7 assault rifles [or equivalents] and two support weapons, with the commensurate loss of mobility; move or fire, not both) and Rifle teams (seven assault rifles [or equivalents] and two long-range rifles as secondary [NOT support] weapons; this distinction is important because in BT, since these are not support weapons, two of them in the same squad do not affect MP; i.e. these squads can move and fire the same round) are combined in platoons in a two-to-one ratio depending on unit (two Jav, one Long Rifle OR two Long Rifle, one Jav). Rarely you might find an all-Jav or all-rifle platoon, but the tactical versatility offered by the combination of the two is one of the strengths of the SBCT.
So how do we achieve this? After all, one cannot combine different squad types in the same platoon! Simple; the company has three platoons; each with three squads, for a total of nine squads; build two “solid” platoons of one type and one of the other, split them into squads and recombine the separate squads into “platoons” composed of two of one and one of the other plus a weapons team.
Thought I’d forgotten that little detail? A SBCT Company Rifle Platoon’s Weapon Team rides a fourth IFV in the platoon and is comprised of a seven troopers in a single squad; two three-crew Machine Guns and one SAW; this can be created in BT as a single 7-trooper, two fireteam (each with one MG) plus squad leader squad, part of a three-squad (21 trooper) BT platoon (at the company level) deployed as squads and spread out among the company’s three platoons.
What about the 4 (5) trooper platoon HQ element? Here we have two options; either we integrate them as part of the IFV crews or we organize them as a separate squad, either a 0-1 secondary weapon 4-trooper squad (like the Weapons Team, these can be combined into a three-squad platoon at the company level and split into squads for deployment with each platoon) OR as a 0-1 secondary weapon PLUS 1 paramedic 5-trooper squad (ditto).
Let’s review so far:
For the three rifle platoons we need:
12 IFV/APC’s
3 platoons foot infantry (3 nine-trooper squads each): 1 Javelin, 2 Long Rifle OR vice versa
1 Platoon foot infantry (3 seven-trooper squads): Heavy MG
1 Platoon foot infantry [optional] (3 four- or five-trooper squads): Light rifle w/ optional paramedic
Divided up per platoon:
4 IFV/APC’s
2 Javelin OR Long Rifle Squads
1 Long Rifle OR Javelin Squad
1 Heavy MG Squad
1 HQ Squad (optional)
Note that if super-simplified, we could abstract the whole thing as a single BT generic platoon split into four 7-trooper squads, but it would lose the flavor of the original and not count on the additional elements;
Where to next? MSG Platoon is easy; take three IFV’s, mod them out by exchanging the infantry compartment for a heavy battlefield weapon (to stay in flavor, an AC or Rifle [cannon] would do nicely… might require pumping up the overall tonnage) or for simplicity selecting a light tank with a similar MP/movement profile to the IFV’s (wheeled, hover, etc).
Fire Support Team is also easy (especially easy!): one IFV swapping out its one-ton infantry compartment for TAG gear. In standard (simplified) BT organization we can even mark this as the fourth vehicle of the MSG platoon or a third member of the Mortar Section.
Mortar Section is a little tougher; here is another IFV/APC plus foot infantry unit; the two IFVs are equipped with mortars. While ‘mech mortars might seem an obvious choice, LRMs are also capable if indirect fire; the foot infantry component is two three-man mortar crews (one per IFV, so an infantry compartment is still needed). The obvious solution is to make each crew a one-fireteam squad and the two together are a two-squad, 6-trooper platoon. One problem with that: in Battletech, infantry support mortars are (incredibly enough) not “indirect fire-capable” weapons, which is the whole point of the mortar
[Note: that has been errata’d, squads armed with two mortars are capable of indirect fire – FA] Additionally, even if it were, the infantry support mortars in TM have notoriously short ranges (nine hexes [270m] for a heavy mortar and only three hexes [90m!] for a light!). This can be solved by assigning the other two “crew” long-ranged primary weapons, but does not address the lack of indirect fire capability.
If we [use the current errata] that squads with two mortars as secondary/support weapons are capable of indirect fire capability, we encounter the problem of unit size with pathetic range; either a four-trooper, two fireteam squad with a maximum range of 90m OR a twice-as-large six-trooper, two fireteam squad with a maximum range of 270m.
Since this article seeks to make a fully legal unit under the construction rules, I’ll select the first option (heavy mortar with two equally-ranged [there are no range-4 primary weapons] laser rifles we can fluff as “laser designators” for the mortar rounds). We could even say that they are built as a six-squad, 18-trooper platoon at the battalion level and spread out two-squads-per-company.
Medical Evacuation Team is also easy: the single IFV is stripped of weapons and outfitted as an ambulance; paramedic equipment, cargo/stretcher compartment, etc… includes driver and two medics (the senior medic is the vehicle commander). We could also include the company medical team as a separate component (foot; one senior medic [company] + three platoon medics) if not integrated into the HQ elements of the company or platoons.
So now the company HQ Section; Here we have two Command IFV’s; basically the same as regular IFV’s, but with additional communications and electronics gear; the infantry compartment houses the company commander (or the XO) and a radio/commo specialist. To this was added two hemitts and two cargo humvees, all four with trailers for carrying supplies and equipment from the logistics/supply section plus the personnel to operate it.
That is the basic Stryker company, to which may be attached:
Engineer Assets: usually a squad of Combat Engineers in a Stryker ESV variant (Engineer Squad Vehicle), which is equipped with mine/obstacle clearing and disposal equipment in addition to the foot engineers. The ESV is sometimes equipped with a trailer for additional equipment. These assets are drawn from the Brigade or Division level. (I’ll deal with engineering assets in a later article).
Anti-Air Stinger Team: Attached if needed from the division level, an AA-equipped infantry squad riding an IFV (with or without integral AA capability).
Recon Squad: attached from the battalion level, a Recon Variant IFV (additional recon equipment) carrying a 5-7 trooper squad of scouts.
Additional assets may be attached ad-hoc as mission parameters require.
So let’s do the master recap; a SBCT Company comprises:
20-22 combat vehicles (5-6 “lances”; nearly two BT companies)
5-8 non-combat vehicles (1-2 “lances”)
5-6 foot infantry platoons (deployed in squads; two BT companies)
In total, approximately two vehicle companies and two infantry companies; a BT combined arms conventional battalion. Its true power depends on the actual vehicles and infantry types composing the force; an all- “10-ton APC” force cannot compare in power to an all- “3026 Goblin variants” force or an all-Epona force. If we were to custom build close equivalents to the Stryker and its variants using BT TM construction rules, we would have a fairly potent medium infantry force.
On the other end of the spectrum, if the force is patterned on BT mechanized conventional infantry, you end up with a pathetically weak two companies incapable of even approximating the power or versatility of half of an SBCT.
We have seen in this article so far how to use the infantry construction rules to construct a military force based closely and realistically on a real-world prototype and how it can be easily modified to fit different specific equipment. We can also use the organization seen here to construct effective and realistic units capable of doing more than being mowed down by ‘mechs in a battlefield.
Any questions?
[Edit – corrected character weirdness caused by the last forum crash and corrected typos – FA]
