Author Topic: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.  (Read 4078 times)

Vehrec

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So, this is gonna be my attempt to assemble a complete Battlemech regiment, with three fighting battalions of three companies each, and at least two supporting battalions of 'everyone else', all the supporting troops, the truck drivers who deliver ammuntion and refill coolant, the cooks who prepare the meals in the enlisted and officer's mess, the technicians both attached directly to each mech and held at the company and regimental levels for emergency work, the MPs, the surgeons, and the brass band.

Some rules of thumb for this thread:
  • The only combat units are the Battlemechs.  You get gate guards, and can assign machine pistols to all the astechs, but there's no combat vehicles, no infantry, and no field artillery.
  • I'm gonna try to be as accurate as possible-but we'll work from the top down in some places, and the bottom up in others.
  • I might produce a unit that's a bit heavy and awkward, but I'm gonna try to score all the bells and whistles.

Let's start at the most fundamental core of the unit, it's trunk, the Battlemech Lance.  Each lance consists of four battlemechs, five mechwarriors, four techs, and twenty-four astechs.  'Five Mechwarriors?' I hear you cry.  'why do you have five of them?'  Because mechs are expensive, life is cheap, and the dispossessed were everywhere in the Succession wars, and it's not that hard to keep an extra NCO or officer around the unit.  An extra Mechwarrior grants the unit flexability in it's replacements-if someone's knocked out, you already have someone waiting in the wings to understudy them, and if you're very lucky with your salvage, you can have a new Mech manned and bring your Lance overstrength.  But you'll need someone to repair and maintain your salvage-so look one level higher, to the Senior MechTech attached to the Company as a whole, and his merry squad of Astechs, either young recruits learning the ropes from the most senior technician in the company, or those who know the ropes and are learning the knots to graduate to full Tech status.  Say one Staff Sargent and 12 or so Astechs?  Most of the time they're allotted out in penny parcels to specific jobs in progress, where many hands can make light work.  Total Men in a company's fighting and direct support assets come to 15 mechwarriors, 16 Techs, and 84 Astechs.

Things at the company and Battalion levels are otherwise pretty normal, until you get over to Headquarters-where you find a command van or mobile HQ all right, but our Colonel and his bodyguards form an entire extra company of their own, which are normally attached to First Battalion.  That gives the regiment a total strength of 120 battlemechs, 150 Mechwarriors, 160 Techs and senior techs, and 840 Astechs.  Total strength of our hypothetical regiment's combat elements and direct support and maintenance staff alone is 1150, and we haven't even begun to look at the 'other' support staff that will be needed...
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PreacherPatriot1776

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #1 on: 27 June 2018, 22:58:45 »
What era is this regiment for? You'll need 1 mech tech for every battlemech and the four astechs for each mech tech. My advice is to check out MegaMek HQ since it has everything you need to create a new unit from scratch.

Arkansas Warrior

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #2 on: 28 June 2018, 00:28:56 »
Boilerman* did a breakdown of this sort for an entire RCT some years ago.  It’s overkill for what you want, but if you cut out all the fat it’d give you a good idea, anyway.  I may have a copy somewhere I can dig up.  Give me a bit.




*At least, I’m pretty sure he’s the one I heard about it from.  He might’ve gotten it from someone else.
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glitterboy2098

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #3 on: 28 June 2018, 00:44:02 »
to be honest, with a title like that, i was half expecting a thread on how Lyran Social Generals create 'paper regiments'.. where despite what the TO&E claims, it is actually just a bunch of officers commanding lances and companies devoid of actual troops..
« Last Edit: 28 June 2018, 13:42:07 by glitterboy2098 »

Iron Grenadier

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #4 on: 28 June 2018, 01:29:39 »
Boilerman* did a breakdown of this sort for an entire RCT some years ago.  It’s overkill for what you want, but if you cut out all the fat it’d give you a good idea, anyway.  I may have a copy somewhere I can dig up.  Give me a bit.




*At least, I’m pretty sure he’s the one I heard about it from.  He might’ve gotten it from someone else.


Yeah it was Boilerman. Currently hosted at Sarna.net
http://cf.sarna.net/docs/guides/combat_support_field_manual_v2.1.pdf


Alsadius

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #5 on: 28 June 2018, 06:32:30 »
Yeah it was Boilerman. Currently hosted at Sarna.net
http://cf.sarna.net/docs/guides/combat_support_field_manual_v2.1.pdf

Wow, that is fantastic stuff. Very cool. I was going for something similar on this thread, but I never came close to going that in-depth.

Daryk

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #6 on: 28 June 2018, 07:19:09 »
Yes, Boilerman's treatment was very thorough... I can't recommend it highly enough!  :thumbsup:

Colt Ward

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #7 on: 28 June 2018, 11:45:22 »
So, this is gonna be my attempt to assemble a complete Battlemech regiment, with three fighting battalions of three companies each, and at least two supporting battalions of 'everyone else', all the supporting troops, the truck drivers who deliver ammuntion and refill coolant, the cooks who prepare the meals in the enlisted and officer's mess, the technicians both attached directly to each mech and held at the company and regimental levels for emergency work, the MPs, the surgeons, and the brass band.

Some rules of thumb for this thread:
  • The only combat units are the Battlemechs.  You get gate guards, and can assign machine pistols to all the astechs, but there's no combat vehicles, no infantry, and no field artillery.
  • I'm gonna try to be as accurate as possible-but we'll work from the top down in some places, and the bottom up in others.
  • I might produce a unit that's a bit heavy and awkward, but I'm gonna try to score all the bells and whistles.


So . . .

In a combat unit, the HQ and support elements still get combat vehicles per TO&E . . . for instance, my unit was getting ready to go to a sandy place in 2003.  We had all of our launchers, the trucks & humvees but we also had assigned to the company level HQ a pair of theoretical Bradleys.  During field operations to prepare, they literally stuck a sign on the side of a hummer that said 'Bradley' for practicing with a QRF & movement.  The APC with its heavier armaments was to be a security element for the HQ platoon- which at that time had mechanics & cooks assigned to that level.  The BDE doctrine change later on had the cooks & techs assigned to BN but then parceled out like the medics.

IMO doctrine on that might vary widely- EXCEPT after a big doctrine shift like Yvonne's LCT move or her father's RCT restructuring.  So the FWL is going to be the biggest mess for this- its not just the rank structure Thomas was dealing with . . . say Oriente's position was to have techs and half the supply burden be brigade level assets doled out to the regiments while the other half of supply fall under regiments- battalion has no control. But over in Regulus they want their battalions to be integrated fighting units, so techs/admin/medical/supply all fall under the battalion commander's purview so . . .

A Oriente Battalion commander is responsible for 35 other mechwarriors- that is it!

A Regulan Battalion commander is responsible for the 35 other mechwarriors, two platoons of techs (58 total, I prefer the old tech numbers b/c the way they reflect), an aide station (medical platoon), a supply platoon who hauls ammo (28 drivers & a-drivers, they can also be techs at need), and the HQ platoon- Ops, Intel, commo, admin, cooks, and others.  So he has command over 3 line companies of mechs and a reinforced HQ Company (5 platoons).

Staff officers do not all need to be mechwarriors as they will be specialists in their own right.  Its also why people with experience complain about the CO & XO should not be commanding line companies- and should not really be in their mechs, instead they should be sitting in a command van.  The BN will have officers in charge of the typical staff slots- personnel (XO usually), intel, ops, logistics, planning and signals . . . those are usually the ones you find in the field.  They will also have NCOs for each staff slot.  Also, there are a few different models for staff organization.
Colt Ward
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"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

Arkansas Warrior

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #8 on: 28 June 2018, 12:21:36 »
Staff officers do not all need to be mechwarriors as they will be specialists in their own right.  Its also why people with experience complain about the CO & XO should not be commanding line companies- and should not really be in their mechs, instead they should be sitting in a command van.  The BN will have officers in charge of the typical staff slots- personnel (XO usually), intel, ops, logistics, planning and signals . . . those are usually the ones you find in the field.  They will also have NCOs for each staff slot.  Also, there are a few different models for staff organization.
At the same time, when I was in Army Aviation almost every officer was a pilot.  The S6 and for a while the S1 were the only exceptions I recall.  Now, the BN CO didn't get near the flight time he wanted, nor did the S3, S2, etc, but they were all pilots.
Sunrise is Coming.

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Colt Ward

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #9 on: 28 June 2018, 14:46:07 »
My suggestion was for the battalion combat team where some of the specialists could be staff.

From what I understand, with the US Army some of it varies for branch and how far down its planned for a unit to be a contained combat team.

When I got in, the battery had its own cooks and mechanics that fell in under the battery.  When they reorganized around the brigade combat teams, some of our mechanics and the cooks moved up to battalion.  Other mechanics swelled the brigade's ord. detachment . . . but in the field we would get them fixing our stuff but they were no longer located with us, had to pass requests up to battalion.  Which was a Army wide re-organization, not one of the  . . . "Here is the official TO&E . . . but his is how we do it," organizations that sometimes happens with new tech issues.

As an example a battalion may have a junior officer sitting in the Intel or Logistics slot that is in that branch- say infantry battalion gets a 1LT who was just promoted from a line platoon and gets assigned to be the logistics deputy.  The officer is either punching his staff ticket or he screwed it up so badly he is going to end up a REMF for life.  Brigade level?  Someone sitting as the head Intel of Logistics officer probably is MI or Log.
Colt Ward
Clan Invasion Backer #149, Leviathans #104

"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

DOC_Agren

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #10 on: 28 June 2018, 16:58:15 »
to be honest, with a title like that, i was half expecting a thread on how Lyran Social Generals create 'paper regiments'.. where despite what the TO&E claims, it is actually just a bunch of officers commanding lances and companies devoid of actual troops..
:D ;D 8)  They would never do that, all our regiments are fully staffed I mean look at what our payroll is!!! :thumbsup:
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Vehrec

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #11 on: 28 June 2018, 19:56:55 »
What era is this regiment for? You'll need 1 mech tech for every battlemech and the four astechs for each mech tech. My advice is to check out MegaMek HQ since it has everything you need to create a new unit from scratch.

Basic 3rd succession war, accept no other era, but it shouldn't be that different era to era.  Clan TOEs are pretty disappointing anyways, since nobody who's not actually a Warrior appears on them.

And here we have, ladies and gents, a fellow who did not read my words.  I have, in fact, got more than enough Astechs, because I gave each Tech six of them, off the top of my head because 7 men is a squad-size.  Boilerman did a good effort, but man, there are assumptions I do not agree with in there-I want more support personnel than he does generally.

This morning(wow I forgot to post this for almost 10 hours), I'm gonna handle transportation.  Let's start with the basics-1 ammo carrier, per lance, with a crew of 3, 1 similar sized general purpose cargo truck per lance to carry armor and replacement myomer, 1 modified truck, bus or APC devoted to moving techs around per lance, 1 coolant truck per company (supposedly there should be six for the entire regiment, but man, that is not a neat unit.) 1 mobile repair platform per company or if mobile repair platforms aren't available, a platoon of vehicles like cherry pickers, cranes and other repair aids may be substituted.  We'll say that's 4 vehicles with 2 crew each per company.  Total of 40 ammo carriers, 40 trucks, 40 apcs, 10 coolant trucks, and 40 assorted repair aids.  Adding their crews all up, we get about 120+80+80+60+80=420 men.  And we're not quite done yet.

We're also probably gonna need some other vehicles, to support the rest of the regiment, so let us be sure to include at least one MASH truck, three ambulance VTOLs, Five mobile field kitchens, and an extra company each of people-movers and cargo vehicles.  We also might want an engineering detachment, and a salvage detachment, call them a company each.  And for good measure, we'll make that a long-company for the salvage detachment by including a lance of IndustrialMechs in addition to the 12 Battlemech Recovery Vehicles.  The MASH has about 20 people needed to staff it properly, the ambulances each need a pilot, co-pilot and two paramedics, the field kitchens require 9 cook and assistants each, 24 extra trucks with 2 drivers each (to prevent fatigue related accidents), 12 engineering and bridging vehicles with 2+ crew each, 12 recovery vehicles with an unknown level of crew, and 4 industrial mechs.  Call it 189 crew all told for these guys.

We also have about 200 support vehicles, so we're going to need about 10 repair sections, each with it's own tech and astechs, for another 70 or so maintenance personnel.  Oil changes, spark plugs, air filters, hell, they'll keep busy. 

Fourth Battalion's frankly a huge monster, with 200 (mostly light) vehicles, and 679 personnel.  But if you want to operate without the aid of dropships shuttling forward each time you engage the enemy, it is probably a monster you need to accept.

So . . .

In a combat unit, the HQ and support elements still get combat vehicles per TO&E . . . for instance, my unit was getting ready to go to a sandy place in 2003.  We had all of our launchers, the trucks & humvees but we also had assigned to the company level HQ a pair of theoretical Bradleys.  During field operations to prepare, they literally stuck a sign on the side of a hummer that said 'Bradley' for practicing with a QRF & movement.  The APC with its heavier armaments was to be a security element for the HQ platoon- which at that time had mechanics & cooks assigned to that level.  The BDE doctrine change later on had the cooks & techs assigned to BN but then parceled out like the medics.

  Jeez man, are you saying that a company of battlemechs aren't enough security for the HQ?  I'm making a straight battlemech regiment here, I'm not gonna throw in some tanks to guard the HQ vans.  Nor am I going to give all the trucks which service the battlemechs their own Mechs for protection.  I may be misreading you here because this is kinda a rambly story that doesn't actually convey much information to me, but this doesn't seem to actually be all that useful, unless you're suggesting that the entire 'combat' unit should be broken up and evenly distributed across 5 or 6 battalions.
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PreacherPatriot1776

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #12 on: 28 June 2018, 20:02:18 »
I did read your words and offered advice on the number of astechs needed. I also stated for you to check out MM HQ to help you with your planning. That was it.

Colt Ward

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #13 on: 29 June 2018, 00:34:37 »
The point was that support elements would have their own security elements.  If I can get you to commit mechs- especially mediums or heavies- to secure your rear areas by using VTOLs to put in some infantry ambushes at crossroads where you are going to be moving ammo from your defensive depots to field repair or rearm areas then I win.  Or if I can make you move them to protect convoys from your DS storage.

And yes, you will want infantry to secure your mechs . . . for one thing you cannot keep them operational 24/7.  Additionally, having all 12 mechs in a company present, fully operational and ready to go is extremely unrealistic.  Which means that when a company moves out from its laager to either head to the front or for the next offensive its likely going to march off with 9, 10 or maybe 11 mechs- 12 is for the opening days of action, and I promise someone was overlooking the down-gripes on SOME machine.  Which means a broke down mech is going to be sitting somewhere behind the lines as the techs try to get it back to functional . . . and a easy target for raiders.

Have you ever read Team Yankee or Red Storm Rising?

So for example . . .

Your mechs are going to constitute your FLOT, which will be divided up into sectors between units and their sub units (US doctrine is typically 2 up and 1 back- this is more of a offensive formation while a 4 unit group is more for occupation).  Typically the FLOT is also the MLR but if the offensive is in flux you may have breakthroughs where the FLOT goes past MLR.  Typically each unit's HQ element at BN level or higher will be located several klicks behind the FLOT but still in the same AO.  Depending on route of march and/or axis of advance the CO HQ would typically be positioned behind the FLOT with their assigned support in protected areas around that- the re-arm points though typically any repair assets would be co-located with the HQ elements.  We can discuss Phase Lines, AC/ACAs, NFAs . . .

Btw, it IS going to be very different between eras- the feudal 3SW is going to be different than the more professional later eras.

The point of the story is that I was in a artillery unit, which is not direct fire, and we STILL had quality armored vehicles assigned in theory to provide some light armor and raider protection.  It was a BIG drill to respond to probes of the perimeter- and this was for a simple battery (same organizational echelon as a company) and we also knew which maneuver unit to scream for help from.  Funny story, back in Desert Storm they somehow got AHEAD of the 1st Armored by a couple tens of klicks . . . and did not realize it until they ran into a group of tanks painted the wrong colors.

Also, if this is supposed to be a regimental 'combat team' (not AFFS use of term, just that its a regiment able to represent a complete combat unit) . . . you are missing AA support, Engineer support, Artillery and Forward Air Controllers.
Colt Ward
Clan Invasion Backer #149, Leviathans #104

"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

mbear

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #14 on: 29 June 2018, 06:19:48 »
If I can get you to commit mechs- especially mediums or heavies- to secure your rear areas by using VTOLs to put in some infantry ambushes at crossroads where you are going to be moving ammo from your defensive depots to field repair or rearm areas then I win. 
This might be a good use of the Patron PatrolMech variants. The Patron is basically a walking forklift anyway, so having it be piloted by a senior Astech makes sense to me. That would allow Vehrec's team to secure the LZ against infantry but not draw on any front line forces.


Maybe these abbreviations have been identified, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Your mechs are going to constitute your FLOT,
Friendly Local Occupation Troops?

Typically the FLOT is also the MLR

Major Local Resistance? Most Lethal Responders? My Little Rifleman?
Be the Loremaster:

Battletech transport rules take a very feline approach to moving troops in a combat zone: If they fits, they ships.

You bought the box set and are ready to expand your BT experience. Now what? (Thanks Sartis!)

Arkansas Warrior

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #15 on: 29 June 2018, 06:42:30 »
FLOT=First Lord of Tuna, obviously.   :P
Sunrise is Coming.

All Hail First Prince Melissa Davion, the Patron Saint of the Regimental Combat Team, who cowed Dainmar Liao, created the Model Army, and rescued Robinson!  May her light ever guide the sons of the Suns, May our daughters ever endeavour to emulate her!

Colt Ward

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #16 on: 29 June 2018, 09:41:20 »
Forward Line Of/Own Troops

Main Line of Resistance

 . . . a lot of that comes from charts & darts, also known as FM 3-90 which is available online.  You can find a lot of structure and some doctrine from online sources.
Colt Ward
Clan Invasion Backer #149, Leviathans #104

"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

Kovax

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #17 on: 29 June 2018, 10:04:31 »
So I take it that this project is supposed to be the "if I could have everything I want" version of a Regiment, not the Late Succession Wars period where things are thinned out close to the bone?  It's got basically the "ideal" amount of support at the platoon level, supplemented by additional support at Company level and even more at the Battalion level.  Unfortunately, that's a LOT of extra cost for redundancy which will only rarely ever be needed, at a time where the technical side of things was in short supply, and shifting a few higher-level assets around could cover things well enough on the rare occasions where it is needed.

I'd assume either 4 techs per lance (typically a mix of Green and Regular), and MINIMAL additional tech support higher up (one Veteran at Company level, maybe another Regular), or else 3 techs per lance in practice and enough additional techs scattered between Company and Battalion to marginally more than make up for the missing fourth.  In essence, that's 1 tech per 'Mech on paper, but some will be doubling up on a second machine at the lance level while the higher level techs mostly deal with the more serious technical issues for the entire formation.  I'd also go lighter on the astechs, so you've got enough in a lance to support at least 2 of the techs at any given time, along with full astech teams for the 1-2 Company-level techs, to be assigned to whichever lance needs the extra tech support at the moment.

You'll also likely have at least a squad of security infantry at Company level, possibly with a single light 'Mech or light armored vehicle in support, and more at Battalion level, some of which could also have secondary roles as astechs, truck drivers, or in various other duties.  In practice, that's 2-3 guys per company on guard at a time, a full squad or more at any moment on patrol at Battalion level and a full platoon on duty at Regiment level covering the HQ and base perimeter  That probably takes 3x that number of men to implement around the clock.

Figure on one spare MechWarrior per Company, and the Company Commander would typically also be qualified to pilot a 'Mech if needed.  The Battalion HQ should probably include its own HQ lance, and the Regimental HQ would add a RHQ Company.  An additional MechWarrior per lance adds up to a lot of additional paychecks with very little to show for the extra expense.

One ammo carrier, one APC, and one recovery vehicle per lance is again probably overkill, I'd figure on 1-2 of each per Company, since you're not likely to have all 3 lances engaged at the same time and needing simultaneous resupply, and if you do, you can draw several more from Battalion HQ.  The supply truck is probably something each lance would end up needing, and an additional jeep or light personnel/multi-purpose transport would be desirable.  Figure everything you need to keep 2/3 of that Company-level force fighting at any given time, and a few extras at the higher levels to put wherever there's a shortage.  You're probably going to deploy by the lance for combat, but organizationally the Company will include most of the necessary support and services required for independent operations, NOT the lance.  At least one of those lances in each company will be down for service and repair at any given time, and more often two down and one on duty.
« Last Edit: 29 June 2018, 10:22:52 by Kovax »

Kidd

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #18 on: 02 July 2018, 09:15:06 »
I've tried doing this, it's tiresome if you want to count down to every cook and bottle-washer. As Colt Ward says, you can find this stuff online, but its easily a few dozen man-hours work. The easiest unit to do this for is an infantry unit which should be no different from today's. The hardest is a Mech unit.

Tip: the bells and whistles are generally divided into what the US Army used to call combat support and combat service support.

Combat support includes engineers, signals, MASH and intelligence - functions that don't shoot but provide additional or core capabilities. Combat service support includes maintenance, repair, logistics and civil affairs, and on top of all these functions an admin and operations staff.

Edit: Daryk is right, Medical is a CSS branch. However if I'm not wrong the CS/CSS distinction is no longer used.
« Last Edit: 02 July 2018, 14:31:36 by Kidd »

Colt Ward

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #19 on: 02 July 2018, 09:36:59 »
Yeah- for manpower the tooth to tail ratio is, at best 1 in 10 . . . I want to say Desert Storm was 1 in 112- simply b/c of the logistics requirements supporting combat troops in such a hostile environment.  Troops, and more importantly supplies, were built up over months in preparation for a offensive . . . that did not consume the number of supplies as planned, which is a better problem than the opposite.
Colt Ward
Clan Invasion Backer #149, Leviathans #104

"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

"Greetings, Mechwarrior. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Daoshen and the Capellan armada."

Daryk

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #20 on: 02 July 2018, 13:08:22 »
I think medical support at the level of a MASH is classified as Combat Service Support, but I'm not in the Army...

Nebfer

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #21 on: 03 July 2018, 20:55:44 »
Well Here's my attempt on this subject

But here's a snip
 Battalions 302 personel
HQ Lance 8
HQ Element 14 +15 to reg
Mess 3
Medical 20
Maint & supply 56
3x Companys 67 /201
--------------

Battlemech Company 67
HQ 7
Mess 3
Medical 5
Maint & Supply 28
3x Lances 24

Medium Armor Btln 428
HQ 20
Admins 20 +21 to reg
Mess 3
Medical 20
Supply & Maint 56

3x Medium Tank Cos 103 /309

Medium Tank Co 103 (up to 60 tons)
HQ 7
Mess 3
Medical 5
Maint & Supply 28
3x Platoons 60 (48 Crews, 12 techs)

Infantry Battalion (foot) 402
HQ 28
Admins 19 +20 to reg
Mess 3
Medical 20
Supply & Maint 14
3x Infantry Companys 106 /318

Infantry Company (foot) 106
HQ 7
Mess 3
Medical 5
Maint 7
3x Platoons 84

A few quick explanations
Each Company has a "command" squad for the units administrative dutys and what nought
The Mess element is explanatory, running a field kitchen unit, thats present in tac ops, I like running with each company having it's own unit and a extra unit at battalion level handling it's stuff, perhaps a bit more than needed but it works.
The Maint & supply element fields 4 full tech teams, and the 4 guys left over can run the Supply Trucks
Each Mech has it's Pilot and Tech, as do vehicles, All infantry companys have a tech squad for their supply and maintenance dutys.

As all units require a admin staff of 1/10 the total force with house units being half that (representing higher levels) I go with the idea of as I gave the companys thier "admins" with the cmd squad, the companys "admins" get pushed to Battalion lvel and half of them are bumped to Regimental level, which is what that "15 to reg." means

For medical support each company has a medical team, with the battalion having four more teams.
Tech teams are two teams for infantry and up to 8 teams for armored units (mech or tanks), though some are intended to be primarily supply oriented teams

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Ive made this before I did a few missions in Megameks against the bot, while four tech teams per company was adequate it did have some issues in some cases, As such I'm currently leaning to two teams per lance, one team that dose the basic unit maintenance and the other the battle damage maintenance... Though B-techs repair rules can be a bit harsh...

boilerman

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #22 on: 11 July 2018, 22:06:54 »
Boilerman* did a breakdown of this sort for an entire RCT some years ago.  It’s overkill for what you want, but if you cut out all the fat it’d give you a good idea, anyway.  I may have a copy somewhere I can dig up.  Give me a bit.




*At least, I’m pretty sure he’s the one I heard about it from.  He might’ve gotten it from someone else.
CSFM is mine but Chris "Bones" Trossen did the RCT breakdown. He said when he posted it was that it was his own personal project, and not official.

Just an FYI if you don't know Bones is a BT writer, although I don't know if he is still contributing.
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boilerman

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #23 on: 11 July 2018, 22:51:36 »
Some rules of thumb for this thread:
  • The only combat units are the Battlemechs.  You get gate guards, and can assign machine pistols to all the astechs, but there's no combat vehicles, no infantry, and no field artillery.
To each their own but I would never rely on astechs for base security; 'Mechs are simply too valuable to trust to part-timers. Interstellar Operations pay system based on percentage of the value of a 'Mech means most any MechWarrior that works a couple of months a year can afford his own private security detail, aka posse. And in the Third Succession War era I think most MechWarriors would be paranoid enough to have one.


Boilerman did a good effort, but man, there are assumptions I do not agree with in there-I want more support personnel than he does generally.
Yea, those assumptions were meant to low-ball support troop numbers. They were based on the best information available at the time. Strategic Operations and Interstellar Operations defined a lot that was unknown when I wrote the CSFM. And for the record a single tech squad can maintain an lance of 'Mechs 100% under Strategic Operations rules. It's the battle damage repair that you need 1 squad per 'Mech for.

One of these day I will get around to updating the CSFM based on Strategic Operations and Interstellar Operations. One of these days.[/list]
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Colt Ward

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Re: A theoretical Regiment-Mechs, Cooks, and a brass band.
« Reply #24 on: 11 July 2018, 23:24:40 »
Yeah . . . one of those things I do not think people think of . . .

Okay, you have 2 guys driving a ammo truck . . . simply put, that job usually goes to a wannabe- as in he wants to be something else in the unit but he is put in that slot to cover a need while he is learning to do X he wants to do, it also allows his potential co-workers/crewers to evaluate him.  Some guys fail at this stage and are Ammo Platoon 4 Life! (wrecks we had on duty?  Ammo platoon guys mostly . . . sick call for injuries?  Ammo platoon guys in horseplay. . . the XO carefully stored his hatchet, not sure why he brought one, to keep the Ammo guys from playing catch with it) . . . and get out after the allotted time on their contract.  They also operate the crane to reload mechs/vehicles with the assistance of the pilot/crew (because a good pilot/crew is not going to trust some FNG to not damage something). 

But something breaks?  Park your truck on the perimeter and get over here to lend a hand to the techs, and you better have learned SOME mechanical skills while you were maintaining your ammo truck.

Your Von Luckner tank take some damage and have a crew injury?  Ok, injured dude go check in with the aide station and if they sign off you are now the AD on Ammo 12.  Driver of ammo 12?  Congratulations you are now side gunner on our Von Luckner, get your kit stowed after you finish the reload- we are headed back up to the front lines.

Its also going to be a bit of a misnomer that a Mech unit will have more tech support slotted into their organization than a armor unit- simply b/c the armor crew is going to be the ones doing the daily/weekly/monthly PMCS while the organizational tech support is going to be the specialists- weapon systems, engine/transmission/paks, commo, computer support, etc.
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