Thanks very much for this post Alexander. That obviously took a lot of work.
I converted the 1st Armoured Infantry and 8th Recon Battalion to BF to see what the lances would look like and they proved difficult to fight with just standard three lance companies. I do, however, disagree with your advice to players who would want to develop similar heresies to canon. :)
The ELH are an excellent example that the rules, if adhered to too rigidly, can remove a lot of the character that makes SO and (Adv)BF such a great expansion/evolution to the original BT game. While I agree that regiments running around with 6 and 7 Elements to a lance/platoon should be strictly limited by the campaign GM, there is certainly room for operating outside 'canon'.
After all, when dealing with late SW scenarios/campaigns the succession wars may have threatened technologies but military theory as practised back in pre-space flight/early expansion Terra is alive and well. If anything it has likely evolved further to incorporate the Battlemech into combined arms doctrine (with the Mech at the top of the pyramid for obvious reasons). There is nothing particularly wrong with companies having three fighting platoons *and* a Command/HQ section/lance/platoon. It is even possible to incorporate logistics into BF campaigns that would require "A" and "B" Echelons at company, battalion and regimental levels.
The more I have read in the SO manual and the new historical source books the more it has become apparent that our group (even if diminished now by age and other real life commitments) has long followed (unknowingly) the advice found in Reunification War, pg 168:
"...Remember also the two "prime directives" in playing BattleTech:
1. HAVE FUN
2. DON'T LET YOURSELF GET SO CAUGHT UP IN THE RULES THAT YOU STOP HAVING FUN"
So if a particular player or group wants to incorporate non-canon aspects into their version of the BT Universe, well,.... fly! Be free!! ;)
Cheers.
