That's a goodly collection there!
One thing to think about - IMHO not all the older minis stand well next to the new plastics. The Hatamoto-Chi, for example, looks like a medium next to the new minis, and that just jars me. The Thanatos, on the other hand, goes extremely well with the new plastics. So one approach might be to filter the metal minis that look OK with the plastics into the plastics list. If that doesn't bother you, no problems.
Other metals which play well, on my experience, are the Enfield, Stalking Spider, Hellbringer & Thor (the newer metal & plastic sculpts), Barghest, Toyama, Goliath, Longbow, Templar, Viking, Yu Huang, Turkina, Annihilator, Devastator, Fafnir.
Vehicles don't matter - as long as you're using all IWM vehicles (or all MW:DA vehicles, if you have access to them), it's all OK.
The next question is, do you have an era or eras in mind? Use the Master Unit List to check faction & era availabilities.
The way I tend to build battalions/trinaries, is pick some tentpost factional minis. The good old meat mallet - aka Yeoman - stood out, so let's go through the old metal/plastics looking for things that feel "Marik-ish." So this might include:
Yeoman
Banshee (hey, captured loot!)
Sirocco
Awesome
Hercules
Tempest
Griffin
Wolverine
Trebuchet
Hunchback
Hermes
This, of course, isn't counting all the generic ones like Wasps, Stingers, Locusts, Phoenix Hawks, Marauders, Crusaders, etc etc.
So even with just the above list, I'm seeing a heavy/assault lance, a fire support lance, and a striker/recon lance. (Note - I use Alpha Strike formation building rules, but that's another optional layer.)
So my first pass is going to be for a 4th SW era company:
Awesome
Hercules
Goliath
---
Yeoman
Trebuchet
---
Hunchback (bodyguard, or mebbe the 4J which is an excellent self-supporting fire lance member)
Hermes
Wolverine (6M of course!)
---
---
Then it's a case of going through and filling in the gaps from the generics. So mebbe
Awesome
Hercules
Goliath
- Quickdraw (don't want to be too overpowered!)
Yeoman
Trebuchet
Crusader
Hunchback
Hermes
Wolverine
- Hammer (Clawhammer?)
- Ostscout
Similarly, let's take a look at Civil War-era Lyran Alliance. Obviously Lyran 'Mechs include:
Commando
Stiletto
Spector
Wolfhound
Uziel
Axman
Barghest
Flashman
Zeus
Haupmann
Banshee
Fafnir
Plus you can field FedSuns' equipment like Enforcers, Valkyries, Jagermechs, and Victors easily. plus the generics. I'll leave sorting those out an an exercise for the reader; just remember, not all Lyran units are all-Assault clas (but some are! :) )
Is this a way to get the ultimate fighting force? Probably not. Will this let you develop factionally-flavoured forces, and allow you to indulge in much research in Sarna and sourcebooks! Yes, it will!
Hope that makes some sense. Feel free to ping me.
Cheers!
