Conventional Infantry 102: Alternate Formations III: Converting Civil War Era Infantry and Cavalry formations
Conventional infantry 101 Conventional infantry 102 I:
USMC Conventional infantry 102 II:
US Army Striker Company Conventional infantry 102 IV:
Soviet Motorized Rifle Division Conventional infantry 102 V:
FASA’s Renegade Legion So far we have worked on some thoroughly modern formations, but now we shall look to the past; the infantry and cavalry formations in use in the North and South during the US Civil War (1861-1865). Note that this is not a treatise on the war or its historical formations; at the beginning of the war, the US/CAS military used some of the most modern formations and tactics in the world, evolved from centuries of shoulder-to-shoulder marches into enemy fire. By the time the war ended, equipment and tactics had changed into the beginnings of modern warfare, with repeating firearms, machine guns and trench warfare as glimpses of the yet-unimagined WWI. As such we will be looking at the formations as representative of their type for the era and looking at how they might be constructed according to the rules set down by Technical Manual and Tactical Operations.
It is important to note that often formations were actually "understrength" (we might call them "short" today), but we will be discussing "by the book" full-strength formations where possible.
Let's start;
The first thing we need to understand about the formations used during the Civil War is that the primary unit of tactical deployment was the company, nominally of 100 men. The company would be sub-divided into two platoons which break down in turn into two sections of two squads each thus:
1 company = 2 platoons = 4 sections = 8 squads.
This is called a "square" organization, as opposed to the "triangular" organization used by modern US formations and BT standard formations.
Observe that this 100-trooper company quite conspicuously compares to the Taurian Century ("platoon") of 100 troopers divided into 10 Maniples (squads) of 10 troopers each. While we could use the Century as a model (and certainly can, if we wish to simplify the matter) for BT/TM construction, we'll attempt to keep the organization as close to the prototype as possible; this means looking more closely at the historical formations.
Since we do not want 12.5 trooper squads because A) they are illegal under construction rules and B) the half-trooper might be a bit problematic to implement (in-game less problematic than in-universe), we must look closer at the historical formations and customs of the era.
Understand that each company had a captain, a first lieutenant and a second lieutenant. The company also had a First Sergeant which was not attached to any of the basic formations of the company. The company also had two musicians (usually drummers or rarely buglers) for signaling orders, as well as a standard-bearer for the company. Each section is commanded by a sergeant and each squad by a corporal. Interestingly enough, although the officers and First Sergeant are generally acknowledged to be external to the basic 100-trooper formation, it is unclear whether these others are part of the 100 or not; this will allow us some wiggle room, especially if we are adapting the historical formations to a modern setting.
Now we look how to divide a 104-trooper formation in a TM-legal way;
Two 54-trooper platoons
Four 27-trooper sections
Eight 13.5-trooper squads
Hm... no good. Let's put in the two musicians for a 106-trooper formation;
Two 56-trooper platoons
Four 28-trooper sections
Eight 14-trooper squads
Hm. Now we are getting somewhere.
We'll be using the 28-trooper section as the BT/MT-legal platoon. Since TM does not allow for 14-trooper squads, we will build the squads from two 7-trooper TM-legal squads. If squad deployment rules are used, these two TM-legal squads will always operate together as a single unit in the same hex. Let's build the company from the ground up, so to speak.
We'll start with a 7-trooper foot squad. The exact armament is not as relevant as the type of armament used; remember that each of the squads in a platoon must be identically armed, since we are using two MT-legal squads to form one USA/CSA squad, we have to be careful to account for the officers; most squads were armed with long arms of one sort or another (that's "rifles and muskets", historically speaking, though lever-action Winchester repeaters are certainly an option!), with the officers using pistols when not armed with the same weapons as their troops. This means each TM-legal squad has 6-7 primary long arms and 0-1 secondary personal weapons (pistols or shotguns).
Of course, we can get complicated and create one USA/CSA section (TM platoon) with one pistol (revolver, actually) per TM squad and the other all-rifle, then pair a squad from one with a squad from the other to create USA/CSA (two-part) squads with one revolver and 13 rifles...
Two TM-legal squads form one USA/CSA squad.
Two USA/CSA squads form one USA/CSA section, equivalent to a TM-legal platoon.
Two USA/CSA sections form one USA/CSA platoon. Note that since this is, in game terms, two TM-legal platoons, both can occupy the same hex in the battlefield; good for re-enacting close-formations that became obsolete as the war progressed and newer/better weapons were fielded.
Two USA/CSA sections form one USA/CSA company.
Now that we have established the basic foundation, we move to the next larger formation; the Battalion and the Regiment. Note that unlike standard BT formations, there is some overlap between battalions and regiments in the USA/CSA. Let me explain;
Before the war, Union Army Regular Regiments (commanded by a full bird Colonel) were composed of ten companies. State and Volunteer units that had 4-8 companies were called Battalions and were commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel or by a Major.
As the war progressed and new regiments were formed, a new organization scheme was used; eight companies formed a battalion and two battalions formed a regiment of 16 companies. Of course, since formations were often understrength, these new regiments would be closer to the "old" regiments in strength and would be fielded as battalions.
Regardless of overall strength, a staff of approximately 10 officers and senior NCO's was attached to the regiment, including the regimental surgeon, his assistant surgeon, quartermaster, and commissary officer. In BT this could be organized as a short paramedics platoon.
Brigades were formed from 3-6 regiments and were commanded by a Brigadier General. Artillery would be attached at the brigade level; at be start of the war it was a single battery of 4-6 guns, but as the war progressed, the single battery grew to a 3-4 battery Artillery Battalion (I'll get to artillery organization in a bit).
2-6 Brigades formed a Division in the Union Army; 4-6 in the Confederate Army. A Division was commanded by a Major General and had Artillery and (often, not always) Cavalry units attached (I'll get to cavalry organization shortly). Brigade command staff was attached separately from the brigade itself, including support assets.
A Corps was composed of 2-3 divisions in the North (commanded by a Major General) or 3-4 divisions in the South (commanded by a Lieutenant General), with a separate command staff. Corps were usually numbered in the North (II nd Corps) and named after their commander in the South (H.P. Lovecraft's Corps).
Above the corps level is the Army. Armies were geographically organized, so the number of corps varied widely, from a single corps up to eight. In the North, an army was commanded by a Major General and in the South by a full General. Armies commonly have Artillery and Cavalry assets attached, as well as a separate Army command staff. The North usually used the names of rivers in the geographic area to name the army (i.e. Army of the Potomac), while the South used the name of the area or state in which it operated (Army of Northern Virginia).
Cavalry:
Cavalry could be attached to the infantry formations described above or it could be organized into coherent full cavalry formations.
The general organization of a USA/CSA cavalry company mirrors that of infantry, so we should use the infantry company we made before, right?
No. Not quite. If we hyper-simplify and use "motorized" platoons to represent the cavalry, we could use the same organization, but this seems something of a cop out; if we want to remain true to the history and the flavor of the civil war cavalry, we need to use the Beast-Mounted Infantry rules in Tac Ops (pp. 294-6). The only problem with that is that the maximum size of a horse-mounted TM-legal infantry platoon (and by extension, a USA/CSA section) is 21 troopers, so we have to seek a slightly modified solution.
We have basically two choices; we can either create an extra two-(TM-legal) squad platoon, then add one squad to each section to bring each section to a full-strength 28 troopers OR instead of building each section from a four-squad TM-legal platoon, we build each USA/CSA squad as a TM-legal two-squad platoon thus:
One USA/CSA Cavalry squad = one TM-legal platoon (two 7-trooper squads)
Two USA/CSA squads form one USA/CSA section. Note that since this is in game terms, two TM-legal platoons, only two can occupy the same hex at the same time, meaning that the troop (that's a cavalry company, for y'all that don't speak horse) will occupy, at a minimum, twice the space (in hexes) of an infantry company.
Great, right? The first option (each section being composed of three 7-trooper squads from one TM-legal platoon and an extra 7-trooper squad from a two-squad extra platoon) also has merit! Back in the day, horse-mounted soldiers came in two basic varieties; cavalry and mounted infantry. Cavalry would (more often than not) fight from horseback, while mounted infantry would ride up to the battle, dismount, then fight on foot (cavalry could do this as well, but they preferred not to). When this would happen, the horse-mounted unit would leave one fourth their number behind to guard the horses.
One-fourth their number; 3 squads = 1 platoon, 4th squad = 1/4 the numbers of a 4-squad platoon.
Now, since BT makes no distinction between MP generated by horses or MP generated by human legs, beast-mounted infantry in BT can go anywhere foot infantry can go (provided the CF can take their weight); meaning indoors, up and down stairs, heavy forest... the list goes on. But if campaign (or house rule) conditions require the infantry to dismount, the 3+1 solution seems like an adequate way to go.
So we have resolved the formation issue at the Troop level: both solutions work depending on conditions, for purposes of the rest of this document, I'll assume the two-(TM-legal)squad platoon USA/CSA "squad".
So the Cavalry Company is called a Troop.
Among Union Regular Cavalry units, two troops form a Squadron, two squadrons form a battalion and three battalions form a regiment.
Cavalry Regiment = 3 Cavalry Battalions = 6 Cavalry Squadrons = 12 Cavalry Troops
Union State/Volunteer Cavalry Regiments were made up of 12 troops, though sometimes these regiments were organized as infantry regiments, without squadrons or battalions.
Confederate Cavalry Regiments were made up of 10 troops.
Both sides used 4-8 troop volunteer battalion formations.
At the start of the war, each Union infantry division had a cavalry regiment assigned to it. The South formed their cavalry regiments into separate brigades, detaching components to other units as needed. The Union soon followed the practice. Eventually, both sides fielded all-cavalry divisions and by the end of the war, Cavalry Corps had been created.
Artillery:
Artillery assets were extremely important during the civil war, with recent innovations truly making it the "king of the battlefield".
The artillery analog to the infantry company is the Battery; typically 6 guns in the North and 4 guns in the South and commanded by a Captain. Two guns make up a section, with each individual gun manned by its crew of approximately 20 soldiers. Sections were commanded by lieutenants, gun crews by sergeants.
Converting artillery assets to BT is relatively easy; remember that these were mostly direct-fire field guns, so Field Gun rules for infantry (Tac Ops pp. 310-1) should be appropriate. Or should they? According to Tac Ops, only motorized and mechanized tracked/wheeled units can be equipped with field guns. This poses a problem, since there are no suitable vehicles available in the Victorian era. We could houserule that beast-mounted infantry could tow it, but since we are trying to remain as legal as possible, we must discard that idea.
Let's look at the kinds of artillery pieces fielded during that era; 6-pounder smoothbore guns, 12-pounder Napoleon Rifles, 3" Ordnance Rifles, 10 and 20 pound Parrott Rifles 12-pound howitzers 12-pound breech loading Whitworth rifles and even Gatling machine guns. BTW; the "pounds" refers to the weight of the shot, not the gun.
Let's see; the howitzers could be represented by the Thumper Cannon, the Gatlings by LMGs (foot infantry with two support LMGs per squad), the smoothbores by recoilless rifles and the rifles by Light Rifle (cannon), Light or by LAC/2's.
To stay within the letter of the rules, we could simply use motorized or mechanized (wheeled) statistics and fluff it as "horse-drawn gun, limber and caisson" instead of "motor vehicles"(my personal preference), or we could simply assign heavier support weapons to foot infantry.
Once decided (whatever the decision), the actual formation is simple: each gun is a TM squad, two TM squads make a two-gun TM platoon (section) commanded by a lieutenant, 2-3 sections make a battery commanded by a captain.
At the start of the war, artillery was allocated at one battery per infantry brigade, but as the war progressed, the artillery contingent grew to 3 or 4 batteries and was collectively called an Artillery Brigade in the North and an Artillery Battalion in the South. This brigade/battalion was commanded by a colonel, lieutenant colonel or major.
As the use of artillery increased, an artillery reserve was attached at the division level, made up of an artillery battalion/brigade. An additional artillery reserve was available at the Corps/Army level, comprising 2-5 artillery battalions/brigades, which could be massed to devastating effect.
So how can such antiquated formations be used in the 31st century battlefield? Well, I can easily envision re-enactors arming themselves against an invasion force, or against an unpopular leader. It might also be that a militia with a historically-minded commander gets organized along these lines, but with more modern arms and battlefield tactics.
In the end, the primary purpose of this article is to show that real-world formations can be replicated within the BattleTech ruleset without breaking the infantry construction rules; it expands on the gaming possibilities and more importantly, on the fun factor.
Any questions?
