AFFS unit help

[Aunodin]

Alright i will be frank here I am extremely new to the game outside of the video games and books. What i am trying to do is set up a battalion or regiment sized RCT. So far I have a few ideas of what kind of units i want in it and I am thinking of basing them out of the end of the clan wars era maybe go civil war. I want to have the regiment itself to have a lot of autocannons and Gauss weapons so a focus on mediem to long range would be nice.

Mech
Light
6x Owens stock
4x Hollander 2x stock 2x bzk-g1
2x Garm 1x stock 1x grm-01c /

Medium
12 x Bushwacker 8x stock 4x S-2 /
6x Centurion  2x stock 4x cn9-d5
8x Shadowhawk 4x stock 4x shd-5m
2x Enforcer III stock //

Heavy
4x Rakasha 2x stock 2xmdg-1b /
6x Marauder 2x stock 4x MAD-5D /
4x Jagermech III
2x Argus stock //

Assault
4x Devastator 4x stock /
4x Atlas 4x AS7-S ////

Battler Armor
Infiltrator mk 2 platoon
3x Cavalier platoon

Combat Vehicles
6xAlacorn Gauss/AC20
6xTyphoon
10x Goblin
2x Calvary
10xChallenger
10xPegasus
 4x Yellow Jacket

Infantry
Gauss (mechnized)
Gauss (jump)
Platoon, Energy m61a
Combat engineers trench/fieldworks
SpecOps Paratrooper
medic squad/platoon
3x platoon, ballistic m41a
 
Support Vehicles
Battlemech recovery vehicle
Paramedic Kestrel

Aerospace fighters
2x Stuka
2x Corsair
2xDagger

Dropship
2x Leopard
2x Excalibur



After this i have no idea where to go from here on what units i should add and what is still fluff to the AFFS. So no idea on support vehicles and ASF. Basically i want to try to get an unit that works fluff wise and can be a fun campaign force to use. I got the general idea of what backstory i want to give the force and have rolled up some of the command staff from the MErc handbook

Any help will be appreciated

[martian]

After this i have no idea where to go from here on what units i should add and what is still fluff to the AFFS. So no idea on support vehicles and ASF. Basically i want to try to get an unit that works fluff wise and can be a fun campaign force to use. I got the general idea of what backstory i want to give the force and have rolled up some of the command staff from the MErc handbook

Any help will be appreciated

http://masterunitlist.info/Unit?Name=&HasBFAbility=&HasBV=false&MinTons=&MaxTons=&MinBV=&MaxBV=&MinIntro=1&MaxIntro=3067&MinCost=&MaxCost=&Technologies=1&BookAuto=&Factions=29&AvailableEras=14

The link above should show you some units available to FedSuns with production date up to 3067 (end of the FedCom Civil War). It's not ideal since it's availability of units for a slightly later era, but it should give you the general idea. Some Steiner 'Mechs (ending with -S are there because of Lyrans being part of the Federated Commonwealth).

What i am trying to do is set up a battalion or regiment sized RCT.

Are you sure with the unit size? RCTs are pretty big formations.

[Aunodin]

Alright thanks for the link I will be browsing through that for awhile it seems.

On the RCT size just found out how big they are. I think that might just be a goal after years of collecting but for now i suppose a Battalion is a good goal for now.

Looking at maybe adding a platoon of Cavaliers when i finish reading up on them.

On a tech base i think civil war will be best since it starts 1 year after Gauss infantry are introduced.

But ya any suggestions on good mechs to add and well anything else will still be helpful since a battalion is supposed to have at least 36 mechs and i think only 4 types would not be the best plan to run it on. Still a little overwhelming on all the books but i should be used to it pretty soon as soon as i get a little more reading in

[martian]

On the RCT size just found out how big they are. I think that might just be a goal after years of collecting but for now i suppose a Battalion is a good goal for now.

Wise decision.

But ya any suggestions on good mechs to add and well anything else will still be helpful since a battalion is supposed to have at least 36 mechs and i think only 4 types would not be the best plan to run it on.

Old Star League had companies and battalions composed of the same type of BattleMech, but Successor States have their 'Mech units quite variegated. In your average company you may find ten to twelve different 'Mechs.

Here are some more common better 'Mechs suitable for the era you selected:

Light lance
WLF-2/3S Wolfhound
DRT-3S/6S Dart
JVN-11D, (11F-prototype) Javelin
QD1/ QD3 Valkyrie
STH-1D/2D Stealth

Medium lance
CN9-D5, CN10-B Centurion
SHD-5D Shadow Hawk
HSN-7D Hellspawn
NGS-4S Nightsky

Heavy lance
JM7-F/D JägerMech
FLC-8R Falconer
PTR-4D Penetrator
WHM-6D/8D Warhammer "Project Phoenix"
GLT-5M/8D Guillotine
CTS-6Y/Z Cestus
Black Hawk-KU (OmniMech)
Avatar (OmniMech)
AGS-3D/4D/2D Argus
MAD-3D/ 5R/5T/7D Marauder
MDG-1A/B Rakshasa

Assault lance
NSR-9FC/9J Nightstar
GUN-1ERD Gunslinger
VTR-10D Victor
EMP-6D Emperor
DVS-2 Devastator
SGT-8R Sagittaire
TLR1-O Templar

Hope it helps.

[Nav_Alpha]

Have you considered going for a Light Combat Team? The AFFC had a pretty large reshuffle after the Jihad, moving away from the massive RCT structure to the LCT. It consists of a reinforced battalion of 'Mechs (typically three companies plus a two-to-three lance command company), two to three battalions of heavy and assault armor, an equal number of cavalry battalions, and an artillery company, according to Sarna.

Additionally the LCT includes a include a regimental-size Battle Armor formation (though in most cases the size is much smaller) and VTOL assets to provide transportation for the Battle Armor as well as reconnaissance for the LCT.

This puts the emphasis on combined arms, if that's not your style than you could just play the mech half. Ie: all the armor and BA are "off screen" during your games.

[Vonshroom]

I have been working on a very similar unit set within the same timeframe, so I'll try to help you out. Martian posted up a very good selection of mechs. Heres what I was thinking.

Mech company(s) Not sure how many mechs you want in your force but here are some of the best(in my opinion) for the timeframe.
Devastator
Bushwacker
Victor
Gunslinger
Salamander
Penetrator
Caesar
Nightstar
Hollander
Cobra
Stealth
Nightsky
Archer
Rakshasha
Falconer
Garm
Jackal
Cestus
Centurion
Axman
Hunchback
Hatchetman
Gunslinger
Javelin
Wolfhound
Valkyrie
Berserker


Vehicle Company 1 Having a strong armor company to through at the opposition is always nice, heres some good vehicles for that
Brutus
Alacorn
Challenger X
Typhoon
Po II (gauss)
Demolisher

Vehicle Company 2 I like to support my slower units with quick dependable hovercraft. All of theese are good choices
Regulator
Saladin
Musketeer
Pegasus

Infantry support  I personally prefer mechanized infantry over Standard PBI's so heres some good APC's
Goblin- I would use a few of theese to supplement my slower armor forces and to aid in any Urban fighting.
Blizzard - Quick hovercraft great for transporting your gauss infantry or any cavaliers
Maxim- Same as blizzard only with better firepower
Cavalry- Your Spec Op paratroopers can use these for transport.

I would also think about adding a platoon or two of conventional mechanized infantry and maybe a lance of Yellow Jacket Vtols or two, you have plenty of room in the Conquistador. I would also consider some ASF designs to add to your force.

[Aunodin]

alright I have taken a look at what you guys have suggested and updated my original post with what i got in my word document for the unit so far.

One of the things I am finding with the unit list is i get excited by a unit suck as the RAC shadow hawk only for it to be a couple of years later than i can grab it. Cant change the date again since we changed it once so the 3062 is my cutoff date for now.

I think I am happy with the variety of mechs I got now. Just got to figure out how many I want of each. I am thinking of having a lot of Bushwackers at least. Any suggestions on model type or adding/subtracting models is appreciated.

Combat vehicle wise there were cool suggestions but cant take em since they are not on the unit list for the AFFS which sucks in its own way again. Not sure how many I want for it atm still but working on it still looking at all the units still.

For battle armor I am thinking of adding a platoon of IS standard armor to give the unit a veiw of in transition with replacements to caviler. That would also give me a company of BA. My question is what should i equip the caviler and standards weapon wise I am torn between lasers or flamers. Machineguns might still be a strong choice since I do not have a lot of anti infantry weapons.

So I got 2 companies of Infantry so far one a standard and another for the Specialized troops such as the medics paratroopers and engineers. Still torn on what weapon i should give the Engineers was thinking of shotguns but never used em before so not sure what to expect.

Dropship wise had to drop the Conquistador since it is pass the cutoff date that it is available. Added the avenger to give my spec ops platoon a way to drop behind enemy lines in the campaign.

Never used ASFs yet so I have no idea what to look for along that front.

Thank you all for the help it is really appreciated. So any more help you got will be great as well. Hopefully I get a good force going and give annihilation to my opponents.

[martian]

Cant change the date again since we changed it once so the 3062 is my cutoff date for now.

I think I am happy with the variety of mechs I got now. Just got to figure out how many I want of each. I am thinking of having a lot of Bushwackers at least. Any suggestions on model type or adding/subtracting models is appreciated.

I checked 'Mechs you selected for the year you selected:
- Owens is an OmniMech, so you can use any configuration OW-1 - OW-1E
- Hollander offers BZK-F3, and BZK-G1 (35 tons); if you wish, you can use BZK-F5 Hollander II (45 tons)
- Garm GRM-01/A/B/C - nothing spectacular, it has very weak armor in all its incarnations

- Bushwackers BSW-X1 and S2 are good; BSW-X2 lost its ER Large Laser which was its primary sniping tool and gained one LRM-5 (so it's more ammo dependant now) and two MPLs
- you can take SHD-2H or SHD-5M, but I wouldn't take SHD-2D2 - the loss of three tons of armor wasn't worth of two shortranged weapons

- As for the Rakshasa, you can choose from two variants; MDG-1A has better range, but it's more heat intensive, so if you have problems with heat management, take MDG-1B
- there is a plenty of Marauders you can choose from: MAD-3R/3D/5D/5M/5S; -3D, -5D or 5M would be probably the best
- if you like JagerMech III, then you have just one model in this timeframe - JM6-D3 which is quite solid 'Mech; you may check JM7 design line

- Devastator is okay for FedSuns, but Sunder ... it's okay if you like it (and who wouldn't like OmniMech weighing 90 tons), but it's not exactly typical for AFFC/AFFS

[Aunodin]

alright i think the models i got posted now give me a good spread at med to long range combat. Going to suffer a bit at close range but i think i will use armor to help with that.

So with these mechs here that would give me 64 mechs so about 2 battalions worth of mechs. In keeping with the advice that sunders are not that common in the AFFS I kept them down to 2.

So battle armor wise i think im going to run it as is still throwing around the thought of bringing them up to company size with the addition of another platoon.

Combat vehicles still looking at some more things to add to it but working on the numbers now

For infantry throwing around an idea to add another company worth of PBI maybe run a ballistic rifle platoons.

ASF's still have no idea exactly what to look for but i guess corsairs are something that is good to keep other ASF's off my forces no true idea though.

I do not have most of these models so I will be using some count as for a lot of stuff. Most of us are basically doing that for this campaign but we are pretty excited to run this still. So far looks like I will be fighting a House Steiner, House Kurita and a Clan ghost bear and wolf force so lets see what happens. The clan guys are really throwing around ideas so dunno what is happening with them at the moment.

[nckestrel]

The Sunder is made in the FS by Starcorps.  It should be common enough by the late 3060s to not raise any eyebrows.

[martian]

The Sunder is made in the FS by Starcorps.  It should be common enough by the late 3060s to not raise any eyebrows.

The OP has set the year 3062 for his game.

Handbook: House Davion (written in autumn 3067) doesn't show Sunder among produced 'Mechs. Only latest TRO: 3058U (in universe date 3070) lists it as produced on Crofton. So when has the production started - between 3067 and 3070?

[Aunodin]

Actually the sunder thing is fine now I was really lacking in the short range department for mechs so picked up four Atlas'

Picked out my ASF fighters not sure if i should keep them stock or not.

Still throwing out ideas on combat vehicles but I think i just got to figure out how many i want to take now.

Infantry wise realized that I have a battalion already since AFFS count 3 platoons of battle armor to be a company. So Running my Jump gauss and paratroopers (when they are not behind enemy lines dropped in from the dropship) in the Calvary and the rest can hitch a ride in a goblin if i am reading it right that they can have a full platoon in each. It will leave a platoon as the odd man out if i bring all my infantry but i think i can run my energy platoon on foot if i have to or keep them behind to hold objectives.

 

[Iron Grenadier]

Infantry wise realized that I have a battalion already since AFFS count 3 platoons of battle armor to be a company.

The AFFS runs four platoon companies for their battle armor. (page 23 of Federated Suns Field Manual)

[Aunodin]

alright i think i got my final list now. I still have to go in and calculate BV still but i think this is a pretty solid unit. got to work up a backstory for everything which i might post in pieces or in whole depending how fast i get it done.

If anyone has any suggestions still happy to hear em

[martian]

Quite mobile force.

What do you meant with Centurion-stock? CN9-D or CN10-B?

[Aunodin]

ya wanted to keep my three favorite weapons in as well LARM Gauss and auto cannons. Keeping mobile is what is going to keep me alive since I have a lot of long range stuff.

i mean the CN9-d since that is the stock one for the time frame

[Iron Grenadier]

It looks as though you have 66 'mechs rather than 64, and 46 vehicles. Dropping two 'mechs you could run four companies of 4 'mechs each. Two more vehicles will get you four complete vehicle companies.


As for a back story, unless you already have something in mind, it could be a new Avalon Hussars unit forming up. Perhaps one split off from the 11th Hussars.

[Aunodin]

alright thats fixed droped 2 garms since i do have a decent light force already.

back story wise i am thinking of 3 things  the Avalon Hussars are one but there is also the Crucis lancers or one of the independent regiments running around.

[Aunodin]

hmmm been looking at some of my units and I am thinking of dropping the 2 garms and 2 rakashas to make room for 4 Argus AGS-4D so i can field at least 2 good lances of close range fighters especially for urban combat. Since I still have a lot for medium to long ranged combat i think this is not to much of a change from my regular doctrine.

Dropship wise i am going to drop the Avenger and replace it with 2 leopards so i can be able to move lances around quickly if needed.

Support vehicle wise I will add 2 Paramedic Kestral. With these changes i think im going to stop looking at more stuff to add and just lock in after a day for additional feedback. Got some backstory planned out for some of the command staff and tech staff already.

[Vonshroom]

hmmm been looking at some of my units and I am thinking of dropping the 2 garms and 2 rakashas to make room for 4 Argus AGS-4D so i can field at least 2 good lances of close range fighters especially for urban combat. Since I still have a lot for medium to long ranged combat i think this is not to much of a change from my regular doctrine.

Dropship wise i am going to drop the Avenger and replace it with 2 leopards so i can be able to move lances around quickly if needed.

Support vehicle wise I will add 2 Paramedic Kestral. With these changes i think im going to stop looking at more stuff to add and just lock in after a day for additional feedback. Got some backstory planned out for some of the command staff and tech staff already.

I would personally drop two of the hollanders instead of the garms, Argus's are not a bad idea, but thay are not really close range fighters while they will probably work fine in urban engagements it's primary weapons the RAC 5 and the LRM10 are not best suited for urban environments I would suggest a lance composed of 3 6M Enforcer III's and a 1N Axman.

[Aunodin]

hmmm then how about 2 enforcer III and 2 Argus. The reason I do not want an axman is want to stay away from melee if i can. The Enforcer and Argus would be running with 2 Atlas' so it is why i wanted the Argus since it can support it with its beacon active probe. since i do not want to put light mechs in an urban fight if i can help it

[Vonshroom]

hmmm then how about 2 enforcer III and 2 Argus. The reason I do not want an axman is want to stay away from melee if i can. The Enforcer and Argus would be running with 2 Atlas' so it is why i wanted the Argus since it can support it with its beacon active probe. since i do not want to put light mechs in an urban fight if i can help it

Not bad I would think that an adequate Urban combat force.

[Aunodin]

Ya thats what I thought as well. Alright I am starting to put my units into formations but i want to post what i got right now for suggestions or if you have suggestions for a lance as well. I also updated the with the final unit list in the OP

Unit Organization

Urban Assault lance 1
Atlas AS7-S BV:  1929
Atlas AS7-S BV: 1929
Argus AGS-4D BV: 1638
Enforcer III ENF-6M BV: 1460
BV Total: 6956

Urban Assault lance 2
Atlas AS7-S BV:  1929
Atlas AS7-S BV: 1929
Argus AGS-4D BV: 1638
Enforcer III ENF-6M BV: 1460
BV Total: 6956

Hot Drop Lance
Garm GRM-01A BV: 701
Shadow Hawk SHD-2H BV: 1064
Shadow Hawk SHD-5M BV: 1430
Marauder MAD-5D BV: 1787
Total BV: 4982

Long Range Lance
Owens OW-1 BV: 839
Bushwacker BSW-X1 BV: 1223
Rakshasa MDG-1A BV: 1795
Devastator DVS-2 BV: 2481
Total BV: 6338

[Vonshroom]

I think your composition looks pretty good, but your lance groupings seem a little wonky, at least to me. Personally I like to match movement profiles/weight within lances, so I would probably organize them more like this.

Devastator
Atlas
Atlas
Atlas

Rakshasa
Argus
Argus
Bushwacker

Enforcer III
Enforcer III
Shadow Hawk
Garm

Now that leaves you with an Atlas,Shadow Hawk,Owens,Marauder. Which is kind of a mixed bag of tricks, with the atlas you have an assault mech,
The Shadow Hawk gives you a fleet of foot Jumpy Medium while the Owens and marauder provide you a scout and a solid heavy respectively. If it were me I would morph this lance into an urban scout lance. The composition is up too you but I would go with something like this.

Stealth
Stealth
Owens
Firestarter

This company gives you a Dedicated Assault lance,A quick heavy/medium weight flanking lance,a Jumpy heavy hitting sweep lance, and a good urban recon unit.

[krazzyharry]

Looks a little Lyran to me...Maybe switch out a couple of the Atlases with a Battlemasters, Victors, or Salamanders or some combo

[Aunodin]

Well been awhile since i posted but I figured I should give what happened during the campaign. Overall I did extremely well with half my regiment falling in battle however. I ended up fighting Heavily with the Dracons and Steiner forces but was able to get a bunch of gains in territory and was able to hold onto them even after I ticked off Com Star somewhat when i basically put a stranglehold on Earth. Set up a nice little blockade that got me plenty of C-bills that helped me hire out some mercs.

The force that did the worst however where the Steiners with most of their areas being carved up by the clans. The clear winner though of the campaign was Clan Wolf who were at the forefront of the battle. Luckily i did not have to fight them at all since i just focused on small gains.

I may end up changing my forces out a little bit if we do this again but was pretty happy with what i brought. I did need a lot more infantry though since they were super useful.