Rann’s Raiders Mercenary Company

[Bold Raider]

Hello Everyone,

I haven’t played battletech in years.  But my three boys found my old 4th Edition boxed set I had packed away, and this generated some very fun games for us all... so much so that it netted us a new boxed set with new miniatures, as well as a starter box for each boy and a few respective battle/command lances to boot.  Now here I am creating a merc company for a succession wars era campaign we can run this summer.  I’m hoping to show this to them, so they can get their creative juices flowing and motivate them to build their own units for the campaign.

Anyways, I’m shooting for a mercenary company with ties to the Free Worlds League.  Here is what I am thinking:

Command/Support Lance
1 x Thunderbolt
1 x Catapult
2 x Griffin

Striker Lance
2 x Wolverine 6M
2 x Phoenix Hawk

Recon Lance
2 x Valkyries
2 x Wasps

Optional/Available

Assault Lance
1 x Battlemaster
1 x Awesome
2 x Marauders

I know the Valkyries are a Davion asset, but this is what I have and I’m going to chalk that up to battlefield salvage.  The Assault Lance are just the 4 mechs I have left over... might as well paint them in the unit colors for a rainy day. 

Anyway, thoughts?  I’ll be working on a rough outline on their history as well.  Just wanted to start with the minis I now have.

Thanks.

[Iron Grenadier]

That's great about your boys. My two boys found Battletech by the various Xbox and PC games, before jumping over to the 'pen and paper' game. We've had a lot of campaigns since.

As to your merc company, I don't see any major problems with what you have organized currently. My only suggestion would be to see about re-working the lances so that all the mechs speed's match a little closer.  Maybe something like this -

Command Lance -
Battlemaster
Thunderbolt
Marauder
Marauder

Cavalry Lance -
Wolverine 6M
Wolverine 6M
Griffin
Griffin

Recon Lance -
Phoenix Hawk
Phoenix Hawk
Wasp
Wasp

This just leaves -
Awesome
Catapult
Valkyrie
Valkyrie

(this might make for a weird fire support lance)

[Daryk]

Welcome to the board!  Iron Grenadier pretty much covered the advice I'd give already, but definitely let me reinforce it!  :thumbsup:

[Dave Talley]

This just leaves -
Awesome
Catapult
Valkyrie
Valkyrie

(this might make for a weird fire support lance"
Not so weird, mostly mobile LRM lance with a badass bodyguard

Or you could put the Valkyries with the griffons for all  jumpy LRM lance
Could put the wolverines with the. Tbolt and catapult, could even use the jumpy Tbolt for that,
this puts the Awesome in the command lance
Damn! That's a lot of PPCs in one lance

[Bold Raider]

Thank you all for the responses!  I’m loving the Lance suggestions and am leaning to the suggestion by Iron Grenadier.  I was indeed thinking of the jumping thunderbolt, but following the suggestions... using the standard variant as a tag along for the Battlemaster is a hell of an idea. 

Hell I even have a Union drop ship on the way now... because reasons.  My boys are going to freak when they see that thing.  Speaking of the Union... is it even feasible to say it was modded in a way to carry 16 mechs opposed to 12?  I don’t want to leave any of these mechs out of the lineup honestly... but I don’t want to break the lore either.

My twin brother is also getting in on the action, as he remembers having a blast when we were kids.  He’s helping me with the Lore and unit heraldry.  Gosh I haven’t had this much fun for a long time. 

For the color scheme... thinking of a half/half black and bone (like 40ks Deathwing) with dark green being the tertiary color here and there.  The symbol will be what’s in my Avatar, though I’ll try to pretty it up more before printing off some decals.


Anyways!  I’ll definitely post some pics of the mechs and Union (when it gets here). 

[Daryk]

You can definitely get to 14 with a Union.  Heck, if the Wasps are LAMs, it wouldn't even need to be modified.  Cramming the extra two 'mechs into cargo would make things tight, and they would be slow to deploy.  I don't believe there are 300 spare tons for two more cubicles (Sarna lists only 74.5 tons, but I'm not sure which version they're citing).

[Iron Grenadier]

Think you might need a second Union, use 8 Mechs in each...  :o :D :drool: xp

And that gives your unit room to grow by another two lances!

[Bold Raider]

2nd Union... 2nd Company... 2nd Wave of miniatures coming soon...  my wallet...

Ok... because I like how you grouped these previously how about:

1st Company

Command Lance
Battlemaster
Thunderbolt
Marauder
Marauder

Cavalry Lance
Wolverine 6M
Wolverine 6M
Griffin
Griffin

Recon Lance
Phoenix Hawk
Phoenix Hawk
Wasp
Wasp

AND NOW

2nd Company

Command Lance
Victor
Grasshopper
Grasshopper
Catapult

General Purpose Lance
Centurion
Centurion
Hunchback
Hunchback

Light Support Lance
Trebuchet 5J
Trebuchet 5J
Valkyrie
Valkyrie

Then I could share the left overs with the boys and beef up their line ups.  As you can tell, I like redundancy in my lances... and I’m trying to limit the amount of assault mechs I use... due to my understanding of their rarity in this timeline (or am I too hung up on that?).

Thanks all for the contributions.  Hey... and with the second Union... I don’t have to repurpose the aerospace bays... 4 reivers here I come!

[Iron Grenadier]

Nice!

Now to get you up to a full battalion!  :D :D

[Daryk]

Beautiful organization!  I especially like the Trebuchet/Valkyrie combination!  :thumbsup:

If you do go for a full battalion, that 1st Recon Lance could definitely be a LAM lance!  ^-^

[DOC_Agren]

loving this
hope the kids enjoy the hobby

[Bold Raider]

Full Battalion eh?  Oh man... I do want to keep those Enforcers... maybe combine them with the two Hatchetmen for a medium urban Lance... and I could not pass up some blackjack/panther combos... could I?... lol.  Then go all in for some assaults for the command Lance... like:

Command Lance
Awesome
Stalker
Stalker
Longbow

Medium Urban Lance
Enforcer
Enforcer
Hatchetman
Hatchetman

Light Direct Fire Lance
Blackjack
Blackjack
Panther
Panther

So when wave 2 hits... I just need to buy 8 more packs... that would leave 1 Victor, 1 longbow, 2 Zues, 2 jenners, 2 ravens, 2 banshees, and 2 wolfhounds to give to the boys. On top of what I have already divided up from the starters and command/battle lances between them. 

Or trade the boys an awesome, trade for some warhammers and a rifleman back and stick them with a Zues... to keep with the 1 assault mech and same movement profiles... that might work out more for me too.

My boys are having a blast with this.  They are talking paint schemes and asking me to help them with unit symbols... I feel like a kid again with them experiencing everything all over again.  I even have one boy eying the Clan stuff... I ensured him he must get that from his mother’s side...  I’m sure we will pretty quickly move to the invasion lol.

Lastly... I’m not ignoring the LAMs... say... if two Rievers can fit in the two bags of the Union... with their huge wingspans... couldn’t I fit a Phoenix Hawk LAM and a Wasp LAM together in one bay a piece?  I’ll make this work damnit lol.  Then I’ll just say these models are in mech mode until the end of the game!?!?!  Longshot? 

[Daryk]

Love the Panther/Blackjack combo lance... brilliant!  :thumbsup:

Packing more than one unit into a cubicle is possible, but it's as cargo, so you can't deploy them in combat.

[Hawkeye Jim]

You have to spring for an Overlord.

[Elmoth]

Or say that your techs are good and modified the Union to fit 4 small launch bays where you used to have 2 large ones and you are done. Maybe to land the LAMs need to turn into mech or airmech mode and crawl into the space instead of landing straight in (they need to control the approach) but I see no problems playing it that way. It is a descriptive feature anyway, not something relevant in competitive play or anything.

[Bold Raider]

OK, I think I have the Battalion make up squared away.  1st Company is here and ready to be painted, 2nd and 3rd Companies are waiting on model releases.  Ill also need to purchase an Overlord and 6 Riever Aerospace Fighters.  The Union... well it doesn't hurt to have an extra dropship laying around!

[Iron Grenadier]

Nice spreadsheet there.  :thumbsup:

Hmm just looking that over, what about swapping the 2nd and 3rd company command lances? That way all of 3rd company would be jumpy.

[Daryk]

Seconded on all counts!  :thumbsup:

[Elmoth]

That is A LOT of Enforcers!!!

Looks like a Davion force that got salvage (2 Wolverine 6M and 2 panthers).

[Bold Raider]

Iron Grenadier, switching the command lances makes perfect sense!  So much so I’m kind of embarrassed I didn’t see it lol.  Consider that advice taken!

And it is a lot of Enforcers, Elmoth.  I wish I could tell you that I wanted each of my boys to have a Victor a piece... and that I want them to have some hunchbacks and ravens to boot...  And I’ll readily admit that I could save me some money and just plug the Hatchetmen in I would have sitting there. 

But I can’t.

The truth is... since the beginning of my experience with battletech, the Enforcer has been my favorite mech ever.  It’s humanoid, it’s got 2 arms ending in huge barrels and the 3025 tech manual had a hero pilot that actually killed himself because he shot his auto cannon so much.  I mean it’s the sexiest mech in 3025.  As a FWL patriot, I cannot stand that it’s a Davion mech.  And it’s sexiness isn’t matched or surpassed until 3058 and the superior Enfield hits the market (I obviously love large lasers and auto cannon 10s... it’s a weakness lol).  Davion can keep the Enforcer III, and that abomination ENF 7 line too.  The visuals just don’t hit me in the feels like the 4R and 5D.

Ahem... I got carried away.  I just needed to explain why... when my brain was trying to decide what should tag along with two Enforcers, be medium mechs, have the same movement profile, and have a model coming in wave 2... why my brain didn’t bat an eye at “just get more enforcers”.

I’ll think of some fluff justification for it I swear, salvage, hell of a purchasing deal, or maybe Rann’s Raiders absorbs a Fed Suns merc group who happen to have these guys and the Valkyries together.  I don’t know.  Maybe I need to change some other mechs to Marik variants... like the Marauder.  To offset the Davion vibe.  I don’t know.  All I do know... is I’m going to have 4 enforcers lol.

[Hawkeye Jim]

Just a note: Zues is spelled Zeus.

[Bold Raider]

Dang it lol.  That gets me every time. 

[Daryk]

The "absorbed a Davion merc unit" is perfectly reasonable... DO EEET!  :D

[Bold Raider]

Hey all,

Well I didn't respond for so long because it took forever to finally get my store orders in.  Regardless, they are in and its time to show what I have been doing with them.  So my Merc Company ended up being different due to what I was able to get my hands on, and I split the rest of the mechs I had left over with my 4 kids... each of them getting a lance of their own consisting of a Assault, Heavy, Medium and Light.  They were stoked and loved painting them.

Anyway, I present my poorly painted Rann's Raiders Mercenary Company (The Dropship is in process).  This is a reinforced company who hand-waviumed their way into configuring their Union for an additional lance via repurposing their aerospace fighter bay. 

[Daryk]

Love that Wolverine lance!  8)

[Bold Raider]

Thanks!

I had 3 Griffins and a Shadow Hawk too, but the kids liked the looks of them more lol.  And it’s not like I feel cheated having 4 Wolverines.

Now it’s time to look into updating these things for the IlClan Era.  Because I’m very excited for the new sourcebook!

[DOC_Agren]

?? for you..  How did you manage to fit in 4 more mechs Hangers into a Union, even pulling the 2 Aerospace ones?  Or are the last 4 mechs loaded and unloaded as Cargo?

[Bold Raider]

I’m not too worried about how it’s done.  But in my mind if the Union Dropship can fit 2 100 ton aerospace fighters, then something has to be done to make 65 tons (Wasp and Phoenix Hawk) of battlemech fit.  No matter if they have to duck walk in and out or as you say assembled from storage when in theatre. 

But I could say this is a little known Star League modification or what have you as well.  I mean it’s not an experimental Argo class Dropship that my unit found in the Periphery.  And I’m not even too worried if it was Rann’s Raiders Who did this.  Maybe they acquired it somehow through other means.  They could just be benefiting from someone else’s work.   

[Daryk]

With that set up, you could convert one of the ASF cubicles to a 'mech cubicle, and store three (light/medium) 'mechs as cargo.  No worries, really...

[Demon55]

Looks like you are off to a great start Bold Raider.