332nd Capellan Rangers: An Experimental Battalion for troubled times

[StCptMara]

Zhong-Shao Liu Mei had an idea. She had studied tactics of neighboring states, and saw how new technological developments changed the capabilities of different unit types. The Warrior Houses were adapting to the edge of mechanized battle armor faster, over all, than the main part of the CCAF. At the same time, combined arms has always been a part of the Capellan defensive strategy, though not frequently the offense. The experiment that the Zhong-Shao suggested was a battalion level formation utilizing a novel "lance" structure for a portion of its lances.

The special lance units would be called "Hunter Lances." They are based around a traditional 4 OmniMechs. However, with each 'Mech would be a single squad of powered armor infantry. For deployment purposes, each 'Mech and Infantry squad would be considered a single element of the Lance, instead of 2 elements. Finally, supporting the lance would be 2 armored elements, usually either a pair of Pos or a pair of Regulators. Hunter Lances would also deploy either as the whole lance, or as 2 separate forces of 3 elements each. As a full force, they would be a counter to Blakist and ComGuard Level IIs, split in two, they would perform head-hunting missions, or engage in asymmetric warfare. The lance commander would decide which split would be used, as it could be split in any combination of Mech-Infantry elements and armored assets.

The Battalion level formation is what would be considered a "Reinforced Battalion" as it consists of 4 Companies and a Command Lance.

The final form of the unit is:
Companies 1 and 2 are considered 'Mech Companies, though they are made of 2 Hunter Lances each.
Company 3 is a traditional Mixed Company, 2 Lances of armored assets and a lance of powered armor and transports.
Company 4 is an Aerospace company.
The Command Lance is a Hunter Lance.   

Originally, however, Companies 1 and 2 had a single Hunter Lance each, and 2 standard 'Mech Lances. The conversion to full Hunter Lance formations came after deployments found an advantage in the Hunter Lances tactical flexibility, and a disadvantage that they did not work well supported by conventional lances. While the Zhong-Shao wanted to make the companies into 3 Hunter Lances, the CCAF High Command preferred to lower the resources needed for this already resource heavy unit, and so insisted in it being a compromise of 2 Hunter Lances because that would make it effectively a company with added infantry in terms of units.

Parade Scheme is a bright green, with brown trim. Otherwise, the unit uses appropriate camo. The unit does not use any heraldic insignia, instead just using the simple insignia of the number "332" painted on 'Mech left legs, and tank turrets, or the left wing of fighters.

Time frame the unit would be active in would be from just after the fall of St. Ives(I created the unit right after reading the Capellan Solution duology) to the early stages of the Capellan Crusades of the Republic Era(as I do not think they would survive that era).

[Kerfuffin(925)]

The IS, let alone Liao doesn’t have enough Omni mechs to do that, unless you only used men-Shen or you got a ton of high priority salvage. The CC would have a hard time finding and then supporting clan omnis, as they didn’t participate much in bulldog or serpent.

Until the later eras you’d probably have to settle for using the CCs Mag Clamp BA.

I kinda like the Augmented Nova idea tho.

[StCptMara]

The IS, let alone Liao doesn’t have enough Omni mechs to do that, unless you only used men-Shen or you got a ton of high priority salvage. The CC would have a hard time finding and then supporting clan omnis, as they didn’t participate much in bulldog or serpent.

Don't forget that a number of the IS First Gen Omnis were available to everyone, and were actually pretty good. Use the Men-Shen, and make use of Firestarter Os,Black Jack-Os, Black Hawk-KUs, Avatars, and Sunders, and you have a good base of IS Omnis to use. In fact, I would dare say that the Blackjack Omni and the Black Hawk-KU are optimal due to the placement of the majority of their weapons in the arms.

Also, this does not need 24 omnis. It only needs 12 at the start, and will be able to phase in the remaining 8 as it phases the companies into pure Hunter Lances.

Until the later eras you’d probably have to settle for using the CCs Mag Clamp BA.

I wish there were more Mag Clamp using BA than the Fa Shih during the eras of this unit. Don't get me wrong, I do love the Fa Shih, but, I would really love something more like the standard IS Battle Armor that also has the Mag Clamp. The CCAF only has access to the IS Standard, Fa Shih, and Trinity Medium Battle Armor(aka Yin Long).

[Natasha Kerensky]

This may be of interest:

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/non-canon-units/paget's-dragoons-1st-batt-toe-46418/msg1070309/#msg1070309

[StCptMara]

This may be of interest:

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/non-canon-units/paget's-dragoons-1st-batt-toe-46418/msg1070309/#msg1070309

Interesting. Admittedly, I had created this unit before the stuff about the Augmented Lances became a thing, and I was trying to address a mis-read of soemthing(I cannot remember now where it was from, either) that left me thinking Davion was experimenting with 3 'mech Kill Teams, so this was developed partly as an experimental answer to that. It was also because I felt that, if any faction would, the Capellan Confederation would develop something integrating infantry into a formation. The use of OmniMechs is mostly because there are so few of the CapCons signature Magnetic Clamps used on designs other than the Fa Shih, and if the 'mech is not omni, even Clamps penalize its movement.

[Natasha Kerensky]

Interesting. Admittedly, I had created this unit before the stuff about the Augmented Lances became a thing... It was also because I felt that, if any faction would, the Capellan Confederation would develop something integrating infantry into a formation. The use of OmniMechs is mostly because there are so few of the CapCons signature Magnetic Clamps used on designs other than the Fa Shih, and if the 'mech is not omni, even Clamps penalize its movement.

Yeah, I didn’t do mech/BA augmented lances because Spheroid omnis are relatively limited in variety and effectiveness compared to standard mechs.  So I relegated the BA to vehicle/BA augmented lances.  I don’t think I used a single Spheroid or Cappie omni, not even a Men Shen, which I think says something about their capabilities compared to standard Spheroid/Cappie mechs.

Instead, I built lances around Capellan dirty tricks:  Arrow IV artillery in the battalion command, a couple stealth/Gauss shadow lances screened by a couple massed LB 20-X cavalry lances, and a plasma cannon/TSEMP incendiary lances setting up easy kills for a TSM melee shock lance.  In many cases, there are Cappie vehicles that mirror or complement these mech capabilities, so the bulk of that force is mech/vehicle augmented lances.  I maybe need to update with the Lightning and any other Cappie goodies from the Rec Guides.

Just one way of approaching Cappie force building that I thought might be useful for sake of comparison.