Dirtbag Planetary Militia - Outworlds Alliance 3025

[kaliban]

" The Planetary Militia is home defense citizen militia with a strength of about 3 Regiments plus small garrisons dispersed along the different OA worlds. Unable to prevent a major invasion, these forces can only deal with minor treats like raiders or pirates and buy time in case of a major attack until reinforcements arrive. "

https://owa3025.blogspot.com/p/outworlds-alliance-introduction.html

I have spent some time to develop what would be a standard planetary militia for my Outworlds Alliance blog, as this is not described in detail in any sourcebook.

First idea was to make extensive use of motorized infantry with field guns (AC5s and AC20s) because they are easy to build and cheap to maintain. I have considered swarms of Flatbed trucks as a good complement but as a playability concession I will make use of a smaller number of LRM/SRM Carriers making it more manageable for a tabletop play

Any advice or comment is welcome. I have playtested it only in Megamek so far and I am pretty sure people here can point out something to change or improve and the potential weaknesses of this units.


So, the Standard planetary militia Battalion will have:

1st company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with 3 AC/5s (30 men, BV 244 each)
2nd company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with 2 AC/20s (30 men, BV 345 each)
3rd company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with auto rifles only

Plus one attached lance of vehicles.

The preferred vehicles are LRM/SRM Carriers but you can see all sorts of combinations with common vehicles like Scorpions, Hetzers, Strikers, etc. Example:

1 x LRM Carriers
1 x SRM Carriers
1 x Striker Light Tank
1 x Scorpion Light Tank

Total BV is 4,529

Deployment and tactics:

These units defend valuable targets or areas and are not meant for offensive actions - they just defend and try to worn the opposing side as much as possible, until reinforcement arrives.
The standard motorized infantry can be used to spot for the LRM Carriers and other LRM armed vehicles.
The SRM Carriers and the motorized platoons with AC/20s will be placed in hidden positions whenever possible protecting the AC/5s and the LRM Carriers.


I also considered a second formation, so called (Light) garrison Battalion:

1st Company:
2 x Motorized infantry platoon with 3 AC/5s (30 men, BV 244 each)
1 x Motorized infantry platoon with 2 AC/20s (30 men, BV 345 each)

2nd Company:
3 x Foot infantry platoon with auto rifles transported in unarmored trucks (9/14 movement, 5 tons)

one lance of vehicles:
4 x Flatbed Trucks (armor variant) armed with LRM5s or SRM2s (2 of each type).

This lighter battalion can protect targets from raiders armed with light vehicles and infantry (probably a common scene on the Periphery circa 3025). They also have more mobility with the Flatbed trucks.

[Daryk]

The auto-rifle infantry should have Sunskiller Sniper Rifles (from Shrapnel #1) at least.  They don't slow them down, decrease their damage only slightly, and increase their range significantly.

[eaglenine2]

Aren't the your Standard planetary militia Company more battalion sized, since all three subunits are company size?

[kaliban]

Aren't the your Standard planetary militia Company more battalion sized, since all three subunits are company size?

they are smaller than a battalion. Each lance has 4 infantry platoons, plus one lance of vehicles. You may say it is an enlarged company.

The Light Garrison has one lance of motorized infantry, one lance of foot infantry and one or two lances of light vehicles (armed Flatbed trucks).

Considering the diversity, and in some cases poverty, of many worlds in Outworlds Alliance this represents only a reference and these units may vary a lot.

[Iron Grenadier]

they are smaller than a battalion. Each lance has 4 infantry platoons, plus one lance of vehicles. You may say it is an enlarged company.

A infantry platoon is a lance. Generally 3-4 platoons make a single company. 9 infantry platoons is a standard battalion.
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Inner_Sphere_Infantry_Organization

There's nothing wrong really with what/how they are equipped, you just have a strengthened battalion here, not a company.

[Daryk]

When I did Glenmora's militia, I defined a "company' as two platoons of infantry and one lance of vehicles to carry them around (Goblin variants in my case).

[kaliban]

Thanks for the comments. I will resize it and rename as Battalion.

[kaliban]

It is being a while but I came to the following structure:

Standard Planetary Militia Battalion:

1st company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with 3 AC/5s (28 men, 238 BV2 each)

2nd company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with 2 AC/20s (28 men, 338 BV2 each)

3rd company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with auto rifles only (28 men, 81 BV2 each)

The Battalion is usually supported by two LRM Carriers (816 BV2 each). In some cases, they can be replaced by SRM Carrier or reinforced by additional vehicles (up to a lance of four). Scorpions, Strikers, Hetzers and armed Heavy APCs are the more common choices.

With 2 LRM Carriers, the total BV2 is 3,603.


and the Light Garrisons:


2 x Motorized infantry platoon with 3 AC/5s (28 men, 238 BV2 each)

1 x Motorized infantry platoon with 2 AC/20s (28 men, 338 BV2 each)

1 x Foot infantry platoon with auto rifles only (28 men, 61 BV2 each), transported in unarmored trucks

A variable number of Flatbed Trucks armed with LRMs (or SRMs) complement the formation that is supposed to handle Light Battlemechs and Combat Vehicles.




More here:

http://owa3025.blogspot.com/2022/02/planetary-garrison.html


http://owa3025.blogspot.com/2021/06/towed-autocannon-teams.html

[idea weenie]

It is being a while but I came to the following structure:

Standard Planetary Militia Battalion:
1st company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with 3 AC/5s (28 men, 238 BV2 each)
2nd company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with 2 AC/20s (28 men, 338 BV2 each)
3rd company: 3 x Motorized infantry platoon with auto rifles only (28 men, 81 BV2 each)
The Battalion is usually supported by two LRM Carriers (816 BV2 each). In some cases, they can be replaced by SRM Carrier or reinforced by additional vehicles (up to a lance of four). Scorpions, Strikers, Hetzers and armed Heavy APCs are the more common choices.
With 2 LRM Carriers, the total BV2 is 3,603.

and the Light Garrisons:
2 x Motorized infantry platoon with 3 AC/5s (28 men, 238 BV2 each)
1 x Motorized infantry platoon with 2 AC/20s (28 men, 338 BV2 each)
1 x Foot infantry platoon with auto rifles only (28 men, 61 BV2 each), transported in unarmored trucks
A variable number of Flatbed Trucks armed with LRMs (or SRMs) complement the formation that is supposed to handle Light Battlemechs and Combat Vehicles.

For the platoons with paired AC/20, a single casualty to the platoon means the second AC/20 is out of action.  I'd recommend reducing them to a single AC/20 each, and explain that the rest of the personnel are for local security (more bluntly, they serve as ablative meat).  They are great from ambush, but how would a platoon with a single AC/20 be in BV?  I.e. a unit with two AC/20 can make an attack from ambush with both AC/20, but a single shot afterwards will knock out one of the guns.  Two platoons each with one AC/20 might cost a bit more for BV, but they can cover each other and have a bit of staying power vs casualties.

Similarly, the AC/5 platoons will have one of their guns be out of action as soon as it has taken a total of 5 casualties (AC/5 are 8 tons each, so three AC/5 need 24 troops out of 28 per platoon).  At a potential of 15 pts of damage per turn they are also worth a Mech returning fire.  A platoon with only one or two AC/5 is far less dangerous damage-wise, and is a far more annoying target to remove.  Due to their lower cost you can also place more of them on a mapsheet to keep the enemy under fire from more locations.

For the battalion/garrison, I'd be tempted to add an engineering platoon somewhere so the infantry can have improvised fighting positions, making them even harder to damage.  The garrison will wind up being 5 platoons in size (or 6 to add another infantry platoon for more infantry security), making a single garrison equal to two companies in size.

More here:
http://owa3025.blogspot.com/2022/02/planetary-garrison.html
http://owa3025.blogspot.com/2021/06/towed-autocannon-teams.html

(Corrected the links so they are http instead of ftp)
Can you change the blog so it uses the side of the screens better?  The current setup has to compress the columns due to the extra space being used on the left hand side to display a peach(?) color.

[kaliban]

For the platoons with paired AC/20, a single casualty to the platoon means the second AC/20 is out of action.  I'd recommend reducing them to a single AC/20 each, and explain that the rest of the personnel are for local security (more bluntly, they serve as ablative meat).  They are great from ambush, but how would a platoon with a single AC/20 be in BV?  I.e. a unit with two AC/20 can make an attack from ambush with both AC/20, but a single shot afterwards will knock out one of the guns.  Two platoons each with one AC/20 might cost a bit more for BV, but they can cover each other and have a bit of staying power vs casualties.

Similarly, the AC/5 platoons will have one of their guns be out of action as soon as it has taken a total of 5 casualties (AC/5 are 8 tons each, so three AC/5 need 24 troops out of 28 per platoon).  At a potential of 15 pts of damage per turn they are also worth a Mech returning fire.  A platoon with only one or two AC/5 is far less dangerous damage-wise, and is a far more annoying target to remove.  Due to their lower cost you can also place more of them on a mapsheet to keep the enemy under fire from more locations.

For the battalion/garrison, I'd be tempted to add an engineering platoon somewhere so the infantry can have improvised fighting positions, making them even harder to damage.  The garrison will wind up being 5 platoons in size (or 6 to add another infantry platoon for more infantry security), making a single garrison equal to two companies in size.



(Corrected the links so they are http instead of ftp)
Can you change the blog so it uses the side of the screens better?  The current setup has to compress the columns due to the extra space being used on the left hand side to display a peach(?) color.

Thanks for the comments. I totally follow you. Additional soldiers is armor in this case. I just avoided it for playability reasons - otherwise you have too many infantry units to control. Same for the LRM/SRM Carriers - it is probably better (and cheaper) to have a swarm of Flatbed Trucks firing than one single poorly armored LRM Carrier BUT to make it playable I made a concession.  And Battletech gets very unbalanced if each side have a big difference in terms of number of units.

BV-wise there is something to consider:  a 28-men motorized platoon with one AC/20 has a BV of 215. If you add an AC/20, the BV is 338. Spending 123 pts of BV for one AC/20 - even considering that you may loose it after any damage - is maybe not a bad deal.

About the blog itself, thanks for hints also. I need to say that I am not really skilled in this stuff. I have started working in wordpress but found it much less user friendly (https://oa3025.wordpress.com/)

[Daryk]

The Taurians are right next door... 30-trooper platoons are a possiblilty, and I don't say that just for the 5 x AC/2 AAA platoon...  ^-^

[DOC_Agren]

The Taurians are right next door... 30-trooper platoons are a possiblilty, and I don't say that just for the 5 x AC/2 AAA platoon...  ^-^

nasty planning

And I thought I had comment earlier but I must not have.
I think these Garrison units are a only going to be defensive on targets that might be hit or major city/starport.   
The standard Batt force should get a company of combat vehicles (1 lance of Vtols) and being the OA I might be tempted to add a conventional air lance
Light Garrison, outfit with a lance of light combat vehicles.

Also I would like to offer to you as an idea my light Fighter

[Daryk]

Oh yeah... I posted in that thread too... :)

[kaliban]

nasty planning

And I thought I had comment earlier but I must not have.
I think these Garrison units are a only going to be defensive on targets that might be hit or major city/starport.   
The standard Batt force should get a company of combat vehicles (1 lance of Vtols) and being the OA I might be tempted to add a conventional air lance
Light Garrison, outfit with a lance of light combat vehicles.

Also I would like to offer to you as an idea my light Fighter

These garrison units indeed defensive units. Variants are possible and I suggested one lance of vehicles taking in to account c-bills restrictions. These tradition with airspace fighters in the OA lead me to introduce a few new VTOLs designs that can take the hunter-killer role that these garrison units can't do. Check it out.

https://owa3025.blogspot.com/

[kaliban]

These garrison units are indeed defensive units. Variants are possible and I suggested one lance of vehicles taking in to account c-bills restrictions. These tradition with airspace fighters in the OA lead me to introduce a few new VTOLs designs that can take the hunter-killer role that these garrison units can't do. Check it out.

https://owa3025.blogspot.com/

[DOC_Agren]

These garrison units indeed defensive units. Variants are possible and I suggested one lance of vehicles taking in to account c-bills restrictions. These tradition with airspace fighters in the OA lead me to introduce a few new VTOLs designs that can take the hunter-killer role that these garrison units can't do. Check it out.

https://owa3025.blogspot.com/

I had checked out your Vtol that why I suggest the get deployed as part of the Garrison

Oh yeah... I posted in that thread too... :)

and yes I know u would love the my light fighter