Mercenary Hall

[Colt Ward]

Well, I expect to get hammered as one of the 'small' commands . . . and a bit of a reset for equipment and troops.

[Nav_Alpha]

As i posted over in the Marik thread - what do you think a merc would make of all of Thad Marik's pocket neighbourhoods?
The Covenant worlds, the Protectorate Coalition, the Tall Trees Union, etc - do you reckon these smaller guys are buying up smaller merc outfits very quickly to defend their patches and expand?

Well, I expect to get hammered as one of the 'small' commands . . . and a bit of a reset for equipment and troops.

I'm with Deadborder - I wouldn't be expecting much to come back from Operation Vijay. I'm keen to run through some of the later Total Chaos tracks myself soon - some of the missions set on Terra like the "blue on blue" Recondo incident and some of the ops chasing rogue Blakists after the fall of Terra, etc.
Gee... I guess i might have to roll up a new Jihad era merc unit...

[Colt Ward]

For the 3140s its a seller's market for mercs and war materials.

Lol . . . scenario idea . . . its a retreat of the SL cache . . . find some minor noble's (who was killed off during the push for Terra) stash of RetroTech mechs and maybe some 3SW era armor.  Sort of like the Guns, Money & Lawyer event from a few years ago.

Just imagine the battles for say two lances of mediums, company of armor and forty Longinus/GDL Standard/IS Standard suits in a protected storage bunker.

As far as Vijay . . . the 4th got hammered pushing in, then the command confusion, and finally the retreat . . . sort of depends on what equipment you have, how quickly you are prepared to E&E when it heads south, and what sort of planning your command has in place.  I mean, I honestly expect to leave equipment behind even on a successful escape- such as heavy tracked armor holding the LZ until the last DS lifts.  Then the crews trying to make it to a small craft while aero drops some good old inferno and rockets.

[Nav_Alpha]

Lol . . . scenario idea . . . its a retreat of the SL cache . . . find some minor noble's (who was killed off during the push for Terra) stash of RetroTech mechs and maybe some 3SW era armor.  Sort of like the Guns, Money & Lawyer event from a few years ago.

Just imagine the battles for say two lances of mediums, company of armor and forty Longinus/GDL Standard/IS Standard suits in a protected storage bunker.

Like it! I'd be more inclined to make it a Jihad era cache - made up of Retrotech mechs and tanks that a minor noble or militia stashed prior to their world getting hit by the Word. they buried the cache and then got nuked from orbit - letting the stash lie dormant for 70 odd years.

Then - various factions on world finally verify the long handed down rumour.

As far as Vijay . . . the 4th got hammered pushing in, then the command confusion, and finally the retreat . . . sort of depends on what equipment you have, how quickly you are prepared to E&E when it heads south, and what sort of planning your command has in place.  I mean, I honestly expect to leave equipment behind even on a successful escape- such as heavy tracked armor holding the LZ until the last DS lifts.  Then the crews trying to make it to a small craft while aero drops some good old inferno and rockets.

Yeah, things turned... pretty nasty for the mercs who went in as part of this op.
I'd say, depending on your postioning and how quickly you're prepeared to try and break out, you can still pull the majority of the unit out.
But you're probably going to lose a lot of heavy equipment as part of a rear guard element, as you say

[Coldwyn]

As i posted over in the Marik thread - what do you think a merc would make of all of Thad Marik's pocket neighbourhoods?
The Covenant worlds, the Protectorate Coalition, the Tall Trees Union, etc - do you reckon these smaller guys are buying up smaller merc outfits very quickly to defend their patches and expand?

I don´t think outright buying a merc unit will happen, as that will put a heavy dent in the economy. Rather, they´ll be handing out some small-time objective raid contracts, so that their neighbours will notice that they have teeth.

For the 3140s its a seller's market for mercs and war materials.

Lol . . . scenario idea . . . its a retreat of the SL cache . . . find some minor noble's (who was killed off during the push for Terra) stash of RetroTech mechs and maybe some 3SW era armor.  Sort of like the Guns, Money & Lawyer event from a few years ago.

Just imagine the battles for say two lances of mediums, company of armor and forty Longinus/GDL Standard/IS Standard suits in a protected storage bunker.

Yes, you could make some good tracks out of that. Spontaneously, I´d say: Track: The Demolition, Track: Defend the Convoy, Track: The Stalled Transport. Track: Eliminate the Spotters.

[Nav_Alpha]

I don´t think outright buying a merc unit will happen, as that will put a heavy dent in the economy. Rather, they´ll be handing out some small-time objective raid contracts, so that their neighbours will notice that they have teeth.

Yes, you could make some good tracks out of that. Spontaneously, I´d say: Track: The Demolition, Track: Defend the Convoy, Track: The Stalled Transport. Track: Eliminate the Spotters.

Sorry, didn't mean "buy"'for keeps, more just long term hires.

[Coldwyn]

Sorry, didn't mean "buy"'for keeps, more just long term hires.

Then it will be Cadre duty contracts, I guess. Having experienced mercs on hand for building up your own standing army or militia has always be on of the most cost-convenient options for small political entities, with the added benefit that said mercs are conveniently availlable for defense duty as well.
What I´m not too sure about is the dessired size of the merc unit. For smaller political units, it could be beneficial to hire mercs with a big name, to use that as a deterrent. Ok, era report 3145 just covers 3 merc companies, but some of the other "big players" should have survived until that era. It would be more than helpful to let your neighbours know that you have the famous XY training your troops. Perfect smalltalk for a ambassadorial party, right?

[Nav_Alpha]

Then it will be Cadre duty contracts, I guess. Having experienced mercs on hand for building up your own standing army or militia has always be on of the most cost-convenient options for small political entities, with the added benefit that said mercs are conveniently availlable for defense duty as well.
What I´m not too sure about is the dessired size of the merc unit. For smaller political units, it could be beneficial to hire mercs with a big name, to use that as a deterrent. Ok, era report 3145 just covers 3 merc companies, but some of the other "big players" should have survived until that era. It would be more than helpful to let your neighbours know that you have the famous XY training your troops. Perfect smalltalk for a ambassadorial party, right?

Alternatively it screams "I'm hiring big name Mercs because I have delusions of forming my own sucessor state - you're my next conquest"
I'd probably go for smaller, less "name brand" units.
If you're a small two planet state, you don't want to be noticed.

I'm a little disappointed that all of these proto nations get snapped up by 3145 - it's the Chaos March all over again, which is a great place to play

[Colt Ward]

I am not sure they do . . . we have the Republic Remnant and Galatean League.  So, now looking at the 3145 map, it does appear Oriente and Capellans took down the communities with the Falcons and RasDom taking what the Wolves flattened in their migration.

[truetanker]

Mongolian Barbecue Horde

Suggestion? Seeker ( Upgrade ) modified with that Lance variant, with the Union-X ( 3065 ).

All told,

Seeker:
4 Mechs
40 Tanks
4 Platoons

Union-X:
8 Mechs
4 ASF
5 Squads BA

Does this look like yor unit?

TT

[Nav_Alpha]

Just keeping this tread going:

what do we think the average merc unit looks like in the post-Blackout to 3145 era?

there's plenty of hiring opportunities - Republic worlds desperate to state free from the claws of Liao or the Dragon. The multi-world alliances ranging from the Senate Alliance to the Protectorate Coalition and the Convenant Worlds. House Davion keen to fend off House Liao or defend the Reach? The Lyrans and the Mariks - taking on each other and the Falcons AND the Wolves.

What kind of size do you think we're talking about? What kind of make up - a handful of mechs? Industrialmechs pressed into service? Lots of BA?

[Colt Ward]

I would expect a 1 mech - 4 vehicles- infantry platoon or BA ratio.

Upper end seems to be a combined arms regiment or so, a couple of mech companies, perhaps one being I-Mech Mods depending how close you are to the Republic and the Blackout time.  With a armor battalion, a infantry/BA battalion and a VTOL squadron to round out the force.  The mechs, as we have seen, are the exploitation for anything armor/infantry/VTOL develop- either punch through a weak spot or swing around the flank.

Scale this down, and we can also see combined arms battalions, though I think these will be overstrength- 1 mech company, two armor companies, infantry company, BA platoon, VTOL lance.

Then you have some young kid off a farm who thinks because he can take his HVR-99 Harvester making potshots at rabbits while he is harvesting the field.  He dreams of being at the Battle of Tharkad and rescuing Trillian Steiner when the Crusader Wolves landed on planet.  With the money being offered for anyone with any sort of mech, he runs off to the local spaceport to ship out for Galatea on some beat up but modified Buccaneer dropship.

[Nav_Alpha]

Then you have some young kid off a farm who thinks because he can take his HVR-99 Harvester making potshots at rabbits while he is harvesting the field.  He dreams of being at the Battle of Tharkad and rescuing Trillian Steiner when the Crusader Wolves landed on planet.  With the money being offered for anyone with any sort of mech, he runs off to the local spaceport to ship out for Galatea on some beat up but modified Buccaneer dropship.

Sounds like the start of a very fun Battletech read, with just a twist of Star Wars: A New Hope.

I would expect a 1 mech - 4 vehicles- infantry platoon or BA ratio.

Scale this down, and we can also see combined arms battalions, though I think these will be overstrength- 1 mech company, two armor companies, infantry company, BA platoon, VTOL lance.

I think you're right about the sizes.

The Wolf Hunters, from memory were: one company of heavy and assault mechs, a company of mobile artillery and a mixed company of light and medium mechs backed by BA riding in APCs. They also had conventional infantry forces - they never get a mention though, so I figure maybe a platoon of foot infantry used to secure dropsites, etc.

[Coldwyn]

My guess is that there´ll be hastily formed militias, which in turn mature into merc companies.
Force composition will be heavily influenced by 1) distance to terra and 2) realm of origin, meaning that the more the RotS disarmamaent pakt was adhered to, the more haphazard the force composition will be.

In regards of the force composition itself, I´d do that by roles:
- One zombie type of unit as an anchor point, big mech or big tank.
- One scout unit of some kind
- Two striker types of unit
- One missileboat
- Infantry and BA to screen those units.

Sample merc unit creaion table could look like:

Table 1: Distance to Terra.
2-4 RotS (Force Roll: -2)
5-6 Near (Force Roll: +2)
7-9 Intemediate (Force Roll: +1)
10-12 Far (Force Roll: -1)

Table 2: Unit Origin
2-5: RotS (Tech Roll: -4)
6-8: House, adherent (Tech Roll: -0)
9-10: House, non-adherent (Tech Roll: +4)
11-20: Clan (Tech Roll: +2)

Table 3:  Force Table
2 1 Zombie, 1 Striker, 1 Scout, 1 Footsoldier
... to ...
12 2 Zombie, 4 Striker, 2 Scout, 2 Missile, 4 Footsoldier

Table 4+ Tech Tables, filled with units, like:
.. (Subtable, Zombies)
11 Gürteltier MBT
12 Atlas

[Nav_Alpha]

Hmm, based on that idea Coldwyn. Something like this - the remains of a RAF militia unit who went merc after their planet was overrun:


BLR-10S Battlemaster
PNT-10K2 Panther

Manteuffel attack tank (prime)
Manteuffel attack tank (prime)

JES II Missle Carrier

Kopis BA squad
Kooks BA squad

Infantry platoon + Maxim MkII
Infantry platoon + Maxim MkII

[Coldwyn]

Looks like a decent off/def unit to me. May I ask how you generated those units? They don´t look like you rolled for them.
I´m a roleplayer, so I try to stick with era-fluff. You´re using TRO 75/85 units, but no low-tech, which leads to your remnant forces being able to go head-to-head with an augmented TRO 25 lance.
Fluff text in some TROs state that the RotS gobbled up quite a bit of WoB tech after the war. In that spirit, here´s on possible lance using a mix of jihad and primitives tech:

TI-2P Titan II or HTM-28TR Hatamoto-Chi
Aeron Strike VTOL

WSP-1 Wasp
Regulator Hover Tank

Heavy LRM Carrier

Kopis BA Squad - Bolla Prime
Purifier Adaptive BA Squad - Bolla Config C

Mechanized Infantry Platoon, 2 light gauss field towed guns
Infantry platton.

Edit: Great, one of my cats spilled a bottle of wine over my keyboard while I wrote this.

The DA era poses some questions for me. How do we determine starting force values? by pure gut feeling, I´d say something about 2 regular lances (8 units) totaling below 7K BV?

[Wolflord]

I would expect a 1 mech - 4 vehicles- infantry platoon or BA ratio.

Upper end seems to be a combined arms regiment or so, a couple of mech companies, perhaps one being I-Mech Mods depending how close you are to the Republic and the Blackout time.  With a armor battalion, a infantry/BA battalion and a VTOL squadron to round out the force.  The mechs, as we have seen, are the exploitation for anything armor/infantry/VTOL develop- either punch through a weak spot or swing around the flank.

Scale this down, and we can also see combined arms battalions, though I think these will be overstrength- 1 mech company, two armor companies, infantry company, BA platoon, VTOL lance.

Then you have some young kid off a farm who thinks because he can take his HVR-99 Harvester making potshots at rabbits while he is harvesting the field.  He dreams of being at the Battle of Tharkad and rescuing Trillian Steiner when the Crusader Wolves landed on planet.  With the money being offered for anyone with any sort of mech, he runs off to the local spaceport to ship out for Galatea on some beat up but modified Buccaneer dropship.

I see what you did there  O0

[Nav_Alpha]

Looks like a decent off/def unit to me. May I ask how you generated those units? They don´t look like you rolled for them.
I´m a roleplayer, so I try to stick with era-fluff. You´re using TRO 75/85 units, but no low-tech, which leads to your remnant forces being able to go head-to-head with an augmented TRO 25 lance.
Fluff text in some TROs state that the RotS gobbled up quite a bit of WoB tech after the war. In that spirit, here´s on possible lance using a mix of jihad and primitives tech:

TI-2P Titan II or HTM-28TR Hatamoto-Chi
Aeron Strike VTOL

WSP-1 Wasp
Regulator Hover Tank

Heavy LRM Carrier

Kopis BA Squad - Bolla Prime
Purifier Adaptive BA Squad - Bolla Config C

Mechanized Infantry Platoon, 2 light gauss field towed guns
Infantry platton.

Edit: Great, one of my cats spilled a bottle of wine over my keyboard while I wrote this.

The DA era poses some questions for me. How do we determine starting force values? by pure gut feeling, I´d say something about 2 regular lances (8 units) totaling below 7K BV?

I just pulled up the Master Unit List for the Republic a d selected as I saw fit.
I like the look of your unit to - as part of my ongoing Dark Agr campaign, I also give a lot of Wobbie salvage to the Republic Standing Guard.
A lot of these guys are former Protectorate militia units that went over to Stone, so that makes sense.
I tried to use equipment mainly drawn from TRO: 3085 but ended up going back a bit further - remember, for a long time the RAF was a real hodge lodge of equipment and units were built from the broken up remains of othe nations' armies.

As you say, I kept it reasonably high tech - I wanted them to have a fighting chance, but not overloaded with Clan-tech which seems to be a lot of people's fall back position

[snakespinner]

I like how you did not include clan tech,although Coldwyn's unit has more flexibility.
Coldwyn, you should not let your cats drink wine next to your computer. ;D

[Coldwyn]

Coldwyn, you should not let your cats drink wine next to your computer. ;D

Oh, it was a lovelly days when we adopted our little nova cat elemental. Getting him home-brohen was not so lovelly and I´ve lost count how many power packs I used up on my neural whip to get him use the litter box. And the day he was neutered.. oh my.

On a more serious note, is anyone using retrotech, industrialmechs or repurposed civilian units aka technicals for his DA-style mercs?
And on another note, how´ll merc payment look like? ComStar is down, so who handles our currency?

[Nav_Alpha]

Hehe... Those cray cray nova kitties.

Yep, lots of Industrials backed by half trained infantry in technicals, Esp for militia, etc. lots of Retrotech.

[Rainbow 6]

Surprised no one has mentioned the equipment that mercenary units are able to buy from TRO3145CC & DC.

[Klat]

Surprised no one has mentioned the equipment that mercenary units are able to buy from TRO3145CC & DC.

I noticed the mini catapult Avalanche, which looks pretty darn useful to me. What else is there?

[Decoy]

The DC one is surprisingly bountiful while the CC one only gives the Calliope and a couple other things.

[Rainbow 6]

My count is 4 from the CapCon TRO and 8 from the Combine.

Personal favorite is the trio of Saladin/Saracen/Scimitar II trio.

[Klat]

OK I like the ugly duckling Exhumer. It's not great but I can see were it's useful. I'd like to know what the Battlefists do though.

I wonder if StarCorps sells the Vandal from the CC TRO on the open market?

[Moonsword]

I wonder if StarCorps sells the Vandal from the CC TRO on the open market?

It's not impossible that the MUL Team will rule that way but I tend to doubt it personally.  The older Omnis proliferated onto the merc market because of the times.  The Inner Sphere is in the process of tearing itself apart, not working together to try and throw back the Clans and this was a design introduced partially for shock value by someone in the middle of a major war.

None of the national Omnis have wound up on the merc list by the Republic Era.  Not even all of the first-generation designs are there and the only second-generation OmniMech on the merc list is the Arctic Fox.

Of course, that doesn't mean it won't happen at your table.  StarCorps's got a long, well-deserved reputation for shenanigans.  I just doubt that enough Vandals would leak out to be notable on the MUL.

[Decoy]

So, we make do with Avalanches....or buy whatever the Sea Foxes want to sell ><

*Looks at the Mad Cat mk IV*

[Shin Ji]

So how many of you modify your mechs?  Seems to me that with access to a dropship bay, a decent tech, and a couple months of downtime, you could pretty much modify your mechs to be whatever way you like.

[Colt Ward]

I have done light modification- ERML for MLs sort of thing, or removing C3s on mechs because I have no C3 systems- routinely.  I never changed FF for Std armor before because that had been said to be too complicated, now its not which leaves me with some issues.

When a Marauder 3D got wrecked, I had it rebuilt to new specs since parts came from the -5M and -9M.

Since FF is an easier fix now, things like Po & Zhukovs are getting upgraded with LBX and FF armor.  Better range and more armor points quickly makes the armor more effective.