Wednesday 19 January 2011

Spirit of Steiner 1st 4444 Doctrine RCT

 
After 18 years I'm starting a new campaign and I'm so excited. This coming Saturday sees the first session where myself and three friends will sit down and plan the first actions that they want to take in the campaign, which is going under the name of Operation Sandbox.

The Regimental Combat Team (RCT) Table of Organisation & Equipment (TO&E) will show that the intent is for the force to be organised with four battalions, each consisting in turn of four companys, each having four platoons, and so on. The reality will be the RCT is severely understrength and the players will be attending a regimental staff meeting to be informed of the changes necessary so as to be able to field Mission Task Organisation (MTO). All of this stuff I've gleaned from hanging out with people in the know.

Big call out to all the contributors on the Faction Formations after 3120 thread, here:

http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=76651.0

Especially, Matt (aka Charlie_6) for his comments on choosing the decisive element of a command, and also to Failure_16 for his Faction-Generic Combat Command list:

Force Headquarters & Headquarters Company (x1)
  • Headquarters Section (2-4 BattleMechs or AFVs as appropriate, 2-3 HQ AFVs, 4-5 Light Utility Vehicles)
  • Staff Section (8-10 Light Utility Vehicles and staff members for Personnel, Operations, Supply, CA, and GRU functions)
  • Supply Platoon (18-20 Medium/Heavy Utility Vehicles)
  • Maintenance Platoon (3-6 Recovery Vehicles, 4 Fitter Vehicles, 4 Contact Teams)
  • Medical Platoon (3-6 Ambulances, 1 MASH)
  • Air-Defense Platoon (3-6 Air-Defense Elements)
  • Combat Engineer Section (2 each CEVs, ARVs, APCs, Supply Trucks, Sapper Squads)
  • Scout Platoon (4-6 Skimmer-Mounted Scout/Sniper teams)
  • Fire-Support Battery (3-6 FS-capable elements)
• Armor Company (x1) - Complementing Battlemech Company below
  • Armor Platoon (x3 with 4/6 AFVs each)
• Battlemech Company (x1) - Complementing Armor Company above
  • Battlemech Lance (x3 with 3/4 Battlemechs each)
• Infantry Company (Battle Armor)
  • Infantry (BA) Platoon (x3 or 4 with 4 Squads BA each)
•  Potential Support Forces
  • Combat Aviation (Close-Air Support or VTOLs as appropriate/available)
  • Infantry (Conventional) Platoon or company (including airmobile/motor/mech assets if available)
  • Additional Reconnaissance, Combat Engineer, Fire-Support, and Military Police Elements as required by mission
So, I'll be using the above to guide the players into thinking how they will form their force, and the harsh realities of fighting in the year 3135. I like the whole new Dark age vibe, but now it can have added new tech, which is always exciting for the players.

I'm still working on the names of the major non-player characters for this game and other stuff. Finally, wow has this project got all my creative juices flowing, and here is a picture of just some of the mechs that are coming out of the PiP chop shops; all classic unseen mechs from the Macross anime show that Battletech used back in the days under FASA.

  
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8 comments:

  1. Porky19 January 2011 at 13:00

    That dirty metal and purple effect is great to look at, and makes the whole thing seem grimmer than it already is.

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  2. Anthony N. Emmel19 January 2011 at 13:52

    Chello!

    It's been longer than that since I've actually sat down and down a TO&E for CBT. Good job on the organization; it looks very similar to what I had back in 1989. :)

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  3. Lambow16 March 2011 at 00:33

    I really like it! I'm assuming the force does not have organic inter and intrastellar transport?

    Other than that, great breakdown!

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  4.  Ashley16 March 2011 at 22:52

    Well if you mean interplanetary for the first then yes it does in that the Aurora dropship is part of the Delta battalions TO&E, but jumpships are a higher level of command and not permanently assigned to regiments in the Battletech universe, at least not generally.

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  5. Lambow26 July 2011 at 22:05

    Interesting addition, and logical.

    Still loving this breakdown, and I'm completely stealing the general concept for my merc unit. ;)

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  6. Lambow26 July 2011 at 22:10

    Concerning the supporting forces, will they be sub-contracted (As in getting mercs in) or will they be "purchased" in the campaign at some point? Perhaps given to the unit from the parent unit?

    Just interested in seeing how you're going to attach those elements, since I'm a big believer in artillery and spotting forces. =)

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  7.  Ashley27 July 2011 at 08:38

    The idea is that they are given from the parent unit and are part of the RPG side of the campaign; the politics of the new regiment as it grows within the Lyran Armed Forces.

    We are using a card driven activation system for moving units, and I've added cards to call in the artillery within that, which works quite well.

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  8. Lambow28 July 2011 at 02:26

    Sounds awesome. I saw the post with the card system. I honestly have to try it out myself to see if it does help, but most of my games tend to be under a company in size per side.

    As my regiment grows, however, we'll see if that changes.

    Great post once again, and thanks for the reply!

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