CLASSIC BATTLETECH CATALYST game labs

okay, so i have been thinking alot about how infantry seems to be basically organised in battletech and i got to tinkering with it in my head, which is dangerous i know.

I come from the Canadian Forces tradition of  the 8-man infantry squad (12-man engineer squads, but lets ignore them for now) so the sphere (SL?) standard of the 7-man squad is familiar to me. this is a non-tactically-viable unit. i know, huge shock.

in the CF we consider the smallest tactical unit to be the platoon. 3-4 rifle squads, HQ det (small) and weapons det (big). so another big shocker, even before we look at what kind of suport weapons we're packing, already the standard 21-28 man platoon doesn't cut the mustard. but lets set aside the specifics of weapons for now, but in short a CF platoon has 6-8 or more FN MINIMI LMGs (automatic rifles to you Americans), 1-3 FN MAG GPMGs, usually 1 84mm carl gustaf recoilless rifle and in years past at least one of our ancient M19 60mm mortars, now being canabalised. i am away from my books, but i believe the rules in TW allow one support weapon per squad...ouch. anyone ever been to the Combat Reform website? if you have you can see where i;m going with this.

so much for setting aside weapons...

anyways, i want to develop a tactically-viable squad as my basic building block if at all possible and then put together a platoon...we're going to be talking foot and jump troops here, so nothing too-too heavy, but i'd like to stick to something that will fit in a 6-ton hole.

I have a good starting point in what i feel was a good squad-based tactical concept, the american fire and movement squad layout from WWII. I know of these mainly annecdotally. i understand a 13-man marine squad coinsisted of a sergeant and three 4-man rifle teams built around 3 rifleman and a BAR man, so that gives you three flexible tactical sub-units. great. then we have the US Army system as presented in a recent issue of Armchair general, this offered a sergeant, a 2-man scout team, a 3-man fire support team and a 6-man manuver element (quite sure, but could be wrong on the #s).

i've tried to find some backup info on the net, but have been unsuccessful (see below). for the platoon, the canadian model isn't bad, i think it makes good sense. you will get a very heavy weapons det with a full ORBAT loadout, but what the hell, right, thats what they're for. i used to often see this great pic of an mid 1950s Ranger platoon laid out for their picture in formation of three squads in column with their heavy weapons out in front. i remember they had, 3 M20 super bazookas, an M18 57mm recoilelss rifle and i believe three m1919a4 MMGs. so those are my two models to work from and i want to hear your thoughts on the matter. presuming i house-rule this, as far as the support weapons thing, how do we shape our basic infantry organization?

Easiest way (if not simplest) to do this would be to design the infantry platoon a squad at a time.  Use one of the lines for each squad.  This will let you make a slightly oversized platoon with the right number of squads and the right number of troops in the squad.

Let's go for a jump platoon, per your mobility request.  Assume three rifle squads to keep numbers reasonable.  8 man squad, divided into two teams for the BT "squads." Each man carries a rifle of your choosing, with one of them carrying a Machine Gun (Portable) as a support weapon (1 crew, so it fits, also doesn't degrade mobility) per squad.

So it stands now, you have three squads of two "squads" each, with one man per "squad" having a LMG.  I don't know the exact size of the HQ and Weapon Detachment squads, so I can't make those right now. 

Tactical options with this setup:  Each squad does 4.48 damage (so close!), platoon total when travelling together is 13 damage (it adds up to another point there ), just with those three squads.  However, since you already have the squads as separate from the actual platoon itself, multiplying how much ground you can cover, while still remaining semi-viable (4 damage is pretty good... for eight infantry).  If you house rules are acceptable, I would just say that when the squads are travelling together, when they are attacked, roll on the cluster hits table for how many squads are in that platoon at that moment (only that platoon, don't add another if its in the same hex) and mark the troops off the one that was hit (make sure to designate which is which on the sheet).

With this set up, you can also re-organize platoons on the fly, which can and has happened in combat, historically.  Naturally, that makes the scattered remnants of several platoons almost as good as a single, whole strength platoon, and forces the enemy to take more care in exterminating whole platoons, not just rendering them ineffective damagewise.

Makes infantry a little more interesting, don't you think?

Yeah, the organization is going to be the kicker.  Hard enough to tell as it is, but when you are able to re-organize on the fly, the record sheets become just so much paper.

It makes infantry a whole hell of a lot more flexible, and has the added bonus of allowing different sized squads within a single platoon instead of the generic EVERYONE is a rifle team setup.

Infantry was FUBARed in battletech due to the fact that they balanced their infantry platoon to the squad scale of all other units in the way that an infantry squad should have been balanced to an individual mech or vehicle.  Where most people fall short on infantry is thinking of a BT infantry platoon as a platoon when tacticaly it should be thought of and treated as a squad.  A BT Platoon is really no more than a Fluffed up Squad.   Squad's in Battletech are nothing more than 7 Man Fireteams.  Deploy your infantry with the understanding that a BT Platoon is a Squad and a BT Squad is a Fire Team and it makes a lot more sense and they become tactically viable,  Especially when you reduce a squad to a 4 man fireteam like LeaderofForcs suggests. 

I would suggest much as Leaderofforcs said that youy cunstruct your basic platoon as a Squad of Fireteams.  This lets you Group your 6 or 7 teams of 4 together when needed or as smaller 1 or 2 team squads using squad deployment rules.   

Using Leaderofforcs format it is possible to create a Heavy Weapons Platoon or Squad.  In Total Warfare you can make a BT Squad with 2 Support Weapons, it gives the Infantry the range of the support Weapon but reduces its movement possibly to the point of being a Move or Shoot Unit.  2 Heavy Support Lasers per Squad/Fireteam would give the unit a range of 15 Hexes.  And a Full Strength BT Platoon damage in the 22 to 25 range. 


For an Infantry Company I would Field 3 - 4 Platoons as a Lance, and Give Them another Lance of 3 - 4 Suitable Infantry Transports (if the transports are IFV's that will participate in the battle).  Fill out the rest of your 12 Unit Company with Suitable Mechs and/or Tanks and you have a nice combined arms infantry company that has the raw manpower of a light infantry unit for garrison and security duties but can still fight on the battlefield as a Combined arms Mechanized Company Taskforce.   Fire Team Deployment also makes a 4 man Team a Great Scout Element for Double Blind Rules or Hidden Unit Rules.

Adding Such Vehicles and/or Mechs to each Infantry Company while using Infantry Platoons as a member of a lance would give the infantry company heavy weapons support they would have in RL from IFV's , Anti Tank Vehicles, and Tanks while maintaining your actual dismounted strength.  It would make an infantry company more realistic overall in the on paper TOE sense and a infantry company would actualy be ab le to hold its own against a Mech or Tank Company. 

 

 

well instead of working so hard to accomodate the rules, why not just Standard Answer #1 the whole issue?

further, i belive in minatures rules they run around with individual squads, so besides issues like swarm attacks when numbers count, why not have the option of dispersing a platoon to multiple counters?

The Infantry Platoon Weights table in techmanual has been very helpful and with tweaking, i have been able to  provide platoons with available manpower of 37 to 66 men

i don't get why all the squads have to be the same.

and i think running individual squads would be practical in smaller battles, or simpley when you have less infantry on the table. heck, i think all but the maxim were squad-carriers until 3058 and that feature of the maxim (which is shaped like a bus) was a big deal.

granted in Btech, moving ad fighting as a platoon does make more sense and is more managable most of the time, but i;d like to have the option there, preferably with negative modifiers given to detection and targetting of said squads. heck they could even still get full swarm bonuses as long as they are attacking together.

Simple House rule I use.

Infantry platoons may be moved as separate squads in combat.  However, the squad must designate which platoon it is attached to at all times (if applicable.  Applicable in all instances where two or more squads occupy the same hex.) When more than one squad occupies the same hex, the player must designate whether those squads are moving either separately, or as one unit.  

Even when designated as one unit, attacking and defending are handled separately.  When a platoon is hit, roll on the cluster hits table to find which squad was damaged (this requires players to designate or write down which position (1-5) in the platoon the squad occupies.  You're on your honor here.).  A maximum of five squads may form a platoon seeing as only up to 5 on the cluster hits table still has a "1" on it, after five squads, roll 2d6, rerolling any numbers that exceed the number of squads (almost exactly like crit rolling, but without the initial roll).  Because of this, a 'Mech may only designate the general platoon it wishes to target, unless it wishes to make an aimed shot at the standard to-hit modifier.  If more than 11 squads occupy a hex, group them into two equal size platoons for target purposes.  A 'Mech may designate the platoon it is firing on, but not the individual squad.  If a 'Mech is using cluster munitions, roll first to find the amount of shots that hit, then roll for the squad in the platoon as if rolling for hit locations.  

When a mixed platoon fires on a 'Mech, treat each squad as a separate unit for location purposes (be sure to note the damage increments on each squad), but th entire platoon for total damage potential.  If the number of infantry exceeds 40, break the roll into two roughly equal rolls on the cluster hits table.

YMMV, but this works well for making platoons a whole hell of a lot more fun to play with.  Getting into squad v. squad battles in cities is fun.

IMPORTANT:  ALWAYS remember to mark which platoon a unit is acting with, and which number platoon it is.  Also remember to mark damage increments so that platoons that do less than one damage with one person left still might be the little bit more effective in platoon formations.

EDIT:  I think that answers the "who got hit?" question in there... somewhere.