Campaign Operations Part IV (we're going to get all of our robots this time)

All right Battletech Fans, we’re back for the fourth installment of building a unit using the Campaign Operations rules set from Catalyst Game Labs.  Before we dive into that, we’re going to clear up a little bit of information and have some follow up from last week.  

First, the raging wookie has shown a remarkable lack of hustle in picking up dice and rolling for his unit.  We will continue to chastise him while he starts his day job as a teacher.

Second, our review of Combat Manual: Kurita is up on the blog, so give it a look see.  You can find the link on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Zardoz-Industries-725637810904375/ or you can scroll down in this blog stream to find it.  I hear you can also search for posts by their labels, and it’s the only one labeled Kurita at this time.  It’s a good book, you should check it out.

Third, our camera has been found and after a great deal of effort, has been charging and should be ready to go.  I haven’t had time to finish the job on Tombstones, but if the gods are willing, I might have them done by next week.  

Okay, now on to the show.  

When we left off we had filled out two full companies of battlemechs, with every single one of them coming in at 80 tons or heavier.  Two full companies of assault ‘mechs can change the course of events on a planet in the 3025 era and we’re only two thirds of the way done.  However, when checking the money tree, we were starting to run a little low on funds, so decisions were made, and our third company is going to be comprised of heavy ‘mechs rather than assaults.  I don’t think we can afford them, and i don’t have enough extra assault ‘mechs laying around to paint to fill a 3rd company.  

Unit organization so far is :

1st Lance

King Crab (O)

Atlas

Atlas

Battlemaster

2nd Lance

Highlander (O)

Highlander

Victor

Victor

3rd Lance

Battlemaster (O)

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

4th Lance

Cyclops (O)

Cyclops

Atlas

Atlas

5th Lance

Stalker (O)

Stalker

Banshee

Banshee

6th Lance

Battlemaster (O)

Battlemaster

Awesome

Cyclops

All of the units are rated at Regular experience, and the officers for each lance are listed with the parenthetical (O)

Picking up where we left off, it’s time to roll for our third company.  Looking through the list, and seeing kind of what I want to do, I want the first lance of this company to be a general purpose formation that can do a lot of jobs.  There are a lot of ‘mechs in this weight class that can do that, but i am aiming for some of the classics.  I want a Marauder, a Thunderbolt, a Warhammer and a Crusader.  I check the Master Unit List, and all of these are available to Comstar, so it’s just a matter of throwing some dice and hoping.  Heavy battlemechs at Regular experience are only a TN of 6, so I have some high hope that these guys are going to come up big.  I’m not exactly disappointed, and manage to roll a 7 for the Marauder, a 9 for the Thunderbolt, an 8 for the Warhammer, and an 11 for the Crusader.  7th lance has been acquired, and are going to get added to the mix.  

Now, the other two lances i have different ideas, but i want them to be fire support lances that can help swing a battle for their heavier cousins, or just wreck the faces off of lighter elements.  8th lance I’m designating as a direct fire support formation, and i want to be able to pull double duty as an anti-aerospace unit.  There are two ‘mechs in the heavy weight class built for this, the Rifleman and the Jagermech.  Both mount armaments capable of engaging long range targets and have anecdotal support for being AA platforms.  

So i want to roll for these, and i come up with a 9 for the Rifleman and a 7 for the Jagermech.  I need two more ‘mechs for  the formation and i want another one of each, so let’s try that again.  Not so good on the dice the second time, i only came up with a 5 for the Rifleman, but I rolled a 9 for the second Jagermech.  3 down, one to go, so we shoot the moon and aim for the third Jagermech.  The dice are good, we roll a 10, and the lance is complete.  It’s not the heaviest or the scariest unit, but it gives a credible threat to Aerospace fighters, and can support other lances at a distance.  

The other fire support unit i’m angling for is an indirect fire group.  There are several ‘mechs in this weight class that can do the job, but i focus on the Archer and the Catapult.  Both are iconic fire support designs and have large racks of Long Range Missiles.  I roll for the Archer and the Catapult, and come up with an 8 for the Archer, a 9 for the Catapult.  Both 'mechs are added to the roster, and it’s time to roll again.  The second Archer is lost with a roll of a 3, but Catapult number 2 is ours with a roll of a 9.  I’m fine with three Catapults, and end up rolling a 12 for the last one.  

So our force organization chart looks like this.

1st Lance
King Crab (O)

 

Atlas

Atlas

Battlemaster

2nd Lance

Highlander (O)

Highlander

Victor

Victor

3rd Lance

Battlemaster (O)

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

4th Lance

Cyclops (O)

Cyclops

Atlas

Atlas

5th Lance

Stalker (O)

Stalker

Banshee

Banshee

6th Lance

Battlemaster (O)

Battlemaster

Awesome

Cyclops

7th Lance

Marauder (O)

Warhammer

Crusader
Thunderbolt

8th Lance
Rifleman (O)
Jagermech
Jagermech
Jagermech

9th Lance

Archer (O)

Catapult

Catapult

Catapult

All of the units are rated at Regular experience, and the officers for each lance are listed with the parenthetical (O)

We’ve got all of our combat units acquired for the force, but we’re also going to need some transport assets to get them from place to place.  Digging through my trusty copy of Technical Readout 3057 (The one written for dropships, jumpships and warships) and running some math, i don’t want to try hitting the target number for an Overlord.  The odds are bad enough that i don’t think it’s going to work out, so i opt for a Union instead.  The TN for the Union with a veteran crew at this time is around a 7, so i roll the dice and come up with a 9.  (The formula for calculating costs has changed since that book was released, but it was the closest resource i had when i started rolling dice).  I try for two more, managing to acquire both with a roll of 9 and 11 respectively.  I have the dropship choices to move all of my combat units and some free space for aerospace fighters.

We do have all of our giant stomping robots, and we’re almost done with this step of force construction.  Check back next week where i’ll try and get a jumpship, and figure out how to pay for all this stuff.  

Also, i’ll upload the worksheet i used for putting it together, and a blank one for you to use.  

Anyway Battletech Fans, that’s it for this week, and we’ll see you out there again

Game On