Formation Building Example #1
Hey Game Fans, we’re back with an example of how to put a formation together using the Combat Manuals for Alpha Strike. If you’re interested in the explanation for how this is going to work, feel free to check out our article on the process, which you can find here. I’ll take you through the step by step process to get you an idea of how this works.
Disclaimer: This particular formation takes advantage of a couple of specific lance types and a combat command. This is not something i would bring to a casual game, though i am letting everyone i know that it’s entirely possible that i will be running this at an event if i am playing. The next one of these i put together will be a much more take all comers style of formation. Without further Ado, I present the Sun Zhang Training Cadre.
Process 1: Getting Started with the Sun Zhang
Step 1: Choose a Point Value
This particular formation is intended to be used at 450 points. This is a good point value to attempt to show off this particular technique (which owes its origins to the original 3025 technical readout).
Step 2: Choose an Era
This lance is built using the Late Succession Wars (Renaissance) Era
Step 3: Choose a Faction
This is a House Kurita Formation.
Step 4: Choose a Combat Command
The Combat Command i’ve chosen for this formation is the 1st Sun Zhang Training Cadre. The Sun Zhang Training Cadre is a light regiment with an attached light aerospace wing. They have an Experience Rating of Green, and one of the most entertaining special rules i’ve seen recent years. Every green pilot (Skill rating 5) has the potential to have a previously undiscovered talent represented by a Special Pilot Ability. Each unit rolls 2D6 before the start of each game, and on a roll of a 9 or higher, they are allowed to roll on the Undiscovered potential chart on page 50.
Interlude: Formation Organization
Now at this point in the text is a multiple page discussion about the standard organizational scheme used by the combat manual you have in front of you. Take some time and look through it, because if you decide you want to expand your forces as you get deeper into the game, having a coherent battalion is a lot easier if you look at its components. This particular section ends with a discussion of how to put together a Company, along with the typical lances that are the building blocks of companies.
Process 2: Build Formations (1st operation)
Now that you’ve got the basics figured out for what you want to put together, it’s time to actually go through the steps and put together each one of your formations. Now we’re going to plan how to put together a company, which requires 3 lance sized formations. Let’s go through some steps to get you started, and cover a few distinct oddities.
Step 1: Choose Formation Type (Horde Lance #1)
For the sake of hilarity, i am using a new formation type presented in the Combat Manual Kurita. I’m going to deploy a Horde Lance, which is designed to flood the field with cheap, expendable mechs to overwhelm the opponent with too many targets. This dovetails nicely with the Sun Zhang ability, because i want to use green pilots in light mechs. The formation has a couple of quirky things. Without breaking out the entire brief, the Horde Lance has the following restrictions/requirements
- Contains between 5 and 10 units
- Units have to be size 1
- Units have a damage cap (they can’t go above a certain value at any threshold)
Step 2: Choose Units for the Formation
Because i am using a horde formation, i’m going to grab a bunch of extremely light, fast mechs for this formation. My current list looks like:
- Locust LCT-1E
- Locust LCT-1V
- Locust LCT-3V
- Mongoose MON-68
- Hussar HSR-300-D
- Hussar HSR-350-D
- Spider SDR-5K
- Spider SDR-5V
- Jenner JR7-D
- Jenner JR7-F
Step 3: Select Skill and adjust PV
I have used the Alpha Strike Builder, and this Horde Lance has a PV of 145.
Step 4: Assign Special Pilot Abilities
No one in this lance is assigned a Special Pilot Ability.
Process 2: Build Formations (2nd operation)
Step 1: Choose Formation Type (Horde Lance #2)
We’re going to double down on this theory and run another Horde lance. This one is going to have to use some different units than the previous iteration because duplicate models start getting very expensive for Faction points.
Step 2: Choose Units for the Formation
Because i am using a horde formation, i’m going to grab a bunch of extremely light, fast mechs for this formation. My current list looks like:
- Stinger STG-3R
- Stinger STG-3G
- Thorn THE-T
- Thorn THE-S
- Wasp WSP-1K
- Wasp WSP-1L
- Jenner JR7-K
- Panther PNT-9R
- Javelin JVN-10F “Fire Javelin”
- Javelin JVN-10N
Step 3: Select Skill and adjust PV
I have used the Alpha Strike Builder, and this Horde Lance has a PV of 149.
Step 4: Assign Special Pilot Abilities
No one in this lance is assigned a Special Pilot Ability.
Process 2: Build Formations (3rd operation)
Now that you’ve got the basics figured out for what you want to put together, it’s time to actually go through the steps and put together each one of your formations. Now we’re going to plan how to put together a company, which requires 3 lance sized formations. Let’s go through some steps to get you started, and cover a few distinct oddities.
Step 1: Choose Formation Type (Command Lance)
Aesthetically, it makes sense for this formation to include a Command lance. Composed of the Instructors for these headstrong cadets, it makes sense to have this command lance have some heavier elements with highly skilled pilots.
Step 2: Choose Units for the Formation
I have selected four medium mechs for the command element of this company. My current list looks like:
- Phoenix Hawk PXH-1
- Griffin GRF-1N
- Hunchback HBK-4G
- Vulcan VL-5T
Step 3: Select Skill and adjust PV
Using the Alpha Strike Army Builder, and setting these folks to skill 2, this unit is 151 PV.
Step 4: Assign Special Pilot Abilities
The Pilot of the Phoenix Hawk, (which is the designated Company Commander) receives the Jumping Jack and Speed Demon Special Pilot abilities. As the Commander, he also receives the Tactical Genius Special Pilot Ability from the Command Lance Formation.
NOTES:
The Company is the basic administrative unit of forces built for Alpha Strike, and depending on its make up can include aerospace assets, infantry, vehicles and/or battlemechs. There are several important concepts to keep track of at the company level when you’re putting your forces together.
- Faction Points: Faction Points are managed at the company level, and a standard sized company has 12 Faction points to purchase out of faction mechs or special lance formations. You can’t share faction points between your companies, and they should be tracked on the formation Worksheet from page 125.
- Rare Units: Some units are uncommon within a given faction’s availability. This means that while they don’t cost FPs to purchase, they are limited to One per company. These units are marked with an * in the Availability List.
- Multiple versions of the same variant: Most military forces lack a large enough logistical support network to field lances and companies of the exact same mech. There are exceptions to this rule, but anytime a Force builder puts two copies of the same variant into their list, it costs them 1 Faction Point per copy. Example: Tim puts two copies of the BLR-1G into his list, each of which costs him a Faction Point. Had he selected the BLR-1G and the BLR-1S, he wouldn’t have had to pay the extra Faction Points because they are two different variants
- Story Availability List: Some mechs have an interesting story as to how they made it to the battlefield. What this means in play is that by expending a lot of FPs, a player can access a host of wider options for picking up a specific mech. For 6 FPs, the player can access any of the following Availability Lists: Davion, Kurita, Liao, Marik, Steiner, Mercenary, Wolf’s Dragoons, and Star League cache: Star League. For 7 FPs, they can access Star League: Star League Royal, and if during the Clan Invasion, Clan Jade Falcon, Clan Ghost Bear, Clan Wolf, Clan Smoke Jaguar, Clan Nova Cat.
- Unique Characters: Each Combat Manual has a selection of unique characters that can be added to a formation. They have fixed skill ratings, special abilities, and a unit assigned to them. Each Force can only have one Unique character.
- Sub Commands: In cases where Players want to add additional forces that don’t feature on the primary Combat Command’s Roster, (For example, adding a lance of combat vehicles to an All battlemech force), they can assign a sub command made up of the desired units from another of the larger Combat Command’s sub commands. Units pulled from another sub command are considered to be a part of their own company (though they can be as small a formation as a lance), and draw their Special Command Abilities and other supplemental rules from their specific Sub Command.
- Supplemental Formations: Some players may wish to add units that don’t show up anywhere in their Combat Command’s available forces. Doing so is as easy as combining the desired units into formation sized chunks and assigning them to the larger force. These forces do not generate Faction Points, and come from either the General or Kurita Availability Lists.
Process 3: Assigning Special Command Abilities
Special Command Abilities are basically force level special abilities that any given combat command are capable of acquiring. These represent specific training styles, methods of organization, or just odd quirks of how things worked out for that particular Combat Command. For players selecting a force that doesn’t belong to a listed Combat Command, you can still acquire Special Command Abilities, but they are randomly determined as detailed below.
Step 1: Determine a Force’s Experience Rating
The 20 units at skill 5, plus the four units at skill 2 equals 108/24, or approximately 4.5. This rounds up to 5, and puts the Training Cadre at its Green Experience Rating.
Step 2: Determine the Number of Special Command Abilities
As a green unit, the Sun Zhang Training Cadre receives one Special Command Ability.
Step 3: Assign Special Command Abilities
The Sun Zhang has no listed Special Command Abilities, and i would traditionally be forced to roll on the table of random choices. I opt to take the Warrior Code Special Command Ability instead of rolling randomly.
Conclusions
So at 450 points, we’ve assembled an interesting series of interactions within the Combat Command and formation rules. We’ve also constructed a 450 point formation that includes 24 mechs using a standard company template. We also haven’t spent any of our faction points, so we swap some mechs in and out, depending on the idea at the time. We’ve spent 445 of our 450 point total, so i think we’re looking pretty good right now.
So, for those of you wanting to tinker with this, here are the AS sheets. You’ll need to grab the company formation sheets from the Combat Manual to fill them out.
Horde Lance 2:
Command Lance:
That’s the first of many potential outbreaks of Formation construction. As we get access to more combat manuals we’ll put together a bunch more of these. Next week we’ll build a Mercenary command, and then we’ll take a look at integrating the two ideas.
Game On, Game Fans
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