BattleTech: Force Construction How to Part II (Finishing the Company)

 Hey Folks, we’re back to work on Force Construction again. This is part III of the process, (refer back to our original discussion here, and part I of this specific project here).  Today we’re building our last two lances for the Argyle Lancers.  Let’s dig in and see what falls out of the sky, shall we? ’

How do we do this?  

Step 5: Build a Company, Continued.  

Now, last week we finished one of our Formations, a Command Lance.  (Check our worksheet here to see what that looks like).  

Remember, this is the Argyle Lancers, so our Unit composition is Light and Medium weight machines, with skill ratings of Regular, Veteran, and Elite.  We’ve built one lance, (A Command Lance), and that leaves us with the following options:

Command Lance (not because we mechanically can’t build a 2nd, but it doesn’t make sense)

Pursuit Lance

Recon Lance

Striker Lance

Support Lance

Light Fire Lance

Rifle Lance

Now, I could go a couple of directions, but this project feels like an old school fast lights scout formation, so I am going to go with a Pursuit Lance, and a Recon Lance.  So, let’s Break it Down (If you sang that as a song lyric, i approve of you)/

Pursuit Lance

Requirements:

All Units in this formation must be Light or Medium, (Size 1 or 2).  

75% of the unit must have a Walking/Cruising speed of 6 or more (12” +).

At least one unit must have a weapon that deals at least 5 damage at a range of 15 or more hexes (1+ M damage).  

The default Pursuit Lance is Vulcan, Clint, Wolfhound, Javelin. All solid choices, but I think I'm going to save my Vulcan for something else.  Looking at my collection, I do have two Wolfhounds…and that seems to make sense to me.  With that substitution my lance is complete.

Checking rarity, the Clint is the only Uncommon unit in the company so far, so I’m still good on that point.  The two Wolfhounds also don’t trigger an issue for me as there are less than 4 of them in the company total.  

So, my Pursuit Lance has

2 x Wolfhound (Striker)

1 x Javelin (Striker)

1 x Clint (Striker)

So, 4 Strikers, (At least we’re not going to be Subtle).  The ‘hounds and the Javelin are all Lights, the Clint is a Medium. Not that it does anything, but the Clint is the Lance Commander.  

Formation Benefits: 

75% of the Unit can take the Blood Stalker Ability.  Note, this applies to an entire enemy formation instead of just a single unit.  Since this is chosen at the start of a game, I'll usually choose the 3 units I want to give this ability to, and what the enemy formation they’re gunning for at that point.

You can see where I've adjusted both PV and BV on the worksheet.  

Lance 2 Built; onto Lance 3.

Recon Lance

Requirements:

All Units must have a Walking/Cruising speed of 5 or more (10” +).

At least two units must have either the Striker or Scout role.

The default Recon Lance Is Mongoose, Wasp, Locust, Stinger. I don’t have a lot of Mongooses to spare (though I'll use one in a different lance at some point), but I do have a Firestarter.  

Checking rarity, the entire lance is Common, and I’m not running more than four of anything.  

So, my Recon Lance has

1 x Firestarter (Scout)

1 x Locust (Scout)

1 x Wasp (Scout)

1 x Stinger (Scout)

So, four Scouts.  I can live with four of those.  All four of these units are Light and fairly mobile.   .  

Formation Benefits: 

The entire formation gets the benefit of either Eagles Eyes, Forward Observer, or Maneuvering Ace.  (You pick one at the start of the Battle, and it can’t be changed in game).  

Note: I could instead select this as a Light Recon lance (the requirements only being everything in the lance is size 1, and moves at least 12 inches) and that would let me select individual Special Pilot Abilities for the Units.  Details for that are on page 119 of Alpha Strike: Commander’s Edition.  

You can see where I've adjusted both PV and BV on the worksheet.  

So, now we’ve built our other two lances.  We have two medium mechs in the entire formation (The Clint and the Phoenix Hawk), and everything else lines up.  

Closing Thoughts

Next week, we’ll do the last bit of paperwork and show off our completed Company Roster with the units.  After that, we may do a WIP painting article where I go through the process of how I'm painting these guys.  

Those of you playing along at home, i’ve separated out the Blank Company Sheet Here, and my WIP sheet here.  (The Blank company Sheet is courtesy of Catalyst Game Labs and copies for personal use only are permitted, DON’T GET ME IN TROUBLE AND TRY AND SELL THESE.