BattleTech: Force Construction Part III (The Deets)

 Hey Folks, we’re back to work on Force Construction again. This is part IV of the process, (refer back to our original discussion here, and part I and II of this specific project here and here).  Today we’re going to finish up the record keeping and last few steps of this process.  If ’you want to follow along, go back and grab those articles, then we’ll get started.  

How do we do this?  

Step 5: Build a Company, Concluded.  

Now, last week we finished our Formations, a Command Lance, a Recon Lance, and a Pursuit 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 all three lances, what next?

So, what else do we need to do?  

We’ve built our formations, assigned units, modified PV and BV for our troops, what do we need to do?  

Step 4: Assign Special Pilot Abilities 

1 unit in a company can be assigned a Special Pilot Ability.  I think I’ll give it to the Company Commander, Captain Tominic Doretto.  He lives his life a quarter of a kilometer at a time, and when he’s not drinking Timbiqui Dark, he’s always in a hangar trying to wring just a little bit more performance out of his Phoenix Hawk, 9 Seconds.

My hilarious amusement aside, he’s an Elite rated pilot, so he can select up to 2 SPAs, with a total point value of 4 or less.  There are some interesting choices, but I think I’ve settled in on Maneuvering Ace and Speed Demon.  They give the Hawk some interesting mobility options and play into the Lancers high speed offensive style.  

Step 5: Special Command Abilities

Now, these are overall abilities that the entire command (in this case, the Argyle Lancers) benefit from.  Because they’re a Veteran rated command, they have all three SCAs listed in their profile.  As a recap those are: 

Focus (Speed Demon): This means before the game starts, i can assign the Speed Demon SPA to up to three units in this company

Fast Withdrawal: Any unit in this company may use any board edge (except the enemy home edge) for a Forced Withdrawal exit from the table.

Hit and Run: At the start of any turn that the force is outnumbered, they can ignore the attacker TMM for jumping movement, or take a -1 for standing still.  

Because of their experience rating, Doretto’s Company gets all three SCAs.  

Step 6 (unofficial) Total up BV/PV

Command Lance comes to 4,689 Battle Value, Point Value 107

Pursuit Lance comes to 4,609 Battle Value, Point Value 104
Recon Lance comes to 2,721 Battle Value, Point Value 81

Total Battle Value 12,019

Total Point Value 293

This is something that should have been established in Step 1, way back when, but this is for record keeping for a campaign.  

That’s the company complete and ready to play in a campaign for either Alpha Strike or BattleTech.  This has been a fun experience in testing out how this system works, and I think I’m going to do one more of these Davion Companies before we switch over to House Kurita, (Though i should have a product Review of that Force Manual up next week).  

I will be putting together a Compilation of these sheets in a zip packet with the BattleTech Record Sheets for these twelve mechs. Also included will be the Alpha Strike Cards and the completed Company worksheet if you want to try them out yourselves.  

Finally, some pictures of the boys who are going to become Doretto’s Company of the 1st Argyle Lancers. 

Pursuit Lance

Recon Lance

Command Lance

Those of you playing along at home, I’ve separated out the Blank Company Sheet Here, and my completed company 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.