Build your own Anvil Battalion - TO&E generator

Burning Empires General Questions
21

I have the advantage over you here in that Chris emailed me some notes of his that show a wide diversity of battalion types, which to my mind also requires a reasonable diversity of company types to build them.

Now, some template organizations would sure be a help to the average user of this thing, assuming any “average” person would want to use it.

From my reading of Faith Conquers and Sheva’s War it appears the platoon is not a standard organization in IE units, task-organized for missions, but not standing.

Hmm. I don’t have my books handy (I’m at work) – I’ll have to check at home – but neither of those is a model operation: Trevor Faith is pulling together whoever’ll follow him in breaking orders, and Lady Sheva specifically says she doesn’t take the threat seriously when she directs that task-organization. Plus Sheva’s forces are landwehr (turns head, spits).

I know ad hoc reassignments of subunits (“task-organization”) is necessary in practice, but I’m strongly in favor of having a fixed baseline organization that tries to minimize the need for ad hoc’ery by having individual units designed from the start to have all the different components they need. Note how obsessively I gave pretty much every company significant organic fire support, usually full-fledged artillery, and significant organic reconaissance.

Company Headquarters should focus on the X-O with one Lieutenant, both long-serving, non-noble Anvil officers, crusty, promoted from the ranks who run the company when its Lord-Pilot captain isn’t present, which may be most of the time as social and feudal obligations will keep him away.

I really like the social distinctions here; it’s an aspect I hadn’t thought about. Now, I’d suspect all the officers would be at least gentry, i.e. Lords-Pilot, at least in any unit that had Iron, since the lifepaths in the book seem to imply that most Iron troopers are Lords-Pilot, i.e. members of the minor nobility (“sub-peerage”). But “Lord-Pilot” is very different from “Anvil Lord.”

Chris, can you lay out your thoughts on some of the social dynamics and gradations among different types of nobility, and how they map (or don’t map) onto military ranks? Was Trevor Faith’s father a hereditary Lord-Pilot or a common trooper?

22

P.S. Offline, Lance, you wondered about having two self-propelled artillery pieces in every Armored Infantry company, and conversely a platoon of Armored Infantry in every six-piece artillery battery. It’s a valid point, and I may well change it, but I had four reasons:

  1. Given the sheer screaming firepower of the standard Grav IFV / Anvil Assault Sled – fusor cannon for direct fire and missiles for indirect – that carries every single mechanized section, if you want to give the company commander something more powerful for his schwerpunkt (focal point of an attack), the “next” thing is SP artillery.

  2. This isn’t at all obvious from the TO&E document, but one of those two SP artillery pieces, the fusor, can also shoot down incoming missiles and shells, so it plays an important defensive function. The missile launcher, come to think of it, might be able to launch reconnaissance or communications satellites as well.

  3. Hammer artillery won’t always be available. Even if you have control of circumplanetary space, your orbital assets may be busy with higher-priority targets or simply on the wrong side of the planet when you need them. If you’re on the defensive, Hammer artillery will be ought to kill you, which means you need both offensive and defensive systems organic.

  4. Given the speed of grav vehicles (hundreds of miles per hour if they lift above ground obstacles) and the relatively small number of Anvil forces (as opposed to landwehr and other non-grav-mobile militia pukes) on many planets, and extrapolating from the modern-day shift from divisions to brigades as the self-sufficient maneuver unit, an individual Anvil company may routinely end up hundreds of miles from any friendly force. Artillery that belongs to the battalion may not even be able to cover you – you really want to bring your own along.

Now, whether the “SPAGs” are the best way of depicting this kind of artillery is an open question.

23

The other argument for organic artillery versus Hammer support is “Hammer flies, Anvil dies.” The two services aren’t tight, don’t work together on a regular basis, and don’t have a lot of mutual love and respect.

If I was counting on a precisely timed, well-ranged anti-tank barrage to open the ambush so my jack laser-armed anvil troopers could wipe up an armored column, I’d sure as hell want it to be my brother groundhog laying those guns, not some wig-wearing asswipe who doesn’t think you’re human if you’ve touched mud in the last month.

Hammer bombardment is all well and good for American-style strategic and midlevel support, but for close tactical support I wouldn’t trust it.

24

Agreed, which is why Forged Lords are a big deal, they own both Anvil and Hammer assets and can force them to play together down to the tactical level!

25

Sure. Iron Pilots are knights. Anvil Lords are Princes (barons). Forged Lords are the great nobles (Counts/Earls, Dukes, Kings). Knights fought arm in arm on the battlefield, and were anything from a single guy with a broken down nag and a pair or mail pants to a powerful leader of an armored band. Every Iron infantryman is a Lord-Pilot. Officers of lower-echelon non-iron Anvil units are going to be from the Pilotry as well. Higher up the echelon, the nobles will take over. None of this is written in stone, it’s going to depend on the makeup of any given noble’s vassals. Is your brother of military age? Give him command of the Iron company. Is your sister ready to fight too? No more Iron Companies? give her the Security company.

So the chain of command is going to be a confused mess, but in the end, no Iron Pilot is going to command someone from the higher nobility, and no commoner is going to command a pilot. Those are the primary lines of command. Beyond that, it’s favorites, seniority and interest.

-Chris

26

Well, the name is great! You make a good point about a company commander, and we agree the company would be the basic maneuver unit, needing some “hip-pocket” fire support. Why not just give him a coupla’ sleds with big-a… fusors to throw into the fight when needed? Call em Assault Guns or, Mobile Gun Sleds (MGS).

For counterbattery, have a computer in the company TOC (which the spreadsheet should add) with a feed from all the sensors in every sled in the company. When it detects incoming, it automatically engages by slewing those IFV’s fusor turrets who have the best firing solution and engage, again, automatically. (David Drake’s Hammers Slammers has this idea and Faith Conquers specifically mentions a counterbattery system.)

In the end, all my carping may just be a matter of semantics, for in the dusty crevaces of my mind I remember a Chris Moeller post to the effect that Anvil, by law, cannot have any weapon system larger than vehicle mounted, thus reserving “Artillery,” in BE terms, to Hammer. Or was I drinking to much microbrew that evening?!

27

I remember a Chris Moeller post to the effect that Anvil, by law, cannot have any weapon system larger than vehicle mounted,

Ah, I was discussing Hammer assets organic to an Anvil unit. The interstellar troop transports. As long as it doesn’t have a distortion drive, your Anvil Lord can pump out all the firepower his creaking power plant can stand.

-Chris

28

Oh god, why aren’t we neighbors?

29

Luke, it’s because of the gnomes. I’m going to need my brother groundhog to put paid to that wig-wearing, walrus-riding gnomelover Jared.

Except maybe in the case of your young brother’s Iron company, actually lead in combat by your former stentor, Lord-Pilot Grizzled McSeniorSergeant. But even so, no Pilot in official command of someone from the higher nobility.

And Lance, yeah, but the problem isn’t the lack of a unified command, it’s the interservice rivalry and dysfunction. Anvil wouldn’t want to rely on hammer for close-in fire support for the same reason, say, a bunch of Rangers really wouldn’t want the Shore Police arriving to break up a fight at a Marine bar even though they both owe allegiance to Forged Lord Bush (and his Vaylen handler, 'Qarl rRov). Area denial, preparatory bombardment, even counterbattery fire, sure. But final protective fire, or close-in cover on an advance, or something touchy like that, you really want that to be someone you run wargames with every other month, not someone you never see outside of bureacratic sniping at the Forged Lord’s staff meetings.

30

Plus your company’s organic artillery platoon, or your battalion’s organic artillery company, is what you rely on to shoot down, or at least scary off, enemy Hammer. So it combines the present-day functions of regular artillery and air-defense.

Sure, your Hammer “brothers” insist they never put you guys down on a planet without first securing control of the space around it. And if you’re landing on a hostile world, you probably don’t drop your artillery before you get all your infantry down, so in the meantime, yeah, you’re relying on friendly Hammer overhead.

But man, it is not comfortable until your own big guns are on the ground with you. What if the enemy sends another fleet and your fleet gets driven out of orbit? What if your Hammer runs low on fuel maneuvering in a gravity well and breaks off to go gas up at the nearby gas giant? What if you conquer the planet, your main fleet moves on to the next one, but your particular battalion gets left behind as a garrison, and then enemy Hammer arrives in-system for a counter-attack?

It’s much like the Marine Corps getting burnt by its reliance on Navy airpower and gunfire during the battle of Guadalcanal – which is the reason why the Corps insists to this day on having its own organic fighter-bombers.

31

Thought I’d stop being pedantic and try helping out, here goes:

Anvil Reconnaissance Company

Notes: Reworked this from Sydney’s Scout Company. Added concept of a G-ARV (Grav Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle), based on Anvil Attack Sled, fusor-armed with enhanced sensors and comms; crew 3+5. Headquarters section now one G-ARV and a G-TOC (Grav Tactical Operations Center), which allows a commander to exercise command and control of his forces and maintain communications with higher headquarters and fire support assets, as well as mesh all vehicle mounted sensors into a net for counter-battery or battlefield sensing operations. Autocannon-armed (to save energy for comm. and sensor systems), crew 3+6, has six comm/sensor workstations. Given the extended nature of Anvil operations, added a Logistic Section (aka “Company Trains”) to the Company Headquarters of one Logistic and one Maintenance Vehicle.

I replaced the Grav-Bike platoon with a Scout platoon in small, unarmed, vehicles well-equipped with comms and sensors. Scouts do not fight for information, they observe and report only. (I’ve seen motorbike mounted scouts tried out at 29 Palms on several occasions, near-disaster everytime, move around too much so easy to spot, too many on the battlefield, so easier to spot. Never a good idea to give a grunt his own transpo!)

Reconnaissance units do so the heart of the company is three G-ARV equipped Recon Platoons, with 4 recon teams they can leave forward to observe or patrol (each has a Signals Tech for comms) with the G-ARVs in support.

Finally, I’ve added a Fire Support Platoon with two Mobile Gun Sleds (MGS), with amped-up fusors and sensors and able to fire indirect and two Grav Missile Sleds (GMS) with several missile pods for area suppression and a vehicle to carry more missiles.

Thoughts? Comments? Bitches? Complaints?

Anvil Reconnaissance Company
135 personnel, 54 vehicles

1 Company Headquarters
23 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Headquarters Section	
 	1	Company Commander
 	1	Company Executive Officer	
 	1	Company First Sergeant	
 	1	Company Medic	
	4	Signals Techs	
	1	G-ARV (Grav Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle)

Carries the Commander (as Vehicle Commander), First Sergeant, and a Signals Tech.
1 G-ARV Crew
1 Gunner
1 Pilot
1 G-TOC (Grav Tactical Operations Center)
Carries the X-O (as vehicle commander), Medic, and 3 Signals Techs.
1 G-TOC Crew
1 Gunner
1 Pilot

1 	Logistics Section	
	1	Quartermaster	Sergeant
	1	Grav Armored Utility Sled Logistic (GAUS-L)

Logistic variant, has Squad Support Weapon ordnance; carries the Quartermaster
1 GAUS-L Crew
1 Pilot
1 Gunner
1 GAUS-M Maintenance Support Vehicle
1 GAUS-M Crew
1 Maintenance Chief
3 Machinists
2 Armorers
1 Gunner
1 Pilot

1 Scout Platoon
30 personnel
5 vehicles

1	Platoon Headquarters	
 	1	Platoon Commander
 	1	Platoon Sergeant
 	1	Platoon Medic

1 GUS-C Command Vehicle
1 GUS-C
1 Pilot
1 Comms Tech
1 Sensor Tech
4 Scout Squads
1 Squad Leader
2 Scout
1 Pilot
1 Comms Tech
1 Sensor Tech
1 GUS-R Recon Vehicle

3 Recon Platoon
29 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Platoon Command	
 	1	Platoon Commander	
 	1	Platoon Sergeant	
 	1	Platoon Medic	
4	Recon Teams	
 	1	Team Leader	
 	1	SSW Gunner
	1	Signals Tech	
 	1	Scout	
4	G-ARV 
4	G-ARV Crew	
 	1	Commander	
	1	Gunner	
	1	Pilot

Each G-ARV carries one recon team, Platoon Commander commands G-ARV #1, Platoon Sergeant commands #4, Medic rides in #4.

1 Fire Support Platoon
24 personnel
7 vehicles

1	Platoon Headquarters	
 	1	Platoon Commander	
 	1	Platoon Sergeant	
 	1	Maintenance Tech	
2	G-ARV	
2	G-ARV Crew
 	1	Gunner

1 Pilot
Platoon Commander commands #1, Platoon Sergeant #2
1 Direct Fire Section
2 Mobile Gun Sleds (MGS)
2 MGS Crew
2 Commander/Gunner
2 Pilots
Section Leader Commands/Guns #1
1 Indirect Fire Section
2 Grav Missile Sleds (GMS)
2 GMS Crews
2 Commander/Gunner
2 Pilot
Section Leader Commands/Guns #1
1 GAUS (Missile Resupply)
1 GAUS Crew
1 Commander/Gunner
1 Pilot

32

Notes: Fewer changes here. Note I’ve ditched the mobility (Grav-Mobile or Grav-Mounted) designators; this is ANVIL, we don’t ride, we fly!

Again added a Log Section to the headquarters, added a 5-vehicle Scout Platoon vice the grav-bikes. At the platoon level added a Signals Tech to the platoon headquarters for dismounted ops and reworked the squads into 8-men. Kept the Weapons Squad as-is, necessary since Light Infantry have no vehicular-mounted weapons.

As this is a Light Infantry Company, I kept the Weapons Platoon, but made it more USMC-like with a Heavy Laser Squad, a Mortar Squad (with smart munitions and submunitions), and a Missile Squad with MPIMLs. And no, I don’t know what that acronym stands for, but its kewl!

Thoughts? Comments? Bitches? Complaints?

Anvil Light Infantry Company
197 personnel
25 GUS (all variants)

1 Company Headquarters
17 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Headquarters Section	Role
 	1	Company Commander
 	1	Company Executive Officer
 	1	Company First Sergeant
	1	Company Medic
2	GUS-C  Command Vehicle
2	GUS-C Crew	
 	1	Pilot / Commander
 	1	Comms Tech
 	1	Sensor Tech
 1	 Logistics Section	 
	1	Quartermaster
1	GUS-L	   Logistic Vehicle
1 	GUS-L Crew	
	1	Pilot
1	GUS-M   Maintenance Vehicle
	GUS-M Crew	
	1	Maintenance Chief
	3	Machinists
	2 	Armorers
	1	Pilot

1 Scout Platoon
30 personnel
5 vehicles

1	Platoon Headquarters	
 	1	Platoon Commander
 	1	Platoon Sergeant
 	1	Platoon Medic

1 GUS-C Command Vehicle
1 GUS-C
1 Pilot
1 Comms Tech
1 Sensor Tech
4 Scout Squads
1 Squad Leader
2 Scout
1 Pilot
1 Comms Tech
1 Sensor Tech
1 GUS-R Recon Vehicle

3 Rifle Platoon
39 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Platoon Headquarters
 	1	Platoon Commander
 	1	Platoon Sergeant
 	1	Platoon Medic
	1	Platoon Signals Tech
3	Rifle Squad	
 	1	Squad Leader
 	1	Assistant Squad Leader
 	1	SSW Gunner
 	5	Rifleman
1	Weapons Squad	
 	1	Section Leader
 	1	Sensor Tech
 	1	Scout / Sniper
 	2	Anti-Personnel Gunner
 	2	Anti-Armor Gunner

4 GUS Utility Vehicle
4 GUS Crew
1 Pilot

1 Weapons Platoon
30 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Platoon Headquarters
 	1	Platoon Commander
 	1	Platoon Sergeant
	1	Platoon Medic
1	GUS-C  Command Vehicle
1	GUS-C Crew
 	1	Pilot / Commander
 	1	Comms Tech
 	1	Sensor Tech
1	Heavy Laser Squad
 	1	Squad Leader
 	3	Heavy Laser Gunner
 	3	Assistant Gunner
1	Mortar Squad	
	1	Squad Leader
	2	Mortar Gunner
	2	Assistant Gunner
	2	Ammoman
1	Missile Squad	
	1	Squad Leader
	3	MPIML Gunner
	3	Assistant Gunner

3 GUS
3 GUS Crew
1 Pilot

33

Notes: Added in a G-TOC and a Log Section, brought in a Recon Platoon, dropped the Weapons Squads since the G-IFVs weapons are far superior to anything you could carry, created three 8-man squads, so there are two extra seats in each G-IFV for the platoon headquarters to ride in, and the Fire Support Platoon returns.

This company, 200+, is the Anvil’s true heart.

Anvil Armored Infantry Company
212 personnel, 24 vehicles

1 Company Headquarters
23 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Headquarters Section	
	1	Company Commander	
	1	Company Executive Officer	
	1	Company First Sergeant	
	1	Company Medic
	4	Signals Tech	
1	Grav IFV	Infantry Fighting Vehicle	
1	IFV Crew	
	1	Commander/Gunner
	1	Pilot

1 G-TOC (Grav Tactical Operations Center)
1 G-TOC Crew
1 Gunner
1 Pilot
Company Commander, First Sergeant, Medic, and 1 Signal Tech ride in the IFV, while the TOC carries the X-O and 3 Signals Techs.

1 Logistics Section
1 Quartermaster Sergeant
1 Grav Armored Utility Sled Logistic (GAUS-L)
Logistic variant, has Squad Support Weapon ordnance; carries the Quartermaster
1 GAUS-L Crew
1 Pilot
1 Gunner
1 GAUS-M Maintenance Support Vehicle
1 GAUS-M Crew
1 Maintenance Chief
3 Machinists
2 Armorers
1 Gunner
1 Pilot

1 Recon Platoon
29 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Platoon Command	
 	1	Platoon Commander	
 	1	Platoon Sergeant	
 	1	Platoon Medic	
4	Recon Teams	
 	1	Team Leader	
 	1	SSW Gunner
	1	Signals Tech	
 	1	Scout	
4	G-ARV 
4	G-ARV Crew	
 	1	Commander	
	1	Gunner	
	1	Pilot

Each G-ARV carries one recon team, Platoon Commander commands G-ARV #1, Platoon Sergeant commands #4, Medic rides in #4.

3 Armored Infantry Platoon
34 personnel
3 vehicles

1	Platoon Headquarters	
	1	Platoon Commander
	1	Platoon Sergeant
	1 	Platoon Signals Tech
	1	Platoon Medic	
3	Infantry Squad
	1	Squad Leader
	1	Assistant Squad Leader
	1	Medic	
	1	Signals Tech	
	1	SSW Gunner		
	3	Riflemen	
3	Grav IFV	Infantry Fighting Vehicle	
3	IFV Crew	
	1	Commander/Gunner
	1	Pilot

1 Fire Support Platoon
24 personnel
7 vehicles

1	Platoon Headquarters	
 	1	Platoon Commander	
 	1	Platoon Sergeant	
 	1	Platoon Medic	
2	G-ARV	
2	G-ARV Crew
 	1	Gunner

1 Pilot
Platoon Commander commands #1, Platoon Sergeant #2
1 Direct Fire Section
2 Mobile Gun Sleds (MGS)
2 MGS Crew
2 Commander/Gunner
2 Pilots
Section Leader Commands/Guns #1
1 Indirect Fire Section
2 Grav Missile Sleds (GMS)
2 GMS Crews
2 Commander/Gunner
2 Pilot
Section Leader Commands/Guns #1
1 GAUS (Missile Resupply)
1 GAUS Crew
1 Commander/Gunner
1 Pilot

34

Notes: Yeah, it should be “Company,” but the cav-boys always insist on calling it a “Squadron” and all the platoons, “Troops.” Needless to say the guys love it, so if you can’t beat em, join em.

This is recon capability on a stick with sprinkles! The Lord Hussars, or Lord Light Horse in the more southern Iron Empires, rule this unit, even thought there are only 18 of them with their mounts, 2 in the Squadron Headquarters, and 16 in four Cavalry troops. They’ve got a Recon Troop with some dismounts if they need them and a Fire Support Troop to get them out of all the trouble they get in.

Anvil Cavalry: Enough speed to get into trouble, enough sensors to know they’re in trouble, and enough firepower to get out of trouble!

Anvil Cavalry Squadron
91 personnel, 32 vehicles

1 Squadron Headquarters
22 personnel
5 vehicles

1	Command HGARS	Armored Command
	1	Squadron Commander
	1	HGARS pilot
		
1	HGARS	Armored Recon
	1	HGARS pilot
		
1	Headquarters Section	
	1	Squadron Executive Officer
	1	Squadron First Sergeant
	1	Squadron Medic
	3	Signals Tech

1 G-TOC (Grav Tactical Operations Center)
1 G-TOC Crew
1 Gunner
1 Pilot
The TOC carries the X-O, First Sergeant, and 3 Signals Techs.

1 Logistics Section
1 Quartermaster Sergeant
1 Grav Armored Utility Sled Logistic (GAUS-L)
Logistic variant, has Squad Support Weapon ordnance; carries the Quartermaster
1 GAUS-L Crew
1 Pilot
1 Gunner
1 GAUS-M Maintenance Support Vehicle
1 GAUS-M Crew
1 Maintenance Chief
3 Machinists
2 Armorers
1 Gunner
1 Pilot

1 Recon Troop
29 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Troop Command	
 	1	Troop Commander	
 	1	Troop Sergeant	
 	1	Troop Medic	
4	Recon Teams	
 	1	Team Leader	
 	1	SSW Gunner
	1	Signals Tech	
 	1	Scout	
4	G-ARV 
4	G-ARV Crew	
 	1	Commander	
	1	Gunner	
	1	Pilot

Each G-ARV carries one recon team, Troop Commander commands G-ARV #1, Troop Sergeant commands #4, Medic rides in #4.

4 Cavalry Troop
4 personnel
4 vehicles

1	Troop Command
	1	HGARS pilot Command
4	HGARS	Armored Recon
3	HGARS pilot

1 Fire Support Troop
24 personnel
7 vehicles

1	Platoon Headquarters	
 	1	Troop Commander	
 	1	Troop Sergeant	
 	1	Troop Medic	
2	G-ARV	
2	G-ARV Crew
 	1	Gunner

1 Pilot
Troop Commander commands #1, Troop Sergeant #2
1 Direct Fire Section
2 Mobile Gun Sleds (MGS)
2 MGS Crew
2 Commander/Gunner
2 Pilots
Section Leader Commands/Guns #1
1 Indirect Fire Section
2 Grav Missile Sleds (GMS)
2 GMS Crews
2 Commander/Gunner
2 Pilot
Section Leader Commands/Guns #1
1 GAUS (Missile Resupply)
1 GAUS Crew
1 Commander/Gunner
1 Pilot

35

Thoughts on ranks:
Company Commander: Most likely will be a Lord Pilot who has taken the Anvil Captain lifepath (has to be in an Iron Co), or rarely a commoner promoted up through the ranks.

X-O:A Lord Pilot without the social cachet to go straight to Anvil Captain, but enough not to have to serve as a lieutenant, and thus went Coeptir-Armiger-Lord Pilot-(Lieutenant)-X-O or an Anvil lieutenant who has taken the X-O lifepath, again, rare. (In Iron, always a Lord Pilot.)

First Sergeant: The senior sergeant in the company, has the Sergeant-Anvil Elite lifepaths, plus a number of others. In Iron, a Lord Pilot with a lower social standing who went the Soldier-Sergeant route.

Platoon Commander: Either a Lord Pilot who has taken the Coeptir-Armiger-Lord Pilot-Lieutenant lifepath, or a commoner promoted from the ranks, rare, but happens. Called a ‘Commander’ for no noble, even if he be just a lowly Lord Pilot, would consider himself just a ‘Leader.’

Platoon Sergeant: Senior sergeant in the platoon, Sergeant-Anvil Elite required, plus Anvil Pilot and Scout in a recon platoon.

Commanders of Grav Vehicles: The tendency has been to put the pilot as commander of a grav vehicle, as is the case in attack helicopters today. However, CMoeller regularly shows commanders with their heads out of the turrets (where the gunner would be), not the chassis (where the pilot sits). Thus, the commander of a grav vehicle would be the gunner, not the pilot, like in Drake’s Hammer’s Slammers.

Dispersed Operations: If we see Anvil companies operating in dispersed company elements and thus needed their own fire support, it stands to reason they will also need their own logistics and maintenance capabilities (like Marine Light Armored Reconnaissance companies and detached platoons do today) and their own tactical operations centers for comms. (This could also be canon, for Faith Conquers shows a company-level TOC).

36

So why scatter it all over the battlefield in penny-packets where it can be picked off one or two at a time and its effectiveness will be limited? (I’ve watched Air Defense units attached to combat companies continually unable to receive the warnings and cueings needed from the air defense center until I got tired of being buzzed by the F-5s playing ‘red air’ and went and told them when and where to point their Stinger!)

If Anvil needs Space Defense then wouldn’t it be better to concentrate it in units with the necessary command, control and sensor assets to use it? How about an artillery battery with a Sensor Platoon, two Battery Platoons and two Missile Platoons. It could then perform the dual function you are arguing for. I’ll see about getting on that tomorrow!

Of course these would be big and heavy with a large shipboard footprint, may not be able to bring all the Iron or Armored Infantry you want! Campaign design for interstellar invasions would be based on trade-offs and acceptable risks, not being ready for everything.

37

Cool stuff, Lance. It’s a lot to absorb, but let me make some comments, organized roughly in order from “dammit, you’re right!” to “uh, I don’t think so”:

  1. I’m increasingly convinced that you’re right about the logistical support, and that it should be parceled out to the individual companies as the baseline TO&E, even if in practice it can and should often be centralized under the battalion. As you point out, if I’m arguing that companies will operate autonomously enough to need their own long-range artillery, it’s kind of contradictory for me to deny them organic maintenance! If I do that, I’d probably call it a “Support Platoon” and put an Lieutenant in charge with a First Sergeant as second-in-command, though, rather than just a Sergeant.

  2. I’m definitely questioning the degree to which I assigned heavy artillery to every company. With networked communications, I’m not too worried about them not getting the word about incoming threats – anyone who spots anything will put it on the battalion net – but there might be something less massive than the SPAGs to put in armored infantry companies.

  3. The “GAUS-C” and “GUS-C” vehicles I assigned all over the place are meant to be the equivalent of your company Tactical Operations Centers (TOCs); they have fewer personnel onboard – 2+4 or 1+4 – but then each company usually has 2-3. That way, you can either park them all together in a single TOC or have them dispersed and communicating over them network. That said, I may modify them to reflect some of your ideas.

  4. I’d still want to keep heavy weapons squads and heavy weapons platoons – although as Devin (Zabieru) pointed out way back on page one of this thread, I probably need to swap out some of the Heavy Lasers for a rockets-in-a-box weapon capable of indirect fire; your Marine Corps-style weapons companies are giving me some good ideas there. But I think there needs to be some kind of weapons squad in every infantry platoon, even with the massive firepower mounted on their vehicles (the GIFVs and GARS/GARVs), for the same reason I like organic artillery in every company: Just as Hammer won’t always be around, neither will your vehicles. Infantry needs to be able to dismount and move into terrain where their grav vehicles can’t follow – inside buildings, for example, or underground into fortress warrens – and that means they need heavy firepower that’s manportable.

38

My apologies to Sydney, I was recreating his (non-burning) wheel. I should also point out he has grav recon sleds too, I just added ones that could carry a recon team.

But, I am a historian; ultimately everything I do is derivative of someone else’s work!

  1. I’d still want to keep heavy weapons squads and heavy weapons platoons . . . I think there needs to be some kind of weapons squad in every infantry platoon, . . . Infantry needs to be able to dismount and move into terrain where their grav vehicles can’t follow – inside buildings, for example, or underground into fortress warrens – and that means they need heavy firepower that’s manportable.

Given the capabilities of IFVs there would be a tendency to use them as a separate maneuver unit once the crunchies have dismounted. So organic firepower would be important. (Dang, you did it again, convinced me!)

Another concept vice heavy weapons squads is the “arms room” idea. Here each squad has several extra heavy weapons with it in its IFV, and is trained to use them. If needed the commander or squad leader orders them to be taken. By this you get more general purpose infantry-and you can never have enough-with the needed organic weapons.

And in our world, specialist weapons units came during the First World War when officers figured conscripts could only learn to do one thing, such as throw a grenade, and nothing else. It has stayed with us ever since! Current realities are forcing military units back towards general purpose and cross-trained squads.

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A couple of comments… First, fusors are line-of-sight to well past the point where they lose all useful energy density in an atmosphere. You might be able to fire them indirectly in an extremely strong magnetic or gravitational field, but not anywhere unprotected Anvil could survive. If you want indirect fire, you need something else.

Second, in regards to grav bikes… The mobility and evasive capabilities of a grav bike so exceed those of a motorbike that the comparison is useless. A couple of scouts on grav bikes would be the equivalent of a recon helicopter, not of a pair of bikers. Furthermore, footslogging scouts would be useless for battalion operations. You might as well leave them at home for all the useful recon you’ll get out of them. An anvil battalion is expected to cover a substantial portion of a continent. While bike-riding scouts may be a poor choice when your operational area is “29 Palms,” I’m sure you can see why you’d need a grav-bike platoon rather than 30 guys with five trucks if you were given an order like “Scout Northern California.”

Third, would you like to tech-burn those sleds? It sounds like Sydney’s looking for something intermediate between his heavy artillery and man-portable weapons. I’d keep in mind, though, that counterbattery sensors are likely to be substantially more advanced than ours, so a hefty combination of mobility and defensive fire will be necessary.

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Just sticking my head in here to say how happy this discussion makes me. If you think Historians are unique in stealing good ideas, Lance, you should hang out with comic book writers…

-Chris