While stuck in an airport most of yesterday afternoon waiting for the weather to clear so I could get home, I made some notes.
As Sydney drills down into the company organization, I’d thought I’d back up and take a look at the Anvil Battalion, or force, as a whole. Now for a number of good reasons Sydney has conceived of companies as combined arms units. However, I am not so sure the company is the place to organize such in garrison. Instead, the Anvil Battalion, hereafter Anvil, would be the combat arms organization, with the ability to task organize companies into combined arms teams as necessitated by battlefield circumstances.
Grav mobility would be a driver for the dispersal of companies on the battlefield, but mobility is only one factor. Spreading out depends equally on comms, fires, and logistics. Simply put, any Anvil Lord would strive to have her Anvil fight as a single force so she can command it, support it, and supply it. Besides military reasons, there would be social and economic ones, the Anvil is the Lord’s basis for domination and she would not want to see it spread around where it could be annihilated by her opponents. “My Lord, the fortress is impregnable!” “Hmm, send that company from Lady Oka’s Anvil.” “Bang, ahhh, eeeh, crash, smash.” “There, that will teach her not to take my tax receipts in court.”
So, viewing the Anvil as the combined arms force, not the company, suggests an Anvil would consist, ideally, of three types of companies: Combat, Combat Support, and Force Support.
Combat companies are exactly what the name says: intended for combat. Iron Companies are the combat company par excellence, but with the technological devolution of the Iron Empires, Armored Infantry has joined them. These cos would have 3 platoons, a fire support platoon, and a robust HQ able to accept and support attached platoons from the combat support cos.
Combat Support Companies support the combat companies by detaching platoons to them and performing missions in direct support. Recon, Tanks, and Engineers are the CSCs, with 4 platoons and a HQ element. CSCs can also attach one platoon from another company for short times if needed. (I can hear the tankers wailing, but Anvil is infantry-centric and if you ain’t wearing Iron or Anvil, you are in support!)
Force Support Companies take on missions in support of the entire Anvil. Artillery performs fire support and air and space defense, Cavalry screens the entire force, to front, flanks, or rear, Security Cos protect lines of communication or secure critical nodes, and Light Infantry Cos clear and secure built-up areas and rough terrain, freeing Iron and Armored Infantry Cos. All of these cos have 3 platoons plus any necessary support for their sem-independent operations.
From this force mix an Anvil Lord would then task organize as needed for combat. If the Iron Co was to carry out an attack on a different axis than the rest of the force, then it might get a Recon Plt, a Tank Plt, and a Arty Plt added to it, but if it was part of the main force, its recon, tank, and fire support would be coordinated by the Anvil Lord and her headquarters.
I thus see the ‘basic’ Anvil (the 2D Affiliation) as having, say, 1 Iron Co, 2 Armored Inf Cos, a Recon Co, a Tank Co, and an Arty Btry, or 3 Combat Cos, 2 CSCs, and 1 FSC.
In the offense this force would be preceded by the Recon Co, perhaps reinforced by tanks or infantry and supported by artillery, to locate the enemy and then destroy or drive in his recon assets. With the recon fight won, the arty would displace to support the Tank Co’s drive, reinforced with inf or recon depending on the terrain and mission and with one tank plt detached, to gain fire dominance over the enemy. With this the Iron Co, reinforced by a tank platoon, would seize part of the objective, preferably a flank, allowing an Armored Infantry Co to pass through and take the rest, leaving one Armored Infantry Co in reserve. As the infantry mops up the enemy, the Recon and Tank Cos continue on to screen the assault and prepare for a counter-attack.
On the defense this force would screen forward with the Recon Co, again maybe with an attached tank plt, to blunt or destroy the enemy’s recon. If the fight gets too heavy, then the Recon Co disengages and falls back. Depending upon mission and terrain, the Tank Co might also occupy a forward battle position, perhaps with inf and arty assets, to further attrite the enemy and make him deploy, increasing his vulnerability to arty and Hammer. Before this fight gets too heavy, the tanks too fall back to the main site of resistance. There the infantry cos have dug-in, with one reinforced by a tank plt, and joined by the rest of the tanks, supported by artillery, and screened by recon, they seek to defeat the enemy.
Now a 3D Affiliation Force would have more companies, especially Combat and Force Support. A 1D Affiliation Force might only have Light Infantry and Security Companies to support a Forged Lords Anvil or a few Armored Infantry Cos, who would need combat support from a liege lord.
Again, my point is that I’m not sure we need to organize companies by to&e as combined arms units since they will fight as a force, as much as possible, and can thus task organize for combat.