Army porn?! Count me in! As a Marine infantry officer and now historian for the federal government, I’ve never met a TO&E or line diagram I didn’t like. Below is my take, borrowing from pretty much everybody on this thread. Thanks!
HAMMER & ANVIL: Force Strengths in Burning Empires
- Affiliations
Affiliations represent how powerful, competent, and capable the force is, i.e. its starting Exponent.
1D: Ex 3
2D: Ex 4
3D: Ex 5
Rule of Thumb: In order to get something more, you have to give up a level of Exponent.
- Forces
Lifepaths give a character access to a force. The Anvil/Hammer/Forged Lord traits are the most obvious.
2a. Force: The “Force,” from the Federation military’s Space-Ground Task Force organization, is largest military unit in the Iron Empires.
Lifepaths/Traits: Cotar Antistes, Cotar Arderes, Lord Steward, Executive Official, First Speaker, Forged Lord (if the ruler of one or more planets), Void Lord.
Organization: A Force typically consists of at least one Anvil Battalion and one Hammer Wing (see below for more description of these). To get more battalions or wings, the exponent of each additional unit would be reduced by one from the starting exponent.
Access: Activating a Force would involve a series of building rolls, making a logistics roll to get the unit supplied and mobilized, circling up a commander and giving him orders. But these powerful characters would have immediate access to a battalion of Guards and flight of ships that they personally command.
Personal Guard: Up to 2 Squads.
2b. Battalion/Wing: In the Iron Empires, Battalions and Wings are personal units, which characters can employ with relative freedom, although they are responsible for maintaining them. These are units of fixed size and start play at the affiliation exponent.
Void Lords aren’t bound by the imperial restrictions on force size, so they could more lower-exponent units. Neither are Anvil Lords on sub-index worlds, especially outworlds, as they can’t easily get their troops off-planet. When increasing the number of units, drop the exponent of the second unit by 1, the third by 2, and so on.
Lifepaths/Traits: Anvil Lord, Hammer Lord, Void Lord, Cotar Fomas.
Organization: A typical low and high index Anvil Battalion consists of battalion headquarters and assets, a company in iron, and two line companies in anvil armor, all with full grav-lift capability. A zero index Anvil Battalion has three line companies in ballistic armor with non-grav (ground or pressor) lift. A battalion totals 450-650 men, at full strength.
A battalion headquarters would have a staff with an X-O, an Adjutant, and a Quartermaster, along with their staff (normally an experienced soldier or sergeant as chief with 1-3 clerks) and 8-12 guards, along with two Grav Tactical Operations Centers, two Anvil Assault Sleds, and several grav sleds with their crews. Battalion assets include an Attack Platoon with 4-6 Attack Sleds, their crews and maintainers; a Scout Platoon with 4-6 modified grav sleds and crews; a Signals Platoon with several vehicles and 10-12 techs; a Maintenance Platoon with 2-4 vehicles, crews, armorers, and machinists, a Supply Platoon with 3-4 vehicles and crews, and a Medical Platoon manning 2-3 evac sleds with one pilot and one medic each and a Field Hospital with a doctor, several medics and orderlies. (In a zero-index battalion all vehicles would be non-grav.)
A Hammer Wing normally has 2-4 Cruisers, 4-6 Patrol Craft, 4-6 Assault Shuttles, and 1-3 Civilian Hammers or Mercators plus some cargo shuttles (for re-supply), organized into Flights of 2-4 ships, either same-type (ie all cruisers) or mixed, for 10-20 ships total. A wing also has a permanent base under a Port Officer with a Maintenance Flight, a Supply Flight, and a Security Flight of 20-40 men.
Personal Guard: Up to a Squad.
2c. Sub-Units: Characters who are sub-unit commanders of have troops under their direct command, but are also, themselves, under the direct command of a Lord or Church leader, and wouldn’t have a free hand in how those troops would be employed. Companies are the normal Anvil sub-unit, while Flights are typical for Hammer. Sub-units have the Exponent of their commander’s Affiliation dice.
Lifepaths/Traits: Cotar Fomas, Lord Pilot, Hammer Captain, Lieutenant, X-O, Anvil Captain, Sodalis-Captain, Inquisitor, Circle of 10,000, Ship’s Captain.
Organization: The Squad is the basic Anvil small unit. It consists of a Squad Leader, Assistant Squad Leader, Squad Support Weapon Specialist, Signals Tech, Medic (who is a combatant), and 3-6 soldiers, for 8-12 total men, often organized into two fire teams of 4-6 each. More elite units replace soldiers with more specialists such as a scout, an engineer, or a stormtrooper. Squads are numbered 1-9 on their armor by company, with each man numbered 1-12 within their squad. A soldier is often identified by squad/number, such as 2/7 or 5/10.
Three squads plus a lift section (4 vehicles with 8-12 crewmen) make up a platoon. A Platoon Headquarters has a Platoon Commander, Platoon Sergeant, Signals Tech, Medic, and up to 2 Runners. A platoon totals 36-54 men. Platoons are numbered, but are usually referred to by color in operation: Red, White, Blue, Black, Green, Brown. Members of the Platoon Headquarters are numbered with the commander as 1, the signals tech as 2, the medic as 3, the platoon sergeant as 4, and so on. So the Red Platoon commander would typically be “Red Leader” or “Red 1” on the radio.
Three platoons comprise a company. A Company Headquarters consists of a Commander, an X-O, two Signals Techs, two Medics, an Armorer, a Machinist, and up to 6 Soldiers as a security detachment, plus a lift section of one tactical operations vehicle and one IFV and 4-6 crew. A company totals 120-180 soldiers. Companies are typically numbered one to three, with iron companies always numbered one, but also have a designation such as “Sword,” “Dragon,” “Whirlwind,” “Black Heart,” etc. The headquarters is often called “Base,” i.e. “Dragon Base.” Note that in combat, companies cross-attach platoons, so a company might have an iron platoon and two anvil platoons. Learning how to coordinate these disparate elements takes some practice.
The Ship is the main Hammer sub-unit typically with a captain or commander, a pilot or helmsman, a sensor or signals specialist, a damage control specialist and a several gunners. Ships may be further organized into flights of 2-4, but these are often only organized for specific missions.
Personal Guard: A security detachment (fire team).
- Examples
3a. Baron Sheva’s Landwehr Brigade (from Sheva’s War): Baron Jepard Sheva is an Anvil Lord with Affiliation: Anvil 2D. This gives him a force as follows:
1st “Shappardun” Battalion (Anvil Battalion, sub-index): Ex 4
The Baron, with several of Taramai’s valleys to defend decides he needs more units. Since Taramai is a sub index outworld he is able to add them. So he organizes two more battalions:
2nd “Shappar” Battalion (Anvil Battalion, sub-index): Ex 3
3rd “Shazar” Battalion (Anvil Battalion, sub-index): Ex 2
The Baron also realizes his forces will need fire support and so recruits an artillery battalion with two batteries, one of six self-propelled guns and one of six towed pieces. However, as his fourth battalion, it would be an Exp 1 unit, not very useful, so he chooses to reduce the exponent of his first battalion by one, to make the artillery Exp 2. His Brigade now looks like this:
1st “Shappardun” Battalion (Anvil Battalion, sub-index): Ex 3
2nd “Shappar” Battalion (Anvil Battalion, sub-index): Ex 3
3rd “Shazar” Battalion (Anvil Battalion, sub-index): Ex 2
4th Artillery (“Grandpa Sheva”) Battalion (sub-index): Exp 2
Taramai is, as Sheva’s War says, “unable to maintain an adequate Landwehr.” (Note that since Baron Sheva combines military and civil authority, his brigade does not need an extensive support organization.)
3b. CHOT Guard (from Faith Conquers): Commander Tarrak Fike has the Forged Trait and Affiliation: Anvil 1D. This provides the following force Ex 3 Anvil Battalion:
Iron Company
2 x Line Companies
However, the CHOT wants to be Forged, so the GM determines it will cost one Exponent to one company, but without a Hammer affiliation, it will only yield an Exponent 1 Hammer Wing. Fike agrees and chooses to make his third company Ex 2. He also wants to upgrade his iron company, so reduces his other line company one exponent. His force now is as follows:
Hammer Wing Ex 1
Anvil Battalion
Iron Company Ex 3
Line Company Ex 2
Line Company Ex 2
It is a Force, as Lieutenant Urci Fox said, whose “Hammer’s nothing more than a couple of beat up old mercators and tugs” and the “iron company’s supposed to be good, the line companies are dirt from what I hear.”
3c. Hotok Temple Guard (from Faith Conquers): Cotar Fomas Trevor Faith, Anvil Lord, Affiliation: Anvil 1D. His Anvil Battalion is all Ex 3. He manages to convince the GM to swap out one line company for a cavalry company, equipped with more powerful IFVs. The GM agrees, but reduces the iron company exponent by one. The Guard is now as follows:
Iron Company Ex 2
Armored Infantry Company Ex 3
Cavalry Company: Ex 3
Faith thus finds himself with “good material,” but the iron troopers will have problems in his upcoming live-fire exercies.
- Sources
Initial Concept, Lifepaths/Traits, Access, Personal Guard: Chris Moeller, “Unit Strengths in BE,” http://burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5064
Unit types: Burning Empires, p. 360 (assuming “Ob 17— Upkeep for an iron company,” is a typo and “company” should read “battalion.”)
Anvil Battalion organization: Faith Conquers, chapter 2, Lieutenant Urci Fox states the CHOT Guard, with one iron and two line companies, is “a anvil battalion.”
Small unit organization: Burning Empires, p. 466.
General: GURPS Traveller: Ground Forces.
That’s my thoughts, lots of room to play, need more on the Hammer side.