So this is the post where I'm supposed to explain what I'm trying to do, so let me start off with a designer's statement,
In this project I'll be attempting to create a unique mercenary force where the models/units are and decisively different and distinctly my own yet unified by a common theme derived from both my interpretation of unit organizations as depicted within the fluff of the iron kingdoms as well as a the mechanics of fielding a viable battle force in an actual game.
How does one develop an army based off the unit organization as depicted by the fluff. Well first one needs to find the fluff on unit organization, luckily this is included into nearly every faction book
PP puts out. The examples I'll be using are from Cygnar (
pg 17), Khador (
pg 19), and Ord (iron kingdoms
RPG - Kings, Nations, and Gods
pg 271). In the Cygar and Khador faction books you'll notice each platoon/force is composed of 6 squads, each squad led by a Sgt, and the entire platoon/force led by a Lt. In Ord a platoon is made of 5 squads, each squad led by a Sgt, and the entire platoon led by a Lt. Yay,
PP did all the work for us I just need 5 or 6 full sized squads (depending on how I'm basing the military structure) and a Lt. Option. Sounds all too neat to me, and it is. To field a Long Gunner platoon you'd need (6) full sized squads and (1) officer unit attachment, this would come out to be 62pts and require you to field three times the normal unit allowance of long gunners. Obviously this doesn't work for building a game viable force.
Doing a little research online you will quickly find that most modern armies do not field platoons anywhere near the size listed by
PP. In fact most platoons are roughly 20-30men including officers. In addition most platoons are not made of 6 squads but are most commonly composed of 2-4squads, exact number and size of squads vary of course.
Now looking at 3 full sized squads we see our overall point size drop down to where it can be fielded in a 35pt game and the issue with unit allowance becomes far more manageable.
For example:
As you can see this general approach works well enough and can be applied to any army with a little fudging here and there. As such it give me the basis to approach my own mercenary force. First off as my mercs are not regular military I have no need to stick to 3 full sized squads, this helps as most of the units available to a mercenary force are character units and so the idea of a 'full strength' unit doesn't necessarily apply. Now most of the mercenary character units all have unit officers to start with I wont be needing any Officer
UAs (not that I have any to choose from), but do have a large number of mission specialists (Solos) to choose from to help flesh out the army.
So my 35pt mercenary platoon should look little something like this:
I tried to keep the rambling under control, and did some heavy editing to do so. But I think I managed to get my thought process about how I'm building the platoon clearly enough. Next post will include what actually will be included into the platoon and why.