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quick question, am I correct in understanding that to be legal for matched play and using a battalion you'd have to do the following..

take all the units in the battalion
pay the points for the battalion itself
ensure you still meet the battlefield role requirements ie 3 battle line units at 2000 points

in addition you could include other units not in the battalion but they wouldn't gain the benefits and you'd also need to make sure they didn't compromise your allegiance if you're using perks.

40k allows formations disregarding force org charts... this is different though right?

You are correct in your understanding.