Battletech Alpha Strike Force Building: Simplified Format

By Teun135 - Version 1.0

Basic Forces

On page 110 of the Alpha Strike: Commander’s Edition rulebook, there is a section on how to pick your lowest level of unit organization: Formations. This section is meant to be used in conjunction with the Master Unit List (MUL) located at www.masterunitlist.info

PV Limit

Depending on the game and format, the players should agree upon a points value (PV) limit for the game. How much to pick? Most people suggest a force between 300-400PV for a fully-fledged game, depicting a single Company on Company (or equivalent) engagement.

Matt and Son are setting up their forces to play their first big game after they have tried a few introductory games, selecting from their collections of miniatures. They settle on a points value limit of 400, so they can field some of their favorite assault mechs comfortably, as well as have some points for skill improvements later.

Era

Picking the Era comes next. This simply limits the technology and available pool of mechs and units to simulate a given time in the Battletech narrative.

Matt and Son decide to create some minor conflicts set in the Late Succession War era, giving them just a taste of the newer equipment available at that time with a smattering of Star League era mechs, but prohibiting the use of Clan equipment (as they had not yet invaded the Inner Sphere at this time).

Faction

The faction you pick isn’t very important using this method, but more of a fluff/flavor choice. In the main rulebook, picking a faction limits the available Mech designs and variants based on the availability those designs would have to the faction, but at this scale of play, it is usually agreed that simply limiting the selection of ‘Mechs based on the Era of play is sufficient. This is due to the ad-hoc nature of military units in the Battletech universe, where forces commonly trade, steal, or salvage mech designs they would normally not have access to.

If the players plan to use the “Extended” format of list design listed below, which follows these same first steps at formation, they should carefully consider which faction they wish to use. Their choice of faction will further allow different flexibility in choosing a Canon-established Command to emulate, which will give special abilities to all the units in the force. Of course, there is also the option to create your own Command and assign its abilities, which will also be covered in the Extended format.

Matt decides that he is playing a rough-and-tumble Mercenary force, allowing him a large degree of narrative freedom and the ability to create his own Command. He gets to paint his miniatures in whatever style he chooses, as an added bonus!

Son doesn’t have a lot of free time to create a command from scratch, so he chooses a faction that has a Command that he can emulate with his force: The Free Worlds League. Also because: Freedom.

Formations

This section is a bit wordy, but stay with me!

Formations are the lowest level formations that you can fill out, to give the force more structure than just picking mechs in a hodge-podge. Page 113 of the Alpha Strike: Commander’s Edition rulebook showcases a complicated set of tables that describe the minimum fighting formations for each type of unit (as well as a typical Command Rank, useful for naming your pilots!)

There is a whole lot of term definition that follows these tables and it can be daunting. We’ll mostly be focusing on the use of a Lance here, as that is the basic formation shared by a majority of the factions of the setting, but feel free to swap this out for your faction’s equivalent, as defined in that section of the rulebook.

Lances, the minimum Formation for Inner Sphere factions, come in a variety of flavors that offer a bonus for selecting units that meet the prerequisites for that Formation. Looking at the “Requirements” for each lance can guide you when selecting the Mechs you want to add to your force. Remember that each formation must have at least 3 units (such as 3 mechs) to benefit from the bonus abilities of that formation, and those mechs have to be operational, they cannot be routed or destroyed. Once the formation falls below 3 operational units, the formation loses their bonus abilities.

Furthermore, some formations list a “Ideal Role” for that formation. If -ALL- the units in that formation possess that particular role, then the formation requirements are considered to be met (such as needing X number of size 3 mechs and so on).

Note that some formations have additional subtypes, which can modify how that formation works and the requirements for it, but serve a similar role. For example, an Assault Lance may be modified to be a Fast Assault lance, adding the additional requirement of all the units in that formation to be 10” movement or better!

Matt decides his Merc company needs somebody to lead it, so he first picks a Command Lance first. He then decides he wants a heavy anchor for his forces, and picks a Fire Lance to serve as the backbone of the list. Most Mech companies are 3 Lances, so he rounds off the list with a fast-reactionary force, picking a Light Cavalry Lance to back up the main core.

Son thinks that his force is more of a regular combat unit, and will not need a Command Lance. He picks an Assault Lance as his first formation, to form the hard anvil of the list. He then decides he wants some mechs that also can pack a punch but be a little lighter on their feet, so he picks a Medium Battleline Lance as his second formation. Not wanting to be caught out by lighter and quicker mechs, he finishes his formation selection with a Pursuit Lance that focuses on speed and firepower.

Picking Units

Now that you know the limitations for your formations, faction, and era, you are free to pick your units that adhere to those restrictions. Using the Master Unit List is a great tool, as it has almost all of the current Battlemech designs listed in their database, along with information detailing what role, era, and faction availability (if you choose to use that as a guide) for the different units and their variants. Generally, a good rule of thumb is to leave yourself a little bit of breathing room, to upgrade your pilots after. Depending on the desired experience rating of the Force, you can allocate more or less PV to pilot upgrades.

Matt wants his command Lance to be fairly sturdy and capable, so he picks some of his favorite mechs that correspond to the Command Lance requirements but also seem fun to him. He selects variants of a Highlander, Cyclops, Cataphract, and Dragon.

He follows a similar method for the rest of his force, picking mechs that match the size and role requirements for his lances. When he is done, he is at around 350 PV for the force.

Leveling Pilots

With the bulk of your units now selected, you can expend the remaining PV on things such as Pilot abilities, skill increases, or battlefield support. Once done, you can simply stop there! You have a full Alpha-Strike ready list, and can assemble the necessary cards and minis to play that force (remember that masterunitlist.info has all the alpha strike info needed to play with just about any unit in the setting).

Matt has 50 PV left to spend before he reaches the agreed-upon Points Value limit, so he decides to give some pilot upgrades. First, he decides he needs a competent commander, so he improves the Highlander pilot skill to 2+. Then, he decides to improve his commander’s right hand man, and improves the Cyclops pilot skill to 3+. Finally, he decides that his Fire Lance leader could use a boost, and gives him a 3+ skill as well. This brings him to 398 PV for his force, comfortably within the 400 PV limit, and with room enough to pick a single Pilot Skill. He gives the commander the skill of Medium Range Master, making him more accurate at medium range, at the cost of accuracy in Short range. Now his force totals 400 PV exactly!

Now you can play a game! You have everything you need to get dice rolling. If you want to take it a step further, however, you can further customize your force by assigning it a Command Ability, in the Extended method detailed in the following section.

Extended Forces

Following the above steps, you can add an additional layer of rules (if both opponents agree or an event organizer has allowed it) by selecting a Command to emulate (or generating your own!) and giving your entire force a special Command Ability. These are meant to represent that the force has trained together, fought together, and generally come up with their own way of conducting themselves to battle.

Canon Factions

For canon factions, there are commonly ratings given to units to represent their given strength at a particular point in “history.” Only a few of the “Combat Manuals” have been produced to date, those for Mercenaries and those for Kurita forces. “Field Manuals” can also provide some guidance for specific factions. As a general rule, they seem to have tried to match keyworded Special Command Abilities of yesteryear to the new ruleset, but YMMV.

Keep in mind that commonly the Commands are listed with an Experience rating, which can help you determine what skill level you should set for your pilots.

Non-Canon, Unlisted, or Unknown Commands

If you can’t find what special command rules your faction/command can have, you can create your own! Keep reading!

Number of Special Command Abilities per force

If you know the Experience rating of the Command you are trying to emulate, you can use that to generate your Special Command Ability as described on page 102 of the Alpha Strike Commander’s Edition rulebook.

To briefly summarize, find out the average skill of all the pilots (rounded to nearest whole number) and use that to determine your Command’s Experience Rating. Cross reference this number with the Skill Rating table on page 29 to determine the Skill Rating Description (such as Green, Regular, Veteran, etc.)

Note that Commands that are rated as Green or below are not eligible to have a Command Ability, as they are considered too new or inexperienced to have developed those skills/habits.

If your force is rated as Regular or above, you get to generate some command abilities! Regular rated commands get a single ability, whereas Veteran or Elite commands can generate 2 Command abilities.

Commanders and Assigning Command Abilities

In order to use the Special Command Abilities, the force must have a Commander. Subcommanders may be added, at a maximum of one (1) Commander/Subcommander per 6 units in play. Be sure to protect these commanders, for when they fall, the force can no longer use the Special Command Abilities!

If you are using a Canon force with established attributes, you can try to match the ability names with the new ones. If you are creating a command or cannot find what abilities are listed for a specific force, you can pick your own from the list of available Special Command Abilities.

ALTERNATE CREATION RULE: Unit Availability

In some publications, there are random assignment tables listed for certain factions or their Commands. If both players agree, or the event organizer approves, the players may restrict their Unit choices to only those available on those tables.

Conversely, they may randomly generate their units, using those random assignment tables to generate a list of units that they can then form into formations.

Finally, they also may decide to utilize the Faction Availability guidelines listed on such sites as Sarna.net, masterunitlist.info, or 3rd party apps that utilize the MUL such as Jeff’s Alpha Strike Roster or MechFactory. This will restrict the selection of available units for a given era and faction, creating a more “historical” feel to list design.

Extended Restrictions:

For games where balance is key, you and your opponent (or your Event Organizer) may require there to be additional restrictions on force creation. WolfsDragoons.com has come up with a standardized list of restrictions that may serve that purpose. Some examples may include:

Types of Units Allowed: Battlemechs, Omnimechs, Industrial Mechs, Protomechs, etc.

Units with Special Abilities that can be taken, but the special ability may not be used: such as ART-TC, DCC, MDS, HPG, etc.

Allowed Artillery: e.g. ARTAIS, ARTAC, ARTT, ARTS, etc.

Disallowed Units and Abilities: e.g. Aerospace units, Advanced Aerospace, Support Vehicles, Advanced Support vehicles, Experimental Tech Level units, Unique in the chosen Era, etc.

Minimum and Maximum Pilot Skill: such highest 7, lowest 2.

Repeat Chassis/Variant Restrictions: e.g. players may only have a maximum up to 2 of any unit that share the same chassis or base unit name.


More or less restrictions may be decided on by the Event Organizer, or you and your opponent can agree to some yourself! These restrictions may significantly alter the experience, so be sure to choose them wisely! There are also some rules in some publications referring to Force Points (FP) that may determine how many of these rules you can “bend” to have special exemptions made for certain units or abilities, such as seen in Combat Manual: Mercenaries.

Finishing Touches

By now you should have a basic understanding of how to build a Battletech Alpha Strike force. More nuance and details can be included to alter the experience for all players, but this should give new or returning players a place to start from!

Feel free to use the Fillable Force Record Sheet I have uploaded, which you can then print or save, to record your new force. Alternatively, the Alpha Strike Roster by Jeff is a great way to record the basic info you need to play!

No Guts, no Galaxy!

—Teun

Version History

Version 1.0 - Initial draft of this document.

References and Resources:

REFERENCES

Alpha Strike Commander’s Edition

https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/collections/battletech/products/battletech-alpha-strike-commanders-edition

(New versions of these resources are rumored to be dropping in 2023-24 along with the contents of the Mercenary kickstarter, along with a new book detailing the Federated Suns. I believe these are to be called Field Manuals.)

Combat Manual: Kurita

https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-combat-manual-kurita-book-pdf-combo

Combat Manual: Mercenaries

https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-combat-manual-mercenaries-pdf



Wolf’s Dragoons 350 Tournament Format

https://wolfsdragoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FINAL-2.1.pdf


RESOURCES:

Force Record Sheet (Fillable)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZNY9nA16eyMXmydHg-Fi-s2mp7qEf5Ek/view?usp=drive_link

Master Unit List

www.masterunitlist.info

MechFactory

https://battletech.rpg.hu/

Alpha Strike Roster by Jeff

https://jdgwf.github.io/battletech-tools/alpha-strike/roster

A nice little blog post on formation building:

http://zardozgames.blogspot.com/2017/04/formation-building-for-alpha-strike.html

Downloadable Version of this Document

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z9BiciJXxeSRu8PTYR8DhyUq8b1yZN3D77i5qIq2J1Y/edit?usp=sharing





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