This article covers a method to generate a company-scale Mercenary Force in different eras for campaign games using either Chaos Campaign/BattleTech: Mercenaries or Campaign Operations.
Era and Funding
Step 1 is to select an era for play, this determines the starting funds for the company.
| Era | Starting Funds (C-Bills) | [OPTIONAL – BV] |
| Succession Wars | 60,000,000 | 15,000 |
| Clan Invasion | 90,000,000 | 18,000 |
| Civil War | 90,000,000 | 18,000 |
| Jihad | 90,000,000 | 18,000 |
| Republic/Dark Age | 60,000,000 | 15,000 |
| IlClan | 90,000,000 | 18,000 |
[OPTIONAL – AEROSPACE. If you want to include 2 Aerospace fighters in your force, increase the base funds by 10%].
[OPTIONAL – BV. Rather than using C-Bills you may wish to just use the BV cost of each unit]
Force Generation
Step 1 – Choose your commander
In most company size mercenary outfits, the commanding officer (or CO) has the Officer rank of Captain. The CO has an experience level of Elite. Roll on the Random Skills Table below, one on the Piloting column and once on the Gunnery column
| Regular (1d6) | Veternan (1D6) | Elite (1d6) | Piloting/ Diving | Gunnery/ AntiMech | Technical Skill | [ATOW Skill Level] |
| 1-2 | – | – | 6 | 5 | 7+ | 2 |
| 3-4 | 1-2 | – | 5 | 4 | 6+ | 3 |
| 5-6 | 3-4 | 1-2 | 4 | 3 | 5+ | 4 |
| – | 5-6 | 3-4 | 3 | 2 | 4+ | 5 |
| – | – | 5-6 | 2 | 1 | 3+ | 6 |
The CO of a company also have four additional Officer skills: Negotiation, Leadership, Tactics and Strategy. For each skill roll 1d6 +4.
Step 2 – Choose your Officers
Each Lance of Mechs is led by an Officer. The Captain usually leads the Command lance and the other two Officers lead the other lances. These officers have an experience level of Veteran. Roll on the Random Skills table for their skills, then roll 1D6+2 for their Officer Skills. The more senior Officer is also the Second in Command/Executive Officer (XO) and has the rank of Leuitenant (Senior Grade), while the other has the rank of Leuitentant (Junior Grade).
[OPTIONAL – AEROSPACE. Your Aerospace squadron will also be led my an Officer with the rank of Leuitenant (Junion Grade). Roll for a Veteran experiance level Aerospace Pilot using the Randow Skill Table.]
Step 3 – Create your MechWarriors
The remaining 9 MechWarriors that complete the company have a Regular experience level. Roll on the Random Skills Table for each. The MechWarriors have no Officer Skills.
[OPTIONAL – AEROSPACE. Roll for a Regular experience level Aerospace pilot using the Random Skill Table]
[OPTIONAL – COMBAT VEHICLES. For Combat Vehicle Crews roll on the Random Skill Table for each crew member, but the Driver only receieves a Drive skill (in place of piloting), and the Gunners only revieve a Gunnery Skill]
Step 4 – Choose your Mechs
For each MechWarrior select a BattleMech you would like them to have using the Mercenary Master Unit List for the appropriate era. The total C-Bill cost can be no higher than 90% of the starting funds.
Once you have selected the Mechs for each MechWarrior, roll an Availability Check on 2D6 to determine if that unit is obtained. If it is not obtained, move to Step 5 – Randomly Determine Mechs.
[OPTIONAL – AEROSPACE. Use the same system to choose Aerospace fighters]
[OPTIONAL – COMBAT VEHICLES. You may choose to replace BattleMech slots in your Force with Combat Vehicles instead]
| Units | Availability |
| Light BattleMech or Light Aerospace fighter | 4 |
| Medium BattleMech or Medium Aerospace fighter | 5 |
| Heavy BattleMech or Heavy Aerospace fighter | 6 |
| Assault BattleMech | 8 |
| Light Combat/Support Vehicle | 3 |
| Medium Combat/Support Vehicle | 4 |
| Heavy Combat/Support Vehicle | 5 |
| Assault Combat/Support Vehicle | 7 |
| Conventional Figher | 5 |
| Battle Armor Squad | 5 |
| Conventional Infantry Platoon | 2 |
| Motorised Infantry Platoon | 3 |
| Mechanised Infantry Platoon | 4 (+1 Field Guns) |
| Jump Infantry Platoon | 4 |
| Availability Modifiers | |
| Tech Level E or Clan Tech Base | +3 |
| Tech Level F or Experimental | +5 |
| From another InnerSphere/Periphery non-clan MUL | +2 |
| Civilian/unarmed Vehicle | -4 |
| AgroMech/Industrial Mech MOD | -2 |
Step 5 – Randomly Determine Mechs
For each MechWarrior who failed their availability roll, instead choose the appropriate Random Assignment Table (RAT) for an era and roll randomly for a unit of the same weight class.
[OPTION – Unit Pool. This method gives the player more choice. For each MechWarrior who was not successful roll 1d3 and then roll that many Mechs on the RAT. Once all rolls are made, the player can select the units they wish from the poll.]
[OPTIONAL – AEROSPACE/CCOMBAT VEHICLES. Use the same system to roll for random Aerospace fighters/Combat Vehicles]
Step 6 – Support Forces
With any addional funds the Mercenary Force may add extra Combat/Support, Battle Armor and Infantry. This should be limited to 1 Lance of each (4 units) or 1 company (3 squads of Battle Armour or 3 Platoons of Conventional Infantry). All Support Forces are Regular.
Step 7 – Support Personnel (OPTIONAL)
For a fuller campaign you may also generate the support personnel attached to your Mercenary Force. This should include:
- Technicial Staff (MechTechs/Mechanics/AeroTechs) – You need to include 1 Technican for each unit. One technician in your Techician Pool has teh rank MasterTech with an Elite level of Experiance, one a Veteran with the rank Senior Technician, and the rest Regular Technicians with the rank of Technician 1st Class.
- Admin Staff – Generate your Admin pool with 1 Master Admin (Elite), 1 Senior Admin (Veteran) and the result Admin 1st Class. 1 Admin Staff is required per 10 other personnel.
- Medical Staff – This includes one Elite Doctor, one veteran Senior MedTech, and three MedTech 1st Class.
Step 8 – Purchase Parts (OPTIONAL)
When running full Campaign Operations players should purchase spare parts and equipment for their units. In Chaos Campaigns this is not necessary.
The player will purchase supplies for the mission – remembering any supplies needed for the mission will need to be carried on their DropShip. These include:
- Ammo form all units (using the optional rule that missiles are interchangeable between launchers of the same type but different sized racks).
- Armour
- Replacement parts (e.g. actuators) and weapons.
- Spare parts for maintenance (0.1% of a units mass in tons per month/0.2% for infantry CO: pg 24)
- Consumables (see DropShips)
- Additional hydrocarbon fuels for vehicles with ICE engines and aviation fuel for Aerospace units. (This requires the addition of a Transport Bay: Cargo, Other [Liquid] TM: pg 293
Step 9 – Special Pilot Abilities, Edge and Formations [Optional]
Players may select a Special Pilot Abilities for each of the three Officers
Players may select SPAs from Campaign Operations or other sources (e.g. Character Cards from the BTAGOAC, BTCI and Force Pack boxes and purchase the SPA’s detailed on the cards, or other source books).
A list can also be found at: https://comstar.home.blog/2023/07/11/special-pilot-abilities/
Officers also get Edge. Each point of Edge can be used once per game to force ANY dice roll to be rolled again. This may only be used once per roll and must be announce straight after the roll. Dice rolls can only be re-rolled once be one player (although both players could spend Edge to reroll the same roll).
Officers gain an initiative bonus for their force while their unit is not Crippled, Destroyed, Shutdown or they are KO’d or dead.
If an Officer, another MechWarrior/Crew needs to be designated as a new Officer. That new Officer may now pay for new SPA’s (See Training).
| Training Level | SPA Points | Edge |
| Veteran | 1 | 1 |
| Elite | 3 | 2 |
| Heroic* | 6 | 3 |
| Legendary* | 10 | 4 |
[*] Not accessible to starting Officers
[OPTIONAL – ATOW EDGE. All Characters have 1 edge point. Characters may raise their EDGE by spending 100 XP. Players who spend all their EDGE must spend 20XP to restore all their EDGE].
Formations
Players should decide on what type of Formation each Lance or Flight will be trained as. Formations can’t be used unless the sub force is led by an officer. Formations can’t be changed on the fly. If a player wants to change the formation type it requires 1 week of training to select a new Formation. If more than 50% of units are destroyed or placed out of action, or the officer is killed, then the Formations abilities can no longer be used.
Step 10 – Final Touches
Complete your Mercenary Force by adding details such as names for personnel, home planets etc.
Optional Rules
Transport and Cargo
Mercenary Forces are assumed to have to rent DropShips and JumpShips. A typical DropShip for a Company of Mechs is a Union Class. This can carry 74 tons of equipment. If a player has more equipment to be carried they will need to hire extra cargo DropShips such as a Mule.
Typical costs per month are shown below:
| DropShip | Capacity | Cargo (tons) | Cost (C-Bills) |
| Leopard | 4 BM, 2 AF | 34 | 300,000 |
| Union | 12 BM, 2 AF | 74 | 700,000 |
| Mule | 0 BM, 0 AF | 8154 | 600,000 |
Dependents
Players may roll randomly on the Force Background table and then roll randomly for dependents. CO: Pg 30.
Personnel Backgrounds
For each MechWarrior, Pilot, and Tech, players should roll on the below table. Players may choose to roll this for all personnel. [MekHQ will do this step automatically]
| Roll 2D6 | Background |
| 2 | Mysterious (Former ComStar etc) |
| 3-4 | Periphery |
| 5-8 | Local (within 120 LY) |
| 9-10 | Great House |
| 11 | Clanner – Free Born |
| 12 | Clanner – True Born (Choose phenotype) |
Note: Clan Technicians negate the modifiers for maintenance/repair of clan-based equipment.
You can also roll of the below chart:
| Roll | Trait |
| 2 | Nobel |
| 3 | 1D6: [1-2] Young (14 + 1D3), [3-4] Old (48 + 2D6), [5-6] Very old (58+3D6) |
| 4-5 | Married/Relationship (1-2 Non-staff, 3 Tech, 4 Admin, 5 MechWarrior/Pilot, 6 Force Commander). If rolled twice +1D3 dependents. |
| 6-8 | None |
| 9-10 | Second Job (Select specialty and then roll on the Random Experience Table) |
| 11 | 1 point Special Pilot Ability |
| 12 | Roll again twice |
Roll on the Second Job table below. If you roll the same specialty that the character currently is – they gain 1 experience level and gain officer skills (Negotiation, Leadership, Tactics and Strategy)
| Roll 1d6 | Second Job |
| 1 | MechWarrior |
| 2 | Vehicle Crew (1-2 Gunner, 3-4 Pilot, 5-6 Both) |
| 3 | Tech (As per 1st job specialist, Admins may choose) |
| 4 | Admin (1 Command, 2, Logistics, 3 HR, 4 Intelligence, 5 Transport, Doctor) |
| 5 | Soldier (1-4 Conventional – 5-6 BattleArmour) |
| 6 | AeroSpace (1-4 Aerospace Fighter, 5 Gunner, 6 Large Craft Pilot) |
Administrative Staff (Optional)
Although in Campaign Operations Administrative staff are all generic, you can choose to make the following types of specialty staff:
- Admin (Command) – These admins have seen service in the military as Officers but have left often due to injury or age. They can make negotiation rolls for contracts and for acquiring resources and units. The Command Admin also may roll a random experience as a MechWarrior, Infantryman, crew leader or aerospace pilot. If this admin is present in a Command Centre, it counts as the Force Commander being in the Command Centre. Admin (Command) personnel have the additional skills of Leadership, Tactics, Strategy and Negotiation rolled as if they were the force commander.
- Admin (Logistical) – Makes acquisition rolls for units. You can choose a further specialty which gives them a +1 for acquiring a specialty unit but a -2 for all others.
- Admin (HR) – Makes acquisition rolls for personnel including dispossessed (without units) MechWarriors, Aerospace Pilots, etc, and Support Staff.
- Admin (Intelligence) – Makes rolls for intelligence operations (detail a future article)
- Admin (Transport) – Acquires DropShips and hires JumpShips.
Unit Ownership
When a company is designed all members who are “Purchased” during the initial formation are considered to be founding members.
When the player turns to the hiring hall to purchase units to complete their roster these units are considered non-founding members. Players may also hire any disposed personnel from the Hiring Hall. The player may choose for these new hires may be made full founding members (but this has no benefit).
When a unit owner dies and their last will and testament is read roll on the following table:
| Roll | Outcome |
| 2-4 | The unit a bequeathed to the estate – an the estate elects to take possession of the unit |
| 5-8 | The unit a bequeathed to the estate – but they offer to sell it back to the mercenary company at its base C-Bill value. A negotiation roll may be made. |
| 9-12 | The unit is bequeathed to the Mercenary Company, it is added to the companies officially owned assets. |
Peacetime Costs
Using Campaign Ops calculate the peacetime running costs of the force. Ideally, a force should not drop below the operational reserve of 3 months running costs. A percentage of peacetime running costs may be covered by Straight Support Rights in a contract. Peacetime operations are used during transport and in some contracts.
Below is a brief guide to all aspects of peacetime costs CO: pg 24:
- Ammunition – Total Ammo cost/4 note this includes speciality ammo
- Spare Parts – 0.1% of the mass of the unit (0.2% for conventional infantry) at a cost per ton of 10,000 (Mechs)/8,000 (Vehicles)/15,000 (AeroSpace an Large Craft)
- Fuel – 4 x the capacity of the unit. A units fuel capacity is 10% of its engine rating
- Salaries – Mech Warriors + AeroSpace + Technicians + Admin + DropShip Crew
Wartime Costs
The following additional costs are incurred during Wartime operations CO: Pg 46.
- Ammunition used during scenarios – simply the amount ticked off the sheet.
- Fuel Costs (per scenario or campaign day) SO: pg 32-33.
- For Vehicles, fuel cost per scenario/campaign day is 2% of the fuel capacity if in combat or SAR operations (or 1% if no combat occurs).
ComStar 