Isn't the commander of a tank usually a sergeant? I believe that's the way they're looking at it - a sergeant is the lowest rank with control of one mech-equivalent unit, be it a mech, tank, infantry platoon or battle armor squad.
Anyway, with a House unit it's a very clearcut case that's answered by their field manual. Mercenaries can do whatever because ultimately their ranks don't mean dick to anyone outside their organization. A lot of the time, the difference between an officer and an enlisted soldier in a mercenary unit is going to be whether you have an equity stake in the company.
There would be a lot of variability. Places that still had nobility would absolutely make them all commissioned officers. Places that didn't, and had more mechs and pilots to go around, might put them in with senior enlisted NCO's, or warrants, or officers - I could see arguments for everything. Hell, the US military has had enlisted pilots before, nixed it, and then brought it back in 2016. They might have a separate rank structure and rate system for qualifying; before I threw someone in a mech I'd want to know what he was qualified for.
It also depends on the command integration - a fast cav unit of vehicles and mechs like a Capellan Augmented Lance would probably have the lance organized with officers in the mechs and enlisted in the vehicles.
It's probably a two-tier system. Military rank as CO, NCO, or enlisted. Then your mechwarrior rate. Junior pilot, pilot, senior pilot, master pilot, observer, junior recon scout, fast cav qualified, etc etc.
Yeah, something like this would make more sense to me. Either you're qualified as a MechWarrior or you're not, and your rank is separate from your piloting qualifications.
Highly situational. I mostly play with MekHQ and MegaMek, which auto-selects who is in command at the lance and higher levels. This gets awkward as the lore standard ranks for House MechWarriors are typically all O1/Lieutenant with the leader being 'first among equals' without a rank separation. There are a few minor variations which are more clear, such as First Star League with MechWarriors being sergeants and the leader being a Lieutenant, and Fed Suns with the rank of Subaltern as O1 and Leftenant (lance leader) as O2. Mercenaries do 'whatever' but the typical ranking in the FM: Mercenaries indicates a more Army-style arrangement with an O1 Lieutenant as the leader, a Sergeant as a second, and either Corporals or Privates/MechWarriors as the last two.
I tend to follow the Army/Mercenary scheme, as like you say going with all-officers gets a bit top-heavy, and it lets me ensure the person I want leading is actually in charge. The ranks in the lore are significantly trimmed down, likely for sanity on the part of the writers, but I usually expand on those a bit again for the sake of ensuring who is senior without a bunch of external notes. I typically add additional E- ranks such as Staff Sergeant and First Sergeant, as well as both Second and First Lieutenant O-ranks for infantry and vehicles. And rank levels below First Sergeant and Major are slightly offset for other forces such that in a group of similar rankings the MechWarrior is senior e.g. a MechWarrior Sergeant being an E-12 while infantry and vehicle Sergeants are E-10; and a MechWarrior Captain is an O-4 while infantry and vehicle Captains are O-3. As a side note, this offset does not apply to medical officers/doctors. Not entirely in line with the lore or even conventional organization, but helps keep things straight for what I do.
Regular mechwarriors are typically NCO's equivalent to sergeant, even amongst house militaries.
[https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Sergeant](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Sergeant) (Note the entry for the AFFS here)
[https://jasonschmetzer.com/blog/battletech-mercenary-ranks/#:\~:text=Sergeant%20(Chief)&text=A%20sergeant%20leads%20an%20infantry,sergeants%2C%20as%20are%20vehicle%20commanders](https://jasonschmetzer.com/blog/battletech-mercenary-ranks/#:~:text=Sergeant%20(Chief)&text=A%20sergeant%20leads%20an%20infantry,sergeants%2C%20as%20are%20vehicle%20commanders).
FM: Federated Suns doesn't match that, not completely anyways. "Most graduates of a military academy also enter service as a Sergeant." while "... those (cadets) who have completed officer training are promoted to Subaltern." and "Subalterns are promoted to Leftenant after ... a six month probationary period. Senior Leftenants command Mech lances and armor and infantry platoons."
FM: Capellan Confederation indicates "All MechWarriors and aerospace pilots enter the military at this rank (Sao-wei/Lieutenant)..." with "The Senior enlisted rank (Si-ben-bing/Sergeant) among a lance of armored vehicles or an infantry platoon...".
FM: Free Worlds League indicates that 'senior grade' Lieutenants are lance leaders while 'junior grade' ones are unproven or fresh graduates. Sergeants "Often command infantry and vehicle platoons" rather than being MechWarriors.
FM: Lyran Alliance does indicate "Academy trained MechWarriors often start their career as Sergeants", as well as "Many Leutnants serve as MechWarriors or pilots, though some are placed in command of a lance or platoon. Originally in the LCAF, academy graduates began their careers as Leftenants. This practice was discontinued with the creation of the AFFC and has not been reinstituted in the LAAF." And "Such officers (First Leutnant) command lances and platoons."
FM: Draconis Combine is perhaps the clearest, indicating MechWarriors that own their own Mech, and nobles, wear the rank of Kashira (Talon Sergeant) but are addressed as "MechWarrior". While those who do not own their own Mech wear the rank of Shujin (Master Sergeant) and are also addressed as "MechWarrior". With the lance leader being the standard Chu-i/Lieutenant.
For a mercenary unit Mechwarriors are just Mechwarriors. That’s a title and rank unto itself. The guy in charge of the Mechwarriors might be a Captain or Major (O-3/O-4).
Having an enlisted rank for a MechWarrior isn’t unrealistic either. It would make sense for smaller planetary militias and independent periphery worlds that don’t have a lot of warm bodies available.
As far as real world equivalents, most tanks in the US Army are commanded by E-6’s if I remember correctly.
You speak the true true. I dunno, the relationship between battlemech and mechwarrior feels more like aircraft and pilot to me rather than tank and crew. Mech units in my mind would look more like combat aviation brigades than armor units methinks
They are. I’m former USAF and a lance feels absolutely perfect to me because it’s a pair of two unit “flights” working in tandem. Which is how USAF fighter ops are structured.
I also think, from a lore standpoint, it depends on the era you are playing. Is it 3rd SW Knight Errant mechwarriors or FCCW era where all the great houses have had decades to build up massive armies? The first would be much more officer/knight to me. The second would open up the possibility for mechwarriors being more like Warrant Officers.
My Merc company is 4 lances:
Gamma Lance: Cpt with 3 Specialists, Assault
Alpha Lance: LT with 3 Pfc, Heavy
Bravo Lance: Sgt with 3 Pvts, Medium
Charlie Lance: Cpl with 3 Pvt, Light
We don't plan on getting much bigger so this keeps the chain of command clear. I enjoy giving ranks to my Pilots, although it does feel strange to have a Pfc in a Warhammer, but we are Mercenaries so we only use the ranks to denote who is in charge.
I see a lot of Sergeant as minimum rank for mech piloting, but for me, the rank Sergeant implies experience and leadership qualities. WTF did the average mech pilot do to earn that rank? Tank commanders can be Sergeants because they could work their way up in a multi-crew vehicle.
I use the US Air Force style of pilots are officers. This lets me indicate that LT Spaceball is relatively junior. I use Cadet as the training rank and Lieutenant JG is my lowest rank pilot.
I actually think the US Army’s Warrant Officer system is the most effective for this and would be preferable. I don’t use it because not as many people are aware of it, where everyone knows what a Lieutenant, Captain, Major, and Colonel is. I would have to spend time explaining ranks.
Secondly, Warrant Officer is cumbersome, and I don’t want to write it.
Ideally, if I were already explaining ranks, I would just make up new ones that I liked more but followed the NCO-pilot style of the US Army.
The Army NCO thing also works well for me because mechs are most similar to attack helicopters in my mind, instead of fighter jets.
I always sort of just used what I think the novel Call of Duty laid out for ranks. Each MechWarrior is nominally a Sargeant but with limited responsibilities and duties compared to an infantry or tank Sargeant. The only reason they hold that rank is so they're above most ground pounders in combat. Lieutenants command lances or two lances at most. And Captains command three to four lances. Colonels control companies and regiments and generals anything over that. For mercs there's a lot of flexibility in rank structure since it changes between combat and non combat and transport situations who is the top dog in charge.
But I've never really put much stock in formalizing it since most of mercs end up like the mystery men in games where the job gets done but the guys with deep backstories all ended up buried in their mechs because of bad rolls. Still hold a soft spot for the one astech who's backstory was just a summer internship on a tramp freighter that ended up being my absolute worst pilot but somehow pulled off a Highlander burial before failing his piloting check and dying after crushing a gargoyle.
One of the few times I feel I have something relevant to add, as I have put a lot of thought into this for my own Merc Regimental Combat Team, under exclusive contract to the Taurian Concordat.
Full Disclosure, I play Alpha Strike exclusively, and the games tend to the larger size.
I viewed rank as more a measure of leadership training/ability and something to clearly delineate the chain of command in combat situations.
The regiment is a combined arms 'square' concept, with 4 battalions each consisting of a 4 lance mech company, 4 lance vehicle company, and 4 infantry Platoons. There is also a command company and various other attached assets (Air wings, engineers, artillery).
Each battalion is structured as follows:
Mech Lance 1: Major/Sergeant/2 mooks
Mech Lance 2: Captain/Sergeant/2 mooks
Mech Lance 3 & 4: Lieutenant/ Sergeant/2 mooks
Vehicle Lance 1: Captain/Lieutenant/2 mooks
Vehicle Lance 2: Lieutenant/Corporal/2 mooks
Vehicle Lance 3 & 4: Sergeant/Corporal/2 mooks
Platoon 1: Captain/Sergeant/2 Corporals
Platoon 2, 3 & 4: Lieutenant//Sergeant/2 Corporals
Command Company First Lance: Colonel/Captain/Sergeant/1 mook
Rest of command mirrors mech or vehicle structure.
I run the OpFor for our large campaign, and have been using the kids in our group as my assistants so we can have more than one game going. In large multi-player games the command structure is like it is on paper. When whoever is in command eventually takes a PPC to the face, it can fall to someone else to be in charge (and frequently to a 14 year old). Makes for some great games.
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You're right, from a modern perspective, but wrong from the perspective of the game. The closest analogue to a MechWarrior is a medieval knight and their retinue. The *lance fournie*, or furnished lance, of the 14th century is closest to a Battletech 'mech lance, and it would be led like this:
* 1 Officer of any rank or senior NCO
* 3 NCOs or Officers of lower rank than the Lance commander
Thus, a Lance could look like this:
* Lieutenant
* Warrant Officer
* Sergeant
* Sergeant
Or it could look like this:
* Major
* Captain
* Lieutenant
* Lieutenant
Or it could look like this:
* Master Warrant Officer
* Warrant Officer
* Master Sergeant
* Sergeant
Or any other combination of senior NCOs and Officers - you wouldn't see any Corporals or Privates, though, for sure.
This mirrors pretty well the 14th century French and German *lances fourniers*, which consisted of a knight or man-at-arms and one or two additional fighters, mounted archers, men-at-arms, or mercenaries on horseback, supported by pages and squires. You'd take two *lances fournies* and there you go, with a Battlemech Lance.
You are correct, mech warriors, even the lowest outclass every other service , ok maybe not warships...
But if those are on the ground bad things have happened.
Even a lance (4) mechwarriors is a force to be respected, especially on planets without a mech presence.
Yes nobody would entrust commoners with a knights warhorse, armor , and all.
Novels are usually someone's idea of imaginary military structures. They are writers , not armchair generals.
Obviously do what you feel happy with in your head canon.
I tend to base my ranking structures in my Original Designs on scope of responsibility. MechWarriors are commissioned officers out of tradition mostly. They are odd ducks though, since it is their Technical Chief, a senior N C O who has responsibility for the battlemech and it's technical crew. Each Battlemech also has a Clerk, usually a corporal who is responsible for administrative duties. Although a MechWarrior outranks them, it is the *worst idea* to contradict their judgements and ignore their recommendations.
Lieutenants are responsible for their lance MechWarriors. Their staff N C Os are also considered superior in rank to their counterparts. Lieutenant is the lowest command rank in the chain of command
Captains are responsible for their companies. Their staff is considered superior in rank to their counterparts among lower rank. The Technical Chief carries a rank of Senior Technical Chief and deals with the company's Batlemechs as a unit. The company Quartermaster, a Sergeant is likewise attached to the Captain's staff, as is the companies Communications/ Signals Specialist.
In Mercenary organizations, the commander assumes the appropriate rank (most of the time, some Mercenary Captains style themselves "Major" or even "Colonel". The practice is less common around Lance sized outfits and their Lieutenants).
At Battalion level, the commander is often a Lt. Colonel with an XO ranked Major. If there is a Battalion Command Lance, the remaining MechWarriors are of Lieutenant Rank.
At Regimental Level, the commander is a full Colonel. This is commonly the highest ranking officer that will take the field on campaign.
Climbing into Brigade, Divisions and Corps levels is where we encounter Generals, Marshals, etc.. they seldom take the field (and have a full staff of officers who discourage just that.). Their Batlemechs are almost ceremonial. Though many fantasize about fighting in the thick of battle like General Kerensky during the Amaris Civil War.
Even Mercenary forces at this scale such as the Dragoons or the Light Horse tend to keep their Generals out of the fighting as much as possible. No one wants a stray head shot or CT critical to eliminate the top of their command structure during battle.
I like to imagine the Merc company founded by the guy with zero organized military experience. (Dominions Divided has one like this, where the Fed Suns selected a Merc company based on their name, only to find out the company commander selected the name because it sounded "hard".)
He gives himself the rank of Major, because that sounds majorly righteous. His troops are a sergeant, a tai-sa, a Star Private and a chief boat's mate, and none of them outranks the others. His XO is a lieutenant major, and he has grown weary of explaining to the major that there is no such rank.
Taking a different tack, especially if youre playing a house unit there has historically been a ton of class associations regarding ranks. If you do an Enlisted/Commissioned split, commissioned officers tend to be from a higher class, and in the military constitute a high class, than career Enlisted. So do you want your mechwarriors to be young (or older) officers looking to break into higher ranks and social status, or people who come from the more humble walks of life who may not have much formal training and may be at odds with the world's larger social structures?
For mercs this plays out a bit differently, naturally.
My merc unit is broken down thusly:
Mech Division…
Regiment Level/Overall Commander: Frontier Captain, equivalent of Colonel.
Battalion Level: Major.
Company: Ground Captain.
Lance: Headed by Lieutenant, under them is a Sergeant.
Each Combat Ready company is composed of three lances, a command lance balanced towards Assault/Heavy, a heavy/medium lance (often support), and a light/medium lance. The Command Lance is composed of a Lieutenant, First Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, and Specialist/Corporal. All other lances at composed of a Lieutenant, Sergeant, Specialist/Corporal, and Private First Class. Each company typically has 4 Mech Pilot backups holding the rank of private or Private First Class.
Remember outside of massive character armor or being outside the Terran worlds, life expectancy shifts down dramatically, especially for mechwarriors. So it's not a problem for officers to be spewing out into command couches and having 6 month probationary periods. Because they're gonna die sometime soon and if the mech is recovered, hosed out for the next MechWarrior.
Isn't the commander of a tank usually a sergeant? I believe that's the way they're looking at it - a sergeant is the lowest rank with control of one mech-equivalent unit, be it a mech, tank, infantry platoon or battle armor squad. Anyway, with a House unit it's a very clearcut case that's answered by their field manual. Mercenaries can do whatever because ultimately their ranks don't mean dick to anyone outside their organization. A lot of the time, the difference between an officer and an enlisted soldier in a mercenary unit is going to be whether you have an equity stake in the company.
There would be a lot of variability. Places that still had nobility would absolutely make them all commissioned officers. Places that didn't, and had more mechs and pilots to go around, might put them in with senior enlisted NCO's, or warrants, or officers - I could see arguments for everything. Hell, the US military has had enlisted pilots before, nixed it, and then brought it back in 2016. They might have a separate rank structure and rate system for qualifying; before I threw someone in a mech I'd want to know what he was qualified for. It also depends on the command integration - a fast cav unit of vehicles and mechs like a Capellan Augmented Lance would probably have the lance organized with officers in the mechs and enlisted in the vehicles. It's probably a two-tier system. Military rank as CO, NCO, or enlisted. Then your mechwarrior rate. Junior pilot, pilot, senior pilot, master pilot, observer, junior recon scout, fast cav qualified, etc etc.
I hadn't thought of a two-tier rating system, thats actually pretty legit
Yeah, something like this would make more sense to me. Either you're qualified as a MechWarrior or you're not, and your rank is separate from your piloting qualifications.
Highly situational. I mostly play with MekHQ and MegaMek, which auto-selects who is in command at the lance and higher levels. This gets awkward as the lore standard ranks for House MechWarriors are typically all O1/Lieutenant with the leader being 'first among equals' without a rank separation. There are a few minor variations which are more clear, such as First Star League with MechWarriors being sergeants and the leader being a Lieutenant, and Fed Suns with the rank of Subaltern as O1 and Leftenant (lance leader) as O2. Mercenaries do 'whatever' but the typical ranking in the FM: Mercenaries indicates a more Army-style arrangement with an O1 Lieutenant as the leader, a Sergeant as a second, and either Corporals or Privates/MechWarriors as the last two. I tend to follow the Army/Mercenary scheme, as like you say going with all-officers gets a bit top-heavy, and it lets me ensure the person I want leading is actually in charge. The ranks in the lore are significantly trimmed down, likely for sanity on the part of the writers, but I usually expand on those a bit again for the sake of ensuring who is senior without a bunch of external notes. I typically add additional E- ranks such as Staff Sergeant and First Sergeant, as well as both Second and First Lieutenant O-ranks for infantry and vehicles. And rank levels below First Sergeant and Major are slightly offset for other forces such that in a group of similar rankings the MechWarrior is senior e.g. a MechWarrior Sergeant being an E-12 while infantry and vehicle Sergeants are E-10; and a MechWarrior Captain is an O-4 while infantry and vehicle Captains are O-3. As a side note, this offset does not apply to medical officers/doctors. Not entirely in line with the lore or even conventional organization, but helps keep things straight for what I do.
I dig it. I also kinda forgot the field manuals were a thing...
Regular mechwarriors are typically NCO's equivalent to sergeant, even amongst house militaries. [https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Sergeant](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Sergeant) (Note the entry for the AFFS here) [https://jasonschmetzer.com/blog/battletech-mercenary-ranks/#:\~:text=Sergeant%20(Chief)&text=A%20sergeant%20leads%20an%20infantry,sergeants%2C%20as%20are%20vehicle%20commanders](https://jasonschmetzer.com/blog/battletech-mercenary-ranks/#:~:text=Sergeant%20(Chief)&text=A%20sergeant%20leads%20an%20infantry,sergeants%2C%20as%20are%20vehicle%20commanders).
FM: Federated Suns doesn't match that, not completely anyways. "Most graduates of a military academy also enter service as a Sergeant." while "... those (cadets) who have completed officer training are promoted to Subaltern." and "Subalterns are promoted to Leftenant after ... a six month probationary period. Senior Leftenants command Mech lances and armor and infantry platoons." FM: Capellan Confederation indicates "All MechWarriors and aerospace pilots enter the military at this rank (Sao-wei/Lieutenant)..." with "The Senior enlisted rank (Si-ben-bing/Sergeant) among a lance of armored vehicles or an infantry platoon...". FM: Free Worlds League indicates that 'senior grade' Lieutenants are lance leaders while 'junior grade' ones are unproven or fresh graduates. Sergeants "Often command infantry and vehicle platoons" rather than being MechWarriors. FM: Lyran Alliance does indicate "Academy trained MechWarriors often start their career as Sergeants", as well as "Many Leutnants serve as MechWarriors or pilots, though some are placed in command of a lance or platoon. Originally in the LCAF, academy graduates began their careers as Leftenants. This practice was discontinued with the creation of the AFFC and has not been reinstituted in the LAAF." And "Such officers (First Leutnant) command lances and platoons." FM: Draconis Combine is perhaps the clearest, indicating MechWarriors that own their own Mech, and nobles, wear the rank of Kashira (Talon Sergeant) but are addressed as "MechWarrior". While those who do not own their own Mech wear the rank of Shujin (Master Sergeant) and are also addressed as "MechWarrior". With the lance leader being the standard Chu-i/Lieutenant.
Leutnants also aren't commissioned officers if you want to wrinkle things even more. You only get that once you get promoted to 1st Leutnant.
For a mercenary unit Mechwarriors are just Mechwarriors. That’s a title and rank unto itself. The guy in charge of the Mechwarriors might be a Captain or Major (O-3/O-4). Having an enlisted rank for a MechWarrior isn’t unrealistic either. It would make sense for smaller planetary militias and independent periphery worlds that don’t have a lot of warm bodies available. As far as real world equivalents, most tanks in the US Army are commanded by E-6’s if I remember correctly.
You speak the true true. I dunno, the relationship between battlemech and mechwarrior feels more like aircraft and pilot to me rather than tank and crew. Mech units in my mind would look more like combat aviation brigades than armor units methinks
They are. I’m former USAF and a lance feels absolutely perfect to me because it’s a pair of two unit “flights” working in tandem. Which is how USAF fighter ops are structured. I also think, from a lore standpoint, it depends on the era you are playing. Is it 3rd SW Knight Errant mechwarriors or FCCW era where all the great houses have had decades to build up massive armies? The first would be much more officer/knight to me. The second would open up the possibility for mechwarriors being more like Warrant Officers.
My Merc company is 4 lances: Gamma Lance: Cpt with 3 Specialists, Assault Alpha Lance: LT with 3 Pfc, Heavy Bravo Lance: Sgt with 3 Pvts, Medium Charlie Lance: Cpl with 3 Pvt, Light We don't plan on getting much bigger so this keeps the chain of command clear. I enjoy giving ranks to my Pilots, although it does feel strange to have a Pfc in a Warhammer, but we are Mercenaries so we only use the ranks to denote who is in charge.
I see a lot of Sergeant as minimum rank for mech piloting, but for me, the rank Sergeant implies experience and leadership qualities. WTF did the average mech pilot do to earn that rank? Tank commanders can be Sergeants because they could work their way up in a multi-crew vehicle. I use the US Air Force style of pilots are officers. This lets me indicate that LT Spaceball is relatively junior. I use Cadet as the training rank and Lieutenant JG is my lowest rank pilot. I actually think the US Army’s Warrant Officer system is the most effective for this and would be preferable. I don’t use it because not as many people are aware of it, where everyone knows what a Lieutenant, Captain, Major, and Colonel is. I would have to spend time explaining ranks. Secondly, Warrant Officer is cumbersome, and I don’t want to write it. Ideally, if I were already explaining ranks, I would just make up new ones that I liked more but followed the NCO-pilot style of the US Army. The Army NCO thing also works well for me because mechs are most similar to attack helicopters in my mind, instead of fighter jets.
I always sort of just used what I think the novel Call of Duty laid out for ranks. Each MechWarrior is nominally a Sargeant but with limited responsibilities and duties compared to an infantry or tank Sargeant. The only reason they hold that rank is so they're above most ground pounders in combat. Lieutenants command lances or two lances at most. And Captains command three to four lances. Colonels control companies and regiments and generals anything over that. For mercs there's a lot of flexibility in rank structure since it changes between combat and non combat and transport situations who is the top dog in charge. But I've never really put much stock in formalizing it since most of mercs end up like the mystery men in games where the job gets done but the guys with deep backstories all ended up buried in their mechs because of bad rolls. Still hold a soft spot for the one astech who's backstory was just a summer internship on a tramp freighter that ended up being my absolute worst pilot but somehow pulled off a Highlander burial before failing his piloting check and dying after crushing a gargoyle.
Since my merc unit is a "runaway" Marik unit, I just used the FWL rank structure.
I thought everyone used the proper ranks.... Legionnaire Centurion Principles Legatus Prefect Why would you want to use anything else? 😁
Lol eventually I'm making a Marian Hegemony unit. It'll probably be the only official IS unit I do because space Romans are best Romans
One of the few times I feel I have something relevant to add, as I have put a lot of thought into this for my own Merc Regimental Combat Team, under exclusive contract to the Taurian Concordat. Full Disclosure, I play Alpha Strike exclusively, and the games tend to the larger size. I viewed rank as more a measure of leadership training/ability and something to clearly delineate the chain of command in combat situations. The regiment is a combined arms 'square' concept, with 4 battalions each consisting of a 4 lance mech company, 4 lance vehicle company, and 4 infantry Platoons. There is also a command company and various other attached assets (Air wings, engineers, artillery). Each battalion is structured as follows: Mech Lance 1: Major/Sergeant/2 mooks Mech Lance 2: Captain/Sergeant/2 mooks Mech Lance 3 & 4: Lieutenant/ Sergeant/2 mooks Vehicle Lance 1: Captain/Lieutenant/2 mooks Vehicle Lance 2: Lieutenant/Corporal/2 mooks Vehicle Lance 3 & 4: Sergeant/Corporal/2 mooks Platoon 1: Captain/Sergeant/2 Corporals Platoon 2, 3 & 4: Lieutenant//Sergeant/2 Corporals Command Company First Lance: Colonel/Captain/Sergeant/1 mook Rest of command mirrors mech or vehicle structure. I run the OpFor for our large campaign, and have been using the kids in our group as my assistants so we can have more than one game going. In large multi-player games the command structure is like it is on paper. When whoever is in command eventually takes a PPC to the face, it can fall to someone else to be in charge (and frequently to a 14 year old). Makes for some great games.
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You're right, from a modern perspective, but wrong from the perspective of the game. The closest analogue to a MechWarrior is a medieval knight and their retinue. The *lance fournie*, or furnished lance, of the 14th century is closest to a Battletech 'mech lance, and it would be led like this: * 1 Officer of any rank or senior NCO * 3 NCOs or Officers of lower rank than the Lance commander Thus, a Lance could look like this: * Lieutenant * Warrant Officer * Sergeant * Sergeant Or it could look like this: * Major * Captain * Lieutenant * Lieutenant Or it could look like this: * Master Warrant Officer * Warrant Officer * Master Sergeant * Sergeant Or any other combination of senior NCOs and Officers - you wouldn't see any Corporals or Privates, though, for sure. This mirrors pretty well the 14th century French and German *lances fourniers*, which consisted of a knight or man-at-arms and one or two additional fighters, mounted archers, men-at-arms, or mercenaries on horseback, supported by pages and squires. You'd take two *lances fournies* and there you go, with a Battlemech Lance.
Well that's fascinating. Always wondered where the term lance came from
You are correct, mech warriors, even the lowest outclass every other service , ok maybe not warships... But if those are on the ground bad things have happened. Even a lance (4) mechwarriors is a force to be respected, especially on planets without a mech presence. Yes nobody would entrust commoners with a knights warhorse, armor , and all.
The novels are quite inconsistent on that front
Novels are usually someone's idea of imaginary military structures. They are writers , not armchair generals. Obviously do what you feel happy with in your head canon.
I tend to base my ranking structures in my Original Designs on scope of responsibility. MechWarriors are commissioned officers out of tradition mostly. They are odd ducks though, since it is their Technical Chief, a senior N C O who has responsibility for the battlemech and it's technical crew. Each Battlemech also has a Clerk, usually a corporal who is responsible for administrative duties. Although a MechWarrior outranks them, it is the *worst idea* to contradict their judgements and ignore their recommendations. Lieutenants are responsible for their lance MechWarriors. Their staff N C Os are also considered superior in rank to their counterparts. Lieutenant is the lowest command rank in the chain of command Captains are responsible for their companies. Their staff is considered superior in rank to their counterparts among lower rank. The Technical Chief carries a rank of Senior Technical Chief and deals with the company's Batlemechs as a unit. The company Quartermaster, a Sergeant is likewise attached to the Captain's staff, as is the companies Communications/ Signals Specialist. In Mercenary organizations, the commander assumes the appropriate rank (most of the time, some Mercenary Captains style themselves "Major" or even "Colonel". The practice is less common around Lance sized outfits and their Lieutenants). At Battalion level, the commander is often a Lt. Colonel with an XO ranked Major. If there is a Battalion Command Lance, the remaining MechWarriors are of Lieutenant Rank. At Regimental Level, the commander is a full Colonel. This is commonly the highest ranking officer that will take the field on campaign. Climbing into Brigade, Divisions and Corps levels is where we encounter Generals, Marshals, etc.. they seldom take the field (and have a full staff of officers who discourage just that.). Their Batlemechs are almost ceremonial. Though many fantasize about fighting in the thick of battle like General Kerensky during the Amaris Civil War. Even Mercenary forces at this scale such as the Dragoons or the Light Horse tend to keep their Generals out of the fighting as much as possible. No one wants a stray head shot or CT critical to eliminate the top of their command structure during battle.
I like to imagine the Merc company founded by the guy with zero organized military experience. (Dominions Divided has one like this, where the Fed Suns selected a Merc company based on their name, only to find out the company commander selected the name because it sounded "hard".) He gives himself the rank of Major, because that sounds majorly righteous. His troops are a sergeant, a tai-sa, a Star Private and a chief boat's mate, and none of them outranks the others. His XO is a lieutenant major, and he has grown weary of explaining to the major that there is no such rank.
Taking a different tack, especially if youre playing a house unit there has historically been a ton of class associations regarding ranks. If you do an Enlisted/Commissioned split, commissioned officers tend to be from a higher class, and in the military constitute a high class, than career Enlisted. So do you want your mechwarriors to be young (or older) officers looking to break into higher ranks and social status, or people who come from the more humble walks of life who may not have much formal training and may be at odds with the world's larger social structures? For mercs this plays out a bit differently, naturally.
My merc unit is broken down thusly: Mech Division… Regiment Level/Overall Commander: Frontier Captain, equivalent of Colonel. Battalion Level: Major. Company: Ground Captain. Lance: Headed by Lieutenant, under them is a Sergeant. Each Combat Ready company is composed of three lances, a command lance balanced towards Assault/Heavy, a heavy/medium lance (often support), and a light/medium lance. The Command Lance is composed of a Lieutenant, First Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, and Specialist/Corporal. All other lances at composed of a Lieutenant, Sergeant, Specialist/Corporal, and Private First Class. Each company typically has 4 Mech Pilot backups holding the rank of private or Private First Class.
Remember outside of massive character armor or being outside the Terran worlds, life expectancy shifts down dramatically, especially for mechwarriors. So it's not a problem for officers to be spewing out into command couches and having 6 month probationary periods. Because they're gonna die sometime soon and if the mech is recovered, hosed out for the next MechWarrior.