Mercenary Second Edition Playtest - Recruiting

[MongooseMatt]

If you take a trip to Planet Mongoose today, you will see draft/playtest rules for recruiting men and women into mercenary companies.

http://blog.mongoosepublishing.co.uk/?p=717

These rules start the core of the new Mercenary book, and more articles next week will continue to reveal more, building up into a complete system that will allow you to run mercenary-based campaigns quickly and easily.

Feel free to come back here and make comment, as we want to hear from all of you!

 

[locarno24]

Looks nice and logical - the pay-vs-specialisation table is a godsend for quickly figuring out a 'bill' when throwing together some troops. It's nice for a general 'rule of thumb' for non-merc campaigns as well - with a little modification (probably streetwise rather than admin) you can use the same rules for throwing together a team of half a dozen armed goons, a driver and a wire-tap man for some criminal shenanigans.


Noting the presence of accountants, drivers, etc, it might be worth figuring out a recommended rule-of-thumb for the numbers needed in various types of unit (in the same way that the recommended half/full/whatever crews list the numbers of engineers, medics, and stewards to support a starship).

I remember seeing that a divisional force in combat 'eats' about 500-700 tonnes of cargo a day...not sure what that would equate to in dTons... food, water, ammo (which depends on TL), possibly air (depending on environment!)

Note that you might want to add 'shuttle pilot' with flyer 0 or flyer 1, admin 1 as a logistics pilot. 3I merc forces are probably more likely to be hauling their bullets and beans in a pinnace than an a 6X6.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Noting the presence of accountants, drivers, etc, it might be worth figuring out a recommended rule-of-thumb for the numbers needed in various types of unit (in the same way that the recommended half/full/whatever crews list the numbers of engineers, medics, and stewards to support a starship)..

That will be coming up in the next preview

Note that you might want to add 'shuttle pilot' with flyer 0 or flyer 1, admin 1 as a logistics pilot. 3I merc forces are probably more likely to be hauling their bullets and beans in a pinnace than an a 6X6.

Depends how successful they are

 

[phavoc]

Recruiting Process Table

* You should add in a signing bonus as a modifier. Say for every two months pay you get a +1 DM.

* If they are recruiting for expected combat their will probably be a -1 DM since people prefer to stay alive. But recruiting for a security or rear-area type position where you don't get shot at would give you a +1 DM.

* Local tensions, politics or even religious alignment can also positively/negatively affect recruiting. If people are fighting for the "right side" to go against "those bastards", things like nationalism/religion or other factors would be applicable. Especially if the incident or issue was whipped up in the local press and emotions are high (and corresponding intelligence is low). Think of the wars fought over the centuries where people signed up to fight because of some incident (9/11, sinking of Lusitania, sinking of the Maine, etc). If not a specific modifier then perhaps a paragraph off to the side explaining this and how recruiters can manipulate it to their advantage).

Salaries and Equipment

* Per the comment about truck driver, this would probably be a relatively loose category. Depending on the unit type and equipment, the truck driver may have Wheeled-0, Grav-0 skills to operate basic equipment. If you kept the labels broad and put a note out where it's a broad category and the ref/player to insert the appropriate skill level, this would work out better.

Probably there should be a bucket category, like driver, that also would be the same for skills like cook, or clerk, or any other rear-area type support person that is not expected to fight or face the enemy. But, for some units. they may actually fall along the lines of the Marines where everybody is a Marine first, and something else second. So in those cases your cooks and drivers also have the skills of a basic rifleman.

* The general pay schema should have some more work, or at least explanation. Salaries need to be paid before profits, but some expenses would take precedence over monthly payroll. It would be nice to see some verbiage describing how a unit might go on half-pay during lean times, what affect it might have on morale as well as increasing the liklihood of desertions, or even mutinies. The more professional/battle hardened the unit is would probably lower the chance. But new, or green units would be more likely to encounter this issue.

NCO's and Officers

* For local forces, militia's and their ilk, it should not be uncommon for families to bully, buy or otherwise influence the insertion of family members into the chain of command in positions that they neither are skilled for or have earned. In these instances you may have entire command teams who are incompetent and surrounded by sycophants (think of the Italian high command in North Africa during WW2). Or sometimes you might get a commander with Admin-4, Tactics - 0, Leader-0 in charge of a rear-area brigade. It looks great as a ceremonial unit, but it is incapable of actually being a combat-effective unit.

 

[MongooseMatt]

* For local forces, militia's and their ilk,

Remember, these rules are not for the recruitment of military forces in general, but mercenaries specifically. No doubt referees will tweak the final rules to their own desires!

 

[Condottiere]

1. One size doesn't fit all.

2. Supporting personnel: if you pay them to cook or drive, they may insist that they're not paid to fight when the fecal matter hits the ventilator.

3. Operational security may also be an issue with temporary workers or supporting personnel, they could be spies, or may be persuaded to reveal minor data.

4. You may want to automate as far as possible; on the other hand, old fashioned methods like couriers and messengers would prevent your opponent from intercepting or interfering with electronic communications.

5. The Zhodani hierarchy reflected this dilemma of under qualified officers. Pick a percentage of political appointees, and either make them all green, or grade them on a curve bell to show that most are snotnoses, but a few actually know what they are doing.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Note that our US cousins are very selective about what is defined as a mercenary.

They have lots of private armed security guards - they are all mercenaries. Especially the ones shipped to Iraq, Afghanistan and to provide anti-piracy protection.

 

[phavoc]

* For local forces, militia's and their ilk,

Remember, these rules are not for the recruitment of military forces in general, but mercenaries specifically. No doubt referees will tweak the final rules to their own desires!

Yeah, I understand that portion. But mercs get contracts from all sorts of people. And this would be applicable when you have a rich patron with lots of cash who wants to form his own mercenary unit, but isn't the kind of person who should lead.

And speaking of the business end of things, rarely will a merc leader be good at both the fighting side AND the business/administration/operations side of things. Really small units might get away with things, but a larger unit will need a dedicated business-side that does contracts, purchases munitions, supplies, pays the taxes, etc.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Note that our US cousins are very selective about what is defined as a mercenary.

To be fair, a lot of countries have played that game in the past

 

[Condottiere]

If you're American, you're entrepreneurial. In foreign parts.

A lot depends on perception and scale; in the Last Samurai, Tom Cruise and his sidekick would be hired as military consultants, but train and lead local levies. The Chinese under Chiang Kaishek hired Germans (with official permission) to train some rather effective units that gave the Japanese no end of problems, withdrawn only after some inhouse Nazi lobbying in favour of the Japanese.

 

[locarno24]

A lot depends on perception and scale; in the Last Samurai, Tom Cruise and his sidekick would be hired as military consultants, but train and lead local levies. The Chinese under Chiang Kaishek hired Germans (with official permission) to train some rather effective units that gave the Japanese no end of problems, withdrawn only after some inhouse Nazi lobbying in favour of the Japanese.

Well, that'll (presumably) come under the ticket system - the mercenary ticket generator is one area that really does need tweaking. Much as I liked the original for generating missions and opposition, the actual pay for the mission bore no resemblance to the size of your unit, amongst other issues.

Cadre missions are a bread-and-butter job in a 3I setting because shipping in a few dozen drillmasters is affordable but shipping in a genuine military force from off-world (beyond a platoon-sized force to do security for 'that one guy') is prohibitively expensive for anyone short of the sort of major government organisations who you would expect to have a proper military/security force already.

By comparison, a few dozen dtons of low-tech-but-better-than-anything-indigenous combat armour and comms gear, and a squad of ex imperial army to train you to use them, fits on a decent subsidized trader, and (given time) lets you field a force that can meaningfully affect company and regimental-scale engagements.


As noted, mercenary is a term with different meanings to different people.

The original, original just meant anyone paid to fight (i.e. armed peasants) - as opposed to those with feudal obligations to fight (i.e. knights, Citizen Hoplites, etc), and (as now) carried some relatively disdainful context, even though by that definition 'professional soldiers' such as the roman legions, the new model army, and modern militaries are all 'mercenaries'.

To an extent, you may get that re-appear again since the Imperium is big on feudal ranks - I'm not sure what if any military obligations come with imperial nobility; they have the right to raise huscarl forces but I'm not sure what claim the imperium has on requiring to deploy them (I assume at least some).

Other races/factions may be even bigger on this; certainly the Aslan clans have the whole 'warrior caste' mentality - given that males have trouble with even the concept of money, but understand clan honour right down to the DNA.

Note that you might want to add 'shuttle pilot' with flyer 0 or flyer 1, admin 1 as a logistics pilot. 3I merc forces are probably more likely to be hauling their bullets and beans in a pinnace than an a 6X6.

Depends how successful they are

Agreed. Let me instead, then, suggest that the option to hire one, at least temporarily, probably needs to be in the book even for less successful units because said 6x6 will have trouble driving to and from a ship in orbit, and the crew of the S.S. Mortgage Deficit will probably be less than enthusiastic about landing their beaten-up wreck of a tramp trader in a war-zone.



Other comments:

The recruiter may make a number of Admin checks equal to the level of their Admin skill to recruit mercenaries during these 1-6 weeks.

Is this 'a number of additional checks' or is it 'to a minimum of 1'? - you've a fair chance of an Admin/0 person being tasked to do this - presumably he or she gets to make at least one check per month(ish) spent recruiting?

Law level and government code modifiers:
These are pretty clearly set up to represent attracting a 'free citizen with combat skill and a taste for adventure' - the more high law level, the harder it is to find combatants, and the more 'patriotic' the government type the less prepared people are to join you.

One comment; is it worth something different re getting 'recruits' through existing channels? - that is, a feudal balkanised world, or a charismatic dictator, might be prepared to provide a merc unit with warm bodies. This is more likely to be a diplomacy check than an admin one, but is also more likely to produce manpower with more basic training.


Should the NCOs and Officers pay increase table not match the Alternative Pay method table - for example, the Lance Sergeant appears in the latter but not the former.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Overall I've always been a bit befuddled regarding the mercenary hiring mechanics.

If the players characters are possible merc hires, I'd role play their being hired not roll and say "ok, it looks like only half of you get hired".

If the players characters are the ones doing the hiring, I'd role play that too. You have an assessment as to what the manpower needs are for the mission, a budget, and so on. If you roll and only get half the people needed... ah, I see, your trying to create a need to quickly come up with an alternative adventure and thus sell more of the S09 Campaign guides.

Perhaps someone can help give examples for utilizing these recruiting rules in a game?

As an aid to the GM, I do see useful stuff there. Guideline for wages being one. I'd like to see a simple mechanic for determining loyalty for when the going gets tough. (EDIT: I see some more on morale in the latest Matt has posted but still has the following issue) Part of this is because I see a disassociation between a cause and those fighting for it.

Perhaps some DMs for recruiting in the same system as the conflict vs a different system. DM's based on what you are fighting for? These things seam, to me, a bigger factor than is there a Navy base and size of starport... Recruiting in the same system as a Non-charismatic leader (Gov B) to overthrow them? Recruiting to overthrow a Charismatic Oligarchy (Gov C)? Recruiting to go fight in some system you never heard of against a high tech army of one million?

 

[DickTurpin]

The randomness of the dice can make for some unusual troop mixes. I was trying to recruit a beginning mercenary force of 2-3 squads of riflemen and militiamen with a sprinkling of advanced troops as a core cadre. In my first week of recruiting I got 9 riflemen, 11 militiamen, and 22 snipers! Needless to say both my force mix and payroll were a lot different than I imagined at the beginning.

 

[MongooseMatt]

The randomness of the dice can make for some unusual troop mixes. I was trying to recruit a beginning mercenary force of 2-3 squads of riflemen and militiamen with a sprinkling of advanced troops as a core cadre. In my first week of recruiting I got 9 riflemen, 11 militiamen, and 22 snipers! Needless to say both my force mix and payroll were a lot different than I imagined at the beginning.

We have added a section that should take care of this, meaning you would not have to roll seperately to get those snipers if you just wanted some squad marksmen;


Specialists and Leaders
When players run recruitment campaigns, they will likely be looking to fulfil specific areas in their growing mercenary force, usually by squad, platoon or company, with any excess being used to replace casualties suffered in previous missions.

However, a squad (for example, the same applies to larger units), is more than just 8 or 10 men able to use a rifle. They will have a squad leader, likely a combat medic, and very possibly someone skilled at using heavy support weapons.

Rather than run separate recruitment campaigns for each of these positions, players can instead assume that up to a third of the recruits (rounding down) they attract will be specialists and/or leaders, with the same skills as the rest of the recruits, but with additional skills to reflect their rank or specialisation. Though recruited at the same time, they will have higher salaries than the rest of the recruits, as determined by the guidelines on page XX.

For example, the players are looking to recruit a simple squad of riflemen, with the skills Gun Combat (slug rifle) 1 and Recon 1. They end up finding 16 such recruits, of which up to 5 may be specialists and leaders. They decide to keep the squad the same size as the rest of the squads in their force and hire just 10, at a salary of Cr. 2,000 each.

They can choose to have up to 5 of these recruits be specialists or leaders, so they make one a Corporal, giving him Tactics (military) 1 and a Cr. 1,000 increase in salary for the Tactics skill, and an additional Cr. 500 for being a Corporal (see page XX for suggested NCO pay scales). They also decide to take a Combat Medic, who adds Medic 1 for an additional Cr. 1,000 of salary.

 

[DickTurpin]

We have added a section that should take care of this, meaning you would not have to roll seperately to get those snipers if you just wanted some squad marksmen;


Specialists and Leaders
When players run recruitment campaigns, they will likely be looking to fulfil specific areas in their growing mercenary force, usually by squad, platoon or company, with any excess being used to replace casualties suffered in previous missions.

However, a squad (for example, the same applies to larger units), is more than just 8 or 10 men able to use a rifle. They will have a squad leader, likely a combat medic, and very possibly someone skilled at using heavy support weapons.

Rather than run separate recruitment campaigns for each of these positions, players can instead assume that up to a third of the recruits (rounding down) they attract will be specialists and/or leaders, with the same skills as the rest of the recruits, but with additional skills to reflect their rank or specialisation. Though recruited at the same time, they will have higher salaries than the rest of the recruits, as determined by the guidelines on page XX.

For example, the players are looking to recruit a simple squad of riflemen, with the skills Gun Combat (slug rifle) 1 and Recon 1. They end up finding 16 such recruits, of which up to 5 may be specialists and leaders. They decide to keep the squad the same size as the rest of the squads in their force and hire just 10, at a salary of Cr. 2,000 each.

They can choose to have up to 5 of these recruits be specialists or leaders, so they make one a Corporal, giving him Tactics (military) 1 and a Cr. 1,000 increase in salary for the Tactics skill, and an additional Cr. 500 for being a Corporal (see page XX for suggested NCO pay scales). They also decide to take a Combat Medic, who adds Medic 1 for an additional Cr. 1,000 of salary.

Excellent, I was hoping something like this was included. Are there also guidelines for how much pay higher skilled recruits would get based on the level of skill increase? Other roles already listed on the table are easy to do but what about the chance for a rifleman with Gun Combat 3, or a driver that has Drive 2 and Mechanic 2?

I also noticed that the table was heavy on army ground troops but had nothing for operations in a vacuum environment. Are those skills going to be addressed or have they been relegated to the Piracy book where they would be a much more important?

 

[MongooseMatt]

Excellent, I was hoping something like this was included. Are there also guidelines for how much pay higher skilled recruits would get based on the level of skill increase? Other roles already listed on the table are easy to do but what about the chance for a rifleman with Gun Combat 3, or a driver that has Drive 2 and Mechanic 2?

Under the section, Salaries and Equipment!

I also noticed that the table was heavy on army ground troops but had nothing for operations in a vacuum environment. Are those skills going to be addressed or have they been relegated to the Piracy book where they would be a much more important?

Well, here is a good thing for you chaps to think about - what, specifically, extra troops and hirelings would you like to see?

 

[locarno24]

The list is fine - given the guidelines on salary relative to maximum skill - although a shuttle pilot would still be nice.

One thing that might be nice is a guide to how recruitment DM was generated, or should be generated for some putative 'homebrew' specialist. The guide tells me what primary skill they have and what I should be paying for them as a result, but the DMs aren't purely driven by skill (compare militiaman to driver).

 

[MongooseMatt]

The list is fine - given the guidelines on salary relative to maximum skill - although a shuttle pilot would still be nice.

I added him in

One thing that might be nice is a guide to how recruitment DM was generated, or should be generated for some putative 'homebrew' specialist. The guide tells me what primary skill they have and what I should be paying for them as a result, but the DMs aren't purely driven by skill (compare militiaman to driver).

Urk. I wanted to leave this kinda fuzzy rather than have hard rules, primarily because I wanted this system to be useable in any universe, any setting, letting the referee come up with his own modifiers, perhaps based on the examples listed.

Might include a box text for that with some guidelines...

 

[locarno24]

Urk. I wanted to leave this kinda fuzzy rather than have hard rules, primarily because I wanted this system to be useable in any universe, any setting, letting the referee come up with his own modifiers, perhaps based on the examples listed.

Might include a box text for that with some guidelines...

Fuzzy is fine. There won't be hard-and-fast rules for the DM anyway - taking the examples I gave, the relative ease of aquiring recruits with Gun Combat/0 and Drive/0 will vary depending on location and circumstances. Some guidelines is all I'm suggesting.

Oh. one other specialist - it's a bit 3I-centric but not massively so; a soldier with Vacc Suit. Partly for boarding troops, but mostly because I believe combat armour requires it? Mercs with their own battle dress suits seems a bit over the top but combat armour suits doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility.

call him a 'marine' or 'grenadier' or something.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Mercs with their own battle dress suits seems a bit over the top

Just to be clear, under these rules mercs do not come with battle dress - they don't come with anything except skills. You will be purchasing everything for your mercenary outfit!