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see you on the battlefield. The Human-Covenant War forced the Army of
United Nations Space Command to fight a prolonged campaign under the most challenging circumstances
in military history. The Covenant forces arrayed against them were numerically superior, technologically
advanced, and most critically, rarely consigned themselves to the planetary or terrestrial
campaigns where traditional armies were most effective. Most UNSC worlds were simply turned
to glass from orbit with local defense forces unable to retaliate in any meaningful way.
And while the UNSC might have gradually come to understand the Covenant’s reasons and
motivations for which worlds were burned, and which invaded, there was no surefire way
to predict where the Covenant would decide to attempt a landing. The end result was that
UNSC Army forces were annihilated on hundreds of worlds without having achieved anything,
in the hopes that just a few of those worlds might have become prolonged terrestrial campaigns
in which UNSC reinforcements could be rushed, and the overall Covenant advanced, slowed
down if not stopped. The battles for Harvest were perhaps the ultimate example of this
doctrine. But what’s truly incredible is that when
these kinds of planetary campaigns took place, they weren’t the one sided massacres that
tended to define interstellar fleet actions. When presented with the opportunity to engage
the Covenant in the kinds of battles for which the UNSC Army was designed and outfitted,
it could be extraordinarily effective. Covenant advantages in numbers or technology were overcome
quite rapidly, with superior tactics, organization, leadership and cohesion. So in this episode of Building Your Battlegroup,
the Templin Institute will be taking on a bit of a challenge. The UNSC Army is a rather
unappreciated branch, and very little is known about how its forces are organized, at least
when compared to the UNSC Navy or the Spartans. So, in lieu of any official information we’re
going to attempt to make our own armored formation. We’ll look at the equipment available to
the UNSC Army, try to anticipate what our unit will be expected to accomplish, and design
a formation that, if given a chance, will force the Covenant to issue forth the legendary
cry of “Regret, Regret, Regret”. But the UNSC Army is a massive entity in command
of all sorts of units. So to begin, let’s outline the parameters and limitations we’ll
be operating under, starting with exactly what kind of battlegroup we’re building.
When fighting the Covenant, the UNSC Army relied on divisions as their foundational
tactical units. These were large formations, probably including between 10,000 and 20,000
soldiers. But it would be difficult for these divisions to be deployed rapidly. It might
take weeks or even months for them to be properly mobilized and sent off to wherever they need
to be. What I want to focus on instead, might be
described as a Combat Team, and as someone obsessed with tanks, specifically an Armored
Combat Team. This is a smaller regiment or brigade that nevertheless is built to be independent
and focused on combined arms. It might be thought of as a division in miniature, with
organic, embedded support elements. And as the term Armored would imply, there is an
emphasis on tanks and fighting vehicles. In the context of fighting the Covenant, I think
this type of formation has a few things going for it. Starting with, it can be deployed
as a defensive force on UNSC worlds at comparatively lower risk. If the Covenant glass the planet
from orbit and the Combat Team is lost, that’s terrible, but it’s a lot less terrible than
losing an entire division four times as big. If we get lucky though and the Covenant decide
to force a landing, then a Combat Team has enough firepower and manpower to delay the
Covenant long enough for UNSC reinforcements to be flooded in. Like Harvest, the planet
can then be transformed into a major obstacle for the Covenant, instead of just a bump in
the road to Earth. And those reinforcements that flood in, they might be just full Army
or Marine Corps divisions, but they might also be additional Combat Teams, because reinforcing
besieged planets is another role in which a learner, rapid reaction force would be useful.
In short, we’re looking to build something that can be deployed quickly, thats versatile
and well suited to either offense or defense. Next, let’s select its readiness. And in
the context of Building This Battelgroup, I want to stretch the definition of the word
a bit, and use it to describe a few loosely related concepts: the quality of its soldiers,
the kinds of equipment we have access to, and how easy it is for this battlegroup to
modify that equipment. We’ll say a Tier 4 unit is one that is either still in training
or maybe held in reserve. They’re relegated to using older equipment, and if anyone in
the unit has any suggestions on how it might be improved, no one is too interested in what
they have to say. It’s at low readiness and not expected to fight anytime soon. A Tier 1 unit by contrast represents a premiere
fighting force, the kind you’d send to spearhead an operation, hold a critical piece of the
front, or succeed under particularly tough circumstances. They’re using the best equipment
available and have a high priority when it comes to reinforcements and upgrades. And
if the commanders of these kinds of units are all delivering reports back to their superiors
highlighting faults in equipment, or areas where it can be improved, that’s going to
be taken pretty seriously. Essentially what I’m getting at here is that during this
intellectual exercise, I want to have a bit of freedom to modify some designs or loadouts
if I’m not satisfied with them. You can justify internally how a Regiment commander
is able to do this any way you like. Normally, I’d expect a rapid-reaction combat
team like this would be Tier 1, but, and this leads to our next parameter, we’ll imagine
that this unit is operating in the final months of the war. It’s been a while since this
team was deployed to reinforce some frontier colony, now it's being hastily redeployed
to take part in the final defense of an important core world. Reach is about to fall, or maybe
it already has, the UNSC is in disarray, and logistics and supply pipelines are beginning
to break down. With the situation increasingly desperate, we’re going to lower this unit’s
readiness to Tier 2. We might be able to make some changes to our vehicles, but for the
most part, it’s going to be limited to what we can modify in the field. It’s been a
little bruised and battered. And finally, we need a name. Let’s keep
things simple, we’ll say this is the 1st Regimental Combat Team, of the 34th Armored
Division. But that’s kinda boring, so let’s come up with the far more important unit nickname.
And like all great nicknames, it needs a story behind it. So we’ll imagine that during
the Battle of Kholo, the 1st RCT was sent to reinforce the local planetary defense forces,
but as the battle progressed, its mission changed to recovering and retrieving a mysterious
artifact the Covenant were hunting for. Something they considered to be sacred. The artifact, once recovered by the Combat
Team, was mounted on one of the Regiment’s tanks, one of the few vehicles still in operation
as the Regiment hurried to evacuate from the planet with their new prize. Noticing the
Covenant seemed unwilling to target this tank, the remainder of the regiment created crude
replicas of the artifact, which were then mounted on their own respective vehicles.
Most of the time the Covenant saw through this deception but not always and the 1st
Regimental Combat Team of the 34th Armored would be forever immortalized in UNSC Army
legend as the “Holy Rollers”. With all the important stuff like nicknames
out of the way, we can get to actually building this Regimental Combat Team. And we’re lucky
that we have a great template to work off from. In our own world, different militaries
have a bunch of different doctrines and methods when it comes to organizing forces like this,
but because United Nations Space Command seems heavily influenced by the United States Armed
Forces, I think a good comparison would be the Armored Brigade Combat Teams within the
US Army. Using that model, the UNSC version would look something like this. At the top we got our Regiment Headquarters.
The guys running the show. Then, we have the primary maneuver elements of the force, the
units that will be in contact with the enemy. Three combined arms battalions with a single
cavalry squadron. In a supporting role we have an Engineer Battalion, Artillery Battalion,
and a Support Battalion. Now even though this a smaller unit in the grand scheme of things,
this is still a pretty big formation probably around 5000 soldiers. So rather than trying
to determine the exact numbers of vehicles and manpower within each Battalion, that’s
above my paygrade, I’ll instead be mainly focusing on the equipment available to the
UNSC that I think is best suited to the Regiment and its constituent Battalions. When that’s
done, I’ll leave it to the highly qualified specialists at the Templin Institute’s doctrine
and logistic groups to determine how many of each actually appear on the screen.
Regimental HQ So let’s start with the Regimental Headquarters.
This is the section of the combat team responsible for command and control, administration, logistics,
and overall readiness. This is also an element of military formations that tends to be overlooked
within the armies of alternate worlds. Which is a real mistake. It may be the 26th century,
but you can’t just send out a bunch of soldiers and tanks and hope for the best. A headquarters
element is an absolute necessity for keeping large formations coherent and effective. And
It will be especially important if we’re reliant on outside support, orbital firepower
from UNSC Navy elements for example. The first thing we need to decide on, is a
vehicle that can function as a command post. Something with enough room for the headquarters
staff to do their jobs, fast enough to keep up with the regiment, but not so prominent
that it makes for a tempting target. The UNSC has a few options here, but none of them are
specifically designed for this role, so we kind of have to pick the least bad option. The M312 Elephant is probably the strongest
contender of the bunch. This is a multi-purpose vehicle most associated with engineering and
heavy recovery, but it doesn’t feel like a huge stretch to suggest quite a few variants,
including a command version, might possibly exist. This is potentially maybe even something
we can modify in the field. Remove the crane, add in some radios, and we have our command
vehicle. The problem is, they don’t call these things
Elephants because they’re so small. This thing is going to stick out like a sore thumb.
And I probably don’t need to explain why it's generally bad practice to have your headquarters
elements in a very conspicuous vehicle. What the UNSC really needs is a smaller multi-purpose
vehicle, something that sacrifices legroom for survivability. The M650 Mastodon would
be perfect here, but since it doesn’t seem to have been developed until after the war,
another possible option is the M88 Bison. And though the M88 does have a significantly
lower profile, it also has a giant glass canopy on the front. Again, do I need to explain
why this is a bad idea? Maybe in the 26th century the UNSC has some really advanced
transparent aluminum or whatever, but to my eye, this thing is a deathtrap. Ideally our
HQ element will never be in a position where they’re taking fire, but since I’m theoretically
the person who would be commanding the Regiment from this vehicle, I’m not going to trust
it. It’s a tough choice, but I have to select the hopefully not just hypothetical command
variants of the Elephant, what I’ll call M312Cs. And if they don’t exist, I’ll
have our field workshops whip one together. I do want to come back to the M88 Bison though,
and in particular it’s XRP12 Gremlin Support variant, because all throughout this regiment
and especially in the headquarters sections, we’re going to need some general purpose
vehicles. Something versatile and mobile that can act as evacuation vehicles, combat ambulances,
mortar carriers, and whatever else might be required, but that is also well protected.
The glass canopy on the Bison still isn’t great in that regard, but there’s no other
alternative as well suited to the role it will need to perform. So the Bison it is. But we also need something smaller and more
maneuverable to act as scouts, relays and transports for the headquarters staff. These
are sometimes called Liaison Vehicles and they’re generally used to facilitate communication
and coordination. If I’m in the Regimental CP miles behind the lines and I want a firsthand
look at how one of our tank battalions is doing, going for a ride in the Elephant is
not practical and I’ll be damned before I set foot in a Bison. In this role, we’re probably again locked
into another choice I’m not madly in love with. The M12 Force Application Vehicle. I
know I’m going to upset some folks out there, but I think the design of the Warthog is a
bit of a loser. An open topped vehicle without any kind of remote weapons system would be
unsuitable for most modern battlefields, let alone those of the 26th century. But hey,
if this is what I got, it’s what I got. And you know, if used purely as a Liaison
Vehicle, the Warthog isn’t terrible. When it’s behind the lines ferrying Headquarters
personnel around, it might actually be pretty great, I just don’t want to see this thing
charging toward enemy formations. It’s just gonna get blown away immediately. So we’ll
add some Warthogs to the HQ Company, some with different weapon options just in case,
and also some of the transport variants that can tow some more specialized equipment. The M15 Razorback might also be a good choice,
essentially just a more capable M12 Warthog. So we’ll incorporate some of them as well.
I’d be tempted to fully replace the M12 with the M15, but it does seem like the Razorback
isn’t available in quite the same numbers, while stock Warthog models are a lot more
flexible in the types of weapons that might be mounted to it. The rest of the Regiment HQ will be concerned
mostly with logistics and supply. We don’t need to overthink this. The H9 family of medium
trucks seems perfectly suitable, and I’m sure we could further outfit them with additional
cargo trailers, water tanks, generators, power plants, and whatever else the Regiment might
need. With that, the Regimental headquarters is
outfitted. Maybe not the most exciting part of the Holy Rollers, but critical to its operation
and success. Combined Arms Battalions
But now for the real meat of the Holy Rollers, the three combined arms battalions. While
the entire Combat Team is designed to undertake a great variety of operations, these are the
soldiers who are really going to be in the thick of things. It might not be an exaggeration
to say that the entire Regiment really only exists to support these three battalions.
Each by themselves could be an entire episode of Building Your Battlegroup, so let’s stick
pretty closely to our template. Because we’re ultimately an armored unit, each combined
Arms Battalion is going to have a Headquarters element, two armor companies and two mechanized
infantry or rifle companies. Starting with the armor companies, this leads
us to likely the biggest choice we’ll need to make in building this battlegroup. What
model of tank is going to be the mainstay of the regiment. And as much as I wish that
the UNSC had a giant list of options, we’re limited to three, the M700 Viper, the M808
Scorpion or the M850 Grizzly. Right away the Grizzly is out. I have spoken at length before
on the senselessness of double barreled tanks and I won’t have them in the Holy Rollers.
Between the remaining two, I think I prefer the M700 with its much lower profile, the
Scorpion by comparison seems way too tall. But because the Viper seems to be much less
common within UNSC service, there’s probably some issue with them that I’m not seeing.
There might have been some technical problems, high maintenance or operating costs, or maybe
the Scorpion just made it obsolete. Regardless, its apparent rarity within the UNSC doesn’t
make it an attractive prospect. So really, our choice here was no choice at all. There’s
an ancient Sangheili idiom “you don’t go to a steakhouse and order the seafood”,
in this same vein, choosing anything other than the Scorpion for this role would be insane. Now that said, anyone with a knowledge of
tanks will probably see some flaws in the Scorpion. And while we don’t have the resources
to perform significant modifications to the vehicle itself, there is some stuff we can
do to hopefully mitigate some of its weaknesses. We can’t add a smaller turret, but we can
apply a brand new coat of paint. So, as the CO of this Regiment, I am now going to issue
Standing Order #1: Hide Our Shit. Camouflage is one of those things that never
goes out of style and something I really want to embrace with this regiment. Nothing we
do will be able to trick the most sophisticated Covenant sensors and weaponry, but I expect
this regiment to be involved in a lot of close quarters fighting in which more rudimentary
sensors, or just plain eyeballs will still be used. As a complementary measure camouflage
can be very effective. To me, there’s no reason to be satisfied with the base green,
white or whatever. Let’s throw a pattern on there. It also just looks way cooler. At least most of the time. I’m not sure
who is in charge of UNSC camouflage patterns because while some are pretty decent, others
have no place in a modern military. 30 rock clip. If a tank or anything else arrived at my regiment
in this paint scheme, we’d be breaking out the rattle cans pretty damn fast. But concealment
isn’t going to stop with just a coat of paint, every tanker, every armor officer,
everyone in the Holy Rollers is going to get very good at applying camo netting, bushes,
mud, dirt, whatever we have at our disposal. I want the last thoughts of the Covenant sent
against us to be something along the lines of are those bushes shooting tank rounds at
us? So, with our main battle tank selected and
properly decorated, our tank company can come together. We'll include three Scorpion platoons
of four vehicles each, and a company headquarters with two additional tanks for the Company
Commander and XO, as well as some Warthogs, a Bison and an H9 to carry support staff or
various replenishables. With the armor companies ready we can move
on to our mechanized infantry companies which are going to look very similar, swapping out
tanks for infantry fighting vehicles. What we’re looking for here is something that
can transport maybe half an infantry squad, keep up with our Scorpions and possess some
firepower of its own. The UNSC Army seems to like using standard Warthogs in this role,
you can see this especially during the defense of Reach. But why exactly is beyond me. The
Warthog is great if you find yourself stranded on an alien megastructure and need a quick
and easy method to get around, but at the head of an armored Regiment it’s just too
lightly armed and armored. The M12 is going to get absolutely blown apart. The M15 Razorback
is hardly any better; it shares a lot of the same issues, while the M88 Death Trap has
the aforementioned giant glass canopy on the front. Instead, I want to go with what might be a
lesser known vehicle, the M35 Cougar. It’s not perfect, I’d prefer if it was tracked
and I’m not entirely sure how many passengers it can take on, but it is fully enclosed,
armored, and has an automated turret. Even with its faults, I love the Cougar, this is
exactly the type of vehicle the UNSC desperately needs, and yet doesn’t seem to field that
often. If it were up to me, there would be a ton of variants of this thing, from a command
vehicle so we don’t need to rely on an Elephant, to mobile gun systems, engineering vehicles,
guided missile systems, everything. But, it’s not up to me, so until I know for sure that
those variants exist, we’ll stick to using these purely as infantry fighting vehicles.
Just as with our armored unit, we’ll have 3 platoons with 2 more vehicles for the CO
and XO. With two mechanized companies and two armored
companies, our combined arms Battalion is really coming together. Now we just need a
Headquarters Company to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing. And this HQ company
is going to look slightly similar to our Regiment headquarters, but with a few key differences.
Because it’s likely going to be operating much closer to the front and maybe even come
into contact with the enemy, it’s going to include a few more combat-oriented units.
We’ll start with a single Scorpion tank and a few Cougar IFVs to keep our command
group and certain accompanying specialist units well protected when the battalion is
advancing. The Scorpion might seem a little out of place in an HQ, but when we’re going
against superheated plasma, I want to give my Battalion commanders just a bit more protection.
I also wanna make sure that these COs can go wherever their tanks can. Easiest way to
accomplish that is just have them in a tank as well. We’ll also include a scout platoon
for some embedded reconnaissance capability, a heavy mortar platoon for indirect fire or
even concealment via smoke rounds, and two mine roller sections to get rid of that crap
the Jiralhanae seem to love tossing everywhere. We’ll finish the Headquarters Company off
with the usual assortment of Bison, Warthogs, Razorbacks and trucks for logistics or auxiliary
purposes, ferrying around maintenance teams, medical platoons, or whoever is in need of
a ride. CAVALRY
These three battalions represent a fairly powerful force, probably in the neighborhood
of 200 combat vehicles and as many as 2000 soldiers. Now we need to make sure they don’t
blunder right into a column of Covenant Scarabs, get surrounded by Atriox’s Banished, or
that they just don’t accidentally drive off the edge of a Halo ring. To accomplish
this, we need security and reconnaissance, this will be the job of our Cavalry Squadron.
This formation is going to be using a lot of the same equipment as our rifle companies.
Expect a lot of IFVs and lighter utility vehicles. But unlike our rifle companies, these won’t
be solely dedicated to the support of our tanks, or at least not directly. In combat,
the Cavalry will be deployed on the flanks and the outer perimeter of the entire Regiment.
This way, if there is indeed a column of Scrabs, Atroix, or whatever the hell this thing is,
waiting for us, the Cavalry can find it, and buy some time for the remainder of the Regiment
to properly react. Our Cavalry Squadron is going to be relatively basic, consisting of
three Cavalry Troops and the requisite headquarters. Each troop will have Cougars acting as IFVs,
Bisons as general purpose vehicles, and a warthog and truck for logistics purposes.
But there’s an ancient piece of military wisdom that says “tank beats everything”,
with that in mind, we should probably add some tanks here too. But you might ask, what’s the point of tanks
in what’s essentially a reconnaissance squadron? Well we tend to think of reconnaissance as
mainly passive, a squad or vehicle hidden in a bush somewhere, covertly observing possible
enemy positions. Sometimes though, it’s useful for reconnaissance to be more aggressive,
to prod the enemy in order to illicit a response and reveal their positions or other details.
Friend of the Institute, Battle Order, who by the way has been very helpful in understanding
how these squadrons work, describes one of their main roles as “fighting for information”.
Given that the Cavalry will likely be the first element to come into contact with the
enemy, some additional tanks will also ensure it won’t be immediately overrun, buying
even more time for the rest of the regiment to react.
ARTILLERY Now If things are going well, the Holy Rollers
will be tearing through the Covenant and creating the conditions for a larger breakthrough that
can be reinforced and exploited by other UNSC units. Inevitably though, we’ll run into
a situation where enemy strongpoints are just too tough to be dismantled by the tanks and
IFVs alone. For this, we’ll need to call on our Artillery Battalion. In terms of equipment, this is pretty straightforward.
We need self-propelled artillery pieces that can keep pace with the tanks, and then all
the associated vehicles that can allow the guns to keep firing and sustain their crews.
Starting with the artillery themselves, we have two options, the M145D Rhino and the
M400 Kodiak. And with all due respect, there is no chance in hell the Kodiak will ever
end up in my Regiment. I could come up with a few reasons, it’s a wheeled artillery
system so it may not be able to follow the tanks into certain areas, they’re relatively
new so maybe they’re not available in large numbers, but ultimately, it just comes down
to the fact I think the M400 Kodiak looks ugly and is destined to blow itself apart.
Far be it from me to accuse the UNSC of incompetence, I am sure they are using some space age technology
and advanced alloys that make the platform stable. But when I look at this thing, with
a gigantic turret and comically oversized gun balanced on a comparatively fragile looking
neck thing, all I see is the Kokiak suffering some kind of catastrophic failure immediately
upon firing. As an alternative, the M145D appears much
better, it’s a low standard I know, but I’m pretty sure this thing can at least
fire without exploding. There are some red flags though. The way its tracks are laid
out is a complete mess, but it’s the gun that really concerns me. The Rhino is one
of the few UNSC vehicles whose primary armament is based on reversed engineered Covenant technology,
specifically plasma. If this is simply a matter of loading in a
plasma shell instead of a high explosive one, that’s great, this might not be an issue
at all. But if the process is any more complicated than that, I’m not sure if it's worth it.
If for example plasma ammunition needs to be prepared, maintained or supervised in some
specific way, then all of sudden our logistics footprint got that much more complicated.
We have added a new weapon entirely unlike anything else in our arsenal, that presumably
has an entirely different procedure for keeping it in working order. And maybe the Rhino can
only fire these plasma rounds, and is therefore unable to utilize more traditional types of
ammunition or more specialized systems such as mines, cluster munitions, rocket-assisted
projectiles, white phosphorus, the list goes on. The power of plasma artillery might make
this sacrifice worth it, or it might not. For the Holy Rollers, I’m going to chicken
out and invent a solution. Because the Rhino’s is designated the M145D, I am going to assume
that the M145A is the exact same thing but with a conventional gun. And that’s what
we’ll be using. Paired with each Rhino is going to be an ammunition carrier to keep
it in the fight even after its initial onboard rounds are spent. What we really need here
is a tracked, armored vehicle with a lot of cargo space. The elephant seems like the obvious
choice. When it comes to keeping the guns loaded though,
we do have another trick up our sleeve. The UNSC does have another piece of equipment
that I think could come in quite handy here: the MK III Cyclops, Powered Exoskeleton. As a general rule, I’m not a fan of exoskeletons,
mechs, or really any machine that can walk on two legs but isn’t called MechaGodzilla.
To me they represent the worst of all worlds, a mix between infantry too bulky to take cover
and tanks that need to walk everywhere. In combat, I don’t see much use for them, but
in the rear echelon, I think they could be great. Unpacking artillery shells and moving
them between vehicles has got to be a giant pain in the ass, so why wouldn’t you use
a powered exoskeleton to do it? Before we move onto the Headquarters for the
battery, I want to add another, more specialized unit to this Battalion, an anti-orbital battery.
Chances are, if a Covenant warship arrives directly overhead, that’s it for the Holy
Rollers. This Regiment can do a lot, but there are just some situations where we just need
to rely on the other elements of the UNSC armed forces. It will be up to the Air Force
and Navy to make sure we’re not blasted away from orbit. That said, I would like any
Covenant shipmaster to think twice before parking his boat over our area of operations. To that end, I want to take a look at the
Fox self propelled artillery platform. Details on the Fox are sparse, but if there were any
ground based vehicle in the UNSC arsenal that might be outfitted with a mass driver similar
to the fixed defenses on Reach, I think it would be this one. Did the UNSC actually do
this? I’m not sure, but it's unthinkable to me that there wouldn’t be some sort of
mobile, ground based anti-starship weapon platform. At the very least we know this concept
was on their minds because after the war the M510 Mammoth had a railgun attached to it
that presumably could be used in this role. A predecessor to the Mammoth probably existed
towards the end of the war, so I’m fine with using the Fox as a placeholder. We’ll
use the exact same template as our conventional artillery batteries, just swapping out the
Rhinos. Will this be enough to destroy a Covenant Supercarrier? No. But if anything from a Corvette
up to and including a destroyer attempts to take some potshots from orbit or perform a
low in-atmosphere pass, we’ll at least have something waiting for them. That only leaves the HQ battery and there’s
no real surprises there. The same mixture of vehicles we’ve discussed time and time
again. Attached to the HQ though is a target acquisition platoon. They locate enemy artillery
so it can be destroyed, and communicate with friendly artillery so their fire is more accurate
and timely. For this, a few Warthogs and Razorbacks loaded with special equipment are all we need.
Hopefully the UNSC even has a few special variants with satellite terminals, counterfire
radar, that sort of thing. Now we’re very nearly done with the main
combat elements of the Regiment, but one of the problems with using a modern US Armored
Brigade Combat Team as our template, is that right now at least, that formation is expected
to operate in an environment in which friendly forces have total air superiority. That won’t
be the case for us so I think what we need to add here is an Air Defense Battalion.
We’ll follow the same general formula we’ve been using so far. A Headquarters, and then
2 air defense batteries. The Headquarters element is going to look somewhat similar
to its equivalent in the Artillery Battalion. Same assortment of trucks and utility vehicles,
just different equipment within them. But as for the actual Air Defense Batteries, I
think we need to base these around the M9 Wolverine. The halftrack design is an odd
choice, I think those went out of style by the 1950s but what can you do. We’ll pair
these with Warthog variants equipped with missile launchers. Then the usual support
equipment. I think this will make our airspace a very tough place for any Covenant Banshees
or dropships, but anything larger than that will be a job for our artillery, or more likely,
other UNSC forces in the area or in orbit. Engineers
Military engineering, it seems to me, tends to be another overlooked aspect both within
the UNSC and popular culture but I won’t make that same mistake. The UNSC Army Corps
of Engineers is incredibly important, and to a formation like the Holy Rollers, absolutely
critical. On the advance they’ll be able to clear obstacles to keep the tanks moving,
build bridges or manage ferries over rivers or other hazardous terrain. On the defensive
they can help in the construction of trenches and other fortifications, lay mines, survey
the ground to assist things like artillery, and even potentially help clear an area for
an improvised landing zone or airstrip. They can also help in the construction of camouflage,
which as we’ve said, is going to be very important to this Regiment. To this end Engineer Battalion will consist
of the necessary headquarters Company, a Signal Company to keep our comms working, a Military
Intelligence Company that might provide insight into the Covenant, and two Combat Engineer
Companies. As you might expect, these units will require a ton of specialized engineering
equipment. Bridging vehicles, bridge transporters, mine rollers, mine clearance vehicles, repair
systems, excavators, dump trucks, bulldozers, basically everything you might need in a warzone
combined with everything you might need in a construction site. There are some vehicles in the UNSC motor
pool that make quite a bit of sense here. First and foremost, the Elephant is essential.
We’ve talked before about using these things as Command Posts or ammunition carriers, but
it’s combat engineering that this thing was designed for and where it really shines.
It can obviously be used as a recovery vehicle, but also an assault breacher if you add a
mine plow or blade, and they can probably also carry a lot of the heavier bridging equipment
we’re going to need. In this role, the Elephant is amazing and a must have. Accompanying them, Warthogs, Razorbacks, and
the trusty H9 Medium Trucks would certainly be present throughout. Same with the MK III
Cyclops. Combat engineering is another area where powered exoskeletons make a ton of sense.
After that we can make some reasonable assumptions. There is probably a mine-clearing version
of a Scorpion, a Warthog or Razorback equipped with electronic warfare systems, and all the
other minor variants necessary for our Engineers to do their jobs. So that about does it for the part of the regiment
directly involved in combat. Now we need to start thinking about the giant support apparatus
that will keep the holy rollers, rollin. Nobody is going to get too excited over a Medium
Tactical Vehicle with a Water Tank Trailer, so I can see not much is known about the types
of vehicles the UNSC would use in that role and others. But I don’t think you need to
be a grizzled combat veteran to understand its importance. If you’re dying of thirst,
that simple water tank trailer is now the most important piece of equipment in the galaxy.
When you’re watching a formation of vehicles and infantry charging forward in this very
cinematic way, it can be easy to forget about all the manpower, supplies and logistics work
that’s necessary to make that cinematic charge possible. In terms of its vehicles alone, a modern US
Army Armored Brigade Combat Team will have an operational cost of close to $70,000 dollars
per mile. Add in a few centuries of technological development and inflation, and it would not
surprise me if the UNSC was spending close to a million for that mile. That’s a lot of equipment and supplies.
So, the final component of our Regiment will be the Support Battalion. Like the engineering
Battalion, we can make some reasonable guesses as to what sorts of vehicles will be present,
even if we don’t know precisely what is most appropriate. H9 trucks, Elephants, Warthogs
and Razorbacks the usual suspects. But we need to build the Brigade Support Battalion
during something of a speed round here, because it is way bigger than you think. If you’ve researched military logistics
at all, you may have come across the phrase “tooth to tail ratio”. This describes
how many support personnel handling things like supply, upkeep, distribution, maintenance,
etc, the tail, are necessary to support each combat soldier. In World War 1 the ratio was
pretty lean, about 2 support personnel for every front line soldier . During the Cold
War the Tooth To Tail Ratio had grown to be about 14 to 1. I could see it going either
way by the 26th century. The war against the Covenant was a total war, all of society was
mobilized towards this massive undertaking. At the same time though, evolving technology
might have mitigated many of the challenges related to logistics or created brand new
ones. If I had to make up a number, I’d put the
ratio for the whole of the UNSC Armed Forces during the Human Covenant War to be 10:1.
The Holy Rollers, being a rapid reaction force, are probably less supply intensive than other
formations, so let’s say something like, between 5 and 7 to one. So rather than going
through a Battalion many times larger than everything we’ve just done, let’s make
this one a speed round. First up the HQ company, you know the drill. Next we have the medical company. They’re
handing everything from Tactical Combat Casualty Care to Medical Evacuations to forward resuscitative
surgery systems. They need ambulances and trucks. After that is the field maintenance company.
As you’ve seen this is a very vehicle intensive formation. Keeping all the tanks, ifvs and
everything else in working condition is difficult enough in peace time, but when we’re rolling
over difficult terrain, crashing through buildings, plodding through swamps and getting blasted
apart by plasma weaponry, the task becomes near impossible. But a tank whose engine has
seized up and can’t start is every bit as useless as a tank that got reduced to molten
slag, so regular maintenance and repairs can’t be ignored. We need some heavy trucks we can
load a broken tank onto, a bunch of trailers, mobile tool shops and other services. Now if you want to drive yourself crazy, go
through every single vehicle and soldier appearing in this formation and start to count all the
different weapons, making note of the types of ammunition they need. Then do it again
and make note of what replacement parts each vehicle might need, the amount of food and
water each battalion will need every day. What about things like field services, we
can’t expect our soldiers to fight in the mud covered in bloodsucking alien ticks forever,
eventually some field showers and laundry is going to be needed. This and about 1000
other things is the job of the Distribution Company. For this, we need approximately one
metric shitload of heavy trucks. But we’re not done yet. After that, we have
some forward support companies that are assigned to each of our maneuver battalions, our field
artillery and engineers. Each FSC has been specifically tailored to support the needs
of whatever battalion they’re dedicated to. The one attached to a Combined Arms Battalion
for example is going to be slightly different than one assigned to our Artillery Battalion.
Regardless though, the Forward Support Companies work very closely with our Battalions, I can’t
imagine anything worse than staring down the barrel of a Scarab’s Focus cannon while
your tank is completely out of ammunition. These guys make sure that doesn’t happen. And with that, our Regiment is nearly finished,
I just want to add one more thing: some Spartans. Now personally I think the Spartan program
is a wasted effort, we should be investing in hardware not bioengineering to make our
soldiers better, but I can’t argue with the facts. Spartans have achieved some incredible
results and I want at least some in this regiment. And given the role of a rapid reaction force
like this one, I don’t think it would be too much of an ask to the higher ups that
2 spartan teams be assigned, each with a dedicated Pelican. That gives us a total of 8 spartans,
a little bigger than the typical team, but we’re not frolicking around Halo rings falling
in love with AI, this is a combat unit, even the Spartans are gonna take some casualties. And with that, I think we have a pretty good
idea of what a UNSC Army Armored Brigade Combat team might have looked like during the final
phases of the Human Covenant War. In certain sections, logistics and engineering especially,
we've needed to make some educated guesses, but even if the models of vehicles might be
different, I hope this conveys how enormous even a smaller unit like a Regiment actually
is. Depending on battlefield circumstances, a unit like this might be responsible for
covering between 2 and 15 kilometers of the front line. And perhaps this is my own bias here, but
I like to think that if the Holy Rollers in the 1st Regimental Combat Team, of the 34th
Armored Division had been the ones to lead the counter-attack against Covenant positions
during the early battles of Reach, with well over a hundred Scorpions and armored fighting
vehicles, supported by artillery batteries air defenses and anti-orbital capability,
well maybe things would have gone a bit differently. At least until that Supercarrier showed up,
then it probably would have gone about the same. But that of course is just my opinion. And
even though I will not accept any stain of blasphemy upon the honor of the Holy Rollers,
I’d like to hear your thoughts. Do you see any major flaws in my regiment? Would you
have swapped out one vehicle choice for another? And what would your UNSC Tank Regiment look
like? Let me know in the comments below and until next time, this has been incoming. Thanks again to War Thunder for sponsoring
this episode of Building Your Battlegroup. Use the link in the description below to mount
up and get War Thunder on your platform of choice along with a whole host of bonuses.
So get out there and find out for yourself if tank beats everything. I can send some reports on the effectiveness
of the Scorpion to my superiors, and who knows, maybe they’ll modify the design based on
my recommendations, but as I said at the top, the ability of local commanders to make substantive
changes to their equipment is going to be very limited. Some of you by way of argument
might point to Sergeant John Forge, who while aboard the UNSC Spirit of Fire seemed to hold
quite a bit of sway on the kinds of tanks that were deployed. The Grizzly was even referred
to as his “pet-project” whatever the hell that means. And listen, maybe in the Marine Corps NCOs
have added “armored vehicle design and procurement” to their list of specialties and Navy captains
just can’t wait to ask people like John Forge who aren’t even part of tank crews
by the way, what kinds of vehicles should be loaded onto their starships and what they
can do to make them better. But this is the Army where nobody is in the mood for suggestions.
If I want to modify these tanks, Thanks again to War Thunder for sponsoring
this episode of Building Your Battlegroup. Use the link in the description below to mount
up and get War Thunder on your platform of choice along with a whole host of bonuses.
