War College: Squad Composition

We were discussing squad composition over on the Discord last week and it's made me think about it more in depth.  Squads in MFZ: Rapid Attack should have a purpose.  This is not about "I need X melee, Y Direct Fire, and Z Artillery frames to make a squad.  You can't just put a bunch of archetypes on the table and expect them to work together.  At the risk of using a business buzzword, the Frames in your squad need to work synergistically.

To start with, I find that "Soldiers All the Way Down" works well as a catch-all squad to put on the table when you don't have a plan and you don't know whom you're facing.  X amount of Frames all sporting (2Rd/1B/1G/1Y) with one or more of them carrying Single Shot Rockets.  As they all have the same loadout they can all support one another, move, and possibly attack in concert depending on how the Initiative Stack favors you.  It scales up, it scales down, and it works fairly well at either end of the spectrum.

There's a squad that gets used by one of the players in my group that works pretty well.  It's (3x) Armored Swarmers (2Rh/2B/1Y/1Gd8/2W), (2x) Hammers (2Rd/2B/1Y/2W), and (1x) Recon by Fire (2Ra+d8/2Y/2W).  The RbF sets Spots for the Armored Swarmers-- and maybe softens targets up a bit.  The Armored Swarmers chew into the opponent and set Spots for the Hammers.  The Hammers bat clean-up.  This is an offensive squad.  It's meant to start on the Defender's Perimeter and crash inward wreaking havoc all the way in.

Moving on to a pretty advanced strategy, the Frames in the Sniping Turtle Formation all have roles.  The Watchtower Frames provide Cover and Spots for whichever Artillery based Frame is used as the "hitter" for the squad.  While the Medium Artillerist -- for example -- provides the long range damage potential.  It's meant to be defensive.  The operating plan is to retreat away from your opponents into a "hull down position" -- to borrow a tanker term -- then sow discord with Spots while sniping soft targets.

If we want to get even more advanced, then you can try my squad of Defenders (2B/1G+d8/1Y/2W + SSR) from this game.  The first two Frames set the Perimeter, the third one captures any open station.  Then you spend the rest of the game running away, while setting Spots, and hopefully use your three SSRs to destroy some enemy Frames.

MFZ: RA is a game that requires a lot of thought before you even hit the table.  If you get the mix of Frames/Systems right to be where you want in the Initiative Stack and you put together a mix of archetypes that you think will work well together, you still have to get through the Set-Up Phase correctly.  If you place a melee squad at the other end of a long table from an Artillery squad you're probably not going to get in range before the game is over.  In more ways than one.  That is also a conversation to have at a different point in time.

So, in short, have a plan.  Pick the Weaponry for the range you want to work at.  Pick enough Defense to survive long enough to execute your plan.  Pick enough Movement to capture Stations, or run away.  And lastly pick enough Spotting to enhance your -- or someone else's -- attacks.  Then, go to it.