Matrix Games Forums

Few Nations military forces can be so confusing as the British.

Here I'll attempt to sort out some of the nomenclatures and history of the British Army units that make up the BAOR.

BAOR stands for British Army of the Rhine. It was the occupational force the British Army had stationed in Germany.


Good Hunting.

MR

British Mechanized Battalions and Armoured Regiments are the equivalent to US Battalions. These are trained to fight as combined arms groups.

Combined arms groups trade companies between themselves to form Battle Groups. A BAOR Battle Group is the equivalent of a US Task Force. There is no set proportion of infantry to armour companies when forming Battle Groups.

As would be expected there may be a Balanced Battle Group, Armour Heavy Battle Group or a Mechanized Heavy Battle Group.

Good Hunting.

MR

Rifle companies consist of four platoons and a company headquarters. The artillery equivalent of a company is a battery and within armoured and engineering units, the equivalent is known as a squadron.

The British Army infantry normally identifies its rifle companies by letter (usually, but not always, A, B and C) within a battalion, usually with the addition of a headquarters company and a support/heavy weapons company. Some units name their companies after regimental battle honours; this is commonly the case for composite units, for example the London Regiment with its Somme, Messines and Cambrai companies. The foot guards regiments use traditional names for some of their companies, for example Queen's Company, Left Flank, Prince of Wales's Company etc.

Royal Marines companies are designated by a letter that is unique across the corps, not just within their command. The Intelligence Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, Royal Military Police and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers all have companies uniquely numbered across their corps.

The Household Cavalry, Royal Armoured Corps, Royal Engineers, Royal Corps of Signals, Army Air Corps, Special Air Service, Honourable Artillery Company and Royal Logistic Corps use the term squadron instead of company (although the Royal Engineers and Royal Signals had companies until after the Second World War, except in armoured divisions). The Royal Artillery use the term battery.

The defunct Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Pioneer Corps and Royal Army Ordnance Corps had companies; the Royal Corps of Transport had squadrons.

British companies are usually commanded by a major, the officer commanding (OC), with a captain or senior lieutenant as second-in-command (2i/c). The company headquarters also includes a company sergeant major (CSM) normally holding the rank of WO2 and a company quartermaster sergeant (CQMS) of colour sergeant rank, the two most senior soldiers in the company.

The Honourable Artillery Company is in fact a regiment, not a company in terms of organisation and size.

Primary Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_%2 ... ry_unit%29

Good Hunting.

MR

To clarify there are 3 rifle platoons in a company. As it happens I was a platoon commander in the Messines company you mention
If you want anything double checked or clarified on the BAOR or the British Army in general to ensure the game is as authentic as possible feel free to PM me, more than willing to help. I served in Germany couple times, albeit after the 80s but have plenty of knowledge of the ORBAT and tactics of those olden days.

Gunnulf, thanks for the offer. We may take you up on that. We are always interested in hearing a more detailed breakdown of OOB and doctrine from someone who was really there. [8D]

I hope you guys do your homework on this one. BAOR is a complicated OoB for the Eightys IMO...looking forward to see what you guys got. [;)]

Carnage,

I am sure we have things wrong here and there. Depending on what you read, where the info is from or who you talk to, you never get the same answer twice. That is one of the driving forces behind having the game as mod friendly as we can. If we got it wrong or you want to change values to suit your needs, the game will allow for it. Then you can post your work for others to use and no doubt edit themselves.

[8D]

I work off of a very extensive Order of Battle, backed up by as many books on the subject as I can get my hands on. As it goes we're doing as well as we can to get it right. I'm sure we'll miss the mark in few spots but I think we will hit the mark more than we miss it.

Good Hunting.

MR

We are more accurate than the ground hog...[:D]

And here is the BAOR in living color....1st Battalion, The Green Howards, to the front! Warriors one and all!! [&o]


Good Hunting.

MR

Just as in the glory days the heavy units take the field.

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MR

The Royal Scots Dragoons want to participate in this meet as well.

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MR

The Queens Royal Dragoons are not to be left out of this fight.

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MR

I would think those screen shots and the accompanying texts would give you enough information to identify that unit.

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MR

Mixing it up.

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MR

Looking awesome guys!

Maybe use initials for the name of the regiment? SO it fits on the counter..

British Army unit names are an issue. At the moment play balance is more important than getting the name to fit. But it will get addressed.

Good Hunting.

MR

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

British Army unit names are an issue. At the moment play balance is more important than getting the name to fit. But it will get addressed.

Good Hunting.

MR

Steve,

Just deploy a few Pershing-II's to Europe if those Warsaw Pact units seem to have the upper hand! [:D]

I believe that may be an option in the game. Stay tuned to find out all the options that have been put into the game. For those of you that have played FPG you will be amazed at the new game play. I haven't checked to see the amount of code that has been changed or tweaked but it is far about 50%.

The BAOR in FPG was extremely capable. I played a scenario where Warrior IFV's defeated a Soviet attack that was led by T-80's. The above scenario has Warriors in it and the T-80's had those for a snack before moving on to bigger bites.

The game is nothing like it's predecessor. Game play was changed to up protect the innocent as well as increase the tempo and destructive nature of modern combat. The differences between the weapons systems and nationalities is evident with every scenario where you take a different side.

BAOR is fun but fragile. Just remember...I warned you! [X(]

Good Hunting.

MR