Converting a Romanian 75mm Artillery Piece

By Kreighton Long

While window shopping for light artillery models for my WW2 Romanian army I found limited options to choose from. While Great Escape Games makes a fine looking Romanian light artillery piece (one will make its way into my arsenal eventually) I wanted to challenge myself with a bit of conversion work to add variety to my three-light artillery Romanian list for Bolt Action.

For my conversion attempt I began with the wooden spoked wheel variant of the WWI French style 75mm gun as found in the Warlord Games . The crew themselves needed a little customization to make them more Romanian which is where the conversion work was done for this piece. I did attempt to find a way to modify German, Soviet, and American helmets to the point where they would pass as Romanian but the solution alluded me.

After some searching I found some 3D printed Romanian helmets from Shapeways which though a tad large for the Warlord and Tsuba sculpts, were close enough that I think they’ll be passable once on the table. By the end I had used the Polish 75mm, a few spares from my German bits, and from Shapeways.

I added some bits from my spare German equipment to help align the Polish crew (top row) more with how my Tsuba Romanian infantry (bottom left) are sculpted. This included some German bread bags, gas mask canisters, and canteens.

*Starting with spare heads from my German bits, I clipped off the top, trimmed the head to fit the helmet, and glued the two together.*

*Polish artillery crew with a plastic German head and plastic Romanian helmet.*

*Polish artillery crew with plastic pieces from my “Extra German Bits” bag to better match my Romanian infantry.*

Let’s compare the converted crew after painting and basing. The two converted crew are on the right while by Tsuba Romanians are on the left. The self-criticism I have is that the heads and helmets of the artillery crew are noticeably larger than the Tsuba sculpts. I admit it does stand out but hopefully when the army is on the table it won’t be as apparent to the spectators viewing the piece from three feet away.

*Rear view of the line-up to show how the extra German bits added to the figures on the right should help the converted pieces blend with the unmodified Tsuba Romanians on the left.*

*The finished gun and crew with a few Tsuba Romanians to test how well the conversion piece blends in with my existing Romanians army. I’d say its passable after painting and basing.*

So there you have it. For any Romanian players out there looking to add some variety to their artillery batteries here’s a relatively simple way to give your army a historically accurate 75mm gun. Happy gaming!