Romanian Round Up – A look at Flames of War’s Most Flexible Late War Force

By Tom Burgess

Bagration Axis-Allies, along with the Finns and Hungarians, brings the Romanians to Late War for Flames of War V4. As a wargamer who always prefers Red vs. Blue match-ups, the fact that the Romains fought for then against the Axis in World War 2 makes them very appealing to me.  The Romans lists are solid  with a lot of decent options. The Romanians seem to combine some of the best aspects of axis and allied armies into a force that can fight on either side.

Bagration Axis-Allies gives us three tank and one infantry formation to choose from. These are expanded by command cards options with an additional Pioneer, Cavalry Squadron, Mountain Rifle Company, and T-38 Tank Company formations. We end up with far more options and variations then we ever had from Version 3 for the Romanians.

The heart of the Romanian army in V4 Flames of War is its “Peasant Army” rule which gives some Romanian units a one in three chance to upgrade to a more elite status. In general Romanian units are Confident with a 4+ Motivation bur are only 5+ for Last Stand.  Though the infantry  are only Trained 4+ for skill, they have an Assault rating of 3+ which makes them hard hitting. The Romanian tank units ate only Green 5+ for skill. I

f the Romanian units roll up to Elite status, their Last Stand goes up to a 4+ and their Skill improves by a point. To me the most important stat is the Hit On rating, where I am happy to report that Romanians are Careful and only hit on a 4+. In general, I’m happy with the Romanian stats and unit cost “as is.” So rolling up to Elite units will just be a lovely unexpected bonus for me.

I think the main strength of the Romanian forces in Bagration Axis-Allies is the infantry. These are represented in the book by the Motorized Rifle Company formation.  What I like about them is that they provide reasonable quality large platoons that include integral anti-tank weapons and bombardment capability. As mentioned earlier the Motorized Rifle Company formation  can be “modified” by the Romanian Command Cards into Pioneer, Cavalry, Rifle Company, Mountain Rifle Company, and a Guards Division Rifle Company.

The Guards Division Rifle  is a +1 per unit upgrade over the base Rifle Company. This unit does not use the “Peasant Army” rule.  It instead has a Fearless Motivation of 3+ all the time.  The card however does not make it clear what the skill rating of the Guards units are.

The card fluff says that the Guards Division is an elite division, so one might assume they should use the elite skill level.  As this is not specified, I expect that there will be many questions about what the Skill rating of these units should be. To me it seems that by the rules as written, you have to roll to get the elite status. So if you don’t get to roll and nothing else says the units skill is modified, then you are stuck with the default non-elite Skill level.  Stand by for More Lessons From The Front.

The Romanian tank force have the some left over early war tanks like the R-2, R-25, T-38 supplemented by some loaned German medium tanks like the T-4 (PzKw-IV) and the TA (StuG-III). The German medium tanks in Romanian livery seem quiet cost effective. The retain the Careful Hit on 3+ rating and only coast 4 points each for a T-4 and about 4.66 points each for a TA.

This may make fielding these tanks in Romanian formations much more viable than they are in German formations.  The Romains have no heavy tanks options at all, but they could always be supplemented by allied German Tigers/Panthers or Soviet heavies.  I fancy taking Romanians with a Soviet ISU-122 support. The Romanian tank units do suffer from the “Rule of Three” issue in that their tank unit size maxes out at three vehicles.

The Romanians have some unique kit that makes them interesting.  The TACAM R-2 and the TACAM T-60 provide mobile anti-tank options similar to the German Marder but with a slight discount. Then there is my favorite, the 75mm M43 Anti-Tank platoon. This gun is like a supped-up PaK-40. It still is Careful Hit on 3+ and has the 3+ Save but it packs an AT rating of 13 with a 36” range.  All this for just 3.66 points each.

The Romanian Artillery has the typical “minor nation” options of medium  75mm and heavy 100mm artillery.  Both come in units of two or four guns at the cost of 2 points per gun. The artillery has better skill the normal Romanian troops, They start with a Trained 4+ but can roll up to Veteran 3+ with an elite roll under “Peasant Army.”  The Romanian observer is on foot, vice vehicle mounted like other Version 4 observers and has a Veteran 3+ skill rating.

For Spearhead, the Romanians have the AB Armored Car (SdKfz-222) and an can upgrade a Cavalry unit to Scours.  The Romanians have the standard Stuka for air support. To round out the support options the Romanians can take Mitral 20mm AA gun which was a locally produced version of the German FlaK 38.

The Romanians overall are a great addition to the Version 4 Flames of War universe. They will be great on their own or as allies to either the Germans or the Soviets. I like the idea of running a Romanian Infantry formation paired with a Soviet T-34/85 Tankovy…so need for the Under Cover of Smoke command card if your Romanian allies can lay down smoke for you.  I also like the idea of running a T-4 (PzKw-IV) Medium Tank Company with an integral Armored Rifle Platoon backed up by TACAM T-60s and either allied German Tigers or Soviet IS-2s/ISU-122s.

I think the Romanians are a good looking army with their distinctive, possibly archaic, helmets, brown uniforms, and unique kit. Their vehicle markings with the yellow cross are appealing to me.  Another great thing about the Romanians is that their infantry, guns, and light tanks will be just as at home in Mid War as Late War. So the Romanians offer flexibility across periods and well as factions. This to me makes them the most flex able force in force to play in Flames of War.

I think I’d be more inclined to pair my Romanians with Soviets as I think they offer slightly more to the Soviets than they offer to the Germans. In any case I am very happy to see the Romanians added to Version 4 Flames of War.  They will add more diversity and expand options for other late war forces.

Happy gaming!

Tom