Why wait? Using the German D-Day Book to Field Late War Romanian Forces in Version 4 Flames of War

Editorial Comment: We all know it will be a while before Battlefront gets around to updating every force and list to it’s Version 4 format. Far too often we see players lament that their forces are not “officially” represented in the rules yet. But in may cases, as Clive shows us with his ideas for Late War Romanians, there are many suitable analogs that, with a little thought, can let  player break out his waiting models and get in great gaming action. Even in “official” events, players could take Clive’s suggestions to expand their gaming opportunities with models they have now.

By Clive Henrick,

During the late war period, the Romanian army is far less than what it was at Stalingrad, but it can still mount a defense and with support do local counter-attacks. It’s more of a defense army at its heart with dogged defenders, good at counter-attacks, but not one that you would normally think off to clear the table of the enemy.

Even without a Late War Romanian 4th edition book, the flavor of the Romanian forces can still be captured in Late War Flames of War by using a combination of German D-Day book and the German D-Day Command Cards.

So using 3rd edition Flames of War Romanian lists ( from Red Bear )  as a guide, we have a few common themes and characteristics:

• Better Dig In
• Better Counter Attack
• Skill is variable but tends to Trained to Veteran 
• Morale is variable but tends to Reluctant to Confident

The German D-DAY book gives us the ability to simulate some of the above by using command cards.

So let’s look at how we might field some Romanian units using the D-Day Germans book and command cards.

INFANTRY:

PUSCASI rifle Battalion is the basic Romanian Foot Soldier formation. These are not elite fighters. They can hold ground, but will not stick around if at the breaking point. We can approximate this unit using the German D-Day Book by taking a Beach Defense Grenadier Platoons with the Rifle / MG Option.

 In order to get the flavor right we take following Command Cards:

• 16TH LUFTWAFFE FIELD DIVISION AIR FORCE SOLDIERS
  • Which gives the Beach Defense Platoon
    • Confident 4+
      • Counterattack 3+
      • Last Stand 5+
    • Skill: Green 5+
      • Tactics 4+
• PIONEER PLATOON
  • Cross Minefields 3+
  • Dig In 3+

This will raise the cost of the Beach Defense Grenadier Platoons by 2-pts , but will allow for a large group of determined defenders who are better at holding ground then attacking.

To capture a more veteran Romanian Infantry formation, we can use the COMPANIE VANATORI MOTORIZATA. These troops in 3rd edition tended to be the more experienced troops with more offensive ability.  Again we start with Beach Defense Grenadier Platoons but with the MG Option.

 You could use one of two different command Cards:

• SEVENTH Army Assault Battalion (2 points per Platoon )
  • Confident 4+
  • Skill 4+
    • Assault 3+
• OR 352 Infantry Division Eastern Front ( 1 point per Platoon )
  • Confident 4+
    • Family Men: last Stand 5+
    • Front Swine: Rally 3+
  • Skill: Green 5+
    • Front Swine: Assault 3+
• PIONEER PLATOON ( 1 point per Platoon )
  • Cross Minefields 3+
  • Dig In 3+
• SOFT SKIN TRANSPORT Card (1 point per unit )
  • For each of your platoons, add transporters.

For the truly elite mobile troops, you can take the Vanatori Blindata Platoons.

These are elite Romanian Infantry units mounted in German Sd Kfz 251. You could simply use an armored Panzergrenadier Platoon to represent the Romanian units with a PANZER PIONEER PLATOON command card. 

TANKS:

You have two basic choices to play the 3rd edition Romanian Armor in 4th. You can have straight German allied units and limited to units to Stug Assault Guns or PzKw-IVs.

Or you can Take Romanian Stug’s ( T3 in Romanian Armies ) and/or  Panzer Mk 4.( T4 in Romanian armies ) and do the following:

• Pick a Panzer IV tank company or a Fallschirmjager Stug Assault company and keep the number of German (Romanian Tanks) ( Stug’s or  Mk4 ) to 3 Max per Platoon
• Add command card on a German D-Day Tank Company to reflect the nature of the Romanian tanks that are not as skilled or motivated as their German allies.

116TH PANZER DIVISION GREYHOUND Command Card ( -2 pts per unit ):

• • • Confident 4+
      • Rearguard: Last Stand 5+
    • Skill: Veteran 3+
      • Rebuilding: Tactics 4+

SUPPORT:

Most of the GERMAN D-Day Book translates directly from the Romanian Late War List with a few notables:

• 10.5cm Artillery Battery translates to Skoda 100mm M14. Use the 275TH INFANTRY DIVISION 10.5CM HOWITZER Command Card to lower the stats and points of the unit.
• 2cm Light AA Platoon translates to Romanian motorized anti-aircraft platoon
• 7.5cm Tank – Hunter Platoon = Allied GERMAN ANTI-TANK GUN PLATOON
• 8.8cm Heavy AA Platoon translates to the TAC 43 Resita 75mm. Use the 8.8cm Assault Flak Card to lower the stats and save points

Overall:

In the end, what you get is an Allied German army that does fine in defense, is more brittle, cheaper, can attack ( or counter attack ) fine, easier to hit, but with more units. I think you will find, that the command cards lend themselves to playing the Romanians with the same feeling of 3rd edition within the streamlined rules of 4th edition.  If you always want to take a German unit that was not in 3rd Edition Romanian Army Lists, just call them Allies and be done with it!