"Romanian Armoured Forces in WWII" Topic

"Roumania officially opted for a neutral stance at the outset of WWII. However the Kingdom had traditionally looked to the UK and France as it allies in Europe. The developing situation in 1940 with the fall of France and maybe Britain, along with a rise in Fascism led the Kingdom to look for an alliance with Germany, however they were unaware that German had already promised parts of Roumania to the Russians. With things going badly for them at home they officially joined the Axis in November 1940. They would become the largest force from outside Germany to participate in the invasion of Russia. When the Allies started bombing Romania, and with the Russians closing in popular support for the Axis began to fail and King Michael lead a coup d'état in August 1944 to take back control of the country and switch sides to the Allied cause. Despite this the country was largely dismantled after the war. They lost territory to Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union, but regained Northern Transylvania from Hungary. As well as fielding some indigenous designs the Armoured force comprised of mainly captured equipment, or that imported from Germany…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Looks interesting. Posted before but always a good look see:
worldwar2.ro

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

A topic that will always catch my eye. I find the history of Romania's participation in WW2 to be fascinating.

The book Armand linked to looks interesting. The website Marc linked to has been one that I have mined extensively to help me build my own Romanian wargaming force.

From the insert above:
"However the Kingdom had traditionally looked to the UK and France as it allies in Europe."

Poor Romania had more challenges than just picking the French. They had also picked the Czechs as one of their main equipment suppliers. So they entered the war with Czech tanks … some of the same tanks that the Germans used, but provided directly from the Czechs, not (initially) through the Germans.

By the end of 1939 the Germans were noticeably cozy with Romania's two chief adversaries, the Hungarians and the Russians. The Romanians had also developed military supply sourcing from the Austrians, and a bit from the Italians. And by 1940, well, there just wasn't much available to them that wasn't in the Germans' sphere.

Must have looked like a good, no a great, deal when it looked like the Germans wanted to work with them. Yeah, that worked out just great. Until …

Of course a proper Romanian force should probably have a very eclectic mix. Which makes it all the more entertaining to collect.

The advantage of a Romanian force is that you can use it against the Soviets OR (late-war) the Germans, depending on who shows up as your adversary. Oh, you can also use it against the Hungarians, which makes for very interesting fights with hopelessly out-classed equipment on both sides, a strange sort of balance being achieved.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Very nice Mark !

Both Romania and Hungary make for a good change of pace. I have contingents of both (Romanian forces more filled out) in 15mm. I so appreciate when you add pictures of your forces to the discussion Mark, thanks.

Glad you like it my friend!.

Congrats for the good work!.(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I so appreciate when you add pictures of your forces to the discussion Mark, thanks.

You really should be careful with your words. You'll only encourage me saying stuff like that.

You have been warned. You had the chance to flee, and chose to stay.

A gratuitous close-up of my Czech-supplied Romanian R-2 tanks (Known as the Pz 35t to the Germans).

A company of Romanian infantry. 3 platoons, with squads up front, platoon command and support behind, and company command elements behind that.

I base my infantry 4 to a stand to represent a standard squad, 3 to a stand to represent a full-sized "special purpose" squad, and 2 to a stand to represent a half-squad / crew / fire team.

Closer look at a platoon. 1 command squad, a 60mm mortar team, and a tank hunter team.

Company HQ includes a command squad, a medical orderly team, and a commo team (with field telephone and line reel).

Artillery FO group consisting of observer team and commo team, again with field telephone operator and line man.

Medium artillery battery with 100mm Skoda field howitzers, command squad with commo, and LMG-armed security team.

Light artillery battery with 75mm Schneider field guns. I keep the guns loose from the artillery crew bases, so that a few crews can serve a wider variety of guns. Also provides for crews and guns to take casualties separately, which is how my preferred ruleset works. And it's easier to have the guns towed, and to know when they are properly emplaced and ready to fire.

All of which applies to AT guns as readily as artillery. Here we see 37mm Bofors AT guns, with Melaxa primer movers (Chennilette UEs built under license).

The same crews can also man Boehler 47mm AT guns, in this case with SdKfz 15 prime movers.

While here the same crews man 75mm Pak97/38s, with a mixed set of primer movers (SdKfz 8s and Laffleys).

Armored recon can be made of captured Russian armored cars.

While they might also mix in some kit supplied by the Germans.

And if needed some heavier firepower can be provided by my SM.79jr bombers -- the famous Italian tri-motors converted to twin-engined planes for the Romanian contract.

A fun army to collect. So much diverse and interesting stuff. I can still think of half a dozen other things I'd like to add.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Not to high jack the thread but keep them coming. While your vehicles and aircraft are excellent my hats off to you on your infantry. I find, in 6mm, infantry often gets a short shrift. I should know. I used to be a 6mm enthusiast but more for eyesight than anything else switched scales eons ago. Essentially gave away my moderns (regretting that) but did keep my WW II. And while some good work, including in some cases airbrushing camo, infantry was always an after thought.

Coins for bases?

Mark. Are these GHQ? Nicely done

I keep pondering a good rule set for micro armour and lots of tanks. Most of my gaming is focussed towards 1/72 and so platoon scale (using BattleGroup rules) and say 3 to 6 vehicles. So a micro set that lets me put 50-100 vehicles would be a very different game. Any thoughts please?

Not to high jack the thread but keep them coming.

…my hats off to you on your infantry. I find, in 6mm, infantry often gets a short shrift.

Thank you for the kind words. And yes, the infantry often does come as an after-thought at this scale. So it was for me for many years.

Initially my infantry was just 4 figures shoulder-to-shoulder on a small styrene base, all spray-painted green. Then I started changing the bases, giving them a bit more room, and painting the bases a different color than the spray-painted figures. That's about as far as I ever got on my own, with my self-motivated, self-taught buy-it-at-the-hobbyshop-and-take-it-home skills.

Then I started hanging out on web fora. Wow, did my eyes get opened! I saw what others were doing, and I wanted some of that! And everyone seemed so willing to share their techniques, and I just absorbed it all ASAP. Special shout-outs to ACWBill and Ritterkrieg (Troy Ritter), who occasion this fora, for some key skills I got from their postings, mostly on the GHQ Forums.

I used to be a 6mm enthusiast but more for eyesight than anything else switched scales eons ago.

I'm too d@mned old (and too crotchety?) to switch now. I have hundreds of items in my smaller armies, and thousands in my larger forces. Too much of my life invested, too deep of an emotional attachment, to consider giving up my little "treasures" (or my "little army men", as my mother called them unto her last days).

As to weakening eyes … eh, it just makes it easier for me to excuse myself for my mistakes. I do have a magnifying desk lamp, which makes the painting a LOT easier. And if my less-than-fully-steady hands slip or shake too much, once the figs are out from under the magnifier I'll never see the flaws again anyways …

Some more of my Romanian infantry, that I particularly like…

A team equipped with an M/40 flame-thrower team. Romanians made use of Italian supplied kit, in this case a Lanciafiamme Modello 40. Kit bashed from a Romanian SMG figure with magazine clipped off, styrene tubing and flat styrene plates added for the flame-thrower itself, and a bit of thread for the hose.

Vanatori de Care (Tank Hunter) team. A figure in a typical grenade-throwing position has had his arms bent down, and has had a tellermine added (actually a nose-wheel clipped from a micro-scale MiG-27, IIRC). I made one Vanatori team for each of my infantry platoons.

Coins for bases?

Yep. US Pennies are my standard bases. I find they are cheap (I get as many as 100 for a dollar). They are very sturdy -- they don't bend or break, and provide significant protection for the figures mounted on them. Also they are readily available -- I find few things as frustrating as having a unit 90% finished, and then finding myself short of some item I need to complete the job. I have discovered that I can always mine for pennies between the cushions of the sofa as needed, and have never failed to finish a unit for lack of a few pennies.

I use acrylic medium gel to mount the figures on the pennies. I learned this trick from ACWBill. Acrylic medium is basically un-colored acrylic paint. Gel is thicker than acrylic medium liquid -- almost the texture of pudding. I add a couple drops of acrylic paint that is my chosen earth tone, and voila, I have a gel I can lay on as thick as I choose, that will serve not only as glue for the figures but as paint for the ground around the figures.

I paint the figures first. The cast-on bases are painted the same earth tone color as I use in the gel.

I put a generous amount of tinted gel on the penny, generally almost 1mm deep, and work the figures into it. I carefully dab a bit around the edges and even up on to the cast-on bases, so no gaps appear between the figure and the textured ground on the penny. Once all figures are on the penny, I put a few model RR talus pebbles and shrub bits around, and bury the whole thing in flocking (sometimes using 2 colors of flock, but in this case only one).

As the acrylic gel dries, I can pick up the stands of infantry and tap off the excess flocking, and they are ready for a dullcoat sealant.

Are these GHQ?

Mostly. The great majority of the infantry figures are from GHQ's Romanian Individual Infantry, and Individual Infantry Support Weapons packs.

There are also a few GHQ US Artillery Crew figures mixed in, both around the guns and on the command and medical stands (empty-handed guys can be dead useful). And some H&R standing and kneeling gun crewmen. And even a Scotia French radio operator on the artillery command stand. I kind of mix and match to get the poses I want. But I very much prefer the GHQ Individual Infantry when I have them available.

Hope that helps.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Are these GHQ?

My answer above was only in regards to infantry. But from Marc-tPF's post I can see he is as much or more interested in the vehicles, so a bit more…

Yes most of the models are GHQ. The R-2 tanks can be found in their German or Romanian lines. The SdKfz 222 armored cars are from the German line. Trucks include Opels, Einhietzdeisels, SdKfz 15s and SdKfz 8s from their German line, Renault AHS and Laffley S25s from their French line, and a single small command car from their Polish line. The 100mm Skoda Howitzers come from their Italian line, and the 37mm Bofors AT guns come from their Polish line.

There are also several models from H&R: One French 4t truck (open-topped with POL barrels kit-bashed in), 4 French Laffley scout cars, one Italian Fiat light truck, are H&R. So also the Russian BA-10 and BA-64 armored cars, French UE tractors, French 75mm guns, Italian Breda (license-built Austrian Boehler) 47mm AT guns, and IIRC the SM.79jr bombers are all H&R.

The Pak97/38 75mm AT guns came from PFC C-in-C.

So quite an eclectic force. Kind of fun that way.

I keep pondering a good rule set for micro armour and lots of tanks. … a micro set that lets me put 50-100 vehicles would be a very different game. Any thoughts please?

My current preference for rules is:
1) Mein Panzer
2) Jagdpanzer 2nd Ed.

Both treat vehicle as 1 model-to-1 vehicle unit scale, and infantry as (generally) 1 stand-to-1 squad unit scale. Both are reasonably fast-play, particularly with regard to vehicle combat, so as you become familiar with the rules you can expand up to multiple companies per player. Will you reach 50 or more per player? Eh, I'm thinking that's a bit much. But 50 or more per side, when you have 2 or 3 players per side? Sure bet!

My preference is to game combined arms actions. I like my gaming to give me some experiencial insights into the challenges that unit commanders faced in the military history that I spend so much time studying. In my view you can't really understand tanks if you don't fight against infantry and AT guns, you can't understand infantry if you don't face artillery, you can't understand recon forces if you don't use hidden units, etc.

My approach, with either ruleset, is to give each player a re-enforced company -- a total of maybe 5-6 platoons. Typically this would be a company of infantry with tanks, MGs, mortars, AT guns and/or artillery in support. Or a company of tanks, with infantry, mortars and/or artillery in support. If there are multiple players, we can build up battalion or even multi-battalion-sized forces. At that point a battalion CO on each side might have an HQ platoon and several support assets (batteries of artillery, platoons of recon, and perhaps even air strikes).

I prefer Mein Panzer because I really like the infantry combat mechanisms, and the unit activation / turn sequence mechanism. With infantry you can genuinely feel the pressure to withdraw once the enemy gets enough firepower coming down on you. Almost all resolutions (die roles) start with your unit quality rating. I kind of like that. It starts with the quality of your troops, and the capability of your weapon is just a modifier to that. And the turn sequence makes you think in terms of your platoons and batteries, even though you are gaming with individual vehicles and squads. I also find the artillery mechanism fun … kind of campy, but fun.

Jagdpanzer is more basic I-go-U-go (with a bit of mixing in stationary vs. moving shooters). The infantry rules are more highly abstracted/simplified in Jagdpanzer, making them more armor-centric in my view.

Hope that helps. Your mileage may vary.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Very nice modeling ! 3-6mm is perfect for games larger than a Plt or two.

[Unless one plays 40K then you just ram the other guys AFVs. As you can move farther that you can shoot ! And Don't get me started on Titans/Mechs in 40K scale !]

3-6mm is perfect for games larger than a Plt or two.

The interesting thing I observe from my most recent games is that the actual issue of the game, the action at the "pointy end" of the stick, as they say, occurs in an area and with units that are about the same sized as others use on their game tables at 15mm or 20mm. That is to say that the game is decided, generally, by some intensive combat action between three or four platoons total in an area that is seldom more than maybe 300m on a side.

But gaming as I do, with 5 or 6 platoons per player, and with 3-5km of game table width/length, I get to see HOW and WHY the issue was decided by a sharp engagement between 3 or 4 platoons in a small space. My decisions during the early part of the game, and the decisions of my opponent, will lead to WHERE that decisive action takes place, and WHO has the advantage in forces there for that action.

I mean, who wants to sign up for a game where you get 1 platoon to face down an enemy with 3 platoons? But on my battleboards it happens all the time, because you spread your forces too thinly, or didn't set your defenses up in mutually supporting positions, or didn't hold anything in reserve, or committed your mobile forces early in the game to a non-critical task …

Oooh just talking about it makes me want to set up a game!

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)