MW Romanian Infantry List building

I won’t lie, this is an article I’m trying to get rushed out. I’m allowed to talk about the new Mid War Romanian book as much as I like at the moment, however, the Bulge America is looming on the horizon, so I’m trying to get this out before the American Bulge is thrust into our article schedule and takes over [well, it was a nice plan – Lee]. In short, if you are reading this whilst eating your Christmas left overs then I have failed miserably.

I best get on with things then.

The good, the bad and the lacking

When it comes to a Mid War Romanian infantry list you have three choices; the Motor Rifle Company, Rifle Company and Mountain Rifle Company. So, which do we pick?

Well Mountain Rifles are the most skilled, but have very limited options, so I’m not going to pick them. The vanilla Rifle Company have plenty of options, but they’re not great, being hit on 3+ and with poor anti-tank. So that leaves the Motor Rifles, who are average in stats, (by Romanian standards,) and have plenty of options.

The Basics

With the Motor Rifles the big decision is half tracks or no halftracks. All of the black boxes can ride around in the comparative luxury of a barely armoured shell magnet, or they can walk through the mud.

Starting with the company command, I think I’ll just take the standard two stands on foot, as they will most likely spend the game hiding at the back.

For the first black box I’ll also take a full unit on foot, and since it’s a defensive infantry list, they can start dug in and stay there for most of the game. Two of the optional heavy machine guns will also beef up their fire power.

As for the second black box, I’m actually going to take the armoured option. This will be a nice mobile counter to the foot sloggers, and will be handy as a reserve unit. I won’t take them at full strength though; 5 MG teams in 3 half tracks should do the job nicely.

The list so far:
Motor Rifle Company
CHQ – 2x Rifle teams = 1 point
Motorised Rifle platoon – 7x Rifle/MG teams +2x HMG = 8 points
Armoured Rifle Platoon – 5x MG teams and 3x Halftracks = 7 points
Total = 16 points

Guns. Lots of guns

That’s the core of the company, now time to flesh it out and, just like that American Bulge, it’s a lot of flesh.
The Romanian Motor Rifle company can get a lot of in-formation support, and, like a baboon at the buffet counter, I’m going to cram as much of it in as I can.
A heavy machine gun platoon, an 81mm mortar platoon, (just the one though, two seems a little excessive,) a long 47mm anti-tank gun platoon and a 50mm anti-tank gun platoon. That second AT platoon could be more long 47mm guns, but I’ve chosen the 50mm guns as, whilst it’s one less gun, they have a point more AT and four extra inches of range. You never know when you might want an extra four inches, (please stop sniggering at the back).

The list is now:
Motor Rifle Company
CHQ – 2x Rifle teams = 1 point
Motorised Rifle platoon – 7x Rifle/MG teams +2x HMG = 8 points
Armoured Rifle Platoon – 5x MG teams and 3x Halftracks = 7 points
4x Heavy Machine Guns = 4 points
4x 81mm Mortars = 5 points
4x Long 47mm Guns = 10 points
3x 50mm Gun = 10 points
Total = 45 points

Supporting my assets

That’s the company done, now I just need to decide on my support.

First thing I need is a bit more range and high-end AT; a unit of PAK 40s should do nicely. Some artillery is always useful, so I’ll add a battery of 100mm guns and an observer in the hope that he actually might be able to help them range in on something.

With the exception of the Armoured Infantry, the list so far is rather static. I’ve got plenty of guns to dig in and hold fast, (or hide in a hole and then run away, only time will tell,) but I’m lacking in some more mobile units that can take the fight to the enemy. Time for some tanks

There are 4four tank options for Romania, two light and two medium.

One medium is a must, something that can go toe to toe with the other mediums of the period, so it’s just a question of which one. After about 3 seconds of pondering, I have decided to go with the T-4, as its only a point more per tank than the T-3, and I get a mighty 8 inches more range and slightly more AT as well.
A unit of light tanks will come in handy as well, something that can drive around and cause a nuisance, even if it will evaporate like a cursed, jewellery obsessed hobbit in a volcano the moment it sees an enemy medium tank. I’ll take the T-38s over the R-2s any day as they are at least bullet proof from the sides, unlike the R-2.

That still leaves me with 7 points and, seeing as my tanks units are on the small side, I need something else that can fight in assaults and afford to lose a team or two. Pioneers seem like the perfect solution; they hit on a 3+ as normal and come as six Rifle stands and two flamethrowers. For an extra point I can swap all the rifle teams to be SMG teams, so they will now hit on a 2+ in assault. Sounds like a plan.

Now the list is:
Motor Rifle Company
CHQ – 2x Rifle teams = 1 point
Motorised Rifle platoon – 7x Rifle/MG teams +2x HMG = 8points
Armoured Rifle Platoon – 5x MG teams and 3x Halftracks = 7 points
4x Heavy Machine Guns = 4 points
4x 81mm Mortars = 5 points
4x Long 47mm Guns = 10 points
3x 50mm Gun = 10 points
Total = 45 points

Support
3x 75mm Anti-tank guns = 14 points
4x 100mm Howitzers = 9 points
Observer = 1 point
3x T-4 tanks (Panzer IVs) = 24 points
3x T-38 tanks (Panzer 38ts) = 5 points
Pioneer Platoon – 6x SMG teams & 2x Flame-thrower teams = 7 points
Total = 60 points

Grand Total = 105 points

How about that, 105 points on the first attempt. It’s almost like I spent a couple of hours fiddling with different list builds in order to get something well rounded and present it to an audience. That, my friends, is the magic of the internet.

The Plan

The basic plan for the army is to defend, sit on the objectives and hope the enemy melts before me like an Easter egg before superman’s eye lasers. That will of course mean there will be some missions where I need to keep stuff in reserve. The plan then would be to put the armoured infantry, pioneers, T-4 tanks and T-38 tanks into reserve. That’s 43 points, so one more than the magical 42 required. Again, it’s almost like I spent time planning this.

If I wanted to bump the list up to 125 points, then the easy solution is to include the other medium tanks. The T-3s are 21 points, which would put me over by a point, but then I could shave something else down slightly to save the point, most likely dropping the mortars down to 3 or swapping the R-2s for R-1s.

That is my whistle stop tour of Romanian infantry list building. I’ll let you get back to your Turkey sandwiches.