List Building: Romanian Vanatori Motorizata (Early War).

You will have seen some painting and review posts for my Romanian force. Even though I have written a few lists, I want to sit down and write the one list to rule them all. Well, a list to at least paint up and play a few games with. This list is from the new Barbarossa digital lists.

List Rules:

So, a word on the Romanians. To start, they are variable morale. So, you need to roll off on a table each game to see what the rating of each unit is. This means that you might have a range of different ratings in the same army. There are 2 tables – regular and elite. Vanatori Motorizata is an Elite list and therefore has fewer bad options on their table. Essentially, there is 3 chance in 6 of being Confident Trained, 2 in 6 chance of being Fearless Trained and 1 in 6 chance of being Confident Veteran.

Next, Romanians have a French Doctrine. The Romanians are still using outdated trench warfare tactics at this point and therefore can dig in on a 3+ (this is important as there is a 5/6 chance or being trained who normally dig in on a 4+. Being an infantry list, digging in is important. Infantry and gun teams who are dug in are also allowed to shoot over man packed and light guns in defensive fire.

The Romanians get a Defend the Homeland rule that allows them to reroll motivation to counter attack in assaults. This is the same as British Bulldog.

List

So, onto the list. We generally play 1550 in Sydney so I will shoot for that.

HQ

I will take the 1ic and 2ic with a truck for 30 points.

I have an option to take some 60mm mortars. I am not sure I will have the points for that so I will hold off for the moment.

Combat Platoons.

There are 2 compulsory Vanatori Motorizata Platoons. These are the foundation on which the list will be built. I will take them at full strength. That is 2 x 10 stand rifle platoons with trucks. 2 x 135 points = 270 points. With the HQ, we are up to 300. 1250 to go.

Divisional Support.

OK, I have skipped Weapons Platoons and skipped straight to the dessert menu, AKA the Divisional Support Platoons. This is where all the tasty treats are.

So, the list will need to some recce. Cavalry tanks seem the logical option. They are small, so easy to conceal. They are cheap so easy to fit in a list. Finally they are pointed for purpose – that is you get just what you need, recce that moves 12 inches, armour 0-0-1 with just a MG. No wide tracks, main guns or fancy armour. 70 points

I have some R-2 tanks (35ts) on my paint bench and I am reading a book on this beautifully boxy beast at the moment. So, let’s add a unit of 3. This will be my unit of tanks. They are reasonable tanks in EW with decent armour (FA 2), good movement (standard), a reasonable gun (RFO 2 and AT 6) and has 2 MGs and protected ammo. 195 points.

I really want some more vehicles and the only option left are a platoon of captured BA10s or Tatra vz 30. I am going for BA10s. Please see my blog post for my thoughts on Battlefronts models. These are a handy unit as they are a second unit of recce, have a good AT7 gun and two MGs each. 155 points.

So, I have spent 420 on vehicles. Add that to the 300 I spent earlier, I am up to 720 or just under half way.

Artillery is next. I really want a solid template to drop on the hatches of any heavy tanks I encounter. Heavy artillery is expensive in EW, so I go for the cheap and cheerful Skoda M14 100mm guns. I will add an observer and some trucks for 235 points.

Next is some AT. I need something to meet the tank swarms that EW often produces. This is where the Romanians excel. Let’s take 4 TAC Schneider 47mm guns. These are ROF 3 and AT 8 so can stop most tank units dead. 225 points.

After gorging on dessert, I have spent 1180, let’s go back to some weapons platoons.

Weapons Platoons

Even though my infantry platoons are 10 stands, they will not be able to stop assaults from large infantry units. So, let’s buy a machine gun platoon. This gives me 2 HMGs to attach out for 55 points.

I can take a second unit of the excellent TAC 47mm guns. Let’s add 4 more of these puppies for another 225 points.

I am now at 9 platoons or 8 if I attach out the HMGs and have spent 1480 points.

I am missing a very important ingredient – smoke. Sadly my arty doesn’t have smoke rounds and the cheap HQ mortars don’t either. So, let’s add a mortar platoon of four 81mm mortars for 80 points. This will give me both a direct fire smoke and an indirect template of smoke. Finally, mortars are great for digging out gun teams on the attack and for bombarding infantry in the open on the defense.

I am now at 1555. Let’s take the trucks off the artillery platoon for -5 and that’s it, 1550. I am now at 10 platoons or 9 if the HMGs combat attach.

Hopefully you have found this useful. Please leave me a comment on what you think of the list.