Sexy sixes - Flames of War and other geeky stuff: History

Hey, another episode of Peasant Army is here :)

This time, it was triggered by one of the readers and a fellow Romanian army general! The request was to give some army building advice concentrated on Vanatori Motorizata companies across all FoW periods. Of course, can do! :)

First of all, I need to mention, that in my opinion, Romanian army in general is a very good choice if you want variety in your lists. The great thing about it is that it has access to the main types of companies: infantry, mechanized and tank across all periods. What is more, in each period a different company type is strong. If I was to assign point values (between 1-3, where 3 is the strongest) for how strong a given Romanian briefing is in each period compared to other Romanian lists, it would go like this:

Early War

Regular Infantry (1), Elite Infantry (2), Cavalry (2), Tank (2), Motorized Infantry (3)

Mid War

Mountain Infantry (1), Regular Infantry (1), Motorized Infantry (2), Tank (3), Cavalry (3)

Late War

Cavalry (1), Mountain Infantry (1), Czech Tank (1), Motorized Infantry (2), Medium Tank Axis & Soviet (2), Allied Regular Infantry (2), Axis Regular Infantry (3)

What you can see in my list is that Motorized infantry gets a bit worse as time passes but is still quite strong compared to other lists. So overall, aiming for Motorizata sounds like a good plan.

But going back to the real focus of this article, here are my thoughts on Vanatori Motorizata:

EW

Vanatori Motorizata in Early War is the big thing. This list really shines among all other Romanian briefings and can easily go toe to toe with most competitve companies based on other nations. The skill/morale table is very good for EW (1-3 is C/T, 4-5 F/T, 6 C/V) - no rolls get you the crappy Reluctant Trained and you get a single chance of C/V. Basic infantry is cheap, since it is rifle, there are tons of options to get high AT (6-8) guns, you can have smoke, pioneers, very good recon. Basically, the list has it all. There is only one exception: there are no infantry anti-tank upgrades (no sticky bombs, Vanator de Care, panzerknackers, nothing). You can try and compensate for it with artillery, but I would simply ignore this and go for more direct a-t in the artillery slots. In the end, if you cannot kill the big tanks, just delay them and go for the supporting platoons.

Also, a thing to note is the armored transports option for the anti-tank. It really can be a game changer and only costs 5 points per platoon on top of the normal 5 points for the trucks. This is a must-have.

My core to build the list around is then:

2 platoons of infantry

2 platoons of 47mm schneider a-t guns + armored transports

recce platoon (my favourite is the BA10x3)

Everything else depends on the player.

MW

Mid War Motorizata is still strong in Mid War. It has a much better rating table than the EW version (66% to get veteran, but 16% to be Reluctant/Trained). But what is the most notable thing about this list is that it can have tons of anti-tank in the 11-12 range. This is mostly, because it can use German Pak40 guns along with a separate Romanian platoon equipped with the same gun, coming in a different support slot. This option can be coupled with a platoon of 3 Romanian Panzer IVs to form a really good barrier against tanks (even KVs need to think twice before they can charge this company head on).

Also, this is a list where I would go for 10 platoons, instead of 6 or 8. The reason for this are cheap compulsory platoons of 7 Rifle/MG teams (downside is that you need to take 3 of them as your mandatory units) and relatively inexpensive support options.

Talking about support, you can get whatever you need there: smoke, artillery, armored infantry, recon, light anti-tank, you name it. My personal favorite is a unit of cavalry, which can go around the flanks and harass artillery positions/small infantry units.

In the end, this list is VERY flexible. Maybe the infantry is not the strongest in the world, but it has so many support options that you can easily compensate for this. This makes a very balanced force in MW.

My favorite basic setup is:

3 compulsory infantry platoons

2 pak40 platoons (German + Romanian or Romanian + Romanian if you want to go hardcore Transylvanian)

1 platoon of Romanian Panzer IV tanks

LW

In Late War, this briefing cannot compare to what the regular Puscasi Battalion can field. There are no options to put down units of 6, 9 or 12 guns. This does not mean however, that Vanatori Motorizata sucks. Still, the stat table for your guys is very good (again 66% chance to be veteran), the basic infantry is numerous and tough and support has almost everything you need to construct a good list.

This is a company for those that love MG teams, as your 9-base compulsory platoons are made up of MG infantry. Axis HQ also offers a nice way to bring them up to 10 stands per platoon with panzershreck options which make them even more deadly against tanks (as you will surely get panzerfausts on your platoon leaders anyway). I would always use this possibility. Always.

What I also consider a must-have in this list is a platoon of German Pak40s. You can have 4 of them, so I would take the maximum number for a lot of concentrated anti-tank firepower.

Then it is time for smoke in the form of 81mm mortars and some recon. Once you are done with the base of the army, you can play around with options. It depends what you like. My choice would be 2 units of Romanian StuGs but any other choices that bring you up to 8 platoons are ok. Even if you like artillery in your infantry :P (although I would no go for it)

I would form the base of the company using:

2 compulsory infantry platoons (panzerschrecks with axis!)

and now we face the issue of low numbers of anti-tank guns

1 platoon of pak40 if using allies, if not - a platoon of TAC Resita 75mm with their crappy Heavy rating

1 platoon of captured Soviet AT10 guns

1 platoon of Romanian StuG assault guns

So, this is my approach to Vanatori Motorizata. Hope it was helpful.

November the 11th marks the Polish Independence Day. This holiday was instituted in 1937 to commemorate Poland regaining its independence in 1918 after 123 years of occupation by three major forces: Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary.
The big reason for this major event in the history of Europe was the victory of western powers in what became known as the Great War. With Great Britain, France and USA able to dictate the terms of peace, the final deal was based on Wilson's 14 points.
Point 13 of this proposal enabled creation of an independent Polish state, based on existence of ethnic Polish majorities, completely sovereign and enojying guarantees of territorial integrity by international conventions.
But in any case, it was the First World War that opened the way for Poland to appear on the map once again.

With this information in mind, myself and my wife selected the destination of our early afternoon trip: a First World War German military cemetery, located in woods near Łódź. The cemetery is a resting place for over 600 German and approximately 100 Russian soldiers that died during the battle of Łódź in 1914. This battle was one of the greatest clashes on the Eastern front. It was also one of the few major mobile battles of the Great War where key parts were played by bodies of troops moving around using trains for transportation. It was also here that the Russians used armored cars for the first time.

It was almost a miracle that we managed to find the place as it lies in a secluded part of the forest. Fortunately, guided by some locals, we managed to find what was a cemetery maybe 50-60 years ago and now is just a shadow of it former self, deformed and overgrown with vegetation. In any case, as a tribute to the soldiers of both sides (many of them of Polish nationality) I decided to take some photos so that they do not become completely forgotten.