MV – We recently looked at Isaac’s Romanian Rifle Platoon, featuring plenty of heavily kitbashed infantry, and he’s been forging ahead expanding that force. This time, we’re taking a look at his Armoured Platoon! Tell us about your tanks, Isaac!
IP – Romanian tanks in the Second World War are an interesting topic, as while Romania had its tank development program, it would mostly utilise foreign designs in combat. This resulted in an unusual mixture of modern German equipment fielded alongside obsolete French designs, and makes a Romanian Armoured Platoon a really fun prospect to tackle!
I decided to use the Axis Support special rule from the Romanian army list to include a Panzer IV in my force – this will give me a serious heavy hitter – backed up by Renault R35s to give a really ‘mixed’ feel to the Platoon. This complements the kitbashed nature of all my infantry!
For my R35s, I started in a bit of a strange place – with a different kit entirely! The Romanian forces had been acquiring R35s for some time, and collected an abundance of them during the Fall of Poland (the Polish Army having retreated in part through Romania) that they would go on to upgrade and modify for their own ends. I’m using the R39 kit to represent the up-gunned Vânătorul de care R-35 variant, although for simplicity I still field them rules-wise as R35s. The principal difference between the R39 and R35 is the gun, so they’re perfect for the job!
At the core of my Armoured Platoon is a pair of R35s, one of which would be my Command Vehicle. I painted both in the standard Romanian dark green, designating the Command Vehicle with a white turret stripe. I really wanted to give these two a distinctively Romanian feel, so named them for small villages in the country – including the one my family originally hails from! These pair will be used to support my infantry with mobile fire support (and hard cover if they get knocked out!) – as they have the One Man Turret rule, keeping them close together will be crucial!
I also painted my Panzer IV Ausf. F2 in Romanian dark green. Germany provided Romania with hundreds of armoured fighting vehicles, scores of Panzer IV variants, StuGs, and armoured cars, so I decided to field it as a Romanian-crewed vehicle rather than a German ally. For the identification markings, I took ordinary German Balkankreuz decals, and then painted in the connecting lines to make them Romanian – I think they’ve come out really nicely for such a simple solution! To make the Panzer IV look more ‘lived-in’, I used some of the stowage included in the Achtung Panzer Waffen-SS Tank Force. I always find little details like this really elevate a model, and help it feel more like a real combat vehicle.
This Armoured Platoon has a nice balance of older and modern vehicles, and will give my infantry good support. I’ve got some plans to expand this Platoon further in due time, but for now it’ll do nicely as I work on other elements of my force!
MV – Want to follow in Isaac’s treads? Download the free Romanian PDF army list and let your imagination run wild!
