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I was thinking about starting up Flames of War again and I was thinking about playing Romanians because honestly I love the look of all their infantry gear and armor.

I appeal to the forum's collective wisdom to determine if this is a good idea. Are Romanians a good army for a FoW beginner to play?

I've played miniature games since 2nd ED 40k, currently play warmachine and I used to own the rules to 2nd ed FoW (and understood them). I'm a pretty seasoned wargamer and don't mind losing many battles. It seems like Romanians can be used in Mid or late war settings, though I've only had a glance at the new rules and the Red Bear supplement. I'm hoping to purchase both the new rules and the Red Bear book early next week.

Thanks for your help, forum!

The majority of armies in Flames of War are quite well balanced in general if you used the points system. That said, Romanians are definitely on the lower end of the spectrum, although there are definitely some effective ways to employ them, and I believe they'd function well as an infantry-heavy army. I believe (but someone correct me if I'm wrong) the latest Romanian organizations use battalions instead of companies, similar to Russian infantry lists.

It's definitely not the easiest army to start out with, but if you love the look (and if you're interested in the history at least a bit) they'd be fine for you. The fact that you're an experienced wargamer and don't mind losing will help a lot, and you can definitely learn to play them effectively, they are just likely to have a higher learning curve than some other armies. As an experienced wargamer, I certainly wouldn't suggest that you start with an army that interests you less.

Honestly, from my limited experience, Romanians can be tough.

Its the unknown in motivation and command that kills them. You just don't know what you will end up with. In many ways both them and the Italians are like the old Orc animosity rules.

Before you pick up red bear, thumb through Grey Wolf. Late war Hungarians are another non-vanilla army that is mostly CV with some solid choices...access to cheap Tigers, cheap 149mm arty, Hetzers and breakthrough gun Hungarian assault guns.

There is also alot to be said for picking Russians or Germans and the access to low cost non-FoW suppliers. For the cost of your Romanians, you can probably get a German and a Russian army in Plastic Soldier Company.

Zarren Wevon wrote:I was thinking about starting up Flames of War again and I was thinking about playing Romanians because honestly I love the look of all their infantry gear and armor.

I appeal to the forum's collective wisdom to determine if this is a good idea. Are Romanians a good army for a FoW beginner to play?

I've played miniature games since 2nd ED 40k, currently play warmachine and I used to own the rules to 2nd ed FoW (and understood them). I'm a pretty seasoned wargamer and don't mind losing many battles. It seems like Romanians can be used in Mid or late war settings, though I've only had a glance at the new rules and the Red Bear supplement. I'm hoping to purchase both the new rules and the Red Bear book early next week.

Thanks for your help, forum!

Romanians are well supported with german and their own gear and can do quite well on the table top. They also are one of the only forces that can bat for both sides, axis or allied. They are also adaptable to MW as well as LW. The only negative with a romanian army is that you will be buying duplicate minis to field it properly. For example you'll be buying german guns, but then need to buy separate romanian crews to man them. Not really a big deal, just adds a bit to the bottom line cost, but ultimately has no affect on how well they play. If I finally ever broke my "British only!" limitation on myself the next two armies I'd buy would be Romanian and Italian.

Skriker