Expanding borders: A Romanian AAR

**feye1** · 09-12-2011 11:27

Chapter 2: Romania vs Hungary

In the last chapter we saw that the Romanians are preparing very well. They got some artillery and build up a pretty modern army. Also in the last phase we need to prepare our army as best as possible, so we mobilize the entire army. In the meanwhile Germany invites us to join the mighty Axis. We refuse, because we don’t want to join Axis at all! Those damn fascists! We will help beat them later on, but we need to figure out first on which way...

We mobilize our troops..

We refuse to join the axis!

As we expected, the war with Hungary started before the end of the year! We have to beat them, in order to secure our borders in the future. Probably it will be a tough fight, but the war is necessary for the motherland. We can enact some better laws, which are very usefull in this stage of the game.

We declare war on Hungary.. finally!

Our strategy to conquer the Hungarians.

We have some better laws now.

The Hungarians were not that good prepared as we expected. They clearly didn’t expect an attack from the Romanians. One week after we start the war, we pushed them back in the center en southern front. In the north there is a hard struggle going on, but the Romanian generals are pleased, because the troops are in the outskirts of Budapest. One week later we attacked Budepest with success. The Hungarians give up after we took over their capital. We expected to win this war, but that Romania would win in two weeks? Damn, the Romanians are stronger then the region expected!

The first week was very succesfull.

The second week we beat them at their capital.

After we got Budapest they gave up!

When the war is over, we can look back on the last weeks:
- The Hungarians were easier to beat as we expected
- Our Army did very well on the field.
- An Airforce would be usefull, but it's too expensive to build.
- Mobile units are great to use, but also very costly.

What points could be usefull to know in the future:
- We have '0' manpower left.
- Our officerratio is still not high enough.
- Our National Unity is still increasing
- We have enough resources to keep building.

As you can see, Romania grew a bit. There are some other potential countries we could invade.

Our neighbours are:
- Germany
- Soviet Union
- Poland
- Czechoslovakia
- Yugoslavia
- Bulgaria
- Turkey (by sea)

Any suggestions from your side? The Romanian Army Command has some good thoughts about this, but maybe some outsiders can help them create a genius plan...?

**feye1** · 09-12-2011 11:31

Originally Posted by morbid12b

I have played Romania a few times. In FTM, if you join the Axis before Hungary does, Hungary will get a big negative modifier to join the Axis, -9 I believe? This is what I typically do to stop Hungary from joining the Axis and claiming my land.

As you can see in the second chapter, we refuse to join the axis. We don't want to join them at all! Welcome and don't hesistate to do some other suggestions!

Originally Posted by Jaochai

As somebody who is trying (and not succeeding) to play an expansionist, Axis Romania, I'll definitely be giving this one a look!

Welcome and have fun!

**Tallfellow** · 09-12-2011 11:34

If you could take out Czechoslovakia it would help you alot with Manpower, IC and Leadership, and would also take them away from Germany.

**King50000** · 09-12-2011 12:01

You should take out Bulgaria, as they are the only nation, besides the USSR, that still has cotes on you. And if Hungary fell in 2 weeks, Bulgaria should fall in just a few days.

**Mythos1978** · 09-12-2011 12:07

Nice start. Go for Czechoslovakia before the Germans take it.
I will follow this.

**Megaherz** · 09-12-2011 14:57

Go for Czechoslovakia!

**mjj55409** · 09-12-2011 16:25

Go for Bulgaria. They are a pushover, and it will give you a land route to Turkey. Puppet Turkey and take Yugoslavia.

**eqqman** · 09-12-2011 16:27

Originally Posted by Megaherz

Go for Czechoslovakia!

Some of these annexation events are still allowed to fire even if the victim is in the middle of a war. I know I've had the Baltic states as puppets and they were still taken away by the USSR. There's a small danger that if the Czechs don't lose before the imminent Treaty of Munich, that they will be `saved` by being annexed and your army will find itself on German soil all of a sudden.

Since Germany already has the best part of that country now anyway, I would instead attack Bulgaria as a precursor to hitting Yugoslavia. Then, hit Albania before Italy takes it. This should also stop the Italian ultimatum on Greece which will allow you to take that as well later on. You could try hitting Yugoslavia right away, but sometimes they can be harder to beat than you think since the mountain terrain helps a lot. Being able to come in from the Bulgarian side as well will give you more direct access to their VPs.

**Baltasar** · 09-12-2011 19:16

Bulgaria - Yougoslavia - Greece

**Megaherz** · 09-12-2011 19:25

Originally Posted by eqqman

Some of these annexation events are still allowed to fire even if the victim is in the middle of a war. I know I've had the Baltic states as puppets and they were still taken away by the USSR. There's a small danger that if the Czechs don't lose before the imminent Treaty of Munich, that they will be `saved` by being annexed and your army will find itself on German soil all of a sudden.

Since Germany already has the best part of that country now anyway, I would instead attack Bulgaria as a precursor to hitting Yugoslavia. Then, hit Albania before Italy takes it. This should also stop the Italian ultimatum on Greece which will allow you to take that as well later on. You could try hitting Yugoslavia right away, but sometimes they can be harder to beat than you think since the mountain terrain helps a lot. Being able to come in from the Bulgarian side as well will give you more direct access to their VPs.

Thats the idea of why he should go for Czechoslovakia first,because if one would delay it for too long,the Germans might come knocking on Czech doors before him...

+ The Czech has a large amount of MP,IC and Leadership...

**eqqman** · 09-12-2011 20:17

Originally Posted by Megaherz

Thats the idea of why he should go for Czechoslovakia first,because if one would delay it for too long,the Germans might come knocking on Czech doors before him...

+ The Czech has a large amount of MP,IC and Leadership...

Yes, but since it is Sep. `38 I think it is already too late unless another 2-week win is expected. And best part of the Czech resources are in the Sudetenland that Germany has already. I don't think it is worth the gamble since it is better to be sure to preempt the Italian involvement in the Balkans.

**poloport** · 09-12-2011 21:05

When i play Romania my first stop is Bulgaria and Yugoslavia (at the same time). They're not that hard to beat, and give significant help with manpower and IC. Albania too after i finish up Yugoslavia, since a single headquarter unit is enough to annex them.

**eagle1997** · 10-12-2011 13:09

You should attack Bulgaria and then Yugoslavia. Then maybe attack Greece.

**feye1** · 10-12-2011 20:04

Originally Posted by Baltasar

Bulgaria - Yougoslavia - Greece

It would be a very logical, good and save way to expand our borders. It will give the IC, MP and LS a great boost.

Originally Posted by mjj55409

Go for Bulgaria. They are a pushover, and it will give you a land route to Turkey. Puppet Turkey and take Yugoslavia.

Could be an option! Bulgaria itself is usefull for the economy and we can get Turkey aswell.

Originally Posted by eqqman

Yes, but since it is Sep. `38 I think it is already too late unless another 2-week win is expected. And best part of the Czech resources are in the Sudetenland that Germany has already. I don't think it is worth the gamble since it is better to be sure to preempt the Italian involvement in the Balkans.

Sudetenland almost only got forts. If I can get Praha, Kladno and some other cities, it should be an interesting movement, but as you say.. a gamble too.

Also the others guys/girls thanks for the comments!

**feye1** · 14-12-2011 16:15

Chapter 3: Romania as a regional superpower

In the previous chapter we could see that the Hungarians got easily beaten by Romania. The Hungarian territory is very useful, because it gives us some extra IC, LS, MP and resources. The most important part of our victory is that they can’t claim Transylvania anymore. We started to build some transport ships for campaigns in the future.
Shortly after we conquered Hungary, the Germans literally took Sudetenland – as part of the Treaty of Munich – from Czechoslovakia, our next target…

Treaty of Munich

Production...

Because the Germans annexed Sudetenland, we didn’t have to rush. A month after the end of the last war, we got most of our divisions stationed next to the Czechoslovakian border and could start to expand our border again.

Romania DoW Czechoslovakia

The planning for the invasion

The initial part of the war is pretty successful. After two weeks of fighting, we conquered almost the half country and the Czechoslovakians were going down on all fronts. The Czechoslovakians could stabilize the front, so we could reorganized the entire Army for a final breakthrough.
After a couple weeks we force their troops back and we surrounded their capital, Prague. A few days later, we captures Prague and the Czechoslovakians ended the war. Romania grew again!

Planning for the invasion

Initial part goes very well

The Czechoslovakian army is forced back to Prague

We encircled Prague

Czechoslovakia surrenders

After we are done with the Czechoslovakians, we transport our troops to the Bulgarian border. We use the time until mid March to recover from our two previous wars. The manpower was dropped to 0 and by mid March we got a few manpower again. This fact means we are ready to expanding our borders further.
As we said, we stationed our troops next to the Bulgarian border. Bulgaria is our next target, but on the same time we declared war on Bulgaria, we also involve Turkey in this conflict. To make things a bit harder, we declared war on the major power Italy too! Why? They are not in the Axis now and it makes things very interesting I guess… maybe not the best decision, but without gambling, there is no fun!

Turkey is military a pretty weak country. Nevertheless they can be hard to beat if we only attack via the Bosporus. The supreme command of the Romanian Army is satisfied with the news the first transport ships are ready to carry a few divisions. This could be very useful in the war against Turkey.
But.. first of all we need to conquer Bulgaria. The Bulgarians have a decent army, not very strong but also not very weak. The fact they aren't prepared well, could make this campaign easier.
The first days of the war we force the Bulgarian army back. The Romanian Army is prepared well and has better equipment, which is decisive. The war goes really well and we get some important points as Varna, Plovdiv and.. After we captured Sofia, the the Bulgarians give up and we annex them. ... weeks of fighting. The Romanian Army did it again.

Planning of the invasion of Bulgaria

First week goes pretty good. We captured Varna.

We immediatly send some forces to Turkey in order to stop a possible Turkish offensive

Bulgarian army is retreating

Sofia is captured by the mighty Romanians..

and then the Bulgarians surrender

After the Bulgarians surrendered, we immediately send our troops to Istanbul, to prevent the Turks to launch an attack. Crossing the Bosporus is very hard and our first attacks aren't successful at all.
We send a division to the south, where it has to capture the city Izmir. As we announced before, there were some transport ships ready to carry some divisions. Because we can't get a bridgehead, we have to use the transport fleet. We have to clear the province of Gebze, that is on the other side of the Bosporus, so our main force can push forward.
We invade the provinces of Kandira, Sakarya & Akcakoca and immediately try to get a port to supply our landed troops. After we got the port, we advance to the Bosporus. We drive out the Turks and then our main force can push forward. We immediately force the Turks back on all fronts. We capture over the cities Dücze and Izmir. After that, the Turks surrender.

We won the battle of Istanbul, but we can't pass the Bosporus.

We invade some divisions behind the Bosporus and capture several provinces

Turkey surrenders and we annex their territory.

Again the Romanian Army appears to be very strong. The army is well trained, got some good equipment, has decent generals and uses some good working tactics.
Conquering Bulgaria and Turkey gave us a great IC, MP, LS and resource boost. This is very useful for the growth of our army, which will include a small navy in the near future.

Romania in Europe

Some notes:

Our IC raise from 56 to 100
Almost all resources increased a lot
We got 7 manpower after the several wars.
Monthly we gain 11,3 manpower.
Officer-ratio is 108% (was 95%)

Next chapter: coming up!
In the next chapter we see if the Romanians keep expanding their borders or they take a couple of months rest. The army did some hard work the past months and they lost a lot of men. They could use some period to recover. Nevertheless the supreme command and the government are in the winning mood, so what will it be?
A clash with Italy could be very disastrous, so the Romanian people have to prepare on a hard future in the next years.

**eqqman** · 14-12-2011 19:15

Nice job. Have you taken any steps to be prepared to guard your rear areas from partisans?

**feye1** · 14-12-2011 20:57

Originally Posted by eqqman

Nice job. Have you taken any steps to be prepared to guard your rear areas from partisans?

Not really. I may leave a division in Hungary and one in Istanbul. Then I can reach all important parts of the country quickly (Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria; Turkey isn't that valuable now).

I need all my troops on the front.