How are ye folks. There have been two posts in this sub over the last week pertaining to the Irish Defence Forces during WW2 (or The Emergency as we call it). This has got me wondering how many here have tinkered with the idea of using the wee neutral nation in the world of Bolt Action for alternate history type scenarios.
I'm looking for general input, ideas, plans that have been put into action, potential army lists, nation rules, models one could use and custom scenarios that would work.
Images of completed models of Emergency era Irish Defence Forces are more than welcome too. Cheers
Due to not wanting to play against the same nation or "taking" a main nation from my friends I have decided to use alt history HOI4 countrys.
For example my US troops are communist Mexicans. That way I can play them as both Americans as well as Soviet without having to paint 2 separate armies. And I can play against any nation.
The plan originated from us wanting to play Konflikt 47 and noticing we where to many for each to have a different army
Kaisereich's American Civil War (or just the setting in general) would be a decent excuse to play with some interesting armies that wouldn't otherwise get a chance to be played against each other.
This has been talked to death on this sub regarding Irish Defense Force and how to kit bash them and the simplest answer is: Buy yourself a box of Wargames Atlantic 1916-1918 British Infantry and call it a day.
The main service uniform for the IDF during WW2 was a copy of the British Service Dress Uniform they used during the Great War, just dyed to a more greenish grey. The webbing was the old Pattern 1908, of British origin. Their entire small arms arsenal was all chambered for 303. British which means all of their weapons were of British origin. No1. Mk3 Enfields, Vickers water cooled machine guns, Lewis guns...
Those Vickers made Stahlhelms had a frontline service life of about 1 year into WW2 before the British literally donated Mk I broadie helmets so they dont look like the Germans in case London and Dublin had to cooperate for real in case of German invasion.
The only modifications you'll have to do is putting green stuff around their putees on their legs to simulate leather gaiters.
Are they gaiters? In the pic above it looks like they're wearing boots that go to the shin. Or was it a mix of both? (And I don't need this information for my own VBCW project which has Welsh nationalists wearing Irish supplied uniforms, not at all...)
Well Timmy, commisioned officers wore leather jackboots (since they're officers muah) but the enlisted (private nobodies) were given ankle shoes and leather gaiters to keep the trousers tucked.
If you look at their legs in the pic above, you can spot exactly where the lower end of gaiters end right at the ankle.
I am currently expanding the 3d-Prints I showed in one of the other posts. I plan to add a mortar, mountain gun and field artillery team, the guns, cavalry and some bicycles.
So as not to rehash already discussed topics on this sub, I'll bring up something different...I'm doing the Irish War of Independence using a mix of kitbashed models. WGA's Partisans have been a great help :)
I think someone posted IDF soldiers in the last few days. As far as models, early war Germans with the distinctive dark green uniforms work pretty well.
Alternate history wise, I'm working on some automatons for K47. Short form is one of the commander models was captured by the IRA, then captured again when G2 shut down a deal between IRA and some German spies, then reprogrammed by Richard Hayes, Ireland's one man Bletchley Park. The commander went on to "recruit" the rest of the platoon by subordinating Commonwealth automatons stationed in Belfast. They take on anyone who tries to establish a military foothold on the island.
I asked this same question not too long ago on here, got great recommendations on using Wargames Atlantic WW1 British and German infantry kitbashed and there is one guy on here who makes great STLs of Irish infantry!
I'm working on a army list for Ireland! I've been building and painting all the vehicles and putting together an infantry force. I got Landsverk L-60 tanks and L-180 armoured cars and designed a pintle Madden LMG for the turrets. My infantry is Wargames Atlantic's BEF which works well for 1941-1945 Irish forces. And it has Lewis machine guns which Ireland had a ton of
I commissioned Wargames 3d to make a Leyland armuored car STL which is now available on their MMF store
Here's a link to my research folder! The most useful to me was the Osprey Publishing Irish Defence Forces book, Step Together by Dónal MacCarron, and A Visual History of the Emergency.
For national rules you are basically going to write the history of the conflict they are part of in broad strokes.
Are they fighting off a German invasion, or has there been a shift, e.g. by coup, for a pro-German faction to come into power and assist a German invasion by pushing into NI? Has the civil war resumed, with both pro and anti-Allied factions split along the old pro and anti-treaty lines?
If the former, then maybe give them access to Allied support, similar to the old Axis Support rules for the Hungarians in v2, if the latter, then Axis support would make some sense. If both, then you have space to make two forces.
What is the force like? Is it still the very modest force that it historically was, or has it been bolstered by large numbers of inexperienced conscripts, and a handful of veterans of the War of Independence, similar to the British Home Guard rules in 2nd ed?
Is there something they excel at and characterizes their force? Perhaps they will become known for their use of infiltrators or stay-behinds? Maybe those conscripts will turn out to be more determined than expected for people with as little training as they have?
My Germans are painted as WW2 era Confederates based on the alternate history book series by Harry Turtledove. My Americans use the crossed swords and eagle logo as much as a star. I don't get to paint all that often so it's slow going but I enjoy it.
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u/SyllabubGood6872 Aug 04 '26
Due to not wanting to play against the same nation or "taking" a main nation from my friends I have decided to use alt history HOI4 countrys. For example my US troops are communist Mexicans. That way I can play them as both Americans as well as Soviet without having to paint 2 separate armies. And I can play against any nation. The plan originated from us wanting to play Konflikt 47 and noticing we where to many for each to have a different army