Wargaming Themes For DBA

Battling o' The Green:
Wargaming the Irish In DBA

Ireland was one of the last bastions of Celtic (Ghaelic) civilization and one of the first footholds of Christianity in Northern Europe. DBA does not address the inhabitants of Ireland before 55 AD (with the beginning of the Scots-Irish list). Thereafter, it provides three army lists stretching until 1489 AD. One pecularity of these lists is that they seem to reflect the composition of the invaders of Ireland (e.g., the Dublin and Limerick Vikings of the Norse Irish list, the English invaders of the Anglo-Irish list, etc.) as much as they do the natives.

The following is a collection of resources for gamers interested in wargaming the Irish in DBA:

DBA 2.0 Army Lists and Variants

• Medieval Irish (IV/58) (1300 -1487 AD)

DBA 1.1 Army Lists and Variants

• Scots-Irish (#61) (55 BC - 846 AD)
• Scots-Irish Variant (55 BC - 846 AD)
• Norse Irish (#112) (846-1260 AD)
• Anglo-Irish (#144) (1172-1489 AD)
• Medieval Irish (#164) (1300-1487 AD)

Battles

• The Battle of Tara (81 AD) -- The Romans invade Ireland! A battle that might have been pitting Late Romans vs. Scots-Irish.
• The Battle of Yns Mon (500 AD) -- King Arthur challenges the Irish in Wales.
• The Battle of Port Mawyr (500 AD) -- Romano-Brits and Goths! against the Irish in Wales.
• Battle of Belach Mugna (908 AD) -- King Cormac vs. the Vikings
• The Battle of Sulcoit (968 AD) -- Norse Irish vs. Limerick Vikings.
• The Battle of Glenmama (999 AD) -- Norse Irish vs. Dublin Vikings.
• The Battle of Clontarf (1014 AD) -- Brian Boru leads Munster against Mael Morda of Leinster and the Dublin Vikings and allies.
• The Battle of Baginbum (1170 AD) -- Normans Stampede the Irish.
• The Battle of the Pass of Achadh-Ur (1169 AD) -- Diarmait Mac Murchada's path to High-King leads through the Osraige
• Dublin (1171 AD) -- "John the Furious" and his Norseman attempt to reclaim Dublin from the Anglo-Normans.
• The Battle of Thurles (1174 AD) -- Irish Ambush the Normans.
• The Battle of Fochart (1318 AD) -- Edward the Bruce in Ireland.

Campaigns

• Edward the Bruce's Invasion of Ireland (1316-1318 AD)

Variant Rules

• Irish Kern

Historical Links

• Ancient Ireland (new monthly web-based magazine featuring the history of Ireland from the early Celts through the Renaissance).
• Ancient Ireland Historical Links (passages to ancient Ireland)
• Desmond's Concise History of Ireland
• General Medieval Irish History
• Historic Irish Castles
• Yahoo! on Irish History

Selections from the De Bellis Bookstore

• Irish Battles: A Military History of Ireland A, by G. A. Hayes-McCoy (Irish Books & Media, June 1989).
• The Irish Wars 1485-1603 (Men-At-Arms 256), by Ian Heath (Osprey, March 1993).
• The MacMillan Atlas of Irish History, by Sean Duffy, Thomas Crean, Brendan Smith (IDG Books, Nov. 1997).
• Wars of the Irish Kings : A Thousand Years of Struggle, from the Age of Myth Through the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I by David W. McCullough (Crown Pub., Oct. 2000).

Contributors

Fanaticus special thanks to the following individuals for their contributions to this theme: Roy Beers, Kevin Boylan, Rob Brennan, Tim Donovan, Eric Lindberg, and Peter Murray.