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 I ran the Soviet Airborne invasion of Ireland (1982) four times at Little Wars in Chicago last weekend, and made the mistake of running back to back games on Friday and Saturday.  My voice gave out during Saturday's afternoon game.  I tweaked the scenario, and removed the Scorpion tank, and further limited the ammunition for the anti tank gun (Gustav 84mm) and the Panhard AML 90.  The Irish still prevailed on Friday and the Soviet players decided that they would not be able to get to their objective in time.  However, on Saturday things turned out differently.  The Irish player's Gustav rolled poorly and failed to knock out the BPM-1.  Although the Gustav would fire again, it eventually ran out of ammo, and the Irish had to rely on the AML90 until the Army Ranger Wing appeared on turn four with two four man fire teams in Land Rovers armed with Laws rockets.  The Russians received a heavy weapons section (a MMG and a Grenade Launcher teams carried...
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The Soviet Airborne Invasion of Ireland (Revisited) So after a four year hiatus, I brought back my Russian airborne invasion of the Irish Republic "Cold War Gone Hot" scenario at a local convention as I am planning to run the game at "Little Wars" next month.  The map had a couple of changes.  I replaced a field with a pub building and improved the secondary roads.   My research on the Irish military relies upon Adrian J. English's book,  Irish Army Orders of Battle: 1923-2004, and  provides  a breakdown of unit organization, weapons, and the location of forces. (Unfortunately, the book needs to be edited for typos).  Back in 2022, I play-tested the scenario with friends (and the Irish didn't do well) before running the scenario at a wargaming convention that May, and the Irish won all three times!  The rule set used was "Force on Force, Modern Wargaming Rules" (Cold War Goes Hot). In the summer of 1982, Soviet Airborne troops (or VDV: Vozdus...
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 Operation Green Unternehmen Grun The United Kingdom fell to the Nazis in early August 1940, and Hitler gave his permission for the invasion of the Irish Free State in late September.  British forces in Northern Ireland have not surrendered, and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Eammon de Valera stands by Ireland's neutrality and calls for an end to the partition of Ireland.  Churchill and the government (and Royal family) have escaped to Canada, and the US maintains its neutrality.   At 7.00am on the morning of September 30, 1940, German airborne units parachute and glider assault into Rineanna (Shannon) and Baldonnell (Casement) aerodromes in the Irish Free State and Aldergrove airfield in Northern Ireland.  Simultaneously, amphibious forces will land on the Waterford and Wexford coast lines and establish two beach heads.  The airfields have to be secured intact by the paras thus allowing JU 52s to fly in reinforcements. The Irish Defense Forces are under s...
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