'Empire' From PeterA: 'Come Out Ye Black and Tans' (100 pts)

 First a little bit of background - my family is Irish and I have always been fascinated by the history of Ireland and in particular its relations with England and then Britain, which, I think it is fair to say, have not always been smooth! Near to my house in County Clare, there are many reminders of the often turbulent relationship between the two - remnants of castles erected during the Norman and then Tudor periods, a Martello Tower built during the Napoleonic Wars, and the ruins of a former Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks. 

When it comes to gaming some of this history on the table, my focus has tended to be around the Viking Age or the late Tudor period. However, an article in the 2025 TFL magazine about using Chain of Command to game actions set in the Irish War of Independence caught my attention. I went off in search of more information and came across the excellent Irish History Podcast, which did a mammoth 31-part series on the IWI, which is well worth a listen and inspired in me a desire to game some of the many small skirmishes, raids and ambushes. And now the Empire Theme has been the perfect incentive to finally get this project underway!

Given the Theme, the first figures  represent the forces of the British Crown and Empire - the infamous 'Black and Tans'. Initially, the British Government were reluctant to acknowledge that the IWI was in fact a war, preferring to regard it as a matter of internal order and therefore a police matter. However, by late 1919/early 1920, the RIC was haemorrhaging constables (thanks to IRA violence and intimidation, as well as social pressure from their fellow Irishmen and -women) and so the British Government decided to reinforce the RIC with recruits drawn largely from ex-soldiers, mostly ex-NCOs. Eventually, over 10,000 of these constables served in Ireland during the war, with recruits coming from all across England, Scotland, Wales and some even from Ireland itself. Their name came from their practice of wearing a mixed uniform of British Army khaki and RIC dark green, a result of a lack of RIC uniforms to fully clothe the new recruits. Even when more uniforms became available, many of the men preferred to wear the mixed colours.

An illustration showing the mixed khaki and much darker RIC uniform

The Black and Tans have an unsavoury reputation for poor discipline, violence and brutality. This reflects the harsh, punitive (and counter-productive) approach the British took in trying to quash the IRA, but is also a result of the actions of the 'Auxies' (mostly ex-British Army officers who acted as a virtually independent paramilitary arm of the RIC) - in the eyes of most Irish people, the Tans and the Auxies were one and the same.

Here we have a small section of 6 Black and Tans on patrol. They are from the Woodbine Design Company's WW1 range of British Infantry, sold by Gripping Beast. 

Whilst the khaki was pretty straightforward, the green of the RIC uniforms was a bit tricky. The actual uniforms are VERY dark green, in fact almost black. I wasn't happy with my initial attempt to highlight the green uniform, as seen on the NCO below, as I felt it made the uniform too light, so I toned the highlights right down on the remaining figures - which you cannot see at all in the photos! I may adjust this with the next group I do, but for now, I am happy with them. 

Next up is Lewis LMG gunner and loader for a bit of extra firepower, one area where the Crown forces had a genuine advantage over the Republican forces.

Next up is an RIC Inspector, calmly stuffing his pipe with tobacco whilst the constables get on with the work. A very characterful figure and one of my favourites from the British Officers pack

Finally, we have a couple of group shots in front of different backgrounds, just for the fun of it! As always, backgrounds are from John Hodgson's backdrops books.

So this works out as:

10x 28mm figures = 50 points

Empire Theme bonus = 50 points

Total = 100 points

Now, I really have to get going on my Big Stompy Robots of Death!