"Anglo Saxons and Dark Age Irish allies?" Topic

Ok can anybody help me out, my dilemma is this, I already have a large Irish army bought as it morphs into so many allied forces, Irish Vikings, Norse Gael etc. Looking ahead Footloose are releasing some stunning Anglo Saxons and I'm left wondering if the Irish ever fought alongside the Saxons. Prior to the Norman invasion there must have been some contact across the Irish sea surely?

Anybody with a clearer picture on this?

I can't recall reading of Irish and Anglo-Saxons fighting alongside each other.

They can fight AGAINST each other. The Irish raided across the Irish Sea.

It depends how picky you want to be. I tend towards the view that Dark Age warriors from North-West Europe would all have pretty much the same kit. Tunic, spear, round shield, maybe a helmet. Mail coat for the wealthier blokes. It's more the decorative bits and bobs that would distinguish a Dane from an Irishman or Anglo-Saxon or whatever…

Warriors did take and use captured equipment and weapons so I would guess a lot of men probably looked like the men they were fighting. Plus it's a game to have fun, if you aren't close to being accurate historically but close enough so what.

Does "Irish" include the Scots-Irish of Dalriada in whatever rules system you are using? (Even if they're not treated the same, the warriors would no doubt look much the same, so the figures might be interchangeable.) Because Oswald of Bernicia spent several years in exile in Dalriada, and apparently fought for Dalriada in Ireland:

"There is evidence that Oswald and probably his brothers fought for Dalriada in their battles in Ireland during his exile" – link

We don't know whether Oswald and his brothers had much of a retinue with them, of course.

Layer Saxon nobles often went into exile in Ireland and returned with the help of Irish mercenaries (I'm thinking of 1050-51,but it may well have happened earlier). So I'd allow it.

I'm from the Wirral which would have had a lot of interaction with the Irish at this time as well as being a Viking settlement at one time. However as mentioned, by the time of the later Anglo Saxon period I'm wondering how distinct these Viking settlers would have appeared say from regular Anglo Saxon forces. They were now fully intermixed Christians after all, the same goes for the later Dublin Vikings. I'm thinking of Saga, so the Saxons would at most be a unit of Huscurls and possibly warriors with the majority being Irish levies.

I do like the idea of Oswald of Bericia as my Saxon leader though so many thanks for the pointer on that.

Thinking about the mid-Saxon period, the Norse-Irish kingdom of Dublin and York probably had Saxon allies at some point, probably fighting other Saxons, or other Vikings.