Another great episode. Thanks! For me, 2 Curaidh is not always an auto choice. I base my decision to field either 1 or 2 Curaidh on whether I intend to field HG, the scenario, my opponent's faction, and my opponent's experience. An experienced or clever opponent will know to target Curaidh whenever possible because they are relatively easy to eliminate, can splash fatigue on friendly units, and their loss degrades 'The Old Ways' and makes 'Sidhe' (pronounced 'Shee') a bit more expensive in terms of lost shots. Also, if I plan actually field a unit of Hearthguard (and not just use them to buy Curaidh), a unit of 6 will hit 33% harder (in melee AND shooting) than a 4-pack. Plus, with 6 models I can hold onto the unit's Saga die longer, it gives me more bodyguards, and in some instances, nets fewer total massacre points. 6 HG + 1 Curaidh = 10 massacre points. 4 HG + 2 Curaidh = 11 massacre points. In Round 1 of AoV at Adepticon I played against Rodge's Norse-Gael in the 'Battle Around the Campfire' scenario (a massacre point game). This meant that I began the game in close proximity to a strong, melee oriented warband played by arguably the best player at the event. To make matters worse, due to the deployment rules, my need to hunker in terrain, and my faction's strengths, my warband began the game kinda bunched up. Taking all of these factors into consideration, I fielded only 1 Curaidh and put my heroes on horseback. This gave them better melee armor and the speed to run away, if need be. The bolstered HG made my Warlord a bit more survivable and gave Rodge 1 fewer massacre points to reap from my hapless Irish lads. In Round 2 I played 'Desecration' against an Anglo Saxon warband fielding 6 points of Levy (5 units of 12 melee Levy & 1 unit 12 archer Levy). Yikes! Since I needed to eliminate my opponent's objectives in the opposite quadrant to avoid a tie game, I fielded 2 Curaidh. I fielded my heroes on horseback so they could make mad dashes on Turns 5 and 6 to attack objectives. In Round 3 I played 'Clash of Warlords' against a Viking player. In this instance I could have gone either way, but since Vikings can double activate to charge and then bleed off a fatigue, I wanted to bolster my HG. Expecting a knife-fight, I opted for 1 Curaidh and put my heroes on horseback. Little did I know that my opponent would pull of 2 'Ragnaroks' in a single game, so I got plenty of close quarters fighting in that game.

Great vid, I'm glad it's been done so that people are better able to understand Irish. As a noob I started Irish and took them to a small tournament which I ended up winning (not necessarily due to my skill at the time but mostly due to the pairings, I think). Funny fact, I had just listened to Mike's interview of Andrew right before the tournament and was pretty well prepared with my own take on the army going in. In my opinion, Irish are probably one of the strongest factions in the game and I've kind of pulled back from playing them as much in casual play for that reason. I think that the best counters to the Irish can be found in the Age of Invasions book. Also, with regard to mercs, I definitely think that they should become more common in competitive play. It actually speaks volumes about a faction's strength and a book's merc options when a player doesn't _want_ to take at least one merc unit. Let the reader understand. As always, loving your content, Rodge. You guys keep up the good work!

Hey thank you guys, I've been waiting for this! 🇮🇪

Looked forward to revisiting the Irish

Great episode! Good to see Andrew again. Several Saga Ohio players have been on the receiving in of his Irish firepower!

Thank you so much for this video! Incredibly interesting and very detailed. I learned a lot about my little Irish guys :)

Thank you for doing these! These are so helpful to know what to buy next with my forces. Still a noob!

coo-ree. 'Cúraidh' is the plural. Singular is 'Cúrach'. A cú is a hound. That translates as hound-people or hound-men. A cúrach is a hound-man (dog handlers).

Facing this guy with Irish is not fun unless you brought some cavalry.

Good vid Rodge!

Curaidh.... silent d.... a bit like saying 'coo rye'