Hearts of Iron III/Ireland

Ireland can be a neat nation to play as. As a nation off the coast of the United Kingdom, Ireland is in an unique position, and can go in any of several directions. Generally speaking, Ireland can either join the allies and aid the war effort, or they can join the Axis and seek to take the British controlled portion of the island for themselves! By default, Ireland will remain neutral, so bringing it into the war can take some work.

Entering the War
Ireland starts the game in 1936 with a very high Neutrality level, 95. As soon as the game begins, get your intelligence in order and start aligning towards a faction, because it can be years before Ireland is ready to join a faction. The war could easily be a year old by the time Ireland picks a side. However, this could be for the best, seeing as how Ireland will need time to build up regardless.

Military Guide
With a Base IC of 15, Ireland doesn't actually have half-bad industrial capacity. Sure, it can only build one or two units at a time, but for a country this small, it could be far worse. Ireland's main problem is manpower: even at its best, the country can barely raise 50,000 troops, and even then it needs to sacrifice a navy and air force to do so. In all likelihood, Ireland will ultimately have a Corps used for operations abroad, a division or two for home defense, a small fleet, maybe consisting of two transports and two destroyers, to carry the Corps around, and an air unit or three. After that, it becomes nearly impossible to man the military; even that can be stretching it.

With such limited manpower, Ireland must choose its units carefully. Infantry and the like is out of the question, seeing as it eats up manpower like a glutton eats cake. But heavy armor is out of the question; Ireland is a backwards country compared to its neighbors, and even a concentrated effort into heavy units will likely fall behind one's opponents.

One possible answer: Armored Cars. They're cheap, require only half the manpower of Infantry units, and can be upgraded at a low cost. By all means supplement them with light armor or Infantry, but Armored Cars can be the workhorse of the Irish army. Making them alongside a light tank unit works well since you can upgrade both at once with some technologies. Best of all, these speedy cars work well in a lot of the places you'll likely employ them, including the fields of Ireland and France and the deserts of North Africa.

Goals
As Ireland, your goals should be modest. If you're fighting alongside the Allies, you should simply do your best to help them win the war, shipping your corps of troops wherever it may be necessary. Irish troops can help win the battle of North Africa, slow down the German takeover of Norway, and lend a hand in the eventual landings on mainland Europe.

If, however, you're fighting alongside the Axis, taking Northern Ireland is a real and tangible goal. If you've prepared for war, it can even be relatively easy, seeing as how the United Kingdom has more pressing issues than Northern Ireland. The main difficulty here can come from the UK's attempts to retake their territory or even annex your whole country. Including their colonial possessions, they will outweigh Ireland by at least 10:1, so a one on one fight is in vain. Try waiting until Germany invades England before attacking. You might want to delay your entry into the war until the last minute just for safety's sake.