Notes: The Bren grew out of the British Army’s search for a light machinegun to replace the Lewis gun. The British Military Attaché in Prague watched a demonstration of the ZB-26 one day, and told his superiors that the ZB-26 was the bun they were looking for. The problem was that the ZB-26 was designed for the decidedly non-British 9mm Mauser round; the ZB-26 was therefore redesigned to use the .303 British round instead (necessitating a curved magazine), and it became the Bren In subsequent years, mountains of them were made for countries around the world, including one in 8mm Mauser for the Chinese. The Bren is regarded as one of the finest light machineguns ever designed.

The Bren Mk 1 was introduced in 1938; it was an almost direct copy of the ZB-26, and had some of the fanciest sights ever put on a machinegun. The weapon had a sling for use when firing from the hip, and a pistol grip under the butt, also for firing from the hip. (This was the first thing to go.)

The Bren Mk 2 changed the rear sight to a conventional folding leaf sight, and changed the adjustable bipod to a fixed-height bipod. The butt was simplified, the cocking handle was fixed instead of folding, and various steps were made to simplify manufacture of the weapon.

The Mark 3 is a Mark 1 with a shorter and lighter barrel; the Mark 4 is a Mark 2 with the same barrel. They were both intended for jungle warfare, but came to be issued in all theaters of World War 2.

The Mark 2/1 is a Mark 2 with a further simplified cocking mechanism.

An L-4 could be one of any number of earlier models of Bren machinegun, converted to fire 7.62mm NATO ammunition and then given a number of improvements to try to keep up with the times. The L-4A1 is a Mark 3 with a new barrel, flash suppressor, ejector, extractor, and breech block. The magazine is also modified, being nearly straight instead of steeply curved. The L-4A2 is an A1 with some minor design improvements. The L-4A3, is similar to the A2, but is made by converting Bren Mark 2s; these were made for the Royal Navy. The L-4A4 is an L-4A2 with a chromed barrel, something that dramatically extended the life of the barrels. The L-4A6 is an L-4A2 with the same chromed barrel. ("L-4A5" is a designation that was allotted to a developmental model that was never built.)

The Bren is a light machinegun that has a deliberately low rate of fire to aid controllability, as well as relatively heavy weight. The Bren is known to be very reliable, but too heavy for its role, its barrel heating too fast, and its magazines too small. Nonetheless, it soldiers on in many countries that were former British colonies and others. It is still manufactured and used in India as the Machine Gun 1B.

Twilight 2000 Notes: A number of these weapons were pulled out of storage and issued to Home Guard units in the British Isles, where they served admirably.

Notes: The L-86A1 LSW (Light Support Weapon is basically an enlarged L-85A1 assault rifle. The British have discovered that the L-86A1 has many of the same faults as the L-85A1 (fragility and unreliability) and that it cannot provide a sustained heavy volume of fire due to the small magazines. One author calls the L-86A1 "…the worst LMG ever manufactured since the disastrous Chauchat…" They have been slowly supplementing the LSW with the Minimi since the early 1990s.

Like the L-85A1, the L-86A1 is a gas-operated bullpup design. 80% of the parts of the L-85A1 and L-86A1 are interchangeable. The main differences are the longer and heavier 25.4-inch barrel, a full-length perforated cooling jacket for the barrel, a trigger mechanism/fire selector which allows only for safe and automatic fire (though the cyclic rate of fire, 610-775 rpm, allows a trained gunner to snap off short bursts, and a skilled gunner can even fire single shots), and a slight change in the magazine well. A folding bipod has also been added under the gas block, but this is at almost the very end of the muzzle end of the L-86A1 and can be difficult to use. It is, however, adjustable to a limited amount for height and cant. The stock has a shoulder support. Early in the program, the idea of providing the L-86 with a quick-change barrel was suggested, but this idea never made it off the drawing board. After 22,391 L-86A1s were built, production of the L-86A1 was terminated.

In early 2000, the British used their new interest in Heckler & Koch to have them redesign the L-86A1. Heckler & Koch modified the barrel to make it more resistant to corrosion and fouling, the firing pin to alleviate the problem with breakage that was a problem with the L-86A1, modified the gas cylinder to provide more impetus to the operating system, a stronger breechblock, an enlarged ejection port and stronger ejector, and a change to the magazine well to allow it to use STANAG magazines as well as special magazines and drums like the Beta 100-round C-Mag. These changes produced the L-86A2, which entered service in 2002. However, just as the L-85A2, the L-86A2 has the same sort of mixed reviews, and the British military is reportedly stepping up its acquisition of the Minimi.

The L-86 is still used alongside the Minimi in the British Army, typically with a squad having one L-86A1 (or L-86A2) and one Minimi. Since the L-86A1 has a mount for the SUSAT optical sight (included in the cost below), it is often used simply as a heavy rifle/designated marksman rifle these days, instead of as primarily a SAW.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The L-85A2 does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline. Though many British troops have picked up the Minimi, M-249, or even Bloc weapons for the support role, there has not been enough time to officially supplement many of the L-86A1s.

Notes: Despite appearances, this is neither a modified Bren nor a modified VZ-26; it is an independent development of a French Weapons designer. He first sold the design to the US, who approved it as the M-1917 Light Machinegun, but Berthier never could ramp up production in time for the US requirement, and it was dropped. He then went to England, but they too rejected it in favor of the VZ-26 they had modified into the Bren. A few minor powers such as Bolivia bought the design, but large sales eluded Berthier until India adopted it as their standard light machinegun. In fact, most reports of Indian troops using the Bren during the period of 1929-1950 were probably of troops armed with the "VB." Some are still in use today by militias and reserves, and as a training gun.