State Builders from the Steppe

This book about the First Bulgarian Empire is by Eric Halsey, who hosts the excellent Bulgarian History Podcast. It is the first English-language book on the subject since Runciman's classic, first published in the 1930s.

Unlike most of the Steppe tribes that burst into the Balkans, the Bulgarians did something different - they built a state that has survived until today. The long-standing assumption was that they first dominated the Slavs who had infiltrated the Byzantine Empire in the Balkans and then assimilated with them. While that happened, the author points to recent studies that have found greater commonalities between Thracians and Proto-Bulgarians than between Thracians and Slavs, based on DNA comparisons of archaeological samples with contemporary Bulgarians. Nonetheless, Slavs did integrate into Bulgarian society, and the Bulgarians gradually allowed them into the elite strata.

The Byzantines, while often distracted, resisted the attempts to build this Bulgarian state. The Battle of Ongal in 680 became the first of 45 named battles between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines. The final one would only come 652 years later. The first state was created between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains with its capital at Pliska. With his victory at Ongal, Khan Asparukh now had a Byzantine-recognised state and the legitimacy which came with it.

The Bulgarians struggled to defeat Byzantine armies on the plains, so they developed a battle tactic which would serve Bulgaria well for centuries: ambush in the passes of the Balkan Mountains. These mountains will long serve as a border between the empires and make for perfect places to funnel invading armies before attacking them in areas where they cannot escape. The sources are limited for significant periods of the story, or rely on less than objective Byzantine chronicles. The author examines these and makes some best estimates, which is a reasonable approach. 

The Bulgarians broke out of the mountains and at different times occupied large swathes of the Balkans. They even threatened Constantinople on several occasions, but lacked the siegecraft to capture it. The Byzantines relied on paying tribute and stirring up trouble on the Bulgarian flanks to keep them at bay. Bulgarian Khans had some great names, my favourite being Krum. He killed a Byzantine Emperor and forced the abdication of another. He achieved this with few resources, rarely commanding more than a few thousand soldiers.

The adoption of Orthodox Christianity was less of a religious conversion than an exercise in state-building. Under Boris, Bulgarian monarchs became Tsars, marking the completion of Bulgaria’s gradual transformation from a pagan steppe empire to a European power. Cyril and Methodius took the Slavic language and added Greek words and grammar to form Old Church Slavonic. This was later converted into modern Cyrillic. Tsar Simeon was so successful that he was almost a co-emperor with the Byzantine Empire. However, pressure from the Kievan Rus and a rejuvenated Byzantine state weakened them. The empire was pinned back to a small area and defeated by Basil the Bulgar Slayer at the Battle of Kleidon (1014). The up to 15,000 Bulgarians who had been captured at Kleidon were divided into groups of 100 and blinded, with the 100th man left with a single eye with which to lead his brothers in arms back home.

Bulgaria would make a comeback, but that is another story. This is a fascinating history, well told by an author emersed in the history of his adopted country.

Some of my Bulgarian light horse in 15mm.

Dragon Rampant 2

I am not a huge fantasy gamer, but I have a modest collection and enjoyed Dragon Rampant when it came along, as I do all of Dan Mersey's rules. As I understood, the core rules had hardly changed, and since I have been playing Midgard, I didn't rush to buy the heavier, glossier tome that is the 2nd Edition. However, a reasonable price and chatting with pals at Battleground led me to take a copy away.

Not changing the core rules much is a good thing. There are a few tweaks from Lion Rampant's upgrade, including the option of abandoning the silly 3" gap between units, which Dan appears reluctant to relinquish. The standard warband is larger at 30 points, although this just accommodates the cost of special rules. Leaders also pay for traits that were previously random.

The significant change is in the special rules that upgrade units. It adds more complexity, as I almost always forget I have them. However, this is an improvement because it allows you to reflect the characteristics of units that fit into a broad unit category. There are a lot of these in the book, and you can design your own. Spells have also been overhauled, although I rarely use these, so I don't know how they play. There are optional rules, some of which enable big battles to be fought, with units having flanks, group moves and the like. If I want a bigger battle, I am more likely to choose Midgard, but it's a workable alternative.

There are more scenarios, a campaign system, and additional sample army lists. The book is a work of art in its own right, with some fine illustrations and tabletop eye candy. In summary, it's an excellent set of rules for the price. I will be dusting down my Game of Thrones and Conan armies for this.

We tried them on the tabletop for our midweek game. 30 points a side, which was a 24-point army with a stack of add-ons to see how they played. I had the orcs, with mostly bellicose warbands that are fast and deadly but a bit brittle. Supplemented by Trolls, who can have a clever add-on, which makes them 14 strength points instead of the usual 12, and so a bit stronger and resilient. My opponent took my dwarves. He hoped to shoot me to death with two shooting units, one of which had crossbows with extended range. Points that were wasted when they failed to activate twice! However, activation failures meant they held a couple of hills, and my orcs bounced off several times before breaking. Not enough Waaagh!

Children of the Mist

 I have slipped out of my chronological reread of Nigel Tranter's novels with this one, which is based on the story of the MacGregors in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. We are back to James I & VI, a Tranter favourite that borders on obsession. The description 'Children of the Mist' either comes from their ability to disappear into the mountains or their persecution; either way, it was a later invention.

This is almost a century before the most famous MacGregor, Rob Roy. The chief in this period was Alastair MacGregor, who became the clan chief after his father was murdered by the Campbells in 1570. The Campbells wanted the MacGregor lands and were behind most of the schemes to persecute them. The saying, 'never trust a Campbell,' is a reference to the infamous Massacre of Glencoe in 1692, but it could easily have been the title of this book.

Tranter invents a whole range of efforts that Alastair makes to counter the Campbell influence with the King and the Privy Council. In practice, the MacGregors relied on their fighting skills and remote lands to fight off the Campbells and their allies. This included the Battle of Glen Fruin (1603), where the Colquhouns were driven into the Moss of Auchingaich, where their cavalry was useless, and over 200 were killed. 

In April 1603, the King issued an edict proclaiming the name MacGregor 'altogidder abolisheed'. This meant that anyone who bore the name must renounce it or suffer death, and allowed bounty hunters to kill MacGregors. In a final effort to plead his case with the King, he was tricked into capture by the Campbell chief, who promised safe passage. In 1604, Alastair MacGregor and eleven of his chieftains were hanged at Mercat Cross, Edinburgh. The proscription was not lifted until 1774, and MacGregors took many different names to avoid further persecution.

It is a grim story, told well by Tranter, whose mother had one of the many names the MacGregors took. If your name is Campbell, this is one novel to avoid😁.

Some of my early-period Highlanders, taking on lowland infantry.

Convoy PQ-17

 This is a newish Osprey Campaign book by Angus Konstam covering the ill-fated Arctic convoy PQ-17 in 1942. I became interested in the Arctic convoys after reading Colin Turbett's book, The Anglo-Soviet Alliance: Comrades and Allies during WW2. He majors on the often forgotten story of the Merchant Marine in WW2, many of whom were volunteers from overseas, who were treated very badly by the British Government after the war. I did my own detailed research when writing my book on HMS Ambuscade. The WW2 version was an escort destroyer on the earlier PQ-14 convoy.

Convoy PQ-17 was an Arctic convoy that departed the UK via Iceland for the Soviet Union in July 1942. After reports that a powerful German surface fleet, including the battleship Tirpitz, might attack, the Admiralty ordered the convoy to scatter. Without their escorts, the merchant ships were left exposed to German submarines and aircraft. It was one of the worst Allied naval disasters of the war—of 36 merchant ships, only 11 reached Russia; the rest were sunk, and over 120,000 tons of vital war supplies were lost.

Angus follows the usual Osprey Campaign format with an introduction and chronology, followed by pen pictures of the opposing commanders. Convoys had a covering force and close escorts, none of which were strong enough to take on the Tirpitz, unless it had been damaged. Most of the Royal Navy commanders were unfairly criticised, except for Convoy Commodore Jack Dowding, due to his efforts to save the scattered remnants of the convoy. For the Germans, Admiral Otto Schniewind, the Kriegsmarine’s Flottenchef (Fleet Commander), masterminded and implemented Operation Rösselsprung. For the Luftwaffe, General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff commanded Luftflotte 5, based in Oslo.

Then we get a detailed breakdown of the opposing forces. The merchant ships sailed in columns and had some light armament. Three Royal Navy commands protected the convoy. The close escort of smaller vessels went all the way to Archangel. The Cruiser Covering Force supported the convoy in the event of a surface attack by German cruisers and destroyers, at least as far as the Barents Sea. The Distant Covering Force of two battleships and the aircraft carrier Victorious was there in case the Tirpitz did sortie. The main German threat came from the Luftwaffe's medium bombers based in Norwegian airfields. The Navy had a U-Boat flotilla and a surface fleet led by the Tirpitz and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, supported by cruisers and destroyers.

The Royal Navy expected to get advanced warning of any intervention by the Tirpitz through Enigma and a submarine screen. The Germans planned such an intervention, recognising that air attacks alone would not be sufficient to stop the convoy. Hitler was reluctant to risk the Tirpitz against the Distant Force aircraft carrier, but was persuaded. Several ships ran aground, but when the surface fleet hit the open sea, the weather closed in, and intelligence reports were patchy. The Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Dudley Pound, made the fateful decision to scatter the convoy. The merchant ships were then picked off by U-boats, and the Luftwaffe and the surface fleet were withdrawn. The risk was too great, and the brief sortie had achieved its objective. The individual actions are all covered with plenty of illustrations and the usual high-quality maps. 

Churchill described the disaster as ‘one of the most melancholy naval episodes in the whole of the war.' The Russians were furious, and the subsequent inquiry was something of a whitewash, with Pound being too important to lose. Lessons were learned, and the next convoy suffered fewer losses. A problem that took longer to deal with was the distrust between the British merchant marine and the Royal Navy. Many merchant seamen claimed the Navy had deserted them. 

For the wargamer, most WW2 naval rules will work, or you could use air combat rules for that element on its own. The weather was always an essential factor in Arctic convoys.

My Royal Navy fleet was painted for warmer climes!

Battleground 2025

I was at the Battleground show in Middlesbrough yesterday. One of my favourite shows with its mix of wargames, reenactors and history talks. It also has a few traders you don't see at other shows, and I don't just mean the excellent cupcakes! Tiger Miniatures is one, although I resisted the temptation to expand my Balkan Wars collection. I did give in to some new terrain, various paints, the new edition of Dragon Rampant, and some figures for the 2026 project.

The venue is a large sports hall. The car parking is probably adequate for a typical Saturday morning, but hopelessly inadequate when an event like this is on as well. The small cafe struggles as well. However, these are minor inconveniences compared to a show that always delivers a fine collection of games and is free to enter. For a change, I was not running a game, so I had time to watch and chat.

Operation Barbarossa in 10mm using Rapid Fire. 10mm was a popular scale for games here, no doubt influenced by Pendraken sponsorship of the show.

Tiger Miniatures do a Cuba range, represented on this fine table.

Another visually attractive game was this take on Gettysburg 

This game shows the strength of the Blucher rules. Waterloo on a modest table, using WoFun plastics.

Trebia isn't the most interesting of the Punic Wars battles, but it is presented on a grand scale here.

A beautifully modelled Sicilian village for this Bolt Action game.

Battle of Chairi 1701. Again in 10mm, which allows the all important fortress to appear on the table.

3 Para in Helmand, using Force on Force rules.

There were two Raphia games, with this one using a hex grid.

The ever-popular air participation game format. This one represents an attack on Berlin during Big Week 1944.

A mightily impressive collection of mostly German flats for the Battle of Domstadtl 1758. 

The Scots reached Teeside as well, with this take of the Battle of Newburn 1640 using Pike and Shotte.

The reenactors add something to the show and provide a couple of talks. 

Spanish Civil War

Medieval

This is Brickskrieg, a LEGO-style WW2 game. The models are very good.

Let's not forget cake wars. Eating them, particularly the white chocolate and raspberry version, was more fun.

On the way down, I popped in to Raby Castle, a 14th-century Neville stronghold. 

Not impressed by the masking of the armoury by a Xmas tree. Bah Humbug I say!

And fitted in giving a book talk on the Friday evening, near the very impressive Tees Barrage. They have turned an industrial necessity into a fine recreational space, which I walked around on Saturday morning.

And as Fulham won on Saturday evening at Spurs, my weekend is complete! Just Brits and Germans to scrap it out in Greece to come, at the club this afternoon.

The Cretan War 1645-1671

 I have an article in the new edition of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy (138), on the Cretan War 1645-1671. It provides an overview of the lengthy conflict between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, which extended far beyond Crete, to the Balkans and the Dardanelles. It also includes some suggestions for refighting the war on the tabletop and a scenario using Pikeman's Lament. This post expands on the article.

In 1645, the Ottomans launched a large invasion of Crete, quickly capturing most of the island except for the heavily fortified capital, Candia. This began a long and brutal struggle marked by sieges, naval battles, and shifting alliances in Europe. The war ultimately ended with the Ottomans conquering Crete, marking one of Venice’s most significant territorial losses.

The most comprehensive book on the conflict is The Cretan War, 1645-1671, by Bruno Mugnai (Helion, 2018). This has all you need, including colour plates. His book on the Ottoman Empire (Helion, 2020) provides a deeper examination of the Ottoman armed forces, complemented by Ottoman Warfare 1500-1700 by Rhoads Murphey (UCL Press, 1999). For the Ottoman navy, there is The Sultan’s Fleet by Christine Isom-Verhaaren (I.B.Taurus, 2022). For a broader look at Venice, John Julius Norwich’s Venice, The Greatness and the Fall (Allen Lane, 1981), is a great read.

The best-known action of the war is the Siege of Candia, the second-longest siege in history. This is a period map I found in the British Library.

And the harbour on my last visit. There is a small museum inside. 

I suggest two ways of replicating this on the tabletop. Either using the board game, Fire and Stone, designed for the Siege of Vienna, but I have used it for most sieges of this period. Hat tip to the Istanbul wargames club for flagging this clever game.

The other is a sortie, of which there were many. There wasn't space in the magazine to do a second scenario, but we have played a couple of games using Pikeman's Lament. 

We also played the raid scenario in the magazine again.

The naval struggle was a key element of the war. The Venetians intercepted Ottoman supply lines and challenged the Ottoman fleet in the Dardanelles. I use Black Seas and the warlord models for this.

A wargamer with an interest in this period is likely to have an Ottoman army. The infantry core was provided by the Janissaries, supplemented by Azabs and other provincial infantry. Cavalry mainly came from the Sipahi, although many fought on foot during the sieges. For the siege of Candia, vast numbers of Topçu artillerymen and Laginçi miners were deployed, with around 60,000 of them becoming casualties during the last three years of the siege.

Venice treated its army and navy as a single military force, with the Capitano Generale da Mar (Sea Captain General) directing both naval and field operations. In times of peace, most of the army was deployed in garrisons. During the Cretan War, the army consisted of mainland Italians; the Oltramontani, German, Swiss, Dutch and later French units; and the Oltramarini, recruited from Venetian subjects along the Adriatic coast. Compared to the Ottomans, the numbers were not large, with the Candia garrison ranging between 3,000 and 5,000 men. In 1645, Venetian troops resembled other armies of the period, so figures from the Thirty Years' War and even the English Civil War would be suitable. More than 80% would be musketeers, and the balance would be pikemen. The cavalry consisted of cuirassiers and light cavalry, many of the latter recruited from Venetian territories in Albania. Later in the war, European regiments reflected the military dress of Louis XIV’s wars in Europe. This means that many wargamers will not have to paint entirely new units to refight the Cretan War.

The Cretan War really has it all—sieges, skirmishes, small battles and naval actions, right across the eastern Mediterranean. Venice did manage a modest comeback in the Morean War (1684-1699), briefly occupying Athens, although they wrecked the Parthenon in the process. However, the loss of its trade routes to the Levant and the opening of new routes via the Cape and the Americas undermined Venice's economic base. The Ottomans arguably reached their peak during the Siege of Vienna in 1683. However, they would remain a major power for more than two centuries.

The Battle of Quatre Bras 1815

 Last weekend, I was playing a multiplayer game of the Battle of Quatre Bras at the Veterans Hub in Glasgow. We essentially followed the scenario outlined in the Black Powder: Albion Triumphant supplement. The game was played on a 12' x 8' table, which enabled more approach moves, though it posed a few challenges in reaching the units around the centre of the table where the key actions were fought. The terrain base was a printout from a map drawn using Inkarnate.

The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815. It was an early clash in the Hundred Days Campaign in which Wellington’s Anglo-Allied forces held a crucial crossroads against repeated attacks by Marshal Ney’s French army. Though the Allies were initially outnumbered and pushed back, steady reinforcements allowed them to stabilise the line and prevent the French from seizing the position. The battle ended without a decisive tactical victory. Still, Wellington’s successful defence kept his army intact and able to retreat in coordination with the Prussians, making Quatre Bras a key prelude to the Battle of Waterloo two days later.

This was the initial setup, with Bylant's Dutch-Belgian Brigade holding the crossroads, including a small Dutch militia battalion at the Germioncourt farm in the foreground.

This peaceful scene was soon ended when Ney arrived with Bachelu, Foy, and Pire's Divisions. Picton's Division starts to come on the Allied base line.

I was playing Jerome Bonaparte, and my division arrived on the next turn (bottom right). We agreed, most unhistorically, that I would force my way through the woods and advance on the Allied right flank. Given the Allied reinforcements, a flank attack wasn't going to succeed, but it should drag Allied units from reinforcing the crossroads. The problem was that there was no cavalry, and you couldn't take the guns through the woods. 

The Dutch militia didn't run away from Germioncourt farm and held on for most of the game. They also held up two batteries of guns that were sorely needed elsewhere.

The French were in dire need of competent military police to clear the many roadblocks, as finding space to deploy the divisions became challenging. Too many troops ended up in the woods fighting an inconclusive skirmish. However, significant forces managed to fight through the first Allied line and engage in a grim battle of attrition over the crossroads and the Allied left flank.

The arrival of the French cavalry stretched the Allied line even further.

Jerome's Division got through the woods and made a bold advance, aggressively taking on the Allied line. Sadly, the dice gods abandoned me at this stage (or instead, they switched allegiance), and the attacks were repulsed. However, they kept Alten's Division busy and a chunk of the Brunswickers.

By the end of Day 2, both sides had reached the crossroads, and on the victory points, it was a narrow Allied victory. The French were running out of steam, so pretty much as the historical battle went. 

We used Black Powder with some house rules, which the Veterans Hub uses. In Glasgow, we don't use the disordered rule (hit on a D6), as it slows the game and, as happened to me several times, French columns end up disorganised without losing a casualty. Otherwise, it worked well, and a good time was had by all.