by Napoleonic Wargaming
Blood in the Sands: Napoleon’s Campaign in Egypt
I’ve been waiting for this book for nearly ten years.
Not this particular book, obviously — but a new Napoleonic supplement for Black Powder. And after nearly a decade of waiting, I eventually came to the conclusion that if I wanted one, I was probably going to have to make it myself.
So that’s exactly what I’ve done.
I’ve been making Napoleonic Wargaming videos on YouTube for coming up to a decade now. Over that time I’ve spent an enormous amount of time researching the period, reading about the battles, painting miniatures, playing games and, most importantly, talking to other people who are just as fascinated by the Napoleonic Wars as I am. But the more I learn, the more I learn I don’t know!
As someone with a degree in Egyptology, Napoleon’s campaign in the Holy Land has always been one of the parts of the period that has fascinated me most. He expedition of 1798 is such a strange and exciting campaign. It is the French Revolutionary Army fighting thousands of miles from home, against Mameluke cavalry, Ottoman regulars, Albanian troops, Janissaries, Bedouins and all manner of other forces. There are battles in the desert, assaults on fortified positions, cavalry charges, sieges, naval battles and some truly remarkable characters, and in the background a group of nerds studying the most fascinating civilisation from the ancient bit of the ancient world.
It feels almost tailor-made for a wargame.
And yet, despite all of that, there hasn’t been a dedicated Black Powder supplement for the campaign for many years, and even then I think Egypt would be fairly low on the priority list!
So rather than keep saying “someone really should make one of these”, I decided that someone was going to be me.
That is where Blood in the Sands came from.
The book is very much a passion project. It isn’t something I’ve put together because I thought there was a gap in the market that needed filling. As with my channel, I’ve made it because I want this book myself. I want to be able to put a table together, deploy a French army in the Egyptian desert and refight the battles that I’ve spent years reading about.
And hopefully, I’m not the only person who feels that way.
The book is designed as an unofficial supplement for Black Powder, covering Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign and the fighting that followed. It includes historical background, scenarios, special rules and orders of battle, with the aim of giving players everything they need to start recreating these battles on the tabletop.
The intention isn’t to turn the campaign into a history lesson. I want the games to feel like the stories that make this period so interesting in the first place.
I want to see Mameluke cavalry sweeping across the table towards a French square. I want French infantry trying to hold together under pressure from a vastly larger Ottoman force. I want commanders having to deal with difficult terrain, unfamiliar troops and situations that don’t always go according to plan.
And, inevitably, I want to see the sort of ridiculous things happen that only ever seem to happen in a wargame, especially I’m rolling the dice! A perfectly positioned cavalry charge failing miserably. A battered unit holding out against all the odds. An artillery battery rolling exactly the result it needs at the last possible moment. A commander making a decision that looks brilliant when it works — and rather less so when it doesn’t.
That’s what makes historical wargaming so much fun.
There is also, I think, a particularly good opportunity to explore this period at the moment. Perry Miniatures’ current focus on the Revolutionary Wars has made it easier and more appealing than ever to build armies from this fascinating period, and the Egyptian campaign fits beautifully into that world. The French Army of the Orient is a very different proposition from the familiar armies of Austerlitz or Waterloo, while the Ottoman and Mameluke forces offer an enormous amount of variety for anyone who enjoys collecting unusual armies.
I’ve spent a lot of time putting this project together, and I’ve tried to approach it in the same way that I approach the videos on the Napoleonic Wargaming channel: with enthusiasm, plenty of research and a genuine desire to make something that people will enjoy.
But ultimately, this isn’t really my book.
It’s a book that has grown out of a community.
Over the last ten years I’ve had countless conversations with viewers and fellow wargamers about obscure battles, units, uniforms and scenarios. I’ve had people suggest battles I hadn’t considered, point me towards sources I’d never seen and, more than once, ask why there wasn’t a supplement covering one particular campaign or another.
This is my attempt to give something back.
If you’ve watched the channel, commented on a video, shared one with a friend, played one of the scenarios, painted a unit because of something you’ve seen, or simply spent an evening talking about Napoleon with someone else, then you’ve already been part of what has led to this project.
That’s why I like the idea of Blood in the Sands being made by the community, for the community.
The Kickstarter is about getting that project out of my computer and onto people’s bookshelves — and, hopefully, onto their gaming tables.
I’d love for this to become the sort of book that gets covered in paint, has dice rolled on top of it and ends up with someone’s coffee cup sitting on the corner of the cover. I’d love to see people use it to fight battles that I’ve spent years reading about, and then tell me about the completely unexpected things that happened when they did.
Because that’s really why I’ve made it.
I’ve been making Napoleonic Wargaming videos for nearly a decade, and the community has given me an enormous amount of support during that time. This is my opportunity to give something back.
So, after nearly ten years of waiting for the next supplement, I’ve stopped waiting.
I’ve decided to make my own.
And I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
