The Year of the Horsetails

'I chanced upon a novel I read as a child. Re-reading The Year of the Horsetails by R. F. Tapsell (1967), I realized where my interest in nomadic warfare began and, with Bardiya - Tapsell s siege-engineer, outsider hero - something of the origins of Ballista. Tapsell was a superb historical novelist, and some enterprising publisher should put his works back in print for a new generation. Set in an unusual time and place, The Year of the Horsetails creates an exotic, fully imagined world combined with universal themes. Intensely exciting. An inspiration.' --Harry Sidebottom, author of the Warrior of Rome series

Eastern Europe: Early Middle Ages. The nomad warrior Bardiya
must flee from the evil empire of the Mongol-like Tugars and
their ruthless Kagan. He receives hospitality from the sedentary
Slavic Drevich people; but fears that they also might succumb to
the might of the Tugar empire. Will he be able to convince them
of their danger and teach them the skills necessary to defeat their
new enemy?
Now revised and corrected, with a new glossary of names and terms.