A Single Shot: A Sniper Elite Worlds Novel

by Robbie MacNiven

The fate of the British Army rests on a single shot.



In the darkest days of the Peninsular War, the Duke of Wellington is struggling to contain the French. With his regiments in disarray, falling back to Portugal, he sends his spymaster to discover the source of the enemy's strength.

When his man returns with news that a deadly factory based in Zaragoza is pumping out a seemingly inexhaustible supply of gunpowder, Wellington knows he needs an elite sharpshooter to take out the maniacal French chemist in charge.

Step forward Thomas Plunket of the 95th Regiment, the "hero of Cacabelos", who is famous for making the impossible shot. He's ordered to take three men on a desperate race against time, to assassinate the chemist - or die in the attempt.

191 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 9, 2026

About the author

Robbie MacNiven is a Scottish author and historian. His published fiction includes over twenty novels in genres ranging from sci-fi and fantasy to historical fiction, written for publishers such as Black Library, Titan, Rebellion and Aconyte Books. He has also written novellas, short stories, audio dramas, comic scripts and graphic novels, has worked on narrative and character dialogue for multiple digital games (SMITE: Blitz, Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground, Raid: Shadow Legends), and has written colour text and branching narratives for multiple RPG and game rulebooks, including the award-winning Undaunted series by Osprey Games. In 2022 his X-Men novel "First Team" won a Scribe Award for tie-in fiction.

On the non-fiction front, Robbie specialises in Early Modern military history, particularly focusing on the 18th century. He has a PhD in American Revolutionary War massacres from the University of Edinburgh - where he won the Compton Prize for American History - and an MLitt in War Studies from the University of Glasgow. Along with numerous articles for military history magazines, he has written eight books on 18th century conflicts including the American Revolution and the Seven Years War, seven for Osprey Publishing and one for Helion Books. He has also written the scripts for over a dozen episodes of the hit YouTube educational channel Extra History.

Outside of work and writing, his passions include historical re-enacting, gaming, and football.

Reviews

[Maya Malice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and interesting story, that kept pace much better than the other Sniper Elite novel (Fortress of the Dead). That said, it still had the same seeming lack of a proof-reader, judging by the spelling mistakes and other errors. Even so, I enjoyed seeing what Sniper Elite as a concept would look like in a different era than the games show us. and I'd love to see Plunket and his Baker Rifle as options in the next SE game, even if they wouldn't fit canonically.