And the Punk Steams on!

Here are my latest characters for In Her Majesty's Name and other such games. They even have some backstory (see below).

They were finished off yesterday but I was worried about varnishing them because it had been raining all week so far and I was worried about the humidity. However, it was dry in the evening and I decided to varnish them and see the damage in the morning. Luckily, there was no fogging, which was a relief!

These are also from Ironclad Miniatures and are probably the most obviously steampunk of all the figures I've done so far.

The chap on the left in the picture is former bare-knuckle pugilist Gentleman Jack Spratt. A dissolute and brutal man, he had both arms broken in a bizarre Hansom Cab accident which was probably caused by one of his Underworld enemies. A shadowy figure was seen leaving the scene of the accident and the cab driver was nowhere to be found. Jack's mangled body was found in the wreckage, his career in the ring finished.

A Mad Inventor (whom we shall meet in a future post) offered Jack to "mend" his useless arms if Jack agreed to work for him.

The results can be seen here. Jack's arms have been augmented by electrically-powered mechanical prostheses and he wears a small generator on his back, which also doubles as an Arc Generator.

As a result, Jack is now a feared member of the London Criminal Underworld where his powerful augmentations provide all manner of assistance to a wide range of illegal activities.

Jack's companion is the beneficiary of another of the ingenious creations of the Mad Inventor. His name is Grigori Blok, a merchant seaman who was the only survivor of a boiler explosion on a Russian steamship docked in London. His body suffered terrible burns and internal injuries and it looked to the staff of the hospital in Limehouse as though he might not survive. However, the Mad Inventor used him for another one of his experiments and had him encased in a specially constructed armoured metal suit, powered by an Arc Generator. Taken together with a number of obscure drugs, the electricity generated keeps Grigori's heart beating and allows his damaged nervous system to function normally. The human cost of this is that Grigori can never take off the armour. To do so would cause his death within hours of it being removed. Like Jack, Grigori has found useful employment in numerous nefarious enterprises where his strength and near invulnerability to many weapons makes him a useful weapon. Never a great intellect, Grigori's powers of thought were badly-weakened in the explosion. The life-preserving drugs are therefore also useful in keeping Grigori under the control of the Mad Inventor.

Two more Steampunk characters

After all those villains, it is time to turn again to the Forces of Laura Norder.

These are once again from the excellent Ironclad Miniatures range. On the website they are called MIB Agents "L" and "H". I am simply describing them as Mysterious Government Agents, which can clearly be an umbrella which might cover a multiplicity of roles.

They could be plainclothes officers from Scotland Yard, members of the Secret Service or even agents from some even more secret government agency, perhaps one concerned with occult or otherwise inexplicable phenomena. Seeing as we are operating within a steampunk world here, I would think that combating the threat from Weird Science and Evil Inventors would also be part of their brief. Clearly they might wish to engage a Consulting Detective from time to time.

Identifying and neutralising political subversion or exposing foreign agents might also be part of their duties, whether that might involve internal threats or external agencies from unfriendly nations.

These are clearly two very experienced operators.

More Steampunk villains

These were pretty quick to paint, because of the limited colour palette. Once again, they are from the  excellent Ironclad Miniatures Victorian Sci Fi and Steampunk range.

I have labelled these as being "Six Agents Of A Secret Shadowy Power". You will note that there are a couple of duplicated figures, but that doesn't really matter. What I like about them is that they could turn up as all kinds of different things; anarchists, agents of a foreign government, assassins for hire, members of a secret society etc. The possibilities are almost endless.

There are a couple of extra figures in the range, that I am really going to have to place an order for, not least because I am a completist in such matters and I cannot see why I shouldn't have all of them. Also, there are a few more figures that I think I'd like to paint, some of whom could work well as leaders of this faction.

These are definitely destined to be used in games of In Her Majesty's Name.

Bringing Syldavian history into the 19th century

Yesterday, I wrote a piece about the 19th century history of Borduria, so today I am going to do the same for its western neighbour Syldavia.

I will begin with the death of Ottokar IX in 1776. He was succeeded by his grandson Muskar, whose father, the Crown Prince Viktar had died in 1774 in a hunting accident. Muskar VI had never expected to become king and had pursued a life in antiquarian and literary studies until the death of his father. His wife, Sophie de la Boissière was French, as was his mother, Queen Octavie. Muskar, despite his bookish demeanour was an able ruler, willing to listen to advice from his chief ministers and advisors. A child of the Enlightenment, Muskar VI introduced political reforms influenced by certain aspects of the aftermath of the American War of Independence and began to reject the absolutism of the French monarchy, despite his mother's family connections. However, he was appalled at the French Revolution and the Terror, during which his aristocratic father-in-law perished in the Place de la Guillotine. Numerous exiled French royalists fled to Syldavia and their anti-revolutionary sentiments shifted Muskar away from making further reforms. Syldavian policies shifted towards supporting the anti-Napoleonic Third Coalition and many Syldavian regiments fought alongside the Austrians, suffering heavy losses at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to Syldavia pursuing a path of neutrality from 1806 until 1809, when Syldavia joined the Fifth Coalition (as did Borduria). The Syldavian army fought alongside the Austrians in the 1809 Dalmatian Campaign and a Syldavian Corps fought at Aspern-Essling and again at Wagram, suffering heavy casualties in the latter battle, which ended the Coalition.

Syldavia sent troops to fight in the Sixth Coalition, but not in large numbers as there were fears of a local war breaking out with Borduria, the perennial enemy in 1813.

After the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Syldavia and Borduria signed a non-aggression Treaty which would last until the 1850s.

Muskar VI died in 1822 to be succeeded as king by Crown Prince Johannes, who ruled as Johannes I. His Queen was Lucrezia di Grissini, the granddaughter of the famous 18th century Italian soldier of fortune and Syldavian general, Ercole di Grissini. Johannes ruled over a period of Syldavian prosperity and gradual democratisation. Limited male suffrage was introduced in 1830 and the electoral qualifications were widened again in 1848, to try and contain the revolutionary fervour that gripped much of Europe. Syldavian politicians managed to resist the revolutionary pressures from below by bringing in measures to liberalise employment laws and introduce improved Poor Laws. The Constitution of 1849 codified the role of the monarchy and the newly-reformed parliament (Versammlung or Parlament in the local official languages).

The liberal rule of Johannes contrasted greatly with the repressive authoritarianism of Constantine III and Alexandros I in Borduria, and Syldavia became a refuge for Bordurian radicals in the years leading up to the Bordurian Coup of 1858. This was to become a major cause of the outbreak of war between the two countries in 1859, lasting intermittently until 1863 with the defeat of Borduria.

Johannes I died in 1877, having seen the end of the Bordurian Autocracy and the rise of the revolutionary Republic of Borduria. His successor, his son Muskar VII followed his liberal rule, ensuring that the Syldavian state was secure from revolutionary civil war by continuing to enact a series of laws improving the lives of the growing urban working classes and rural peasantry, including free education (for boys only) until the age of 12 and a limited free hospital system in major centres of population. At the same time, he modernised the Syldavian military and created a Security and Intelligence Service, the Varnosti Policija, popularly known as the Vohunska, whose role was very much aimed at countering Bordurian attempts to subvert and overthrow the Syldavian monarchy and state. Unhappily, Muskar VII only ruled for a short time, dying of a rare disease in 1882. He was succeeded by his brother Marko, who ruled under the regnal name of Muskar VIII.

Ok, so that is where we are now in Syldavia and Borduria. All set for intrigue and hopefully games of pulp and In Her Majesty's Name featuring the two countries and their secret agencies. All I need now is to find some suitable late-19th or early-20th century miniatures to serve as Syldavians. Still, it isn't as though I have much else to occupy my time at present.

A Return to Borduria - bringing my imaginations into the late-19th century.

As regular readers of this blog will know, I am a huge fan of the figures produced by Mark Copplestone. I've long admired his Back Of Beyond range, but I've never really wanted to buy large armies of the figures. However, it occurred to me that I could use his Bolsheviks for a band in games of In Her Majesty's Name and also in 7TV Pulp games. So, I need a setting for them, and where else should that be except in Borduria? So, here is a brief account of what happened to Borduria during the 19th century.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, during which both Syldavia and Borduria found themselves on the same side in various coalitions against the Emperor, things slowly began to change for these small nations. I shall come back at some future date to discuss Syldavia in the 19th century, so this will be all about Borduria.

The beginning of the 19th century saw the coronation of Autokrat Constantine III on New Year's Day 1802 He was the grandson of Constantine II who ruled the country from 1747 until his death in 1782, when he was succeeded by his son Demetrios I Cantacuzene, who was assassinated by an unknown hand in 1801.

Constantine III was very much under the influence of the Russian party in the Bordurian court, which had gained an ascendancy over the pro-Prussian faction in the last decade of the 18th century. The leader of the Russian party in the Samovar (the Bordurian assembly of boyars and de facto royal council), Count Pyotr Strabomytes of Kardouk (the son of the Count Strabomytes against whom Sir William Huntley-Palmer fought a duel in Trieste in 1765) began to push Constantine towards a much more pro-Tsarist position.

Following the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Constantine III began to consolidate his position by purging the army of Prussian influences and beginning a period of Slavicisation of the organs of the state and the oppression of Roman Catholicism. Constantine promoted the most conservative elements in his court and during his reign, which ended in 1838, the country became more and more authoritarian. Following his death, his son Alexandros I continued his father's policies, with strict censorship of the press and a tightening of control over the country's education system, at one point closing all of the country's four universities for five years.

Alexandros I was assassinated by an Anarchist faction in 1851, without leaving an adult male heir. This led to a period of instability for a few years, with the Samovar appointing Count Michaelis Bazarov as co-regent with Alexandros' widow Elizavetna Romanova. Bazarov became unpopular with many boyars and landowners once his relationship with the Dowager Empress became clear and he was removed from office and imprisoned in Peshod Castle, where he died in mysterious circumstances. His removal allowed the young and ambitious Count Georgios Cantacuzene, from a junior branch of the ruling House to raise up an army and overthrow the Samovar in 1858. Refusing the title of Autokrator, he was acclaimed by a faction of liberal landowners as Voivode, adopting a traditional pre-Autocracy title for the ruler of the country. At first, the reign of Georgios seemed to herald a new dawn for Borduria, with a relaxation of the repressive laws of Constantine III and Alexandros, but liberalisation coincided with a renewal of war with Syldavia, leading to a succession of military defeats. Conservative elements in the Army and amongst rural boyars, supported by Tsarist agents in the country, launched a coup against Georgios, who was deposed and murdered in his palace in the capital, Szohôd in August 1865. Alexandros' son, Constantine was brought back from exile in Saint Petersburg, where his mother had taken him in 1859 and crowned Autokrator in October 1865. The return of repression was inevitable, but this time there was much opposition inside the country and civil disturbances, strikes and violence spread until it was necessary for Constantine IV to declare martial law in 1868. 

There were many Bordurian exiles living across Eastern and Central Europe and these had organised political and revolutionary movements, some with links to German nationalists, other with Syldavian elements and still more with Marxist, Socialist and Anarchist groups. As martial law bit deep and unrest began to turn into conflict, the leader of the Proletarian Alliance, the largest exile Marxist grouping, Eugenios Laskarios, agreed a pact with the peasant Agrarian League and the (illegal) anarchist Union of Workers to form the Bordurian Proletarian Party. Fomenting dissent in the Army and carrying out a wave of assassinations and acts of terrorism, the BPP led the country in a general uprising in 1869. Many regiments of the army mutinied and killed their officers and a short but bloody Civil War ensued.

The city of Szohôd was besieged and other cities and towns began to rise up and expel their local governments. By the end of 1871, most of the country was in the hands of the BPP and Constantine and his family fled to Syldavia, from whence he made his way to Switzerland and then Russia. Laskarios proclaimed the end of the Autocracy and the beginning of the Bordurian Republic on the steps of the Royal Palace on March 1st 1872. He assumed the title of First Minister of the People's Provisional Government and began the process of purging the country of the old absolutist aristocracy. However, the process of nationalisation and the redistribution of land didn't run smoothly. There were disagreements and ideological differences in the Parliament and before long Laskarios and his Proletarian Alliance comrades realised that to preserve the revolution they would have to purge the government of its opponents and rule the country as a one-party state. In 1874, Laskarios shut down Parliament and his secret police and party militia launched another coup which brought about the final act of the Bordurian Revolution.

Since then, the Proletarian Alliance has ruled the country, with its head being known as the Chief Commissar. After the death of Eugenios Laskarios in 1881, the Leader has been Chief Commissar Michaelis Ivanovich. The Bordurian Secret Police, the Second Directorate (also called the Sekuritat), controls the press and oversees state security, while the Third Directorate is a secret intelligence organisation that operates in neighbouring countries, as well as those further away who harbour émigré Cantacuzenist and aristocratic communities and factions. These factions are all grouped together under the broad title of Autokratians, after the old title of the Bordurian Crown. Bourgeois and Liberal democratic groups are also targeted by the Third Directorate, popularly called the Informat.

Informat active units are not only intelligence gatherers and spies. They also carry out abductions and assassinations, as well as building up links with revolutionary groups and even criminal gangs in capitalist countries. 

More Victorian Steampunk

I painted these yesterday and spray varnished them earlier this morning when the doggies got me up to let them out into the garden.

These two are a Dastardly Villain and his Cold-Hearted Villainess companion. I have decided that their weapons are Arc Pistols, a type of weapon used in the In Her Majesty's Name rules, but they could quite easily be something else. Anyway, whatever they are, they aren't standard handguns. As with my earlier figures, these also have minimal bases. The Dastardly Villain, like the Consulting Detective is also armed with a swordstick. I am sure that the Cold-Hearted Villainess has some other weapons secreted about her person too.

I have decided that the Dastardly Villain's name is Colonel Sir Jasper Benbow and his companion is Mme Mathilde du Méchantcoeur.

Sir Jasper is a former officer in the British Army who has sold his services to numerous rulers and governments across Europe and beyond, but the rank of Colonel is purely invented. In reality, he was cashiered from the army, when a mere Lieutenant, after being caught embezzling his regimental funds to pay his gambling debts. It is often claimed that his knighthood is similarly fictitious, but it seems that he acquired the honour from a small central European principality for dubious services rendered. It is said that Sir Jasper will do anything for money, so long as the sum meets his approval.

Mme du Méchantcoeur's origins are unknown, although it is believed that she emerged from the slums of Belleville to become a major player in the Parisian demi-monde, making many enemies, but also with many Friends in High Places. It is rumoured that she once worked for the French government, but other rumours also claim that the French secret police would happily see her dead. Perhaps all these rumours are true? Who can tell in the looking-glass world of shadowy agents, criminal masterminds and secret organisations?

Once again, these are from Ironclad Miniatures Victorian Sci Fi and Steampunk range.

More Isolation Painting - the start of my Steampunk Victorians

Last year I started buying some figures to use for the In Her Majesty's Name rules from the Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare. I have so far concentrated on the excellent range of figures produced by Ironclad Miniatures. I've bought quite a few to date, and I am now in the process of painting them.

Here are my first results. They may look quite familiar.

They are, on the left, The Consulting Detective and, on the right his Medical Amanuensis. These will obviously be valiant defenders of the Queen and her Empire against all manner of dastardly and evil opponents. Both are equipped with pistols and the Detective also carries a swordstick. The Amanuensis carries his medical bag, which is no doubt packed with all manner of interesting potions and lotions.

I have decided that I want the basing on these figures to be pretty minimal, so that they fit into urban settings predominantly, so all I have done is mould a layer of Miliput to cover the whole base and disguise the puddle bases on the actual figures.

I hope that people like them.

Next up, a couple of villainous types.