Tsar Wars - The Emperor Strikes Back

***

As you will no doubt know, on the first day of March in the year of our lord 1881, Tsar Aleksandr II, Emperor and Autocrat of all Russias, King of Poland and the Grand Prince of Finland, was assassinated in plain sight by an anarchist dynamiter.

Only, this is not entirely true, as I did not die.

And though I did not wake for many months, by the power of science my vital spark was preserved, and in time my wounds healed.

Such a creature could of course never be fit to be king, and rightly fearing that I be left a vegetable, my fellows declared me dead, and appointed my successor.

They imprisoned me out of political necessity. Stripped of the power's of my birthright, and left the grotesque caricature of a lunatic's nightmare by my injuries, I found myself, though alive, unable to live, and was consumed by a deep and terrible melancholy.

This held me for many, many years, more than most men should be forced to endure. For you see, though that Mesmerism and Galvanism that had saved my life, I ceased to grow old as all other men grow old. For, though my years advanced, they took no toll, and no illness could take hold of me.

Perhaps the most privileged prisoner in all the world, I set about a life of quiet luxury, devoting myself to reading and to study and to the hundred other pleasurable trivialities that a man may enjoy about his home. But nothing could lift the veil of sadness that besieged my heart.

That was, until a new philosophy dawned upon me. 

It came from no single place, nor at one time, nor did it come with any sense of metanoia, but in some far corner deep within my skull a this thought manifested; relieved of my worldly duties and responsibilities by death, I could do more than I could have ever done while living.

For a lifetime and more I had observed the many evils of the world; the political game, the eternal suffering of the common man, the rise of godlessness, the folly of Empires. I had hated it, and bound by my position as one of the greatest men on all the Earth, I had been helpless to intervene.

I knew well the minutiae of politics and kingsmanship, that delicate interplay of cause and effect. How actions planned with perfect scrutiny could send ripples across the world. With my reach and influence there was perhaps no better man in all the world to set about this endeavour. From the anonymity of the grave I could guide Russia, no, all of humanity, into a better tomorrow.

Galvanised with new resolution, I set about this design. Calling to those that served me well in my previous life I gathered about me a company of good men, and by our actions the world has been changed forever.

***

Hey All,

I do present the leader of my first 'In Her Majesty's Name' Company - The Ghost Tsar!

My Company has rolled quite naturally off the back of my Russian Colonial project - all I've done is added a few characters.

The model is a lightly converted 'Captain Leon' by FreeBooTer Miniatures. Its a really nice model with tons of detail and character, and is both sculpted and cast wonderfully.

Tsar has been about 90% done for ages, so all that I've done recently is touch up the dodgy bits, re-base him and give a good coat of matt varnish.

^ Leading a platoon of Storm Soldiers into battle

Here are the Statisitics that I've put together for him. I'm yet to actually play a game yet, so any opinions would be warmly received;

The Ghost Tsar

Statistics: Pluck: 2+, Fighting: +3, Shooting: +2, Speed: +0, Cost: 88

Talents: Duellist (Sabre), Numb, Fearless

Equipment: Plate Armour, All-Electric Limb Prosthesis, Blunderbuss, Pistol, Sabre 

MM.

The Lead Tally - 2014

Acquired: +58       Painted: +36          Total: -23