In Her Majesty's Name; Home and Away:The British Secret Service Bureau

     Introduction

     One of the many things I like about In Her Majesty's Name is the opportunity it affords to build small adventuring companies, fill them with characters and give them all a unique background. This, coupled with the availability of many figures for the period, the 1890s, and the fact that is sci-fi/steam punk allows plenty of scope for historically based whackiness.

     Of the many official adventuring companies that Craig Cartmell and Charles Murton of the Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare have produced, Grey Section of the British Secret Service (see the Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare blog and/or Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy Issue 70 for details), really attracted my attention, not least because I had a load of figures that would fit the bill for Grey Section's troop types; Watch Commander, Grey Hounds, Hard Contractors and Soft Contractors.

     They have already appeared in other posts on this blog but as I have recently expanded the company I thought I would recap on the original mob and introduce the new chaps and chapess' 

The British Secret Service Grey Section

Secret Service Bureau's Grey Section   
     The first of my Secret Service Bureau's sections is Grey Section. Based in London and mostly dealing with the fiendish depredations of the British Empire's enemies on home turf and, occasionally, on the Continent. They are led by their Watch Commander, William "Topaz" McGonnagle; notoriously bad Victorian poet and (for the purposes of Grey Sections back story) intellectually gifted patriot and former spy in the early days of the Great Game. His two main Grey Hounds (Grey Hounds is the nickname for the Secret Service's agents. The Section also employs Hard Contractors; criminals, local hardmen and the criminally insane and Soft Contractors) are Dennis "Dandy" Nicholls and Barney Stockdale

Watch Commander William Topaz McGonnagle

     Watch Commander William Topaz McGonnagle, A former soldier, civil engineer and spy, McGonnagle took on the disguise as a "poet" (for which he discovered he had a real "talent") and public orator in order to blend in with the locals and to help defeat the proposed invasion of Great Britain via Scotland's east coast by German forces before it even began. In an attempt to map the coast, the German's had sent out a whaling fleet which had berthed at Dundee on it's way back to Hamburg from the Icelandic whaling grounds. Using this stop over as a cover, the fleet hoped to carry out a reconnaissance of the coast. Unfortunately for them, HM Secret Service had already gotten wind and sent McGonnagle and other members of Grey Section to defeat the vile Prussians. Details of this operation are still top secret and therefore cannot be divulged here....but may form the background to a scenario someday..

Dennis "Dandy" Nicholls

     Dennis "Dandy" Nicholls, former army doctor, conman and gambler, has served with distinction in the Secret Service since his "dismissal" from the Indian Army.

Barney Stockdale

     Barney Stockdale served in the Royal Marines, reaching the rank of sergeant major. Barney was a weapons instructor and is an ex-Royal Navy boxing champion, two talents which stand him in good stead in Grey Section.

     The remainder of the current Grey Section Pack positions have a regular change over of personnel; some due to injuries, others to said personnel being re-incarcerated in the institutions they were residing in before their country's and Grey Sections need became so great... 

The Secret Service's Russian Section 

    The  Russian Section has a geographically large area of responsibility and is therefore sub-divided into the North, South and East Territories. Though this might appear on the map (with all it's lovely pink areas representing the Empire's dominions on it) to be an overwhelming responsibility in reality the Russian Section deals mainly with those parts that butt up against the Empire; The Himalaya, Afghanistan, India etc, Old Europe; Poland, The Baltic States etc and the Russian cities on the Pacific Coast; Vladivostok and Port Arthur.

      Our interest lies in the ongoing Great Game between the Russian Empire and that of Great Britain where some of the focus has shifted from the Himalaya Region to that of the Caspian Sea.  Here a band of the Russian Section's finest are deployed in the guise of an archaeological dig sponsored by the Society of Antiquaries of London who, besides digging for artifacts, bones and ruins are on the hunt for two of their number who were last heard of in the region. 

     Unlike Grey Section, the Russian Section employs more regular "Greyhounds". The Diggers, as they are known, are led by Major Harry Baker (retired) a former Royal Engineer.

The Diggers (current cover name)

Major Harry Baker, former Royal Engineer 

      Major Baker  or the Old Man as his colleagues call him...though not to his face, is an ex-ranker who has served in all the major British Army campaigns since the 1870s in one capacity or another. He too, like Mr McGonnagle, was involved in the Great Game, mostly in mapping the western part of the territory as far as Kopet Dag in Turkmenistan.

Lieutenant Timothy "Topper" Hatt. 1st Bn The Isle Of Sheppey
Border Mounted Rifles

     On secondment to the Secret Service, Lt Timothy "Topper" Hatt, has served in Afganistan and the Sudan with his regiment, 2nd Battalion The Isle Of Sheppey Border Mounted Rifles.

Mrs Philomena Hargreaves, member of the RAI, keen hunter
and young widow of Lt Col Hargreaves RA

     Mrs Philomena Hargreaves has worked for the Russian Section since her husband, Lt Col Hargreaves of the Royal Artillery was killed in action during a Russian inspired uprising. A keen hunts woman, she is also a very keen pistol shot.

Sergeant Major Bert "Flagpole" Cockburn, 

     WO2 Albert Cockburn of the Army Service Corps, nicknamed Flagpole by his chums after some drunken shenanigans in the Warrant Officers and Sergeants Mess, he is a doughty, trustworthy member of the band. He acts as The Diggers quartermaster.

Ms Agnes "Ducky" Downes, 

     Ms Agnes "Ducky" Downes, daughter of Rear Admiral Hugh Downes; head of the China/Japan Section of the Secret Service Bureau; one of the actual qualified archaeologists in The Diggers. Ducky Downes won the Bisley NRA Ladies Pistol Shot in 1892.

Mr Albert "Berty" Butterworth, Indian Civil Service

     Berty Butterworth, former Indian Civil Servant, forger and card sharp, Berty left his employment under something of a cloud and was snapped up by Major Baker who had heard of Berty's "talents" and felt they would be of some use to the Diggers.

Ms Florence "Florry" Bruce-Partington,

     Ms Florence "Florry" Bruce-Partington, niece of the Duke of Holderness is a society beauty, amateur sleuth and linguist. She is another of the genuine archaeologists in the Diggers.

Ms Vaishnavi Partington, former governess and school teacher
and now a mystic  

    Ms Vaishnavi Partington, a former governess and school teacher. Born out of wedlock to an English mother and Sikh prince, Vaishnavi is multi lingual, a practitioner of Gatka, the Sikh martial art and has also developed a talent for mesmerism and mysticism. She is also Florry Bruce-Partington's cousin.

Mr Vincent Mature

     Finally, Mr Vincent Mature, American citizen (though he is currently unable to return to the USA due to a small matter the police wish to discuss with him) and noted big game hunter, has been hired by the Diggers, ostensibly to help supply them with game on their travels and for his knowledge of the area.

     And those, barring their local guides who also form part of the Digger party (and have still to be painted), are my British Secret Service Bureau forces.

     Next up are the opposition; the Russians and the Austro/Hungarians...

Till then, 

pip pip

GJ