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I can’t imagine what it would be like, being apparently destined for work on the family farm only to wake up one day as an imperial prince. Not entirely sure I’d like the change, personally speaking. But I may well be in the minority there.

Probably depends on how the work on the family farm was. Some would find it just settling and be eager for some other duties and tasks to do. Some may like just settling and living the quiet life.

Either way, one does become a stranger in a strange land, one way or another.

I’ve just caught up again too. It seems Russia remains fairly weak and underdeveloped at this stage, and yet to decide which great powers should be sided with or opposed. Wrangel and Anastasia will doubtless be trying to build the nation and its military as time goes by - but to what eventual end, one wonders? What is the victory being dreamt of - over whom?

Future updates shall reveal!

What Russia really needs is socialism with tsarist characteristics. (Or is that just Stalinism…)

There's a quote I heard a long time ago, that I lost, and I've been trying to find forever. It was by a fellow who was an acquaintance of Karl Marx, and there was some big Communist meeting, and the man pointed to all those attending and told Marx something to the effect of, "You put any of them in charge, and they will be ten times worse as the Tsar."

How prophetic that turned out to be.
 
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I really liked Brother Isaac.

Not yet tsarevich, but already plotting like one. The Romanov dynasty never disappoints :D
 
I really liked Brother Isaac.

Not yet tsarevich, but already plotting like one. The Romanov dynasty never disappoints :D

So long as he doesn't go hapsburg, he should be OK.

Then again, we do have that degenerative disease the romanovs have been struggling with for a while now...did anastasia pass it on?
 
I really liked Brother Isaac.

He seems to have become a reader favorite!

So long as he doesn't go hapsburg, he should be OK.

Then again, we do have that degenerative disease the romanovs have been struggling with for a while now...did anastasia pass it on?

Alexander's jawbone is perfectly fine, thankfully.

Also, Anastasia has not passed it on... yet.
 
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Chapter 10
Bobrova


5 May, 1937

Bobrova sat at her desk, staring at a series of papers giving reports for the past few weeks. Nearby, the radio was tuned in to the Moscow station, with The Sea and Sinbad's Ship from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Shéhérazade softly playing.

Seated across from her was a middle-aged man wearing a navy suit. His head was crowned with a balding scalp, while a thick mustache grew out from under his nose. From between his lips rested a pipe, the bowl of which held with one hand while the other rested on his knee. Smoke puffed out the side of his mouth, swirling about the room like dancing patterns in water. This man was an engineer known as Nikolai Vavilov. He had been brought onto the government staff to assist with the research and development, as well as to lighten the load of Bobrova’s efforts to modernize Russia. And no small effort that had been, at that. When she had first been assigned her governmental role, the initial feeling was that she had basically been asked to perform a miracle. Indeed, she might have preferred to be asked to bring a man back from the dead than revive Russia’s industry and trade. The hiring of that Maksim fellow had influenced a fair number of people, but not enough to bring the workers together under one banner and away from the Bolshevik and Menshevik red flags. Many saw him as a spokesman who could give some good speeches, but not a true leader. At the very least, Nikolai could offer something productive.

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Reading over the reports, Bobrova could see the start of the year had been a progressive one. The machine tools for Russian factories had been upgraded, with the old ones moved to the museums where they should have gone decades ago. Construction equipment had also been upgraded, and Bobrova had gotten the approval to get more upgrades done to keep them up to speed. Now crews working on Russian infrastructure had some capable material to work with, while those in Russian factories had less incidents of machinery breaking down and needing repair. Not that Russian industry was anything to boast of at the moment.

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Still, the largest dilemma was that anything she desired to upgrade often got interrupted by the military. They were busy running tests on a new plane that was to serve as close air support, currently named the Grushin Sh-Tandem. They were also requesting upgrades to the turrets on cruiser ships. What’s more, they had just completed research for magnetic detonators on their destroyers, as well as releasing a new line of light tank called the BT-10. Point being, Bobrova’s efforts to upgrade the industry were going slow.

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“How is the progress on our radios?” Bobrova asked.

“Going along at a reasonable pace,” Nikolai replied. “We have had to… do quite a few workarounds. We took some models imported from Germany and did some backwards engineering. And by imported, I mean I had my sister bring one back after she visited it.”

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“What did she think of Germany?” Bobrova asked. “I’ve heard conflicting things.”

Nikolai shrugged. “She enjoyed herself enough. She said it’s much better than it used to be, after the war. Her only disappointment was that she didn’t have a reason to go ride on the Hindenburg. I hear it’s making a trip to America as we speak.”

“Was there any cause for concern? I think the Rhineland incident made many nervous.”

Nikolai shrugged again. “She didn’t stay very long, but people on the streets don’t seem too concerned about war. The big news there was an increase in coal production.”

“What of… the way I hear they treat their Jews?”

Nikolai frowned. “Ah. She did see some wearing stars on their person. There were one or two stores with graffiti. She didn’t-”

Suddenly, the radio clicked, and the music came to an abrupt stop. The voice of the female announcer came on the air:

“We interrupt this broadcast for a special news bulletin. Japan has declared war with China. I repeat, the Empire of Japan has declared war against the nation of China. General Wrangel’s government has yet to comment, although Russian troops along the border with Manchukuo have been placed on alert.”

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Bobrova lowered the papers and frowned. That made things serious in the world. It was bad enough with Spain and Finland both going into civil war – now, two of Russia’s most powerful neighbors in the east were at war. She wasn’t one for geopolitics, but it didn’t take a political scientist to understand the implications of this: Russia had interests in China, and Japan and Russia still had misgivings in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War. A stronger Japan on the borders of Russia would probably cause a lot of worry in Petrograd. Which would, of course, mean the military would desire even more support for their technology, with little going to her.

“Do you think the generals will want to go to war with Japan?” Nikolai asked.

Bobrova shook her head. “I highly doubt that. At least not right now. The attitude I’ve been seeing from Wrangel and others is that they don’t want to get embroiled in anything while they’re trying to get Anastasia on the throne.”

Nikolai whistled and brought the pipe to his mouth. “It is quite the situation she’s taking the throne on. One of her only capable allies in the midst of civil war, and two of her biggest neighbors in a major war with each other.”

Bobrova nodded, then returned to her papers. As much as her situation often presented its own headaches, when she pondered Anastasia and what she was about to undertake… well, she didn’t envy the poor girl…
 
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Russia is slowly but surely dragging itself into modernity. With a little luck, they should be able to make enough headway to make any potentially hostile powers think twice about their chances -- especially those who might have more than a few conflicts of interests of note...
 
The Sea and Sinbad's Ship from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Shéhérazade softly playing.
I love these little Russian cultural references; they give things an air of humanity among the grinding gears of war, politics and industry.
A stronger Japan on the borders of Russia would probably cause a lot of worry in Petrograd.
As well it should! It would be a shame for Russia to see China go down here: they are better in the mix as a counterweight to Japan. Remind me, how is China positioned in this mod? Still weak and divided into pieces ruled by warlords?
 
To be fair I also do not envy Anastasia.

The news from the Far East bears consideration, but Russia has enough on its plate right now.
 
Bobrova sat at her desk, staring at a series of papers giving reports for the past few weeks. Nearby, the radio was tuned in to the Moscow station, with The Sea and Sinbad's Ship from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Shéhérazade softly playing.
Now hold on, if you play The Sea and Sinbad's Ship "softly", you're playing it WRONG!! :mad:
 
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There are already enough problems in Russia. A war near between her dangerous neighbours was clearly not necessary.
The Empire of Japan will be dangerous, hope China succeed in blocking it, but it probably won't happen that way.
 
War on all fronts is never the best situation to find oneself in, never mind when you're trying to stay out of things while you resolve a lengthy and painful internal dispute.
 
Could be fortuitous. Get her on the throne, then secure her position by stomping japan flat and getting china back firnly in Russian sphere.

Of course, even though russia can beat Japan now, it would take a lot of dead bodies. Maybe in a year when the country is much stronger.
 
Russia is slowly but surely dragging itself into modernity. With a little luck, they should be able to make enough headway to make any potentially hostile powers think twice about their chances -- especially those who might have more than a few conflicts of interests of note...

QUITE a few conflicts of interest...

I love these little Russian cultural references; they give things an air of humanity among the grinding gears of war, politics and industry.

That's my intention. It's also why I make reference to Russian/Soviet films that came out during this time period.

That and, as I wrote before, I prefer Russian music and films any way.

As well it should! It would be a shame for Russia to see China go down here: they are better in the mix as a counterweight to Japan. Remind me, how is China positioned in this mod? Still weak and divided into pieces ruled by warlords?

China is actually fully united, and hence a lot stronger than it is in Vanilla. If you look at the big map in Chapter 2, there's a bit of China shown. It's pretty much how it looks today, minus the Manchuria & Co. regions under Japanese influence.

To be fair I also do not envy Anastasia.

The news from the Far East bears consideration, but Russia has enough on its plate right now.

Plus, one should never get involved in a land war in Asia.

Now hold on, if you play The Sea and Sinbad's Ship "softly", you're playing it WRONG!! :mad:

Well now, let's be fair! They JUST developed their radio technology - I highly doubt they've gotten to subwoofers yet.

On another note, I doubt you'd want music blaring while having a meeting with a scientist on what inventions have been done.

There are already enough problems in Russia. A war near between her dangerous neighbours was clearly not necessary.
The Empire of Japan will be dangerous, hope China succeed in blocking it, but it probably won't happen that way.

Future updates will show.

I mean, the Republicans in Spain are still in the game.

War on all fronts is never the best situation to find oneself in, never mind when you're trying to stay out of things while you resolve a lengthy and painful internal dispute.

Nothing wrong with a two-front war. When has a two-front war ever gone badly for someone?

Could be fortuitous. Get her on the throne, then secure her position by stomping japan flat and getting china back firnly in Russian sphere.

Of course, even though russia can beat Japan now, it would take a lot of dead bodies. Maybe in a year when the country is much stronger.

Or ten years. Or twenty. Or...
 
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It's been a good while since I've seriously read an AAR, but I just read through the entire story so far. I played this mod a while back as Anastasia, and I enjoyed it a fair amount, so I'm glad to see someone make an AAR of it, especially one that's written so well! I look forward to seeing future updates to the story.
 
It's been a good while since I've seriously read an AAR, but I just read through the entire story so far. I played this mod a while back as Anastasia, and I enjoyed it a fair amount, so I'm glad to see someone make an AAR of it, especially one that's written so well! I look forward to seeing future updates to the story.

Thank you for your kind words, and happy to have you aboard! I hope indeed you enjoy the future updates. :D

Naaah two front wars are fine , the scene is set for radical changes everywhere

A war here, a war there, all while the internal structure crumbles... what could possibly go wrong? :cool:
 
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When will the next update be ?

Hoping to get it done this week.

Honestly, I've had a bit of trouble getting it written, but part of it is done. But it will get posted eventually.
 
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