Guns, Swords and Steam

“Here! Is that you, Whatley?”
They came upon an elderly man tightening bolts on what appeared to be a large wooden barrel – large being an understatement; it had a door on one side, and could easily have fitted two men inside.

“It’s nearly finished! And it works entirely by pedal power!” The man turned the handle on the door, swung it open theatrically, and even managed not to look put out when the entire door-panel came off in his hand. “I haven’t fixed that bit yet. Not to worry. James, look, it’s totally watertight!”

—From Guns, Swords and Steam, Part Three

Fighting a slightly hopeless war for two decades against armies vastly larger and better equipped than their own (and led by Vampires, for that matter), the small Germanic-themed country of Chaltary has developed a national sense of hard-headed badassery -- and none more so than the front line troops defending its frontiers. However, one particular Captain by the name of Hannel Wekker will end up going a long way beyond the passes of his home to defend the country, as their enemies build up ready to smash through the ragged defences.

The world of Guns, Swords and Steam is a low-tech steampunk setting based in the 1700s but with plenty of Da Vinci technology around (the trammechs are essentially Da Vinci's tanks with a steam engine replacing the horse). The story is released in episode format every month in the A Call To Arms e-zine, and is written by its editor James Baillie. An RPG version of the game is in testing.

Can be found here.

Tropes used in Guns, Swords and Steam include:

Battle Butler - Pearson is originally introduced as Nathaniel's manservant, though his later posting with Hannel may show that this is not in fact his true role.
Mad Scientist - Lots of them. Balliol, Whatley, and Von Karlurden for starters. And clearly plenty more on the other side.