Setting
The setting of Trench Crusade is an alternate history that diverges from real history in the year 1099. [5] After the First Crusade's successful capture of Jerusalem, members of the Knights Templar committed "the Act of Ultimate Heresy," opening a gateway to Hell. Jerusalem was destroyed and the forces of Hell soon conquered most of the Levant.
The game takes place in the year 1914, after more than 800 years of conflict. The forces of Hell have conquered one-third of humanity, including large areas of the Middle East, Anatolia, Armenia, the Caucasus and part of the Saharan Africa, as well as footholds in Gibraltar, Cordoba, Avignon, and Finland. [6] [3] The armies are at a stalemate, with both sides now engaged in trench warfare. The area between the forces of Heaven and Hell are a no man's land, in which small warbands from both sides conduct missions to gather intelligence, find artifacts and relics, search for enemy scouts, assassinate high-value targets, and capture prisoners.
Gameplay
Trench Crusade is typically played between two players. Each player fields a "warband" of around 6-20 miniature models. The goal is to score more Victory Points than the opposing player by completing scenario objectives and "Glorious Deeds." Alternatively, either warband may lose the game by failing a "Morale Check."
Play takes place on a battlefield, typically a 3-4 foot square table or a similar surface, filled with miniature terrain to act as cover, obstacles and elevation. Players set up the battlefield and deploy their models according to the chosen scenario, usually in zones on opposing sides of the table.
At the beginning of each turn, the player with fewer models gains the Initiative, with ties being resolved by dice roll. The player with the Initiative influences the order in which events resolve during that turn, including which player activates a model first. During each turn, players alternatively activate their models, allowing them to take Actions such as moving, dashing, shooting, fighting in melee, performing situational actions and using special abilities. Each Action may be performed once per activation. Many Actions require a "Success Roll" to complete, where the player rolls a number of six-sided dice and must roll a sum of at least 7 on two of the dice to succeed. Various circumstances add positive and negative dice to the roll, with net positive rolls using the highest two dice and net negative rolls using the lowest two dice for the result. Some Success Rolls are "Risky" and will end the model's activation if failed.
Models do not use a traditional hit point system. Instead, successful attacks and other harmful situations trigger an "Injury Roll", where a player rolls a number of six-sided dice and sums the result from two of them. Depending on the result of the Injury Roll, a model may gain Blood Markers, be taken "Down" (a vulnerable state), or immediately taken "Out of Action" (removed from play). Blood Markers may be spent by an opposing player to add negative dice to a marked model's Success Rolls, or add more dice to an Injury Roll against that model. A model can have up to six Blood Markers; Six Blood Markers (or three on a model that has been taken Down) may be spent to trigger a "Bloodbath" on an Injury Roll, adding one more die to the summed result. Therefore, even low-value models have a chance to take down or defeat high-value models with every attack.
After all models have been activated, any warband which has half of its models taken Down or Out of Action must roll a Morale Check. Failing a Morale Check may cause a warband to become "Shaken" for one turn (causing all Success Rolls to become Risky), or flee the battlefield (by choice, or by force if they were already Shaken). Otherwise, play continues to the next turn. Each scenario defines end states and scoring rules. Typically, a game ends after certain number of turns or the completion of an objective.
Games may be played as "one-off" standalone games, or as part of a series within a campaign played by a larger group of players. In campaign play, players track their warband's accomplishments and defeats, and roll dice to resolve narrative events occurring between battles. Warbands accumulate currency, experience and "Glory Points" to spend on additional recruits and upgrades, while models taken Out of Action may be permanently killed or injured. Campaign games reward Campaign Victory Points based on wins, losses and draws. A player wins a campaign by earning the most Campaign Victory Points among the participants across a number of games.
Development
Trench Crusade is a collaboration between horror artist Mike Franchina, sculptor James Sherriff, and designer Tuomas Pirinen. [10] Franchina has previously worked on Magic the Gathering , Diablo IV , and Path of Exile , while Pirinen was the lead designer for Mordheim , part of Warhammer Fantasy Battles . [10]
The setting was conceived by Franchina in 2016, which was primarily explored through his art and written lore. [11] In August 2022, Franchina and Sherriff collaborated to produce a range of Trench Crusade miniatures, backed by a Kickstarter. [12] After the success of the initial models being crowdfunded, Pirinen announced in May 2023 that he was working with Franchina to adapt the setting into a tabletop miniature wargame. [12] A preview of the rules was released by Pirinen in June 2023. [11]
Version 1.0.0 was released released on November 4th, 2025, [13] followed by 1.0.1 on November 20th, 2025. [14]
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