These are available to hire for the Trench Pilgrims warband. They consist of:
The Witchburner General
Communicant anti-tank hunter
Mendelist ammo monk
Combat medic
Observer
These mercenaries are slightly different to hire, since you cannot pay for them in gold ducats, but must instead earn Glory Points with deeds of valour. These are explained in the Playtest Rules (see Glorious Deeds).
As per previous update, if you have any questions and/or feedback, please join our Discord (kindly hosted by 28 mag) here: Trench Crusade Discord.
Wishing all of you a very Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year!
Mike, Tuomas & James
Happy Holidays! Enjoy your R&R while you can...
11 months ago
– Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 02:02:27 PM
Hallowed pilgrims! Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year to you all!
It is our pleasure to present to you the first draft of the Trench Crusade Playtest Rules. Thank you for supporting the game!
This first draft covers the basic rules, most common weapons, armour and equipment, one scenario, keywords used in the game as well as two warband lists, namely the blasphemous Heretic Legion and the crazed Trench Pilgrims! We suggest you start with the Quick Start section of the rules to familiarise yourself with the basics.
To state the obvious, these are not the final rules. They are missing explanatory diagrams and gameplay examples, campaign and exploration rules, supernatural powers, most of the warband lists and scenarios, terrain and miniature painting sections and much, much more. However, they should allow you to sample the game and learn its basics as we await the full release.
Neither layout nor the art presents the final quality, and due to the constant cycle of playtesting and revisions, there are bound to be mistakes as well as plenty of rules that are going to change in the course of development. Please bear this in mind as you acquaint yourself with these rules. Feedback is welcome, and the best way is to join the Trench Crusade Discord channel and post your questions and comments there. We will strive to answer them to the best of our ability.
We plan to release more playtest rules in the near future (including rules for all the models released in the initial Kickstarter), as well as more scenarios, warbands and rules for campaigns. We will also revise the core rules when they change during development and share these with the community as well.
The best way to keep abreast of all the latest developments is to sign up to our newsletter at: www.trenchcrusade.com
I hope you’ll enjoy your time with Trench Crusade. I firmly believe it is the best ruleset I’ve written in my 27-year career as a professional game designer.
Tuomas Pirinen
First Wave – Shipping commences!
12 months ago
– Sat, Dec 09, 2023 at 07:03:56 AM
Anointed! Come hither for news from the Front…
I managed to collect the First Wave from Zealot Miniatures yesterday and am going to be packing as many as I can this weekend, then shipping them out on Monday/Tuesday. I am away from Wednesday 13th December (family holiday – rather needed if I’m being honest!) until after Christmas, at which point I will recommence shipping of the First Wave.
I will then be collecting the Second Wave in January – this will consist of all remaining miniatures (taking us up to around 18,000 in total). These will then be heading to our fulfilment centres in order to be shipped out in February/March (please see previous update).
The fairest way I can think of shipping these is in backer number order. This means that Kickstarter backers will get their miniatures shipped out first, whilst late backers who pre-ordered through BackerKit will be in the Second Wave.
I am just going through the first batch – stock taking and some extra quality checking – today (Saturday 9th), but we have in the region of 4000 miniatures ready for the First Wave. And with that said, here is what 4000 miniatures looks like!
And here are some photos I took at the Zealot Miniatures workshop yesterday. As you can see, there are a lot of miniatures! I also got to witness a live casting of communicants in the SioCast machine - and you can see the results in the open mould below.
Lots of Trench Crusade miniatures on the bench (and in the crates below). These are ready to be snipped from the sprues which will be recycled in Zealot's new grinder to make more pilgrims. Huzzah!
Ammo monks awaiting deployment...
Some of the smaller parts are being hand-cast in resin (due to being slightly too thin for the SioCast, which tends to cool down - and harden - before it reaches some of the narrower extremities of the mould.
Freshly cast Communicants, spawned from the birthing vats of New Antioch!
Final reminder for those who have yet to complete the backer survey!
I have just sent out a final reminder to the few people who have not yet managed to fill out the BackerKit survey. Please, if you have yet to fill this out - or you are not sure if you have or not - please do get in touch! You can send me a message here on Kickstarter and I will assist in any way I can.
Locking addresses
As we are now commencing shipping, we will be locking addresses shortly. If you have any problems, or are planning on moving soon, please let me know (again, a Kickstarter direct message will be fine).
In other news…
Work on the Trench Crusade skirmish game continues apace. Playtesting, rules tweaking, sculpting, more art, lore writing… there is a lot happening! We have a first draft of rules that will be ready very soon for you, our wonderful backers, to try out before anyone else. This will consist of game rules, starting a warband, sample warbands, weapons, equipment and a scenario. Watch out for an update on this very soon!
Mailing list
We have also launched our Trench Crusade landing page for the forthcoming skirmish game (being designed by the legendary Tuomas Pirinen, for those who didn't already know). Here you can sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know about the latest updates, including game development, art, lore, sculpts and more!
Right, the Witchburner is giving me a funny look, I’d better get back to work…
See you in the trenches!
James
Assassin of the Iron Sultanate by Mike Franchina.
Casting & New Fulfilment Schedule
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 05:25:13 AM
Blessed pilgrims!
A quick update…
Casting & New Fulfilment Schedule
Zealot Miniatures have been hard at work in the foundry and I should be able to collect a large batch (1000 copies of each miniature) next week. These will be sent out in the First Wave commencing December.
I am away for Christmas from 13th December (a much-needed family holiday!), so will ensure that I can get as many sent out before then as possible. I will recommence shipping of this first wave in January.
The Second Wave should then be ready to collect later in January, around half of which I will personally deliver to Spiral Galaxy Games (EU and RotW fulfilment) who will be able to ship February/March. The rest will be sent to Ironheart Artisans for US backers (I am just waiting to hear back from them to see when their next available shipping slot will be, but hopefully March at the latest). Unfortunately the dreadful delays caused by SioCast (see previous updates) had a terrible knock-on effect with literally everything, including our shipping companies who had to cancel our original slots and attempt to fill them with other work.
Your remarkable patience during these challenging times is truly praiseworthy, and we deeply appreciate your unwavering support. I must admit, the past three months have been quite stressful. We want to express our gratitude to all of you for standing by us, trusting us to fulfil this campaign.
Glad tidings, pilgrims!
about 1 year ago
– Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 05:52:28 AM
Anointed ones! A messenger arrives bearing glad tidings… The SioCast thermoplastic has finally arrived! Forge monks of New Antioch have been roused from prayer and assigned to their manufactory posts… casting has now recommenced at the Zealot foundry! Praise be.
Your patience through these trying times has been incredible – your stalwart support so much appreciated, you cannot imagine. Not gonna lie, it has been pretty stressful these past three months waiting for the plastic to arrive, especially not knowing when it was likely to appear (after numerous promises of “next week” from SioCast). So thank you all for standing by us and for trusting us to get this campaign fulfilled. :)
I’m just waiting to get some new timescales from Zealot Miniatures and am also keeping the fulfilment companies (Spiral Galaxy Games and Ironheart Artisans) informed throughout. This delay unfortunately, if understandably, had a knock-on effect with them, since they blocked out shipping time slots for us which they have subsequently had to try to fill up with other work.
Once I have the new timescales, I can talk to Spiral and Ironheart about their next available shipping slots. I will update everyone as soon as I have more info on that, but Ironheart (US fulfilment) have informed me that their next available slot is currently in December. The SioCast delay has had such a knock-on effect, it is most vexing. Apologies once again – be assured the miniatures are coming!
+++
Also in this update:
STL link closing tomorrow
Our first painted 3D prints
A special announcement…
STL link closing tomorrow (1stNovember)
Our small gesture of gratitude to our long-suffering yet faithful backers (the download link for six Trench Crusade miniatures) will be closing tomorrow, 1st November. If anyone has had any problems downloading/accessing the files, please get in touch and I will do my best to assist.
As per the previous update, all we humbly ask is that you do not share the STLs. These are for backers’ personal use only. Here’s the link again for anyone who missed it. We hope you enjoy them!
We have our first painted 3D prints from a backer!
Pilgrims! Behold the righteous zeal of one of our flock! Bastian (abyshaii on Instagram) has downloaded, printed and painted the Communicant and Ammo Monk! Witness their splendour and weep with joy, pilgrims, as they march to the front to lay waste to all that is unholy.
Communicant and Ammo Monk painted by Bastian (abyshaii on Instagram).
Special announcement: Dave Gallagher joins the Crusade!
We are excited to announce that the titanic legend Dave Gallagher (Dave Gallagher Art) will be creating some artwork for Trench Crusade!
Dave really needs no introduction. He spent years making some of the most memorable Warhammer, 40K and Mordheim artwork (Mike is particularly partial to his weird but wonderful Empire citizens). Dave has a truly unique imagination and we are blessed he has agreed to make some artwork for us.
This is a teaser of Dave’s artwork for the Trench Crusade rulebook – much more to come!
++Art by Dave Gallagher++
Page furniture for the forthcoming Trench Crusade rulebook by Dave Gallagher.
That is all for now, pilgrims. Apologies once more for the delays but thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support, fortitude and understanding! You all rock.
