The drums of battle sound, and the hymns of war boom through the conflict, carried on the burning drafts of artillery. Blasphemous slugs tear through the air with a demonic screech, rending apart the flesh of those whose faith isn't strong enough to see them across no-man's-land. Devils prowl the trenches, and the zealous howl their prayers so loudly they can be heard over the thunder of the guns.
The Crusade marches onward... do you have the conviction to see it to the end?
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| It smells your fear... and it will feast on the souls of those weak enough to let it. |
What The Hell is Trench Crusade?
Trench crusade is a grim look at an alternate timeline of horror where a portal to hell opened in the center of the Holy Land. From that point onward, the war never stopped, and now in addition to steel and faith it's a clash of arcane powers and infernal machinery as the dark reflections of the worst of humanity try to push into our world, and to claim more and more of it for themselves.
That short description is fun enough by itself, but the art is what sells this game for me. Looking like the bastard hate child of Beksinski and Bosch, these hellish illustrations (many of which already have minis) will call out to the hearts of those who love Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Warhammer 40K, along with other terrible, grimdark fantasy settings. Mike Franchina is the major name and talent behind much of this art, and in conjuction with designers like Tuomas Pirinen (a designer who worked on Mordheim) and sculptor James Sheriff, this game looks just the right kind of disgustingly beautiful!
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| Come on... LOOK at this damn thing! |
The playtest rules, and a lot of the lore are currently available at the Trench Crusade website, and I highly recommend folks grab them and take a look. Not only that, but you should follow them on Twitter to make sure you get their updates as well!
As a final note, I owe a small bit of thanks to the folks who have been pitching a fit about wokeness ever since Games Workshop announced there were (and retroactively always had been) female members of the Emperor's Custodian Guard. It appears that many of them jumped ship from Warhammer 40K (good riddance), and started looking for other communities to take their unwanted views to. A lot of them found Trench Crusade, and started trying to plant their flag in this game. However, as the mods in their communities made clear, Trench Crusade is not a place for people to discuss real world politics. They also made it clear that a person's sexuality and gender presentation is not a political issue; it is simply who they are, and they should be respected as individuals. People who wanted to start a beef over that have found very quickly that this community has no time for any of that nonsense.
So, if you ask me, that's one more great reason to go and support this game! Or at least check it out so we can keep getting art, lore, and minis for it.
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That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
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