For decades, Warhammer 40k has held the crown as the most bleak, bloody, and grimdark setting in all of tabletop wargaming. But it’s in danger of losing that crown to Trench Crusade, a new skirmish game torn from the nightmare visions of concept artist Mike Franchina.
Franchina has produced original monster designs for Magic the Gathering, Diablo IV, and Path of Exile, among many other titles. His style mixes themes from religious art, diesel-powered military technology, folk horror, and viscera, to create something uniquely grimdark. He would be a perfect Warhammer 40k concept artist, but somehow he’s never done work for the brand.
Franchina has been working on the Trench Crusade universe for years, and a tabletop game based on it is finally coming to Kickstarter on October 29. It will feature rules by former Games Workshop designer Tuomas Pirinen, best known for the vaunted skirmish wargame Mordheim. Franchina’s nightmarish supernatural entities will be released as original miniatures – many of which have been previewed on the official Twitter.
These things are just insanely evocative, from concept to design. The Trench Witch is a sorceress that can open a portal in her palm to the munitions factories of hell. The Black Grail Amalgam is a mass grave pulled together and animated with unending hunger by the will of Beelzebub. The Lord of Tumors is a high-ranking officiant in the Cult of the Black Grail, spreading filth and disease to friend and foe alike.
The project as a whole is building some serious buzz. Playtest rules are already available via the Trench Crusade website, there’s an active Trench Crusade subreddit, and former Games Workshop lead artist John Blanche is contributing original art for the project despite being semi-retired.
There’s just something about the setting. Trench Crusade is set in an alternate timeline, in which heretic Crusaders open a portal to hell in the holy land around the year 1100. The entire earth is engulfed in an unending conflict between religious orders working for the Almighty and the forces of Hell that lasts all the way through to the mechanised warfare of the Great War.
This being a ‘grimdark’ setting, even the armies opposing the forces of hell create plenty of abominations. The Shrine Anchorite is a bit like a Penitent Engine from the Sisters of Battle Warhammer 40k faction: a combination of war golem and iron maiden occupied by an insane holy man constantly impaled by holy barbs. Other members of its warband can be lashed to its torture wheel shield to enhance its power.
As well as the courts of hell there are human kingdoms like the Iron Sultanate, New Antioch, and Dynasty of Abyssinia, and their poor doomed infantry give all the nightmares a sense of human scale. About the only thing the game is missing from a full sweep of grimdark staples is an equivalent to Space Marines – but the sheer variety of transhuman killers Franchina has imagined is deeply impressive.
If you love painting miniatures, or skirmish scale miniature wargames, this is absolutely one to watch. If you’re a fan of Warhammer 40k books and lore, Franchina’s incredibly deep setting is well worth exploring.
If you’re itching to get a weirdo grimdark skirmish wargame onto the table right away and can’t wait for the Trench Crusade Kickstarter to deliver, make sure you check out The Doomed by Chris McDowell. We were deeply impressed: our Doomed review explains why it’s so great.
Source: Wargamer
