Welcome holy followers
I’d say welcome to hell – however it appears hell has come to us!
A reminder…
Before diving into this Battle Report, I wish to inform all that this battle took place in the setting of Trench Crusade. This is a grimdark alternative fantasy skirmish game based on the hypothetical notion that World War I still happened, but instead of fighting each other we ended up fighting the demons of hell. If you feel this content is not quite to your taste, feel free to browse elsewhere on the site, or leave entirely. I’m here with one goal in mind, and that’s to recall the joyous game of Trench Crusade I’ve recently played.
The Stakes
While there are no vampires (yet) in Trench Crusade, there are still stakes. This is a strategy game after all, so we decided that the mission of our holy trench pilgrims was to rescue and escort the Devout Follower (yellow rain coat girl from header image) from the lower right hand quadrant of the board. Once a movement was made within 1″ of the token representing the Devout Follower, the Devout Follower…well, follows! This stops when the model they were following is downed or taken out of action (which is surprisingly easy in this game). The Trench Pilgrims win when the Devout Follower is escorted off the left hand side of the board.
Neat, Cool, What About the Heretic Troopers?
The whozzit what now? Oh sweet merciful mary, the heretic legion are upon us!
So, what’s their whole shtick? If you’re rooting for the bad guys, then I’ll have another post written soon explaining what role the heretics had in this mission. But given the person who graciously decided to indulge in this 3-4 hour game with me was also quite new to the game, they had the simplest objective imaginable. Wreak havoc!
That’s right, heretic legion’s goal was to play interception. If getting the Devout Follower across the board is getting a touchdown, these bad dudes were playing defense. For each Trench Pilgrim model taken out of action or downed, the quicker my side had to take a test of morale. Which, if failed for the first time, would put the entire squad into a shaken state (this means every action they take is considered a risky action). After this, if they fail morale again, they’re out of the game and the player controlling them forfeits. So either I fail morale and lose early, or I’m killed off one painstaking unit at a time! This Devout Follower better be worth walking into the den of the Heretic Troopers…
The stage is set - who are the performers?
Note: List building constraints were 700 Ducats, and 8 Glory Points. An actual introduction to each warband will be separate posts (as soon as I get the heretic troopers painted).
Followers of Ash
Trench Pilgrims – Army of Ash – [8 Glory Points, 700 Ducats]
# ++ Warband ++ [8 Glory Points, 700 Ducats]
## Configuration
Campaign Rules: Disabled
## Elite [1 Glory Points, 205 Ducats]
Castigator [70 Ducats, 1 Glory Points]: Semi-Automatic Rifle [15 Ducats], Flail [5 Ducats], Dog Food [1 Glory Points]
War Prophet [135 Ducats]: Automatic Pistol [20 Ducats], Warcross [5 Ducats], Standard Armour [15 Ducats], Blessed Icon [15 Ducats]
## Troop [495 Ducats]
Stigmatic Nun [85 Ducats]: Pistol [6 Ducats], Sword/Axe [4 Ducats], Warcross [5 Ducats], Standard Armour [15 Ducats], Medi-kit [5 Ducats]
Stigmatic Nun [93 Ducats]: Pistol [6 Ducats], Flail [5 Ducats], Warcross [5 Ducats], Standard Armour [15 Ducats], Iron Capirote [7 Ducats], Medi-kit [5 Ducats]
Trench Pilgrim [53 Ducats]: Trench Knife [1 Ducats], Molotov Cocktail [5 Ducats], Gas Mask [5 Ducats], Bolt Action Rifle [12 Ducats] (Bayonet Lug [2 Ducats])
Trench Pilgrim [53 Ducats]: Trench Knife [1 Ducats], Molotov Cocktail [5 Ducats], Gas Mask [5 Ducats], Bolt Action Rifle [12 Ducats] (Bayonet Lug [2 Ducats])
Trench Pilgrim [87 Ducats]: Flamethrower [30 Ducats], Molotov Cocktail [5 Ducats], Standard Armour [15 Ducats], Iron Capirote [7 Ducats]
Trench Pilgrim [59 Ducats]: Trench Shield [10 Ducats], Iron Capirote [7 Ducats], Shotgun [12 Ducats] (Bayonet Lug [2 Ducats])
Trench Pilgrim [65 Ducats]: Zealot Strength [5 Ducats], Automatic Pistol [20 Ducats], Great Hammer/Maul [10 Ducats]
## Mercenary [7 Glory Points]
Communicant Anti-Tank Hunter [5 Glory Points]: 2x Deadly Fists
Mendelist Ammo Monk [2 Glory Points]
Trench Dog: None
Girls in PHLEGM
Heretic Legion – Girlz – [8 Glory Points, 692 Ducats]
# ++ Warband ++ [8 Glory Points, 692 Ducats]
## Configuration
Campaign Rules: Disabled
## Elite [3 Glory Points, 202 Ducats]
Chorister [86 Ducats, 2 Glory Points]: Pistol [6 Ducats], Blasphemous Staff [2 Glory Points], Standard Armor [15 Ducats]
Heretic Priest [116 Ducats, 1 Glory Points]: Puppet Master, Pistol [6 Ducats], Hellblade [1 Glory Points], Standard Armor [15 Ducats], Unholy Trinket [15 Ducats]
## Troop [5 Glory Points, 490 Ducats]
Anointed Heavy Infantry [139 Ducats, 3 Glory Points]: Anti-Material Rifle [3 Glory Points], Sword/Axe [4 Ducats], Combat Helmet [5 Ducats], Gas Mask [5 Ducats], Unholy Trinket [15 Ducats], Incendiary Ammunition [15 Ducats]
Artillery Witch [115 Ducats, 1 Glory Points]: Hellblade [1 Glory Points], Standard Armor [15 Ducats]
Heretic Trooper [59 Ducats, 1 Glory Points]: Grenades [7 Ducats], Combat Helmet [5 Ducats], Gas Mask [5 Ducats], Dog Food [1 Glory Points], Bolt Action Rifle [12 Ducats] (Bayonet Lug [2 Ducats])
Heretic Trooper [59 Ducats]: Grenades [7 Ducats], Combat Helmet [5 Ducats], Gas Mask [5 Ducats], Bolt Action Rifle [12 Ducats] (Bayonet Lug [2 Ducats])
Heretic Trooper [59 Ducats]: Grenades [7 Ducats], Combat Helmet [5 Ducats], Gas Mask [5 Ducats], Bolt Action Rifle [12 Ducats] (Bayonet Lug [2 Ducats])
Heretic Trooper [59 Ducats]: Grenades [7 Ducats], Combat Helmet [5 Ducats], Gas Mask [5 Ducats], Bolt Action Rifle [12 Ducats] (Bayonet Lug [2 Ducats])
## Mercenary
Trench Dog: None
And how did it go?
About as well as I could have hoped
Units died. A lot.
To me it would seem that either we are not playing with the right amount of terrain, or this game is incredibly lethal. Or I suppose in some cases, being very new to the game could give me that impression, as there was a non-zero chance me and my partner in crime didn’t get the rules 100% correct on the first go.
However if I could paint a picture for you in your mind, I quickly realized there was a pattern of what one of three states my units could possibly be in at any given moment during the battle:
- Perfectly alive, healthy, in their lane, moisturized
- Okay oof ouch they took a damage (represented in the form of blood points)
- Either reduced to atoms by the localized impact of a demon nuke or declared DoA by the nearest Combat Medic.
Now in fairness – some units can die a couple times. As a treat. My War Prophet (the fella shown above on his back like a turtle, mid-death) actually has an ability that enables him to simply walk off the first instance of him dying. Units that are tough don’t die their first time, just lay around and bleed out a little. Either of these abilities however, do not protect him from blood tokens or being downed, both of which can ensure his imminent demise.
Now while I make this sound like dreary news, I would like to take a moment to comment on the Heretic Legion’s perspective, which has been nothing but upsides since the game began.
The Unclimbable Wall
Interested in more things than just bum rushing my units and killing them, my opponent set to the task of performing a risky action to scale the side of a particular building (they all had bolt action rifles, and would benefit from the elevation). Like clockwork, 3 of their heretic troopers failed their risky action to climb before a 4th one finally did it at the end of the first round. We joked it was because their zombie troopers kept losing their hands at the wrist every time they climbed to just the right spot – comical!
So between the bit of amusement, and absolutely murdering each of my devout meta christ worshipping troopers, my opponent was quite pleased with the progress of the battle.
However, the forces of hell being pleased fuels the fires of zealotry
I did not take extensive notes, which is likely why this battle report is disjointed and scatterbrained. Yet despite the Artillery Witch blowing followers up left right and center, and the constant googling of certain rule interactions, we did eventually arrive at a conclusion to this nerve wracking battle between the forces of good and evil (after going into the sixth round of the game, and with 3 units to my name).
Remember from earlier that the objective was to escort the Devout Follower, and escort her the Pilgrims did! It was a group effort, with 4-5 Trench Pilgrims transporting her safely across the board (and dying in the attempt).
Looking back on it, I guess requiring the Heretic Legion to wipe out my entire warband in order to win could have been considered a tall order, but as I saw the joy of removing my delicately painted religion army men from the table light up their face, I can confidently say we had a great time regardless.
I think for the next one, we’ll definitely be looking into the Trench Crusade Scenario Generator and trying some new missions. Stay tuned for the next battle report broadcast, holy followers!