The Trench Crusade we have at home

[Pictors Studio]

I went in pretty big on the Trench Crusade kickstarter.  I've not done kickstarters before really. 

I didn't want to wait until December to get started on the project so ordered some Wargames Atlantic Great War Germans and started to build a trench  board.

Here are the guys.  I did six of them using parts from GW Kroot, Legion Imperialis tanks, Chaos warriors, Escher and Corvus Cabal. 







They aren't quite exactly right, and the next set I'll green stuff the breast plate on but I wanted to get a set done quickly.

The Trench board itself is still under construction but is mostly done at this point.










I've done a bit more work on it this morning and I'll take some more pictures in some better light later, but that is where I am so far.  Looking forward to getting my first small game in early in December.

[Inkpaduta]

Absolutely a great looking board. Well done.
The figures are also first rate.

[Pictors Studio]

Thank you.  The board got its first outing today when we ran a Kill Team event at my FLGS. 

So while the games aren't exactly Weird War, the terrain is more finished than in the first set of pictures.  Just a few more things to do.  And you can see it in action.







I found some more bits to convert more Great War guys to Trench Crusade figures so I'll probably start on that project tomorrow. 

[Freddy]

Nice figures! I like the terrain too!

[Tom Dulski]

 that trench system looks great

[fred]

Great stuff - nice to see trenches that are set in to the ground.

Did you go for wide trenches for ease of playability, or is this part of the aesthetic from the Trench Crusades game? They look good, and I’m sure work well in games, I’m just a bit worried that they don’t provide much protection from artillery!

How did it play for Kill Team - looks a bit too open - with models on the top being able to get shots into the trenches?

[Pictors Studio]

The width of the trenches was so that you could have at least three models lined up in them side by side.  It is touch with things like trenches and ships getting them to be wide enough because a base is almost the height of the model.  While that makes sense from a control point of view, like a model could affect the area around them, it doesn't make so much sense when people are packing into an area, like defenders might if they are lined up to intercept people coming up a trench line. 

Trenches would realistically be deeper and probably only one base wide, but that doesn't really work that well for game play.  My three buddies and I might be able to line up with our rifles pointing down the trench in 4 or 6 feet but that wouldn't be possible if we couldn't stand close than three feet or so to each other.

I wasn't too worried about artillery as this is designed as a skirmish board so unlikely artillery will ever come into play when using it. 

[fred]

Good thinking to scale the trenches to what would be typical - i.e. 3 people abreast. Pictures of real trenches show a high density of troops when there is an attack within the trench, and as you say this would be super hard to represent with figures who always have huge bases.

It does feel one of those circumstances where playability is key.

[Pictors Studio]

I've finished up some more decoration for the terrain table, some icons and some trench crucifixes and grave markers.  I've put the free figure that TC put out a little while back to give it some scale.



The trench crucifixes are small metal crosses with votive candles in jars affixed to the arms.  They are thought to retard the movement of demons.

[Freddy]

I like the new additions, this game is great for scratchbuild projects too. (My biggest problem with it is that for me "world war meets religious zeal meets daemons" design space is mostly occupied by 40k)

[Pictors Studio]

The name of the thread is actually a reference to that very fact.  The whole WWI in space with religious nuts and demons and their allies was the 40K schtick, but the recent additions to the lore, like Necrons becoming comic relief, space marine hover tanks and so on, have moved so far away that when friends were discussing getting into it one said "but we have trench crusade at home" and the response was "the trench crusade we have at home" followed by a picture of a hover tank and whatever they are doing with the mechanicum these days."

[Freddy]

The name of the thread is actually a reference to that very fact.  The whole WWI in space with religious nuts and demons and their allies was the 40K schtick, but the recent additions to the lore, like Necrons becoming comic relief, space marine hover tanks and so on, have moved so far away that when friends were discussing getting into it one said "but we have trench crusade at home" and the response was "the trench crusade we have at home" followed by a picture of a hover tank and whatever they are doing with the mechanicum these days."

That is undeniable, with the recent push towards the mianstream, 40k started to lose itself. But when I take a look at the newly announced Krieg plastics, I still think that the spark is there.
https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2024/11/warhammer-championships-death-korps-of-krieg-reveals.html

40k in wargame universes is like Rammstein in music, despite they "borrow" a lot from other stuff, they are so characteristic that they simply make all  the similar things feel like knockoffs. This strength of impact is hard to kill, even by self. (Star Wars managed to do it though...)

[Rick]

A lot? "Borrow" a lot, did you say? Try pretty much the entire background, which is one reason GW failed in their bid to copyright any of it. Moorcock did the Gods of Chaos which is a fundamental cornerstone of the Warhammer/40K lore, each of the factions are "borrowed" from somewhere else which you can certainly spot fairly easily. The game mechanics are entirely original and that is what kept me playing for the first 5 editions, despite the silly patchwork background. It's a good game, just ignore most of the background, the shameless cash-cow marketing and enjoy playing.
Ahem, sorry about that, do enjoy your game. 

[Freddy]

A lot? "Borrow" a lot, did you say? Try pretty much the entire background, which is one reason GW failed in their bid to copyright any of it. Moorcock did the Gods of Chaos which is a fundamental cornerstone of the Warhammer/40K lore, each of the factions are "borrowed" from somewhere else which you can certainly spot fairly easily. The game mechanics are entirely original and that is what kept me playing for the first 5 editions, despite the silly patchwork background. It's a good game, just ignore most of the background, the shameless cash-cow marketing and enjoy playing.
Ahem, sorry about that, do enjoy your game. 

Note that I intentionally wrote ,,characteristic" instead of ,,original", basically every point of 40k lore is stolen from somewhere (Asimov, Henlein, Dune, etc), but their mix is pretty characteristic, you can not deny.
,,Shameless cashcow marketing" is just a question of company size/lifecycle, as we've seen many times in the hobby. If you are successful, you become big, if you are big, you have investors, if you have investors, you have to please them.

[Rick]

Honestly, I do personally regret the way GW have gone with the games and figures but I think it is a valid and reasonable economic choice for the company to take. On the other hand, I'm not too taken with the Grimdark feel and have chosen to do other things. I do apologise unreservedly if my comments have ruffled feathers but it was meant more as a valid criticism rather than a personal attack.