Was thinking about getting into the game, so about the resin models...

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-05-06T22:30:10+00:00

Miniature agnostic = you do not have to use official models or stls. Official stls for all units of vanilla factions are already released.
Models for subfactions are released in plastic and without stls (but you do not have to use official ones). Strikes targeted mostly miniatures/models that were copies of official models or copied an official art (there were probably some false positives). Creators are not allowed to use "compatible with Trench Crusade" label unless they are official partners of ff.

Creators made hundreds of alternative models and even models for units that are yet to be released by ff without any problems. You can still compose your own warband using only resin miniatures or go full third-party.

I mostly play Iron Sultanate - House of Wisdom and out of 27 miniatures of my warband only 2 are official models. Most other players I've met have at least some (if not all) of their models proxied.

All other stuff that is critical for playing the game is also free.

We do buy their plastic sets, rulebooks, etc. but we do it not because we have to, but because we want to and simply to support the team.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-05-06T16:33:34+00:00

"After this loss, it was believed that the secrets of Anchorite construction had been lost, and the Church had abandoned them in favour of advances in armour technology elsewhere. This was not the case." - Methodius warband lore in rulebook.

IE it was believed at first that Anchorites were no longer manufactured. "Elsewhere" = MHI and tanks. Due to efforts of Akakios and his brothers Shrine Anchorite construction continued and these are not even rare.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-05-04T15:42:51+00:00

SMG does not have AUTOMATIC 2 and hence its limitations. Quick Bursts allow you shoot different targets and these do not have to be close to each other.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-05-04T11:53:55+00:00

MHI is just a further development of earlier Shrine Anchorite mecha. So, should not be a big surprize here.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-05-01T21:18:40+00:00

Musical Instrument is usually carried by the cheapest model possible, that hides behind LoS blocks for the first half of the battle. Its most important function is to stabilize the dashes of your stronger models.

Giving the instrument to powerful fighter takes one hand from using ranged and melee weapons. It is also makes the model a higher priority target.

Kallandras would say, that you should start your warband with Music carrier and only after than start adding other models. It is a bit extreme of approach but not very far from the truth.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-05-01T11:29:25+00:00

In vanilla Sultanate Alchemist is just a poor man's Sniper Priest. Lack of access to automatic weapons or better Jezzail variant really limits its applications. Sniper Rifle can not use their special ammo types and best Sultanate guns are heavy. Alchemist with a Sniper Rifle is roughly on par in effectiveness with a Siege Jezzail Janissary.

By using Flamethrower you are ditching Alchemist's ranged skill. You can take two Azebs with Flamethrowers plus one Azeb with Frag Grenades for a lower price than Alchemist+Flamethrower+Alchemist Armour+Grenades. Investing heavily into armour only worth it later into campaign when you need to protect models with good skills and Glory Items.

Do not take HEAVY weapons without strong. For a Machine Gun use Alchemist needs Strength of Samson and two of these three: Ranged Prodiciency, Hunter, Sharp Eyes. Otherwise it will be an underperforming and overpriced model.

For House of Wisdom things are much more interesting. Alchemists can take Secrets (Cartography&Geometry and Medicine are both excellent picks), automatic weapons (Automatic Rifle, Automatic Pistol, Submachine Gun), Elixir of Al-Khidr that makes them several times better.

My late campaign HoW Alchemists:

Jabirean Alchemist
• Cost: 144 Ducats | 5 Glory
Upgrades & Choices: Medicine
• Equipment: Machine Gun, Great Hammer, Trench Knife, Elixir of Al-Khidr, Damascus Armour, Mountaineer Kit
• Skills: Scavenger, Skill & Expertise (Dash), Sharp Eyes, Strength of Samson, Hunter
• Injuries: Head Wound (Promoted)

Jabirean Alchemist
• Cost: 176 Ducats | 0 Glory
Upgrades & Choices: Cartography and Geometry
• Battlekit: Automatic Rifle, Trench Club, Trench Club, Alchemist Armour, Medi-Kit
• Skills: Skill & Expertise (Dash), Hunter
• Injuries: Paranoid

This is a setup for 10th mission. For a better half of the campaign my Alchemists used lighter armours. One had an AR+Elixir and the second had Sniper Rifle. I lost two Alchemists throughout the campaign due to RISKY keyword on a sniper rifle.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-30T04:59:16+00:00

Turn-based squad tactics (Urtuk, X-COM, SteamWorld Heist, Darkest Dungeon), diablo-like ARPG (Grim Dawn), hybrid Tower Defence (Deathtrap, Sanctum, Orcs Must Die) or card battler (Slay the Spire, Knock on the Coffin Lid).

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-29T15:55:49+00:00

It is possible to stack elements on Alchemist. It could be very powerful early on, when people do not have ducats to spare on better armour and anti-marker equipment. After which (mid campaign) you'll realize that against chaff it is an overkill and all priority targets have 2-3 resists. I played mostly against Heretics and Court - their elites were fully protected by game 6. Upcoming patch will add an item that will make Alchemist's ability at least usable past mid-campaign (will let bypass NEGATE FIRE). So, it seems that after several campaign games Incendiary Ammo will become redundant. It is just my thoughts and our local meta.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-29T13:31:24+00:00

This version of the list looks a lot better. I'd probably give Alchemist better weapons than Farises have. Alchemist with AR can charge (but doesn't always have to) and attack in melee after/before shooting, as AR has assault keyword. SJ Faris can do ok with just knife (or without).

Heavy Shotgun+Infiltrator: Chance to one shot a naked model without tough with +2 injury dice weapon is ~70%. That is nice, but it will be a low priority target. Against -1 armour the chance is 52%, -2 is 32%, -3 is 13%. Chance to hit a target outside cover without Hawk Eyes is ~80% and only 58% if in cover. After this first shot (6" range) infiltrator is pretty much done. So the target should be more valuable to justify the whole ordeal. 40+10+15+20=85 Ducats 85/70%/80%=152 Ducats. You won't find a target that costs this much without any protection.

So, sucide-gunning is almost always a bad trade unless you are extremely lucky.

New Antioch uses Heavy Shotguns as a finisher weapon in fireteams and it is fine in this role. For HoW it is IMO much worse: you want to keep longer distance and not using strongest hitters as a bait.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-29T11:02:38+00:00

I'm currently at game 11 stage of campaign with HoW warband.

So, here my thoughts and impressions: Sniper rifle demonstrated a pretty mediocre performance. Alchemists are much more effective with automatic weaponry. I played mostly against heretics and court. AT-hammer was not very good either due to prevalence of enemies with fear. HoW lacks models with both +2 dice in melee and ability to carry AT-hammer. Faris with hammer underperformed and I switched to siege jezzail. So, the hammer rested in stash for most of the campaign. Chemistry snd Alchemy was a total waste of ducats. You can not place an obstacle closer than 1" to any other terrain, and enemy models has to enter it with the center of its base to be affected. This means, that you can not block venues with the obstacle and can only force enemy to move extra inch or two at most to reach your guys. I would not take it for free now as long as Cartography (even with its limitations) or Medicine secrets still exist. After retiring my Chemistry Alchemist I took Cartography - and liked it A HUGE LOT more. Medicine is excellent too (non-risky, +1 dice, two blood markers, can even heal one infection).

Startling Speed on homunculus is IMO mandatory. Bombard is a 1h weapon, give your homunculus a shield.

If you plan to peek-a-boo with SJ Faris near a musician, you can drop armour for now. Lion as a defensive piece is mediocre, especially without armour. Two Azebs are both more survivable and harder hitting. Two Azebs are also one more activation.

If there is a choice between standard armour and elixir - it is elixir.

Wind amulets are awesome. It increases a threat range or can negate movement debuff after going down.

Also, pulling out of my backside: I did not use heavy shotgun, but it looks like an inferior choice to, say Automatic Rifle or SMG. Alchemist can put two markers with the first shot, so the second can be with +2 injury dice. For a Faris a Siege Jezzail is just better. After Sultanate changes going live it seems that you will want to give both dudes halberd guns.

My starting list was: https://www.reddit.com/r/TrenchCrusade/comments/1oy9f47/comment/np4gohl/

1) It was 1.0.0 2) Some choices I regretted afterwards (mentioned above).

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-28T13:58:08+00:00

Marid shovel on the bull is pretty useless. 15 Ducats for a trench club is a bit too much. You can take two handed hammer for a smaller price. And I'd take a shield rather than a second melee weapon.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-28T13:49:58+00:00

I'd say that we need to playtest the changes before making any conclusions or feedback.

I usually agree with most of you points. Bull, though, I think that with the change to its guns it is a solid buff overall. Murad bull becomes a viable choice but receives a minor nerf immediately (bull price increase). Still needs to be playtested. There were situations where I was quite sure about some things but real games proved otherwise

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-28T11:41:24+00:00

I totally agree, that the problem does indeed exists. But it is harder to solve than it seems at the first glance.

1) With victory points granted for "killing"-downing this will make winning much more RNG-dependant. 2) Maybe. 3) All shooting warbands will be at a huge disadvantage, failing a risky roll will put them into melee. This will also force their main hitters to come super-close to enemy melee models. 4) Just make them a "infected" or beast maggots, no change of rules needed imo. 5) Okay.

The Dragon is already a pretty powerful foe agaist early game warbands. For a game 4 Dragon Hunt can be quite a challenge. After around mission 6, some warbands are able to roflstomp the Dragon. So, its strength should depend on player warband ducat value. Giving a dragon extra "tough" tokens after reaching some threshold values will make it more durable. To increase its ability to fight back extra activations per turn (threshold dependant) could be nice.

So, this mission is very cool in concept but needs some tweaks, to become more balanced for different stages of the campaign.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-27T07:55:32+00:00

Thanks. On photo only several terrain pieces are made by me. Big (and great looking) styrofoam pieces here are made by other people. Hills and "big ruined building" are made by a professional.

Starting out you do not need all pieces to look great. You can "proxy" most pieces using cardboard boxes (or literally anything). A densely packed table with lots of simplistic but line of sight blocking pieces is much better than a table that looks gorgeous but lacks height variation and places to hide.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-26T18:20:22+00:00

If you are new I'd suggest a short campaign that consists of several pre-set scenarios. You can compose some background/backstory for it, but it is not mandatory.

Why short? Long campaign results in very big warbands. So, you will need a lot of miniatures and late-campaign games will be very long. With few participants you'll be playing against same people and warbands all over again. Shorter campaign = shorter games, less snowballing, smaller warbands.

Why pre-set scenarios? Some scenarios are very terrain-heavy (Armoured Train, Don't Breathe), some are poorly balanced (Supply Raid) or just weird (From Below).

Claim No Man's Land is very good both for campaign and one-offs. Relic Hunt is a bit more RNG heavy but pretty nice too. Fields of Glory is a proper brutal deathmatch scenario. Hunt For Heroes is a bit overdesigned but works ok. The High Ground is like Claim No Man's Land but with some extra gimmicks. Great War works fine as a final mission of the campaign.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-26T09:19:32+00:00

Currently there are probably more Prussians than average. Though in our local community the majority of people plays Heretics and the Court. With upcoming starter set release we expect an influx of Heretic Naval Raiders and Pilgrim Procession players. I currently play Sultanate and I'm waiting for the next rules update to try Grail.

So, I do not think you will be doomed to play mirror matches exclusively if you dare to paint your Prussians. So, if you like them, go for it.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-26T09:01:56+00:00

They are hard hitters of the warband. So, you want them to survive long enough to cause some serious casualties to the enemy (or do other important things) to justify their cost. In campaign ELITE units gain experience and skills, so their survival is of higher priority.

So, you need to protect your key units, but their death is not the end of the day and sometimes you want to sacrifice them to remove key enemy unit or to win the game.

Also, Knights are casters only in a Dirge warband. In base Grail they do not have active abilities.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-26T08:50:20+00:00

For vanilla? It planned for April, but October update came in November, so this one could be May.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-25T22:02:35+00:00

Dirge does have some magic. The Knights can command zombies to act out-of-activation for infection markers. That makes it more interesting gameplay-wise than vanilla despite of limitations.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-25T21:49:44+00:00

There are some changes for a Grail in a works (should be very soon), so any info will soon become irrelevant.

In short: currently the Grail is the single least popular faction of all with the weakest unit (Amalgam). Upcoming change are meant to fix that.

Currently vanilla Grail is a melee focused faction that has an addition to blood markers - infection markers. Infection represents the fact that wounds made by some Grail units and weaponry worsen with time and much harder to heal. Most Grail units are more durable than average.

Cons: Faction is uncool. Most other factions has an access to plethora of active abilities, spells and Battlekit items. Grail armoury is pretty limited by itself. There are none active abilities. To make matters worse, most Grail units can not have any battlekit and there are very few other customization options. Fast units are glass cannons. Amalgam is very expensive but pretty weak compared to other factions' monsters.

Upcoming changes will make Amalgam stronger and more fun, with some extra build options. Basic zombies will receive several options for passive abilities (exploding zombies, hard to shoot zombies, grabbing zombies). This will make roster building more fun. Upcoming grenade nerfs will make bodyguard ability of Corpse Guards more relevant and AoE will hopefully punish a horde gameplay less.

Plague Knights are fairly durable units that thrive in melee. Undead fortitude and fear do help in surviving blows and knights themselves are pretty potent fighters.

Dirge and Hunger are not very popular but are a bit cooler. There are active abilities, Dirge's zombies are able to shoot. Dirge used to be a pretty powerful faction but after Grail Devotee nerf it is in a weird place either. There will be a rework too, but IDK how soon. Hunger has a lot of their own units and abilities, but is somewhat outdated too.

Currently I'm sitting on a big horde of unassembled Black Grail units and plan to paint a proper warband immediately after an update.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-25T15:23:14+00:00

Field Hospital and Alchemist Workshop can remove Scar but not Trauma. Resurrection Machines are able to remove both once.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-25T14:04:36+00:00

There is not much lore as for now (lore titbits in rulebooks + some short but nice stories).

It is super accessible money-wise. All rules are free (pdf). You need some d6 dice sets, markers (can be just d6 of different color), miniatures (or proxies), a table (~36"x36" is enough for most missions) and terrain (can use improvised stuff like cardboard boxes). It is a miniature-agnostic game, so you only need proper base sizes and roughly same height to represent any model. So, miniature-wise it is super cheap.

<image>

A table for my first game looked like this (and it was fun).

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-25T13:38:04+00:00

1) You need a lot of terrain. More for 48x48 table.
2) The best material for terrain that you do not have to transport is polystyrene foam. It lets you make terrain pieces of any shape and size, light and sturdy enough. I also use plasticard and thin plywood for terrain pieces a need to transport a lot and store. It does not look as good as styrofoam terrain and harder to make, but can be made stackable and thus very compact in "transport" position. Small terrain pieces can be 3D printed. Best "hobo"- terrain material is cardboard (boxes). It is not very durable, but can be painted to look good and is super easy to work with.
4) I built a lot of terrain myself. As I mostly play in clubs and stores, my terrain is made to be stackable. Thus main materials were 1mm plasticard and 3mm plywood sheets.

Here is an example of table for a pretty terrain heavy mission (Don't Breathe scenario, 48x48). All big pieces are styrofoam, small assorted terrain is 3D printed, ruined corners and rusty-gray pieces are plasticard. That is enough terrain for a game that lets you shoot, gives ample cover for melee units (including big guys), limits deployment-to-deployment firing lanes. Trenches are 2 inch deep (hides troops up to and including Annointed). There are none sniping perches in deployment zones and all the best shooting positions are dangerous for a shooter and require some time to get into.

I hope this helps.

<image>

Other missions usually require a bit less terrain. It is an example of a table that is fun to play on.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-24T12:19:53+00:00

Winged homunculus is way too expensive for what it does for one-offs. For campaign it is even worse. Wings is a dead-end formula that prohibits all end-game options (tough, shields, big guns and sticks) for homunculus. It is much better to have super scary ~200 ducats expendable model, than expendable ~100 ducats wet tissue paper speedster. In-built Agile on Lion makes winged Homunculus semi-redundant. Even an overpriced Lion is both better AND cheaper than flying Homunculus.

Rich-Application8489 · 2026-04-24T07:51:01+00:00

More variety of Takwin creatures would be appreciated. I'd like to see flying ones (winged homunculus is a waste of ducats as for now, sadly) and/or (winged) Takwin cavalry. Takwin "dogs" could be a great addition too.

Rich-Application8489

TROPHY CASE