Trench Crusade is a Big Deal
If you’ve paid any attention to the miniature gaming scene in the past year you’re already well aware of how massive this game’s popularity and influence have become in a short span of time, but why?
Well, the game has style. Mike Franchina’s art brings the exciting darkness of settings like Warhammer into a more grounded, historical context. Real-world iconography and brutal imagery make the game impactful, tangible, and invite you to imagine your own artistic twists on the concepts it brings forward.
If you’re a nerd about the history of tabletop games Trench Crusade has you covered with huge names contributing to the project, like Tuomas Pirinen, Andy Chambers, and even the legendary John Blanche.
Although there are now official models, the project was already very popular before their release. The team encourages players to kitbash and sculpt their own miniatures and terrain, contributing to the excitement around the game as artists post incredible pieces across social media brimming with creativity.
The design team, artwork, setting, and the models (both official and unofficial) are nothing short of incredible, but is the game good?
Well…
Yes! Kind of.
The game has a very original combat system; instead of models accruing permanent damage over time, they accrue Blood Markers when hit. Your opponent can spend these markers to make taking further damage scarier, and more likely to result in death. The system feels original, exciting, and fairly easy to understand. Some other special rules (like blessing markers) interact with these blood markers in interesting ways without overcomplicating things, and the result is frequent, exciting rolls that more often than not move the game forward.
Movement, shooting, and even most of the different units’ special rules are snappy and easy to understand if you have any familiarity with other miniature games. As models are eliminated from the board, turns get faster and the stakes get higher in a fun and intuitive way.
There’s a reason the people evangelizing the game are miniature painters, kitbashers, and lore nerds, however; not competitive gamers. Simply put, the rules aren’t in a great state. Some factions are wildly overpowered, while others are equally weak or require a very narrow strategy to hold their own. Some units can’t take the equipment shown in their official artwork, or even sculpted on their official miniatures.
The actual content of the game like units, equipment, scenarios, and other odds and ends are split across several large documents. Some things are in the main rulebook, and some are in supplementary documents like the Campaign Rules or Allies and Mercenaries. All of these are provided for free on the official website.
This would all be fine, but with frequent updates and expansions to the different factions elements seem to be frequently left out, mis-referenced, or simply incorrect. This makes putting together a warband a very complex endeavor.
But wait! — I hear you shout — These are just playtest rules! The system is still in development!
You’re right! The developers deserve a lot of credit for creating something this complex that still manages to be as usable as it is, and I’m certainly not here to poo-poo a genuinely original and exciting game.
That being said, the rules aren’t there yet, and time is running out. Finalized physical rulebooks are projected to ship out only four months from now! That’s the blink of an eye when you consider how much work and time layout and proofing can take. Realistically the book will be delayed, or things won’t get fixed, or both.
Even with this deadline looming, the game’s scope is expanding wildly all the time. New gear, scenarios, units, and even subfactions are frequently added to an already large and complex game. The amount of work fixing the issues would take grows seemingly by the day. I’m beginning to think that…
The Game Won’t Be Perfect!
Because no game is. This seems to ring especially true for miniature games. Get a group of miniature gamers together in a room and they’ll start chawing about every system out there and their many flaws.
Warhammer, the biggest miniature gaming franchise ever, has a history plagued with broken units, armies, or even whole editions. Inquisitor, another Games Workshop game, has existed at the center of the grimdark art movement for ages while being almost unplayable in its original form. Infinity, long a popular alternative to Warhammer, is plagued just as much if not more with rules and balance issues.
But these games are still played. These games are still, in fact, adored by some of the same people who criticize them. Grass-roots efforts sprout up to keep these imperfect systems alive long after the publishers abandon them. Decades out of print games like Mordheim and Warmaster are still more popular than most miniature games released today, with new unofficial expansions or even whole editions built by their loving communities.
I spent two years religiously playing Tanks from Galeforce Nine. The game was plagued by balance issues, misprinted cards, developers that couldn’t remember the game’s mechanics, and a rushed update schedule. We spent late nights posting on the official forums trying to find rules clarifications, messaging frantically back and forth trying to square inconsistent mechanics, and generally pulling out our hair playing a deeply flawed game.
It was the best miniature gaming experience I’ve ever had. During that time we played countless satisfying games and developed deep, satisfying strategies. We even built our own unofficial post-apocalyptic expansion with a themed table of terrain to go with it!
Games don’t have to be perfect to be satisfying. Whatever rulebook the Trench Crusade team puts together will be full of errors and balance issues. That won’t make it worse than any wargame you might care to name. I’ll still happily pore over the chapters grumbling to myself and whoever will listen, marveling quietly at the art it both contains and inspires me to make. I’ll keep pushing for the things I love to be better, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop loving them one bit, and I hope you’ll do the same.
Happy gaming out there!
-July