Trench Crusade is a skirmish tabletop wargame from Factory Fortress where small warbands of Heaven’s Faithful fight the Fallen of Hell in a World War 1 that never ended, and the easiest way in is free: the full rules are a free download from the official site, a starting warband usually costs 700 ducats to build, and the Carcass Front box is the game’s first two player starter set, with two ready to play 700 ducat warbands in the box.
Last updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2026. This guide is built from the official Trench Crusade site and rulebooks. Rules and faction details are checked against those sources at update time.
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What is Trench Crusade?
Trench Crusade is a skirmish wargame set in an alternate 1914, in a war against Hell that has run for around 800 years since a Gate of Hell opened at Jerusalem during the Crusades. The game was created by horror artist Mike Franchina, sculptor James Sherriff and designer Tuomas Pirinen, and it is published by Factory Fortress. Each player commands one small, elite warband rather than a full army, and the official site describes the rules as easy to learn but difficult to master.
How do you play Trench Crusade?
You play Trench Crusade by taking turns activating one model at a time. When a model acts, you roll a pool of six sided dice and combine the results of two of them: a total of 2 to 6 is a fail, 7 to 11 is a success, and 12 or more is a critical success. You start with two dice, and equipment, abilities and decisions can add or remove dice, in which case you take the two highest results on a boosted roll or the two lowest on a penalised one.
Models have no hit points. Damage is tracked with Blood Markers: a model that takes damage accrues markers, and you can spend markers on an enemy model to make it easier to bring down or harder for it to act. Choosing when to spend Blood Markers is one of the game’s core decisions. The vast majority of the rules run on that single 2D6 system, per the official rules page.
What do you need to start playing Trench Crusade?
You need the free rules, one warband per player, a handful of six sided dice, a way to measure, and trench terrain. A typical starting warband is 6 to 10 models, per the official digital rulebook.
| Item | What to get | Cost note |
|---|---|---|
| Rules | Full rulebook and Warbands PDFs from trenchcrusade.com | Free, and the rules will always be free per the official site |
| Warband | One faction warband, usually built to 700 ducats, typically 6 to 10 models | Official plastic boxes, official digital STL files, or compatible 32mm models |
| Dice | Six sided dice, a small pool per player | Standard dice, no proprietary set needed |
| Measuring and markers | Ruler or tape, tokens for activations and Blood Markers | Carcass Front includes rulers and tokens |
| Terrain | Trenches, ruins and scatter terrain for a small skirmish board | Carcass Front includes scatter terrain |
What is the easiest way to start, the Carcass Front box?
The easiest start is Carcass Front, the game’s first starter set and supplement box, which reached stores in late August 2026 after its original Wednesday, July 29, 2026 date moved by about a month, with pre-orders shipping from Friday, August 21, 2026 per the official site. It contains two complete warbands and introductory rules, so two players can split one box and play.
| Contents | Detail |
|---|---|
| Miniatures | 16 hard plastic models: 9 for the Procession of the Sacred Affliction and 7 for the Heretic Naval Raiders, each a ready to play 700 ducat warband with up to two assembly options per model |
| Campaign book | 96 page hardback with Carcass Front lore, the Path to Leviathan two player narrative campaign, and a map based campaign for 2 to 8 players |
| Beginner material | Quickstart rules reference, an introductory scenario, and intro warband sheets with two simplified 3 model warbands |
| Gaming aids | Dice, rulers, activation and status tokens, scatter terrain (Levant hedgehogs and naval mines), playsheets and campaign score pads |
Players who do not want the box can start with a single faction warband box, the free rules, and a QR linked compendium for that warband, which the official site publishes for every warband box with its lore, rules and assembly guide.
Which Trench Crusade faction should you choose?
Choose by the side and the look you want first: Trench Crusade has six factions, three fighting for the Faithful and three for Hell, confirmed in the official factions article of Wednesday, August 26, 2026. Every faction has at least one Warband List, and a list can add an optional Warband Variant for a more specialised force.
| Faction | Side | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| New Antioch | Faithful | The fortress city that stands as the Faithful’s bulwark against Hell, fielding disciplined combined arms warbands. |
| Trench Pilgrims | Faithful | Zealous pilgrims who march to war as an act of devotion, including the leper pilgrims of the Procession of the Sacred Affliction. |
| Iron Sultanate | Faithful | The Sultanate of the Iron Wall, known for alchemy, engineered creations and an armoury unlike any other faction’s. |
| Heretic Legions | Hell | The main mortal military force of Hell on Earth, soldiers who took unbreakable vows at the gates of Hell itself. |
| The Black Grail | Hell | The Cult of the Black Grail, one of Hell’s three great powers in the war. |
| The Court of the Seven-headed Serpent | Hell | Hell’s infernal court faction, the third of the Fallen powers named in the official faction list. |
There is no wrong first pick. Both Carcass Front warbands began as variants and were promoted to full Warband Lists with the box, the Procession of the Sacred Affliction for Trench Pilgrims and the Heretic Naval Raiders for Heretic Legions, so a starter box player is building a full faction force, not a demo army.
How do you build a Trench Crusade warband?
You build a warband in four steps: pick a faction, pick a Warband List for that faction, add an optional Warband Variant if you want one, then recruit models and battlekit with your ducats. A starting warband usually has 700 ducats to spend, per the official Warbands book.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Choose a faction | Pick one of the six factions above. The faction list sets which models and battlekit your warband can take. |
| 2. Choose a Warband List | Each faction has at least one list, for example the Principality of New Antioch list for New Antioch. |
| 3. Add a Variant, optional | A Variant layers local culture or splinter group rules, new entries and battlekit onto a list, often needing only one or a few new models. |
| 4. Recruit and equip | Spend ducats on models and battlekit. Unspent ducats go to your warband’s Strongbox for later. Some elite models and gear cost Glory Points instead, which are earned for valorous deeds in campaign play, so a brand new warband generally cannot buy them yet. |
After your first games, campaign play is where a warband grows: models gain experience, earn Glory Points, risk injury, and spend Strongbox ducats on reinforcements.
Do you need official Trench Crusade miniatures?
No. Trench Crusade is played at 32mm heroic scale and is miniatures agnostic in practice: the official range exists as plastic warband boxes and as digital STL files through the official MyMiniFactory store and physical printing partners, and players also kitbash and proxy compatible 32mm models. What matters on the table is that each model is on the base size its entry specifies.
Frequently asked questions
Are the Trench Crusade rules free?
Yes. Factory Fortress states the rules are free and always will be. The full rulebook and Warbands PDFs are downloads on trenchcrusade.com.
How many models are in a Trench Crusade warband?
Typically 6 to 10 models at the start of a campaign, built to a ducat budget that is usually 700 ducats.
What dice does Trench Crusade use?
Ordinary six sided dice. Actions are resolved by rolling a pool and combining two dice: 2 to 6 fails, 7 to 11 succeeds, 12 or more is a critical success.
Is Carcass Front a good first purchase?
It is the option the official site calls the ideal starter set: two full 700 ducat warbands, introductory rules, dice, rulers, tokens and a campaign book in one box, so a pair of new players needs nothing else except hobby tools to begin.
Sources: Trench Crusade official site, rules page and digital rulebook, On Factions, Warband Lists, and Warband Variants (August 26, 2026), the Carcass Front product page and official Carcass Front news articles, and the Warbands of Trench Crusade book, all at trenchcrusade.com.