Trench Crusade: Getting Started with List Building

Greetings to all of Heaven's holiest children and Hell's most hedonistic abominations. Welcome to the beautifully brutal world of Trench Crusade. Whether you're drawn to the defenders of the faith or you want to just watch the world burn, you've found yourself looking to start a roster for a Trench Crusade campaign, and today we're going to cover some of the basics of getting started. We'll be using the baseline of 700 Ducats and 0 Glory as suggested in the rulebook, although you can adapt this if you plan on starting with a higher/lower amount of cash. As a brief preface: this isn't meant to be a "be-all-end-all" to list building, especially in a new game with as much diversity as this. This is mostly meant to be a shell to make a well rounded starting force if you don't have a very particular direction you want to build your army towards. We'll take a quick overview of the factions at play, give some tips and guidance for putting your list together, then provide a few sample rosters you can build off.

Credit: Lenoon

Faction Overview

We'll be covering the factions with much more detail on lore, tactics, and modelling suggestions very soon, but for today I just want to give a brief overview of the general playstyle of each faction so you can get a glimpse of how they'll handle on the tabletop.

A brief note on Warbands: for those who aren't aware, most of the factions have different "Warbands" which change the rules and army construction of the faction significantly, allowing interesting flavorful and fun variations for each army roster. They do change the playstyle quite a bit, so for the purpose of this we'll assume you're just using the base faction roster.

Heretic Legion

The human (mostly) element of the forces of Hell, the Heretic Legion is a flexible fighting force that wants to push up to the middle of the battlefield and chew up the opponent in a gunfight. They have a generally combined approach, but lean more towards shooting infantry with powerful supporting characters and absolutely brutal melee-focused monsters to grind up whatever moves to contest you. They have a great split between line infantry and tougher heavy troops to give plenty of variety and tactical flexibility. Their characters are much more focused on debuffing and disruption, making it difficult for your foes to stick to their battle plan and forcing fights on your own terms.

New Antioch

The drilled and trained soldiers of humanity on the side of the church, New Antioch are the Yin to Heretic Legion's Yang. They have a very similar general playstyle of combined arms combat with a focus on pushing up the board and grinding your opponent down from afar, then cleaning up what's left with brutal shock assaults. They have characters that range from the supporting Lieutenants to the downright terrifyingly lethal from afar Sniper Priests. N.A. have a much bigger focus on buffing your own infantry, also boasting the ability to form "fireteams" which allow you to activate multiple models consecutively, making them a very synergy heavy force. Notably, they also have access to some powerful gear from the get-go like Submachine Guns and Automatic Shotguns.

Trench Pilgrims

These are the faithful who are called to the frontlines to fight for the forces of heaven, powered by sheer willpower and devotion. These folks are the faction who wants to get stuck in close, charging across no man's land in a barrage of steel just to deliver the killing blow from point blank range. They have characters much more focused on combat, either actually beating things up or helping the rest of your forces get there. Their regular infantry range from truly expendable chaff to close range threats that will force your foes to outmaneuver them to the best of their ability, lest they take a hammer to the noggin. Don't be fooled though, they can still pack some nasty tricks from afar, such as Molotov Cocktails and the nightmarish but hilariously named Punt Gun.

Iron Sultanate

The stalwart protectors of the Iron Wall in southwestern Asia, the Iron Sultanate provide an incredibly unique combined arms playstyle with a focus on skirmishing and movement shenanigans. Instead of utilizing a tough frontline, your core infantry want to take the tip of the spear, harassing opponents from afar with their Jezzails. When the enemies charge forth to meet them in combat, they can gracefully move away while your elite shock troops move forward to intercept. Supplemented by devastatingly powerful combat characters as well as a slew of alchemically-made living beasts, I'd best describe Iron Sultanate as playing an army of Harassers and Hammers. You don't need an anvil when you're the only one who strikes the blows.

Black Grail

The followers of Beelzebub, the cult of the Black Grail are the nightmarish children of the Lord of Flies, spreading plague and infection with the goal of drowning all of the living with eternal sickness. On the tabletop, they are an attrition force that wants to grind out their foes in a slow advance, providing slow yet durable masses to protect your hellish nightmares as they advance to your opponent's front lines. They specialize in close range shooting and melee combat, and what they lack in ranged firepower they make up for in the ability to provide Infection Tokens to enemy models, which can be equally as threatening as a bullet. If you like the idea of an undying army that makes Nurgle's creations from the Warhammer universe look like bread mold, Black Grail are the ones for you.

Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent

While the other hellish forces we've seen are most mortals (or mortals that have been blessed and mutated), the Court are the real grotesque nightmares: the demons and soulless husks that make up the inhabitants of the rings of Hell. Court have arguably the most unique playstyle in the game, as they are mostly hyper-elite demon units supported by an armored cohort of knights, mutated beasts, and those mortals sorry enough to be trapped behind the gates of Hell. They use Goetic Magic powers to perform various actions that allow them to make unbelievable charges, become extremely tough, or even teleport across the board. What they lack in numbers, they make up for in utility, and while you'll always been outnumbered, you'll never be outgunned.

Credit: Lenoon

Tips for Assembling Your First Roster

So you've decided on your first faction, now you need to figure out what you want to send to the frontlines. Here are a series of things to keep in mind when you're actually putting together your starting force. Most forces are required to include a specific leader when creating their roster, so keep that in mind when putting a list together. Certain units and wargear have a limit on how many you can field as well, which will be listed in their respective armory or as a number next to their roster profile. Some gear requires Glory points, which the majority of armies lack from the start of a campaign and you will accumulate as you play.

Try to keep around 7-9 models in your starting roster. This will vary depending on your faction (i.e. usually less for things like Court, but potentially more for factions like Trench Pilgrims), but you will pretty much always want 10 or less models because you won't be able to field more than that on your first battle. You don't want to have so many bodies that you are forced to take morale checks early, but you also don't want to have so few bodies that you don't have the ability to tackle objectives, since you'll be usually playing on a decently big board for the amount of models you have early off.
2-3 of your models should be "chaff." You might have heard the term "boys before toys" in other tabletops, and this partially still remains true. Having a few models with minimal upgrades that you can use to screen charges, chase down objectives, and keep your action economy high are invaluable in many games. The Blood Token system in this game also means that having accurate but weak weapons are great for setting up kills on tougher targets, so they'll always be handy to have to effectively make your powerful units even more effective. I'd suggest leaving these guys without armor or too much equipment - keep it simple and cheap.
Upgrade your leader. Since you're forced to pay for these guys right off the bat, it's usually worth investing in them since they're often quite potent in their respective roles and have access to gear much of your roster won't be able to take this early. Armor of some kind will always be handy if you can take it, and a weapon to compliment their battlefield role is always welcome. A lot of weapons, particularly melee weapons, are a bit more restricted by access rather than cost, and usually they aren't crazy expensive compared to the stuff your regular infantry can access, so take advantage of those weapons on your models that already have stat bonuses to use them to the best advantage. Don't go too overboard though...
Leave some of the goodies at home. Some equipment can be super useful, such as the shovels and instruments, but often things like Gas Masks are much more situational and become more useful in later parts of a campaign where equipment becomes both more powerful and more diverse. Try to weigh the value of an extra piece of kit compared to just putting it towards having an extra body with a rifle.
Armor is expensive, but potent. I'd only suggest putting armor on models you plan on giving additional gear, don't bother with guys that aren't going to be getting further investment. That being said, armor really does make the likelihood of surviving attacks much higher, particularly lower power attacks that aren't cashing in any blood tokens. It's often worth getting on anyone who you think might be taking a few hits that you don't want to risk folding to a good roll right off the bat.
Have a solution to Armored/Tough units. To add on to the prior point, you usually want something that either provides additional damage or ignores armor, as Tough effectively means you have to kill something twice, and armor is going to make that difficult both times. This can be something as simple as some great weapons in melee, but things like Flamethrowers will really be clutch if you can afford them.
Have a mix of threats and answers. The reality of this game is that you won't always be able to take favorable fights, so even if you're playing a more shooting or melee focused force, make sure you have some coverage for the other side of the coin. Melee focused armies will heavily benefit from stacking blood tokens early and it'll give you some bite when enemies can outmaneuver you, and shooting forces can use melee units to counter charge or contest mid-field objectives safer. There is a clear design choice where ranged weapons are often more accurate, while melee weapons hit harder. Ranged weapons also usually require you to close the distance if you want to shoot with your full accuracy, so you'll pretty much always expect a good mix of combat in most games.
Don't overinvest in a single model. You're limited on resources, both in models and money. Having a large portion of your money off the board from a sniper shot will leave you in a really rough place, so sometimes having a few slightly weaker elite troops is better than one super solider.
Give your units a melee weapon. The 1-3 ducat tax to make sure they can at the least threaten chaff and not just fold to basic infantry is super important when you play on boards where there's a lot of close range scrapping. Based on our experience with the game thus far, your units will get stuck in when you least expect it, so being ready for anything is worthwhile.
Doot doot! This only applies to factions with access to Musical Instruments (which is most of them currently), but they're super valuable for making sure you can move other models around the board quickly without failing actions. If you've got an extra 50 or so ducats and aren't sure what to use it on, a regular goober with a club and a horn is a great investment to support your scarier units.

Credit: Lenoon

Sample Rosters

Here are a few ideas for getting started with an army list if you're looking for some inspiration. If you want to play around with rosters, there is a compendium and warband builder provided here on the Trench Crusade Website, courtesy of Lane Edwards-Brown.

New Antioch (700 Ducats, 8 Models)

Edit: I originally had a Heavy weapon on the Trench cleric, which a few keen readers noted hinders the movement of non-Strong models pretty brutally. I've opted to drop that down to a club and give the other Yeoman some grenades with the extra Ducats.

Lieutenant (Standard Armor, Automatic Pistol, Trench Club, Combat Helmet)
Sniper Priest (Standard Armor, Sniper Rifle, Trench Club)
2x Yeoman Trench-Moles (Bolt Action Rifle, Bayonet, Grenades)
Yeoman (Bolt Action Rifle, Bayonet, Grenades)
2x Shock Troopers (Standard Armor, Submachine Gun, Great Sword)
Trench Cleric (Standard Armor, Flamethrower, Trench Club, Combat Helmet)

This is a sort of all-comers close range starting force, playing to the strengths of NA wanting to fight for control of No-Man's Land and use your fireteams to overpower key points in the enemy's frontlines. The Lieutenant and Cleric can fireteam up with one of the shock troopers each, making a devastating pair of models where the officers can effectively stack a crazy amount of blood tokens for the shock troopers to go clean up. The Sniper Priest can hang back and try to pick off priority targets, with the stray yeoman to hang out with him or push for objectives. The trench-moles will help take the forward positions early and buy some space for your closer ranged units to make their way up the board.

Iron Sultanate (699 Ducats, 9 Models)

Yuzbasi Captain (Reinforced Armor, Jezzail, Alchem Ammunition, 2x Sword)
Alchemist (Standard Armor, Flamethrower, Sword)
3x Azeb (Skirmisher, Jezzail, Alechm Ammunition, Sword)
Azheb (Standard Armor, Musical Instrument, Pistol)
Lion of Jabir (Standard Armor)
Janissary (Standard Armor, Siege Jezzail, Alchem Ammunition, Sword)
Janissary (Standard Armor, Jezzail, Alchem Ammunition, Great Sword)

This list is designed to lean hard into the combined arms aspect of the army, focusing on a barrage of shooting from Jezzails on early turns to stack up blood tokens and pick-off a few infantry units, while your opponent coming close means you can skirmish your Azebs back so your melee units can get stuck in. The Lion of Jabir is super fast and can help threaten things outside the reach of your firearms. I'm a huge fan of the flamethrower on the Alchemist as she can give it some extra keywords to make it even scarier, although we'll have to wait until to equip them with Alchemist Armor since it's pretty expensive. We also have a musician here, who won't really be a combat character but will help boost the movement capability of nearby units which is often invaluable for an army that needs movement to stay alive.

Heretic Legion (700 Ducats, 8 Models)

Heretic Priest (Standard Armor, Semi-Automatic Rifle, Sword, Knife)
Heretic Chorister (Axe, Knife)
Heretic Commando (Tartarus Claws)
Heretic Trooper (Bolt Action Rifle, Bayonet)
Heretic Trooper (Gas Grenades, Club)
Heretic Legionnaire (+1 on whichever you fancy, Semi-Automatic Rifle, Bayonet)
Anointed Heavy Infantry (Grenade Launcher, Club)
War Wolf Assault Beast

As Heretic Legion you mostly want to dominate the middle of board; most of your Elites abilities key off being either in combat or within 12" so we'll take all of them and focus the rest of our list on close range firepower/assault. Your Death Commando can Infiltrate and Hide in an inconvenient spot for your opponent whilst the rest of your force moves up. You've got the inexorable War Wolf as your dedicated Tough -3 Armour Can-Opener, plus an Anointed with a grenade launcher as a sticky mobile ranged threat that can also fight if you need them to. Finally you've got flexible chaff from your Troopers and Legionnaire, to give you a little more shooting. I'd also recommend getting an Artillery Witch after your first game if you've got the ducats for an additional ranged threat, otherwise invest in some armour for your Elites.

That's a wrap folks! We sincerely hope this will help kickstart your campaigns for this lovely game. We'll be back in the future with more coverage, but in the meantime, keep your weirdos gross and grimy, and good luck on the frontlines.

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