Well, we knew it was coming, didn’t we? The biannual rules assessment dropped this week, and if you’re a Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent player I hope you were sitting down when it did.
Turns out the Court didn’t get a review so much as a complete overhaul, with a number of changes and adjustments, including:
For core mechanics, the Court now generates Sin Markers to fuel its Goetic Powers.
Each of the seven Sins gets its own defining set of powers and abilities, and changes to list-building, giving them more definition and diversity than ever before.
Significant changes to units, from Praetors generating Sin Markers to new auras for the Desecrated Saint.
Here’s what DGMP had to say about it over on Tabletop Battles:
This is an insane glow up. Going from the faction with the least variety in viable playstyles to what is no doubt now the most will rejuvenate the Court immensely. It is really hard to sum up all of this, really. It is practically 7 different armies in a trenchcoat saying it is a single faction. Frankly this is the upgrade that the Court needed, giving it a level of flavor and style that it was sorely lacking before the Sins all got the attention that they so desperately needed.
And of course, there was tremendous discussion around the update over on the Trench Crusade subreddit. Some lamented Envy’s loss of access to Praetors and Sorcerers (though there was a gag that it was very on-brand for Envy to be jealous of the units others retained access to), while others saw significant changes to Goetic strategies prior to the update.
All the same, sweeping changes like this are a good sign that the developers aren’t afraid to make big moves in the game, and I’m already looking forward to what the next six months brings!
A Baron Field
Last week I talked about my love for officially licensed merchandise, highlighting the beautiful cartography work of Jared Blando. And while there isn’t a lot of licensed merch yet (Marc Gascoigne, Head of Special Ops, is no doubt hard at work on that front), as I noted before “not a lot” isn’t quite the same thing as none.
Enter Baron of Dice.
Baron of Dice started, as such things do, in a basement. Back in 2020, Steven Long had a vision of a dice company whose goal “wasn’t small or modest—no, the mission was simple but bold: bring tabletop gamers a better-quality product than anything the industry had settled for,” he shared in an interview last year with VoyageBaltimore.
Less a company than a “a passion project that got wildly out of hand in the best possible way,” Long sees them as “gamers first, creators second, and businesspeople somewhere after that.”
Since that time the company has grown both in scope and in scale. They’ve expanded their range of offerings to include tabletop wargaming and RPG supplies as well as entered into licensing agreements with the companies behind games like Infinity and Conquest.
Then in 2024 alongside Trench Crusade’s Kickstarter kickoff, Baron of Dice added the game to its stable of official licensing partners.
In addition to the official dice sets (such as the one pictured above), Baron of Dice also has a line of Trench Crusade coins (or “objective markers",” if you prefer). While they use these to enhance other products such as tape measures, the coins themselves are perfectly good collectibles in their own right. In fact, I’ve got a thing for coins- here’s a Black Library Bibliophiles piece focusing on Warhammer coins. Small in size, they nevertheless make terrific decorative pieces for any library or museum.
For example, here’s the Heretic Naval Raider Captain alongside the official Baron of Dice faction coin.
A Stoßtruppen Feldkaplan (my Miniature of the Week, below).
And when you can combine them with other things, like this Sacred Affliction insert from the Carcass Front box, you really start cookin’ with grease.
Baron of Dice have nine faction coins currently available. If I have a knock on them it’s that the icon designs are a bit simplified from the official artwork. But it’s a minor criticism that fades further into irrelevance when you note that these coins on the official site go for USD $6.95 apiece.
That’s… not a typo.
As someone long accustomed to paying up to five times that much for Warhammer collectible coins (not kidding), this is pinch-me-I’m-dreaming pricing. And yes, these Baron of Dice coins are one-sided, but who cares? As displayed in the above images, you can only display one side at a time anyway.
So with the harvest of the nine Baron’s Coins, the dream of a Trench Crusade Museum moves ever more into being.
Now, we just need a few novels- preferably with Limited Editions!
Miniature of the Week
This week’s build is the Feldkaplan from the Prussian Stoßtruppen Warband box.
Adorned in the finest armour and armaments by the Church Militant, the Feldkaplan take to the trenches often in the image of great angelic templars thanks to the large, woodcarved wings framing the reliquaries on their backs.
Wielding ornate greatswords and shrouded in the scent of incense, a Feldkaplan’s inspiring resilience is bolstered by their use of holy smoke, a uniquely addictive chemical compound that inures its user to the physical and mental toll of war.
What, did you think they were just going to be from Carcass Front? For as long as I’ve played RPG’s I’ve always loved the Cleric class the most, so naturally this was the one I went straight for when I cracked open the box.
One of the feathers on his wings was brittle, breaking off the moment I touched it. Luckily, some divine inspiration must have guided my hands as I was able to glue it back together with very minimal difficulty. I love this model, it’s a stunning sculpt that was a lot of fun to build. I’d have liked a little more sharpness in the definition in some areas, but ol’ Padre here will do quite nicely!
ICYMI
Here’s what’s been going on this week for Trench Crusade content!
Trench Crusade Official
There was no lore drop this week- the October Rules Review was the elm that shaded out the garden. Still, well worth it for those who have been waiting, and we’ve had no shortage of lore to enjoy regardless!
The official YouTube channel has been quiet for a bit, but dropped an interview with Vanguard Tactics featuring Jervis Johnson, Andy Chambers and Thomas Elliott talking about what it was like to design Carcass Front.
Each Friday during the worldwide campaign, the Trench Wire has been bringing reports from Decisive Battles from games all over the world. This week’s included conflicts from California to Stuttgart- and included one on Tabletop Simulator as well!
Rubén Torregrosa of HeresyBrush (and New Antioch Cross for Cultural Merit winner) brought us a nicely detailed painting tutorial for the Observer model. As someone who has yet to dip their toes into that side of the hobby, I love seeing content like this that is both beginner-friendly but veteran-useful.
Results from Operation Leviathan are also being reported by Andy Chambers and Sammie Dae. The latest dispatch saw the Fallen rocked back on their heels, with the Faithful pushing in five sectors and the remaining two locked in stalemate. Spaceballs may have taught us back in ‘87 that evil always wins because good is dumb, but it looks like it’s learned a few lessons since then.
Mentioned in Despatches has been running every week throughout the duration of Operation Leviathan. Curated by Peter Hairston, MiD the column brings you some of the most striking Trench Crusade miniatures, terrain, and tables that have been shared across social media. Here’s this week’s, which showed off a lot of glorious Heretic Naval Raiders!
Don’t forget, the game’s first-ever worldwide campaign Operation Leviathan will run until 19 October, and will leave its mark on the world forever. Make sure to get your results in while you still can!
Wargame Content Sites
Tabletop Battles does an amazing job covering the game, with a new feature every week. This time around it’s a reaction roundtable to the October rules update!
Community Content
While last week was a huge week for community content, this week it was quite a bit quieter. Still, Custom Wargame has a painting contest on their Kickstarter campaign, with over €300 in prizes. It ends on 31 October, so plenty of time ahead and no purchase is necessary!
Moskito Games, meanwhile, sat down to interview Tuomas Pironen in a livestream format, replete with audience questions!
The Hobby Hotel dove into the lore surrounding “Hell’s Greatest Problem,” War Priest Charon.
Finally, I wanted to ‘like’ this video from The Last Scribe, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. As any hiker or outdoorsman will tell you, sometimes it’s best to just leave things as you found them:
Coming Attractions
Here’s a list of the known upcoming physical releases from Trench Crusade based on the available preorder information we have.
This section will be updated weekly in this column, with new or updated info presented in boldface.
Trench Crusade Rulebook (hardcover, 11/30)
That’s it for this week, see you again in seven days’ time!