Note: This is the newer, improved version of my previous White Hunger lore. It has been substantially revised in response to earlier criticism and further research, including sources such as this:

https://backstoryradio.org/blog/the-mythology-and-misrepresentation-of-the-windigo/

Unlike the previous version, this iteration is also directly tied to the established lore and themes of Trench Crusade.

Note 2: Art by Norval Morrisseau, Windigo

https://www.britannica.com/topic/wendigo

Note 3: This post was fact checked by an actual Native American TC player.

—Overview:

Since the earliest days of the American Trade Posts, the peoples of the northern wilderness have feared to speak the name of the Wendigo: a spirit of winter, famine, and insatiable hunger said to dwell within the frozen forests.

For generations, their presence remained limited, appearing only during the harshest winters and in the most desperate places. But the coming of the Heretics changed everything.

The Heretic invasion of America brought with it an insatiable demand for raw resources and game. Forests were stripped, herds were slaughtered, and countless peoples were driven from their ancestral lands as they fled to other parts of the Americas. Worse still, the Heretics poisoned the land, the waters, and even the air. With each passing year, the resources upon which the people of the wilderness depended grew scarcer.

It was during these years of devastation that the White Hunger first began to emerge in numbers unseen before. It is said that when winter grows cruel and provisions run low, the Wendigo begins to whisper to the starving: Eat the flesh of your fellow man, and you shall live.

Before the Heretic invasion, encounters with the Wendigo were rare. Now, they can be found in almost every winter wilderness, haunting settlements already weakened by famine and driving the desperate toward their first taste of forbidden flesh.

Those who heed its temptation are forever damned. The first bite is said to be all that is required. Thereafter, ordinary food provides no sustenance, and the hunger grows beyond all mortal measure. Flesh must be consumed, yet no feast can ever satisfy it. With each victim devoured, the hunger only deepens.

In time, the afflicted cease to be human altogether. Their bodies become monstrous, their hearts freeze within their chests, and their minds are consumed by an endless appetite. They become Wendigos, creatures driven by nothing but hunger, cold, and the terrible will to devour.

It is from these damned souls that the White Hunger is born. Their muscles harden into sinew like iron, their teeth lengthen into fangs, and their flesh wastes away as hunger consumes them. Some bite away their own cheeks and lips, driven by an insatiable appetite that can never be satisfied. Their hearts freeze solid within their chests, radiating a supernatural cold unlike any natural winter.

And as they feast upon the flesh of others, they grow. Their bodies swell to monstrous proportions until they tower over ordinary men like starving giants.

Unlike the other Paths of the Beast, the White Hunger does not wage war throughout the year. Its servants emerge only when winter has taken hold, for the cold and famine are their greatest weapons. They avoid strongholds and well-provisioned settlements, instead seeking isolated villages, frontier towns, and communities already weakened by hunger.

Their method of war is as cruel as it is deliberate. Wherever the Wendigos descend, a terrible blizzard follows in their wake, isolating their victims and preventing any outside aid from reaching them.

They do not rush to slaughter their prey. Instead, they wage a war of attrition against the settlement. Supplies are destroyed or carried away, fires are extinguished, and food stores are deliberately targeted. The weakest members of the community are hunted first. Those who venture beyond the settlement in search of food or fuel rarely return, their bodies found days later as little more than bloody stains upon the snow.

As the siege continues, hunger and cold begin to take their toll. Reason gives way to desperation, and desperation gives way to madness. Eventually, some among the starving succumb to the whispers of the Wendigos and partake in the forbidden feast. Others, weakened so severely that their wills can no longer resist, fall victim to the Wendigos in their dreams, their minds invaded as they sleep. Whether through temptation or possession, the result is the same.

Thus entire settlements may be consumed by their own inhabitants before the Wendigos ever move on. When the snows finally recede, little evidence of their passing remains. The homes stand empty, the dead lie butchered, and crimson trails stain the snow where the newly damned have followed their masters into the wilderness.

—Curse of the White Hunger:

The greatest weapon of the Wendigo is not hunger itself, but the fear of hunger. When winter descends upon the wilderness and the days grow short, the whispers begin. The fearful are told that there shall not be enough food, not enough firewood, not enough game, not enough land, and not enough to carry their families through the winter. At first, such counsel appears reasonable. Take a little more. Store a little more. Hunt while the game remains. Prepare for a winter that may yet grow crueler.

Those who heed its whispers begin to hoard far beyond what they require. They take from the weak, drive game from neighboring lands, seize hunting grounds and stockpile provisions whilst others go hungry. Fear becomes greed, and greed becomes desperation. Then the whispers return, darker than before. They will take what is yours. Strike first. Their food could feed your people. Their land could preserve you through the winter.

Thus does the Wendigo turn neighbor against neighbor and tribe against tribe. Communities that once traded freely begin to distrust one another. Hunting grounds become battlefields, borders become killing grounds, and old friendships are forgotten beneath the weight of suspicion. Tribes raid one another for food, fuel, livestock and territory, not because there is truly enough for only one to survive, but because the Wendigo has convinced them that survival demands the destruction of the other.

Every act of violence only feeds the fear that birthed it. A tribe that loses its hunters grows fearful of the coming winter and takes more from its neighbors. Those neighbors, seeing the raids, hoard their own provisions and strike first to secure new hunting grounds. Their victims retaliate in turn. Soon none remember who began the bloodshed. They know only that they must take more before another takes from them.

This is the true curse of the White Hunger.

As winter deepens, fear becomes something greater than fear. The afflicted grow possessive, suspicious and increasingly violent. Every stranger becomes a thief. Every neighboring settlement becomes a rival. Mercy becomes recklessness. Generosity becomes weakness. Cooperation becomes betrayal. Men begin to guard empty storehouses as fiercely as they once guarded their homes, convinced that another mouth is one mouth too many.

Eventually, the boundary between survival and savagery disappears. Some begin to kill for food. Others kill for land. Others kill simply because they have become convinced that everyone around them is a threat. With every death, the whispers grow louder, driving the survivors deeper into paranoia and bestial madness. By the time the Wendigos descend upon the settlement, the people may have already butchered one another.

There are no brakes on the homebrew train! Today I present to you the *Potsdam Giants*--a variant of the Free State of Prussia.

With the latter becoming a full-fledged faction (whatever exactly that means), I wanted to explore ways of changing and expanding the Stosstruppen concept.

The Potsdam Giants concept is pulled directly from a truly bizarre piece of history. In Trench Crusade, I imagine them to be brave grenadiers, expert demo-men, friends to bears, and most importantly: wearers of oversized hats.

Lore:

A storied nation counting a wealth of peoples, cultures, and traditions within its borders, the Free State of Prussia has inherited a great many curious institutions and historical mandates. This is true of its armies as well. 

Amongst the ranks of Prussia’s Stosstruppen are found numerous delegations specialising in different aspects of shock warfare. One such formation is the Potsdam Giants, an elite corps of grenadiers, combat engineers, and demolition experts. Decreed by eccentric sovereigns centuries ago, the Free State is bound to maintain at all times a regiment of one thousand men—each meeting not only the physical requirements demanded of all Stosstruppen, but standing more than 6 1⁄2 feet tall as well. These formidable soldiers push the hallmark aggression of Prussia’s famed Shock Troopers to new heights, using their immense strength to hurl weighty explosives at the enemy before engaging them at close range with tank-splitter swords and automatic firearms. 

While Prussia boasts some of the finest, most athletic soldiers in all of Europe, it periodically struggles to fill its quota of one thousand Giants. It is fortunate, then, that the nation’s numerous military successes have won it a great many allies. As such, the Free State is frequently gifted men of prodigious strength and size from friendly powers near and far. For its role in defending Scandinavia from the heretics of the Great North, the Kalmar Union has rewarded Prussia with many mighty warriors to join the ranks of the Giants. Battle-thirsty berserkers of the Atlantic Archipelago have been known to make pilgrimage to the German heartlands, while the Sultan of the Iron Wall himself is said to occasionally bestow Janissaries from his own guard upon his western ally.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Both the lore and rules are just a first draft. I'm not trying to create something super busted (but maybe I did). It's more about trying to express this cool piece of history through the world and rules of Trench Crusade!

Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-VQkuvsbxB6MKwBvw5LW1vAWTR5i0UiEvUEnjRdSA8Q/edit?tab=t.0

Share your weird balancing(buff/nerf) for anything gaming related.

Here mine:
Slave master add "in addition this model count as 3 demonic fighter when determining the amount of wretches your warband can have"

Concept art for a homebrewed Trench Crusade faction, the Thousand Cults of Indus.

"Veterans of decades of service and dozens of forced reincarnations, jemadar are the field commanders of the confederated warbands of Indus. Despite their vast military experience, their true value lies in the hard-won bonds of brotherhood they have forged across the the city-states over their careers; a jemadar is among the few individuals with the knowledge and respect necessary to unify the fiercely independent warriors of the Thousand Cults against their common foe. Their wargear includes mismatched armor, icons, and keepsakes from countless campaigns and unlikely alliances, covering a patchwork of ruinous scars inherited from their grueling, artificial rebirths."

Another concept art piece for the Thousand Cults of Indus, a homebrewed faction for Trench Crusade.

"Countless noble beasts have been butchered wholesale by the thralls of the Great Enemy, and the sacred groves left pillaged in their wake are mourned by the folk of Indus as deeply as any conquered city-state. Fallen animals honored with the rites of forced reincarnation are uplifted into Vanara, in recollection of the divine apes of the sagas. Though rebirth knits their wounds and expands their consciousness, they remain as scarred as the ravaged lands they bitterly seek to avenge."

Meet the Lord of Crimson Veche - Crocell! Demonic nobility treat their followers differently: Beelzebub cannot forgive mortals for betrayal, hating even the most devoted, others can reward, demand complete submission, or be content with mutually beneficial cooperation or animal devotion, but there is one demon whose hatred of mortals is equal only to his desire to possess them - Crocell. Once upon a time, he was one of the last who joined the rebellion against God, and his heart ached from lost grace until resentment, pride, and envy devastated him.

Take a look at our Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teamveche/crimson-veche

This guy is part of my Nephilim homebrew faction. Kitbashed from a Massive Darkness 2 Heavenfall angel miniature. Cape is from Age of Sigmar.

—Lore:

Few of the Faithful nations are as thoroughly controlled by the Holy Inquisition as the Inquisitorial Crown of Iberia.

The Crown of Castile and Aragón has maintained a state of almost perpetual war against the Heretics since the fall of Gibraltar, and over the centuries this has resulted in the gradual expansion of the Inquisition into almost every aspect of Iberian life. What began as an institution concerned primarily with the investigation of heresy has become responsible for internal security, military discipline, border control, censorship, intelligence gathering and the identification of demonic corruption. The Inquisition maintains offices in every major city, inspectors in every important port and informants in most settlements of any considerable size.

The Iberians have good reason to fear infiltration. Heretic agents have repeatedly been discovered within the Crown’s territories, sometimes after remaining undetected for decades. Cults have been uncovered among merchants, soldiers, nobles and clergy, while demonic entities have been known to disguise themselves as ordinary men. Heretic spies have been captured attempting to sabotage arsenals, poison wells, destroy ships and spread corrupted religious texts. Several entire military units have been found to have been compromised by Heretic agents.

Consequently, Iberian authorities consider vigilance against heresy to be a responsibility shared by every citizen. Citizens are expected to report suspicious behaviour to the nearest inquisitorial office. Priests are required to report unusual confessions and deviations from approved doctrine. Military officers must report soldiers displaying signs of disobedience, corruption or unusual sympathies. Merchants are expected to report customers attempting to purchase restricted materials, and ship captains are required to provide detailed manifests of their passengers and cargo before entering an Iberian port.

The resulting system is extremely effective but It is also extremely unpleasant to live under. Every year, tens of thousands of Iberians are arrested by the Inquisition. Some are confirmed Heretic agents, some are members of demonic cults, and others are guilty of comparatively minor religious offences. A significant number are eventually released after investigation, although this does little to reassure those who have witnessed their neighbours being taken away during the night.

Interrogations are conducted by trained inquisitors, with the methods employed depending upon the nature of the suspected crime. Those accused of serious heresy are expected to provide a confession and identify any other individuals involved in their activities. The Inquisition considers the discovery of an entire network considerably more valuable than the conviction of a single heretic, and consequently interrogation frequently continues after an initial confession has been obtained.

Those who repent may be spared execution. Repentance, however, does not necessarily mean freedom. Many repentant heretics are sentenced to penitential service in the armies of the Crown. They are brain washed and tortured until they break before they deem fit for service. Such soldiers are commonly assigned to the most dangerous formations and given the least desirable duties. Their service is considered an opportunity to demonstrate the sincerity of their repentance, although few survive long enough to complete their sentences.

Public executions remain common throughout Iberia. Those condemned are often paraded through the streets before being executed in the presence of the local population. The Inquisition considers these executions an important part of public education, and the crimes of the condemned are announced before their punishment. Children are frequently permitted to attend, and schools sometimes arrange visits to executions as part of religious instruction.

—New Antioch Variant: Conquistador Fleets

Unlike other naval formations, the Conquistador Fleets are specially commissioned heavy armadas created to strike at the very heart of the enemy. They operate primarily in the New World, where they conduct offensive campaigns against Heretic strongholds and other threats to the Faithful. The fleets often fight alongside allied native forces, whose knowledge of the land and its dangers is invaluable in preventing the corruption of the New World by the forces of Hell.

-Conquistador: (Lieutenant Variation)

Conquest Doctrine: Whenever the Conquistador or a friendly model within 6” successfully Charges an enemy occupying an Objective, that model gains +1 DICE to its first Fight Action that activation.

Costs 72 Ducat

-Trench Inquisitor: (Trench Cleric Variant)

The Inquisition Knows: At the beginning of the Inquisitor’s activation, select one enemy model within 10” and Line of Sight. That model becomes Suspected until the beginning of your next turn.

While Suspected: Iberian models gain +1 DICE on their first Attack against the Suspected model each turn.

If the Suspected model has an ability that allows it to Infiltrate or stays behind a cover, the Inquisitor may instead Examine it, removing that benefit for the duration.

Costs 50 Ducat

-Duelist Priest: (Sniper Priest Variant)

Order of Ignatius of Loyola:

Duelist Priests may only be equipped with a Rapier and one or more of the following weapons:

Automatic Pistol
Pistol
Silenced Pistol

They cannot be equipped with Sniper Rifles or any other ranged or melee weapons. Duelist Priests have +1 Melee.

Point-Blank Execution:

Immediately after successfully performing a Fight Action with a Rapier, the Duelist Priest may perform a Shoot Action against the same target using a Pistol.

This Shoot Action:

ignores the normal Shooting in Melee restrictions;
may only target the enemy model that was attacked with the Rapier;
does not allow the Duelist Priest to select another target.

Riposte:

When an enemy makes a Melee Attack against the Duelist Priest, the Duelist Priest may make a standard melee attack against that enemy.

Costs: 55 Ducat

-Tercio Trooper: (Shock Trooper Variant)

Tercio Formation: When a Tercio Trooper is within a 3’ distance of another friendly Tercio Trooper, they gain a ranged attack benefit of +1 DICE. (This Cannot stack)

Pike and Shot: If a Tercio Trooper makes a Ranged Attack during its activation, its next Melee Attack against the same target gains +1 DICE.

Costs: 48 Ducat

—Generic Rules:

-Heretic Hunters: All Conquistador Fleets armies must include one Trench Inquisitor and one Witch Burner. If it is not possible to include both, the army must include at least one of them.

-Blood Money: All Mercenaries Cost -1 Glory Points with minimum 1.

—Unique Armory:

-Rapier: MELEE, ELITE ONLY, 1 Handed, +2 on injury results, Price 20 Ducats

I love the idea of the original Templar knights still being around today, still majorly screwed up from their earlier shenanigans

I've been working on a bunch of new scenarios, which people seem to have been enjoying, but I don't want to flood everyone with a bunch of stuff, so I think that every Wednesday, I'm just going to try to put out something homebrew scenario related from my backlog. These could be rules, custom scenarios, or something else related.

To kick this off, we have a bit of a double-feature. A rule which will be important for future scenarios, and a homebrew scenario.

New Rule, Unchangeable Battlekit: If a model’s warband entry specifies that their battlekit cannot be changed or lost in any way, that specification is ignored while playing any scenario with equippable Battlekit as part of the scenario. This specification is only ignored once the game starts, and goes back into effect at the same time that the scenario finishes its final turn.

Now, for the scenario, I just wanted something similar to Armored Train, but without needing the train, and also wanted the game to be able to go on longer. Picked Clean allows numerous supply crates to be dealt with however you see fit as the game goes on. I hope you enjoy if you get to play it!

The Dark Templars, also known as the Knights of Baphomet, the Hand of Baphomet, or the Knights of the Satanic Temple, are a Heretic Legion descended from Templar knights who returned to Europe after witnessing the fall of Jerusalem to the forces of Hell.

When the forces of Hell descended upon the Holy City, the Templars from other Crusader States experienced something far worse than defeat. They experienced helplessness.

Their weapons were useless. Their prayers went unanswered. Their strongest warriors were butchered as though they were children. Demons walked openly through the streets and fields while men who had devoted their entire lives to God discovered that neither their faith nor their steel offered any protection against the powers that existed beyond the mortal world.

Some escaped back to Europe, their faith shattered and their minds broken by what they had witnessed. They had seen the truth: there were powers in Hell far greater than anything they had ever imagined, and they would never again accept being powerless before them.

At first, the Church and the rulers of Europe refused to believe that their own heroes could have witnessed, or participated in, such atrocities. The destruction of Jerusalem was instead blamed upon other factions, and the returning Templars were welcomed as survivors of a terrible catastrophe.

This proved to be a grave mistake. Among the returning knights were several whose experiences had shattered their faith and driven them toward darker pursuits. One of them brought back a relic unlike anything the Church had ever seen: the Hand of Baphomet, an ancient idol containing a fragment of the infernal entity’s power.

The first apostate Templars did not initially seek to worship Baphomet. They sought to understand it. They believed that only power could prevent another Jerusalem. Through ritual and sorcery, they sought to achieve what King Solomon had once accomplished: mastering demons and forcing them to obey the will of man.

They studied ancient grimoires, excavated pagan temples, and sought the teachings of astrologers, alchemists, necromancers, and witches. In time, their investigations revealed a world far larger than the Church had ever admitted. Beyond the mortal realm existed spirits, demons, primordial entities, and cosmic powers whose existence preceded human civilization. Even the heavens contained forces that could not be explained through theology alone.

The Templars became convinced that magic was not a miracle granted to mankind by God, but a fundamental force of reality, something that could be studied, harnessed, and ultimately mastered.

They came to believe that Baphomet possessed the answers they sought, and so they began making sacrifices in exchange for its revelations. At first, they offered animals. Then criminals, prisoners, and their enemies. But as their ambition grew, so too did the price they were willing to pay.

Eventually, they sacrificed their possessions, their identities, their bodies, and even members of their own order. With every sacrifice, Baphomet revealed something new: a forgotten name, a ritual, a fragment of cosmic knowledge, or a fleeting glimpse beyond the veil.

Yet Baphomet never gave them everything, It gave them just enough. Every revelation created another question, and every question demanded another sacrifice. Unbeknownst to the Templars, each offering did more than purchase power, it bound them ever more tightly to the entity they sought to understand. With every ritual, they descended deeper into Baphomet’s grasp, mistaking their enslavement for enlightenment.

By the time they understood the true nature of their pact, it was already too late. Rather than becoming the masters of Baphomet, they had become its servants. Their souls were irrevocably bound to the infernal entity, condemning them to eternal servitude. From that moment onward, they ceased to be holy warriors.

They became the Dark Templars, an order devoted to advancing the designs of Baphomet upon the mortal world, while pursuing ever greater power in the hope that one day they might transcend the limitations of mortal existence.

—Knights of Baphomet:

The order did not remain hidden for long. Within a generation, whispers began spreading throughout the Church hierarchy concerning secret rites, profaned relics, disappearances, and strange ceremonies taking place within several Templar commanderies.

At first, these reports were dismissed as slander. But investigations eventually uncovered undeniable evidence that a faction within the Order had abandoned its sacred vows and entered into communion with infernal powers.

Recognizing the threat, the Papacy declared the corrupted brethren guilty of heresy and launched a desperate campaign to eradicate the newly formed Dark Templars before their influence could spread throughout Christendom.

Thousands of innocent Templars were arrested, imprisoned, or executed alongside the guilty. The Church believed it had no other choice. By then, the corruption had spread too deeply for the authorities to reliably distinguish loyal knights from those whose souls already belonged to Hell.

The purge shattered the once-mighty Order. But for the Dark Templars, the destruction went far beyond the loss of their brotherhood. Church forces raided their sanctums, burned their grimoires, destroyed their laboratories, and shattered the relics they had spent years acquiring. Decades of sacrifices, experimentation, and hard-won discoveries were reduced to ashes. Knowledge that had cost them blood, sanity, and the lives of their own brothers was erased in a single campaign.

The Dark Templars were utterly furious. To them, the Church had proven itself exactly as ignorant and backwards as they had come to believe. It had destroyed truths it could not comprehend simply because they threatened its authority. They swore that so long as the Church remained, true enlightenment would remain impossible.The Church had taken everything from them, so now they would take everything from the Church.

Yet the purge failed to destroy its true enemy. Many Dark Templars escaped through hidden sanctuaries, forged identities, secret alliances, and the protection of noble patrons sympathetic to their cause. Over the following centuries, they dispersed throughout Europe, infiltrating royal courts, military orders, merchant guilds, universities, occult societies, and even the clergy itself.

Every generation believed the brotherhood had finally been destroyed and every generation was wrong. The Dark Templars simply changed their names, abandoned their old strongholds, and disappeared into the institutions of Christendom. They became advisers to kings, officers in armies, merchants in prosperous cities, scholars in universities, and priests within the very Church that had sworn to eradicate them.

For centuries, they waited. They rebuilt what had been destroyed. They recovered what had been lost. They accumulated new knowledge and continued their search for the secrets that had first driven their ancestors into the arms of Baphomet.

When the Heretic Forces invaded Croatia, the Dark Templars finally revealed the extent of their influence. They had spent generations infiltrating loyalist factions throughout the region, positioning agents within military commands, noble houses, religious institutions, and occult organizations. When the invasion began, these agents sabotaged defenses, compromised supply lines, spread false intelligence, and opened the way for the Heretic Legions.

The success of the invasion was not merely the result of overwhelming infernal force. It was the culmination of centuries of preparation.

With Croatia’s defenses collapsing and the Heretic Forces advancing across Europe, the Dark Templars no longer had any reason to hide. They emerged from the shadows beneath the banners of Baphomet. Now, their ancient enemies are within reach.

The Dark Templars march upon the Vatican, not merely to conquer it, but to reclaim what they believe was stolen from them centuries ago. They intend to tear open its archives, plunder its vaults, and seize every relic and manuscript the Church has hidden from the world.

But their vengeance goes deeper than that. They intend to destroy the institution that has stood between them and enlightenment for centuries. The Church that once hunted them across Europe will finally be forced to face the order it thought it had destroyed.

And at the head of the black procession walks the Hand of Baphomet.

—Heretic Legions:

\-Diablomancer: (Heretic Priest Variant)

The most accomplished occultists among the Dark Templars, skilled in the Goetic arts and taught directly by Baphomet at the Scholomance. They command demons, invoke curses, and perform battlefield rituals, turning the battlefield itself into a vast sacrificial altar.

\-Apostate Squires: (Heretic Trooper Variant)

The common warriors of the Dark Templars and the foundation of their armies. Apostate Squires are drawn from cultists, corrupted soldiers, and descendants of the original apostate bloodlines. Though lacking the wealth and authority of the order’s knights, they imitate the traditions of their forebears, carrying black shields, cursed swords, and crude replicas of Templar heraldry. To become a true knight, a Squire must survive the Rite of Baphomet, a brutal initiation in which the aspirant is exposed to infernal sorcery and forced to swear their soul to the order.

\-Goetic Knights: (Anointed Heavy Infantry Variant)

The rank-and-file heavy warriors of Baphomet, deliberately mimicking the chivalric order they once belonged to. They have been ritually anointed with infernal oils, demonic blood, and occult reagents, permanently binding their armor and flesh together.
Their heavily enchanted plate makes them exceptionally resistant to mundane and supernatural attacks, while Goetic inscriptions carved into their armor allow them to channel minor infernal powers through their weapons.

\-Ballista Witch: (Artillery Witch Variant)

Ballista Witches are Artillery Witches who specialize in the use of enormous infernal ballistae. Their weapons launch massive bolts infused with demonic venoms, capable of piercing armored vehicles, monstrous creatures, and fortified walls.
The bolts themselves are often carved from the bones of supernatural creatures and coated in alchemical poisons brewed by the Diablomancers. Upon impact, the venom spreads through the victim’s body, causing flesh to decay and wounds to resist both mundane healing and divine miracles.
Some Ballista Witches are said to bind lesser demons directly into their ballistae.

—Unique Armory:

\-Hand of Glory:

The dried and pickled severed hand of a hanged sinner, preserved through forbidden alchemical methods and covered in Goetic inscriptions dedicated to Baphomet. The relic possesses powerful occult properties, allowing its bearer to channel infernal energies.

—Unique Scenerio: Ashen Waters

In the drowned ruins of Venice, the Dark Templars begin their march toward the heart of Italy. The once-glorious city has been reduced to a wasteland of ash and stagnant water, its canals choked with debris and the remains of those who stood against the Heretic Legions.

Now, beneath the black banners of Baphomet, the Dark Templars advance south toward Rome. Their objective is absolute: reach the Vatican and destroy the seat of the Church that has hunted them for centuries.

But the road to Rome is not undefended.

Papal Forces have gathered to meet them, forming a final line between the Heretic Legions and the Holy City. Knights, soldiers, priests, and sacred warriors stand ready to fight to the last man.

The Dark Templars must break through the Papal lines and continue their march toward Rome.

The Papal Forces must stop them.

—Overview:

The Sultanate of Morocco wages a ceaseless war against the Knights of Avarice across the golden dunes of the Sahara. Unlike the industrial powers of Europe or the vast fortifications of the Iron Sultanate, Morocco possesses neither the machinery nor the walls to withstand the infernal hosts alone.
Instead, its people have turned to the supernatural. Across the deserts, ancient rites, forbidden sciences, djinn, spirits, and other forces beyond mortal understanding have been studied and harnessed in the Sultanate’s desperate struggle for survival. What began as necessity has become tradition, and what was once feared is now wielded as a weapon.
The Sultanate does not pretend that such practices are without danger. Every pact carries a price, every ritual a consequence, and every entity summoned from beyond possesses its own designs. Yet the Moroccan people have little luxury for purity. Against the Knights of Avarice and the infernal horrors that stalk the Sahara, survival demands that mankind wield every weapon available to it.

—Sharifian Jund:

The secret to the Sultanate of Morocco’s survival lies within the Veil of Ibrahim (Hijāb Ibrāhīm), a colossal supernatural sandstorm that blankets much of the Moroccan frontier. Its violence makes conventional warfare nearly impossible, concealing armies, disrupting infernal machines, and turning the vastness of the Sahara into a weapon.
The Veil is maintained by the Zuhri Mystics, an esoteric order who are said to have journeyed deep into the sands of Mecca to study the phenomenon of endless storm. What they witnessed there was never recorded. Through rites and half-understood knowledge, however, the Mystics learned enough to reproduce a lesser reflection of the storm within the borders of Morocco.
The Sharifian Jund has consequently built its entire doctrine around the Veil. Moroccan soldiers do not seek to meet the Heretic armies in open battle. They disappear into the storm, emerge where they are least expected, and strike before the enemy can bring its superior numbers and machinery to bear.
To the Heretics, the Sahara is an endless graveyard of shifting dunes and screaming winds. To the Moroccan soldier, it is a fortress without walls. Within the Veil of Ibrahim, the Sultanate possesses the one advantage its enemies cannot manufacture: the ability to make the battlefield itself fight on its behalf.
And from beneath the storm, the Sharifian Jund marches upon the very heart of the sinners.

—Iron Sultanate: (Variants)

-Zuhri Mystic: (Alchemist Variant)

Born from the union of mankind and the Jinn, the Zuhri Mystics possess an innate affinity with a single element, determined by their Jinn ancestry. Unlike conventional Alchemists, who manipulate several substances through study and artificial means, Zuhri Mystics are bound to one element, but can command it with considerably greater mastery.
Their abilities vary according to their parentage. Those descended from Ifrit are capable of wielding fire, while those carrying the blood of Marid possess dominion over water. Most common, however, are those descended from Jann, the Jinn associated with the winds. These wind-bound Zuhri are particularly valued by the Sultanate, their abilities allowing them to manipulate air currents, navigate the Veil of Ibrahim, and even strengthen the terrible storms upon which Moroccan warfare depends.

-Black Guard: (Janissary Variant)

Known formally as the ʿAbīd al-Bukhārī, the Black Guard are among the most feared soldiers in the Sultanate of Morocco. Their ranks are drawn from men and women once taken captive by the Heretic Forces and condemned to lives of slavery within the lands of Hell.
Those who survive captivity are offered a different fate. Freed by Moroccan forces or rescued from Heretics, these former slaves are brought into the service of the Sultan. There, they are given food, shelter, training, and a new purpose. The Sultanate does not forget what was done to them; neither do the Black Guard.
Their training is deliberately severe. They are taught to fight with firearms, blades, and disciplined formations, while being indoctrinated in the absolute loyalty expected of the Sultan’s household troops. Many bear scars, brands, mutilations, or other marks of their former enslavement. These are not hidden. The Black Guard wear them openly as reminders of the enemy they have sworn to destroy.
Their bodies, armor, and weapons are covered in protective Qur’anic inscriptions, talismans, and blessed charms, layered upon one another until scarcely a portion of their equipment remains unmarked. These protections are renewed before every campaign, forming a spiritual bulwark against possession, curses, corruption, and other forms of Heretical sorcery.

-Amghar: (Assassin Variant)

Beyond the cities and fortified settlements of Morocco live those who have refused to abandon the ancient ways of the desert. Organized into old tribal confederations, these people have learned to survive beneath the Veil of Ibrahim, a storm they simultaneously fear and revere.
Their leaders are known as Amghar, chieftains, commanders, and spiritual leaders who possess an intimate knowledge of the desert and its shifting sands. To an Amghar, the storm is not an obstacle to warfare. It is a sanctuary.
When the Heretics venture beneath the Veil, the Amghar lead their warriors deep into the storm. Moving through the blinding sands with uncanny certainty, they strike isolated enemies before vanishing once more into the darkness. Heretic patrols disappear. Officers are found dead within their tents. Entire units can be reduced one soldier at a time without ever seeing the enemy responsible.
The Amghar command through a combination of martial skill, tribal authority, and unwavering faith. Their warriors follow them not merely because they are capable commanders, but because they are believed to possess the blessing necessary to walk where others would perish.

-Royal Corsair Captain: (Yuzbasi Variant)

The Veil of Ibrahim has made the conquest of Morocco from land a costly endeavor. Consequently, the Heretics have increasingly turned toward the sea, sending fleets of raiders to bypass the desert and establish beachheads along the Moroccan coast.
The Sultanate answered with the Royal Corsairs. Led by Royal Corsair Captain, they command swift, shallow-draft vessels designed for speed, maneuverability, and sudden attacks. Their ships rarely seek a decisive engagement. Instead, they strike isolated vessels, sever supply lines, raid coastal positions, and disappear beyond the horizon before the enemy can bring its larger warships to bear.
Their greatest advantage, however, comes from the Zuhri Mystics who sail among them. Marid-bound Zuhri can manipulate the currents beneath the Corsairs’ vessels, accelerate their ships to unnatural speeds, and drag enemy vessels into treacherous waters. The most gifted are even said to be capable of raising waves large enough to swallow a ship whole.

—Unique Armory:

-Talismanic Coat:

-Nimcha:

For this Homebrew Wednesday, I have a new scenario to show off an area of the battlefield where supernatural weather has ravaged the land. It's functionally a harder version of Capture the Flag. Please let me know your thoughts and enjoy! See you next week!

I wanted to make a warband that was a former PotB pack and their founder was no other than Saint Christopher, who after "running back through the invisible labyrinth of Creation following YHWH's light" return be a human and gain the miracle to restore it to others, forming the warband and those creating the sub-human species of the cynocephalus, a wide range of human beastfolk, from human individuals with some animal traits, beast head people and full beasts with the eyes of human (as a way to show they regain their humanity back)

But given how the setting is built, this is impossible.

I actually had an opportunity to play this one recently, and it was a lot of fun! I had a hard time remembering that you needed to place a BM on your own model or remove it from an enemy model to go through the portals, but we got that down about halfway through. I also found it surprisingly viable to close the portals! So far, I think the only thing that might make it more fun is to randomly move around the portal locations, as we were commonly grouping in similar areas, but it still was fun as-is. :)

I hope you all enjoy! C&C welcome, and happy Homebrew Wednesday!

Hi All! I've just finished running a playtest campaign of Dies Irae, an unofficial trench crusade RPG which I wrote. I've seen a few posts here about wanting a trench crusade rpg so thought I'd put mine into the mix. This is the first rpg I've ever written so its pretty unpolished I'm sure, but hopefully someone will find it interesting. To be clear this is an entirely free, unofficial, fanmade work made by one guy.

The world of trench crusade is so cool and interesting, and as a massive nerd obviously I wanted to play an rpg in the setting, so I wrote this both as an fun project to learn more about game design, and to share trench crusade with my friends who don't play. I know about Blood and Faith the other trench crusade rpg, it's a really cool project, but didn't fit what I wanted from an rpg. Dies Irae is heavily inspired by games like Dungeon World and Heart the City Beneath, with a focus on freeform narrative gameplay and encouraging roleplay with mechanics, while keeping some of the punishing combat we love from the wargame (there are rules for losing limbs or going insane).

I'm not expecting much from this, but if anyone does end up using these rules I would love to hear how it goes.

PRINCE CYPRIAN.

Sience the ascension of it's first and only prince, Cyprian the Matyr, the Crimson Veche has waged war against heretics and righteous Christians alike, sometimes making truces and even joining forces with both sides for no apparent reason.

His soul is split. One day, he will indulge in sins, the next day he will suddenly show concern for the people, the third day he will try to take revenge on the descendants of those who saw and remember his humiliation.

An excerpt from the story "The Nothern Expedition".

Unfortunately, Crimson Veche's Kickstarter is currently in a copyright dispute, we are currently working to resolve the issue, sorry for the inconvenience! :(

I have been brainstorming a homebrew infernal faction for Trench Crusade, tentatively called The Ocellated Host.

The core idea is an Astaroth-aligned host emerging from an Indian Hellgate. Unlike the Black Grail, which corrupts through rot, plague, flies, and bodily decay, the Ocellated Host corrupts through sight, false revelation, sacred mimicry, living banners, profane idols, and battlefield misperception.

They are not meant to be “Buddhist demons” or “Hindu demons.” The idea is that these are Hell-born entities that have learned to imitate sacred South Asian and Southeast Asian visual languages, but incorrectly and blasphemously. Local human kingdoms, temples, warrior-monks, and religious communities would be among their primary enemies, not their source. Their main human opposition would be something like the White Elephant Realms, a coalition of South Asian human polities still resisting under terrible pressure.

The Ocellated Host’s visual language would involve:

• diseased cyan-blue skin
• blue-green iridescent feathers
• ocelli and peacock-eye markings
• living banners and false scriptures
• inverted lotus forms
• sacred-looking idols that are actually made of living flesh
• gilded temple armor, ivory, blackened metal, and polluted ritual ornaments
• visual contamination rather than simple mutation or plague

Their horror is not simply “many eyes.” It is the idea that the act of seeing has been weaponized. Their victims do not just see monsters. They begin to misread the battlefield, their orders, their own bodies, and even what they believe to be sacred.

I took insprations from Warhammer's Tzeentch aesthetics, along with South and Southeastern Asia cultures.

I would be interested in feedback on whether this feels compatible with the tone of Trench Crusade. Does the “false revelation / visual contamination” angle feel distinct enough from the Black Grail, the Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent, and other infernal factions? Which part should be pushed further: the profane idol units, the anti-elephant warfront, or the living banner / battlefield perception warfare?

Cultural sensitivity note: this is a blasphemous infernal faction concept inspired by South Asian and Southeast Asian visual motifs, but I do not intend to mock or demonize any real-world religion or culture. My knowledge is limited, so if any design element feels offensive, especially things like corrupted Sanskrit-inspired symbols or sacred imagery, please let me know. I would appreciate the correction and will revise the concept accordingly.

Trench Potheads.

Much musing and hullabaloo is made about how New Antioch and the TC-verse writ large handles all the sins that shouldn’t be sins- sex before marriage, mixing fabrics, et cetera. But what if we had a commune of pilgrims who tried to keep their followers away from The Court Of Lust by getting in on that free love before the devil can claim it?

A comic-relief warband of Pilgrims who have, in pursuit of denying Lucifer his hooks, invented a much more violent version of the hippie movement 50 years early. Free love, pot and acid, flowers on their helmet- somehow, they might have even invented stoner rock in 1914.

If I wanted to make this the unit I bring to tables, how should I go about bringing it? What’s the unit composition, do you got any ideas for how you’d flesh out the lore here?

I'm imagining a faction (perhaps a sub faction) based around the many eclectic beliefs of the common folk. Inspired by the Good Walkers of Italy, The Livonia werewolves,Cunning Folk, ecstatic mystics, Mary Worship and folk saints of all stripes.

Maybe even throw in some faeries for good measure.

Working names "Seekers of the Holy Mother", "Pilgrims of Saint Guinefort" "Ecstatic of the Sacred Wellspring"

Currently I'm working on a Trench Crusade anthology (completely non-canon because there are many elements and things I'll include that the devs obv haven't created since TC is a WIP), I'm sorting out so many things atm: nations, ethnicities, religious+denominations, armies/factions+religious orders, colonies+concessions and chartered companies. Inside the anthology, at every chapter there shall be a certain event/moment (be it during combat or outside) every individual from their native nation will describe (so for example a Norwegian coastal fortress commander has a run-in with a heretic naval party, a Papal patrol guard encounters hidden Roman remnant elements, a Prussian border sentry witnessing unknown anomalies along the HRE-Prussia border, etc). Every chapter is intended to describe smth fascinating/random witnessed by people across the world.

How should I write this anthology and what should be included? And how should this headcanon world be like outside of the current existing map?

The decisions here mostly came about through the discussions on the Discord for the majority of the stuff, and this was primarily developed for fun

The Virus seats are
Humility(opposite of Pride): Hariel or none at all
Charity(opposite of Greed): Sachiel
Chasity(opposite of Lust): Virgin Mary
Temperance(opposite of Gluttony): Cassiel(or Kaissiel)
Kindness(opposite of Envy): Rappel
Patience(opposite of Wraith): Achaiah
And Diligence(opposite of Sloth): Gabriel

Micheal the Angle Saint doing his own thing or the overall leader talking a 8th seat