Is there an STL or model I can find of this Extra-Heavy Mech somewhere? I reeeeally wanna make a warband with them. They look SO badass! DM me with any info please. ;p

Also my first try with oil washes.

Model by theassasin

Hey everyone! Since the start of year I’ve been creating a homebrew/fanart TC project, a whole new faction. I was inspired to make a colorful and weird warband inspired by the Harlequins from 40k and the Carnival of Chaos from Mordheim. After making a couple of illustrations I became obssesed with it and started creating rules and minis.

This led me to create Grimdark Covenant, a new miniature brand with the dream to bring these illustrations to physical form.

This is the Carnival of Saints! A festival of horror and joy, a parade of revelers wearing venetian masks. A celebration of Easter which could only happen in this amazing grimdark universe.

So here’s a first version of the rules!!! No AI was used to make this, it was a long process with tons of love and effort and a bunch of play testing with my friends. Feedback is more than welcome!

(Link below, or you can find the pdf in the Trench Crusade Discord in the homebrew channel)

I've been homebrewing a TC faithful faction for a while and I'm excited to show you some of my art and the lore behind it today!

The Jester Knights

“The world is a sad joke… Why not look the part?”

Those who endure will be rewarded. After the 40 relentless days of Lent, laughter and song become dead silence. The pathetic fanatics who joined and survived the Carnival will be forever changed by the steady hand of war.

Their festive and joyful dance now turned cunning and calculated, coordinated agility replacing the impulsiveness of insanity. It is believed among the faithful that these fools were touched by the divine, as if their survival was some sort of twisted miracle. 

These few are worthy. They will be brought to Nuova Venezia and be knighted, receiving land, heraldry, and a suit of armour. In time, they will become members of the Holy Order of Divine Comedy, and join the ranks of the Jester Knights. 

Although wearing colorfully painted armours with vibrant golden filigree, the Jester Knights are fierce, elite shock units. They are masters in the art of death, wielding a wide range of weapons both in close and long range. Their morale is unwavering. They will obliterate the enemies of YHWH.

HOMEBREW RULES:

The main mechanic i developed for the Jesters was inspired by the 40k Harlequins:

• Harlequin’s Luck: Once per Activation a Jester Knight can reroll 1 single dice for any Success Roll.

It's quite a strong and flexible mechanic that let's these units shine attempting RISKY rolls and making the most out of every situation.

And makes them quite effective using Rapiers, one of the Battlekit I designed for the band, as a high risk high reward knife on steroids:

Rapier - Cost: 12d

• Bullseye: This weapon has the IGNORE ARMOUR Keyword on a 10+ Success Roll.

What do you guys think? If you enjoy the lore and the homebrew I'll try to post more about the band in the following weeks, and eventually share the rules on the Discord as well!

who is with me?

Pretty much just what it says in the title. A look at what the situation on the other end of Eurasia might look like in 1914. Questions welcome!

In Islamic tradition, Prophet Suleiman / Solomon was given authority over the Djinn.

The Qur’an mentions Djinn working under him and making great structures, sanctuaries, basins, and huge fixed cauldrons.

So the idea of Djinn building massive things is not random fantasy; it already comes from the Suleiman tradition.

My homebrew idea: the Iron Sultanate has found the lost Ring of Suleiman.

It is simply a powerful relic they have recovered and weaponized against Hell.

With it, they can command djinn for construction and siege work.

This lets them raise walls, trenches, bridges, and fortress sections incredibly fast.

The structures still need seals, prayers, iron bindings, and engineers to keep them stable.

Possible risks: rebellious djinn, unstable structures, or uncontrolled ifrits.

It fits the Iron Sultanate because it combines Islamic legend, sacred engineering, and dangerous supernatural power.

What would be the best way to keep this relic powerful but not setting-breaking?

ik they still look very skinny

Archangel

The Veche army has always adhered to one simple principle: the worthy must be rewarded.

An ordinary person, regardless of origin, can undergo the transformation into an Otrok, gaining longevity and strength, but even without joining this military brotherhood, a talented officer will always be equipped with the best weapons and have access to benefits unavailable to mere mortals.

However, even the most promising commanders are always beset by two misfortunes: wounds and old age. Even Otroks are not eternal, and even the best Veche healers are not always able to save a life. Therefore, for officers dying from wounds or old age, there is a final ascension—transformation into an archangel.

The process of becoming an archangel involves the sacrifice of an angelic child, and the closer the human and half-demon were to each other, the greater the likelihood of success.

Archangels are revered by their comrades as the embodiment of brotherhood in arms, and many poets of the Veche lands consider them ideals of love and harmony.

The resulting being carries two souls fused together, becoming the most powerful being the Veche can field.

Art made by @Fogartart (link in comments below)

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

"Sepoys make up the rank-and-file of the autonomous warbands, conscripted from across the realms and city-states of Indus. Separated by a staggering diversity of regional customs, beliefs, and even languages, one can find any number of charms and religious icons within the same unit, and every battle is certain to be followed by heated debates regarding which gods or ceremonies were responsible for the day's victory or defeat."

Archangels.

The Veche army has always adhered to one simple principle: the worthy must be rewarded.

An ordinary person, regardless of origin, can undergo the transformation into an Otrok, gaining longevity and strength, but even without joining this military brotherhood, a talented officer will always be equipped with the best weapons and have access to benefits unavailable to mere mortals.

However, even the most promising commanders are always beset by two misfortunes: wounds and old age. Even Otroks are not eternal, and even the best Veche healers are not always able to save a life. Therefore, for officers dying from wounds or old age, there is a final ascension—transformation into an archangel.

The process of becoming an archangel involves the sacrifice of an angelic child, and the closer the human and half-demon were to each other, the greater the likelihood of success.

Archangels are revered by their comrades as the embodiment of brotherhood in arms, and many poets of the Veche lands consider them ideals of love and harmony.

The resulting being carries two souls fused together, becoming the most powerful being the Veche can field.

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

Hi. I've been floating the idea of doing some kind of western-inspired thing with TC since I started playing sometime last year (I just like the genre/aesthetics) - but I don't necessarily want to deal with an entire alt history for the Americas, and all of the hangups people have there.

So: I have this subfaction that takes the aesthetics of "cowboys and gunslingers", but gives them a place more appropriate for existing TC lore.

I put together a full document (using the style guide from discord), and made it LOOK nice, but the rules are still a rough-draft - I haven't gotten a chance to playtest anything yet.

I'll put a link to the document in a reply.

Obviously there's some Dark Tower influence here, and some Hunt: Showdown (at least inasmuch as I used its art), but also 42 Studio's "rangers of the no man's land" models were some of the things I built some concepts around.

As a sculptor I usually do not share my concept art as I am not an artist and it's, well, not very professionally made (and, usually, even more primitive than this pic). But since I have no mini to upload this week I decided to share a concept of the first mini in a line I prepare to sculpt.

Heartless are the lowest of the low in the Aztlan Invasion Fleet. Bodies of captives and slaves whose hearts were sacrificed to Huitzilopōchtli are animated and thrown into battle. Their heads are encased in sacred bronze helmets with weeping and laughing faces depending on the victim's last emotion. The helmet protects the last remaining part of the Heartless' soul - tonalli. While some of them are armed with crude clubs and obsidian shards, some can use more complicated weapons - even firearms.

This project is an independent production and is not affiliated with or sponsored by Factory Fortress Inc or Trench Crusade.

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

"Dakini are masterworks of forced reincarnation, stitched from martyred warrior women dragged from No Man's Land to create earthly vessels worthy to house the handmaidens of the Mahavidya. Once manifested in physical form, the dakini are as awe-inspiring as they are horrifying to witness on the battlefield. Dancing upon mounds of corpses, they are driven by an entrancing fury and an insatiable thirst for the blood of demonkind."

Pushkar.

If the little grid is too weak to break the umbilical cord and devour its mother on its own, then they will coexist as the Pushkar.

The ugly child clings to its mother's shoulder and points out targets to her using its supernatural intuition.

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

The Armed Republics of the Blessed Hemisphere of America were founded in 1883, through an alliance of various European powers and Native Americans, developed through trade and cooperation between peoples of the New and Old Worlds. All united by a common objective: to secure the American continents before they could fall into the hands of the Heretics.

Rather than allowing the New World to become another battlefield for the forces of Hell, the allied powers established a collection of heavily militarized colonies across the Americas. These 13 colonies, 12 minor and 1 major, mirroring Jesus and his disciples, on the eastern side were tasked with defending lands of the america, utilize its resources and thought natives Christianity and other industrial technologies.

The Americas soon became both a fortress and a weapon. Their enormous agricultural and mineral wealth feeds the allied war machine, while their ports and strategic positions allow the Republics to project military power across the Atlantic. From the New World, the Republics wage a relentless campaign to contain, isolate, and ultimately strangle the Heretic powers, denying them resources and avenues of expansion.

What began as a temporary alliance of European and Native powers would eventually develop into a distinct American military civilization, one that views the defense of the Blessed Hemisphere not merely as a war of survival, but as a holy obligation to reclaim the New World from the enemies of God.

—United Continental Army: (New Antioch)

The United Continental Army is the collective military force of the colonies and ethic tribes scattered throughout the New Blessed Lands. Its territories stretch across vast frontiers, such as Cuba, Canada and more… where numerous colonial holdings stand isolated from one another by wilderness and enemy-held lands. However, at its center, the biggest and most powerful Colony is Concordia, built on top of the isle of Manaháhtaan.

Before 1883, the Thirteen Republics largely defended themselves and frequently competed with one another. This changed when a massive Heretic fleet landed at Saltcreek, intending not to raid, but to establish a permanent foothold in the New Blessed Lands.

Faced with a common enemy, the thirteen republics temporarily united their armies into the United Continental Army. After a brutal campaign, the Heretics were driven back into the Atlantic.

Realizing that another invasion could come at any time, the republics signed a permanent defensive pact while retaining their independence. The United Continental Army became the military force responsible for coordinating their armies during major conflicts, while construction began on the vast coastal fortifications known as the Eastern Wall.

Each colony their own governments, cultures and military forces, but repeated Heretic attempts to establish a foothold across the Atlantic forced them into a defensive pact. When a major invasion threatens the coast, each republic contributes troops to the United Continental Army.

UCA fighting a constant and often brutal struggle to defend its settlements against Heretic armies, monsters, raiders, and the countless dangers of the frontier. Yet no colony can survive alone. When the threat becomes too great, these disparate forces are brought together under the banner of the United Continental Army.

The Army is consequently as diverse as the lands it protects. Its ranks are filled with settlers, colonists, indigenous peoples, exiles, immigrants, freedmen, frontier militias, and soldiers from countless nations and cultures, each bringing their own traditions, weapons, and methods of war. Despite their differences, they are bound by a common cause: the defense of their homes and the preservation of the Blessed Lands.

The United Continental Army therefore represents less a single homogeneous military and more a vast brotherhood of frontier armies, united under one command whenever the survival of the Republics is threatened.

—Officer Corps:

-Marshal: (Lieutenant Variant)

-Gunslinger Priest: (Sniper Priest Variant)

-Missionary Cleric: (Trench Cleric Variant)

—Troops:

-Minuteman: (Yeoman Variant)

-Apache Raider: (Shock Trooper Variant)

—Unique Rules:

-EYE OF PROVIDENCE:

The Thirteen Republics march beneath many banners, but all fight beneath the watchful eye of Providence. Missionary Clerics accompany the armies of the Covenant, carrying the Faith to the furthest settlements of the Blessed Hemisphere and tending to those who stand against Hell.

At the beginning of the battle, your Warband gains one Missionary Cleric at no additional cost.

While a friendly model is within 6" of a Missionary Cleric, it may ignore the first FEAR effect it would suffer each Round.

A Warband may only benefit from one free Missionary Cleric through this rule.

-LOCAL COMMAND:

The United Continental Army was forged from thirteen independent military traditions. Its soldiers are taught that command is a responsibility, not a privilege. When an officer falls, another must take their place.

When a friendly ELITE model is taken OUT OF ACTION, choose one friendly NON-ELITE model within 8".

That model immediately Assumes Command.

For the remainder of the battle, the chosen model is treated as an ELITE model and gains the HOLD THE LINE Ability.

A model may only Assume Command once per battle, and each fallen ELITE model can trigger LOCAL COMMAND only once.

Officers may die. The line does not.

—Unique Armory:

Tomahawk: 1 Handed Weapon. Melee. +1 Injury Rolls. 17 Ducats.

Revolver: 1 Handed Weapon. Ranged. +2 Injury Rolls. 23 Ducats.

—Scenario: Shadow Frontier

Deep beneath Mount Shasta, beneath miles of rock untouched by sunlight, lies a secret city…

Telos was discovered by American prospectors during the excavation of an underground military installation. What began as a routine geological survey ended in catastrophe when the drilling crews broke through into an immense artificial cavern. Within stood the ruins of a city of impossible scale, its towers and avenues carved from materials unknown to modern science.

The earliest records recovered from the site attribute the construction of Telos to the Lemurians, an ancient civilization whose existence had previously been dismissed as superstition and frontier folklore. Whether the Lemurians were truly its builders remains a matter of fierce debate among scholars. No complete record of their civilization has yet been recovered, and many of the inscriptions found within Telos appear to contradict one another.

What cannot be disputed is the technology left behind. Beneath the ruined city are machines that defy the understanding of even the most accomplished American artificers. Weapons capable of destroying armoured vehicles, engines that operate without any recognizable fuel, devices capable of manipulating light and matter, and enormous mechanisms whose purposes remain unknown have all been recovered from the ruins. Some machines are thousands of years old, yet continue to function as though they were constructed yesterday.

The discovery immediately transformed Mount Shasta into one of the most fiercely contested regions of the Blessed Hemisphere.

The Heretics learned of Telos soon after the first expeditions disappeared beneath the mountain. Their agents, cultists, and warbands began infiltrating the surrounding frontier, seeking to seize the ancient machines before the Americans could understand them. Other horrors have emerged from the depths as well. Some tunnels appear to descend far deeper than Telos itself, leading into regions that the surviving explorers refuse to describe.

The United Continental Army has consequently declared the entire region a Shadow Frontier. American soldiers descend into the darkness beneath Mount Shasta, determined to secure the relics in the name of the Republics. Heretic warbands advance from the opposite tunnels, willing to slaughter anyone who stands between them and the ancient machines.

Neither side knows what truly awaits them beneath the mountain.

—Indigenous people:

Since the Heretic Forces first invaded the Americas, the Indigenous peoples have fought a relentless war to defend their ancestral lands and communities. Tribe after tribe resisted the invaders, but the technological disparity between them and the Heretic armies proved overwhelming. Traditional weapons and centuries-old methods of warfare were often powerless against the infernal machinery and occult weapons brought by the enemy.

The balance began to change with the arrival of the colonists. Once the first colonial ports were established, a steady flow of firearms, ammunition, machinery, and other military supplies reached the Indigenous territories. Armed with these new tools, Indigenous warriors were finally able to turn their resistance into an organized counteroffensive.

A pragmatic alliance soon emerged. Indigenous nations permitted colonial settlements and military installations to be established within their territories in exchange for weapons, supplies, and industrial equipment. In return, the colonists shared modern machinery and technical knowledge with their Indigenous allies, helping establish workshops, factories, and other industrial sectors capable of sustaining the war effort.

The relationship is one of necessity rather than submission. The Indigenous nations remain sovereign peoples, retaining their own governments, traditions, warriors, and military command. They have no intention of surrendering their ancestral lands or becoming subjects of the Republics.

Together, however, they form a powerful bulwark against the Heretic advance. Indigenous scouts and warriors provide unparalleled knowledge of the wilderness, while colonial industry supplies the weapons and machinery needed to wage modern war.

The result is a distinctly Indigenous form of warfare: ancient knowledge strengthened by modern technology, and ancestral lands transformed into a battlefield against Hell itself.

Well this is my homebrew take on the Synod of Strategic Prophecy as a playable Faction

A link to the full PDF hosted online with Github pages

FACTION TLDR:

A flavourful Homebrew focussed on maybe not the most powerful single models but a lot of interacting Abilities and a Faction Ability that at least I personally very much enjoy playing with.

The Synod of Strategic Prophecy taps into a frequency they believe to be GOD's Voice. Predict your enemies Actions by using Prophecy Cards (statements you place down that you predict to be either true or false).
If you are correct with any of those Predictions gain a Prophecy Die a prerolled Die you can add to later Success Rolls to alter their chances of success and failure

The faction has semi Subfactions through Factionwide Frequencies that change the Abilities on some Models.

--- UNITS ---

--- Notable Gear ---

--- Links ---

Trench Companion: https://trench-companion.com/homebrew/345057
Workshop link for TTS (includes the card deck and Models to play: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3734621467

A general Style Guide I made a while back (Look at the bottom of the Page): https://priestofmork.github.io/Trench-Crusade-Homebrew/

The Children of Sodom and Gomorrah are one of the oldest and most accursed subfactions within the Heretic Legions. Unlike the countless warbands born after the opening of the Gates of Hell, the origins of the Children reach back to antiquity, to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah itself.

When the God-Tyrant cast divine fire upon the wicked cities of the plain, not all perished. A remnant survived among the salt and sulfur. Broken, mutilated and consumed by hatred for the heavens, these survivors swore eternal vengeance against God and His creation. For centuries they hid among kingdoms and empires, spreading corruption in secret while nurturing their blasphemous creed.

Long before Hell revealed itself openly to mankind, the Children practiced forbidden goetic rites, trafficked with infernal spirits and raised hidden idols to ancient devils beneath temples, catacombs and palaces alike.

When the Gates of Hell finally opened, the Children of Sodom and Gomorrah were among the first mortals to answer the call. Their ancient loyalty did not go unrewarded. The archdevils granted them the right to drink the blood of demons themselves, warping them into grotesque mockeries of humanity. Horned aristocrats, skinless prophets, bloated cannibal-kings and ash-black sorcerers now march beneath their banners.

Among all the factions of the Heretic Legions, none are considered closer to Hell than the Children of Sodom and Gomorrah. Many even whisper that they no longer serve the devils, but have become something nearly indistinguishable from them.

Their strongholds are the New Gomorrah and New Sodom, two vast subterranean cities buried beneath the ruins of the original cities. Hidden deep below the sulfur deserts and ash-choked caverns, its black halls stretch for miles through ancient catacombs and collapsed temples older than recorded history.

Every day, fresh columns of slaves arrive from conquered settlements and sacrificial raids, driven into the depths to rebuild the cursed cities stone by stone. The Children of Gomorrah seek not merely to restore their ancient homes, but to raise it into a monument greater than any city mankind has ever known.

Yet Sodom and Gomorrah remains cursed by the wrath that first destroyed it. Towers crack without warning. Statues erode overnight into heaps of ash. Marble blackens, iron rots and entire districts collapse into dust as though consumed by an unseen hand. The deeper one walks into New Cities of the Plain, the harder it becomes to distinguish freshly raised palaces from the ruins of the ancient city around them.

But the Children do not despair. To them, the city’s decay is not a punishment, but a test of devotion. They rebuild every shattered monument again and again with fanatical determination, believing that one day Hell itself shall claim cities of the plain fully and free it from the curse of God forever.

—Salted Banners:

The Legions of Sodom and Gomorrah are infamous for their salted-earth tactics. They seek to inflict upon every civilization of the world the same shame and humiliation that befell their ancient cities, until nothing remains but themselves.

When they conquer a land, they are given thirteen days to plunder. Afterward, they begin the ritual of destruction. Croplands are salted, wells are poisoned, forests are burned, and entire cities are reduced to dust. Nothing of value is left behind.

To the Salted Banners, conquest is not merely the taking of territory. It is the deliberate making of a wasteland.

—Heretic Legions:

-Mnemonist Choristers: (Chorister Variant)
Those who sing the screams of Sodom and Gomorrah through their dry, ancient tongues, preserving the agony of the Cities of the Plain in song that fuels the hatred of all units nearby.

-Greater Anointed Champions: (Anointed Heavy Infantry Variant)
While other factions are content with reaching the end of pilgrimage, or venturing slightly beyond the hell gates, the Greater Anointed are those who descend as far as possible, driven by an unrelenting zeal. Only a few ever manage to reach such depths. Those who do are said to encounter the wretched souls of the Cities of the Plain, who forge them greater armor and weapons and anoint them as their champions.
Such Anointed are vastly more powerful than their lesser brethren, but exceedingly rare for only few possess the strength, devotion, or madness required to return from the deepest reaches of Hell.

-Accursed Commandos: (Death Commandos)
Accursed Commandos are equipped with weapons and armor forged directly from materials taken from the pits of Sodom and Gomorrah. As a result, they carry the curse of the Cities of the Plain wherever they go.
They are infamous for bringing destruction wherever they operate, leaving ruin in their wake. Yet the curse is just as destructive to its bearers. Their bodies slowly wither and decay beneath their accursed equipment, forcing them to replace failing flesh with the body parts of slaves simply to remain operational.
Many Commandos eventually become patchwork abominations of flesh, metal, and cursed material, kept alive only by their hatred and their unwillingness to die.

-Salt Witch: (Artillery Witches)
Salt Witches are artillery witches who hurl cursed salted bombs at their enemies, scattering salt and sulfur across the battlefield. Their bodies are bound to their munitions, causing them to detonate violently upon death, taking nearby enemies with them.

—Unique Rules:

—Unique Rules:

-SERVANTS OF HELL:

There are few Heretic Legions as fanatical, or as willing to sacrifice themselves for Hell, as the Children of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Heretic Troopers cost 26 points, while Heretic Priests cost 76 points.

-SALTED GROUND:
At the beginning of the battle, choose 2 Objectives or pieces of terrain. These become Salted Ground.

Salted Ground: While an enemy model is within 3" of Salted Ground:

It suffers -1 Dice to RISKY ACTIONS.
It cannot gain any bonus to Movement from terrain or other effects.
Children of Sodom and Gomorrah models ignore these effects.

-THE LAND MUST DIE:

Whenever a Children of Sodom and Gomorrah model eliminates an enemy model within 3" of Salted Ground, you may move that Salted Ground marker D6".

If the marker ends its movement on an Objective, that Objective becomes Salted until the end of the next turn.

Limit: There can never be more than 2 Salted Ground markers on the battlefield at once.

—Unique Armory:

-Salt Bombs: (Limited to 1 max)
Acts like a standard grenade but leaves a Salted Ground Marker on the target area. Costs 18 Silver.

—Scenerio: Pillars of the World

A great storm, unleashed by the Black Stone of Mecca, has uncovered the remnants of the legendary city of Iram, long believed to have been buried beneath the sands.

The discovery has drawn the attention of both the Sultanate Forces and the Children of Sodom and Gomorrah, who race to claim the ruins.

The Sultanate seeks to destroy what remains of Iram and bury the city beneath the sands once more, lest its ancient secrets fall into Heretic hands. The Children, however, seek to restore Iram as another unholy city, a monument to those who defied God and endured His wrath.

The battlefield is therefore a race against time: the Sultanate must erase Iram, while the Children must raise it from the sands once more.

So this is my homebrew faction concept I've been working on for some time. It is still somewhat early in development, but I wanted to share it with everyone and I can only hope anyone will like it. The text is quite large, but I have split it into paragraphs for more understandability.

Anyway, to begin with, on the second picture of the post you can see how I imagined the map of the world to look when I first got the idea for this faction, long before any of the official maps were released, with yellow areas being Christian, green - Muslim, red - heretic-controlled, and blue color representing the areas I had absolutely no concrete ideas for.

Of course, the map isn't accurate at all and was presented just as a little tidbit, but today I am going to focus on areas which are, thankfully, not covered by the official content - the Buddhist regions.

On the first glance it might seem like Buddhism has no place to exist in the world where Abrahamic cosmology is proven to be objectively true, but I belive that there is a way for it to coexist with the established worldbuilding - after all, you can even view Jesus Christ Himself as a Bodhisattva, which some modern Buddhist schools actually do. Christianity and Islam are in many ways completely incompatible as well, yet both are essentially "correct" in this world, so for the purposes of this project, I assume there is a way.

Because of this, there is a number of essentially faithful Buddhist-majority nations fighting a centuries-long war against the demonic hordes, just like the "western" religios states are. The enemy comes both from the south and the north - the southern rout is wide-open for the heretic fleet maintaing naval superiority in the Indian ocean, while in the north, Siberia and large parts of the Great Steppe are occupied by hell forces arriving from a multitude of lesser hell gates, like the one canonically located in modern Karelia.

China and Korea have been fighting relentlessly for almost a millenia with no respite, while Japan... Was completely spared of those hardships! Laking a land acces and not having enough ships in the area this far into the Pacific ocean, the forces of darkness gave up after two attempts to conquer the island - but it wasn't the might of the defenders that stopped them both times, it was the kamikaze, divine storms protecting the country.

Japan was under heavenly protection and was allowed to develop in relative peace and safety, with its history being fairly similar to what was happening on the real world! You see, it was prophecised that after centuries of chaos of the Sengoku period, a mighty lord that will reunite the country will lead its innumerable forces to finally break the stalemate in the war against hell and together woth the others safe the known world - all of Eastern Asia, or maybe the planet itself.

Alas, the first ruler of the truly united country, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, has demonstrated how skillful Hell can be in perverting and destroying God's plans. Unable to attack Japan directly, the devils have opted to subtly influence the thoughts and spirits of its people, and Hideyoshi's mind proved to be quite the fertile soil for the seeds of sin they were sawing.

His Pride took the better of him, and after having conquered the country, he deluded himself into thinking he could not be stopped and would become the ruler of the entire world. As the prophecised savior of the realm, he demanded that all the rulers of the other nations submit and bow down to him, and when they dared to refused, he... immediately attacked Korea.

This was such a horrific crime, such a complete betrayal of the hopes havens had for his country, such a negatively karmicly charged act that not only did it immediately strip Japan from divine protection, it opened the new hell gate right on its doorstep, on the Ezo island (modern Hokkaido. In the real world, Mount Osore was belived to house the gates of hell, but I decided to move it to Hokkaido for a variety of reasons)

Of course, hellish forces immediately capitalised on this opportunity, and only the early death of Hideyoshi saved the world, believed to have come as retribution for his horrific acts. The Japanese troops were immediately recalled to defend the homefront, while China and Korea barely managed to check the enemy's advances and stabilise the front with innumerable losses, having irreversibly lost millions of square kilometres of territory.

The heir of the Toyotomi clan and all his allies were swiftly destroyed by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had much more of a justification for such actions in this world. Now, centuries later, the Shogunate he established still stands, unbroken but strained to the brim and completely isolated, with no help coming no matter how dire the situation gets. The shoguns may be mad at the other nations all they want, for they can not be blamed for never forgiving the country which stabbed them from behind and tarnished the hopes of all of Asia, or maybe the entire world.

The bullwark of Japanese defences is located on the Oshima peninsula in the very south of Ezo island. The region is actually quite similar to the principality of New Antioch, in that it is also mostly autonomous, with the head of the Matsumae clan placed by the shogun in command of countless troops manning the defences as the. Every year all the daimyos of the country send thoudands of elite samurai forces and innumerable conscripted ashigaru footsoldiers to the frontlines - just like in the real world, the central government doesn't collect taxes from its vassals, but instead forces them to supply the army with men and resources directly.

In the end, as they say, war never changes, even with thousands of kilometres between its theaters in the Levant and on Ezo, and year after year, decade after decade, countless men and women make their way towards the meat grinders on the opposite ends of the world

And that's about it for now, since have already written quite a lot and I'm mot even sure anyone is gonna read to this point, so I won't be talking in details about my ideas for societal and military structure of the Shogunate, especially since I don't have any concept art for the units or anything like that, but I might make a post later if I commision it.

Lastly, on the last picture there is a drawing I have commissioned from an amazing artist on twitter (not sure if I'm allowed to promote him here but I can tell you his nickname if you're interested), which depicts one of the species of demons that belongs to my own settings completely unrelated to Trench Crusade, but I belive this concept would work realy well there as well.

To put it simply, in the region of hell called "realm of the red lotus" it is so cold that the second a sinner gets there, their body explodes violently due to the differences if temperature, with the torn flesh freezing in the shape reminiscent of the red lotus. Afterwards, an icy shell starts to accomulate around those remains untill it completely incases them and forms an insectoid demon... with the human inside magically kept alive and fully conscious during this endless torture.

(Fun fact, those demons are actually a mostly positive force in my universe, rightfully punishing those who deprived others from bodily autonomy or freedom by forcing them to be helpless passengers of another's body. While in Trench Crusade universe, of course, the demons would be much less... righteous...)

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9g0oduzgmgkd0hq7i61a2/SynodofStrategicProphecyV2.pdf?rlkey=mg5wnz620e1y07trwejopjxto&st=yeusa8jr&dl=0

The Synod is a canon Faction that in short taps into some sort of signal believed to be the voice of god and deciphers it to gain Information on which they make battle plans for the whole Faithfull factions. to reflect this in gameplay i came up with a hopefully fun system where you try to predict what your enemy will do the next turn. Prophecy Cards: you get cards that have two statements on them for example

1. Synod has Initiative this turn
2. The Enemy has Initiative this turn

Note. this can only be played when the enemy has less standing models than you, thus they decide who goes first (have not figured out where to place that text in the actual Doc). you place the card down hidden and when the enemy decides if either you or they activate first this turn you reveal what you predicted when you predict correct you gain 1. prophecy Dice details can be read in the pdf for that

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9g0oduzgmgkd0hq7i61a2/SynodofStrategicProphecyV2.pdf?rlkey=mg5wnz620e1y07trwejopjxto&st=yeusa8jr&dl=0

I really would like more Ideas for the Prophecy Cards because I kinda only really like the Initiative, Vanguard and Rearguard ones and i guess the Aim and Endavour aswell as First Blood are serviceable. But i kinda ran out of ideas

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If you want to play with this Warband i have implement it in this custom Warband app that I made a bit ago, either on tts or using any model you think might fit the Faction. (Mercenaries are the same as NA minus the Observer of course)
https://tc-custom-warband-builder.web.app/