If you have watched Trench Crusade blow up over the past year and thought "I'd love to try that, but where do I even start?", here is your answer. Factory Fortress has revealed Carcass Front, the grimdark skirmish game's first proper two-player starter set, and it is built to drop newcomers straight into the trenches.
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Set up your group for freeTrench Crusade is a tabletop miniatures skirmish game set in a nightmarish alternate 1914. In its timeline the Knights Templar committed an "Act of Ultimate Heresy" back in the 11th century and tore open a gateway to Hell, and humanity has been losing ground to the Fallen ever since. Stir together dieselpunk machinery, religious iconography and full-blown body horror and you get one of the most distinctive looks on any games table. It began as concept artist Mike Franchina's passion project, with sculptor James Sherriff and Mordheim designer Tuomas Pirinen turning it into a full game. Its 2024 Kickstarter asked for 66,666 dollars and walked away with three million.
Carcass Front holds 16 miniatures forming two ready-to-play 700-ducat warbands: the melee-heavy Procession of the Sacred Affliction and the fast, infiltrating Heretic Naval Raiders. Alongside the models sits a campaign book with expanded rules, lore and two full campaigns, a two-player narrative arc called The Path to Leviathan, plus a map-based campaign for 2-8 players scrapping over the Carcass Front itself. For anyone nervous about jumping in, it also packs introductory rules to get a first game going quickly.
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See how it worksUK pre-orders are open at £99.99 (129.99 dollars) through shops like Travelling Man, with release set for late July. The timing is cheeky, landing right in Games Workshop's big summer window, and Trench Crusade has the momentum to match: it is a finalist for the 2026 Diana Jones Award, with the winner named at Gen Con on 29 July. If you have been waiting for a clean way in, round up a sparring partner and find a wargaming night near you.
Sources: Trench Crusade | Wargamer | Gaming Trend | BoardGameWire | Wikipedia
