Solo and co-op wargamers, this one is for you. Osprey Games has announced Trench Raiders, a World War I skirmish wargame that trades sweeping offensives for the small, nerve-shredding actions that actually filled the nights on the Western Front: patrols, raids and the constant pressure of probing an enemy line. It arrives on 24 September 2026.
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See how it worksDesigned by Daniel Pilgrim with artwork by Jaromir Hrivnac, Trench Raiders is built for small forces of around ten figures a side, so you do not need a vast painted army to get a game going. The rules run on simple six-sided dice, and they support competitive play, solo play and co-op, a combination that is still surprisingly rare in historical wargaming. You can raid a friend's trench, or work together (or alone) against the system.
It is part of the Osprey Wargames series, the affordable, self-contained rulebook line that also gave the hobby the hugely popular fantasy skirmish game Frostgrave and its sci-fi sibling Stargrave. These are rules sets rather than boxed games, so you bring your own miniatures, but at around $25 for a slim paperback (Osprey's samurai game Daimyo, out in July, is GBP 14.99) the barrier to entry is low.
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Find events near youTrench Raiders sits in the middle of a busy year for the Oxford publisher. Daimyo leads Osprey's 2026 wargames slate in July, and the fantasy skirmish game Pillars of Gromlak, in which orc warlords fight for control of a tribe, closes it out in November.
If the muddy, close-quarters horror of 1916 appeals more than painted ranks of Napoleonic infantry, this is a cheap way in. Round up a couple of players, or set up a solo campaign of your own, and if you need opponents you can always find a group near you.
Sources: Osprey Games | Osprey blog | OnTableTop
