Playtest Rules Changes – v1.6.3

Hello again! As announced last week when we tackled the changes for the playtest rules v1.6.2, a further updated was already scheduled for release shortly thereafter. Not all changes Tuomas Pirinen intended to make in the previous update were included, therefore during the weekend v1.6.3 (available, as usual on the Trench Crusade website) was released.

This has been a smaller update than the previous, focused on completing and slightly rebalancing the changes to Black Grail, Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent and Trench Ghosts. In addition we got a couple of new keywords.

TROLL-SIZED DISCLAIMER: As always I would like to remind you that Trench Crusade is still a Work-in-progress project and the rulebook is in playtest phase. While many of the rules are consolidated now that we are approaching to the official release, changes might and will happen, potentially including the reversal of some of the changes described below or changes to parts of the rules that are affected by the current update but haven’t been reviewed yet. As always my advice is: be patient, attempt to play Rules-as-Written but don’t be too strict, accept that the intention of the rules may be different and could be changed in the future, so in doubt agree with your opponent on the course of action that makes most sense, and refrain from abusing an unclear rule just for gaining an unfair advantage.

New Keywords

Four new keywords were added to the general rules:

• DEMONIC: The model is supernaturally tainted by Hell and is vulnerable to holy powers.
• GOLEM: This model is a Golem, constructed from lost Kabbalistic knowledge – and it is exceedingly hard to destroy. It treats Out of Action injury results as Down unless the attack is made using the Bloodbath rule, in which case an Out of Action result removes the model from play as standard. It does not suffer additional BLOOD MARKERS from weapons with the Keyword GAS and is not affected by the Keyword FEAR. The controlling player cannot remove BLOOD MARKERS from the Golem by any means, though the opponent can use them as standard.
• LEADER: As long as this model is not taken Out of Action, add +1 DICE to any Morale tests the warband has to take.
• THE COURT: This model is part of The Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent faction.

As one might expect, all models in the Court of the Seven Headed Serpent received the keyword THE COURT, while all the models that must be included in an initial warband (Heretic Priest, War Prophet, New Antioch Lieutenant, Yüzbaşı Captain) also received the keyword LEADER for free.

Now, some considerations need to be done, which will likely require further clarifications. I’ll let you know when any of this gets addressed so stay tuned!

• For Black Grail and Court warbands, only the Lord of Tumours and Praetor are listed as LEADERS in v1.6.3 although the respective warband rules call for an optional leader choice. The same goes for warband variants who replace their mandatory leader with another model (such as the Fida’i of Alamut or Dirge of the Great Hegemon). There has been speculation that alternate leader models should be able to gain the keyword LEADER as well but there hasn’t been any news at the Troll’s Den on the argument yet.
• The keyword DEMONIC listed in the general rules has a purely descriptive text, with no reference to the immunity to additional BLOOD MARKERS from the keyword FIRE described in the Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent rules. We are waiting for a confirmation on whether non-Court models with the keyword DEMONIC (such as the Goetic Warlock) do suffer additional BLOOD MARKERS from FIRE or not.
• The Golem from the Book of Golem location in exploration table does not gain the keyword GOLEM, at least for the time being. It currently follows the rules for a Takwin Homunculus.

Cult of the Black Grail

The big changes the Cult of the Black Grain received in the last patch were further expanded. Plague Knights in particular received some new optional abilities and their maximum limit was increased by 1.

Armoury and Equipment Changes:

• Shotgun: Missing Shield Combo and Bayonet Lugs were added.
• Plague Blade: Cost further reduced from 10 ducats to 7.
• Grail Devotee: The 2 Glory cost for the second devotee was changed to 15 ducats. Restrictions changed to “ELITE and Herald only. LIMIT:2” to take into account that any Herald of Beelzebub can have them.

Changes to Black Grail Models

Noble Hierarchy: The maximum number of available Plague Knights has been increased by one, therefore now a warband can have a Lord of Tumors and 0-2 Plague Knights or 1-3 Plague Knights and no Lord of Tumours. (note that the line that prevents a warband led by a Plague Knight from having a Lord of Tumours has been inadvertently cut from the rulebook but it’s supposed to be in place).

• Plague Knight: Can gain one of the following Plague Knight Rank abilities, by paying the respective cost.
  • Knight Companion of the Fly (5 ducats): Add +1 DICE to Ranged or Melee.
  • Knight of the Rotten Cross (5 ducats): When acquired, this model may purchase any weapon from the New Antioch or Heretic Legion list. The Knight of the Rotten Cross cannot give its weapon away but can purchase a new one if the old one is lost.
  • Plague Almoner (10 ducats): This model requires one less BLOOD MARKER/INFECTION MARKER to cause Bloodbath.

Black Grail fans will also be glad to know that Plague Knight options will be further widened in the future as additional Plague Knight Rank upgrades are being developed.

• Amalgam: It can now wield any two HEAVY weapons of its choice using one hand each, regardless of the weapon rules.

Changes to the Dirge of the Great Hegemon Variant

• Viscera Cannon: Limit increased from 2 to 3.

Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent

With the introduction of the Greed Goetic spells and powers and the restraining muzzle for the Yoke Fiends the arsenal of the Court is now well-rounded. The development team also took the opportunity of an update to fix some typos.

Equipment Changes:

• The Restraining Muzzle from the playtest Court Glory Items document (which you can find in the Trench Crusade Discord Server) has been added to the Court armoury, with its cost changed to 10 ducats.
  • Restraining Muzzle (10 ducats, Yoke Fiends only, LIMIT: 3): Any Yoke Fiend equipped with a Restraining Muzzle is not affected by the Hateful rule and therefore does not have to charge certain enemies within Charge range. With this device in place, the unruly Yoke Fiends can be trained better and add +1 DICE to their Ranged Attack characteristic.
• Fixed Typos:
  • Unholy Relic: Cost 15 ducats (previously was incorrectly listed at 30 ducats).
  • Troop Flag: listed with the correct name instead of “Banner”.

Goetic Magic Changes:

• Slavemaster (universal spell): Clarified it can only affect allied Yoke Fiends.
• Eater of the Flesh (Gluttony power): Cost reduced from 25 ducats to 10.
• New Greed powers and spells added:
  • Body of Gold (15 ducats, ELITE only, Greed Warband only, LIMIT: 1): This model gains the Keyword GOLEM. If the model has the Keyword TOUGH it loses it.
  • Black Heart (15 ducats, Greed Warband only, LIMIT: 3): This GOETIC (1) spell allows the model to add +1 DICE to any ACTION it takes. Can be used multiple times per activation, but only once per ACTION.
  • Universal Greed (15 ducats, ELITE only, Greed Warband only, LIMIT: 1): For every model in the opposing force that is worth 150 ducats or more, this model gains +1 BLESSING MARKER at the start of the battle.

Changes to Court Models

• Nobles of the Court: Your warband must include a Praetor or a Sorcerer as your leader when it is created. (This rule was present in the original Court playtest document but was never transported to the main rulebook when the Court was added back in v1.5, leading some to believe Court warbands needed no mandatory leader. Now it has been fixed).
• Desecrated Saint:
  • Cost reduced from 145 ducats to 140.
  • The removal of the “suffers no off-hand penalties” clause in v1.6.2 was confirmed to be a typo and the rule was reinstated.

Trench Ghosts

The overall movement reduction was deemed a bit too extreme (in particular when combined with the penalty to Dash moves already in place) and it was reverted. in addition a couple of minor cost adjustment were applied.

• Slow: The movement reduction to 5″ introduced in v1.6.2 has been removed, so now the Slow rule reads as follows: “All models in Trench Ghost warband have a half Dash distance (i.e. 3”), and they suffer -1 DICE to all attacks against models Retreating from Melee Combat”.
• Sarcophagus Mines: Cost reduced from 35 ducats to 30.
• Tank Palanquin: Cost increased from 55 ducats to 60.

And with that, we’re done for the day. Feel free to leave your comments on the changes below. Do you think they are going in the right direction?

See you soon!