Red Brigade- Trench Crusade Faction Overview

As the first in what will become a series of my thoughts about specific sub-factions for Trench Crusade, I'm starting with my favourite faction in Red Brigade. This faction really does hold a spot in my heart as it is quite unique for New Antioch and is also something I really love thematically. 

Unique Rules

Displeasure of the Church- Clerics and Sniper Priests both occupy the same slot, with you being able to take 1 of each or 2 Sniper Priests. 1 of each is all you really want I think, as the Cleric gives you a decent bit of support and a 2nd Priest will just take up cost and Fireteam slots more that you will want just as much on your other models. 

Fury of Saint Ernest- Molotovs for 5 Ducats still aren't great, and no Troop Flag doesn't matter when you have the Red Banner anyway. This rule does give you the best thing in Red Brigade though- the Gunslinger Lieutenant. Lieutenant with double Automatic Pistols can put out a ton of shots, and use the guns in melee as well to make a really terrifying leader. I love gunslingers in any game, and this build of Lieutenant is my favourite thing to play in Trench Crusade from a fun point of view. 

Glory Hounds- This is basically what lets you buy Dogs for Ducats as a normal part of the warband, although they must be half your total models or less. It also gives you double Glory points for Glorious Deeds that you score with Dogs once per game, which will let you earn Glory for things like gear and Mercenaries far quicker assuming you can claim them with the Dog. 

No Retreat- No Red Brigade model can voluntarily leave combat. You have a few ways to get around this, but this is a really big factor in how you should play Red Brigade. You'll get in combat eventually and should give everyone a melee weapon so they can brawl, knowing you can't leave unless your opponent is dead. 

Remember the Fallen- Skipping Reinforcement and Exploration to instead reclaim all the gear of models that die in the previous game is quite good, assuming you suffer mass casualties and lose a ton of gear that you can't regain as easily. This will usually be used to get Glory Items back, as without it you can just Reinforce and get not only the value of the Battlekit that's lost, but buy the wielders back too. 

Wear and Tear- Starting with Blood Markers is a big downside, and you will need to play into this knowing that you can have some really rough matchups. Hiding the important pieces is one thing, but taking Medi-kits is equally as important to mitigate the downside a little. This rule also means you have an especially rough time into Court as you basically give them a free Goetic spell if they go first, and if that spell is a Burning Inferno from a Sorcerer? It's going to really hurt

Unique Equipment

Red Banner- The first thing I spend Glory on when I have access to it. This is a Troop Flag and a Polearm in one, but with a better bonus than the Troop Flag as it gives +2 Dice rather than just +1. This is all to say, it's excellent and the official sculpt on a Shock Trooper looks really great. 

Blood Cloak- 5 Ducats for Skirmisher, this acts as a great way to avoid being engaged when you don't want to be. It won't always work, but it will help at least some of the time.

Unique Units

Crimson Communicant- A few things together make Big Red something I will always take without fail in Red Brigade lists as the 2nd model after the Lieutenant. The melee stats on this thing are already great, without factoring in that they get an extra dice for every Blood marker they have and can't have Blood spent on their melee attacks. That alone makes the Communicant a great brawler and it can hit really hard in melee, although it can become easier to kill as your opponent absolutely will spend the Blood on damage rolls. The other big plus for it though is the Atonement Bell, which can knock enemies out of combat and even trigger extra attacks on your own models. It means you have ways to get out of combat, but also that you can get 2 attacks with a Greatsword on this guy for relatively little effort. I like to Fireteam him with the Lieutenant to guarantee things get out of combat with the Lieutenant, and I can keep shooting dual auto pistols as much as possible. 

Trench Dogs of the Red Brigade- Another mainstay of Red Brigade lists, the Trench Dogs come in a few varieties and are pretty valuable in all their forms. The ability to give Grenades to the dogs for 5 Ducats and use it on any model within 1" is fantastic, as it gives you Ducat economy and makes the dogs great support pieces for Fireteams (which they can also pay to form extra Fireteams giving you a total 4). 2 dogs can also be upgraded into Mercy Dogs which carry a Medi-kit that gives +1 dice to anyone using it within 1", so again fantastic economy although these 2 together make dogs into a pretty easy target as they can't take armour at all. The ability to move around prone friendly models is also quite nice, although with the restriction that it can't be done if any of them are engaged so will often not be useful. Attack Dogs having +1 dice to attacks is nice, although not as great utility as Mercy Dogs, and the 1 Guard Dog you can take is good for potentially screening Infiltrators, although again not as great as the other options. As dogs they get +1 dice to Dash natively, making them much faster with their 8" movement as compared to the usual 6", and can attack in melee despite not having melee weapons. 

New Antioch Units

Lieutenant- You're playing Red Brigade, you have to take a Lieutenant and are you really playing this sub-faction without playing a gunslinger? Double Automatic Pistols is my go-to build every time, with the armour being the only thing I change out depending on how much I have to spend. Sure you could build them differently, but at that point you're deliberately not using some of the warband rules. 

Sniper Priests- Your long range option. This is what you take if you want to be able to pick things off early game, which you really do want, and gives you board control in a faction where you likely will have a majority of close-range combat models. Starting a campaign with a Sniper Priest is good because it gives you early access to advancements too, and they're pretty reliably levelling up early if they can get a Glorious Deed or 2. 

Trench Cleric- The Cleric I think is highly dependent on whether you want anti-FEAR tech in a campaign, because that's the most use you'll get out of it. As an ELITE it's the least important of the 4 you have access to, and as such will probably not make it into a starting campaign roster but will likely be added in later down the line. Anti-FEAR is quite great though especially for a melee-focused warband, so it should always at the very least be considered every time you can add to a roster. 

Yeomen- Your basic troop variant. Couple of Yeomen with Bolt Actions and Bayonets are fine enough, and I like using a Yeoman as the body for a Musical Instrument to help everyone else get up the table. The Westfalia Yeomen sculpts are all great too, so later in a campaign I try and fit them in. Usually they're later takes as I want to fit Shocks, Dogs, a Medic and an Engineer first if possible and build out later

Shock Troopers- My favourite troop in the New Antioch roster, the Shock Troopers are great close assault troops which play really well into the Red Brigade playstyle. +1 dice in melee and more reliably charging makes for a perfect Fireteam partner for Trench Dogs, as you can move quicker to keep up with the extra movement on dogs and access their grenades before charging in. I like sword and board builds to give them a bit more staying power, but double melee is quite tempting as well as you can get a lot of damage out between a grenade throw and then 2 melee attacks. All around Shocks are a really solid unit to take in any Antioch list let alone in Red Brigade, and I will always take 2-3 at least.

Combat Engineers- Satchel Charge access mostly, but they're also pretty good budget skirmishers with built-in Engineer Armour helping a lot against other grenades and Artillery Witches. My preferred build is Satchel Charge, SMG for a mid-field threat that takes some heat away from the Shock Troopers or Lieutenant/Communicant Fireteam, or goes untouched and has the potential to wreak havoc

Mechanised Heavy Infantry- A great way to get some heavy armour into your warband, but they are primarily ranged units and don't get any bonuses in combat. I still think building them for skirmishing with Heavy Shotguns is the best use for them, as the only STRONG models in the warband they can move and shoot reliably with a gun that hits really hard. 

Combat Medic- As a 0-1 choice I think the Medic is something you always take for Red Brigade, because it gives you access to a reliable Medi-Kit on a solid platform. The armour goes a long way, and although it won't always matter Misericordia can do work on taking out downed opponents. 

Mercenaries

Communicant Anti-Tank Hunter- Red Brigade tend to lack a bit of long-range punch, and that's what the Anti-Tank Communicant is for. AMR access is fantastic, and on a fairly tanky platform it does a lot of work every time it hits the table. Definitely worth the Glory investment, and although I don't think personally it makes it into one-off lists over the other Mercenary options it is something I consider. 

Mendelist Ammo Monk- Although the gunslinger blast combo is gone, the Ammo Monk can still be quite reliable with traditional Red Brigade builds in a campaign. Having access to +1 to injure on a gunslinger Lieutenant is fantastic, and BLAST and SHRAPNEL is still great on a Sniper Priest early game while you move the Lieutenant into position. It's not the always take it used to be, but it does still have very good applications. 

Combat Biologist- A favourite Mercenary of mine for Red Brigade, because it has such a nice package for supporting the warband that it works really well for relatively little Glory. The Vivisector being able to push enemies out of engagement gives you a 2nd source outside of the Communicant, and free Gas Grenades is just nice to have to put some more Blood out there early. Plus the model is just awesome and I love getting it onto the table

Scripture Guardian- Although it is quite decent it is very expensive, and Red Brigade have a lot of other good options for their Glory for cheaper. I'd go for any of the 3 above before I'd go for a Scripture Guardian, and honestly probably also an Observer and Mamluk

Witchburner- Even after the changes, it isn't really that great for the cost. Really cool model, but unfortunately doesn't really help Red Brigade at all in ways you can't get elsewhere

Observer- Another fantastic take, because the Observer is generically quite good and comes with a Medi-Kit to help take Blood off. Not much to say, for 3 Glory it is more than good enough

Mamluk Faris- An extra Fireteam option if you really need 5 Fireteams, it can also be a really tough lynchpin with Polearm and Shield 

BLKout- Boone Recon Force

 I've been convinced by some friends recently to get into BLKout, and painted up the Boone Recon Force for some games. Just waiting on some Handlers now to be fully ready, but I'm pretty keen to play more BLKout.

My first demo game went pretty well and I really enjoyed it, with the rules being really straightforward and easy to pick up. The big comparison, Infinity, really stands quite differently as Infinity is very rules dense and quite complicated where BLKout is easy to play and very simple in its rules. 

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy 3rd Edition- Game Thoughts

 When it comes to mass battle games, Warhammer really is the only thing that does it for me in terms of accessibility and gameplay. I've been playing a bit of 40k lately with Eldar and a new Krieg army I've been working on for some Siege of Vraks action, and some very sporadic Old World games, but my main foray into the worlds of Warhammer is in the realm of the Horus Heresy with the multiple armies I've put together over the last 4 years. 

For a game that boils down mostly to Space Marines fighting other Space Marines with a couple of armies on the side, I must say Heresy really makes the most of what it is. With an edition change that's been controversial to say the least, I do genuinely think that 3rd has taken all of the best bits of the previous 2 editions and made it into something unique as opposed to just a carbon copy of old 40k with a few small tweaks. The addition of initiative modifiers to melee weapons is really great to have a more granular system in melee (which I'll share my gripes with later in this piece) and the detachment system makes for more thematic army building, if a little convoluted in terms of learning how to work it out. Once you've figured it out though it's easier than ever to tailor your list to a specific theme without even needing Rites of War that you would've needed before.

This isn't to say the game isn't without its flaws, as any game has. The Weapon Skill chart is the biggest thing, as the jump from WS4 to 5 is huge, and swings melee massively as opposed to the older chart that pushes penalties for hitting higher Weapon Skills to needing a higher difference. I honestly think simply replacing the current 2nd/3rd ed chart with the older 1st ed chart (which is also the same chart in Old World and older 40k editions) would go a long way to making combat feel a lot closer and not the massive disparities that it currently has. Another thing I find a little annoying is the focus for needing units with Line or Vanguard, although you'll almost always have some of these units it is still basically mandatory to have some in order to keep up in scoring from your opponent. This has been something especially apparent for my own Knight army, where I've needed to add Solar Auxilia units as house-guard to be able to claim objectives at all. I do really enjoy the variety in list building though, and I am a person who played entire armies without scoring units in 2nd ed so it isn't a huge issue, but something I've had to factor in with my list building to take a couple of Tactical Squads, Lesser Daemons or Solar Auxilia to get some objective play.

The move from GW across the board in terms of Specialist Games moving from bigger book releases into small journals I think is fantastic, as you can pick up specific books that are relevant to you at a lower price point (and carry around smaller books) if you don't want all the rules. The journals for Heresy do all have some really cool alternate missions in them though, with Zone Mortalis and the armoured missions being something I'm particularly keen to try out as I have tons of vehicles between my Dark Angels and Knights. I'm sure this is something we'll get back to when I get the chance to play the missions, I'll make sure to get some Battle Reports out!

My own personal armies are Dark Angels (my earliest gaming love, and something that's always stuck with me), Emperor's Children and Imperial Knights in what have both become hybrid 30k/40k armies. I love them all for different reasons, but they're all things that I've enjoyed modelling and painting, and although my game time with them has been decidedly less in 3rd ed compared to the dozens of games of 2nd I played, I still love all the games I have. 

My Dark Angels are the stoic defenders of the Imperium, not caring about their own casualties or that of anyone in between them and the objective, focusing mainly on the horrific weaponry of the Dreadwing or the mass vehicular assaults of the Ironwing as those are the aspects of the legion I love the most- Angels of Caliban's opening scene with the Dreadwing armoured assault is what sold me on this build specifically. 

My Knights are House Vyronii, as the feudal background really resonated with me (something I leant into when adding Solar Auxilia for house-guard in 3rd edition), they were a natural addition lore-wise to my Dark Angels and I really like the metallic green colour scheme. Win or lose with them it makes sense as well, as Vyronii take part in some of the most brutal betrayals and horrific battles of the Heresy, so losses and pyrrhic victories are what I love to see on the tabletop as it really reflects their lore. 

My in progress Emperor's Children on the other hand are a late-Heresy, fully traitor army with a ton of Kakophoni/Noise Marines and various marines in stages of corruption as they turn from the purple into a chaotic pink. Fulgrim and a bunch of Slaanesh daemons cap off this army, marking them as very different to my loyalists in both look and feel. All of these armies I had a vision for, and set out to achieve that more than any specific gameplay purposes, and I can say that I am proud of what I have achieved in terms of the story the armies convey.

Fallout Wasteland Warfare- My Thoughts

 Another game I've been playing over the past couple of years is Fallout Wasteland Warfare, the narrative-based game set in the nuclear wastelands of Fallout. I really love the Fallout universe in all its forms, so this game is something I delved quite far into both through the official miniatures and a ton of third party 3d prints. I've got quite a bit of my own miniatures for this (and one very large one) so everything I've attached as pictures is from my own collection.

A big thing to note about FWW is the fact that the game uses specialist dice, in the vein of a Fantasy Flight game like Star Wars Legion or X-Wing. The game uses a variety of dice, but they basically boil down to the success dice (used for every roll other than armour or crits), the armour dice (used to prevent damage), the luck dice (used for special effects, and is just a coin flip), and the extra dice added for specific rolls to change effects of things. Of these there are black (bonus damage), yellow (armour penetration), green (accuracy modifiers) and blue (random effects, the least common of the 4). While this may seem like a lot to keep track of, they share a lot of common features and when rolled in a bunch they can pretty easily be read which is nice, as it takes away from the intimidation factor a bit. I do generally speaking prefer games to use regular dice of whatever form (be that d6, d10 or d20 I've played and enjoyed all of them) but the dice system in FWW is a part of the uniqueness and I don't begrudge the game for it at all, although it is something to note when it comes to accessibility. I'm also not entirely sure how this is changing for 2nd edition, so this is very much a note for the 1st edition of the game specifically.

What I really love most about the game is the scenarios are for the most part designed around set pieces or quests from the games with some tweaks to make them work for a PVP tabletop wargame. The Fallout 76 wave in particular is of note here, as all of the scenarios are based around specific raids from that game which I find really cool from a gameplay point of view. The campaign books are also really great for a linked series of games, where the results of the scenarios either affect specific scenarios ahead or the final scenario of the campaign (the New Vegas campaign for example all affect the Battle of Hoover Dam scenario) so one player can still win a campaign even if their opponent wins the first 4 games. It also means it doesn't necessarily have to be the same 2 people playing the whole campaign, and different people can tag in and out to play different scenarios with their own factions. The one other thing to note is that a significant part of these scenarios use specific models, so to play everything you will need to own quite a lot and have a pretty hefty collection. That said though, with how varied the scenarios are and the variety in model choice you can have a lot of very different games.

My favourite factions on the tabletop are the same as my favourites in the games, both in theme, models and gameplay. I really enjoy the playstyle of NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel, both with smaller models to run objectives and elite heavy hitters to take out enemies and tank hits. Both NCR Veteran Rangers and Brotherhood Paladins are the stars of their factions, and a lot of fun to play. I also really enjoy Robots as a faction, although they're likely to go away with the upcoming 2nd edition changing factions, as the idea of a single controller (usually The Courier for me) buffing and manipulating a series of robots to function better is really mechanically interesting and fun to keep on top of. 

Carnevale as a Beginner Part 1- Gangs

 The natural first part of getting into Carnevale is in getting gangs ready. As I mentioned in previous posts I had already had Rashaar from a few years back, but I've also printed a bunch more since then to really flesh out the faction.

The whole Cult of Dagon and otherworldly fish monster vibe really appeals to me, and it's something I've gravitated to in a few different systems now. When it's come to the few games I've played so far the real standouts to me are the Magi-Rashaar, my favourite design of the leaders but also really fun to play (and I really want to print the Extreme Magi at some stage soon) and the Karcharos. Giant landshark is just such a cool idea, and it's great fun to play as well so it's seeing a lot of table time (although I'm trying to branch out and try the other monsters). Advanced Hybrids are also a favourite of mine, although they've been a bit more hit and miss compared to the others that I've used. 

All the factions have quite a bit of flavour and uniqueness, and multiple sub-factions to delve into if synergies and theme is your thing (I definitely appreciate it myself). The minis themselves are all fantastic, and with the Extreme sculpts coming there are some really great models coming out that are super accessible with 3d printing. I live in Australia and shipping from TTCombat is often quite expensive so 3d printing where possible is the best option for me, although I definitely do plan on ordering for some things at some point soon to finish off the Rashaar with some bigger monsters. 

The rest of my group have split a bit between currently playing Strigoi and Doctors, although we have a Vatican player and the Doctors player has also printed a bunch of Guild so Patricians and Gifted are the only factions currently not represented, although I'm planning on a Patricians list with a few Gifted in it so that will be another faction covered at some stage soon. 

Warmachine Battle Report- Goreshade vs Arkadius

 In a bit of a throwback I decided to pull out my old Cryx for Warmachine to play with a friend, who has been printing and painting Farrow since they've been made available as part of Warmachine 3D. I brought out my old favourite Banes led by Goreshade, and faced a Warbeast-heavy list fueled by the mad Dr Arkadius. 

My initial advance was somewhat spread out, with Goreshade in the middle, a unit of Bane Knights either end with a Deathripper, and Tartarus, a unit of Warriors with command, a Desecrator and Deathwalker all around Goreshade. The goal was to get the arc nodes up so I could start slinging Hex Blasts into grouped units (which was successful in wiping the Bone Grinders turn 2) and try and get the units into position to do as much damage as possible early for a Goreshade Feat run at Arkadius.

As things advanced I was facing 2 Hogs on one flank, and Lytiersis on the other. I had hoped the Warriors could deal with Lytiersis while the Knights moved the other way to take both Hogs, but ultimately they dealt a little bit of damage before all getting killed by Lytiersis, who then had to deal with a Desecrator before he could reach Goreshade. 

With all the Knights moving over, Tartarus unfortunately was priority target and the first to die. The Knights ended up doing quite a lot to the War Hog, although they didn't quite get through the Road Hog. A few rounds of Gunfighter on the Flamethrower did work, putting damage onto Goreshade and killing Deathwalker although not doing much to the Banes in front of it.

Arkadius took an unlucky 11 damage hit from the Desecrator's gun, which was forced onto a lone Razor Boar looking down Goreshade. He then managed to Feat on Arkadius after a Psychic Surgery, sneak a slam onto the Desecrator from Lytiersis, knocking down Goreshade in the process, the Road Hog shooting to take Goreshade to 1 wound remaining before the Razor Boar finished him off and ending the game. It was a real hail mary of a turn as I had quite a lot of Banes remaining and had them within charge range of Arkadius the next turn, but unfortunately the gamble paid off and Goreshade got taken out. My first game of Warmachine since early Mk3 it's been a real experience coming back, but I had a lot of fun and I'm now looking at printing an all Monstrosity Cephalyx list for a bit of fun and to have some variety

Carnevale- Game Thoughts

 Carnevale is quickly becoming one of my preferred tabletop skirmish games, dripping with flavour and incentivising some really cool terrain layouts that I've been enjoying getting into a lot. I've owned models for the game for a few years now, but with the new MyMiniFactory Tribe a few friends have also gotten in and I've gotten a lot of terrain printed for the game, so we can play properly the past few weeks. You may have seen in my recent Trench Crusade Battle Report all the Venetian terrain I've been working on, as it works for that game as well and I've been getting a lot of use out of it.

The first thing I've come to notice about Carnevale is how unique it is, partly in terms of flavour and partly in terms of gameplay. The vibes of the game in terms of how it represents Venice really feels perfect, as the table itself is balanced around land, rooftops and the canals. Some factions favour the water, with extra speed and immunity to being drowned, while some hate getting wet (the armour of the Vatican knights in particular is a real liability in water, but a massive strength on land) and the ability to throw someone with a gun into a canal to stop them shooting is a really nice alternative to killing them outright. Other factions however much prefer being on the rooftops, with rooftop traversal being far easier for these factions and extra bonuses for attacking from above. All of this combined means immersive tables is best, and there's so many ways you can put things together in ways that are really cool and thematic. The focus on terrain is something that although it was the biggest barrier for entry on my part for a while (I was working on my table for a few months before it actually got put together and played on) once you have a core of terrain it's really easy to play around with and modify with a couple of other pieces to make something awesome.

The scenarios in Carnevale and how they work is also quite interesting, as unlike most games you don't write a list until after you know the scenario you're playing. This is somewhat similar to Malifaux, which I've played for a decade now and I've posted quite a lot about, but with the difference you don't know what your opponent is playing on paper (although in practice you often do based on the nature of people's collections). This lets a player with a bigger collection tailor their list to any given scenario, so you can't end up locking yourself out by taking things that can't climb rooftops when all the objectives are up there for example, or things that can't move far in water with water based objectives. This is a clever way to make sure players can both tailor to the scenario in ways that will benefit them, but also in a way that means someone doesn't accidentally show up with a list that is favoured in a scenario where there opponent is screwed because they built a different list type. The other thing with scenarios I really like about Carnevale is the linked campaign system, with most campaigns involving a series of 5 scenarios following on from each other. These campaigns don't actually care who wins the first 4 scenarios which stops someone from running away with a campaign early on, but the result of one game does affect the next one, giving the winner a slight bonus in the next scenario. This is similar to the campaign system from Fallout Wasteland Warfare, another game that I've really loved the scenario system from. 

I've really delved deep into the Rashaar as my faction of choice, as one of the things I tend to gravitate towards in miniatures is fish cultists and sea monsters, something Rashaar have in spades. I love the mix of alien monsters from another dimension with their cultists and I've collected quite a bit for the faction already. I'm tossing up between Patricians, Guild and Doctors at the moment for a 2nd faction but I can't settle on something I really love as much as Rashaar