Trench Crusade's The Principality of New Antioch - Lore and History

Trench Crusade is an upcoming skirmish game designed by artist Mike Franchina, sculptor James Sheriff, and former Games Workshop designer Tuomas Pirinen (He who made Mordheim).
In this video, I go through the available lore on The Principality of New Antioch and their various troops and minions. This is everything we have to date, from official sources, at least.
www.trenchcrus...
Background music is paid for and licensed through Envato Elements.
#TrenchCrusade #shorts #short #shortvideo #lore

[@Jakkaroo]

I am compelled to say that your deadpan delivery perfectly suits the trauma implied by the setting.

[@GlobnarTheGreen]

It just sounds like he's going to sleep. I can hardly understand it. Every word and sentence just melts together into an incomprehensible mess of sleepiness

[@thegingerheadperson9959]

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, long live new antioch

[@patriot5514]

Suffer not the heretic , the mutant ; the daemon to live!

[@dustydesertdisciple6290]

Praise Christ Jesus!!! I really like this world man, I hope it becomes what it os capable of becoming. This is just an awsome and original story.

[@D990990990]

​@dustydesertdisciple6290 Sadly, the creators seem to have a bad case of brain rot, also known as Woke, but Im fairly certain that we can take over.

[@Okillydokilly69]

@@D990990990for Christendom!

[@llab3903]

@@D990990990if that’s true than they just need to keep it alive long enough for warhammer fans to sink their teeth into it and it’ll be carried on

[@armorist_8712]

This art is so old. I remember seeing this art back in High School. Nice to see its getting some lore and a game to go with it.

[@scannerbarkly]

Yeah, a lot of the art available around the game and from Mike Franchina's Artstation has been around long before any of this stuff amalgamated into a game.

[@samuelrodriguez9801]

@@scannerbarklyThat’s amazing!

[@phylippezimmermannpaquin2062]

I used some of their art for a cult in my dnd game called the church in the glass, which was heavily inspired by eastern spiritual beliefs and meditation. I felt kinda silly when i found out that art was from a tabletop game lol

[@gavinlangston603]

​@@phylippezimmermannpaquin2062 let's be real here, plagiarism is heavily ingrained in anything relating to DnD.

[@phylippezimmermannpaquin2062]

@@gavinlangston603 i didnt mean it! D:

[@madmalkavian3857]

Really want to make a warband variant for the Order of the Dragon. They are mentioned in the timeline where in universe apparently Vlad the Impaler held the line when the Byzantine fell and impaled a million heretics.

[@Gruntvc]

So, Wallachia still stands? Cool.

[@toi_techno]

In Romania he's a national hero who stood against the Turkish empire

[@cody1570]

Make the red dragon knights or dragon dragoons...

[@andreivoicu7162]

​@@toi_technoAm Romanian can confirm.

[@Fyre19]

Vampyre christans? interesting..

[@pyrrhusofepirus8491]

20:20 These worlds are so grim and insane that the strangest and most bizarre aspect to this entire spectacle is the fact that people can find a partner they like, have a relationship and eventually get united in holy matrimony.

[@abelbabel8484]

That's honestly what breaks immersion for me in most grimdark settings. Where do all these people that get mulched at insane rates for hundreds of years even come from? It takes roughly 15 years and A LOT of resources to make one of them, you'd just run out of people in a decade or two with casualty rates like that

[@pyrrhusofepirus8491]

@@abelbabel8484 What I also dislike is evil factions having absolutely no development on normal civilian life and how people actually live and procreate within this system, it’s something I’ve thought about extensively in my own setting, because even the most evil system must allow for the barest necessities like food, water, socialisation, entertainment etc. according to what precious little we know of the Heretics, we know that they sell human flesh in markets which implies at least a basic system of trade and economics. What do they eat? Where do they get the food? How do they maintain food supplies? Does property exist? Can an individual own property? Can an individual advance within this system and if they can, how? What do you get paid in? Can an individual find a person they love within this system? There *must* be some notion of reward in this system for the Heretics which is support as it’s implied that there is a deeper ideological reason to them being Heretics, rebellion against the ‘Tyrant-God’. Heresy implies individual initiative, otherwise they’d simply be uninteresting brainwashed slaves.

[@Yarkoonian]

@@abelbabel8484just don’t look under the gas masks. Mind find someone younger than is comfortable

[@isiahalcindor6278]

​@abelbabel8484 like what? the highest I heard was millions people would still be able to reproduce under that and the already existing resources would concentrated better

[@abelbabel8484]

@@isiahalcindor6278 na dude, look at real world societal collapses after wars, epidemics or catastrophes. You can't keep losing people at crazy rates for more than a few years before your whole thing disintegrates and decentralizes

[@trentonrycroft1229]

Sir, your response every time someone starts complaining about warhammer, gw, or anything akin to that has earned you a subscriber in me.

[@scannerbarkly]

Thanks, mate! I hope you enjoy the channel. :) I just don't really see the point in not being honest with folks that wish to complain about stuff, it just saves us all some times in the long run.

[@aggelosSlipKnoTRKO]

Wake up honey, new Cadia just dropped.

[@Siberiancatsrule]

Cadia was extremely poorly written and it's fall didn't made any sense

[@timonadjiev8965]

for the love of all that is holy, they have to make this a proper RTS game at some point God i love the lore

[@TheFirstVonGunther]

I dont have confidence in the blind sniper priests.

[@Carthidge]

Taking my man Paul literally when he said "For we live by faith, not by sight"

[@ItWasSaucerShaped]

Doubt of His devouted sniper priests is punishable on pain of death.

[@URKCEHinoSuu]

They have the power of 360 NO SCOPE. What's not to love about them? 😂

[@tunguskalumberjack9987]

I have just recently discovered this game/ artwork and it’s right up my alley. I’m not sure if anyone here in the comments has ever encountered it before, but Wayne Barlowe’s “Hell” artworks would go hand in hand with this. He’s a well known and respected concept artist for movies and such, having provided art for the first and second Hellboy movies (among others), and the first thing I remember seeing of his back when I was a kid in the 1980s was “Barlowe’s Guide To Extraterrestrials”, which included a lot of Lovecraft’s creations. Within the last couple of decades, he created a series of amazing paintings featuring Demons, Damned Souls, Warmachines, and Architecture/ Terrain for his vision of Hell, and wrote a companion novel about the war in Hell called “God’s Demon”. The books that contain his paintings are prohibitively expensive, and I only own a copy of the novel (which is fantastic, by the way). However, you can view his art on his website, and judge it for yourself- but I’m betting that if you like this stuff, you’ll enjoy his as well. Anyway- sorry for the long comment, but I felt really lucky in finding this world, and so wanted to pass it on and share the wealth with his artwork if anyone’s interested.

[@scannerbarkly]

Great comment. I have actually been looking a lot of his work as I am preparing to paint my Heretic warband and I want to take some inspiration from his color palettes and perhaps even some of the imagery for Kitbashing, basing, etc.

[@tunguskalumberjack9987]

@@scannerbarkly Thanks, mate- I can’t wait to see how your warband comes out. I would love to work up some kitbashes myself out of some existing models that I’ve got but almost everything I have is from Forge World’s Horus Heresy range from the past 8 years or so. I’m sure I’d be able to find some inexpensive base models from my local games shop, though- I’ll let you know if I come up with anything decent! Thanks again for the videos, and for introducing me to the crusade.

[@nakenmil]

Wayne Barlowe's hell art lives rent-free in my head, it's SO cool.

[@tunguskalumberjack9987]

@@nakenmil Right on- I love that stuff, I just wish I could afford to buy those books. The floating sigils above the demon’s heads are such an awesome idea. I’m about to read the novel again, as it’s been about a year since the last time, and seeing this artwork rewhetted my appetite for it.

[@nakenmil]

@@tunguskalumberjack9987 The floating sigil, the souls-as-building-material, the warped animals, the indigenous salamandrines, etc. Amazing worldbuilding. I've never actually read the novels, I need to get on that!

[@harmonlanager2670]

I love this. It’s like my religious trauma had a baby with the cover of a Slayer album and it was raised by WWI documentaries. I’m greatly uncomfortable but also deeply intrigued!

[@luigimussolini5966]

@@chaosincarna I wouldn't go that far, I'm a believer, and I can definitely recognize that religious trauma can be a serious thing caused by those who practice my and other faiths; it's a shame more than anything, but it's nowhere near their fault.

[@harmonlanager2670]

@@chaosincarna Well I’m a Taoist now so I’m actually quite versed in things being larger than my ego. But here’s a tip, mate. You’re not gonna win people over to your faith with insults. You can’t bully someone into having faith. Better to be kind and try to lead by example.

[@harmonlanager2670]

@@chaosincarna ok lol So what’s the point of even talking to me?

[@abelbabel8484]

@@harmonlanager2670 Reassuring his own fragile ego and managing insecurities lol

[@harmonlanager2670]

@@abelbabel8484 I was about to say lol

[@ChaseDaOrk3767]

I wonder how North and South American and Asia are doing in the Trench Crusade universe?

[@KillerOrca]

Considering the divergence happened before the New World was found, North and South America are probably just chilling under the control of the native populations that were there originally. Assuming the rot of the open Gate of Hell hasnt spread to them. Asia is already involved in much of this since apparently the Gate opened in Jesurelem I think? So the Middle East is outright fucked and its spreading.

[@ikmalkamal5830]

Probably hyper advanced in all their steampunk glory and are just watching the shitshow in their side news in the papers, while they focus on their own wars against onis, corrupted spirits, fallen deities, amalgams of foul karma, and a host of other rakshas and asuras.

[@btsnake]

I'm not sure the Americas have been discovered by Europeans in this world (the lore does seem to specify a time when the heretics took Gibraltar and gained access to the Atlantic, though). There are some ideas of war and religion being intertwined that are found in more than a few New world cultures that could be very interesting here. I'm imagining the Sardaukar scene from Dune but with Jaguar warriors being annointed with Heretic blood. Apocalyptic plains Indians cults from later on in our history, such as the ghost dance, would be very interesting too. As for Asia, Mongols would be very interesting for the same reasons

[@richardseaton2423]

Colonialism wasn't a thing in TC, so there's not an awful much going on there of plot relevance.

[@ChaseDaOrk3767]

@@richardseaton2423 I see

[@Madokaexe]

Man I need to see the world out of Europe, imagine the Inca, Aztec, Japanese, Chinese, Indians and other regions fighting for their respective gods against the forces of hell.

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

Hope We See Them One Day

[@toi_techno]

'...street preacher of Éire..." As an Irish atheist I'm glad to hear we serve on the wall ☦☠✝😊

[@Gruntvc]

Antioch is reminding me of Cadia from Warhammer 40k. Guess I found the faction I'd play as if this game comes to retail. Shame they destroyed Byzantium from the universe, would've liked to see them as a faction. This universe would make for a good video game. Imagine an FPS...

[@lupisvolk2420]

Or an RTS.

[@banditlord8210]

@@lupisvolk2420I’m throwing money at the screen to make this happen yet nothings happening

[@Gabriel-hy8be]

Byzantium was destroyed, but I don't know if the entire Byzantine Empire was destroyed. The lore even mentions Varangian Guards in New Antioch.

[@americancaesar4715]

​@@Gabriel-hy8be I would love to see this Crusade on other fronts other than the Levant. If the Byzantine Empire still stands or a successor one at that I'm pretty sure the Balkans would be a warzone Serbia, Wallachia, etc I would love to see Mount Athos or the rest of Greece as a bastion Schema Monks with Greek Fire, Cataphracts, Akritai using guerilla warfare, etc

[@Brother_O4TS]

@@Gabriel-hy8be and, if I remember correctly, the bloodline of the Dukes of New Antioch are those of the Byzantine emperors

[@kelborhal2576]

New Antioch Stands!

[@zalfir]

I want to make a mixed Scottish and Irish group. Galloglaigh.

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

Yes Good Idea

[@MrArmystrong85]

Warhammer 40k: in the Grim darkness of the far future…there is only war. Trench Crusade: Hold my Blood of Christ

[@spinach4892]

PRAISE BE NEW ANTIOCH, PRAISE BE THE DUKE, PRAISE BE GOD

[@jacobirving8999]

9:06 *Bangs desk* These lads literally went to actual HELL and back?!

[@tictackywacky9445]

Scannerbarkly is a chad and I’ll argue that all day

[@JoevanB]

The Doom Slayer would Rip and Tear through hell

[@DoubleDragon-ks2hk]

Ok memes aside it would be really cool if trench crusade got their own version of the doomslayer.

[@Ember34]

Pretty much paladins

[@akumaking1]

Doom Slayer would instantly win the setting in a day.

[@chrisbarrett8377]

So would Superman. Or any protagonist from any video game in the last 10 years

[@bolverkvolsung6142]

Doomslayer pre seraphim would be more fair.

[@Ally5141]

someone has to tell me, what the fack is that hole in guys chestplate, does his nipples have to breathe or something?

[@bloodangelphil]

I'd definitely build a Kingdom of Alba Assault Detachment.

[@zalfir]

Same, with Irish skirmishers and berserkers. Galloglaigh.

[@tictackywacky9445]

Thanks for covering this dope lore. Most of the talk I’ve seen about trench crusades is dumb drama.

[@tictackywacky9445]

@@dafq9149 Sounds like dumb drama. The lore is still kickass and the art phenomenal.

[@Storming32]

It's pretty dumb isn't it? The new TC discord server is up and running and has about 2k members, its pretty cool if you want to dive into the lore.

[@scannerbarkly]

@@dafq9149 Why are all you fucking losers dragging your politics into my comment section? Being a fucking gay kid in Idaho is not political, it's just being a person. People here are trying to have a bit of fun and enjoy some lore and you pricks are just moaning and begging for attention. It's fucking sad, bro. Now, either get with the program and talk about media you like and enjoy or imma, frankly, fuck you off the channel. You are ruining peoples fun with your snowflake bullshit.

[@rokassan]

That’s why I don’t have social media. I’ll get this book and play with friends. Think I’m going with the good old Catholics…they excel at dispensing with demons and devils. Unless one of my sons wants to play them, then I’ll go with the bad guys. That Mosquito looking armored demon looked pretty cool.

[@scannerbarkly]

Sorry, I told you what would happen if you kept dragging this stuff into my comment section. See ya.

[@NewGuy2534]

Meanwhile, both sides took one look at Australia and said “Nope!”

[@scannerbarkly]

I'm actually not sure what will happen with Australia in this universe. Because England became so insular and focused solely on building an enormous mobile fortress for defence they never got around to colonizing the Americas, so I assume the same will apply to Aus.

[@NewGuy2534]

The Americas are like: Huh. You smell something burning?

[@Gruntvc]

Australia is the Catchia of Earth. Everything wants to kill you and is very poisonous too.

[@piotrx6833]

@@scannerbarkly Huh? Where did you read it? Because from what I've seen youtube videos are the only sources of lore I know of. I couldn't find anything on the main page.

[@scannerbarkly]

@@piotrx6833 That bit of lore is from the assorted lore primers and rulebooks you can get via the Discord. The British fleet gets wrecked in 1805 and Admiral Nelson gets killed in the fight. The loss of much of their Navy cripples the expansion of the British Empire, and instead they start to working on an enormous mobile fortress for defense which takes them about a century to complete.

[@mojotheaverage]

The city of Antioch broke before the guard did

[@ItWasSaucerShaped]

'New Antioch holds no space for anything but meritocracy' HM *looks over at demonstrably incompetent lieutenant who, 'coincidentally', was promoted by their high ranking father* *scratches chin* WELL I AM SURE HE REALLY IS THE BEST THAT WAS AVAILABLE FOR SURE

[@scannerbarkly]

There no way this channel would spread the propaganda of the New Antioch upper classes. No sir.

[@ItWasSaucerShaped]

@@scannerbarkly this channel CANNOT spread the propaganda of the New Antioch upper classes, because propaganda is solely the tool of the heretic. there is no propaganda in New Antioch, unless it is uttered by heretics who will meet with due justice in time amen

[@jakto3362]

just imagine what Australians are like in this universe

[@TheBuster0926]

10:00 God Help us all, Judas Escargot is ALIVE AGAIN! WHY DID THEY REBUILD JUDAS?! WHOS IDEA WAS THIS?

[@l0rf]

Judas...escargot? That's a hilarious autocorrect of Iscariot.

[@dr.michaelmarx3085]

I didn't catch that at first. 12 Paladins for 12 Disciples of Christ

[@Zretgul_timerunner]

Guess which one is the fallen paladin...

[@TheBuster0926]

@@l0rf WE LOVE THE AI OVERLORDS. HIS NAME OUGHT BE ERASED!

[@Neoth40k]

I would really like to know where New Antioch is geographically, I was very confused watching the video

[@scannerbarkly]

Just east of the island of Cyprus, north of Tripoli!

[@Fyrebrand18]

Where the historical city of Antioch resides. New Antioch was built over the scorched bones of old Antioch.

[@jidk6565]

it'd be interesting to see other factions like new Byzantines trying to reclaim there lost cities and lost honor as Rome leading an orthodox faction or maybe Even Jewish units but I am jewish, so I have to want that

[@Trent-m6j]

That'd be awesome/hilarious. The Jews never left Jerusalem and they're just holding out behind the backlines of hell's foothold. Some hidden in terrorist organizations, messing with supply lines and such. Some living normal lives pretending to he heretics while secretly attending home-synagogue style meetings and donating to the terrorists.

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Great video!

[@zofzof3112]

5:56 thats literally just the head of the lunagans/gans-boy U2 from ma.k

[@mournivalof4]

Is there a world map for this game ?

[@scannerbarkly]

Not yet. The devs are working on it, but Mike does all the art solo and is a pretty methodical worker.

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

Ther Is A Fan Maed One

[@t1ll316]

Damn the nether can be really scary

[@farbodnooshazar522]

the cadian shock troops will love this guys if they ever see them

[@Kolokommouna]

*these

[@NouaGovermentdacian]

Just vraks it Artillery time

[@Siberiancatsrule]

Vraks is overrated and is not as good of writing as people say it was.

[@sluggerbutter]

what series is this it looks so cool

[@WeOnlyEatSoup]

Pretty sure I found my faction

[@MistarSandMan]

Who's the dude with the red helmet?

[@drnobody1908]

Seems like it'll be a good franchise to move too if Warhammer fails. But needs vikings that are equally aggressive to everything

[@ostland_staat2356]

I know Byzantium fell but what of Trebazon what of Gothia there has to be some byzantine rump state

[@MrSkabrus]

I would love to see a neopagan faction something that isn't allignned with neither god or the devil

[@daniel11119]

I would love it too, but I have no idea, how they can justify in the lore that a pagans can still exist in this hyper-christian world.

[@MrSkabrus]

@@daniel11119 perhaps something of nordic inspiration or quasy druidistic

[@corvaxblackfeather6529]

That would be a 'instant buy' for me then ^^

[@abelbabel8484]

Dude, imagine a Hindu empire faction coming in from the east. Elephant-headed giants, snake charmer ascetc priests, warrior monks riding tigers, four-armed blood-drinking women soldiers, etc etc etc Bruh I just hyped myself lol

[@abelbabel8484]

​@@daniel11119 Scandinavia irl took until the 12th century to be officially christianized. If the gate to hell was opened in 1099, you can just say it crippled the conversion effort and people stuck with/returned to their older beliefs - rejecting a foreign faith that has unleashed hell on earth kinda makes sense imo.

[@davidk6269]

New Antioch = Cadia. ; )

[@Izrek]

Who or what is Meta-Christ often mentioned in lore?

[@Siberiancatsrule]

Clones of Christ.

[@archrp7868]

.....what the fuck happened to like the America's? Australia? We know what happened with all of them?

[@zaqzilla1]

Liked the video. Maybe work on your delivery though. I imagine you're reading from a script, and your delivery sounds like it. Still enjoyed the video though. I'm thinking about building a unite based on the real life Harlem Hellfighters.

[@scannerbarkly]

I've specifically chosen my delivery because I'm talking about a war between heaven and hell, dudes getting their faces peeled off, monks being built into armor suits that slowly grate them to death, and people being fed the flesh and blood of some vat-grown Christ clones. lol Not really sure what way you'd like it delivered, but this is what I'm going with.

[@zaqzilla1]

@@scannerbarkly No problem. Still enjoying your videos.

[@patrickking3124]

​@@scannerbarkly wants you to sound like mrcreepypasta 🤣

[@mikayelalikhanyan1587]

death korps of krieg if vraks was krieg

[@Siberiancatsrule]

Kriegers are overrated.

[@gangalf1456]

Dark soul 11:35

[@mbp1652]

Let's go

[@someirishguy1662]

Gotta make some Na Fianna asap

[@scannerbarkly]

There are rules for an Irish squad called the Eire Rangers. Their Cleric has an ability called "Away, Serpents", a Fianna warrior class and you can bring one Berzeker, Cú Chulainn style.

[@fleetwheelmac6978]

TBH, as compelling as I find the art and the setting, I cannot imagine myself actually playing the game. The level of grimdark and hopelessness just feels too high.

[@Siberiancatsrule]

Nobody cares

[@mercs7849]

This... this is just Trenchfoot (the doom TC). Oh well...

[@thetragicallyhiphippo]

first somehow. Antioch shall burn by the hand of Mammon

[@scannerbarkly]

Bro, I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda with you on this one. lol Working on my Heretics warband right now.

[@Saruman_Ring-Maker]

​@@scannerbarklyBeelzebub and the Blackgrail is gonna be fire. Though I'm gonna play trench pilgrim's because there's something inspiring about a bunch of faithful dudes charging at hordes of demons.

[@Humansarebetter1]

@@Saruman_Ring-Makerhell yeah brother

[@somecargoship]

Z

[@harbinger200]

Church Warhammer? Kind of pointless....

[@Siberiancatsrule]

This is not Warhammer you spoiled brat.

[@stoischertragen6093]

Please stop using Background music

[@СергейМорозов-м8н]

Old Antioch - Israel, New Antioch - Ukraine.

[@bolverkvolsung6142]

That would make sense with the timeline because that would line up with the time line of Vladimir and the Varangians. Also seeing Vladimir as a general would be epic. A super savage barbarian christianized king.

[@СергейМорозов-м8н]

@@bolverkvolsung6142 Vladimir is it who is HUYLO?

[@FishheadMcgee]

Just thinking of mystics in China, South America and the like being like "The Fuq happening over there."

[@gavinwallander4693]

Where can i get models for this? This sounds so fucking awesome

[@scannerbarkly]

There was a Kickstarter a while back for a small handful of minis that kinda kicked off this whole thing, and since then it has grown into the game that is currently developing. There will be another Kickstarter for the game itself coming at some point this year. Until then, the community is just kitbashing anything we can get our hands on to make the models work.