Learn about Trench Crusade

Epidemics of typhus, malaria, typhoid, smallpox, yellow-fever, pneumonia, trench fever, Markisian disease and countless others ravage the trenches and battlefields of the Great War, but they all pale in comparison to the most dreaded of them all: the Black Grail.

“ Concocted by Beelzebub themself, the Black Grail is the most calamitous plague that has ever ravaged this bleak world. Not living, not dead, its victims become vessels to spread the corruption of their new master. Those depraved enough to willingly embrace this “gift” become nobles of the Order of the Fly, forming warbands and shepherding their lesser brethren to find and infect life of any kind. ”

Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies, stands apart from the other lords of Hell, who act mainly through their mortal followers. Instead, when he periodically gains supremacy in the bitter power struggles of the archfiends, he sends forth his deadliest curse.

Infused with demonic essence from the bowels of the seventh layer of Hell, where the putrid fortress of Beelzebub stands, spews forth a torrent of demonic hell-flies, scorpions, locusts and other infernal insects. The Hellgate opens and a veritable tidal wave of foulness emerges, flowing across the land at startling speed, consuming everything and leaving indescribable horror in its wake. After nine days the insect swarm exhausts itself, devouring its own in its insatiable hunger

1 Lord of Tumours

A high-ranking noble officiant in the Cult of the Black Grail, the Lord of Tumours spreads filth and corruption amongst friend and foe alike. They commune with the Lord of the Flies through a trance-like ecstasy and can channel the very power of the seventh circle of Hell which Beelzebub rules.

0-1 Plague Knight

Ranking lowliest in the nobility of the Black Grail, these armoured great warriors were once truly depraved worshippers Beelzebub. When the Black Grail came for them, they willingly submitted themselves to the authority of the Lord of Flies. As a result they retain a semblance of sentience and the ability to wield weapons as they did in life. They aspire to win favour in the eyes of Beelzebub and one day be promoted in the hierarchy of the Order of the Fly.

0-2 Corpse Guard

Only the strongest human devotees can survive the blessings of the Black Grail. The ones that do are inducted into the ranks of the Corpse Guard, bodyguards to the nobility of the Black Grail. If they serve with distinction, they may one day join the ranks of the Infernal Nobility.

Hounds of the Black Grail

Parasitic carcasses of canines infested with maggots and flies spawned from the body of Beelzebub himself. Their unholy mission is to prowl No Man’s Land and spread diseases and pestilence in the name of their dark master.

Grail Thrall/Fly Thrall

The boons of the Black Grail lead slowly but surely down the path of utter corruption. Only very few of the chosen can withstand the blessings of the Lord of the Flies. Most are turned into Grail Thralls, and join the endless legions of empty, hollowed-out and diseased husks who must obey the whims of the Black Grail nobles for all eternity, while suffering the torment of their countless supernatural infections.

Thralls come in two varieties: Grail Thralls that have become almost impervious to pain and Fly Thralls, controlled by the gargantuan hell-flies that have buried their proboscis deep into the central nervous system of their victims, allowing far greater mobility in exchange for less resistance to pain.

0-4 Heralds of Beelzebub

Some victims of the Black Grail suffer a far worse fate than becoming a Thrall. They are bestowed with the black honour by being melded with hell-flies, growing into a grotesque winged insect made of bloated flesh. After this torturous metamorphosis they take to air as Heralds of Beelzebub, the winged squires and scouts of the Order of the Fly.

0-1 Amalgam

An Amalgam is a huge, shambling mass of dozens of bodies of infected fallen enemy warriors, insects, mammals and any other living creatures that had the misfortune of succumbing to the agonising blessings of the Black Grail together. These shoggoths shamble across the battlefield like walking mountains of corpulent, diseased flesh, its flailing arms still wielding weapons its victims used in life. Anyone or anything unfortunate enough to be in its path is crushed into a disgusting pulp beneath its elephantine feet.

The Cult of

The Black Grail

Warband Composition

The Order of the Fly and the Servants of the Black Grail