War Pilgrimage of Saint Methodius
From the Night of Fire and Blood that laid low the Greater Moravian monastery of Velehrad emerged a single monk of the Orthodox Order of St. Methodius. Though the rest of the brotherhood perished in the catastrophe, slaughtered by a squadron of ruthless Death Commandos, the sole survivor brought with him the books of the Saint and his faith out of the ruin.
With the loss of the workshops and monastic libraries of Velehrad, it was believed that the secrets of the Anchorite construction were lost, especially since the Church no longer wished to pursue their construction due to advances in armour technology elsewhere. But this was in error. The monk, named brother Akakios, still knew the craft.
Akakios fled to the Theocratia of Hellas and founded a new monastery on the slopes of holy Mount Athos. Many monks lived in the monastic communities on the slopes of the mountain and some were attracted to join their brother. Thus Akakios became the first War Prophet of the Order and many lay members joined or became supporters and, eventually, the foot soldiers of the well-equipped and disciplined War Pilgrimages of St. Methodius. No other Pilgrim Progression can match the methodical and technical approach of the soldiers of the Order.
In their fortified monastery the learned monks hoard and protect the knowledge of modifying the sacred designs of St. Methodius. Their Shrine Anchorites are without a peer and feature many modern weapons and adjustments which allow them to carry modern long-range weaponry. No other warband has such abundant access to Anchorites or the variety of sophisticated weaponry and equipment.
Following the ancient Orthodox creed, the pilgrims of St. Methodius reject many of the teachings and customs of other Pilgrim Processions. They consider the creation of the Communicants as a dangerous heresy and condemn the use of Martyrdom Devices as an affront to God’s commandment against suicide, as well as holding to other beliefs many of the Trench Pilgrims view as an essential part of their crusade against the forces of Inferno. Bitter schisms and arguments with other sects sometimes erupt into violence, and the Church itself accuses the Order of Hetrodoxy of clinging to the outdated Eastern Orthodox faith.
However, due to their formidable fortress monasteries upon Mount Athos and their undeniable zeal on the battlefield, the Princes of the Church turn a blind eye to the affairs of the followers of St. Methodius, as long as they focus all their zeal in the seemingly impossible task of relieving the city of Trebizond. Here, according to the visions of prophet Akakios, the unsullied faith is still practiced and the Salvation of Mankind will be achieved. To this end, the Order sends one War Pilgrimage after another to the front line. Not one has made it within sight of the fabled walls of Trebizond, but this only increases the zeal of the Order and rouses them into ever greater efforts to reach the City of the Hill.
Faction Rules
This warband may alter the weaponry and equipment of their Anchorites as indicated below. Anchorites of St. Methodius have +0 DICE to their Ranged Characteristic.
Due to its construction and immense size, any Anchorite of this warband may use any one of these weapons as a single-handed weapon. The Anchorite may replace its Breaking Wheel with one of these weapons at the cost indicated below. You can change these weapons and equipment between battles, but you must sell the old weapon at half price before installing a new one.
Each Shrine Anchorite of the War Pilgrimage of St. Methodius can equip up to two Anchorite-Only equipment pieces.
Captains
The War Prophet blares out holy sermons and dire prophecies at 100 decibels to inspire the faithful. The Prophet can take a RISKY ACTION with +2 DICE once during each Activation. If the action is successful, all friendly models within 8” of the Prophet (including the Prophet) that are not engaged in melee can immediately move up to 3” towards any enemy model they can see by the optimal path that reduces the distance between the moving model and the enemy. This move allows them to enter combat as if they charged the enemy and are considered to have done so until the end of the turn.
With a successful ACTION, you may remove D3 BLOOD MARKERS from any friendly model within 6” (including the Prophet).
The War Prophet is touched by a higher power and the revealed truth allows them a degree of protection against premature death. Once per battle, when the War Prophet is taken Out of Action for any reason, ignore the result as if nothing had happened.
Elite
At any point during its Activation, a Castigator may take a RISKY ACTION with +1 DICE. If successful, all friendly models that are Down and within 8” of the Castigator may immediately stand up at no penalty or cost.
Unlike other models, a Castigator is allowed to attack friendly models with melee attacks within 1”. They can do this without declaring a charge. Each time the Castigator takes a friendly model Out of Action with a melee attack, set a die aside in a pool as the act of piety inspires the troops. The next time your warband makes a Morale roll, add an amount of +DICE to that roll equal to the amount of dice in the pool and empty it.
Infantry
Combat Helmet
Ignores additional BLOOD MARKERS caused by the Keyword SHRAPNEL.
The simple combat helmet has proven its value on the battlefield time and again.
Bonebreaker Mace
| Range | Melee |
| Hands | 1 Hands (Melee) |
| Modifiers | +1D to Injuries |
RISKY ACTION
The Anchorite treats the Bonebreaker Mace as a one-handed melee weapon with the Keyword RISKY. The Bonebreaker Mace has a +1 DICE bonus to injure. Because the Mace is wielded alongside the Catherine Wheel, it is treated as an Off-Hand Weapon and suffers penalties accordingly.
Catherine Wheel
| Range | Melee |
| Hands | 1 Hands (Melee) |
| Modifiers | +1D to Hit, 3D6 Injury Roll |
HEAVY, RISKY ACTION
The Anchorite treats the Catherine Wheel as a one-handed melee weapon with the Keywords RISKY and HEAVY that grants a +1 DICE bonus to hit (for a total of +3 DICE due to its Melee Characteristic). Because of the enormous weight and the skill of the Anchorite Shrine in inflicting maximum pain, the Catherine Wheel rolls on the Injury Chart with 3D6 (instead of usual 2D6), adding all three dice together!
If the Ecclesiastic Prisoner is taken Out of Action by its Martyrdom Device, it does not count as being Out of Action for any rules related to Morale.
Ecclesiastic Prisoner can add +1 DICE to their Dash ACTION.
Iron Capirote
Negates the additional BLOOD MARKERS from weapons with Keyword SHRAPNEL. Makes the model immune to the effects of FEAR.
A conical helmet reminiscent of the headgear of the penitents. Blessed by the Church and often containing a fragment of a relic, Iron Capirotes shield their wearers from the psychological horror of war, enabling them to face creatures from the pits of Hell unflinchingly.
At the start of each of their Activations, any Stigmatic Nun can remove one BLOOD MARKER (but not an INFECTION MARKER) from themselves and convert it into a BLESSING MARKER.
Stigmatic Nuns may take any Dash ACTION or jump/climb/Diving Charge ACTION with +1 DICE.
Standard Armour
-1 to all Injury Chart rolls against the model. Can be combined with any shield.
With the advancements in metallurgy and technology, both Faithful and Heretic armies are well-equipped with suits of alloy armour that can withstand an impact from a bullet or turn aside the sharpest of blades. Standard armour is usually mass-produced, but highly effective even against high-calibre weapons.
Blessed with stigmata and unshakeable faith, these swordmaster nuns are the vanguard of any assault by the holy armies.
“From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of our Lord and Saviour.” - Galatians 6:17
Mercenaries
Due to their knowledge of anatomy and physiology, medics are experts at inflicting debilitating injuries and excruciating pain. Unless the target has the Keyword DEMONIC or BLACK GRAIL, add +1 DICE to any injury rolls the Medic makes in melee against opponents who are Down.
The Medic adds +1 DICE whenever they use their Medi-Kit to aid friendly models.
The medic is immune to FEAR.
Combat Helmet
Ignores additional BLOOD MARKERS caused by the Keyword SHRAPNEL.
The simple combat helmet has proven its value on the battlefield time and again.
Standard Armour
-1 to all Injury Chart rolls against the model. Can be combined with any shield.
With the advancements in metallurgy and technology, both Faithful and Heretic armies are well-equipped with suits of alloy armour that can withstand an impact from a bullet or turn aside the sharpest of blades. Standard armour is usually mass-produced, but highly effective even against high-calibre weapons.
Medi-Kit
Models with a Medi-kit can take a RISKY ACTION to remove one BLOOD MARKER from any one friendly model (including themselves) within 1" range or allow one friendly model (including themselves) that is Down to regain their footing.
Battlefield first aid has brought many soldiers back from the brink of death. Blessed ointments can seal fatal wounds completely, while the black blood of demons used by twisted heretic medics allows mangled troops to return to the fray.
Misericordia
| Range | Melee |
| Hands | 1 Hands (Melee) |
| Modifiers | Ignore Armour |
Ignores the armour of opponents that are Down.
The misericordia dagger is designed to put enemies out of their misery by finding chinks in the armour: eye slits, neck joints and so forth.
The Sisters of St. Cosmas are a highly trained elite medical corps, specialising in battlefield first aid and surgeries on the front lines of the Great War.
The Sisters take a modified Hippocratic Oath that compels them to help any wounded soldiers of the Faith, no matter how dire the circumstance, as well as dispatching heretics and other enemies they find on the battlefield without pity or mercy.
Armed with a combat surgical knife that doubles as a Misericordia, they are as equally adept at saving lives as taking them from those they find lying wounded in No Man’s Land. They carry medical kits with a plethora of battlefield drugs that are especially useful for nullifying the pain of even the most ghastly wounds, and getting soldiers back on their feet and back into the fray, even if just for a few moments so they can accomplish their mission or die trying.
When a friendly model within 1” of the Monk is Activated, you can declare that the Monk is Activated at the same time. You may then use the Monk before taking any ACTION or movement with the model you originally Activated. This does not allow you to Activate the Monk more than once per Turn.
As a RISKY ACTION, the Monk can provide a friendly model within 1” of it with one of the following benefits. The chosen benefit lasts until the end of the targeted model’s Activation this Turn:
Bullet of the Guided Path: Whenever this model makes an Attack with a Ranged Weapon, add +1 DICE to hit. Cartridge of His Wrath: Add the Keywords SHRAPNEL and BLAST 2” to every Ranged Weapon this model is equipped with. Echo of His Word: Whenever this model makes an Attack with a Ranged Weapon, add +1 to injury rolls caused by that Attack.
Gas Mask
Ignores additional BLOOD MARKERS caused by the Keyword GAS. Any such attacks suffer -1 DICE penalty to all injury rolls.
Mustard Gas, phosgene, chlorine as well as noxious fumes from the bolgias of Hell plague the battlefield. The Gas Mask allows soldiers to withstand such attacks.
The Order of Mendelist Monks is entrusted with the design of divinely enhanced items and the creation of the Communicants, devotees who have undergone Chemical Communion with an infusion of the synthesised blood of a Meta-Christ.
The Brotherhood of Blessed Munitions is one of the sub-sects of the Mendelist Order, whose duty is to provide the faithful with various types of ammunition treated with the chemically altered blood of a Meta-Christ. Such solutions are highly unstable and difficult to handle, and the secrets of their various formulae are jealously guarded.
On the battlefield, the monks brave enemy fire and infernal terrors, committed to their holy task of bringing the Wrath of the Lord upon the heretics. Their patron, St. Barbara, is said to lift those who die on the battlefield to Everlasting Glory.
In Melee, the Observer may attack twice with its Trench Polearm instead of only once.
Attacks that target the Observer suffer -1 DICE to hit.
If the Observer fails an ACTION, you may re-roll the dice. However, if any of the dice you roll gives a result of 1, there is psychic backlash and the Observer suffers a Down result (including any resulting BLOOD MARKERS), and their Activation immediately ends.
As a RISKY ACTION, the Observer may command any model on the board, friend or a foe, that has not been Activated this Turn. If successful, that model is compelled by the Divine Words. The Observer’s Activation immediately ends and the target’s Activation begins immediately after.
Standard Armour
-1 to all Injury Chart rolls against the model. Can be combined with any shield.
With the advancements in metallurgy and technology, both Faithful and Heretic armies are well-equipped with suits of alloy armour that can withstand an impact from a bullet or turn aside the sharpest of blades. Standard armour is usually mass-produced, but highly effective even against high-calibre weapons.
Gas Mask
Ignores additional BLOOD MARKERS caused by the Keyword GAS. Any such attacks suffer -1 DICE penalty to all injury rolls.
Mustard Gas, phosgene, chlorine as well as noxious fumes from the bolgias of Hell plague the battlefield. The Gas Mask allows soldiers to withstand such attacks.
Combat Helmet
Ignores additional BLOOD MARKERS caused by the Keyword SHRAPNEL.
The simple combat helmet has proven its value on the battlefield time and again.
Trench Polearm
| Range | Melee |
| Hands | 2 Hands (Melee) |
| Modifiers | -1D to hit for Chargers |
CUMBERSOME, SHIELD COMBO
Polearms take two hands to use. Melee attacks made against this model are made with -1 DICE if the attacking model Charged this turn.
Trench pikes, billhooks, spears and other long polearms are excellent defensive weapons, but are cumbersome and heavy. They are often used to deal with barbed wire.
Medi-Kit
Models with a Medi-kit can take a RISKY ACTION to remove one BLOOD MARKER from any one friendly model (including themselves) within 1" range or allow one friendly model (including themselves) that is Down to regain their footing.
Battlefield first aid has brought many soldiers back from the brink of death. Blessed ointments can seal fatal wounds completely, while the black blood of demons used by twisted heretic medics allows mangled troops to return to the fray.
When the need is great, the Synod of Strategic Prophecy sends Observers to support the war effort. This order of warrior monks lives a life of absolute solitude, sharpening their minds and bodies, making of themselves living weapons in the Hands of God.
Once a soldier joins the order, they never leave the Temple of The Word. The slightest disturbance to their prayers and training interrupts their ability to commune with the Lord of all Creation. Thus the days of the Observers are spent in secluded, cloistered cells, when not practising their martial or mental disciplines.
The rare exception is when they are summoned to the battlefield. Here, amidst the chaos and carnage, their unique abilities can decisively shift the balance in favour of the faithful. Observers wear a specially crafted helmet enabling them to attune to the Voice of God. This remarkable connection grants them the capacity to simultaneously perceive the immediate past, present and future, to a degree. This allows them to perform unrivalled martial feats.
But a living human is not meant to hear the Holy Words, so it comes at a cost. Since the Voice of God never decays, they must concentrate with superhuman focus to extricate the righteous guidance amidst the narrative spanning from creation’s inception to the present moment. The ceaseless resonance of the Divine Echo ringing in their ears renders sleep impossible. Therefore they must resort to potent sedatives and mind-altering drugs for them to endure the heavy burden of their battlefield role for any length of time.
The Observers diligently practice the recitation of the Words of God, granting them the power to issue commands to anyone they address, friend or foe. The special metal of their helmet allows them to replicate the Holy Word as closely as it is possible, compelling any creature in creation to obey them momentarily.
Scripture Guardian has a halved Dash distance (i.e. 3”).
The Scripture Guardian reads words from the holy (or unholy!) text it carries. This is an attack ACTION with 18” range, and it can be used in either Melee or as a Ranged attack (though not both during the same Activation). Use Ranged and Melee Characteristics as appropriate. This attack ignores armour and cover. For each BLOOD MARKER the target has, add +1 to the Injury roll. Note that if armed with a melee weapon, both the Melee attack and the use of the Vengeageful Scripture can be used simultaneously.
Combat Helmet
Ignores additional BLOOD MARKERS caused by the Keyword SHRAPNEL.
The simple combat helmet has proven its value on the battlefield time and again.
Reinforced Armour
Grants a -2 modifier to all injury rolls against the model wearing this armour.
Reinforced armour is a master-crafted suit made individually for the most important and elite troops. Each one is richly decorated and often carries the personal device of the warrior who wears it.
The Witchburner can select any model in the opposing warband within 24” (even if hidden or out of sight) and bring the Judgement of Heaven upon them with a Litany of Condemnation. This is a RISKY ACTION. If successful, the model suffers one BLOOD MARKER (models with the Keyword HERETIC, BLACK GRAIL or DEMONIC suffer two BLOOD MARKER) as it bursts into celestial flames. This holy fire even affects units that are immune to FIRE weapons.
The Witchburner has taken vows to persecute heretics with extreme prejudice. Nothing will stop this holy task. The Witchburner is immune to FEAR.
Due to the dignity of their status, the Witchburner cannot take the Dash ACTION.
Combat Helmet
Ignores additional BLOOD MARKERS caused by the Keyword SHRAPNEL.
The simple combat helmet has proven its value on the battlefield time and again.
Reinforced Armour
Grants a -2 modifier to all injury rolls against the model wearing this armour.
Reinforced armour is a master-crafted suit made individually for the most important and elite troops. Each one is richly decorated and often carries the personal device of the warrior who wears it.
Gavel of Justice
| Range | Melee |
| Hands | 1 Hands (Melee) |
If the Witchburner hits an enemy with the Gavel of Justice, the target of the attack automatically sustains Divine Judgement as explained in the Witchburner’s Abilities, even if the attack did no damage otherwise. This does not count as the Witchburner having used the Divine Judgement ACTION. Thus the Witchburner can potentially cause multiple Divine Judgements during a single Activation.
The staff of the Witchburners is both a mark of their office and a weapon imbued with the wrath of God against those who have broken Divine Law. It dooms the souls of those found guilty to burn in flames for all eternity.
The Witchburners are the field officers of the Inquisition. They are tasked with hunting down and punishing witches, warlocks and heretics that cannot be brought to face justice by conventional means.
On the battlefield they have the power to channel divine retribution on those deemed to have transgressed against God, causing sinners to burst into flames with mere words of condemnation. Since none are sinless, none are safe from their words of condemnation.
