RIP Crusade

[ThePenitentOne]

Hey folks. Thought I'd start a "Celebration of Life" thread for Crusade. I knew the writing was on the wall as soon as they announced the edition with talk of bringing narrative to regular play, so I'm not surprised. And this isn't necessarily intended to be an angry post.

 

I'm not sure what to do now. I've played since '89 with a break for 6th and 7th. Along the way, I found a way to enjoy every edition... Using whatever narrative tid-bits they gave us. Half baked non-committal skills I could add to a character or whatever. Proto versions of Kill Team and Combat Patrol, and the concept of escalation. Campaign systems for Plant Strike and Cityfight. It was all fun.., but I almost always had to supplement it with house rules, because it never had the depth to go as far as I needed it to.

 

But the six years I had Crusade?

 

Those were the only years that I didn't have to fill in the blanks myself. That was apex gaming for me. I wish I had played more often and made more of it. I wish GW had given me a Drukhari refresh in an addition that supported Drukharimunda. The grotesques will be beautiful when we get them, but they'll never have a territory in Commorragh just for them, because everything has to be simple now. People don't like rules anymore- that's too complicated. Just say the have a territory, right? It doesn't have to actually  mean anything, right? They're still your dudes.

 

I don't know what comes next. Crucible and the new Tank Rules are okay. The campaign stuff in this box looks okay. I might try to enjoy the baseline mediocrity of another non-committal progression system if the models are good enough. I'm not sure it'll satisfy, but I might try, It might also be the end. Even if I try it and squeeze some narrative fun out of it, I don't think I'll forget what I've lost... And even if I don't stop supporting GW by making occasional purchases, I don't think I'll forgive.

 

Anyway, pour one out for Crusade Fraters! If you have fond memories, this is the place for them. If you want to join me in shaking my fist at the sky in a futile gesture, you can do that too, And if the thread dies without ever being more than my own personal pity party, that's fine too.

[NovemberIX]

I can only say you have my fellow hobby condolences. It sucks when GW gets rid of the things we love, I still miss the old Badab War Stuff. I assume there's not a way to refit or port it to another edition without massive change?

[phandaal]

RIP. Not a Crusade player myself, per se, but I really enjoyed the missions GW put together for their Crusade packs. Those were by far my favorite missions GW has produced over the last several editions.

 

"Fatberg Clearance" has to be one of the most ridiculous/gross mission names ever. 

[DemonGSides]

5 hours ago, NovemberIX said:

I can only say you have my fellow hobby condolences. It sucks when GW gets rid of the things we love, I still miss the old Badab War Stuff. I assume there's not a way to refit or port it to another edition without massive change?

 

I don't think it would be that hard to bring what already exists over, and I do think there's some solace in thinking of it as a 'complete' system as it is, at least in 11th.  From there-on after who knows what bigger changes might happen.

Wouldn't be too hard to back-port some of the stuff either, to other systems.  Some work, of course, but not that much of an effort.

[Cpt_Reaper]

Until I know more about this Dominatus Deck, I'm not giving up Crusade.

 

However, I am open to it being good. Great even. But I need to study this deck (because WarCom won't give enough info before I get it). I loved 10th, and I always said it just needed fine-tuning. Crusade was not an aspect that needed fixing, it was fine as is. Too much book-keeping? The Venn diagram between RPG players and wargamers is nearly a perfect circle. Too much book-keeping...Bah I say!

[Doghouse]

While I have little knowledge of Crusade, as a genuine sincere question can't you just use it as a separate game and just stick to 10th rules for those games?

 

If you really enjoy the system is it really worth chucking it on the treadmill bonfire just for the sake of a new edition?

 

Like DemonGSlides rightly askes, can you port it over? 

[ThaneOfTas]

I feel your pain frater. Personally while I've bought all of the crusade books this edition I found that compared to 9th the juice wasn't worth the squeeze this edition*, but the fix for that most certainly was not cutting it down further to fit on a deck of cards. 

 

On 5/2/2026 at 8:39 AM, ThePenitentOne said:

because everything has to be simple now. People don't like rules anymore- that's too complicated. Just say the have a territory, right? It doesn't have to actually  mean anything, right? They're still your dudes.

This especially! Ugh, it resonates very strongly! I get that making things easier and simpler and streamlined to get into is good business. I just wish that it didn't drain the fun out of it for me. It's the rules writing equivalent of the trend of ultra minimalist corporate logos.

 

*In full fairness, the tenth edition rules were only part of the issue, the other issue is that my gaming group partially disintegrated with one member moving, one having a second kind under 5 years old and the last getting really into the  competitive scene (and he was always the least into crusade out of anyone.) I could have pushed to play crusade more, but it would mostly just have been me, and that definitely didn't seem worth the effort.

[ThePenitentOne]

Thanks to all the folks who posted here. I will be processing a lot of things over the next few months to figure out the path forward. I have to see how many folks will be interested in helping me keep Crusade alive locally. Like I said, some of the lighter narrative rules that they're adding to the core game might be enough for people to just go with the new system because it's the path of least resistance. If too many make that call and I no longer have enough folks to play older editions or to carry house-ruled Crusade forward... Well, there might not be enough pieces to pick up.