Trench Crusade's Tuomas Pirinen on Narrative Gaming, Storytelling, & Running Campaigns

Few designers have influenced narrative miniature gaming as much as Tuomas Pirinen. From Mordheim in the late 1990s to the recent breakout success of Trench Crusade, his games have always leaned heavily toward story, character and campaign play. What surprises him most is that the latest one worked as well as it did. “We were totally prepared to lose our shirts and be happy about it,” Pirinen says of launching Trench Crusade. “But it didn’t go that way.” The project was essentially a gamble between friends. Pirinen and collaborator Mike Franchina funded sculpting and development themselves, assuming the Kickstarter would be a passion project rather than a runaway hit. Part of the reason was the concept itself. “On the surface, it’s very counterintuitive,” Pirinen explains. “You go into a space where there is a totally dominant player. Then you narrow your audience because the game is clearly aimed at a mature audience. And the theme is religion and its role in war, which no major games company would touch with a barge pole.” By the logic of spreadsheets and market analysis, it should not have worked. “But creative work doesn’t always follow the Excel sheet,” he says. “The Excel doesn’t always determine the fate of creative endeavour.” From Mordheim to Trench Crusade

For many hobbyists, Pirinen’s name is still inseparable from Mordheim. Released in 1999, the skirmish game focused on small warbands exploring the ruins of a cursed city, gaining injuries, experience and grudges along the way. “Mordheim was very narrative driven,” Pirinen says. “It wasn’t about perfectly balanced competitive play. It was about creating a story with your friends as the campaign unfolds.” That philosophy has never really left his design work. Trench Crusade follows the same broad idea, although updated for modern players. “In many ways it takes that high level idea and brings it forward,” he says. “Mordheim came out in 1999, so a lot of water has flowed in the river since then.” Interestingly, Pirinen himself used to approach games very differently. “When I was younger, I was very competitive,” he admits. “Winning mattered a lot to me. These days I’m much more focused on the narrative side.” That competitive background still informs his design work. Even narrative games need solid rules. “If the rules don’t work, you just end up arguing every two minutes. In a miniature game there’s no dungeon master to smooth things over.” Why campaigns fall apart

Despite their popularity, narrative campaigns often struggle to survive beyond the first few games. Pirinen believes the reason is mostly practical. Campaign play demands commitment. Players need to keep turning up, track experience and equipment, and maintain armies that grow over time. “It’s simply more work,” he says. There is also a more subtle problem. Campaigns can collapse if one player falls too far behind early on. “A very common reason campaigns fall apart is that one player gets beaten badly in the first few games,” Pirinen explains. “They feel like nothing they do matters anymore, so they stop playing. Then the campaign falls apart.” The solution is something designers call catch-up mechanics. These systems help struggling players remain competitive without removing the reward for winning. It is a delicate balance. Too much help and victory feels meaningless. Too little and the narrative ends early. The balance paradox

Balance is often treated as the holy grail of wargame design. Pirinen is more sceptical. “Perfect balance is possible,” he says. “But it probably isn’t that much fun.” The reason is simple. True balance usually means forces become increasingly similar. Yet variety and asymmetry are where the excitement lies. “A huge part of the fun is encountering something new,” he says. “A new warband, a new character, some new piece of equipment. Those things create interesting situations.” They also create imbalance. Rather than chasing perfection, Pirinen relies on extensive playtesting a