Skip to main content

31. The Night Of The Headless One

Source: Town Cryer #12
Setting: Mordheim
Author: Kevin J Coleman
Broheim notes: Hidden Treasure except warbands look for skull of the Headless One while its awesome original owner creates carnage.

Death stalks the streets of the City of the Damned in the shape of a mysterious headless figure in this decapitatingly exciting special scenario by Kevin J Coleman.

Mordheim was once a flourishing city of the Empire until its horrific destruction from an accursed twin-tailed comet. Now unthinkable horrors lurk in the shadows waiting to prey upon greedy mercenaries and would-be adventurers. Among these unspeakable denizens stalking Mordheim’s inhospitable ruins roams the Headless One. A relentless killing machine, tall, dark and headless! His true origin remains a mystery, though it is known that he wreaks horrible vengeance upon those whom foolishly cross his path, lopping heads off interlopers to satisfy his own dark needs.

terrain

Each player alternates placing one piece of terrain, either a ruined building, tower or similar construction. Terrain should be placed within a 4’x4’ set up area.

special rules

Once terrain is placed, players should take turns placing skull counters in the play area. These counters can be coins, ripped pieces of paper or actual skull models (plastic skulls from the Skeleton regiment boxed set are ideal). Each player places six skull counters anywhere on the table, though no counter may be within 6” of another counter and all counters must be at least 10” away from any table edge. During game play, models may pick up any skull counter they are in base contact with at the end of their movement phase and as long as they are not involved in hand-to-hand combat.

As soon as a model picks up a skull counter roll 2D6 on the following table:

ResultEffect
2-3Exploding Skull, the model suffers a S3 hit on the D6 roll of 4, 5 or 6.
4-5Laughing Skull, the model must take an immediate Ld test. If the test fails the model must flee just as if he had failed an “All alone test”. Models immune to fear do not have to take this test.
6-8Ordinary Skull, the skull is simply one of many that rest in the ruins of Mordheim. No game effect.
9-10Animated Skull Face, the model suffers a single S4 hit as the skull gnashes its teeth, biting frantically.
11-12Skull of the Headless One, the model has found the true skull of the Headless One. All other skull counters are removed from the table. If the Headless One is in play, the model bearing his skull may take full control of the Headless One and he counts as a member of the respective warband in regards to the controlling player. If the Headless is not on the table, the player will gain control of the Headless One as soon as he arrives.

At the end of the first turn, the Headless One model should be placed in the centre of the table. Each player rolls a D6 and the player who rolls the highest may control the Headless One in their next turn and may move and fight with the model as though it were their own. At the end of every subsequent round the players roll another D6 with the player who rolled the highest taking control of the Headless One in their following turn.

Once the Headless One’s skull is found, the warband possessing the skull takes full control of the Headless one until his opponent can capture the Skull. If the model carrying the skull is knocked down, stunned or taken out of action, the skull is dropped and placed next to the model or at the model’s last position if taken out of action. Other models may pick up the skull as described above, taking control of the Headless one.

The Headless One

ProfileMWSBSSTWIALd
5605425310

Equipment: 2 enormous swords.

Skills: Acrobat, Lighting Reflexes, Step Aside, Expert Swordsman, Fearsome.

special rules

Beheading: When the Headless One rolls a natural 6 when rolling on the Injury table, roll an additional D6. On the result of another 6 his victim is decapitated and is quite dead.

Regenerate: When the Headless one is taken out of action, roll a D6 at the start of each turn. On the result of a 5 or 6 the Headless One is fully regenerated with his full quota of wounds.

Undead: The Headless One is no longer among the living, forever damned in a state of undeath. He is immune to all psychology and all poison based attacks.

Warband Set Up

Both players roll a D6. Whoever rolls the highest decides which warband sets up first. This warband is deployed within 8” of any table edge the player chooses. His opponent sets up within 8” of the opposite side.

starting the game

Both players roll a D6. The player who rolls the highest may choose to go first or second.

ending the game

As soon as a member of one of the warbands takes the Headless One’s skull off of is opposite table edge, or a warband fails a rout test, the game ends.

campaign

If playing in a campaign, a warband that captures the Skull of the Headless One (by moving it off the table) may keep it and attempt to use it to summon the Headless One at the start of any subsequent game. Roll a D6 on the following table:

D6Result
1The Skull of the Headless One has been misplaced, the warband looses the skull and may no longer attempt to summon the Headless One unless they find the Skull by replaying this scenario.
2-5Ignored. The Headless One does not appear
6The Headless One appears increasing the warbands rating by +125 points. He may fight with the warband for the duration of the game. The player controlling the Headless must appoint one of his Heroes or Henchmen to carry the skull to battle, which is risky because an enemy model may capture the skull as described earlier.

experience

  • +1 Survives. If a Hero or Henchman group survives they gain +1 Experience.
  • +1 Winning Leader. The leader of the winning warband gains +1 Experience.
  • +1 Per Enemy Out of Action. Any Hero earns +1 Experience for each enemy he puts out of action
  • +2 Headless One’s Skull. The model that carries the Headless One’s Skull off the opposite table edge earns +2 experience.
  • +2 Slaying the Headless One. Any Hero earns +2 Experience for placing the Headless One out of action.