Intro
A warband both near and dear to my heart makes the jump almost immediately to Embergard, and I’m quite happy to see them. The Headsmen’s Curse are a warband with a great deal of flavor, as from a certain point of view the warband itself is simply the cursed sword Terminus, as it will raise unfortunate souls to carry out its task – there must always be a Wielder of the Blade, a Scriptor of the Sentence, a Sharpener of the Blade, and a Bearer of the Block. Read on to find out why (and perhaps how) to ensure that it is your opponents for whom the bell tolls.
Warscroll
Inspire
The inspire condition is fairly straightforward, requiring us to deal damage to a Condemned enemy fighter with an attack action. Some things to immediately consider before we even ask what Condemned means are that as this fighter is largely using range 1 attack actions, this could often mean that each fighter might only have one chance per round to inspire, as they would have to charge to attack a Condemned enemy – unless we could somehow sit back and wait for those enemies to come to us.
Trial and Execution
There’s a lot of power and subtle mind games loaded into this ability – right away the Scriptor of the Sentence becomes a very important fighter as if they are slain we may not be able to inspire anymore in subsequent battle rounds, or even in the current round if they were slain before our first action step. Additionally, this ability is a ‘can’ not a ‘must’, so if you forget to declare an enemy to Condemn (or none are in range!) you simply miss out. Drawing power cards for slaying an enemy, even once per round, offers a lot of extra value if you can hit those attacks and can incentivize your opponent to play more carefully with the Condemned fighter. A side note is that because you only pick an enemy when you start your first action step in a round, you can often benefit from choosing to go second against enemies who will (at least probably) charge you as then you can pick the fighter who has conveniently offered themselves up to you to be your target.
Eternal Duty
One of the two signature, playstyle-defining abilities of the warband, it makes a return with the same exact requirements (kill an enemy with your leader), now limited to once per game. The fighter it brings back will be uninspired and lacking any upgrades, but they will also be worth 0 bounty to your enemies for the rest of the game, and this is an important way to keep the Scriptor around or continue to get good use out of the Bearer.
Whet the Blade
The other playstyle-defining ability of the warband, this version is useful but a bit lacklustre. ‘Free’ Grievous for the Wielder once per game is nothing to sniff at, but it can often be a bit difficult getting the Sharpener to a position where this is useful. Being only once per game and not stacking with things like Twist the Knife, Great Strength, or Gloryseeker, this is an ability that often goes unused over the course of a game, but when it comes out its always nice to have.
Discorporate
The first unique core ability on the warscroll, at first glance a teleport seems useful but a bit clunky. However, there are numerous important subtleties that really make this ability shine. First, it can be used by a fighter with a charge token, meaning in the worst case scenario you can get the Wielder to safety at will if he can survive at least one hit. Second, it doesn’t give you any tokens at all, so you can use it to close the distance on an important target before charging. Third, it can place you in any empty hex at all, so you can snag a distant Treasure token or appear in precisely the correct place to utilize cards like Confusion or Lure of Battle to disrupt your enemies’ plans.
Cackling Court
For a warband reliant on one important fighter’s big hits, any source of accuracy is critical. This ability essentially doubles the value of Flanked for you and would be equivalent to adding Surrounded except it also stacks with an enemy being Surrounded, in which case you will suddenly be rolling an attack where you succeed on all faces of the die and can’t roll less successes than the number of dice you are rolling. OUCH!
Fighters
Staring off with the big man himself, the Wielder of the Blade is an imposing fighter presenting an immediate massive threat right out of the gate. 4 move is quite speedy in this edition, able to charge reliably no matter the board set-up if you deploy aggressively (which you may not want to do, but the option is nice to have). A save of 2 dodge is far from impregnable but still poses a barrier to would-be slayers, and a whopping 3 base damage and 5 health round things out. Having Flying as all the warband does is something not to overlook, as it can frequently open up better charge pathing as well as let you move through Stagger hexes with impunity. While inspiring him might prove difficult without pushes or enemies who conveniently run at you, once he does hit a Condemned enemy his damage climbs even higher, to 4 total before any modifiers like Grievous or Cleave. Currently the highest-damage fighter in the game, as befits an executioner, you need to take care that you do all you can to augment his accuracy as 2 hammers is not the most reliable attack, and he sports a massive 3 bounty commensurate with his extreme power.
The classic #2 fighter in the warband, in many ways the Bearer of the Block is just trying to be a good mini-wielder. Starting off with the same Flying and 4 move, he has a lesser attack dealing only 2 damage, only 4 health, and rolls only a single dodge for his save. Once inspired, he gains both an additional save die and Grievous on his melee weapon, which seems positively pedestrian only when compared to the Wielder and is a very nice profile in almost any other warband. Still a fairly high quality fighter, the Bearer is worth 2 bounty when slain, so you also want to be careful exactly how far out you fling him in your pursuit of the enemies of Nagash.
The Scriptor becomes a more useful utility piece now, being both extremely important to enable the warband to inspire as well as having the only ranged attack in the warband. Like the others, he has 4 move and Flying, and starts on 1 dodge just like the Bearer. While he only deals 1 damage, having a range of 3 gives him better threat range, or the ability to inspire more easily without charging. Once inspired, he gains Stagger on his ranged attack as well as an additional save die. Despite having a respectable 4 health, his lower damage output justifies a lower bounty of only 1 glory when slain.
Last and in truth, least, the Sharpener of the Blade has very little going for him. Flying and 4 move are both nice to have, and like the Wielder he starts with 2 dodge for his save. His attack deals only 1 damage, and inspiring him only confers the Crit-Grievous ability for his weapon, which keeps its base damage of 1. Quite possibly the least important fighter to inspire and in general the least useful of your fighters, I suspect frequently the best use case will be dangling this little guy and hoping enemies merely drive him back so you can charge next to him with the Wielder and use the Whet the Blade ability – if he survives that first attack. As another weaker fighter in the warband, he is similarly worth only a single bounty when slain.
Conclusion
This warband managed to preserve much of the flavor and feel of their themes from their first appearance in the game, although their core gameplay loop, unique playstyle, and iconic strong plays have all been severely curtailed or removed entirely. Nonetheless, we are in a new edition now and new strengths may make themselves apparent as time goes on, we see new decks, and certain strong outliers are brought back in line. It is always satisfying to deliver big hits, and currently no fighter in the game delivers a bigger hit than the Wielder can without substantial situational assistance from cards or warscroll abilities. Returning your other ghosts to the battlefield is likewise still very, very satisfying. I recommend everyone who was a fan of these before give them a try now and look to innovate new and exciting ways to claim heads for Nagash!
