The Curse of Dead Man’s hand Gang 4 – the Baron
The Baron is very different from all other gangs we have looked at so far – if you wish to use the gang you really do need the Curse of Dead Man’s hand rulebook as I will only give a highlight of the gang here.
The cards come with the Curse of Dead Man’s hand rules book or can be purchased seperately.
This gang has several unique functions, including 4 cards which replace cards in the opponents hand due to their unique impact. So what are we told about the Baron? He is introduced in the Curse of Dead Man’s Hand
The Baron and his host are bell bent on the destruction of Dead Man’s Hand and adding the town’s inhabitants to his cursed cabal.
Curse of Dead Mans hand – Great escape games
With the Juggernaut never more than a few feet from his side the Baron is striking in appearance. Some say he has bones painted on his face, others say it is that it’s his own skeleton showing through the pale, drawn skin.
His clothing is something from another era, as are his weapons the cane and pistol.
The cursed shamble around him, each more horrific than the last. The Witch, whose piercing scream is enough to drive enen the bravest men mad, is ever present. Other creaturs move with the host, too evil to name.
They are a sight few have seen and lived to tell the tale.
So there are 5 model types available to the Baron.
The Baron – the man himself is ever present with his antique pistol.
The juggernaut – a hulking part metallic undead with rusty blades that on occasion is present with the Baron but also at times is not.
The Witch – who like the Juggernaut is unique and not always available to the Baron – she has no weapons except her supernatural scream and lightening bolt.
The cursed – these are the shambling masses that follow the baron every where, the only limit on the number present is the number paid for. They carry no weapons except the fingers and teeth that nature gave them. Only 1/2 of those you pay for start the game on the table – the rest have to be raised during the game.
Ungodly creatures – the baron can bring 0-2 of these as part of his gang – each is has their own rules and weapons which we will discuss.
- The Cannibal Dwarves – 3 “Hecesiiteihii” who move as a group and get deadlier the less there are of them, they are armed with knives, clubs and axes. For all game rules they count at 1 model except where their unique rules expressly state otherwise (P16 Curse of Dead Man’s Hand)
- Storm Crow – an undead Thunderbird which the Baron can summon, it posesses a frightening LEAP ability which allows it to move 3 move abilities clearing any intervening terrain and as such it does not need LOS to initiate H2H.
- Haunted Bear – a hulking undead crazed animal that if not close to the Baron will attack the nearest model whether friend or foe and crashed through the flimsy walls of Dead Man’s Hand buildings making its own doors, it has a powerful charge skill which gives it a +2 bonus for initiating H2H instead of the normal +1
- Dread Wolves – a pack of 3, who operate similarly to the dwarves in that they are treated as single entity. They are uneffected by underfire markers and can never recover, every turn they unleash their horrendous howl which forces a single enemy model to take a nerve test, the more of them they are the harder it is to pass this test, however the target cannot go out of action due to the howl and its performance does not count as an action.
- Wendigo – 2 wendigos may appear with the Baron – these unlike the previous multi appearance creatures are 2 seperate creatures and are treated as such. Wendigos have Poor eyesight and move to sound see P18 of the CURSE OF DEAD MANs HAND for rules on this, they also have a swipe attack and are extremely fast which means there is always a -1 to hit and if they move even for only 1 action there is a -3 to hit modifier.
- Corpse Carrion – undead vultures – who’d have thought it – well the Baron has and upto 3 of the as a single entity can fight on his side. They arrive on the table at the highest point of terrain on the table which becomes their perch, if one of the models is removed the remainder return immediately to their perch and any remain shots on them are wasted. They also target wounded characters and will not leave their perch until there is an enemy model that as taken 2 underfire markers, after which they will hunt that character until it dies when they will either move to another wounded with in 20 cm or return to their perch and start again.
Unsurprisingly there are many special rules assocaited with The Baron
- UNGODLY – none of the Gang ever fails ANY nerve test UNLESS indicated by a special rule or card, so they are not totally immune. I take it this includes the Big Nerve test as it says ANY,
- TERRIFYING – whenever an opponent wishes to enter H2H combat with one of the gang or is charged by one of the gang they must pass a nerve test, this test includes all relevant modifiers, and if it is failed they of course take a marker and may go out of action before any H2H is rolled. This test must be taken each and every time H2H combat occurs – they never get used to fighting walking skeletons.
- The Baron is Everything – if the Baron is killed – they the whole gang automatically and immediately fails a BIG NERVE test and the game is over.
- A murder of Crows – at the begninning of a turn before initiative cards are dealth – the baron nominates a single building for the rest of the turn a Murder of Crows decends on the building making it impossible for any opposing model to occupy the roof. If a model is already present on the roof it must use any actions to leave the roof.
- Juggernaut – this model activates on the same card as the Baron and the controlling player decides each turn whether the juggernaut or baron activate first, so for all initiative purposes these 2 models are treated as 1.
- Juggernaut Skin – all out of action results on the shooting table count as an under fire marker due to his metal skin.
- Barons Powers – once per turn the Baron can choose to perofrm 1 of the following 3 special actions
- Raise the dead – the baron uses an action to raise 1 of the outstanding Cursed. This cursed can be put anywhere within LOS of the Baron but not within 20cm of any enemy model. If any of the opposing gang or cursed have gone out of action during the game the baron can choose instead to raise that model, it raises exactly where it went out of action and can be within 20cm of enemy models. The only exception to this is if the model goes out of action due to a 19+ shooting or fall result as there is not enough left to be raised.
- Voodoo Doll – the baron can nominate any enemy figure that has yet to be activated, it loses their activation for this turn
- Tarot Cards – the baron can look at the top 3 cards in his deck and then choose to put some or all in to his discard pile, before reutnring the others to the top of his deck in any order he chooses.
- The Wtiches Power – once per turn she may choose one of the following.
- Lightening bolt – the witch makes a single shooting action as normal. (see P7 Curse of Dead Mans Hand for weapon stats), it has the ability to
- Scream – the witch nominate a target within LOS, it must pass a nerve test with a -2 modifier. If it is passed they are fine, otherwise if they have already activated they take an under fire marker, if they have not been activated they burn their turn duck back and must attempt to move out of LOS of the the witch.
- The Cursed have the following rules
- Activation – they are never dealt an iniatiative card but instead activate after all other models on the table in any order as decided by the Baron.
- Actions – the cursed only ever take 2 actions per turn
- Hard to Kill – all cursed which end a turn with an under fire marker automatically take 1 under fire marker off.
- Mob – multiple cursed can enter H2H with a single opponent. Each additional cursed recieve recieved a +1 to their HtH value, only as many cursed as can make base to base contact with the enemy can be in the mob.
- Brain Dead – The cursed must always attack the closed enemy model that they can reach, they can walk up steps, crash through windows but cannot climb ladders or walls.
- Undead Priority – enemy gangs must ALWAYS target the closest UNGODLY target, this cannot be over ridden by any mechanic.
But what are their Ace, King, Queen, Jack cards?
- ACE – “Fear te Living Dead” – play at the start of a turn, for the entire of this turn all enemy models automativally fail all nerve tests they have to take, this does not include the BIG NERVE TEST.
- KING – “Haunted House” – again played at the beginning of the turn, the Baron nominates a single building, for the remainder of the game no enemy model may enter that building, any enemy models in or on the building must use their actions to escape the building, if they end their turn in contact with it they automatically go out of action.
- QUEEN – “Night of the Living Dead” – once played all shooting for the rest of turn undertaken by anyone except the Witch will suffer a -1 to hit.
- JACK – “The Quick and the Undead” – when played enables all cursed to move 10cm and potentially enter H2H combat if able.
Also gangs facing the Baron replace their 2, 3, 8 and 9 cards with special alternates.
- 2 – the new card enables a single model to automatically pass a nerve test.
- 3 – causes a single member of the cursed to lose the ability to move for a turn.
- 8 – removes the requirement for a nerve test to engage in H2H combat with one of the enemy with the FRIGHTENING rule – also gives that model a +2 H2H bonus for that combat.
- 9 – Enables a single model to have a +2 bonus on all shooting actions for a turn.
As I said at the beginning to use this gang you REALLY REALLY need to buy the Curse of Dead Man’s hand, as there are more details on the relevant rules and abilities than I can provide in a simple blog post.
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