Let’s look now at our spookiest Big Boys Strike warband in the game with the fighter who packs the biggest punch of them all: The Headsman’s Curse and the blade Terminus. Difficult to play but quite rewarding when given enough practice, the spookiest warband we have is worth another look now that several more decks have been released and Waystone hexes are part of the game.
Click here to see a Master List of all warbands in the game
Headsmen’s Curse: The Lore
While the warband has four fighters, they really only have one; that fighter is NOT the wielder and leader, but instead the sword he wields. The cursed sword Terminus binds souls to its will to carry out Nagash’s retribution against the living. 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. Take one down, and the blade will reap another, trapping their soul in eternal servitude.
“Together, they descend into the Emberstone-lit caverns, a harbinger of cold and final justice, even in the fiery heart of Aqshy. The Wielder’s gaze is unyielding, for with each swing of Terminus, the law of Nagash is brought down upon the living and the dead alike.”
You may recognize this as METAL AF
Underworlds Underground covered this warband’s lore and vibes in the Hot or Not episode covering the Embergard Grand Alliance Death box: Revenants of the Realms. Spoiler! It got a very high score on the UwU Vibe Check.
Headsmen’s Curse: The Warscroll
Inspire
To inspire a fighter, that fighter must deal damage to a Condemned enemy fighter with an attack. I’ll cover it soon, but you only get to Condemn one enemy fighter per round, and your opponent will know who it is and probably not feed them to you. Pushes will be your friend, and you’ll usually only have one chance with any given fighter to land that hit in a round since you’re mostly range 1 attacks. If you pair with Countdown to Cataclysm, however, Improved Attack lets you cheat a bit and tag the condemned fighter from a distance, then inspire, and then you’ll be juiced for the follow up to kill that fool.
If they die though, nobody else will be inspiring, so choosing who and when to condemn and who to hit them with will be a pretty big point of consideration for you.
Trial and Execution
Here’s where we condemn somebody. The Scriptor of the Sentence needs to be on the board and within 5 of an enemy fighter at the start of the first action step. This means keeping them alive (or raised) will be important, and positioning matters. While 5 hexes is a big distance, if you condemn somebody really far away you may not get the chance to swing at them if they’re way in the back. In rounds 2+, your Scriptor may be slain and then you won’t get to Condemn anybody. Even if they get raised mid-round, you’ve missed the window, so you want them up at the start. However, you can’t position them too aggressively either or your condemnation will be short lived when the Scriptor gets whacked (and is sadly 1 dodge uninspired).
Inspiration aside, you also benefit from killing the Condemned enemy, as you’ll immediately get to draw power cards when they go down equal to their bounty characteristic. A soft 2-bounty target is ideal for this, though you’ll get fewer inspirations that way, so again you have a balancing act when choosing who to condemn. This warband really rewards intelligent play. Also note that raised fighters or fighters with zero bounty award no cards in this way.
Choose a fighter you think you can hit and kill, or alternatively pick a fighter you want to deter from getting involved in the fight and see if you can’t throw a wrench in the opponent’s plans.
Eternal Duty
Once per game, when the Wielder kills somebody, you can raise one of your three other fighters and place them in a hex adjacent to the leader. This ability is great, since you can get your Scriptor back for more condemning, the bearer back for another competent melee fighter, or the sharpener for giggles.
Another nice use of this is that you can pick any hex adjacent to the leader – this lets you get United if playing Deadly Synergy, but also lets you bring somebody back into a feature token. This is great for Aqua Ghyranis or stealing a treasure token for holding, delving, or simply for denial. Now there’s a zero bounty fighter standing somewhere the opponent doesn’t want, and they have to decide if hitting that guy is worth the diminished reward,
Whet the Blade
Immediately after you pick a weapon with your leader to attack with (including upgrades), if the Sharpener is adjacent, you gain grievous for that attack. This turns a 3-4 damage attack into a 4-5 damage attack and can absolutely one-shot pretty much anybody, which is awesome. I’ve slain a tooled up Ardorn this way!
It’s severely limited by needing the sharpener to be adjacent to the wielder, so pushes and intelligent positioning will be invaluable – charge to the right spot! It sadly doesn’t stack with other grievous options and is only one attempt per game, so save it for when the time is right and accept that in some games it simply won’t come up.
Discorporate
The is a core ability, so you have to use it in place of an attack or something else, which is a huge ask. However, it can be huge. Pick a fighter once a game, and place them in any empty hex. ANY empty hex! That includes any treasure token, Aqua Ghyranis, etc. Many, many objectives will benefit from being able to take any fighter and put them anywhere right at the end of a round so you can score tons this way, and you can also use it to deny objectives you think your opponent is setting up for by getting into a specific territory, edge hex, flip a token, you name it.
It also doesn’t have any restrictions on the fighters’ token status, so you can charge in, hit somebody, and discorporate back to safety after. You also don’t give any tokens when you use it, so you can find an isolated fighter with a charge token, spooky-ghost teleport right next to them, and kill them in the subsequent action. Get into charge range. Get United or open up a united landing spot for a future charge. Grab that last distant token. Land somewhere that Confusion or Lure of Battle will ruin their day. So many choices, and while it costs a whole action, this can win you games if played right.
Cackling Court
Once per game, if the target is flanked or surrounded, you can make both swords and hammers successes on an attack. This warband packs a huge punch if it hits but with few dice you really want both of them to land. Hilariously if you engineer surrounded before using this, every single die facing becomes a success. With Keen Eye or another source of plus dice you become tremendously accurate for that one swing.
It also doesn’t specify the source of flanking, so Hidden Aid or United will allow for this as well. In magical Christmas land, you do this on the Wielder’s attack against a condemner fighter while adjacent to the Sharpener and have a nearly guaranteed hit for 4-5 damage which will then also draw you some cards. That’s a ton of resource dumped into one attack, but if it’s the one that wins the game you’re still happy.
Headsmen’s Curse: Fighter Cards
Wielder of the Blade
Our big bad man is holding all the stats with 4 move flying, two dodge, 5 health, and three damage. Sadly it’s only on two hammers though. If he happens to hit a condemned fighter he will inspire and bring himself up to 4 damage flat without any modifiers, which you may recognize is the heaviest hitter in the game. Regrettably he stays on 2 hammers, which in today’s 2 defense meta just isn’t as reliable as you would like. He loves flanking enemies, getting plus dice, and accuracy runemarks like cleave or ensnare as well as any rerolls you can give him.
Since he’s far and away your biggest damage threat, you’ll want to avoid charging with him early in a round in the hopes he gets to have multiple swings. Push cards like Sidestep, Countercharge, and Commanding Stride, or teleport options like Illusory Fighter and Canny Sapper will all go a long way to letting you take multiple bites at that Terminus apple.
Bearer of the Block
The bearer is your second-best aggro threat and can do just fine as a brawler piece in his own right. If you inspire one fighter, this is probably who you’d like it best on unless playing into a Big Boy/Elite and really do need the flat 4 damage from the Wielder. When inspired, he goes from 1 to 2 dodge and gains grievous, letting your warband have a second 3 damage threat that will stick around with a good 4 health. Remember he can be raised as well! Using him aggressively will often be an OK risk to take and may take pressure off the Wielder to boot. He does give up 2 bounty though, so don’t waste him too carelessly!
He sadly suffers from the same 2 hammers accuracy profile, so you’ll have to be prepared for some disappointing swing and miss.
Scriptor of the Sentence
As covered above under Trial and Execution, The Scriptor is actually quite important for you as he’s your only source of condemning and therefore inspiration and potential card draw. He has another good benefit of having a reasonably accurate ranged attack so help set up kills and can inspire more easily without wasting your precious pushes or having to charge.
Deploy him somewhere he can condemn who you need but also keeps him reasonably protected, or at least as bait to get them close to the Wielder for some counterpunch. He’s worth inspiring since he goes to 2 dodge and then will be quite hardy with his 4 health.
Sharpener of the Blade
The Sharpener has only 2 health, but he can make up for it by starting on 2 dodge. He does gain crit grievous when inspired, but on three dice looking for swords it’s not reliable. You’ll either appreciate him as a grievous caddy for the Wielder, or more usually as a token grabbing piece to score some cards since he’ll liable to be ignored. If an enemy happens to dive him for an early kill, you’re not mad because now you have somebody you can pile onto, kill, and potentially raise the sharpener again anyway.
Potential Pairings
Blazing Assault is wondrous for this warband – you have Commanding Strike and Sidestep as well as Lure of Battle and Illusory Fighter to get in position to swing with the Wielder, as well as great accuracy tools in Hidden Aid, Determined Effort, Keen Eye, and Accurate to make sure you hit. You’ll never cry about Healing Potion or Great Fortitude either, and in case 4 damage wasn’t enough you can also get Twist the Knife and Great Strength to come along as well.
Pillage and Plunder is a reasonable choice, as it also provides some pushes and mobility, decent weapons for the lesser fighters, solid upgrades for your big guy, as well as some more passive scoring to let you play the counterpunch game and force the enemy to come to you. Discorporate sees a lot of utility with this deck as well.
Countdown to Cataclysm is a marvelous option with more pushes like Violent Blast and Countercharge, and gives you an extra attack to sneak inspiration if you draw Improvised Attack – this can also drive somebody back adjacent to the Wielder for more smacking without needing to charge. Pings are welcome, and this deck has them. Savage Blow and Raging Tremors will also help your accuracy, which is a key sticking point for this warband’s success. More good weapon upgrades make your lesser fighters a threat with Desperate Rage, and Hurled Weapon can give you a non-charge chance at inspiring somebody too.
Reckless Fury is a reasonable choice as it scores for charging rather than hitting and will make you less sad if you happen to miss a big swing which you inevitably will. You also get a nice push in Diving In to allow for more swings with a charged-out Wielder, and multiple ways to give charge tokens to your fighters to get a surprise second chop with Terminus.
Wrack and Ruin is good (I say this a lot) but adds pushes (Damned if you Do, Sidle Up) and accuracy (Vicious Intent, Ominous Rumbling) which are your keys to success. You have lots of positional flexibility with Discorporate that can score you cards like Alone in the Dark, Stay Close, and even Living on the Edge if you’re a daredevil. Plenty of pings and some tasty defensive benefits add to the fun.
Deadly Synergy can require some brain-bending, but improves your accuracy and defense, gives great weapon options, some pushes and healing, guard, and mobility, and has a marvelous scoring package. Discorporate will be your friend as well.
Hunting Grounds requires you to convince the enemy to come into your now very dangerous territory, but can vibe well with the counterpunch plan if you take something like Pillage or Countdown to help make that happen.
Nexus of Power is a tall ask, but Discorporate can get you covetous and it’s a wonderful world in which you have range 2 attacks on the Wielder.
In Practice
Data from the Nemesis Statistics Project has them sitting at a lower-than-you’d-like 44.5% win rate across the whole edition, but if you remove busted legacy scrolls it’s up to 46.5%, and in world qualifier tournaments they’re hitting 49.1%, which means in the hands of a serious player against tough stuff it does well enough. It’s also hovered in to 50% ish range for the last meta. This means they don’t auto-win for you or anything, but can do just fine once you have them figured out.
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ITC competition data from the past year droped this warband in the A to B tier depending on which analysis we used, which puts them at a surprisingly high spot compared to the consensus opinion of their competitive strength. While they may not feature all that often, the players who have committed to them happen to place quite strongly at Grand Clash events. This may be in part due to an Elite and 4×4 Standard-heavy invading aggro meta in the recent months, which Headsmen are particularly well suited to exploit with their counterpunch game.
I personally have played this warband only 4 times and I went 1-3 in that stretch. I have played against it 8 times going 4-4, however, so maybe we can blame my lower record on a small sample size and the fact I’m not a great Big Boys warband player.
The most popular nemesis combo with this warband is Blazing/Cataclysm, as it maximizes push tech for the Wielder. Hugo Acera came in 31st place with team Spain at the World Team Championships in 2025 with this BA/CC deck.
These older BA/CC decks that would need to swaps now that the restricted list has been updated are still a decent starting point too. Zach T “The Mister Doctor” took this one to a third place finish at Adepticon 2025, and Pcubo grabbed 4th place at MazaFreaks in Spain in 2025 using this deck.
The other Spanish team with the other Hugo got 10th place with BA/RF at WTC 2025, and it’s always a good aggro choice.
Konsul put together this Blazing/Wrack deck, which is a pairing I love, and have found it to be a great option for this warband.
Wrap
Happy Halloween, gang, and I hope you enjoy spending glory on those cards you drew after decapitating a condemned enemy fighter. Have fun in the Spitewood!
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