Were you one of those Blood Bowl coaches masquerading as an autograph hunter at a Jacob Von Altdorf’s Testimonial? Chances are, if you manage an Undead, High Elf, Wood Elf, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Chaos Dwarf, Skaven or Halfling team you may have been on the lookout for a star player or two to strengthen your squad. You managed to book the Past Masters for a one off match, but can you tempt them out of retirement one more time? More importantly, can you afford them?

The Past Masters are totally unique, they are legends in their own lifetimes and therefore there is only one each of these players available to each league that you play in (they may not be duplicated). As well as the rather high price tag, there is also a possibility that they may not want to come and play for your team anyway!

If you do want to hire a Past Master, you must first roll 1D6 and consult this table:

2. Sorry not interested – the Blood Bowl legend refuses to play for your team.

6. Well I do rather miss wearing a codpiece – the Past Master will sign up.

Coaches may try to attain signings that they previously failed at the beginning of each of the four Major cup competitions only. Should there be two or more Coaches (with enough money!) wishing to sign the same player, then the team with the highest Team Rating gets the first attempt (roll on the table). If there are two or more teams with the same Rating then you should each roll a D6 with the highest scorer going first.

When a Coach who has the first attempt hires a Past Master then he will be hired for his standard (if exorbitant) fee. If he declines the first team’s offer but accepts the second, he will charge and additional 20,000 GCs accumulating by this amount until he finally gets signed. This is because each subsequent offer has to be higher than the last to keep him interested. If all of the interested parties fail to sign a Past Master then he is left over until the next season of play. Some leagues allow the buying and selling of players between the teams. Should any Coach decide to sell a Past Master then whatever the agreed fee, I would recommend a reduction of 30,000 GCs for each Niggling Injury the player is carrying.

When a Past Master finally retires or dies the team’s Coach may sell off the player’s old shirts, boots, gloves and trophies and may add 50,000 GCs to his treasury to represent this. There are two exeptions to this rule which apply to the following players:

Roger Mortis – Roger’s jackets with the immortal number 007 on the back are collector’s items. The Coach may add 75,000 GCs to his treasury instead of the usual 50,000 GCs.

Vinny Valhalla – If Vinny retires he will pass on his magical item, ‘Odin’s Codpiece’, to another Norse Catcher and nobody else. If there are no other Catchers in the team at the time of Vinny’s departure then he will take it with him and never return! Should he be killed, his Codpiece will be burnt with him in the traditional Norse manner.

Past Masters may never be freebooted.

When a Coach manages to sign a Past Master to his team, the fans will go absolutely wild. The Team’s Fan Factor increasing by +1 for the duration that the Past Master is playing for them reflects this. Should the Past Master die, retire or be sold then obviously the team loses this Fan Factor increment.

In the Blood Bowl League that I play in, we have included four of the past Masters and sadly already three of them are dead! We all realize that Blood Bowl is a dangeours game, but the Past Masters attract more than their fair share of fouling attention. To remedy this and allow coaches just a few more games to use these expensive players, in I use these rules:

Because the ref admires the Past Masters for having the guts to get back onto the pitch, he will send off any player fouling then UNLESS they roll a double when doing so. In addition he will send off players assisting a foul on a score of 5+ on a D6. These rules override any special play card that would allow unscrupulous players to foul without being noticed, but have no effect should a star Referee be used with the Terrible Ref skill.

Odin’s Codpiece: Vinny Valhalla wears this magical codpiece that increases his Armor Value by +1 (this has already been included on his card).

Shower Attack: Norman may make one Shower Attack at half time on a randomly selected member of the opposition’s team. Roll for an immediate injury (they have no armor on in the shower!).

Hypnotic Eyebrows: Roger Mortis can’t manage many facial expressions, but boy do those eyebrows move in a most charming way! Roger may attempt to Hypnotize in exactly the same way as a Vampire. In addition he may add +1 to any attempt on the ladies (Witch Elves, Maiden Guard etc.), they just love it!