Ulli & Marquand

Marquand Volker and Ulli Leitpold are historical rogues native to The Empire in Warhammer Fantasy. Living in the Age of Three Emperors, they were temporary residents of Mordheim, having fled there to pursue their fortune and to avoid hanging for a long career of banditry and brigandage in Stirland. The stars of a short lived, episodic comic serial in Warhammer Monthly, made to showcase Mordheim, the two first appeared in Issue #28.

Character History

Little is known about the duo of Ulli & Marquand, either individually or as a team.

Marquand Volker is a Marienburger by blood, and reputedly the son of a wealthy merchant family, until he forsake the family trade for a life as a gambler, assassin, mercenary and brigand. His murderous history is hinted at; it's rumored that he killed his first man by the age of 10, and of his time as an assassin, it's said he cut the heart out of the Duke of Sunderland without waking the Duke's wife, sleeping beside him at the time.

Ulli Lietpold is a Middenheimer, and suggested to be a former professional sellsword. It's known he has served under the Count of Stirland at least once, and he was present at the Third Siege of Nuln.

Eventually, the duo's wanderings brought them to an encounter with each other, and they formed a profitable and deadly partnership. Always planning on going their separate ways after they had achieved a sufficiently big score, they became bandits and brigands, until eventually they were captured by bounty hunters, who planned to turn them over to serve as slave-soldiers in the armies of the Count of Stirland. Not liking that idea, the duo murdered their captors and decided to seek refuge, glory and wealth in the one place nobody would follow them: Mordheim, City of the Damned.

In Mordheim, the duo carved out a name for themselves; as shrewd operatives, ruthless schemers, deadly warriors, and the most treacherous, untrustworthy whore-sons in the entire city. Despite their long, long list of backstabbing, murder and graft, they became quite infamous, and their skills were sought out by many, many ambitious warbands. Ultimately, that treachery was their downfall; after making off with an incredibly valuable treasure stolen from the Shadowlord himself, the two ended up murdering each other out of sheer greed, and were subsequently forgotten.

Mordheim Stats

Ulli & Marquand were converted into Mordheim Dramatis Personae in Issue #13 of Town Cryer, and were subsequently reprinted in the Mordheim Annual 2002. There, they were presented with the following stats.

Marquand has Movement 4, Weapon Skill 5, Ballistic Skill 4, Strength 3, Toughness 3, Wounds 2, Iniatiative 5, and Leadership 8. He wields a Sword and Throwing Knives, and wears Light Armor. He has the Skills Step Aside, Knife Fighter, and Lightning Reflexes.

Ulli has Movement 4, Weapon Skill 4, Ballistic Skill 4, Strength 4, Toughness 3, Wounds 2, Iniative 4, Attacks 2 and Leadership 7. He wields a Two-Handed Warhammer and wears Light Armor. He has the Skills Strongman, Unstoppable Charge, and Combat Master.

The duo share the following rules:

Available To: Any Warband except Sisters of Sigmar and Witch Hunters.

Hire Fee: 30 Gold Crowns

Warband Rating: +60 points

Wanderers: Ulli & Marquand will automatically leave your warband after the battle has been completed. You cannot try to hire their services again until you have fought at least one battle without them.

A Fistful of Crowns: At the start of the game, any player who wishes can attempt to bribe Ulli & Marquand to betray their hirer. They do this by declaring an amount they will offer the duo to turn on their current employer. Their current employer can also offer a counter-bribe. If the briber's offer is higher than the combination of their employer's original fee + their counter-bribe, then the briber takes control over Ulli & Marquand for the rest of the battle. Otherwise, they remain loyal to their current employer. If their original warband succeeds in retaining their services through a counterbribe, then they have to pay the full price (30 + counterbribe Crowns) at the battle's end. Likewise, a warband that bribes the duo must pay that full bribe amount for their services.

Where's The Money? If the warband does not have the requisite gold or wyrdstone to fully pay the duo at the battle's end, then the duo will take equipment from the party of equivalent value. If this is not possible for whatever reason, they will attempt to take payment in blood; fight a close combat battle to the death between the warband's leader and both Ulli & Marquand.

Inseperable: Ulli & Marquand are always hired as a pair (their 30 gold cost reflects thaT), and in a battle must remain within 8" of each other. Should one be taken Out Of Action, the other will do nothing except attempt to drag his fallen partner from the battlefield to safety. In a campaign, if one retires (or is killed), then the other will also retire (or wander off in search of a new purpose), rendering it impossible to hire them again.

Print History

Ulli & Marquand first appeared in Warhammer Monthly issue #28, in the short story "Signs & Portents", part 1 of the "Mordheim - City of the Damned" serial. In this first episode of their serial, the duo escape from their fate of joining the slave-army of the Elector Count of Stirland by murdering several fellow prisoners and their bounty hunters, and then heeding the opinion of a madman in a gibbet that they should go to the cursed city of Mordheim to seek wealth there.

Their next appearance was in issue #29, in "Pit Fight"; having made their way to Mordheim, the two have quickly taken to life as wyrdstone-seekers. Ulli engages in a pit fight over the rights to territory and wyrdstone shards, ultimately slaying a dwarf warrior even as Marquand secretly bets against his companion's survival.

Issue #30 sees them taking part in the short story "Ambush", wherein they are part of a warband that has been pinned down and is swiftly whittled down by a skaven sniper. Tricking their last luckless companion into sacrificing himself as a distraction, the duo topple the sniper's tower, crushing him in the rubble and taking all of the loot for themselves.

Issue #31's "Payback" sees the duo fight their way into a vampire's lair as it slumbers the day away, stealing the vampire's coffin with the vampire still inside and leaving it next the camp of a warband that has mad the mistake of looking for wyrdstone in Ulli & Marquand's territory.

Issue #32's "Bodyguards" sees the duo agree to play bodyguard for a former Tilean mercenary paymaster who absconded with his precious charge. In the end, they fail, as one assassin turns out to have hidden themselves in the same foul privy they send their charge to hide inside of whilst they deal with the others. Still, they got paid 200 gold crowns first, so they're hardly bothered.

In issue #35's "The Flayer", the two are captured by a fanatical, sadomasochistic Sigmarite "redeemer"; Gottleib the Flayer, bloodily fighting their way to freedom after Marquand slashes a massive X-shaped set of scars into Gottleib's face as punishment.

Issue #36's "It Came From The Pit" sees the two narrowly evading being devoured by a monstrous abomination from the Pit at the center of Mordheim, which they achieve by feeding it an entire unlucky warband.

Issue #37's "Comrades in Arms" sees the two of them encounter a band of Middenheim Mercenaries, led by one of Ulli's old friends. Not that this stops the duo from poisoning the entire warband to steal their hard-earned loot.

Issue #38's "Dog Eat Dog" features the two of them demanding a luckless adventurer give them everything of value that he has in order for them to save him from a pack of starving chaos hounds, only to then throw him to the jaws of the dogs once he's given them all his belongings.

Issue #39's "Sisters in Arms" sees the duo disguise themselves as Sisters of Sigmar to infiltrate their fortress-nunnery and steal treasure before fleeing ahead of the outraged battle-nuns.

Issue #40's "The Toll" is another epic betrayal, as Ulli & Marquand abandon a warband that hired them, only to double-back and rescue the last survivor, only to reveal it was only to leave him as a toll for the flesh-eating mutants who guard the last bridge out of that part of the city.

Issue #42, #43, #46 & #47 sees the only multi-part story in the serial; the "Crusade" four-parter sees Gottleib the Flayer and an army of fanatical Sigmarites plan to burn Mordheim to the ground. Unfortunately for them, they capture Ulli & Marquand first and then decide to hunt them through the city as a prelude to their cleansing. Instead, the duo turns the table on them, luring them into a stronghold of skaven warbands, slaughtering many Sigmarites and scattering the survivors, before ultimately chaining Gottlieb to a board and throwing him into the haunted Pit in the center of Mordheim.

The story of Ulli & Marquand comes to an end in Issue #50: "Honor Among Thieves" sees the duo as the last survivors of a bold band of fools who dare to steal a special prize from the lair of the Shadowlord itself. On the verge of great wealth, at the very outskirts of the city, Ulli suddenly betrays Marquand, attacking him from behind and delivering a fatal blow to his skull with his hammer. With his dying breath, Marquand tricks Ulli into consuming a bottle of poisoned wine, ensuring that the partners don't outlive each other, victims of their own dark nature.

Ulli & Marquand eventually received their own paperback, collecting the entire run of their serial from Warhammer Monthly.