The wielder of the Hydra Blade has the Random Attacks (D6 + A) special rule, where A is the Attacks characteristic of the wielder. In addition, at the start of any round of close combat in which the bearer will fight, he must take a Leadership test with a -2 modifier before striking any blows. If the test is passed, nothing extra happens. If the test is failed, the wielder suffers a -5 penalty to Weapon Skill (to a minimum of 1), but gains the Heroic Killing Blow special rule until the end of the round.