diff --git a/assets/_master.py b/assets/_master.py
index a582e32..fb27b86 100644
--- a/assets/_master.py
+++ b/assets/_master.py
@@ -68,21 +68,89 @@ STRIDE_NOTE = ("In particular frames 2 and 3 must stay what they are in the refe
                "SHOWN TWICE with only the legs different — everything above the hips identical "
                "between them, the legs clearly swapped, and the two frames NOT identical copies. ")
 
+
+# ---- THE WOUND LADDER. A match opponent is scored ON ITS BODY: every point won takes a stage off
+# it, so a variant that only exists whole would jump from untouched to dead with nothing between.
+# Each stage is a restyle of THE STAGE ABOVE IT — that chaining is what finally made damage
+# accumulate, because the missing arm then rides in the PICTURE instead of having to win an argument
+# with it. The wound rows have no separate stance frame: the shuffle doubles as one, which is how
+# drawZombie already reads them.
+WOUND = (
+    "The reference image is a {n}-FRAME SPRITE SHEET of one zombie tennis player. REDRAW THE WHOLE "
+    "SHEET with ONE THING CHANGED: {change} "
+    "EVERYTHING ELSE STAYS EXACTLY AS IT IS IN THE REFERENCE — the same character, the same clothing "
+    "and its exact shades, the same skin, the same racket, the same {n} poses in the same order, the "
+    "same leg positions, the same facing, the same build. There is NO TENNIS BALL in any frame. "
+    "Output exactly {n} figures side by side in ONE horizontal row, all on the same ground line. ")
+ARM_OFF = (
+    "the arm WITHOUT the racket is COMPLETELY GONE — torn off at the shoulder, leaving a ragged "
+    "stump gushing blood down that side and the clothing slashed open across the ribs. COUNT THE "
+    "ARMS: there must be EXACTLY ONE ARM in every single frame, the one holding the racket. Nothing "
+    "hangs from the other shoulder. A frame with two arms in it is wrong — this is the whole change "
+    "being asked for, so do not copy the reference's second arm across. Where the reference uses "
+    "that arm, the stump is thrown out in its place instead. ")
+HEADLESS = (
+    "the HEAD IS COMPLETELY GONE — no head, no face, no hair anywhere above the shoulders, only a "
+    "ragged gushing neck stump, so every figure is A CLEAR HEAD SHORTER than in the reference. It is "
+    "ALREADY missing one arm in the reference and it STAYS missing — it still has only one arm. ")
+# ...and because the missing arm IS the tossing arm, a wounded server has to toss the way one-armed
+# players really do. The wound changing how it plays is the point, not a detail.
+ONE_ARM_SERVE = (
+    "Because it has only one arm it can no longer throw the ball up with a free hand: in the TOSS "
+    "frame the stump is flung upward instead and the racket hand flicks up in front of the face, as "
+    "a one-armed player tosses off the racket face. ")
+
 def variant(key, who):
     bpath = os.path.join(HERE, '_regen_batches.json')
     B = json.load(open(bpath, encoding='utf-8'), object_pairs_hook=collections.OrderedDict)
+    seed = lambda src, dst: shutil.copy(os.path.join(HERE, src + '.png'), os.path.join(HERE, dst + '.png'))
+    made = []
+
+    def batch(name, sprites, refs, subject, stride=None, changed=None, newart=False):
+        for src, dst in zip(refs, sprites):   # placeholders: the density bar needs a baseline to beat
+            seed(src, dst)
+        spec = dict(sprites=sprites, ref_only=list(refs), check='loose', anchor=0, subject=subject)
+        spec['newart' if newart else 'state'] = True
+        if stride: spec['stride'] = stride
+        if changed:
+            spec['changed'] = changed
+            # pose-varied sheets move redness and shorts BRIGHTNESS on their own (a body face down
+            # shows a fraction of the shirt it shows standing); the shorts HUE is the measure that
+            # survives a pose change, so it stays the tight one. See the note in _regen.kit.
+            spec['palette_ref'] = refs[0]
+            spec['palette_tol'] = [26, 14, 99, 5]
+        B[name] = spec
+        made.append(name)
+        print(f'{name:16s} <- {refs[0]}…   {", ".join(sprites)}')
+
+    K = 'z_' + key
+    # --- the whole body, restyled off the master
     for part, frames in SHEETS.items():
-        names = ['z_' + key + f[3:] for f in frames]          # z_r1 -> z_br1, z_rtoss -> z_brtoss
-        for src, dst in zip(frames, names):                   # placeholders: the density bar needs a baseline
-            shutil.copy(os.path.join(HERE, src + '.png'), os.path.join(HERE, dst + '.png'))
-        spec = dict(sprites=names, ref_only=frames, newart=True, check='loose', anchor=0,
-                    subject=RESTYLE.format(n=len(frames), who=who)
-                            + (STRIDE_NOTE if part == 'play' else ''))
-        if part == 'play': spec['stride'] = [[1, 2]]           # the gate covers it from the first roll
-        B[f'{key}_{part}'] = spec
-        print(f'{key}_{part:6s} -> {", ".join(names)}')
+        batch(f'{key}_{part}', [K + f[3:] for f in frames], frames,
+              RESTYLE.format(n=len(frames), who=who) + (STRIDE_NOTE if part == 'play' else ''),
+              stride=[[1, 2]] if part == 'play' else None, newart=True)
+
+    # --- the two wound stages, each chained off the one above it
+    WALK = ['2', '3', '4']            # shuffle A, shuffle B, forehand — the wound rows' three frames
+    SERVE = ['bounce', 'toss', 'serve']
+    FALL = ['fall1', 'fall2', 'fall3', 'rise']
+    for st, change, extra, moved in ((1, ARM_OFF, ONE_ARM_SERVE, 0.10), (2, HEADLESS, '', 0.15)):
+        up = K + (f'w{st - 1}' if st > 1 else '')             # the stage this one is drawn from
+        walk_src = [up + s for s in (['', 'b', 's'] if st > 1 else WALK)]
+        batch(f'{key}_w{st}', [f'{K}w{st}', f'{K}w{st}b', f'{K}w{st}s'], walk_src,
+              WOUND.format(n=3, change=change)
+              + 'In particular frames 1 and 2 are ONE DRAWING SHOWN TWICE with only the legs '
+                'different — identical above the hips, legs clearly swapped, and NOT identical copies. ',
+              stride=[[0, 1]], changed=moved)
+        batch(f'{key}_serve_w{st}', [f'{K}w{st}' + s for s in SERVE], [up + s for s in SERVE],
+              WOUND.format(n=3, change=change) + extra, changed=moved)
+        batch(f'{key}_fall_w{st}', [f'{K}w{st}' + s for s in FALL], [up + s for s in FALL],
+              WOUND.format(n=4, change=change), changed=moved)
+
     json.dump(B, open(bpath, 'w', encoding='utf-8'), indent=1, ensure_ascii=False)
-    print(f'\nnow run:  python3 assets/_regen.py {key}_play {key}_serve {key}_fall --tries=4')
+    print(f'\n{len(made)} batches, 31 frames. Run them IN THIS ORDER — each wound stage is drawn '
+          f'from the stage above it, so an earlier one must be installed first:\n\n'
+          f'  python3 assets/_regen.py {" ".join(made)} --tries=4\n')
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     if '--variant' in sys.argv: