Da Kunnin’ Krew did not come to Harrowdeep by choice, but nor was their entrance entirely accidental. While hunting a bog wyrm through the turgid lakes of the Misted Isles, the Kruleboyz’ primary stronghold in the Helleflux, Mannok witnessed the beast suddenly disappear down a drain of grasping swamp-muck. Ignoring Torka’s protests, he directed their crude raft to investigate, only to wind up in the darkness beneath Ulgu.
It did not take long for Mannok to realise that the moist caverns of Harrowdeep would make a fine setting for a Kruleboy lair – and that to settle this place would see him become a premier boss. He now leads his long-suffering mates to find a way out and round up the rest of his boyz, while taking every opportunity to stalk and ambush unwary warbands in the meantime.
Continuing on my journey of painting Warhammer Underworlds warbands, this time I've unleashed my brushes upon Da Kunnin' Krew.
I've probably mentioned it before, but when the Kruleboyz were first previewed by Games Workshop I loved look of them and the refreshing change from the "brutal but kunnin'" archetype of the existing Orruk range to the unseen "kunnin' but brutal" that they brought with them.
So when the warbands of Harrowdeep were revealed I think it was somewhat inevitable that I would cast my lot in with Mannok Da Kunnin' and his Krew - not only are the models incredibly evocative in and of themselves but they cast a (somewhat murky) light upon an aspect of Kruleboyz society that has been touched upon but not h explored in a great deal of detail yet, the dreaded "Gitsnatchaz".
Renowned for their skills in tracking and ensnaring all manner of creatures, a gruesome fate usually awaits anything or anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves within the clutches of the Gitsnatchaz and it is often said that it is better to die than be taken alive by such cruel and malicious captors.
Consisting of five models, the warband is led by Mannok Da Kunnin' who is accompanied by his right hand Orruk, Torka Tuffskul, a pair of Grot trappers, Gikkit and Shank and the Hobgrot Krookgrin who is the warband's paymaster and treasurer.
The warband are great fun to play with as well, Gikkit, Shank and Krookgrin are pretty weak individually but when they gang up on fighters together, or when they assist Torka and Mannok they're able to bring even the toughest fighters down. As an added bonus, they (and indeed most of the other warbands currently available) can be used in Warcry which I'm hoping to try out later in the summer.
The models have some wonderfully diverse details and textures so although the colour palette is a little limited, there was still plenty to of opportunity to bring them to life while painting them. Much like I did with Rippa's Snarlfangs, I broke painting Da Kunnin' Krew down into sections, though this time round it was the bases, the Kruleboyz and Grots and finally Krookgrin. This time round though I started working on the bases first as I wanted to drybrush the texture on them without catching the mini's feet.
As usual, I primed the miniatures with Humbrol Grey Primer #1 before painting the bases with Skavenblight Dinge and then drybrushing them with Stormvermin Grey followed (I think) by Nurgling Green to get a bit of a swampy feeling and finally Karak Stone. I wanted the bases to look mucky and grimy, so I repainted the areas of the bases that weren't covered with texture with Eshin Grey before adding some rough highlights of a lighter grey to some of the areas. I finished up the bases once the miniatures were completed by carefully applying a couple of brown washes to give them a dingy, muddy look - I made sure to get some on and around the chunks of rock and the bases of the bulrushes to 'bed them in' to the base a bit more.
Once this was complete, I began to basecoat the miniatures themselves, working from the lower layers 'upwards' meant I could tidy as I went before I applied a controlled shade of Agrax Earthshade to everything but the black leather, followed by a controlled shade of Nuln Oil to all of the silver metal. After the shades had dried, it was a simple case of carefully layering everything up.
Many of the colours are similar to those I used on Rippa's Snarlfangs, though there's less variation in Da Kunnin' Krew's attire which was a conscious choice on my part as I wanted to cleave close to the Citadel studio painter's versions of the models. To contrast the dark tones of their clothing, and pale skin tone I deliberately used a more tan colour for the leather straps and fastenings and a drab cream for the bindings round Gikkit, Shank and Krookgrin's legs.
Krookgrin presented something of a unique challenge as he's the first Hobgrot I've ever painted, so I wasn't really sure what to do with his skin once I'd got it basecoated with Hobgrot Flesh but after a wee bit of thought decided to layer it back up with Hobgrot Flesh before highlighting it with Morghast Bone and then Ushabti Bone. Another thing that I tried for the first time was using Death Korps Drab which I used for one of Krookgrin's many bags of coins as well as the bulrushes on Mannok and Torka's bases. These were basecoated with Death Korps Drab, shaded with Agrax Earthshade and then layered with Death Guard Green followed by Straken Green which is definitely a colour recipe I'll be using again.
I also continued my experimentation with Contrast Paints on this project as well, with the haft of Torka's mansnappa receiving a glaze of Wyldwood after it was drybrushed to enrich the tones of the highlights. I also used some Black Templars on Morkrow, Mannock's avian buddy being painted Corvus Black, before I carefully applied a layer of Dark Reaper leaving the Corvus Black in the recesses. I then added highlights with Thunderhawk Blue and some extreme highlights to the very tips of some of his feathers with Space Wolves Grey. I then diluted the Black Templars with Contrast Medium to about a 30:70 ratio and applied a couple of careful glazes to tie everything together before painting in his eyes.
As Kruleboyz tend to live in quite dank conditions, I added some corrosion to all of their armour and weapons as I don't really see them keeping them clean, especially when they love smearing their blades with toxins made from all manner of plants and animals - if the weapon itself doesn't kill you, the toxins and dirt almost certainly will!
Mannok Da Kunnin'
Torka Tuffskull
Gikkit and Shank
Krookgrin
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how the warband has come out though if you're planning to paint them up yourself, I'd strongly advise leaving the front of Mannok's torso off, it'll make painting his head much easier!
I'm really enjoying working on Underworlds warbands at the moment so I expect I'll be painting another one up soon, though I'm not sure which one I'm in the mood for yet. Until next time though, thanks for reading.
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