Warhammer Underworlds - Morgok's Krushas

Morgok and his mob of Ironjawz brutes once hunted down and fought the greatest prey they could find amongst Ghur’s trackless wastes. Whether they ran down spiny nephrodiles or fought the storm-warriors of Sigmar, Morgok’s Krushas sought the mightiest trophies in the name of their bellicose deity, Gorkamorka. While roaming a plain of ancient bones, the Ironjawz boss heard from afar the clash and clangour of battle. They pursued the sounds across the wilds until they arrived at Beastgrave – the noises were echoing from the mountain’s tunnels. Invigorated by Waaagh! energy that would only increase with each conflict, the brute boss led his cronies down into the caverns to win glory in the eyes of the great green god.

In the wake of the release of Age of Sigmar, Games Workshop released the Ironjawz a re-imagined version of the ubiquitous greenskins that had plagued the World That Was for generations. Covered in crude but nevertheless effective armour plate daubed in bright contrasting colours and wielding a variety of simply forged but brutally effective choppas, hackas and bashas they, in my opinion at least, successfully breathed new and refreshing life into what had become a bit a stagnated a fantasy staple. 

Warhammer Underworlds had an Ironjawz warband shortly after Shadespire was released but much as I loved Gurzag Ironskull and his 'Ardboyz,  Morgok, 'Ardskull and Thugg are just bigger, bashier and better. Super tough and hitting like a freight train when they hit, Morgok's Krushas perfectly captured the Ironjawz aesthetics for me and as soon as they were previewed I knew I'd be grabbing them and getting them painted up. Although they were slightly delayed due to the first national lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, I nevertheless ordered them as soon as they were made available and got them painted up in time to be able to use them in some of the few games of Underworlds I was able to get in 2020 with my good friend Richmond at our FLGS, Ellerium Games. 

Inspired by the boxart, I opted to paint the Krushas in the black and yellow plate of the Ironsunz tribe which also happens to contrast nicely with the muted tones of green flesh and the various browns used for the squighide clothing, belts, straps and bindings. 

Unlike The Wurmspat I didn't paint the miniatures separate from their bases, although for the life of me I can't remember why as it probably would have made things much easier. In any case, the bases were done in a very similar fashion, with drybrushing and highlights on the rocks, before filling in the details like the bones and shattered links of chain before carefully shading the lower areas with Vallejo European Dust. Some of the nooks and crannies on the rocks were glazed with thinned Athonian Camoshade and Biel Tan Green to to create the suggestion of algae or lichens and the dust wash was allowed to creep up the sides of the rocks and bones to help tie everything together. 

Morgok

'Ardskull

Thugg

For the Orruks themselves, I went with my now familiar "basecoats on everything then shade, layer and highlight" approach with the yellow plates being started with Averland Sunset, the skin with Death Guard Green, the belts with Mournfang Brown, the breeches with Dryad Bark and the straps at their wrists with Steel Legion Drab. The silver areas were all basecoated with Leadbelcher, while the stitches in their breeches were done with Rakarth Flesh so they'd stand out. Morgok's plume and the bindings on the hafts of his bosschoppas were painted Khorne red and then everything was shaded with Agrax Earth. Once that was dry, the silver areas received a second shade of Nuln Oil.

The Black plates weren't shaded with an all over wash, instead thinned Skrag Brown was carefully applied around the rivets to create the impression that rust was building up around them - I find that not only does this create more contrast on the black areas, but it's also entirely fitting with Orruks who are unlikely to spend a lot of time keeping their armour clean and dry. 

With the basecoats and shading in place it was then simply a case of working everything up to a finish I was happy with. For the most part this involved working up through the 'recommended' highlights from the Citadel Colour Chart with a couple of exceptions. The yellow was roughly re-layered with Averland Sunset leaving the Agrax Earth shade showing in the reccesses. All of the edges were then highlighted with Ushabti Bone. Meanwhile the black plates were highlighted with Dark Reaper followed by Thunderhawk Blue and then the corners that would catch the most light were carefully hit with a dot of Space Wolves Grey.

For the Krusha's skin, I wanted a muted finish, so having re-applied Death Guard Green to the raised areas to tidy up the shading a little, and re-establish the base colour, I then applied highlights with Ogryn Camo and Krieg Khaki. The pinking of their lower lips was achieved using glazes of a 50:50ish mix of thinned Krieg Khaki and Carroberg Crimson. Although I didn't spend a great deal of time creating texture on the flat areas of their clothing and accoutrements, the edges had various nicks and scratches added to try and play up both the crudity of their creation and the lack of care that would be taken of them by their owners. 

Although the pandemic put paid to the Krushas seeing much use on the table when they were released, they were enormously fun to paint up and I hope to get a few games of Rivals with them in future as they're a nice brutal but kunnin' foil to Da Kunnin Krew. 

I hope to be back with another Underworlds Warband soon, but in the meantime, as always, thanks for reading.