Underworlds - The K'nights of Kross

So, after scrambling my motivation and some paints, I finally managed to paint something to completion since my life became busier! After being told (thanks potsiat!) about the competition on the Warhammer Community page, with the theme being 'Crusaders', I thought that was the sign. I am also posting them all at once - there's a limit to how much I am ready to drag my projects along on this blog!

There was a long break after my last Warhammer Underworlds warband, but just that one, I decided to reimagine the models into something different (the game allows for some heavy dose of interpretation). So, today I present you the K'nights of the Kross - a brave warband of greenskins that's all about crusading and reclaiming the Holeeland, wherever that may be.

The original models were heavily armored already, so making them look more 'knightly' was mostly a matter of changing their weapons, adding some tabards, and painting them in the Templar color scheme. I had a lot of fun painting all the metal, with all the plates and flat surfaces.

Also, here I am, painting an S1 warband, happy with my progress, while GW is probably getting ready to release S4 of Underworlds anytime soon...

The peoples of Vechernya have a lot of problems already in their own realm, but sometimes they have to deal with outside invaders. One of those are the crusading orcs of Chamon, always ready to attack drier, coastal regions of the land. Clad in shiny armor and bearing red crosses, they seem to emulate some knightly order from a faraway time - but nobody can say if it's their own invention, a bizarre transformation of some knights or are they just a heavily distorted part of the Withered King's dreams. Nevertheless, they're very tough in combat and can't be bargained with, thinking only about following their unknowable ideals - more than a match for anyone unfortunate to find them at their doorstep.

Fitting 4 minis in the picture above made them quite small, so here are the close-ups, with the Grand Master first. You can see the WIP HERE.

This guy was the kickstarter of the whole project and he was surely the most fun to paint - the shield, the flowing cape, he was much more special than the rest. His sword, though... I cursed myself for not sculpting any extra edges on it.

The second most favorite, Sir Bonekutta wielding a greatsword to cleave the unbelievers - despite being new in the warband, he's more zealous than the rest. You can see his WIP HERE.

I like the pose on this one, raised arms made his chest and the tabard much more prominent - and the muscles on the arms which were a real pleasure to paint.

The third one, a fan of exotic weapons which still bash skull nicely, Sir Basha. His WIP post can be found HERE.

I struggled a bit with his maces a bit - after some options, I went for mostly black metal with very strong silver highlights on the edges and points, which seems to work quite well.

The last one, Sir Hakka, hiding a disfigured face behind a full templar helmet. You can see his WIP post HERE.

I considered him the least interesting of the bunch until I got a suggestion to put a feather on his head - which improved him immensely (thanks Pepe!). Now he looks very knightly with his helmet, strengthening the whole theme even further.

Underworlds - Hakka - WIP

The scramble with the crusading boyz go on - and the final conversion is here - welcome brave knight Hakka.

The whole idea with this one was to give him a big, boxy helmet, already building over his existing mask - I didn't want a crusader warband without at least one of those. Besides that, I didn't have anything special planned for his weapons, so I just changed the knife into a sword and the axe into a spearhead of some sort.

I pushed the conversions forward a bit because there's a competition on the Warhammer Community page, with the theme being 'Crusaders', lasting for July 2020. It motivated me to actually start painting seriously, instead of just kitbashing and converting as I was trying to over the last months. They are being done right now and they will be done and ready next week - on the last Sunday of July.

Underworlds - Basha - WIP

The crusade of the orcs continues - quicker than I planned because now I have a reason to finish them all before July is over! After Ironskull and Bonekutta, I have another one - Basha.

Unlike his companions - and as his name suggests, he wields blunt weapons. I like to reinvent my Underworlds minis, but I prefer to at least reference their original equipment and/or skills, so I decided against giving him swords. Still, I wanted to change his weapons to make them more knightly, more 'historical'. Flanged maces seemed like a fun choice - they have a very specific look and I could imagine an orc smithing it somehow. I cut several pieces of plasticard to have a roughly similar shape and glued them around the handles of the original mini. I gave him a desert-y headgear to make him fit better in his scenery while avoiding pieces too similar to the ones of his pals.

Underworlds - Bonekutta - WIP

After the boss Ironskull, it is time for the rest of the crusading orcs - this time with Bonekutta.

From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to give him a two-handed sword - but unfortunately, his pose and grip were made with a long-handled weapon in mind, so I had to be creative. Thankfully, real swords of this size were held often by the so-called ricasso, a non-sharp part of the blade - with some parrying hooks separating it from the sharp part. It call came together to make the sword much more realistic, even if it was a crude slab of orcish metal! I made it out of plasticard and damaged it severely - this greenskin doesn't care about his weapon too much.

To make his head different from the rest, I gave him a simple helmet. Here you can also see much better the cloth that I greenstuffed on his chest - which will get a nice red cross during the painting.

Blood Bowl Star Player - Bilerot Vomitflesh

With this guy, it's finally time to close the drawn-out project of Nurgle Star Players for Bloodbowl (WIP post HERE). After Tolly Glocklinger, Guffle Pusmaw and Bulla Shardhorn I have Bilerot Vomitflesh, a hardy citizen of the Empire turned into a mighty Nurgle Bloater.

He's rather simple on the pitch (just a strong, reliable guy, no gimmicks) and the painting was also simple - just following the same color scheme as earlier with the Putrid Punters. I really like how his pose turned out - he looks really sporty, not just a WFB warrior with weapons clipped off - so the final effect is still quite pleasing to me.

After their first won match in this new season, the Putrid Punters went to a bar to celebrate their unexpected victory. Unfortunately, the Nurgle table (current regulations require bars to separate it from the rest of the interior) was already taken by a single bloater. Not knowing the current scene very well, the Punters didn’t recognize the star Bilerot Vomitsflesh and got into an argument, demanding him to move away as if he was just another random chump. Bilerot, a bit insecure about being the least known Nurgle star, became extra angry - a fierce fight ensued. After the dust settled, amongst the rubbles of the bar, with no winner in sight, both parties were forced to pay for the damages and help with the repairs. The whole experience allowed the Punters to weirdly bond with Bilerot - they cleared up the misunderstandings and praised each other’s hardiness in the brawl. In the end, the star left his agent’s scrying number, telling them to give him a call if they want to play Blood Bowl one day together.

Underworlds - Gurzag Ironskull - WIP

My life is still a bit hectic, so with this project, I will take my sweet time here. I hope the readers can understand!

When the first season of Warhammer Underworlds, Shadespire, was getting out of print, I quickly scrambled to get the teams that I wanted to play, with the intention to reinvent them how I did with my Steelheart's Champions. It's a big part of the game's charm for me, to change the minis heavily while retaining their gameplay value. With the first of the two teams that I got, Ironskull's Boyz, I decided to go for a crusading theme. With their heavy armor, the orcs look knightly already, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Today I am showing you the leader, Gurzag Ironskull himself, as a proof of concept. His pose was good enough to incorporate a shield, so he looks the most convincing - and probably even more when his cape will be painted later on. I also changed his axe for a sword - something which I will do on his comrades too.

The rest of the boyz will follow shortly.

Blood Bowl Druchii Sports Sorceress - WIP

It's time for the last mini from the staff trio I did some time ago. After the Orc and Dark Elf coaches, here comes the Druchii Sports Sorceress - a unique wizard available to dark elves, to join my Dreadspear Dragons. While normal mage casts big but unreliable fireballs, she is adept at casting very precise lightning bolts and weakening opposing players with the 'Death of a Thousand Cuts". She may be expensive to induce, but she gives a lot of flavor to the elvish force and an 83% chance to knock down any player on the pitch is quite worth it.

Obviously, I used a Dark Elf Sorceress from AoS / WFB to represent her - the model is quite perfect in this regard. Still, I decided to convert her at least a little bit to make her more sporty and fit with the team. To first thing is achieved through sneakers I sculpted on her feet and the second thing through a small piece of dragonskin on her behind. I also scattered some bits around her to make the base look less empty and bring the Blood Bowl theme a little more. Not much done here, but it's always something.