Battle Yak Sketchbook | Warhordes of the Krog (Patreon)

Hey folks! The latest Battle Pack, the Boltagon Singularity, has been released (now with pre-supported files available!) and work has begun on the upcoming May Battle Pack, the second release of the Bloodborn Eldarch. And with this latest sketchbook post, I'd like to share a few concepts related to a previous Battle Yak release, the Ironskarn Warhorde. 

The Ironskarn are only one cultural branch of the krog, my take on the classic fantasy race the orc. The krog exist throughout the world of Jerra in many forms, with the Warhordes representing the largest and most dangerous factions, each one with its own distinct style of combat. This post will show off sketches and lore regarding the general style of each Warhorde. Each faction is planned to become its own miniature release one day, and I hope they will cover a broad range of all things mean and green (or what have you) of this infamous fantasy classic.

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The mighty and terrible krog are feared throughout the world for their ruthless, warmongering ways. Their most ancient myths teach that they were cursed by their own godly parents to become weak and enslaved to other races, and a prolonged period of enslavement to the magnai burned itself into their racial identity as proof of their true place in the world: the enemies of everyone else by cruel necessity.

When their population spikes and they can no longer sustain themselves in the harsh wildernesses they typically inhabit, the krog organize themselves into great marauding armies known as Warhordes, launching devastating assaults on their neighbors to reave and plunder. Scant centuries ago once such surge nearly rendered many other races extinct, and only desperate alliances were able to stave off the absolute victory of the krog, shattering their armies forcing them back into the wilds. In the recent era, the krog's numbers are undergoing another resurgence, and the Warhordes are on the march across Jerra once again...

Ironskarn

Themes - Iron and flame, elemental-powered machines and weapons, heavy armor

Native to the Veskarn Steppes, the Ironskarn clans were never more than a nuisance to neighboring civilizations due to their primitive technological advancement, barely capable of forging the crudest of weapons and implements. Recently, a radical transformation underwent the tribes of the Steppes, causing great leaps forwards in weapons technology, with armaments and war-machines enhanced through the power of magically-harnessed elemental flame.

Now, great foundries gouge the lands of the Steppes, harvesting a bounty of iron, coal, black oil, and other riches from the bones of the earth. Clad in heavy plate imbued with burning elemental flame, the Ironskarn Warhorde marches like a wall of living burning iron. The Ironskarn boast the most skillfully forged iron weapons, as well as the most advanced war-machines, fueled both by oil and coal as well as bound elemental fire spirits.

Bonegrin

Themes - Savage strength, bone wargear, body scarification, vicious and primitive

The Bonegrin krog inhabit wasteland wilderness that most other races couldn't survive in for even a day. Be it blighted marshlands, thorn-choked wastes, lightless caverns, or plague-spoiled bogs, there is no environment however inhospitable to thinking creatures that the Bonegrin will not colonize and thrive in.

The krog of the Bonegrin clans take their name from the clan practice of flaying away the flesh of their lips and face, exposing the bone of their jaws and sharp teeth and tusks, leaving every tribe-member with a permanent leering grin. Unhinged and savage even by krog standards, the tribes of the Bonegrin clad themselves in the bones and shells of the many great beasts and monsters that prowl the wasteland realms they call home. 

Bonegrin krog live in a curious sort of harmony with species of giant insects they call bonebeasts that frequently populate the same regions the Bonegrin call home. These enormous chitinous creatures are used as mounts by the most fearless, who seem to have an affinity for dealing with the insectoid creatures. Nevertheless, a careless krog can easily lose a limb (or a head) to the insect-beasts, for the creatures are never truly domesticated. Even then, a krog who has a hand torn off will readily replace it with some jagged bone hook or claw, not letting the loss diminish their capacity violence in the slightest.

Deadmoon

Themes - Stalkers of darkness, strange powers and rituals, mysterious motivations

The krog of the Deadmoon are possessed of some dark power that long ago sank its black claws into the collective soul of the clans. They venerate the Deadmoon, a force of celestial darkness that only they can perceive, a moon that lies beyond the veil of the living that they believe is a god, a divine being with a terrible will.

More prone to magic than other clans, Deadmoon krog put out one of their eyes in  dread rituals, granting them the ability to perceive the loathsome dark energies of the Deadmoon influencing the world. Their spell-casters can accomplish feats of sorcery beyond the understanding of other races, while their warriors and hunters obtain preternatural vision that makes them exceptional trackers and experts at hitting targets with their long-spears and hunting javelins.

The Deadmoon krog go to war bringing a pall of darkness with them, an unnatural twilight that darkens the skies and blots out of the sun. At the climax of their attack, the shrouding clouds overhead clear, to reveal the Deadmoon itself overhead, a corpse-white celestial body ringed in sickly crimson light, like a hideous bleeding cataracted eye. Under its light, the Deadmoon krog become even more monstrous, pale and distorted abominations, an unstoppable tide of moonlit terror that destroy everything in their path.

Skyrend

Themes - Piracy, speed and flight, flying mounts and machines, totally metal

The more advanced cultures of the world enjoy the benefits of airship technology, allowing a flow of goods and peoples across routes that criss-cross the skies of Jerra. While these flying vessels avoid the many dangers of crossing over land and sea, even these are not safe from the marauding of the krog. The Skyrend clans are small but swift, cunning, and utterly lethal. Using captured flying machines and tamed beasts such as the vicious wardrak, the Skyrend clan reaves the skylanes of the world, an ever-present danger that has brought many an airship crashing down in burning ruin.

Opportunistic and shrewd, the Skyrend have been known to operate as mercenaries for non-krog races, a practice that has made them many grudges amongst the krog of other clans. Since the vast majority of korg warcraft is between other krog clans in any case, the Skyrend do not regard this as an especially onerous state of affairs.

Operating in small combat units hidden across the world in distant mountain peaks and bandit havens, the Skyrend are ever-ready to hurl themselves into combat for the latest big score. There are rumors that some Skyrend clans even operate out of lands that float among the clouds...

Beasthowl

Themes - Hunters and trophy-takers, monster-slayers, giant tamed war-beasts

Krog are driven to occupy the wild places far from their enemies among the more civilized races, and these distant realms are often already inhabited by some of the largest, most vicious monsters to inhabit the world. In order to avoid becoming the prey of these great beasts, the Beasthowl krog have been forced to become expert monster-slayers, not only to survive the inevitable attacks upon their own populaces, and as vital sources of food and resources, but above all to affirm their racial identity as a people who will not be defeated by any threat that the cruel world brings against them.

The Beasthowl's entire identity revolving around the hunting of great monsters. The lands of Jerra offer up an endless menagerie of gigantic beasts, creatures that could flatten entire settlements on their own, and the great hunters of the Beasthowl have learned over many generations how to hunt and kill them all. With harpoon and net and meathook and jawtrap and every imaginable tool they stalk and kill the monsters of the world, adorning themselves with the hides and trophies of their most vicious and memorable kills.

More focused on the hunt, Beasthowl krog are the least likely to form Warhordes and attack other races. When circumstances demand however, the Beasthowl are not found wanting. They have even taken to breaking some great beasts for use in war, cladding them in the bones and shells of other beasts to form unstoppable living siege engines.

Ragna'Rokk

Themes - Monstrous transformations, summoned demons, unholy strength

The tribes of the Ragna'Rokk inhabit lands to the far west, lands wracked by some ancient cataclysm long ago that has left it blistered and lifeless, forever burning with unnatural power. This destructive essence has saturated the flesh, blood, and very soul of the krog there, twisting them into unholy monsters that seek to conquer and destroy with insane, religious zeal.

Possessed of a capacity for savagery and atrocity that can unnerve even other krog clans, the Ragna'Rokk are wracked with horn-like deformities and growths that make them even more frightful in appearance than other krog. Strange fires blaze in their eyes, crackling about their spines and muscles, even igniting the ground underfoot. The earth shudders as they walk, creatures of living stone animated by the unholy fire tearing themselves free to follow the Ragna'Rokk into battle.

Sages of the eldarch whisper that a great evil has turned its gaze upon Jerra, and the Ragna'Rokk are merely their heralds. An evil that seeks to unmake the world, known in the eldarch's most ancient texts by the name demon...

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And there you have it, just a few more varieties of Warhorde that will be realized one day! Hope you enjoyed this peek at more of the world of Battle Yak Miniatures!

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