Ushoran is available to pre-order on Saturday. This is a big moment for fans of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: the Mortarch of Delusion – one of the oldest characters in the setting – has been on the periphery of the narrative for a while, but now he’s finally here in all his manic glory.
His intoxicating delusion has spread to Warhammer Community writer Luke and Adam from the Painting Team, who both found themselves gripped by a feverish need to paint this hulking horror.
Luke: Whenever a miniature like Ushoran is revealed, your head can’t help but swim with potential for a new project – a centrepiece character like this is enough of an excuse to start a whole army. I’d already painted the Royal Beastflayers and had used them to figure out some ideas.And so my Christmas holiday had me sequestered away in a furious painting fever.
I had Connor’s advice for ‘Eavy Metal standards on my mind, which mostly boiled down to focusing on areas of interest. The skin started with a base of Rakarth Flesh and glazed mixes of Sons of Horus Green and Lupercal Green into recesses, with highlights up to Pallid Wych Flesh. I then glazed a gory red into the hands and feet by mixing Screamer Pink into the Rakarth Flesh to create this transition, adding more to the mix as I got to the hands, and then working down into Khorne Red for the fingers. At this point, the skin felt a little stark and lacking – it’s scary when you’re on a tight deadline and an idea hasn’t landed!
The solution came from thinking about things Max had said about the Flesh-eater Courts last year. These are still living creatures, so I worked some glazes of various greens and purples – such as Nurgling Green and Genestealer Purple – into the skin to give it a little more depth and to get some more sickly tones in.
I kept the royal mantle* simple, drawing inspiration from the box art for the fur, but I gave the flesh trim a more vivid look to match my Royal Flaymaster – almost like this garment is freshly flayed – I’m sure the royal court must have a tailor in their service. This didn’t contrast as cleanly with the traditional red cloak, but as I am not painting for a competition, I think it’s ok to break some rules of composition if they fit the narrative and atmosphere you want to convey.
For the ruined base, I started with Mournfang Brown and drybrushed up through increasingly lighter grey colours from Mechanicus Standard Grey to Adminsitratum Grey, before adding some glazes of Rhinox Hide and Lupercal Green for staining, before finishing off with a stark dryrbush of Grey Seer. A lot of the rest of the miniature was painted with pure vibes, keeping in mind areas of warmth/coldness and a contrast between the two.
Projects like this can be intimidating, but I sincerely believe anyone can get a brilliant result by keeping the advice and processes described by ‘Eavy Metal in mind, even if you can’t execute them to the same level.
Adam: For a release as big as Ushoran, we wanted to do a proper How to Paint video that went into detail on how to paint such a big centrepiece model for an army. The result is the longest video we’ve done in about a year.
I really wanted to make painting a miniature like this as accessible as possible. It uses a lot of simple techniques that anyone who has followed a Warhammer paint video before should be able to follow, with just a few slightly more advanced techniques brought in.
For example, the skin is a simple recipe using Nighthaunt Gloom, with very thin layers of Krieg Khaki for the hands and feet. I then picked out the highlights on the lighter and darker parts with Deepkin Flesh, going further on the palest parts with Pallid Wych Flesh. For the darker skin, I just focused on picking out scratches and tendons, and let the Contrast paint do most of the work. This helps unify everything while still creating impact without using advanced techniques like glazing and blending. Thin layers of Shade and Contrast on the sores, wounds, and capes also heap on interest in a simple manner.
To break down a potentially tricky part, I focused on one colour for all of the heads on the cloak. There is a mix of 26 faces and skulls, and painting them all differently could send you as mad as a Varghulf Courtier, so I worked out a straightforward recipe, keeping the flesh, bone, and hair the same.
The result is an achievable paint job which looks fantastic on the table. If you’re intimidated by something like this, watch the video – hopefully, we can put those fears to rest!
Thanks both. You’ll be able to pre-order Ushoran on Saturday alongside the rest of his royal court and their grovelling servants.
*These courtly robes are sometimes referred to as ermine, as historically, the fur of the ermine stoat was reserved for kingly mantles.