"Everfing I see is mine. All da uvver bits are mine too - I just ain't got there yet. When we reach da end of da whole world, we'll turn around and march back."
- —Grimgor Ironhide Black Orc Warboss
Grimgor Ironhide Greatest Black Orc Warboss to ever lived.
Grimgor Ironhide is considered by many to be one of the greatest Black Orc Warlords to have ever lived. This monstrous warrior has culled a great swath of destruction throughout the lands of the Old World and beyond, claiming ownership of many Orc and Goblin tribes and making Red Eye Mountain the heart of his small empire. It was quickly understood by many of Grimgor's enemies that the Warlord was no ordinary greenskin. His lust for battle was tremendous; always he looked for the heaviest fighting and the strongest opponent to test his skills upon.
Such is his savagery he instills upon the battlefield that he has gained a massive following of Greenskin warriors, and with this army he was able to ravage the lands of the Empire, the Kingdom of Kislev, and the fortress Holds of the Dwarfs for many long years. Never has Grimgor ever lost a fight, and he longs for the day that he may match his amazing skills with one of such equal measure as his own. Grimgor will never stop until this day comes, and he will continue on his bloody conquest until he rules the entire Warhammer World.
History
No one knows of Grimgor Ironhide’s early history. He came from the east, staggering out of the Blasted Wastes with an unknown number of grizzled, tired and hungry Black Orc bodyguards, now known to other Orcs as "Da Immortulz" (The Immortals). Upon entering the northern portion of the World's Edge Mountains he quickly took over the first tribes of Greenskins he came upon and within a month had carved out a small empire for himself. From there he set course on a campaign of destruction that the northern World's Edge Mountains had rarely seen in their history.
The first to feel Grimgor’s wrath were the Dwarfs of Karak Kadrin. In the many battles that followed, the Dwarfs witnessed defeat after defeat at the hands of Grimgor and his followers. Grimgor never once tried to take the Dwarf hold itself, always content to kill the armies that were sent out to defeat him. The Dwarfs lost so many warriors that in the end they had no choice but to sit behind the walls and mighty doors of Karak Kadrin and wait for the fast approaching winter to do what they could not do: force Grimgor to retreat.
Battle with Kislev
Grimgor however would not wait. Becoming bored of killing Dwarfs, he turned his army north and west, crossing the mountains, down Peak Pass and into Kislev. Again Grimgor’s army could not be stopped, towns were destroyed and their inhabitants killed. Three Kislevite armies were sent to stop this new menace and all three armies were destroyed. As Grimgor approached the city of Kislev itself, nature turned against Grimgor. A huge blizzard, summoned by the Ice Queen of Kislev, struck the advancing greenskin horde. Thousands of greenskins froze to death and dozens more died at the hands of Grimgor as he raged against being stopped on his road of destruction. Orc Shamans began to speak of the storm as unnatural and in the end Grimgor had to turn his horde around and head back into the mountains. As he marched away from Kislev the storm abated but as soon as Grimgor turned back to Kislev, the storm would rage up again stopping him in his tracks. He returned to the World's Edge Mountains in a rage, wishing for an enemy to crush.
Grimgor decided that he needed a base from which he could strike out at the world around him. He took up residence in the abandoned Dwarf hold of Karak Ungor, conquering the Night Goblin tribes who lived there. From Karak Ungor Grimgor could strike at the Dwarfs of the World's Edge Mountains and the humans of Kislev and the Empire in the spring and summer. In the winter Grimgor would retire to the lower levels of the hold and fight the Skaven who tried to invade the fallen hold.
Battles with the Skaven
Before the coming of Grimgor, the upper levels of Karak Ungor was held by the Night Goblin tribe known as the Red Eyes. The Red Eyes, for many years, had been battling with a foe for the lower reaches of the dwarves hold. These foes were the Skaven of Clan Mors and Clan Moulder. Upon hearing of the Skaven below Grimgor and his Black Orcs quickly joined the battle. Hundreds of Skaven died at the hand of Grimgor and his boyz but this, unsurprisingly, seemed not to matter to the Skaven. Every time that one force was destroyed and the tunnels cleared of rats, new hidden tunnels would be discovered and hundreds more Skaven would leap out of the darkness to attack the Orcs and Goblins of Grimgor’s army.
Grimgor had found his never-ending battle and was content. In the spring he would lead a portion of his forces out to attack the lands above and in the winter he would return, head deep into the tunnels of Karak Ungor and the World Edge Mountains to slaughter Skaven.
As time passed, Grimgor and his horde began to drive the Skaven back deeper and deeper into the tunnels of the World's Edge Mountains. The losses on both sides were tremendous. Grimgor did not care about the losses since the battle was all that was important. The leadership of Clan Moulder was becoming concerned. Grimgor was pushing the Skaven back and, unknown to him, he was approaching the border of Clan Moulder's home base, "Hell Pit". One Skaven in particular was becoming especially concerned - Throt the Unclean. The Master Moulder himself saw Grimgor as a threat not to his people, but to his experiments. Grimgor was getting too close to his personal lab and his toys. To put a stop to this threat, Throt gathered together his strongest Rat Ogres and unleashed them on the approaching Orc horde, taking Grimgor and his Orcs by surprise.
The dozens of Rat Ogres were, at first, able to drive the invaders back until Grimgor got over his surprise. Smiling, he quickly found a spot from where he could fight back against this new challenge. Placing himself in a narrow tunnel, Grimgor stood alone against the Rat Ogres while the Orcs and Goblins fled back to the upper levels. For hours Grimgor battled the Rat Ogres, killing all that came against him. Soon the Rat Ogres and Skaven pulled back, unable to defeat this mad green monster. Upon hearing of the defeat of his mutant Rat Ogres, Throt became enraged. It seemed that he would personally have to confront this menace to his peace. Gathering up his most dangerous creations, Throt marched out to face Grimgor but the green monster was gone. Already in a rage over having to stop his experiments to deal with the Greenskin threat and now finding that Grimgor had disappeared back to the upper reaches of Karak Ungor, Throt unleashed his deadly mutant creations upon the Empire.
New Challenges
Grimgor did not flee the tunnels beneath the World's Edge Mountains because he feared the approach of Throt. He did not even realize that the mad Skaven was on his way. Instead, it was boredom that made Grimgor return to Karak Ungor. After his battle with the Rat Ogres, Grimgor had become bored. He saw the Rat Ogres as the best that the Skaven could send against him and after facing that challenge there was nothing left for him to do. The years of killing Skaven, humans and dwarfs no longer interested him and so he turned his attention elsewhere to find new challenges.
Gathering up his army, Grimgor set a course north and east. He was going to attempt to cross the treacherous region where the World's Edge Mountains met the Mountains of Mourn. No other army had ever successfully made the crossing and this became more of a reason for Grimgor to succeed. Once again he conquered the challenge but no sooner did his army make it across the first mountain range than they found a second in their path. Grimgor ordered his army onwards, the weaker Goblins perishing in the hundreds from the cold and snow, dozens more fell to Grimgor’s axe as they tried to flee back the way they came. The rest of the army, mainly Orcs by now, marched on fearing Grimgor more than they feared the mountains and winter. A week later the horde had done the impossible. They had crossed the second mountain range and reached the open steppes, east of the World's Edge Mountains (The Great Skull Land).
Battle of High Pass
As Grimgor sat along the most direct route to the Empire from the East, storm clouds of war were gathering further to the North. The forces of Chaos were gathering under the banner of Archaon, the Lord of End Times and his followers. North of the Great Skull Lands thousands of tribes of Kurgan marauders gather under the banner of Archaon's herald, Crom the Conqueror, The Bringer of Storms. In time, the land to the North could no longer contain or maintain the tribes, and in a bloodthirsty flood the Horde of Chaos descended South into the Great Skull Lands. Like locusts over crops, the wild-eyed Kurgan tribesmen ravaged all before them. Hundreds of Greenskins that were caught in their path were destroyed. Crom was leading his army South and then West towards High Pass, towards the Empire, towards Grimgor.
As Crom reached the foothills below the pass, he found his way blocked by rank upon rank of Orcs and Goblins. Unlike the other Greenskins his forces had overrun on their march, these Greenskins appeared well ordered and ready for battle. This was the army of Grimgor. Grimgor having become bored once more by the challenge offered by the tribes of the steppes had eagerly ordered his army North upon hearing of the approach of Crom. Here again was a challenge worth facing. Arriving ahead of the Chaos Horde, Grimgor ordered his force to block the mouth of the pass, making sure that Crom and his army would have no other choice but to face him.
As the sun rose from behind the Mountain of Mourn the two armies met. This would become the greatest battle that had ever been seen in the Dark Lands. The two armies collided in battle, Men and Greenskins died in the hundreds, the Kurgans warriors fought for their Lord Crom and their Dark Gods like men possessed, the Orcs and Goblins indifferent to their losses fought just for the joy of battle and killing. But this time it was the Greenskins that faltered. Never before had they faced men who fought with such blood-rage. For every man cut down, 2 or 3 were there to take their place, there seemed no end to them. They had met an opponent that was just as indifferent to losses as they were, an army of men so unlike the weak men of the west. After hours of battle, with thousands killed on both sides it was the Orcs that were defeated and who fled the battlefield.
The End Times
During the End Times, Wurrzag Da Great Green Prophet has finally realized that the champion of Gork and Mork wouldn't be one but rather two Greenskins leading a united WAAAGH. Believing that Grimgor is the champion of Gork (or possibly Mork) while Skarsnik is the champion of Mork (or possibly Gork), he has set out to inform them of their destinies and unite them in one WAAAGH. Grimgor starts off rampaging east, encountering the orcish empire of the Necksnapper. Grimgor defeats him, and absorbs his forces into the growing WAAAGH! The horde continues to grow, with Orcs pouring in from all over the known world. The Hobgoblin khans are also defeated and also join the WAAAGH, and then go on to lay siege to the Chaos controlled Great Bastion. Grimgor has an epic, hours long duel with the chaos dwarf, Lord Rhykarth the Unbreakable, eventually winning and hanging his corpse from the walls. Grimgor later becomes bound to the Wind of Beasts and now commands a huge army of both orcs and ogres known as the Beast WAAAGH! In the process, he also manages to conquer the wandering Ogre Kingdoms. Greasus Goldtooth was fiercely vain and independent and tries to resist, but was able to kill the massive monster by clubbing his head in with his own flashy club. They view Incarnate Grimgor as the living avatar of the Great Maw, and thus the entire Ogre race have decide to follow him as well.
With the combined might of the greenskin and ogre races, Grimgor led his hordes back into the darklands. Many slaves heard the prophecies of the avatars of Gork and Mork, and slave revolts happen all over the chaos dwarf empire. Eventually, the WAAAGH sets hundreds upon thousands of Greenskins free from the slave pits and fought against their sadictic master. In the end, the chaos dwarf empire is shattered. As Grimgor stood upon his ornate throne as a conqueror, he and all of his warriors were teleported into the vast spires of Middenhiem to partake in the final battle that would finally decide the fate of the Warhammer World as he participates as the eight and final Incarnate.
Sources
- Armybook: Orcs and Goblins (6th edition) pg. 66 - 67
- Armybook: Orcs and Goblins (7th Edition) pg. 36