Tag Archives: Vampire Counts

Neferata, Queen of Mysteries and Bastet (2000) – (6-Month Tale of Gamers Challenge)

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My final entry for May in the painting challenge. Not to be confused with the “update” – the 2015 End Times/Age of Sigmar model: Neferata, Mortarch of Blood. This is the original model, circa 1999-2000. Sculpted by either Colin Grayson or perhaps Trish Carden (Morrison) or Aly Morrison, it was released to compliment the first edition of Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts, for 5th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

Neferata, Queen of Mysteries and Bastet (2000)

Neferata, Queen of Mysteries and Leonard the Cat

I bought this figure sometime around then to paint as a gift for Marouda. The fact that she came with a cat familiar was a significant factor in doing so. As readers of the blog would know – I like cats. Anyway, fast forward more than a decade, and the figure still had nothing but a base coat of a green dress, and so recently I got off my fat arse and decided to paint and actually finish the pair of them.

Neferata, Queen of Mysteries and Bastet (2000)

Neferata’s side view. Leonard is ready to defend his liege.

I didn’t really worry at all about painting Neferata “correctly”. My only concern was painting her as a good looking vampire model. Due to her size, she got transferred to a 32mm base. I went for a deep red dress. I considered adding some fancy swirls or the like with silver as embroidery, but I preferred to concentrate on the transition from deep shadow at her feet to a highlight at the hips and breasts. My challenge was highlighting red into “light red” without going into either orange, yellow or pink. I think it actually worked pretty well, actually. Her pale almost-white skin was shaded very slightly with red and purple, though I’m having some contrast issues with these photos as I get to grips with my new camera.

Neferata, Queen of Mysteries and Bastet (2000)

Neferata and Leonard’s rear view.

The cat, Bastet, originally had a tiny skull on his forehead which got carved off, to make it a little more cat-like and leave space for Leonard’s forehead “star”. Bastet has now been taken over and renamed Leonard. The slight satin sheen of the varnish has had a nice (intended) effect on the fur where I’d only highlighted very subtly. Because it’s black fur, not grey or white.

Neferata, Queen of Mysteries and Bastet (2000)

Have one more photo.

Clearly, Neferata will make a perfectly good Vampire Lord for Kings of War, perhaps even using Lady Ilona’s profile.

Don’t mess with Leonard!

(Another unit of) Mantic Zombies! (6-Month Tale of Gamers Challenge)

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Mantic Zombies, Vampire Counts, Zombicide Black Plague, Deadwalkers

Following on from the initial regiment/dozen Zombies that I painted last month, I started a follow-up regiment at the end of last month. The idea being that they could be used as two regiments – or more likely – combined into one horde (by keeping the regiment trays together). They would have been finished on the first weekend of this month, but instead I got them finished last night after work.

Mantic Zombies, Vampire Counts, Zombicide Black Plague, Deadwalkers

This mob has been painted in much the same manner as the first dozen. Some coloured base coats, Army Painter washes (mostly purples this time), a bit of highlighting, then the clothing in a dark grey, washed with black/brown and then picking out the eyes, teeth, bone and wounds. Then varnish, flock, and Blood for the Blood God to finish.

Mantic Zombies, Vampire Counts, Zombicide Black Plague, Deadwalkers

The first dozen were essentially painted with what I can lazily refer to as “green”, “pink” and “grey” skin. This second batch can be summed up as “yellow” and “purple”. After being photographed on their own to show off, these guys have been mixed with the first batch to give a bit more variety. Once I start the third batch, whenever that turns out to be, they’ll primarily be another two skin tones. At that point I’ll do “brown” and “red” (or something) and then in turn mix those in with these guys. That was as I continue to paint more zombies, the overall variety will increase over time. I’ll probably take a bit of a longer break before I do the next two dozen, though…

Mantic Zombies, Vampire Counts, Zombicide Black Plague, Deadwalkers

Mantic Zombies, Vampire Counts, Zombicide Black Plague, Deadwalkers

These models are probably the nicest of Mantic’s undead range – I’ve been finding that their skeletons are far less fun to paint than I’d expected – but the limited number of parts is less than ideal, so I’ve mixed in a fair few of their Ghoul parts.

Mantic Zombies, Vampire Counts, Zombicide Black Plague, Deadwalkers

Mantic Zombies, Vampire Counts, Zombicide Black Plague, Deadwalkers

The unit shots of these guys were just taken for this blog post, as right afterwards, I mixed the models from the two zombie units so far, in order to mix the skin tones up a little more.

And here they are! The completed Horde of Zombies!