Introduction to Painting Neferata, Mortarch of Blood
Neferata, the Mortarch of Blood, is an iconic figure in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar universe, known as the first vampire and one of Nagash’s most powerful lieutenants. With her regal, fearsome presence, she commands an army of the undead with both elegance and brutality, making her a fantastic choice for painters looking to create a truly imposing centerpiece. In this guide, we’ll explore how to bring Neferata to life with rich colors, dramatic shadows, and techniques that emphasize the intricate details of her armor, cloak, and skeletal steed. Whether you’re aiming for dark and moody tones or adding vibrant touches to her vampiric features, this tutorial will help you achieve a striking finish worthy of the Mortarch herself.
Battlefield Role and Strategy for Neferata
Neferata, Mortarch of Blood, serves as a powerful support and melee hero in the Soulblight Gravelords army for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. As a spellcaster, she bolsters her allies with her unique Dark Mist spell, granting Ethereal to a friendly unit, which lets it ignore save modifiers—ideal for making high-save units more durable. Her command ability, Twilight’s Allure, reduces enemy hit rolls for nearby Soulblight units, adding a defensive buff that keeps her forces resilient in prolonged combat.
On offense, Neferata is an effective assassin who can target key enemy heroes or elite units with her potent melee weapon, Akmet-har, and her Mortarch of Blood ability, which lowers nearby enemy Bravery, making foes more susceptible to Soulblight’s terror-inducing effects. This combination of buffs, debuffs, and reliable close-combat damage makes her a versatile leader and a valuable asset in Soulblight Gravelords armies.
Why I Painted Neferata Mortrarch of Blood
This model always caught my eye at the Warhammer store. You could make one of three Mortrarch’s and got some other critters from the Deathrattle Start Collecting box. Of course, me being cheap, made an okay attempt at magnetizing the model so that I could swap heads and riders to play whichever Mortrarch I wanted.
Regardless, Neferata called to me. I thought she was so cool riding side-saddle, and her dress was something I just had to paint. Also, with my experience painting Nighthaunt and Tomb Kings, I just knew I could make the Nagadron mount extra special!
I painted this model a few years ago. Looking at it, I wish I had taken more time and care with the paint job. I would call this tabletop quality at best. I races through it because I wanted to get this model on the battlefield fast!
I painted Mannfred, too, and he’s an absolute beast on the table, but this isn’t about him!
The Painting Process for Neferata Mortrarch of Blood
This model is pretty advanced and requires a bit of planning. You’ll want to build this model in paintable sub-assemblies. You’ll want to keep the figure and the throne separate from the mount. Keep the front armor plates of the mount separate, as well as the head.
I chose to keep the mount’s arms and legs separate before painting to have easier access to the underside of the mount, but that’s up to you.
It’s also your decision to glue everything down to the base before painting. I have to be honest, I struggled keeping the spirit hosts tacked down permanently over the drywall filler I had applied to the base for texture. Also, I didn’t quite center the model properly, so the back of the base is weighted with coins (under the texture) to keep Neferata from tipping.
Priming Neferata Mortrarch of Blood
I primed Neferata with Chaos Black all over. There were no Contrast paints at the time, so no fancy Zenithal or Slapchop here.
Update – I would advise priming the Nagadron in Wraithbone or White Scar depending on if you want a warm or cool white. This is going to save you a tedious step in painting all of the skulls.
Painting the Nagadron and the Spirit Hosts
- Ulthuan Grey
- Nihilikh Oxide
- Coelia Greenshade
- Zandri Dust
- Reikland Fleshshade
- Ushabti Bone
- Screaming Skull
- Pallid Wych Flesh
- Waywatcher Green
Ulthuan Grey
I used the inside-out method, painting the skulls and the bones in tandem, starting from the inside and working my way out and touching up mistakes as needed.
This is a long process so take your time and be as neat as possible.
If you primed in any other color than white then you’ll need to paint all of the skulls on the mount with a good basecoat of Ulthuan Grey. The good news here is that you don’t have to be neat about it. you can be messy and get paint on the bones. If you primed in white then you can skip this step.
Remember the legs, arms, head, and body skulls all need to be painted, and fully basecoat the Spirit Hosts.
Zandri Dust
Go ahead and paint your first you basecoat of Zandri Dust onto all of the bones. Be as neat as possible, but you can recover any mistakes very easily with touch-ups of Ulthuan Grey on the skulls as needed.
Nihilikh Oxide
Paint a nice layer of Nihilkh Oxide onto the Spirit Hosts and all of the skulls on the Nagadron. Be extra careful around the bones, especially around those tight spots on the arms and legs. Any mistake scan be fixed easily after the next step, so don’t worry too much about mistakes.
Coelia Greenshade
Shade the Spirit Hosts with Coelia Greenshade, and shade all of the skulls as well. Be careful about slathering the shade as you’ll want to be as neat around the bones as possible. Any mistakes can be easily recovered with Zandri Dust.
Let the Coelia Greenshade dry, and we’ll move onto painting the bones in the next few steps.
Reikland Fleshshade
After your Coelia Greenshade has dried, you’ll want to touch up any mistakes on the bones before shading the bones. When you’re ready, shade the bones with Reikland Fleshshade (I used Agrax Earthshade in the photos, but hindsight the reddish tint of Reikland would have looked better against the green). Remember to be very neat with this step because at this point it would be difficult to recover any mistakes on the skulls.
Let this dry before proceeding.
Ushabti Bone
This is an optional step, but it will make your Nagadron look just a touch better than tabletop-top quality. Drybrush Ushabti Bone over the larger areas of bone on the Nagadron. This would be the spine, the legs and hind claws, arms and front claws, and all the way down the tail.
Unless you can be super neat about it, I would avoid some of the smaller ribs and tighter areas so you don’t accidentally get Ushabti Bone on the skulls underneath.
This step will give your model a little more depth and dimension and better blend the bone color up from the shaded Zandri Dust into our next step.
Screaming Skull
Lightly Drybrush Screaming Skull over the entire model and the Spirit Hosts. This will be your top highlight for the larger bone areas, and it will be an effective way to illuminate the textures and details of the skulls and on the Spirit Hosts.
Pallid Wych Flesh
Finally, you’ll want to paint an edge highlight on the most prominent lines of the Spirit Hosts with Pallid Wych Flesh.
In this step you can also go ahead and paint the Spirit Hosts’ daggers with Leadbelcher. Shade those with Nuln Oil and gently touch the details with Leadbelcher again after shading, or you can use a brighter silver like Ironbreaker or Runefang Steel if you wish.
Waywatcher Green
And for our last little detail we’re going to add some patches of Waywatcher Green glaze to select areas of the skulls and Spirit Hosts. Remember, less in more when using technical features such as this. Also, while you’ll want to focus on the skull/green areas, don’t be afraid to let the color bleed a little bit onto the bones to add an OSL effect (object source lighting). This will add an extra flavor of supernatural, deathly spookiness.
Painting Nagadron’s Armor Pieces
- Khorne Red
- Carroburg Crimson
- Wild Rider Red
- Ironbreaker
The best way to paint the armor plate and the Nagadron’s head is to start with the bones. The reason is because we’re going to drybrush the bones, which can be messy, and we’ll be able to easily cover the mess the drybrushing makes without having to paint extra steps.
Zandri Dust, Reikland Fleshshade, drybrush Ushabti Bone, Drybrush Screaming Skull.
Next, basecoat the flat parts of the armor with Khorne Red. Carefully shade the red with Carroburg Crimson.
Bring the color back (remove the coffee staining) by painting Khorne Red on the flat parts of the armor, leaving the shade around the bolts and creases between the plates.
Using Wild Rider Red, highlight the edges of the armor and the edges of the creases of the plates.
And finally, touch the metal studs on the armor plates with Ironbreaker or your favorite silver.
Painting Neferata’s Throne
- Naggaroth Night
- Druchii Violet
- Xereus Purple
Paint the throne using the same formula for bones that we’ve done so far.
Zandri Dust, Reikland Fleshshade, drybrush Ushabti Bone, Drybrush Screaming Skull.
Next, paint the fabric of the chair a basecoat of Naggaroth Night. Follow this up with a careful shade of Druchii Violet.
Lastly, lightly drybrush the fabric with Xereus Purple to highlight the fabric.
Painting Neferata’s Weapon and Gauntlet
- Leadbelcher
- Nuln Oil
- Ironbreaker
- Retributor Armor
- Reikland Fleshshade
- Gehenna Gold
The gauntlet and Neferata’s staff are easy to paint. Simple use the same bone formula as before.
Zandri Dust, Reikland Fleshshade, drybrush Ushabti Bone, Drybrush Screaming Skull.
For the blade on the staff basecoat in Leadebelcher. Shade with Nuln Oil, and then highlight the blade with Ironbreaker.
For the gold stud at the top of the blade, basecoat using Retributor Armor. Add a dab of Reikland Fleshshade, and after that dries just add a touch of Gehenna Gold as a highlight. There are one or two other studs like this on the model that can be painted in the same way.
Painting Neferata’s Armor and Hat
- Naggaroth Night
- Druchii Violet
- Genestealer Purple
Similar to the Nagadron’s plates, paint the bones of the armor and hat first. On the flat surfaces, basecoat Naggaroth Night.
Next, carefully shade with Druchii Violet.
And finally, add highlight of Genestealer Purple.
The stud on Neferata’s hat, her skull knee pads, and metal bits on the armor are basecoated with Retributor Armor. Next, shade the gold parts with Reikland Fleshshade. If you want to experiment, try shading the gold with Druchii Violet and see how you like it.
Finally, highlight with Gehenna Gold.
Painting Neferata’s Cloak
- Khorne Red
- Xereus Purple
- Genestealer Purple
To paint the cloak I used the wet-blending method. I started by basecoating the entire cloak in Khorne Red. Starting at the top (by her arms) I painted a new, wet layer of Khorne Red about halfway down. I quickly painted Xereus Purple going from the bottom up, blending the wet purple into the wet red at about the halfway mark.
Remember to do this on both bottom and top of the cloak. Then highlight with Genestealer Purple getting the holes in the cloak and the edges.
Painting Neferata’s Face and Skin
- Pallid Wych Flesh
- Druchii Violet
I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t do a terrific job with this. I can say that I didn’t have proper magnifying tools at the time, but truthfully this was a place in my painting development where I never really considered painting a proper face.
The rest of the skin is a little messy. The thought occurred to me to touch this up before photographing and posting, but I also like the philosophy of leaving my old models alone. These old model represent my journey and development in painting. I want to be able to look back on models like this as a reminder to myself that I can and should do better every with every single project.
Here I based Pallid Wych Flesh, which was difficult because it’s a thin paint to begin with, so it took multiple coats. I did a very light layer of Druchii Violet. Then, I went back over the skin with a layer of Pallid Wych Flesh.
The eyes I painted black (which actually don’t look too terrible!) and her mouth I painted with the Khorne Red that was handy.
And Finally, Painting Neferata’s Robes
- Khorne Red
- Evil Sunz Scarlet
- Naggaroth Night
- Wild Rider Red
- Genestealer Purple
- Ushabti Bone
- Soulstone Blue
There are two layers of the robe – top top robe and the under robe.
The top robe has three sections – the top, middle and bottom.
All of the sections are basecoated with Khorne Red. Layer the top folds of the top and bottom sections with thin layers of Evil Sunz Scarlet. Toward the bottom of the top section, you can add very light layers of Xereus Purple as highlights on the tops of the folds in the fabric. This will make a nice blend and continuity to the center section. Do the same with folds in the top part of the bottom section.
Next, layer Xereus Purple on the tops of the folds of fabric of the middle section of the robe. In this section you’ll highlight with Genestealer Purple.
The top and bottom sections will be highlighted with Wild Rider Red.
The beads are basecoated with Ushabti Bone. The gems I painted with a bright silver and then used the gemstone paint Soulstone Blue.
The Bottom Robe
Basecoat with Naggaroth Night. Layer a thin layer of Xereus Purple coming up from the bottom of the fabric.
And finally, highlight with Genestealer Purple.
By using a similar variety of colors interchangeably, the colors look tasteful and play off of each other. Thin layers look wet blended to a point. The spectrum of color gives the fabric depth and texture adding richness and elegance.
Basing Neferata Mortrarch of Blood
- Drywall Filler
- Agrellan Earth
- Abaddon Black
- Pallid Wych Flesh
- Nihilikh Oxide
- Waywatcher Green
I texturized the base with some Drywall Filler. I used some of the filler to secure the model, spirit hosts, and even added some coins to the base to help with balance. This base was also part of an Armies on Parade theme, so I incorporated a small river of green ooze that matched up with the theme of the rest of the board.
When the drywall filler is dry, paint Armageddon Earth to add more texture to the landscape. Remember, the thicker you apply this paint the bigger the cracks you’ll get.
When the Armageddon Earth is dry, paint the textures Abaddon Black. Next drybrush Pallid Wych Flesh over all the texture.
In the areas I wanted the river of spectral green ooze I painted a “river” of Pallid Wych Flesh and followed up with Nihilikh Oxide over the Pallid Wych Flesh. And finally, strategic drops of Waywatcher green give it that spooky, supernatural look.
Bringing the Queen of Vampires to Life
To conclude, painting Neferata, Mortarch of Blood, offers a rewarding challenge that allows for creative exploration of gothic themes and vampiric elegance. Her model has rich details that bring her sinister grace to life, and using a blend of dark, shadowy tones with crimson accents can emphasize her role as the queen of vampires. By focusing on subtle highlights, intricate metallics, and eerie effects, you can capture Neferata’s dark allure and deadly presence on the battlefield. Whether for display or gameplay, a well-painted Neferata will undoubtedly be a striking centerpiece in any Soulblight Gravelords collection.
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