The Astral Hounds are the next in my series of Space Marine chapters that don’t get much love. Outside of the official color scheme, there’s almost no art out there for them, so I decided to make some. Like the Crimson Paladins, this one came straight off the 40K Gallery Hit List.
They have a fun bit of history. In 2020 the White Dwarf staff created two chapters as candidates for the magazine’s mascot: the Astral Hounds and the Tome Keepers. The Tome Keepers won, and some of the background ideas from the Astral Hounds were reused for them. The Hounds were fully concepted out, though, so they still have their look: purple power armor, a gold aquila on the chest, a cream faceplate and cream shoulder pads with black edging, and a black hound for the chapter badge. Their Founding and gene-seed are still unknown.
For this piece I kept it dark. A lone Astral Hound steps out of a stone archway with his chainsword raised across his body and the teeth still spinning, while a few pairs of red eyes watch him from the shadows. For a chapter named after hounds, it felt right to have something else doing the hunting. I let most of the scene fall into darkness so the purple armor and green eye lenses would carry it, and I weathered the badge on his shoulder so it looks like it’s taken a few hits.
Let me know what chapter you’d like to see next.
