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I've been looking at different Space Marine Capters for future Kill Teams and/or Combat Patrol games, when (thanks to BorderCountess) I tumbled down a rabbit hole of all the canonical Space Marine Chapters.... and found the Astral Knights.


The Astral Knights' entire chapter is made up of Brother Thade, a Dreadnought (and Chapter Master), and 30 Brothers and Neophytes.

These guys went on their tiny one ship crusade in 5th Edition never to be heard from again.

I thought it would be fun to build these guys into an army using the above-mentioned limitations...

So, Dakka, Can you figure this puzzle out?

Well, the 1st question you need to answer is this:
Is it important to you to represent your Dreadnought Chapter Master as a character?

If it is, then you have 3 choices to use as a stand in.
*Bjorn & Murderfang from the Space Wolves. Both of these have current models - but you'd be locked into SW rules
*Carab Culln the Risen. Technically this guy is a Red Scorpion. But the scorpions are just a generic SM chapter & he doesn't have a Chapter specific Key Word. So you could use him in any kind of SM force once you've picked your flavor. He is however a Legends unit & has no current model. His model was a unique FW Leviathan Dreadnought & can be a bit pricey on EBay. BUT you could very easily scratchbuild/convert him using a current HH plastic Leviathan kit + some bitz. With the added bonuses that 1) yours wouldn't have Red Scorpion iconography all over it, 2) even with bitz it'd still be less $$ than the actual FW version.

Myself? I'd make him a character & go the scratchbuild/conversion Leviathan route.

If you don't make the Master a character then you could use practically any dreadnought.

Whatever you decide concerning the Dreadnought though you need to decide on what rules you want to represent your 30 guys (+neophytes) with.
Generic SM? BA/DA/SW/Templars?
You could also represent them as Deathwatch.

Also;
How do you want to represent the Neophytes? Regular Scouts? BT style Neophytes? Imperial Agents hangers on?
Do your guys have any vehicle support? Would you count the crew against your 30 cap? Or assume they're servitors/Neophytes//serfs?

https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Astral_Knights

Fluff wise, it is said that it's Brother Thade as the wise old Master, and 30 Brothers and Neophytes.

I assume that since these were they guys left behind, we would have a techmarine to keep the lights running, a couple of relic bearers/honor guards, some rearguard/wounded, a veteran instructor or two, and some wet-behind-the-ears scouts.

They are described as Imperial Fists Successors.

I was thinking if making them all first born, since this was before the Primaris.

I could use a mixture of MkVI HH Marines / Cool loooking Firstborn models and Scouts.

I could grab any Dreadnought and kit him out to make him look the part of a Chapter Master. He doesn't need to be an actual special character.