Black Templar Marine Beneath a Hazy Moon — Print & Oil Painting

A pale disc sits high in the upper third of the frame, half swallowed by cloud, and it is the only light source the picture admits to. Everything underneath it has to be read against that one grey-green glow.

The figure occupies the whole right side in black plate with white shoulder caps and a black cross laid on each. The helm has no lenses at all, only a single horizontal slit burning orange across the width of the faceplate, which turns the head into something closer to a furnace door than a face.

The sword is the ornamental centre of the image. Held point down and angled slightly forward, its crossguard is a spread of gold wings, its pommel a ring, its blade long, straight and pale, and it has been given a great deal more line work than anything else in the frame.

At his feet lies a body in dark armour with a skull-faced mask, arms out, one gauntleted hand open. Far off at the left, low on the horizon, a city burns orange and gold behind a screen of ruined towers.

The handling is cel work throughout: heavy black outlines, flat colour, hard-edged highlights, no soft transitions anywhere. What it leaves you with is one armoured figure alone under a moon, which happens to be an accurate picture of how this Chapter operates. The Black Templars are organised as separate crusades rather than as a single army, scattered across the galaxy in fleets that may go centuries without meeting, and any one of them is likely to be the only friendly force for a very long way in any direction. From our Warhammer 40.000 collection, next to a squad of the Chapter advancing through a corridor.