Astartes Fan Series Gets Grimdark Finale Worthy Of The 40K Universe

April 4, 2020

Astartes Fan Series Gets Grimdark Finale Worthy Of The 40K Universe

I feel like a growing number of people are getting into Warhammer 40,000 universe through non-tabletop sources. Hell, I didn’t really get into the franchise until Dawn of War. For those of us that mostly just play the video games, the brutality and scale of the 40k universe can be lost in translation. This is a world where emotionless Space Marines fight Chaos, elves, communism, bugs, and much much more in service of a dead God. Billions of people die just because someone prayed to the wrong God just one timed. The space cathedral battleships have to be refueled by a procession of monks carrying the power source into the core, vaporizing them in the process. But like, in a very somber and serious way. It’s fucking awesome, and no one has managed to capture that feeling just right (maybe the books, but who has time to read). Well, no one before Syama Pedersen.

Started back in 2018, Astartes is a fan project that looks better than most movies. It follows a squad of the Emperor’s Finest, The Adeptus Astartes, aka Space Marines. The five-part series follows the squad as it storms a ship infested with the taint of Chaos. The way they move, ceaselessly and emotionlessly advancing, is just pure 40k grimdark goodness. It’s equal parts mystery and spectacle, as the almost complete lack of dialogue leaves most of the events up to the speculation of lore nerds. Which is perfect. This is exactly what 40k is all about. Badass space warriors delivering unconscionable amounts of carnage to stop something even worse. And with this climactic finale, we get to see a glimpse of that something worse.