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I'll keep the conversions of my new and first space marine chapter in here. I chose the space sharks, a rarely mentioned second founding of the raven guard. Aside from a one sentence mention of an affinity for drop pod assaults and (I would assume unique among marine chapters) marine combat I found I was free to fill in the backstory myself. Heres a quick synopsis of the armies overall theme and background.



Name: Space Sharks
Ethnic Theme: Pacific islands (bahamas, Hawaiian islands, etc)
Chapter Colors: Dark Grey, Grey, Red, and gold
Primary foes: Tyranids, Orks

Specific detachment:
Space Shark seventh company (reserve)
Commander 'Enaki (counts as shrike)
6 Tactical squads
1 Scout squad (10th company)
3 dreadnaughts
1 Devastator squad
1 Sternguard squad (1st company)
1 Predator
2 Assault squads
Various transports

Background:

Official:
The Space Sharks Space Marine chapter took part in the Badab War against the rebel chapters.
After the defeat of the rebellion, they were given the homeworld of the rebellious Mantis Warriors.
In the war, the Space Sharks used their longstanding tactic of Drop Pod assaults in their attacks on the hives of Badab. The large number of dreadnoughts, and their full reserve of Terminator Armour were used to help the Star Phantoms' sieges of the rebellious Chapters. The Space Sharks still to this day carry a long standing grudge and distrust of the Mantis Warriors and the Lamenters.

My Background:

A second founding of the ravenguard, the space sharks are a nomadic chapter (the mantis warrior homeworld has since been returned to the mantis warriors as they finished their 100 year crusade of penance (thats actually mantis warrior canon). The space shark fleet, a flotilla of imperial navy and space marine craft, all under the command of the chapter master follow the space sharks; leviathanic space borne predators. The space sharks schools historically followed the void whales (one once ate an entire ork fleet (its in the rulebook)), however with void whale numbers dwindling on the eastern fringe the space sharks have been forced to hunt new prey, the many dormant hive ships of the tyranids. This has brought their migration, and the pursuing space shark chapter into the empire of the orks of octavius and into the middle of one of the largest and most destructive xenos wars being raged in the history of the galaxy.

The space shark chapter is in a constant battle to protect imperial worlds on the fringe of the Orks of Octavius territory from both tyranid and ork incursions. They have also taken it upon themselves to pursue numerous intelligence gathering campaigns, with the intention of gauging the winner of the xenos war. The space sharks intend to lead the offense in containing the threat of whatever side wins, should the war ever end.

I have yet to paint the army beyond spray priming, but I've finished a considerable number of conversions in the force. I'll post up my conversion pictures here, and I'll update with new models and paintjobs as they happen.


------------



Seventh Company Commander Kaiaka 'Enaki Master of the Sharkstooth (The name means the shadowed sea the raging sea)

Kaiaka 'Enaki has centuries of service in the Space Sharks chapter, his talent for infiltraton and combat has earned him a fearsome reputation among the Orks of Octavius, just as his heroic leadership and tactics of intervention have earned him fame in the imperial sectors surrounding the empire. Commander 'Enaki is the bearer of the sharks tooth, a living relic nearly as old as the chapter itself. The sharks tooth is literally the tooth of a Space Shark, the immense void borne predators of the chapters namesake. Powerfully psychic, the maw of a space shark is akin to an inland sea surrounded by hundreds of millions of razor sharp and psionically active teeth. The space sharks shed these teeth continually through their seemingly infinite lifespans. Most die upon release from the creature, however in rare instances the teeth themselves can regenerate to form an entirely new creature (it is theorized that this is how the aliens reproduce). Typically these teeth are left alone so that they may one day mature into an adult space shark, however the living relic of the tooth has been handed down generation to generation, and is now wielded in battle by Commander 'Enaki. The tooth has long ago grown into the suit of artificer armor on which it is mounted, and adamantium chains have been placed to prevent further growth outwards (thus rendering the suit useless in combat). It is the duty of the suits bearer to sharpen and maintain the living entity that surrounds him, lest his inaction cost his life.

Commander 'Enaki counts as Shrike in combat (The sharks tooth counts as a pair of mastercrafted power claws, and the scale growth on the right arm counts as an iron halo, everything else is wysiwyg)





Squad Kahua (meaning base, foundation)

Squad Kahua is a sternguard veteran force of the first company supporting the defensive actions of the seventh company detachment. Commanded by Sergeant Kaholo (meaning Nimble, swift) they have experience fighting tyranids and orks rivaling that of the ultramarine tyrannic veterans themselves. Of any lessons gained in the battles against the xenos threat, one thing has become clear. To kill them at range is to deny them their only advantage in combat.

The squad is 10 men (2 not pictured) and has no upgrades yet. The sergeant has a bolter, bolt pistol, and chainsword.




These are the dreadnaughts Ihe (Spear) and Haku (master, lord). Both have been with the chapter since well before the beginning of the octavius campaign.

Both sport modified close combat weapons to better combat the meaty tyranid monstrous creatures which they are called upon to slay. Both are also assault on black reach dreadnauts which I have attempted to convert as much as possible.






'Ai'la'ausd (fire god) is a fire support dreadnaught, and the first of the chapter to be encased in a dreadnaught since the beginning of conflict. As a fire support dreadnaught he epitomizes the chapters preferred tactic in dealing with tyranid monstrous creatures and synapse nodes.

Yet another AOBR dread. It took a feat to get non AOBR arms to fit correctly on him. He's probably the least converted of any of my dreads, featuring only shield heraldry on his front and missile launcher.




These are the AOBR squad sergeants that I attempted to convert. Each one being a single plastic piece I'm locked into the pose, but I think I added a bit of dyanmism to each that wasn't there before. I also removed the banner from two and only left one with the original head. (Reposed giraffe sarge added).




Heres tac squad 1's Rhino. Not much here for conversion other than the tyranid chitin plate on the back track cover and a storm shield for heraldry. This was the first tank I had ever assembled.




Heres the seventh companies Predator. Having yet to be damaged in any fashion in the octavious campaign it has begun to gain notoriety as being untouchable by the guns and bio weapons of its foes. It has been retrofitted with the weapons most suited to fighting the numerous foes it faces, but carries a hunter killer missile to assist in dealing with heavier threats when they arise.

My pred has yet to take any real damage in a game (it has also yet to really be focused on) but it has so far performed fairly well in its anti infantry role. For conversions there is a chain hung carnifex tail spike from the turret denoting a past honorable and impressive kill. It also has a storm shield for heraldry (A theme in the vehicles of my army). The storm shields when painted will have the vehicles number designation in red claw marks.




This is squad 2 in the assault squads of the company. It has suffered losses in numerous occasions in the campaign and their tactics have had to change to suit the rest of the force. They now hold a counterassault role to deal with breaks in the defensive line as they arise. They are led by Sergeant Akamu (red earth), a newer recruit into the ranks of the first company, having been field promoted to replace the squads previous sergeant.

With the exception of the sergeant every model in the squad is wearing a beakie which I plan to paint in a shark teeth motif as mentioned. The only real conversion is the single handed flamer on the marine that is touching off of the raveners head.



First test paint is complete! This is a standard bolter marine from squad 2 (indicated by the claw marks). This is the first model ive painted in about a year and a half, and it took a bit for my skills to come back to me. The rest should look better.



Quick comparison. I'm line painting squad 2 now, the highlighting stage is easily the most time consuming of them all. 2 stage drybrush then lining then finished with all the other junk.



I've finally finished the lining on squad 2. Here they are all linney and such.



I also buckled down and finished another marine. I forgot to put a dot on the boler barrel, but that has since been fixed. For this marine I placed a logo emblem on the kneepad. MOLD LINES! BLACK REACH MOLD LINES! More coming!




(More forthcoming)

Feel free to comment on any of the conversions and fluff in here. The models themselves look much better in person. My crappy camera has a macro mode in name only and all eight of its megapixels is dedicated to making glue frost look very obvious and putting grain everywhere.

Update time! I finally (almost) finished the first squad. I also heavily updated Commander Enaki and the vehicles. More pics to come tonight/this week.

Near finished squad 2.



Sarge Stabbs.



Fully based.



Black reach missile marine.

Make sure you download the BOLS transfer sheets and stick them on your models...

http://belloflostsouls.blogspot.com/2008/07/bols-logo-sheet-archive.html

Oh, I didn't even know those existed! Neat.

I gotta say, I am pretty sad that the marines all have the standard helmets. I was really hoping for beakies!
On another note, I like the second weapon conversion on the dread, but maybe you should cut down the chainswords so they are a little shorter. I don't really like the first, though.. it seems to fragile.

Every assault marine in the army is wearing a beakie, I just haven't gotten around to photographing (or finishing) them all.

I agree on the dreadnaut, however I'm wary about breaking them off and regluing them. The bond is fairly strong as it is, but I'm worried that if I have too many links in the chain it will become shatter prone. I'll probably figure something out with them eventually.


Don't worry, the beakies are coming. All the beakies.

Yay for beakies.

as for the arm... you could attempt surgery with a trusty xacto knife. But I can see how that would be a strong bond, seeing how it discolored the plastic around it. looks pretty corosive.

Are you going to paint teeth on the sides of each Beakie head (ala teeth on the front of jet fighters)?

BYE

This is very interesting. Looking excellent so far. Cant wait to see more.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Are you going to paint teeth on the sides of each Beakie head (ala teeth on the front of jet fighters)?

BYE

I'm going to try. I haven't done any test paints, but yeah, that was one of my ideas for helmet designs. I'm also going to do it to the vehicles.

they way you have the heads mounted on the 1st seargent conversion is pretty shaky, to be honest. Also, I am pretty sure you can't field him with a stormbolter.

Can't wait to see the teeth!

I like the premise of your army.. However, the bolt pistol/bolter combo is kinda lame. put a chainsword in that hand..

I like the premise of your army.. However, the bolt pistol/bolter combo is kinda lame. put a chainsword in that hand..

Sternguard don't have close combat weapons.

they way you have the heads mounted on the 1st seargent conversion is pretty shaky, to be honest. Also, I am pretty sure you can't field him with a stormbolter.

I'm going to cut off the head and shave down the neck a bit. It's way too long. The storm bolter is a 10 point upgrade on any tac squad sergeant.


:edit: I've fixed the sarge. No more giraffe neck. It's now the same length as the other marine with a helmet.

Love that kneeling Marine with the chainsword.

Your initial pic looks like it might have come from the B&C marine painter, but the wargear and such looks much more detailed, and definitely different than what's readily available on their now...

Where did you get the picture from?

And, overall, a very nice army!

our initial pic looks like it might have come from the B&C marine painter, but the wargear and such looks much more detailed, and definitely different than what's readily available on their now...

Where did you get the picture from?

Lexicanum, the 40k wiki. I believe it was originally a white dwarf illustration or something similar.

Ah, I see...

Still, very nicely done!

You've taken a Chapter which has always existed on the border of silly and done some good thing with them!

You've taken a Chapter which has always existed on the border of silly and done some good thing with them!

Thanks, one of my goals was to expand on the fluff in a way as to make the chapter unique and serious. Making the name "space sharks" sound serious and threatening isn't an easy task.

I'm going to try and get some test paints done tomorrow. I'll post up the results.

:update:

Love the background, not gone on the conversions. I get the idea, just not sure I like the implementation. I'll reserve final judgement for painting, but the melee weapons look kinda oversized.
Still, very cool idea for their theatre and mission.

Which melee weapons? Other than the commander and dreads it's all standard out of box.

this is really interesting! I love the chainsword - dread conversion. Back in the day when I first started I very nearly picked space-sharks as my chapter du jour, but I ended up going with blood angels instead.

Ill be following this, I think!

Ack, Shuma sorry, I mistook the dude leaning on his chainsword in the Sternguard pic for a dude with a big effin' chainsword attachment.
Yeah I'm not a big fan of the commander or dreads, but I can see what you were going for with them. The weapons look a bit oversizrd.

First test paint is complete! This is a standard bolter marine from squad 2 (indicated by the claw marks). This is the first model ive painted in about a year and a half, and it took a bit for my skills to come back to me. The rest should look better.

Looks great. My suggestions are just simple clean up on some of the highlights (like the back leg). Did you try a wash?

I did not, I don't really have much experience with inks and washes. As a side note the camera has bled out a few details from the images. It's impossible to even tell that the barrel and clip of the gun is boltgun metal.

Try badab black wash. It works miracles and will cut your painting time drastically so you can spend more time highlighting or moving on to more models.

Very nice job. The highlighting looks especially good on these models. I look forward to seeing more painted.

Looks like i've been painting space sharks without realizing it.





Sorry for the ninja'ing. I can remove if you want.

Looks good to me, shuma. Got any nice plans for the bases?

Not quite yet, though a few are littered with broken tyranid bits.

Shuma - are you going to go for the classic Space Shark logo from the old WD Compendium pics, the one on the shoulder of the SM in the pic you posted in the OP, or the one based on this banner: