Poor Man's Grav-Gun, Chapter Master, and Ironclad - Sharking Around

     I have 15 bikers. Grav guns seem to be better and more entertaining fluffwise. Thus, I am chopping my own up out of meltas and Necron Warrior gun ends. This way I also get melta barrels for Stenguard conversions. Win-Win!

     An Ironclad out of a Venerable Dread that I traded with from my buddy, Viking Librarian. I bits ordered the Ironclad accessories, slapped on a fin for good measure, and converted a chainfist out of a Plasma cannon arm with a chopped up Ork Deff Dread weapon. Chose to repose the fist in a cheesy "Come at me, bro" pose.

     Also, I couldn't resist a Chapter Master on a bike. I love Orbital Bombardments. The fin is an Ork knife. The Relic Storm Shield is a Venerable Dread face plate that was trimmed down. The tooth part on the front wheel is the gob from an Ork killer kan. The back banner is from the Ironclad Dread kit. I went Powerfist over Thunder Hammer for cool looks.

Ravenwing, Scouts, and HQs: Space Shark Style

     I am slowly adding my reinforcements from the new Dark Angels book to my Space Shark terminators. Here are 2 squads of Melta and Multimelta bikes with 5 Scouts with a Missile Launcher.

     Here is a Sargent with a MicroArt Steam Knight head.

     Here is my bike librarian and techmarine, with a gun ol' gun for funsies.

     I messed up my Scout sarge's eyes, so he got professional wrestler style face paint.

     After doing it about 80 times, I can freehand a pretty mean shark.....

Space Shark Terminator Chaplain - Holy Diver

     I am growing bored of the Terminator TH/SS parade that is my current count-as Deathwing Space Sharks list. Thus, I am trying to branch out the force. With my Librarian, I am always shooting for re-roll to hit, so why not run a Chaplain?!

     I haven't been super impressed with the Libby anyway. I am also hoping that Chaplains and Plasma gets better with the new Dark Angels Codex due soonish (Hopefully). I also converted my bikes into squads of 5 with 2 plasma, plus multi-melta attack bike. In my experience, the attack bike is the melta workhorse, so why not use the plasma's extra range to shoot-and-scoot away from things for the normal bikers?

     I am also tempted to try out a dual Land Raider list to spice things up. My gut tells me that is too many points spent on non-scoring elements of an army sub-2000, but the Raiders aren't so desireable as Battlewagons either for 2 reasons.
     1) You can take Cover saves off the Deff Rolla.
     2) You can't assault after Tank-Shocking.

Epic Caine has been lonely on my desk, so I tried priming white and black to see if I get a lighting effect. He came out a tad fuzzy, but nothing beyond fixing.

Space Sharks - Dreads, Librarians, and Guts

     Lucky me, I kitbashed a Librarian months ago to feel dead points in my Deathwing lists. I wanted him to have a Polynesian-style mace weapon and tattoos like Dhalsim from Street Fighter. I love doing glowey eyes for magic users.

Dreadnought Smashy is reporting for duty. I am proud of the freehand shark on the left leg guard. Dreads were the coolest unit to me before I started play 40k, so I am happy to finally own some painted ones.

Dreadnought Bitey is from the Ven Dread kit. I love heavy flamers for their cool factor. Same reason for the Assault Cannon. Plus, I am a proud member of the pop a Land Raider with an Assault Cannon Club. It helps that this set up elevates some of the pain facing horde lists with Deathwing.

Here is my Belial with TH/SS, but he is mostly ran as the sargent of the Command Squad because Tyberos is too cool of a model to deny. Plus, Belial's best stat is his initiative. It would be a shame to waste it. The guts are green stuff. The shoulder pads are from the Ven Dread kit. This figure was just me playing around with the old bitz box and my attempt to get more of a Shark vibe.

The victim was painted so fast that it makes me excited to paint orks. Washes help.

Freehanding Chapter Badges: "Make em' by hand, Break em' by hand"

     First, quote by Mr. T from an episode of the A-Team. Tyberos here represents my first model that is based, has a chapter badge, and gloss coated/matte sealed. Ready to rock.

     Freehanding the badge was easier by breaking it down into different strokes. Steadying my painting hand with my freehand. Also, using black to go and make touch-ups when completed.

1750 Sharks Fin: Game 1 - Space Wolves

     Game 1 was versus Space Wolves. It was table corners and 3 objectives. It is always scary to play corners with objectives because it is easy to get put in a bad spot, if you place the objectives incorrectly.

His list
Ulric
Rune Priest w/ Living Lightning and Murderous Hurricane
Rhino w/ 9 Grey Hunters w/ Flamer and Plasma Pistol
Rhino w/ 9 Grey Hunters w/ Flamer and ??? (Never got out of its Rhino)
10 Grey Hunters on Foot
Land Raider Crusader w/ 10 TH/SS Wolf Guard Terminators
1 Lone Wolf TH/SS w/ 2 Fenrisian Wolves

     I won the roll off, so I picked the Table corner. I placed chose to place 5 Deathwing in reserve for Deathwing Assault and the 2 Attack Bikes in normal reserves. I deployed the bikes with plans to Scout into cover (shown by the arrows). I mainly wanted the bikes to allow me to deepstrike on top of 2 of the objectives Turn 1, and to help pop that Land Raider.

     I attempted to use Battlescribe to create a battlereport, but it is weak sauce for 40k. The program would be perfect for Warhammer Fantasy, but it is too fiddly for 40k units.

     I think that I played this game well, but I may have drawn if the game didn't end on Turn 5 because his 10 TH/SS were chipping away at my 5 man squads to get at the Eastern objective. It was odd being at the mercy of the TH/SS termies, very eye opening for me. I definitely do not have the volley of fire or attacks to take them down.

     Props
-  Putting the attack bikes in reserves, not Outflanking. The zoomed up and blew up the LR. Amazing because I always roll '1s' for melta to hit.
-  Deathwing Assault. I love deepstriking. It keeps the game interesting and opens the board up.
- Teleport Homers. I have to pay a chunk of points for easy kill points, but the bikers compliment  the termies like Fish and Chips. Also, they are a huge threat to opponents, so they tend to take the heat from shooting off the termie squads.

     Slops
- Belial: Somebody buy this guy an Invuln save...His best stat is his Initiative, so I don't want to use TH/SS. Also, I love using the FW Tyberos model for him. That model inspired this army.

    Closing: The game was fun and it started off solidly in my favor, but extra turns would have made it a MUCH different story. Space Marine armies (Not Razorback spam) are my favorite to fight because they usually don't have the volume of shots to put down 20+ TH/SS terminators.

1750 Tournament: A Bloody Good Time

     You can barely see it, but there is one TH/SS guy who sat there chilling for 3 rounds of combat. The lil' slugger just wouldn't give up and made 3++ like a champ. I need to give him some sort of upgrade for his valor. 

    The Deathwing (Shrkfin) was a blast to play at the tournament. Game 1 was Space Wolves played by Mike (great player/gentleman). Game 2 was Necrons with Stormlord/Orkian played by Jarid (My blog-bro from Sisters of Battle). Game 3 was aganist Reserve Tyranids played by Chris (another great player and we both enjoyed this slobber-knocker).

     Here is the final list that I took. The previous list was under by 50 pts...Whoops.

HQ (130pts)
Beliel - w/ Claws

Troops (1240pts)
1) Deathwing Command Squad (Troops) (290pts)
++ CML, Apothocary, Standard Bearer, 5x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

2) Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops) (235pts)
++ CML, 3x Storm Bolter and Power Fist, 2x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

3) Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops) (235pts)
++ CML, 5x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

4) Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops) (240pts)
++ CML, Storm Bolter and Chainfist, 4x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

5) Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops) (240pts)
++ CML, Storm Bolter and Chainfist, 4x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

Fast Attack (380pts)
1) Ravenwing Attack Squadron (190pts)
++2x Meltagun
+++Ravenwing Attack Bike w/ Multi Melta

2) Ravenwing Attack Squadron (190pts)
++2x Meltagun+++Ravenwing Attack Bike w/ Multi Melta

1750 Points, 10 Kill Points

     I will whip up a Battle Report after I write a paper for my Master's classes. I will focus on Deployment because that is the area that I am trying to focus on. Spoiler Alert: DEEPSTRIKING!

1750 Tournament Deathwing: Getting the Sharks Ready to Swim

    Here is my first real time at free-handing a chapter badge. Currently,  I am attempting to get the Space Sharks ready to roll for an upcoming 1750 tournament at the FLGS. I am indecisive on my list because I don't know what to run. I am most comfortable with Terminators and bikes, but the bikes are such easy kill points. Also, Fearless bikes aren't as good as fearless TH/SS terminators.


The List So Far: 1750 Deathwing
HQ
Belial w/ Claws

Troops
1) Command Squad
      - All TH/SS with Apothecary, CML, and Banner
2) 4 TH/SS Squad with Chainfist CML
3) 4 TH/SS Squad with Chainfist CML
4) 4 TH/SS Squad with Chainfist CML
5) 2 TH/SS Squad and 2 SB/PF with Chainfist CML

Fast Attack
1) 3 Bikes
     - 2 Meltaguns and 1 Sarge with Melta Bombs
     - 1 Attack Bike with Multi-Melta
2) 3 Bikes
     - 2 Meltaguns and 1 Sarge with Melta Bombs

1750 points on the nose, 9 Kill Points

     I love using DWA to teleport in the Command Squad, plus 2 other squads without scattering via the bikes. I am not sold on the Attack bike because I don't know if 1 melta shot is worth a kill point. I wouldn't have anything to spend the 50 points on though besides giving the bike sarges a powerfist. I don't want the bikes in CC, though. Also, with 3 men, it seems unlikely that the fist sarge will get to swing.

     I have 3 dreads, more terminators, and 2 Land Raiders, so I am open to list advice. Dreads are fun/fluffy, but do nothing in previous games. Land Raiders seem fun, but I already have very few bodies. More terminators is an option, but boring. I don't think that one more terminator squad will make or break me at 1750.

     I freehanded up a banner for the Command squad. It is stolen from my Warriors of Chaos. I used the old Rogue Trader goofy shark because I love him.

    
Here are all of my Sargents in all of their Sharky glory.

"Jaw-shields" are from Ogre bull gutplates. The Shark-hammers are from the Dwarf Warrior command sprue. It is a sea-monster looking bit, where I chopped off the extra backfins to leave a dorsal sharkfin. It may be goofy looking, but I want to look like Sharks! I was tired of people asking about my Space Wolf army since I have grey Marines.

I used a bit from Fabius Bile to represent my Terminator Apothecary since I built this list up pre-Grey Knights with their rooting tooting TDA Apothecary bit.

Space Sharks Terminators: Gettin' Jawesome

     I like to imagine the Space Sharks as a fleet based chapter out on the edges of universe kicking Xenos bootay. They take the fight to the enemies of the Emperor. I also wanted them to look feral or tribal, with a Polynesian influence. Thus, I got the idea from StillFrosty at White Scars Blog to incorporate Ork bits on them. I also have to give props to Sons of Taurus for motivating me to finish this army and giving me the cheeky name, The Sharkfin a.k.a. Deathwing.

      The red head stripe really makes the model *pop*. Before they just looked like a grey/black unpainted blob. I got the stripe idea from the Rogue Trader paint scheme. Plus, my wife approved of it while watching Dexter. The serial killer, not the boy genius.

     Personally, I love the chubby Space Shark chapter badge and I am half-way tempted to use it over the Carcharodon one.

    Notice the bayonet that I placed on the end of the stormbolter. I wish that I had the cool FW chainsaw ones, but the ork bit is suitable.

     Tyberos model gave me the idea that there should be chainblades all over the army. Iron Chef Ingredient: CHAINSAWS! I imagine that the Sharks could use them for boarding actions onto Space Hulks and such. Plus, the image that they paint in my head is gruesome and brutal, very shark-esque.

     I like the pose on this chap.

      I cut Ork Choppas (the ones not attached to hands) in order to make "fins" to place on some of their backs. The Hammer is from Maxmini. Early on while collecting this army, I was looking for cheaper TH/SS, so I picked a set of those up for the Command Squad.

      I HATED painting white on the Apothecary. His needle is from a friend that had an extra Fabius Bile bit. The syringe is full of magical FNP sauce, which is obvious green. Duh.

     A W.I.P. Shark Sargent, I am using a Ogre gut plate as a "jaw shield" to work in more Shark iconography. The hammer head is a dwarf bit that I chopped up a bit that happened to look shark-ey.

     Tyberos had to get his head stripe to fit in with the rest of the squad. I am enjoying trying little bits of freehand to learn new skills. The army revamp is driven by my need for people to see that I am playing Space Sharks. Many people thought I was playing Space Wolves due to the blog of grey. Unacceptable, as goofy as they are, the fins and other gubbins will make it much easier to identify my Chapter. It was either this or splash blood effects on everybody.
     I love this army MUCH more now and I took up the mantra that I am making this army for me, not others, so I need to have fun with them. This is looking to be my first finished 40k army.

Space Shark Terminators - Knock...Knock...Land Shark

     Space Sharks were the first Space Marines that got me into 40k back in 2008. I love terminator armor, deep striking, and dreadnoughts, so they are a perfect match to my tastes. Forgeworld's release of Tyberos the Red Wake forced me pony up to make a Deathwing army.

      I picture them as an isolated fleet-based army out on the edge of the known galaxy tearing up heretics and Xenos with chainsaws. My Iron Chef ingredients are Polynesian themes since they admired sharks and chainblades ala Tyberos. I decided that every squad must have a chainfist for my shark fluff. I imagine them tearing through the bulkheads of space hulks to assault in a surprise attack.

     I converted this model up on a whim a few nights ago to pass some time. Oh, look I have some dreadnought leg armor those look sort of like some Pre-Heresy-esque shoulder pads. Hello, Mr. Big Choppa meet my friend the thunder hammer. Challenge: How many skulls can I fit on this guy before he starts worshiping Khorne? I plan on running this guy as a psuedo-bodyguard to Tyberos(Belial) in the Command Squad or as Belial if I want to run TH/SS, which I don't see ever happening. Maybe at 1000 and below, I would run TH/SS Belial due to a dangerously low model count. Belial's best stat is his initiative in my playtesting.

     My Space Sharks just looked like grey Deathwing, so I decided to add more shark-y bits. Thus, the Ogre gut plate as a "Jaw-Shield" and the...Maw-hammer? Tsunami-Hammer? I don't know a name yet. Space Sharks are out in deep space, so this thunder hammer is meant to look ragtag. It is a Power weapon arm with a big choppa staff topped with a Dwarf Command sprue bit. A dragon? I shaved off the back fins of the "dragon", so that the singular fin would look like a shark's dorsal fin.

     I am a bit bored with my paint scheme. The FW scheme is all grey and black. I tried to splash some red in to jazz it up, but it is still boring to look at. Maybe basing and finishing touches will improve it? Add ridiculous amounts of blood effects on all weaponry?