Saharduin

This article or section is about something oldschool - and awesome. Make sure your rose-tinted glasses are on nice and tight, and prepare for a lovely walk down nostalgia lane.

A colored model. They aren't as pretty as fans make them out to be...

One of the most enduring, lasting and popular races in Warhammer 40,000, /tg/ loves the Saharduin.

...All right, not really.

In truth they're a hold-over from the Rogue Trader days, when the Imperium of Man was less racist, Eldar could interbreed with humans, and Orks were, uhm, exactly the same as they are now, but with cooler hats and derpier faces. Squats were getting a codex anytime soon. The Saharduin themselves may have been derived from the Sahuagin of DnD fame. They date back to these long-since-forgotten glory days. Whether this is good or bad largely depends on your viewpoint; they're the subject of a massive level of love and hate - simultaneously no less - on /tg/. As is the case with My Little Pony and Touhou, it's something that /tg/ both loves and hates, all at once.

The actual model goes for $$$$ on eBay, though you can find the associated 'Fishmen' models via Wargames Foundry. Like Squats, they're a thing that third-party mini makers love to redesign and riff on.

Also like Squats (not any more), it's something that a certain sort of troll likes to ask Games Workshop to bring back. Always worth it for the lols when GW does another customer survey. (Leagues of G'ura when?!)

To the right sort of deviant, they are SHARKS WITH GUNS! They are also a type of Merfolk and Furry, and if threads on /tg/ are any indication, a widely-believed-to-be-smexy-by-deviants one. They're also a reference to Warhammer 40K from the days where it was less grimdark and more hair metal. Fuck yeah.

On the other hand, they're a favored means of trolling /tg/, since /tg/ hates furries with an abiding passion. In dozens of threads, a small but vocal minority has flooded threads with shark-girls until either the mods unleashed an orbital strike or until hilarity occured when /tg/ did its time-honored practice of getting shit done.

Nowadays, any discussion of Saharduin inevitably leads to a Sharkgirl thread within half-a-dozen posts.

TL;DR: A great example of /tg/ being /tg/.

In the Horus Heresy sourcebook Inferno, the Saharduin are mentioned as having been obliterated by the Space Wolves Legion during the Great Crusade. They should not be confused with the Space Marine chapter the Space Sharks, though they appear to share the same war cry of "SUUUUCK MY DIIIIICK, I'M A SHAAAARK"

Could they be back in Necromunda in the form of House Delaque’s Piscean Spektors?!

Copypasted lore from Rogue Trader

Like all Miniatures from this time-period, their models are pretty hideous.

The Saharduin (sometimes known as "Piscean Warriors") are a race of shark-like aliens.

Sarharduins possess a sinuous body, with a long, finned tail. They have two legs and two arms, and a mouthful of sharp teeth. They stand approximately seven and a half feet tall in their typical stance. They are water-dwelling organisms by nature, but solve this by using tanks of water for the purposes of breathing whilst off-world. Their weapons and armor are largely considered to be close to the Imperium's, but much more limited, as they haven't spread as far or made as many advances. They do boast some unique kit, including bolt weapons which are designed to work above and below water, for example. The Imperium fought a long war against the Sarharduin back in the 80s, but were unable to eradicate them - most of them were located in deep, sub-ocean dwellings, which made the conventional forms of devastating their worlds largely nonviable (excluding cyclonic torpedoes and orbital bombardment. Actually, it wouldn't be that difficult.) - so the Imperium was content to simply contain their worlds, set up defensive fleets, and use the sharkies for target practice every time they try to get off-world. Every so often, though, a vessel or two slips through. The details of their worlds, largely oceanic and unexplored, are currently unknown and unlikely to become known without aid from the Ordo Xenos.

Copypasted lore from Citadel Miniatures

"The Saharduin control several worlds in the Ultima Segmentum. They are both hostile and powerful, and have technology roughly equivalent to that of the Imperium. A typical Piscean Warrior is armed with a boltgun-analogue and a power sword. The Imperium fought a long war against the Sarharduin, but were unable to eradicate them. The menace could only be contained. To this day, no known human has ever set foot upon one of the planets of Saharduin; they remain dark and unexplored."

– Codex Imperialis, Citadel Miniatures March 1987 mail order flyer

Gallery

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  Artist's concept of a non-derpy saharduin