Space Sharks
| Space Sharks/Carcharadon Astra | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Battle Cry | None (They are silent during battle, though if they weren't it should probably be "I'm a shark, I'm a shark, suck my dick, I'm a shark!")(Alternatively: [1] | |
| Founding | Either 2nd (according to a GW article) or 6th (according to FFG) | |
| Successors of | Either the Raven Guard or Night Lords | |
| Successor Chapters | None | |
| Chapter Master | Believed to be Tyberos the Red Wake | |
| Primarch | Probably Corax or Konrad Curze | |
| Homeworld | Fleet Based | |
| Strength | 1000 (ish) | |
| Specialty | Operating out of the Imperium's Borders. Brutal close combat. Scorched earth policy. | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Grey, with black pauldrons and white helmet faces | |
This is what happened when someone from Games Workshop watched Street Sharks and thought "there oughta be some spess mehrens like that." These guys call themselves Carcharadons" (Carcharadon, pronounced "car-care-uh-dawn" is the scientific name for a family of big sharks), or Carcharadon Astra if they are being extra formal, but everyone calls them by their low gothic name, the Space Sharks, because that is a fucking awesome name . They have light-grey skin and black eyes like sharks, and according to FFG they increase the resemblance by filing their teeth to be shark teeth. Their chapter logo is a white shark on its side and their colours are grey with black/dark grey shoulders. Once upon a time, they were light grey with a red stripe down the middle of their helmets and their logo was a stupid looking cartoon of a black shark with red eyes. Luckily, IA10 broomed that silliness under a rug and gave us what we have right now.
They're as mad as hell, even the Angry Marines might wanna think twice before cutting in front of them in line (perhaps this anger stems from their recruitment practices, see below). They're described as sneaking into place before going batshit insane with killer rage. But, their rage is always controlled and stuff. So they're like Khorne Berzerkers mixed with the SAS. They also like to cover their armour with Polynesian looking tattoos. Also they try to stay quiet in combat, because they think it makes them cool sharks can't talk. Their specialty seems to be committing indiscriminate genocide, sparing only children they can enslave into being Chapter serfs or turn into more Carcharadons (said children have to fight each other to the death). They also like to wear Heresy-era armour to give people more incentive to buy from Forge World.
The Carcharadons come up in the Badab War, where it's kinda hinted that they're Raven Guard mutants. Anywho, they're deployed to Afghanistan in space to fight the space Taliban and they solve the problem that the Fire Angels had been having by killing everybody to root out teh terrorists. Grimdark. Then they go over to Badab and blow the place up, ending the Badab War. Then they go back to the ashes of space Afghanistan and make a bunch of boys kill each other to become the next generation of Carcharadons before heading back out to smash someone else's planet. Also, according to rumor, they helped to trash Failbaddon's 7th Black Crusade.
Their leader is Tyberos the Red Wake, a terminator who couldn't decide if he liked lightning claws or chainfists better, so he made Lightning Chainclaws...IN SPAAAAAACE! He can rape just about anything in the game in close combat. His Scent of Blood rule makes him and and any Carcharodon unit subject to Rage +1 strength for the rest of the game. He is reasonable enough to wear helmet and do not carry banner and shitton of flashy trinkets on his armour, unlike most other chapter masters, whose wargear just screams "Shoot me down, sniper!" Also, allows you to take a unit of lightning claw equipped assault terminators as troops; and he and any unit he joins have preferred enemy (infantry). Why aren't you taking him again? He's never explicitly said to be Chapter Master, but its a forgone conclusion since he's got the same stats as one.
Not as cool as the Saharduin, who are actually sharks from space. They do, however, share the same battle cry.
Their beakies look fucking amazing.
The sharks are assumed to be a fleet based chapter. They follow the battle half of the codex but ignore everything else about organization. Cruising around in the void between beyond the galaxies edge can be nasty business. Years without resupply or any kind of constant reliable resource means they must be resourceful. Because of this each company practices high self-reliance, salvaging, repairing and re-purposing stuff to make sure it lasts as long as possible. This is why they support so much working heresy era stuff. They also don't use reserve companies(realizing that having 100 of the finest warriors sitting around doing nothing is fucking stupid). Each company is thought to be a self contained force, with their own scouts, and veterans, ensuring they've got guys for every situation on hand. This has drawbacks of course as they cant simply ask for reinforcements from a reserve company and must make do. At the same time it means that they've got all their companies actively doing stuff.
It could be theorized that part of the scorched earth campaign the chapter did during the Badad War was in fact them violently restocking their inventory after having spent so long outside known space. Filling up on ammo, weapons, supplies, and grabbing anything and everything that could be useful, before they inevitably returned there.
Organization
The sharks are assumed to be a fleet based chapter. They follow the battle half of the codex but ignore everything else about organization. Cruising around in the void between beyond the galaxies edge can be nasty business. Years without resupply or any kind of constant reliable resource means they must be resourceful. Because of this each company practices high self-reliance, salvaging, repairing and re-purposing stuff to make sure it lasts as long as possible. This is why they support so much working heresy era stuff. They also don't use reserve companies(realizing that having 100 of the finest warriors sitting around doing nothing is fucking stupid). Each company is thought to be a self contained force, with their own scouts, and veterans, ensuring they've got guys for every situation on hand. This has drawbacks of course as they cant simply ask for reinforcements from a reserve company and must make do. At the same time it means that they've got all their companies actively doing stuff.
It could be theorized that part of the scorched earth campaign the chapter did during the Badad War was in fact them violently restocking their inventory after having spent so long outside known space. Filling up on ammo, weapons, supplies, and grabbing anything and everything that could be useful, before they inevitably returned there.
On the Tabletop
Carchadons Chapter tactics gives all Space Marines models Fear, and allows Tactical marines to replace their bolters with a chainsword or keep it and buy an additional close combat weapon for 1pt each. In addition they gain Rage after destroying or forcing an infantry unit to fallback in close combat, however they must consolidate towards the nearest unit they can hurt (after all, the rape train has no brakes!). You can only ally with Imperial Forces and all of those are bumped down to Desperate Allies. All this means that, with them, you play Horus Heresy World Eaters with Fear and all the shiny new toys of the 40k arsenal of Space Marines.