Power Armoured Paint: Carcharodons Astra Smash Captain

Today we venture deep into the cold, dark void of the 41st Millenium as the Space Sharks receive  further reinforcements, in the form of a Space Marine Captain.  Completing this model is something of an "achievement unlock" for me as it now means I have complete 1000 point Carcharodons Astra Battalion painted and based!

Here's Captain Smashy in all his glory:

I have mentioned in previous posts that I had lost my way somewhat with this army, given the changes to reserves and the Strike From The Shadows stratagem courtesy of the FAQs, but I feel I'm on something of an upturn (particularly given the release of Shadow Spear). The Vanguard Primaris have a sneaky vibe to them and there are some tricks which will combo nicely with a Raven Guard based Chapter.

A Smash Captain has been a constant part of my lists since I started the army, although the load out has changed; initially I ran Thunder Hammer/Combi Melta along with the Armour Indomitus but changed this out for Thunder Hammer/Shield Eternal. The Combi Melta under-performed, especially for the points cost and a 3++ invulnerable is of more worth than a base 2+ armour save.

Smashy's Thunder Hammer has had a patented Space Shark improvement; the addition of a choppy axe blade! The Shield Eternal bears the fearsome Carcharodon's Maw marking:

The marks on the shield are a Forge World decal; I don't use these very often as they can be a pain to work with, but this one applied with no problems at all. My free hand markings are finally starting to improve as well. I'm particularly proud of the markings on Smashy's helmet:

The Jump Pack is fairly plain but that's fine; his enemies should be staring at the business end of the hammer and shield! I usually run Smashy with The Imperium's Sword Warlord Trait which allows him to re-roll charges and gain an extra attack after charging, however swinging wildly at Heretics and Xenos is not his only function; his aura to allow Carcharodons units to re-roll 1s to hit is very useful, and there are times when Storm of Fire (6s to wound proc an additional -1AP) will be complementary if I need him to buff shooting units.

Next on my painting queue are some Dark Eldar models; Mayhem (First Founding's 40K tournament) is just over a month away and unless I come up with a brain wave for an alternative list, the Sand Vipers will be hitting the table top once again. This time I'm intending to take some Incubi to add some valuable assault capability to the army; I'll be covering progress on these in a future post.

As always thanks for taking the time to stop by the Vault; I'll leave you with final picture of Smashy in all his glory!