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I have storm bolters on all of my rhinos (and hunter killer missiles on 2) and I've never really thought about the actual tactical effectiveness of having a storm bolter on something that is intended as a troop transport. Sure, the HK missiles are useful, but what good really is 2 extra bolter shots. (But the storm bolters look really cool. )

Two more bolter shots are always welcome.

well, I've personally finished a squad or two off with rhino storm bolters....

But I've never paid for an extra one.

The real reason why they come with any weapon at all is to prevent weapon destroyed becoming immobilized.

To not be immobilized on the first weapon destroyed result.

Edit: Damn Ninjas!

A rhino's bolter shots are perfect for chasing off Kairos Fateweaver.

Extra shots are always nice and prevent immobilization from a weapon destroyed as others have already mentioned.

Also, a transport shouldn't go around weaponless in such a grimdark world.

Wait...your complaining about a free storm bolter? It's a storm bolter and its free...Its also a storm bolter (thats 2 shots in case you didn't know)...oh did I mention it was free? (yes thats sarcasm)

besides defensive weapons always rock, just more dakka after a move

An extra stormbolter can be quite effective. With multiple rhinos all kicking out 4 shots at 24" range you can finish off small units lurking out of charge range without having to commit a marine unit to the task, as they proberly have better things to be getting on with anyway.

Many times there has been 1 or 2 models left in a unit and the rhino has finished them off.

It's also hilariously funny whenever you manage to kill something important.

This as well but applied to a Rhino:

Evil Lamp 6 wrote:To have a Demolisher Cannon-less, immobilized Vindicator not be entirely useless. Either another unit shooting/assaulting the Vindicator is wasted to possibly kill it, or it sits there with a 24" threat radius the rest of the game. Had that happen in a game I watched, first turn the Vindicator lost the cannon and became immobilized. It was ignored for almost the entire rest of the game while it proceeded to make the points back with just the storm bolter.

notabot187 wrote:The real reason why they come with any weapon at all is to prevent weapon destroyed becoming immobilized.

Actually, it's even more than that. It's also to prevent frag grenades and their equivalents from blowing up rhinos. I've gotten a few rhino casualties in my day from mass-charging frag grenades at them. All you need is two of those magical results to see the rhino destroyed. The storm bolter makes it 3, which is harder to get on an on-rushing rhino.

YO dawg I heard you like shooting so I put a Stormbolter with yo' Stormbolter so you can shoot whilst you shoot


Unless I wanted to say that, I probably would put extra stormbolters as "filler" on lists

at low point games the extra stormbolter can be quite effective. 4 Str4 Ap5 shots a turn can do some damage at 1k and below.


the extra stormbolter is probably better then the Hunter Killer missile.

3 rhinos with PMSBs = 12 bolter shots out to 24" range. I like it. Of course it costs my Dark Angels all of 15 points.

Google search "Armored personnel carrier".

Also you can look it up on Wikipedia.

You will note that every "APC", in service in every nation, ever, has mounted at the very least a Light Machine Gun(some include fairly heavy armaments).

You never want to drive a vehicle(even an "armored" one) into a hostile environment without at least some sort of weapon as backup.

A Rhino is very much an APC; a Razorback or a Chimera are both Infantry Fighting Vehicles(IFVs). An APC's job is to get infantry to an engagement zone in relative safety and bug-out, then return for evac. An IFV's job is to get the Infantry to an engagement zone in relative safety and then maneuver to engage the enemy in concert with the Infantry unit.

And plus its fun to shoot

(damn only 5 more posts till 50.....)

You can never have enough dakka.

Those extra storm bolter shots are best used on targets that only have 1 or 2 wounds left.
Is there a lone MM attack bike that is skimming up your flank? Use the storm bolter to take some shots at it. Sure, odds are you wont do much, but you never know.

The reason to use your storm bolter like this is to maximize firepower. If you can use your storm bolter to kill that bike, then the squad inside the rhino with their MG can focus on the dreadnought next to them.

As has been mentioned, their free anyway, so you might as well take a few pot shots with them. HK missiles though, I don't think are a good buy on Rhinos for their cost. As their 10 points for a 1 shot weapon ML, I view it "Would I pay 60 points for that upgrade if I could shoot it every turn" ... and the answer is no. Combi-meltas/flamers, yes, but not that.