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Hi dakka,

I like the model for the Devastator with a heavy bolter, but it seems that, unless your shooting at 'nid shrikes, or necron warriors, the heavy bolter is always worse than the missile launcher. Am I missing something, or should my HB marines stay on the shelf.

In 5th ed? Definitely keep them on the shelf.

Now, in 6e, with 5+ cover as standard, with Snap Shot allowing for move-and-shoot and Overwatch? They're not bad. Their major downside is that they don't have the versatility of missile launchers, but I'd say they're better as dedicated anti-infantry than the MLs, particularly against an opponent who knows how to space out models.

As long as you have enough anti-vehicle and anti-MEQ in the rest of your list, they're viable. There are more cost-effective anti-horde platforms (dakka pred, for example), but with a few extra meat shields the Devastators can be fairly tough to shift.

A full heavy bolter unit, something I run from time to time, does massive damage to enemy infantry. You just have to build your army around the idea and make sure you're getting your anti-tank where and when you need it.

I sometimes run a CSM force with 6 obliterators and some havocs with 4 heavy bolters. With my other support, it tends to shoot people to hell, leaving my CSM to mop up in melee.

Sadly, you can get the heavy bolters elsewhere in most armies. I have 6 landspeeders with heavy bolter and assualt cannons for my vanilla marines, and these guys are infinitly better than heavy bolter devastators.

Depends on your local meta, if you face lots of 4+ and light armor they kill.

Snap Shot is especially useful with multishot weapons like a HB, so are worth considering for a squad likely to be Snap Shotting a lot (either defensively or firing from the hip as they march forwards).

Still not as general-purpose useful as a ML though.

HBs are definitely worth it in certain circumstances now. For example, AV10 now seriously fear S5 weapons, and a 4x HB devastator squad puts down an awful lot of S5 attacks...

In general, I don't know if I'd take them, but they do have some considerable use now, rather than necessarily being dismissed out of hand.

Heavy Bolters are always worth it! Want to know why?

The devastator box comes with 2 Heavy Bolters and only 1 missile launcher

I'd probably say no. There are a lot of other options that are just better for the squad.

They can do damage, 36 range isnt something to scuff at. I have had a few destroy Transports and other such things.

Lysander on a 4 HB dev squad sounds pretty awesome.

Try em on Orks, Nids or DE.

Sure, they suck against Marines, but against Xenos they aren't too shabby.

x4 HB devastators with a Librarian casting Prescience for re-rolls on missed To Hit rolls sounds pretty good to me. Something I'd like to try in the future for sure.
Cant do it with Codex: SM though since their Librarians dont have access to the Divination discipline, but I think DA/BA do?

The HB still suffers from being pigeonholed into a narrow niche while not being particularly fantastic at it. It doesn't have the strength to threaten all transports, doesn't have the rate of fire for cost to threaten large mobs that well, and doesn't have the AP to pick off the most common armour save in the game. If the HB was free for devs, it would be pretty solid. But it costs the same as a gun that hurts hordes almost as well, threatens all AVs, punches through power armour, and IDs most MW models. It's an interesting option for a Tac squad you're intending to be running around a lot, since snapfiring 3 shots is better than the alternatives, but it's not really better than having that combat squad sit somewhere with a good heavy.

I also adore the look, but my HB team is forever consigned to the diorama setup.

GreyHamster wrote:The HB still suffers from being pigeonholed into a narrow niche while not being particularly fantastic at it. It doesn't have the strength to threaten all transports, doesn't have the rate of fire for cost to threaten large mobs that well, and doesn't have the AP to pick off the most common armour save in the game.

What? Firstly, there is a LOT of stuff out there that doesn't have an Sv3+ save. Furthermore, now, more than in 5th, you will actually have a chance to use the weapon's Ap value.

Secondly, it does a fine job against infantry. A full compliment of HB's in a dev squad puts down roughly 8 S5 hits per turn. That translates to 7 wounds on GEq against which they may or may not have a save. That's not trivial - that's a guard squad per turn, more or less. Furthermore, that's an average of slightly under 1 failed armor save on a terminator model per turn, which really isn't THAT bad for a unit that costs 3/4 the price, and is really not optimized to handle terminators. Volume of high-strength firepower hurts infantry, regardless of Ap.

Thirdly, said heavy bolters are going to put down roughly two glancing hits on a piece of AV10 every turn, with a slight chance of destroying it outright. They're really not THAT bad against AV11 either. A dev squad in this setup stands a decent chance at downing a rhino in two turns by itself (and that's assuming that it has literally nothing better to shoot at).

I mean, it's even decent against MCs, once again, the high volume of fire making a real dent in what they shoot at.

It's not that the heavy bolter has one role it does decently and everything else it does poorly. It's a weapon that does more or less everything decently. Sounds like a perfect weapon for a space marine.