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I wasn't really sure into which sub forum I should put this thread. Realistically, it could have gone in the you make da call, painting/modeling and general discussion sub-fora as well as this one.

Ultimately, the reason for this thread is I want to know what color to paint the space marine who's manning the stormbolter on the top of the rhino.

Who fires those things? Are those members of the chapter to whom the rhino belongs?

Or do members of the adeptus mechanicus man those stormbolters?

Or somebody else?

And what color is their power armor?

In the 7th edition space marines codex, rhinos don't have the chapter tactics special rule.

A crewman of the Rhino. He is a full member of the chapter and shoukd be painted in the chapter colors with some parts painted red to denote his status as a member of the chapter armory.

It’s going to be a marine. IIRC rhinos have two crew, one drives, one mans the gun.

Who drives the rhinos is a debated question. It goes back to if you think the 1,000 men is an absolute, or just the line strength of a chapter.

If you are a 1k purist, rhinos are either maned by members of reserve companies, or the battle companies’ brothers themselves. So they would probably be painted the same as normal battle brothers.

If you view the 1k more flexibly, you get a chapter strength closer to 1,500 men, many of whom are driving around in the chapter’s motor pool. They are not full techmarines, so don’t get the mars-red paint job. But are not company marines, so probably lack shoulder trim.

Not sure if there is a firm answer anywhere, and probably contradictory examples from the fluff. YMMV.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
A crewman of the Rhino. He is a full member of the chapter and shoukd be painted in the chapter colors with some parts painted red to denote his status as a member of the chapter armory.

Which parts should be painted red?

Oh, wait, Nevelon is right. Vehicle crew don't necessarily get red paint as they aren't techmarines. Just paint them in the chapter colors.

A Rhino only has a crew of one, starting around about the 5th edition Codex Blood Angels they started using the actual pintle mount (the sprue was reused from the Land Raider kit) which would have to be fired by a passenger, but prior to that almost all of the official models had the Storm Bolter in the remote-turret which presumably would be fired by the driver.

So he's a full member of the chapter, but he doesn't benefit from the chapter tactics of that chapter.

...

...

That's so silly. As always, I have to ask: what was GW thinking?

Traditio wrote:
So he's a full member of the chapter, but he doesn't benefit from the chapter tactics of that chapter.

...

...

That's so silly. As always, I have to ask: what was GW thinking?

I know, that Storm bolter should totally be capable of taking down Titans. Sometimes I wonder if any of the BL writers know what consistency is.

Tactical_Spam wrote:I know, that Storm bolter should totally be capable of taking down Titans. Sometimes I wonder if any of the BL writers know what consistency is.

I was thinking more in terms of an imperial fist marine being able to reroll 1s to hit when firing said pintel mounted stormbolters.

He suddenly loses his superb skill and expertise at firing bolt-weaponry simply because he's sitting on top of a rhino?

Traditio wrote:

Tactical_Spam wrote:I know, that Storm bolter should totally be capable of taking down Titans. Sometimes I wonder if any of the BL writers know what consistency is.

I was thinking more in terms of an imperial fist marine being able to reroll 1s to hit when firing said pintel mounted stormbolters.

He suddenly loses his superb skill and expertise at firing bolt-weaponry simply because he's sitting on top of a rhino?

They are part of the armoury though. They probably don't spend as much time training as they do fixing their vehicles.

Tactical_Spam wrote:They are part of the armoury though. They probably don't spend as much time training as they do fixing their vehicles.

The dude has one job. One job. To sit on top of a rhino and fire stormbolter rounds.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:

Traditio wrote:

Tactical_Spam wrote:I know, that Storm bolter should totally be capable of taking down Titans. Sometimes I wonder if any of the BL writers know what consistency is.

I was thinking more in terms of an imperial fist marine being able to reroll 1s to hit when firing said pintel mounted stormbolters.

He suddenly loses his superb skill and expertise at firing bolt-weaponry simply because he's sitting on top of a rhino?

They are part of the armoury though. They probably don't spend as much time training as they do fixing their vehicles.

According to IA2 the guy who sits on top of the rhino is actually a member of the squad inside. So I guess he only knows how to fire one weapon well and that's it.

Traditio wrote:

Tactical_Spam wrote:They are part of the armoury though. They probably don't spend as much time training as they do fixing their vehicles.

The dude has one job. One job. To sit on top of a rhino and fire stormbolter rounds.

He probably is also cross trained to man all the gun systems on the chapter’s vehicles. And maybe drive/pilot them as well. So significantly more then just shoot the SB.

It could also be that the chapter’s tactics are refined for the foot soldiers and don’t translate well to tank combat.

Driver steers with his feet.

The Marine who fires the pintle mount, like two other posts have already pointed out, is part of the squad being carried, and if they disembark there is nobody to fire it unless the driver stops the rhino and pokes his head out. There is a crew of one, which is what the books say, and he isn't in the hatch shooting.

The answer to your problem with chapter tactics is that chapter tactics are some dumb marketing thing, and they make no difference. They don't actually mean anything.

The BT 4th edition Codex says there's a crew of 2, so presumably driver and gunner.

 AlmightyWalrus wrote:
The BT 4th edition Codex says there's a crew of 2, so presumably driver and gunner.

You sure about that? Mine says "Crew: One Initiate."

I believe the bolter can be slaved to the drivers controls and remotely operated. It works much like how a Russ Driver uses the Hull mounted weapon (there is no separate crew member that operates the frontal hull gun)

Traditio wrote:

 TheCustomLime wrote:
A crewman of the Rhino. He is a full member of the chapter and shoukd be painted in the chapter colors with some parts painted red to denote his status as a member of the chapter armory.

Which parts should be painted red?

All of it so it goes fasta

The machine spirit. Or something.

IIRC, one of the shoulder pads on the sprue has an AdMec cog on it. Paint that red. Or paint whatever the heck else you like red; it's your miniature, after all.

According to FW's imperial armour stuff, the squad sgt (who are assigned it as transport).

From IA vol2 - vehicles of his most high imperial majesty's enforcers of policy and doctrine.



They also answered where the 10 marines are supposed to fit (despite there being 6 "seat" places and hookups for the armour, only 4 sit). If they only used a multi-melta, you could fit them all into the rhino's ashtray.

Originally the Rhino's bolters were fired remotely from inside the vehicle by the driver. That was before additional pintle-mounted stuff.

Don't Rhinos generally have one storm bolter, and can take a pintle-mounted one in addition? So the driver fires the normal one via helmet link, and the transported sergeant fires the other.

Most likely it also depends on the chapter and their situation. Someone who hasn't taken a huge amount of casualties (and off the top of my head there's not many of those ) probably have two crew, so that the rhino can continue to offer support as the squad disembarks.
A chapter that has taken a whole lot of casualties probably takes the 2nd crew member and sticks him into one of the actual companies, and thus the gun is fired by someone else.
A chapter that's taken a real pounding (e.g. Crimson Fists) might instead have their vehicles crewed by serfs simply because there are so few of them left.

The techmarines manning the rhino or a passenger.

 Traditio wrote:

Tactical_Spam wrote:I know, that Storm bolter should totally be capable of taking down Titans. Sometimes I wonder if any of the BL writers know what consistency is.

I was thinking more in terms of an imperial fist marine being able to reroll 1s to hit when firing said pintel mounted stormbolters.

He suddenly loses his superb skill and expertise at firing bolt-weaponry simply because he's sitting on top of a rhino?

Well, the bolt weapon is bolted on to a rhino so does handle a little differently to a hand held one, I guess?