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So I just kind of thought of an idea, yeah it's in the title so I won't say it again xD But anyway, the general idea of the unit would be kind of different to bikes, think: Same as tactical marines, just with jump packs, so they could take a couple of meltaguns in a squad of 10 etc.. How does this sound? Or is it just kind of pointless..

It would make sense by your never going to use the rapid fire feature because you can`t assualt after using it.

I've wished assault marines could take boltguns more than once...Thankfully I have Death Company with BA if I ever wish hard enough!

TechmarineNic, you use boltpistols up close so you can charge typically, same for tactical marines if you choose to go into close combat.

I might have to make a statline/points value for these guys..

They should be about 18 PPM with bolters and bolt pistols.

Closest equivalent would be Seraphim, who are 16 ppm for human statline, WS/BS 4 and two bolt pistols. Going from Sororita to Marine is usually about 5 points difference, but Seraphim get all kinds of extra benefits other Sororitas don't get.

I was thinking, in stead of giving them bolt pistols, give them counter attack? Or, the speshul bolters that Sanguiniary Guard get, the assault ones ^_^

I'm not sure how you would explain their existence (We jump pack in to shoot you at point-blank range!), but they would be relatively effective. A bolter is AP5 (better than your chainsword), and if you don't charge you get two attacks, just like a rapid-fire weapon at half range...the only real disadvantage over CC is that you can't sweep someone with shooting.

Which sweeping sadly doesn't matter that much as most armies either have And they Shall Know no Fear, Fearless, or some other special rules that cancel out the effectiveness of sweeping.

As for explaining them..... Master sternguard built for rapid redeployment to strike the vital points and fly to the next weakness and hit it hard? And Thousand Son flying boltgunners of doom I guess?

 greyknight12 wrote:
I'm not sure how you would explain their existence (We jump pack in to shoot you at point-blank range!), but they would be relatively effective. A bolter is AP5 (better than your chainsword), and if you don't charge you get two attacks, just like a rapid-fire weapon at half range...the only real disadvantage over CC is that you can't sweep someone with shooting.

It's the military. "It's effective" is an explanation for their existence. Especially combined with "We don't have to buy any more stuff because we already own that gear."

Personally, I've always found point-blank shooting to be a better choice than assaulting, even when I was fielding tactical marines and grey hunters. It always, always confused me when people got their tactical squads into assault range and decided to fire pistols and charge instead of rapid-firing for bonus killiness, especially against orks.

In general swapping BP/CCW for a bolter is a straight trade.

You are going to have a highly mobile unit, pouring bolter fire into things, and being hard to pin down. On the down side, you are still T4 3+ marines. And jump troops are harder to get cover saves with. You don't have a rhino to hide in.

Other armies with wacky rules might be able to do something exploitive, but as a C:SM player, It doesn't look bad at all.

Better idea would be for assault marines/raptors to replace their boltpistol and CCW with a storm bolter, they lose an extra attack, but can move and shoot (if you want to use them in a gunline army or soften the enemy up while you approach them) and assault after shooting.

Buttons wrote:
Better idea would be for assault marines/raptors to replace their boltpistol and CCW with a storm bolter, they lose an extra attack, but can move and shoot (if you want to use them in a gunline army or soften the enemy up while you approach them) and assault after shooting.

These days you can move and rapid fire bolters at full effect. The big advantage stormbolters have is an extra shot at long range and the ability to assault. If you were going to give that to a jump pack model, you should be paying extra for the option, not just a straight swap. I could see it as an upgrade for one or two guys, or the unit for 3-5ppm.

The option to keep the range long and fall back constantly is powerful, as is the option of unloading, and then charging in with hammer of wrath from the jump packs.

 Nevelon wrote:

Buttons wrote:
Better idea would be for assault marines/raptors to replace their boltpistol and CCW with a storm bolter, they lose an extra attack, but can move and shoot (if you want to use them in a gunline army or soften the enemy up while you approach them) and assault after shooting.

These days you can move and rapid fire bolters at full effect.

I forget that way more than I should. Still, stormbolters do have their good points for assault marines in particular. IMO 3 ppm for assault marines is good assuming they trade out their boltpistol and CCW for it. I mean it makes them versatile and mobile, but they are still just marines in power armour, not hard to kill.

3ppm swaps a bolter for a storm bolter on Battle Sisters.

I also kinda like the idea of being able to Deepstrike them in and then shoot as well, it's just kind of a thought I had.. And, I dunno about Stormbolters, it'd be kind of annoying to get the arms if I was going to use them in a gaming situation .-. Aside from this, it was mostly just a concept and I'm really glad people have taken it on board Anyway, on the subject of Stormbolters, maybe just the sergeant could have a Stormbolter in stead of the whole squad? Unless you were going to suicide them at targets, Stormbolters would be pretty pointless..
As for the explanation, perhaps there could be an upgraded Sternguard version? I think that with the various types of boltgun ammo they could be a really effective unit (if used right and costed right) ^_^

 BrotherOfBone wrote:
I also kinda like the idea of being able to Deepstrike them in and then shoot as well, it's just kind of a thought I had.. And, I dunno about Stormbolters, it'd be kind of annoying to get the arms if I was going to use them in a gaming situation .-. Aside from this, it was mostly just a concept and I'm really glad people have taken it on board Anyway, on the subject of Stormbolters, maybe just the sergeant could have a Stormbolter in stead of the whole squad? Unless you were going to suicide them at targets, Stormbolters would be pretty pointless..
As for the explanation, perhaps there could be an upgraded Sternguard version? I think that with the various types of boltgun ammo they could be a really effective unit (if used right and costed right) ^_^

Special ammo should remain with sternguard. If you want mobile sterns, you need to get in/out of a transport, or go drop pod/ GoI librarian. If you use a rhino, you are limited by the firing ports, and the other options have their drawbacks as well. The firepower of special ammo bolters with the full-fire mobility of jump troops would need to be prohibitively expensive.

The impact of deep striking and rapid firing bolters is no different then a tac squad in a drop pod. Hardly game breaking. Stormbolters as special/sergeant weapons are going to give you a boost to long range shooting, and a little extra dakka before piling in. And they come with the opportunity cost of "This could have been a melta/flamer" As long as you have table space to run on, you can kite foot units around, plinking away at them.