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The other day I wandered into a local hobby shop and scoped out the dizzying array of 40k product. All sorts of strange stuff I didn't recognize, but what intrigued me was all the bolter variants.

*sets down pipe, adjusts walking stick, strokes gray beard menacingly, leans forward in rocking chair*

In my day, there were bolters, bolt pistols, storm bolters and heavy bolters. How many are there now?

Commissar von Toussaint wrote:
The other day I wandered into a local hobby shop and scoped out the dizzying array of 40k product. All sorts of strange stuff I didn't recognize, but what intrigued me was all the bolter variants.

*sets down pipe, adjusts walking stick, strokes gray beard menacingly, leans forward in rocking chair*

In my day, there were bolters, bolt pistols, storm bolters and heavy bolters. How many are there now?

Far too many, but may be down from peak? They did some consolidation, where intercessors used to have 3 different options (assault, regular, and stalker) they now just have one. But each unit pretty much has it’s own bespoke version these days.

Which is madness. But does give them room to tweak balance. Still don’t personally like it.

Without going into snowflake chpaters, named characters, or twin-linked versions?

-Auto boltstorm gauntlets
-Bolt Pistol
-Bolt Rifle
-Storm bolter
-Absolvor bolt pistol
-Heavy bolt pistol
-Brutalis bolt rifle
-Heavy bolter
-Master-crafted bolter
-Boltstorm gauntlet
-Master-crafted heavy bolt rifle
-Instigator bolt carbine
-Centurion bolters
-Boltgun
-Master-crafted bolt rifle
-Master-crafted heavy bolter
-Bolt sniper rifle
-Tempest bolter
-Hammerfall heavy bolter
-Heavy bolt rifle
-Assault bolters
-Occulus bolt carbine
-Marksman bolt carbine
-Hurricane bolter
-Master-crafted bolt carbine
-Master-crafted special issue bolt pistol
-Special issue bolt pistol
-Bolt carbine
-Sternguard bolt pistol
-Sternguard bolt rifle
-Sternguard heavy bolter
-Forge bolter

How many "how many x do marines have" questions are there even left where the answer isn't "more than there are unit entries in the following xenos codexes ..."

theres less now than there was last edition after they standardized the 3 different variants of bolter available to intercessors and heavy intercessors (each) into standard profiles, etc.

There are not too many base bolters, but the variants of those is nearly enough to be 1 per unit in the Space Marines Codex.

We have the OG bolters:
Bolt Pistol
Bolter/Boltgun
Storm Bolter
Heavy Bolter
Hurricane Bolter

Then we have the Primaris Bolters:
Heavy Bolt Pistol
Bolt Carbine
Bolt Rifle
Heavy Bolt Rifle
Boltstorm Gauntlet

The confusion sets in when you start adding/substituting adjectives to these few base Bolters.

So do space marines have more kinds of bolters than dark eldar have units yet?

Depends on how you count them. The Bolt Carbine used by Primaris units has the following variants:

Bolt Carbine - Standard version

Master-crafted scoped bolt carbine - A Master-crafted and scoped version of the standard

Occulus Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Occulus Sight Array

Marksman Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Marksman Sights

Instigator Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Suppressor

Is this five Bolters or one?

If five, there are way more bolters than Drukhari units. If one, then probably not.

 alextroy wrote:
Depends on how you count them. The Bolt Carbine used by Primaris units has the following variants:

Bolt Carbine - Standard version

Master-crafted scoped bolt carbine - A Master-crafted and scoped version of the standard

Occulus Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Occulus Sight Array

Marksman Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Marksman Sights

Instigator Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Suppressor

Is this five Bolters or one?

If five, there are way more bolters than Drukhari units. If one, then probably not.

I would think that modifiers are just that - options on a base model. I wondered if anyone would point out that Chaos used to have dual bolters, but they were simply combi-weapons, not a new entry.

Similarly, "Master crafted" could apply to lots of weapons, so isn't really it's own type.

Do all these options really matter? Is a bolt carbine substantively different from a standard bolter?

One of my favorite comparisons from a few years ago. The weapons list from the 4th edition SM codex vs the weapons list from (I think) the 8th ed codex.

4th ed:


8th (maybe 9th?)ed:


And to be fair, there is maybe a few things missing from the 4th ed one, like the Cyclone Missile Launcher which was described somewhere else in the book (as just a Missile Launcher for Terminators I think), but that was a pretty complete list at the time.

 alextroy wrote:
Depends on how you count them. The Bolt Carbine used by Primaris units has the following variants:

Bolt Carbine - Standard version

Master-crafted scoped bolt carbine - A Master-crafted and scoped version of the standard

Occulus Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Occulus Sight Array

Marksman Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Marksman Sights

Instigator Bolt Carbine - Bolt Carbine + Suppressor

Is this five Bolters or one?

If five, there are way more bolters than Drukhari units. If one, then probably not.

I would count them as separate as each has different rules for different battlefield roles.

It's like count M4, M4 with scoope and M4 with suppressor as different guns. Oh also M4 with wooden handle cheeks also different.

Commissar von Toussaint wrote:
The other day I wandered into a local hobby shop and scoped out the dizzying array of 40k product. All sorts of strange stuff I didn't recognize, but what intrigued me was all the bolter variants.

*sets down pipe, adjusts walking stick, strokes gray beard menacingly, leans forward in rocking chair*

In my day, there were bolters, bolt pistols, storm bolters and heavy bolters. How many are there now?

At this point every bolter is unique. So every unit that has a bolter of some kind means that's another type of bolter. Even the Heavy Bolt Pistols carried by the Assault Intercessors are not the same as the Heavy Bolt Pistols carried by the Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs. It used to be the statline was shared. Now it has to be updated individually. Same with all the other weapons. This Bonesword is not that bonesword etc.

True, but not particularly different than before. The weapon may have been the same back in the day, but it now includes the rules for the user in addition to the basic stats. All those Bolt Carbines are largely the same with a tweak here or there to reflect what may have been special unit rules in the past.