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Hey 30kers,
I've got a quick question as someone building their first 30k squads from the new box. Tactical Squads are listed as being equipped with bolters and bolt pistols, and then the Sgt has a bunch of weapon options that lead me to believe that he still carries a Bolter even if you give him say, a melee weapon and a fancy pistol. I'm giving my Tac Squads Chain Bayonets, so that would mean I need to account for one on my Sgt as well, but there's no handless bolter on the sprues to give him a stashed one. I'm curious if anyone building a Tac Squad is bothering to model the bolter on their Sgt even if they are running around with a sword and pistol? It seems relevant enough rules-wise that I'd want the reminder of actually having the weapons on the figure to at least remember those bolter shots.

Last edition you swapped the Bolter for the melee weapon. So unless you paid for extra CCW, the Sergeant would only have the pistol and whatever CCW you upgraded the model with.

 Gert wrote:
Last edition you swapped the Bolter for the melee weapon. So unless you paid for extra CCW, the Sergeant would only have the pistol and whatever CCW you upgraded the model with.

That was my initial assumption as well, but the new unit entry states that the Sgt may Swap his bolter for a combi-weapon, may Swap his bolt pistol for another pistol option, and may Take a melee weapon. That says to me he keeps his bolter.

I don't know as I don't have access to the new rules. When I do get them I'll come back here.

You're correct. The kit has no way (without conversion) to properly model a sergeant WYSIWYG.

Alternatively you could have the sergeant one handing the bolter with you melee weapon of choice in the other and then have the pistol on its holster strapped to his leg.

Yup, you exchange the bolter for a combi-weapon, or the bolt pistol for an alternative, but melee weapons are just "the sgt may take one of the following options" so he gets to keep bolter and bolt pistol.

Note for bayonets it's "any model with a bolter MAY take" - so you don't have to give one to the sgt - and seems little point doing so if you're giving him a different melee add-on.

Ideally for WYSIWYG you'd model a slung bolter, or give him a one-handed one and the melee weapon in the other hand; but given the bolters are two-handed, neither is an option out of the box.

The forgeworld resin umbra bolters are one-handed, and you can also get a one-handed tigrus pattern (nice and short) from the mark IV box.

The only way I can think to do no-hands without going 3rd party would be to cut the hand(s) off a bolter and glue on a grip cut from a bolt pistol holster or the like.

 arkhanist wrote:
Yup, you exchange the bolter for a combi-weapon, or the bolt pistol for an alternative, but melee weapons are just "the sgt may take one of the following options" so he gets to keep bolter and bolt pistol.

Note for bayonets it's "any model with a bolter MAY take" - so you don't have to give one to the sgt - and seems little point doing so if you're giving him a different melee add-on.

Ideally for WYSIWYG you'd model a slung bolter, or give him a one-handed one and the melee weapon in the other hand; but given the bolters are two-handed, neither is an option out of the box.

The forgeworld resin umbra bolters are one-handed, and you can also get a one-handed tigrus pattern (nice and short) from the mark IV box.

The only way I can think to do no-hands without going 3rd party would be to cut the hand(s) off a bolter and glue on a grip cut from a bolt pistol holster or the like.

I found a bag of FW Umbra Bolters in my stash and have made a couple with grips off some extra bolt pistols, just can't figure out how to stash them as I don't want to sculpt slings. Mag-lock, maybe? I'm not going to add bayonets to them and like you mentioned, I don't technically need to include them.

 arkhanist wrote:

Note for bayonets it's "any model with a bolter MAY take" - so you don't have to give one to the sgt - and seems little point doing so if you're giving him a different melee add-on.

Ah, that's interesting. So I could do my 20 man squad of tactical marines as:
Sergeant with Bolter and Power fist
10 x bolters
9 x bolters with chain bayonets

I'm thinking two regimented rows with the chain bayonets at the front!

Flashie08 wrote:

 arkhanist wrote:

Note for bayonets it's "any model with a bolter MAY take" - so you don't have to give one to the sgt - and seems little point doing so if you're giving him a different melee add-on.

Ah, that's interesting. So I could do my 20 man squad of tactical marines as:
Sergeant with Bolter and Power fist
10 x bolters
9 x bolters with chain bayonets

I'm thinking two regimented rows with the chain bayonets at the front!

Remember that HH utilizes old coherency rules as well as actual templates. So organizing your squads on the table-top in a rank-and-file format is generally going to compound your loses.

 morganfreeman wrote:

Flashie08 wrote:

 arkhanist wrote:

Note for bayonets it's "any model with a bolter MAY take" - so you don't have to give one to the sgt - and seems little point doing so if you're giving him a different melee add-on.

Ah, that's interesting. So I could do my 20 man squad of tactical marines as:
Sergeant with Bolter and Power fist
10 x bolters
9 x bolters with chain bayonets

I'm thinking two regimented rows with the chain bayonets at the front!

Remember that HH utilizes old coherency rules as well as actual templates. So organizing your squads on the table-top in a rank-and-file format is generally going to compound your loses.

True. THat's the price they pay for being in the infantry!