Mediocre Wargear: Saving the Heavy Bolter
What’s good fellow gamers? Mr.MoreTanks here to put ink to a few thoughts and discussion I’ve had on tournament road trips. These articles are just ideas on how to make iconic weapons, units, and the like become actually viable.
While these articles are basically pipedreams, I think the discussions are fun and thought provoking. I’m not trying to make the next Grav Cannon, but I’d like to just see these few things in the game become just a little bit more usable. Indulge me if you will, and open your mind to a new possibility…
First up I’m going to talk about the infamous Heavy Bolter. It seems that every meta makes this thing more and more useless with every passing edition. The best targets for them die to nearly any other weapon worth taking. They typically run about 10 across the board. And the profile is just… MEDIOCRE! 36″ range, Strength 5, AP4, Heavy 3. When compared to options on vehicles, the Heavy Bolter is often short on range when compared to other weapons on the tanks. They also dramatically lack punching power; while Strength 5 is commendable, compared to the hitting power of Auto Cannons and Las Cannons, the Heavy Bolter doesn’t really pair well with very many other Imperial weaponry.
So I have one simple suggestion that I think would go a long way to making the Heavy Bolter superior: making it a salvo weapon. I’m thinking 3/5 like the Grav Cannon. This keeps it as a tempting option for Drop Pods, Skyhammers, vehicles, and more. I’m even open to seeing it bump up a little bit too around 15 points to make it a little more balanced, though I don’t think seeing it change from 10 points is necessary. I don’t think the range needs to change on it, the improvement on fire power will make up for that. One other basic idea is to simply make it Rending. That’s it, just Rending. I think it would go a long way. Although I like my first idea more.
So there you have it, a couple thoughts on the Heavy Bolter. I’ve got a couple other units coming up so stay on the lookout for those.
~What do you guys think on the Heavy Bolter? Is it fine as it is? Let us know in the comments.
