What About Bolters?

Rusty Bolt. Chris Gentes

I'm thinking that Bolters need a re-think. In the Space Marine fluff, they're rocket powered mini-grenade launchers. So how can we better show this in their rules?

To me, the idea of the bolter looks a lot like the US Army's new XM25 squad weapon:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/24/armys-revolutionary-rifle-use-afghanistan/"

Since the dawn of modern warfare, the best way to stay alive in the face of incoming fire has been to take cover behind a wall. But thanks to a game-changing "revolutionary" rifle, the U.S. Army has made that tactic dead on arrival. Now the enemy can run, but he can't hide."

Here's a video:

So, it's basically a grenade launcher that can explode right behind a wall and hit a hiding enemy. Sounds cool to me. Maybe Bolters should deny cover for infantry that's targeted by the squad? Marines could carry them as standard, while Guard could carry them as special weapons?

-SandWyrm