Heavy Bolter

The Heavy Bolter is a support weapon. Unlike the boltgun it is relatively common in Imperial Guard armies. It has a high rate of fire and they are relatively cheap to field.

It is used on tanks and a variety of vehicles as an anti-personnel weapon as well as on fixed defenses. Due to its size and weight, in Imperial Guard infantry use it is operated by a two man team - either as a "Heavy Weapon Squad" where it is fitted to a mobile mount or alternatively it is carried by one trooper with another carrying the ammunition. Its role in an Imperial Guard unit is reminiscent of the WW2 era Browning .30 caliber machine gun, however it is much heavier. A Space Marine, being much stronger and having the advantage of power armor, can carry both the Heavy Bolter and its ammunition in a specially designed pack, that said Space Marine Scouts can also carry Heavy Bolters, this being especially useful when supplying extra fire support for sniper teams as it matches the sniper's range. In the Warhammer 40,000 world, the Heavy Bolter is the closest thing the Imperial Forces have to a squad level automatic weapon (LMG/SAW).

It fires a larger slug than the standard Bolter (possibly 1 inch caliber), and uses the same gyro-stabilizing technology as the standard bolter's shells. It can also be fitted with suspensors by Deathwatch Kill Teams, allowing it to be fired on the move, however, this drastically reduces its range and is very rare, so it is currently only available to the Deathwatch.

The Heavy Bolter sees use with all aspects of the Imperial Armies, including the Imperial Guard, Space Marines and Sisters of Battle, the Deathwatch, the Ordo Malleus, the Ordo Hereticus, and possibly (but unconfirmed) include the Ordo Xenos.

Game Play
The Heavy Bolter is one of the earliest upgrades for Space Marine and Chaos Space Marine squads in the Dawn of War games, but needs a few seconds to deploy after moving before it can fire. Heavy bolters are also mounted on the sponsons of both the Chaos and Space Marine Predators in the original and can be upgraded to lascannons, however in the expansions they are removed from the Imperial Predator. They are also seen twin-linked as the co-pilots main weapon on the Land Speeders and on the front of the Land Raider. In the expansion; Dark Crusade it is the starting weapon of the Imperial Guard heavy weapons teams. Finally, they are mounted on the Baneblade, Imperial turrets and Imperial Guard listening post upgrades. [[Category:H]]