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Bolt weapons include but are not limited to:

  • Bolter, Boltgun or Bolt Rifle - Standard bolt weapon, signature weapon of the Adeptus Astartes, a large and unwieldy weapon that is poorly suited to use by non-Astartes troops
  • Bolt pistol - compact bolt weapon designed for single handed use
  • Storm Bolter - double barreled bolter, often used as a pintle-mounted weapon on vehicles, is also the primary firearm of the elite Terminator units of the Astartes
  • Heavy bolter - a larger version of the bolter, extremely effective in the anti-personnel role, often belt-fed to allow continuous suppressing or supporting fire
  • Bolt carbine - a shortened, more compact version of the standard bolter, often used by non-Astartes personnel due to its greater ease of use by regular humansEach is a variation on the basic bolter principle whereby the weapon launches a large calibre, rocket propelled, mass-reactive projectile. Bolt rounds are designed to penetrate their target and explode within it, causing immense damage with a single shot. Bolters are the primary armament of both the Adeptus Astartes and the Sisters of Battle and are found almost exclusively in the hands of these elite troops who have the training and discipline to properly maintain these complex and sometimes temperamental weapons. Astartes bolters are typically more advanced than those in the hands of the Sororitas and other Imperial troops containing autosense targeting links and frequently, safety systems that only allow those bearing the correct geneseed to fire them, thus denying enemies the use of an Astartes weapon against its former owners.



Bolt weapon ammunition types[]

  • Bolts: regular ammunition
  • Kraken Penetrator Rounds: equipped with an adamantium tip designed to penetrate the hardest armour, the Kraken rounds offer even better penetration than standard rounds
  • Inferno Rounds: rounds filled with flammable materials instead of explosives, they ignite on detonation, burning a target from the inside out in many cases
  • Hellfire rounds: contains a potent mix of poisons, bacteria and acids that cause massive tissue damage to the target. Often designed with specific targets in mind (i.e. Tyranids)
  • Stalker rounds: silenced ammunition using a gas launched ignition system to remove noise/muzzle flash, range is considerably less than regular bolts
  • Metal Storm rounds: fragmenting rounds designed to explode in much the same way as a fragmentation grenade



Known patterns of Boltguns[]

Bolter patterns with known model equivalent

  • Mk.I 'Crusade' Pattern (RT era style bolter)
  • Mk.III 'Crusade' Pattern - (40K 2nd ed plastic bolter)
  • Astartes Mk.III 'Godwyn' Pattern - The design of bolter found in current plastics
  • Astartes MkIV 'Ultima' Pattern - looks like the current plastic bolter, but then so does the MkIII Godwyn
  • Godwyn-Deaz Pattern (standard bolter of the Sisters of Battle)
  • Nostra Pattern (The Gauntlets of Ultramar are listed as having 'Modified Bolter (Nostra Pattern)' attached to the gauntlets themselves)
  • Triplex Phall (MkIV) Storm Bolter (standard Terminator Storm Bolter)
  • Astartes MK VII 'Terminatus' Pattern (Grey Knight forearm mounted storm bolter)
  • M33 Mark VI Auxiliary Storm Bolter (pintle mounted Storm Bolter on Astartes vehicles)

Bolter patterns with no known model equivalent

  • Heresy Pattern
  • Filienostos Pattern
  • Astartes Umbra Pattern
  • Terminus Rex Pattern Storm Bolter
  • Martian or Mars pattern - discontinued M.32, sickle mag, very similar to Mk.III 'Crusade' Pattern, listed in IA:DG.
  • Astartes Mk.Va Pattern

Bolter Marks listed in the Inquisitor Rulebook, no pattern is mentioned

  • Bolter (Mk II straight mag)
  • Bolter (Mk III belt feed)
  • Bolter (Mk IV sickle mag)
  • Bolter (Mk IV drum mag)
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