Hellblaster

So much Plasma, the Dark Angels approve!

Hellblasters are Primaris Marines specializing in utilizing plasma weapons to personally ass rape any heretical scum in their sights. In following GW's tradition of creating names that are either too pretentious or too similarly confusing, the Hellblaster is no exception. You would think they would come up with a more badass name like 'Annihilator' or 'Destroyer', but nope we have to pick Hellblaster of all names.

Bitching aside, Hellblasters are specialized towards anti-armor and anti-infantry. The nature of Hellblasters is to hark back to the single-armament specialisms of the Space Marine Legions, these squads are nonetheless strategically versatile. The Plasma Incinerators carried by Hellblasters are light enough to be fired on the move, while still retaining the stopping power to drop a rampaging Hive Tyrant or Battlewagon with sustained fire.

The only limiting factor on the usefulness of these squads is the comparative scarcity – and potential instability – of their weapons. As such, Hellblaster Squads comprise the finest marksmen each company can provide, and will only resort to supercharging their Plasma Incinerators in truly dire circumstances. They are not afraid to do so, however, and more than one squad has martyred itself in battle, turning the tide at the cost of their own immolation. Yet for every warrior to suffer such a fiery death, there is another that obliterates its foes amid st searing tempests of star-born fury.

Equipment

As expected, Hellblasters have a immense hardon for plasma weapons. All Hellblasters wear the standard issue Mark X Tacticus Power Armour like their Intercessor brethren and are all equipped with the Mark III Belisarius Pattern Plasma Incinerator. Of course they can be armed with the more Dakka version of the Plasma Incinerator called the Assault Plasma Incinerator, or if you want to turn the enemy tanks into molten sludge in one shot, you can have them equipped with the Heavy Plasma Incinerator. You can also give them a Plasma Pistol and a CQC weapon just in case things get hot in the battlefield.

Tabletop

They are rough analogues to the Orks Flash Gitz in that they are a bit too overpriced for what they are worth and that other more mundane troops such as Devastator Squads can do the Hellblaster's job a whole load better. Granted, we could get where GW might be going with this unit; to provide a choice for an infantry squad to have excellent anti-armor bonuses without the need to slug along with a Plasma Cannon, while having better AP than the basic Plasma Gun. But why they just can't have the normal Intercessors to just get Plasma Incinerators as a weapon choice is really stretching it.

At the very least, they can fuck up TEQ's and vehicles if they get into rapid fire range, but with their high bullet magnet they pose, it is very situational to use Hellblasters and even more difficult to keep them all alive. However, the Heavy Plasma Incinerators' longer range does help in this regard.

For now at least, we can assume that future iterations would give Hellblasters more access to specialized weapons to turn them into a power armored Special Weapons Squad.