Deviation Actions
Description
Edited some of the other details too while I was at it. I haven't gotten round to reading all your comments but so far I love reading all your ideas and your 40k fan feedback (and some wicked story ideas to boot)! Thanks especially to the fans for tolerating and even encouraging my heretical ideas 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I've always wondered what it would be like if the Imperial Guard managed to develop a relatively cheaper, weaker but still highly effective multi-role version of the Space Marine armour, and mass produced it.
Within this fantasy of mine, I thought that maybe on the further reaches of Imperium space, a different prototype pattern of power armour would be developed to
a) vastly boost the current performance and survivability levels of conventional IG frontline troops, with a focus on armour/gear modularity, especially commonality between parts so cannibalising for repairs while in the field is easy, and requisitioning spare parts out of field are also cost effective and hassle free.
b) Offer an extended lifetime of service to the Emperor for troops that have been crippled in battle. The IG Tactica armour would be able to accomodate amputees via a electronic gel interface membrane, without need to surgically graft the user to the armour. The armour can also switch to an autonomous combat mode should the wearer be killed, and the onboard tactical AI still functioning, in order to continue the fight.
Another feature of the armour pattern is an integrated second AI and servitor arm system inbuilt into the backpack. This both helps with load-bearing, combat multitasking and construction labour. Each soldier could thus effectively perform the role of a combat engineer, medic and stormtrooper all in one.
And no need for commissars to keep the troops in line, when you have an onboard AI that would gladly take over the reins!
Also for fun, I redesigned the Bolter somewhat so it would have, to my mind, a more straightforward layout and construction. At least the chamber, ejection port and barrel line up
(That's been bugging me for years.)---------------------------------------------------
Google Sketchup + Photoshop
I have to ideas for bolters that ties back a little to guard is it would use laser technology, one seem annoyingly reasonable, but very new, so I might be missing something, and the other one is a bit problematic I think, so starting with the problematic one:
the laser propelled bolts- instead of rocket engine the bolt would a have simply a block of solid matter that would be vaporized with laser, the vapor would create high pressure in the barrel, but would push projectile as it is emitted from the bolt, so it would act similarly both to firearm and rocket, the laser could be fired even after bolt left the barrel and continue to do so until bolt would leave laser range (unlikely if laser was well focused), bolt would stir from the striaght line, the vaporizable material would exhaust, or power source would run out, to maximaize propulsion you should use a high density material like tungsten or depleted uranium, which also happen to be very good projectile material, also ability to propel bolt after it leaves the barrel allows lower overall power which is always good with electrically powered weapons and decreases recoil; however there are some problems as I mentioned, there is number of other electrical forms of accelration that are (most likely) simply better (otherwise such method of projectile acceleration would be more popular), and perhaps main reason for that might be extreme conditions that it generates, I mean it literally requires you vaporize solid matter, so that might be the biggest issue, moreover the vaporized material won't just stay gaseous forever and is pretty likely to stick to the inside of the barrel which is an obvious problem, you might be able to replace just solid material with some kind of solid fuel but I don't know enough to say if it would change it viability
las-bolts- ok, I wrote a lot about propulsion, but what about payload, after all what makes bolts bolts isn't just rocket engine, but also their explosive nature; so here is what I thought when word lasbolt appeared in my mind: a bolt that has mini single use lasgun instead of normal warhead, at first I thought it dumb as hell, but then I remembered something: an explosively pumped laser, it's an actual technology and interesting thing about using in something like bolts is that you could possibly program rounds to be either armor piercing or explosive, by tweaking focus of laser beam you could either make it very tight increasing it's penetration (that is basically hi-tech version of shaped charge) or make it wide to have more of a shotgun effect, or switch the laser function off altogether (or reflect beam back inside) to make basically grenade