Anyone notice that Apothecaries start with a boltgun (not a pistol) as their primary weapon; but Weapon Skill, NOT Ballistic Skill, gets a low Advance cost? What's up with that?

RichardX1 said:

Please note that all space marines start with a bolt pistol, frag grenades, power armor, etc. The section that you are referring to is in addition to the normal starting gear that all space marines get, and is more specific to that class.

Apothecaries are expected to be the battlefield medic, and that means getting close to the wounded battle brother in question. In most cases that would lead the Apothecary into direct harm (where their wounded battle brother is) and may likely make them a target for a close combat rush (saying that their wounded battle brother is not already in close combat).

You can't heal someone from across the battlefield, therefore it makes sense that they would be trained in close combat more than ranged combat due to the higher likelihood of facing a foe face to face.

Yes, but why do they get an additional ranged weapon instead of an additional melee weapon?

I thought this odd too, but only from the fact that I always see pictures and models of apothecaries with chainswords. As for standard load out, a rifle and a pistol doesn't seem that unusual.

I gave my apothecary a chainsword in exchange for his bolter because he wanted to look like the little model he had- the bolt pistol does more in hand to hand anyhow, so it hasn't really hurt the game in any way. I'd just swap it out, or ask your GM to- maybe we'll see it errated...