I was wondering how an assault marine who doesnt use a jumpack would fare. I imagine he would have trouble coming to grips with the enemy before they are blow away.

Does anyone have any experience (hopefully positive) with an assault marine doing well without his jump pack?

i actually run an all-purpose NPC who fits that bill. the only thing i'd recommend is that you actually load out your guy (both with req and where you spend xp for attribute bonuses) for shooting as he'll be doing that until the enemy closes with him. my eccentric space wolf assault marine is afraid of heights so he leaves his jump pack at home and takes a heavy bolter instead. my experience with him is that he's decent all around. he's got a nice weapon that he fires until the enemy closes with him and then he just pulls out his maglocked chainsword. as long as you do this, the lack of being able to close with the enemy doesn't affect you too much. the other thing to consider is what your group composition is. in mine, we only have a single player with a jump pack (and he only shows up 50% of the time)... if we had 2-3, it may be a different story as my NPC would be left behind frequently with only the devastator to squad mode with.

The SW Assault Marine in my group has never used a jump pack. He tends to bring a Bolter with him just in case, but he does just fine without it.

I talked my GM into letting me swap the Jump pack for a Stalker boltgun... Wolf scout here, so taking more stealthy upgrades, the enemy can't shoot what it can't see!

I had the idea of a ravenwing/white scars AM who uses a bike instaed of the jumppack.

For just leaving the JP at home: It depends very much on the group composition. If you're the only AM then it will work I think. Is there another char with jp, then you could regret it if you have to walk to each battle while the other AM already fights.

This is forgetting situations where a jump pack wouldn't be any help at all, or even some where it'd be a detriment.

Such as fighting through the corridors of a starship, or the tunnels of some bunker complex. Despite his jump pack being of no practical use in either of those environments the assault marine would still end up doing alot, as you could turn a corner and find yourself face to face with your enemy.

On the other hand getting to that high emplacement to take out a heavy weapon team is usually a JP thing.

the Assault marine in the party i run also doesnt use his jump pack (also a space wolf who gets angry if i mention skyclaws )

since most combat i run is up close and personal he doesnt have much a problem although the party is about to start fighting Tau, in a desert so he might come to regret that