Tactica: Stormtrooper (Part I)

I'm a fan of some of the supposedly "inefficient" choices in the IGuard codex as you may be able to tell from my first tactica on Armored Sentinels. Stormtroopers are the "glory boys" of the Imperial Guard, entrusted with missions and equipment that are not given to lesser, less reliable soldiers. Years of punishing training have honed their minds and bodies to the peak of human perfection. They are ruthless, proficient killers whose skills within the Imperial Guard are second to none.

Of course most of that is just fluff. In the codex the Stormtroopers are having role identification problems with the formerly elite choice of veterans. Both can carry quite a few special weapons, both can wear heavy armor, and both shoot like space marines. And to top it all off the veterans are scoring, cost much less and can carry an additional special and heavy weapon over the "Big Toy Soldiers." So what's a poor stormtrooper to do?

Stormtrooper is sad because nobody understands him...

Fortunately for the humble ST he (or she, the Schola Progenium doesn't discriminate!) has three important advantages over the veteran: improved basic gear, better special-weapon to point ratio, and excellent deployment options.

The improved armament is probably the bulk of the reason that storm troopers cost so much. Carapace armor alone drives the cost of a vet squad up to 10 points a pop and the ap 3 lasguns are assumedly not cheap either. Plus STs have frag and krak grenades, hotshot laspistols AND close combat weapons.

The special weapon to point ratio is also very good and reflects the higher equipment standards that the Schola Progenium graduates get. Assuming that the vets have carapace armor a vet squad with 2 melta guns costs 120 points while a 5 man stormtrooper squad costs only 105 points. Even if we take the vets' armor away the comparison is still in the same ball park, 90 vs 105, and that's leaving out the awesomeness of the hotshots.

And then there's the deployment options... for those not in the know, Stormies come equipped with the Deep Strike USR and have a choice of three different special missions that they can undertake:

Airborne Assault grants the squad a re-roll on their scatter die when deep striking, Reconnaissance gives the squad Scout and Move Through Cover, while Behind Enemy Lines allows the squad to Infiltrate and allows the first shots that they fire to cause pinning.

But the great thing about these missions is that they don't cost any points, and you can choose them at deployment, allowing you to deploy your Troopers in the most effective way possible every game.

Well, this tactica is getting a bit long, so I'll end it here for now. Stay tuned for the second part where we learn all about Stormtroopers and strategy.