Stormtrooper

"I smoke Marblo, you smoke cock."

Thinking these guys are the same as their Star Wars equivalents will teach you a quick and decisive lesson in getting your ass kicked.

The elite of the Imperial Guard, Stormtroopers are the best general-combat infantry that the Imperial Guard can field, and are the toughest, best-equipped, and best-trained soldiers available to an Imperial commander that isn't a SPESS MEHREEN. They're one of only three infiltrators the Guard gets, and one of only two deep strikers (other being Guardsman Marbo). While most of the Guard is armed with your typical angry flashlight and Flak Armor or Flak Vest, Stormtroopers normally pack Hellguns, which fire much more penetrating shots that are capable of piercing most infantry armor with ease, and they are clad in Carapace Armor, which gives them substantially higher survivability on the battlefield. Recently, because Hellguns were too effective for the Imperial Guard's taste, Stormtroopers have slowly been given Hot-shot lasguns than hellguns, which are basically improved lasguns with better penetration capabilities with a slower rate of fire.

In earlier editions of the game, they were favored as "Marines Light," since they had fairly similar performance to Space Marines but cost considerably less due to their weaker gear. As of the new edition, they're now a dedicated elite choice, with all the pros and cons that implies.

There are many different types of stormtroopers, all depending on their homeworld. Cadia for example fields Kasrkin, whilst Armageddon fields Steel Legion Stormtroopers and the Death Korps field Grenadiers. The Inquisition also fields their own branch called the "Inquisitorial Stormtroopers", who form one of the Inquisition's main armies, the other one being the Sisters of Battle. Regardless of their appearance or gear, they're all incredibly potent if used correctly.

With the exception of the Kasrkin, who are revered and respected amongst Cadia, the average Guardsman in the street can't stand them, referring to them as "glory boys" and resenting the fact that they're a good deal less likely to die given that they're given better equipment than standard issue cardboard armor with a flashlight. This is likely due to the fact that Kasrkin are way more badass. Do they need some fancy carapace armor? Fuck no, they wear the standard Flak Armor (although they do get a fancy faceplate).

In Dawn of War

Kasrkin (The stormtroopers of Cadia) are available for the Imperial Guard starting in Winter Assault, and they're one of the better choices the Guard has. They suffer the same problem that almost every unit in Winter Assault has, however, in that they're redundant - they utterly replace Guardsmen by Tier 3 in that game, and in every game of WA that makes it that far, your sole mission objective from then on is to spam Kasrkin endlessly.

In the later games - Dark Crusade and Soulstorm - their numbers were hardcapped, ergo ensuring that you can only use one squad at a time (whilst the Eldar can field six of their elites). Those overpowered faggots.

In Dawn of War 2

Stormtroopers are DoW 2's equivalent of DOW's Kasrkin, they appear in all games but only become widely playable during Retribution, where the Guard becomes a playable faction. You only fight alongside them in the original DoW 2 and you get to control two squads of them on one mission during Chaos Rising. They use Hot-Shot lasguns with armor-piercing effects. Stormtroopers can be upgraded with multiple "kits" that lets them be more effective to different targets and fit certain circumstances.

The kits are:

• Assault kit, which increases their damage output and range and reload speed, but now actually costs something. Usually passed up in favour of melta, but still useful for dealing with some elite infantry and commanders.
• Anti-tank kit, which easily makes them the best hunter-killer unit the Imperial Guard have available in the game. Their melta guns and melta bombs allow them to wreck vehicles, fuck up enemy power supplies, and to a lesser extent, tear up enemy commanders and superheavies.

Unlike their original appearance in DoW, stormtroopers this time round actually have a role other than being guardsman squad 2.0. Their weapon options and ability to infiltrate make them ideal for removing high priority targets like enemy vehicles, elite units, or commanders. They can also be used to disrupt power supplies and decap points. Although stormtroopers are a bit tougher and have more dakka than regular guardsmen, their unit size is much smaller (compare 5 troopers to an infantry squad's maximum of 12) and they fare even worse in melee. With the addition of a sergeant and commissar, guardsman infantry squads can reinforce three troopers at a time for a fraction of the cost of a stormtrooper, which makes them a whole lot more resilient in the field when combined with a reinforcement point such as a Chimera.

On Tabletop

Stormtroopers are difficult to classify in tabletop. Many players eschew them, since the Imperial Guard can field cheaper Infiltrators with carapace armor (and better range as part of the bargain) via Veteran Squads, and Veterans can score as part of the bargain. On the other hand, Stormtroopers deep strike OR infiltrate by default, come with AP3 weapons (which means they are the bane of not only marines, but other infantry armies, such as Dark Eldar, Eldar, and especially Tyranids.

Where Stormtroopers come into their own, however, is as surgical strike units. A Stormtrooper Squad always comes with one of the following rules active (and you get to pick which for each Stormtrooper Squad) via the Special Operations rule:

• Reconnaissance: Scouts and Move Through Cover.
• Airborne Assault: Rerolls scatter dice when deep striking.
• Behind Enemy Lines: Infiltrate instead of Deep Strike, and all their weapons count as Pinning the first time the squad fires.

Suffice to say, Stormtroopers are amazing units when used for target elimination - nobody likes taking AP3 fire from anything. Reconnaissance makes them the kings of cityfighting, whilst Airborne Assault, whilst simple, is the best option for suicide antitank squads. The most underrated but consistently useful option has to be Behind Enemy Lines, however; in addition to the usual rules for this, Stormtroopers can take an attached transport in the form of a Chimera, and when used to Outflank, this (according to recent /tg/ discussion) lets the Chimera help, since it's part of the Stormtrooper squad and ergo its weapons count as pinning the first time the Chimera fires, like every other squad member.

A common joke amongst /tg/ is that in order to win, you must spam MOAR STORMTROOPERS.