Stormtroopers in 6th Edition

Things have changed since 5th edition. The changes to armor and deepstrike coupled with more opponents taking less transports and putting more bodies on the field have made me think about using stormtroopers.

Lets look at some pros and cons

Cons:

• Expensive point wise 
• 5 vs 10 man base squads
• shorter effective shooting range
• not scoring
• only 2 heavy weapons

Pros:

• More effective at killing space marines with their AP 3 Hot Shot lasguns and 2 special weapons per squad
• Deep strike with scatter re-rolls if you decide to take that "special ops" mission
• Infiltrate ability
• Scout ability
• Better armor save (4+)

Lets talk about weapons

• The Stormtroopers Hot Shot Lasgun may have AP3 but is still only STR3 needing 5s to wound normal Space Marines.
• For special weapon choices they get 2 per squad either flamer, meltagun or plasma gun. My army is already plasma heavy and i know it works so perhaps it's time to put some Plasmas in a deepstrike platform instead of inside their boxes. Flamers would be great for horde armies. Meltaguns are nice, but since i'm planning on using these in an anti MEQ role and my army has other ways of countering armor i'm not sure Melta is the way to go

Lets talk about uses

• The ability to deep strike (with re-rolls) next to a squad of MEQ out in the open and rapid fire the crap out of them is an obvious benefit
• Deep striking units late game loaded down on points to take a table corner or contest an objective is another great use.

Deep Strike vs Infiltrate VS Outflank

• Deepstrike anywhere on the board with re-rolls on a 3+ isn't too shabby and spending 30 points for Telepath makes that a 2+
• Infiltrate could still get you within 9 to double tap on turn one but that really depends on terrain hiding.
• Infiltrate could also allow you to get a Chimera deep into enemy territory turn one. 12 inch no line of sight could be difficult depending on terrain but 18 could still be helpful
• Outflanking can be a useful tool especially with the astropath giving you a 2+ reserve roll and re-rolls on table edge

I plan on running them in a practice game Thursday in preperation for Templecon next month. I'll let you know how they do.