Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Which Special Operation that Storm Troopers can take does Dakka think is the best one and why? Thanks?

IMO the deepstrike one

It depends on who you are playing and your list.

Give us some context so we can give you better advice.

Reecius wrote:It depends on who you are playing and your list.

Give us some context so we can give you better advice.

TBH, I don't have a list planned out with them in it, it's just that I have a lot of friends with armies with many 3+ armour saves (Necrons, CSM, DA etc) and thought they might be of some use.

Storm Troopers are terribad. Do not take any Storm Troopers.

If you want to deal with your friends 3+ armor saves effectively take a Leman Russ (regular), a Leman Russ Executioner, or a Medusa. To deal with tanks take Melta-Vets.

Melta-Vets can take 3 Meltaguns, Storm Troopers can only take a max of 2. Melta-Vets can take a Power Fist and Melta-Bombs for extra tank killing (if they survive after they destroy the tank), Storm Troopers can't take either of those. Finally Melta-Vets are scoring units and if you put them in a Vendetta you will destroy a lot of things, Storm Troopers are not scoring units.

Oh yeah did I mention that Melta-Vets are like 30% cheaper than Storm Troopers.

If you already bought the Storm Trooper models use them as Vets.

Honestly, Storm Troopers are not the most points efficient unit in the book, but they are surprisingly good. My teammate used them on our Adepticon Team Tournament team against our advice but we were all pleasantly surprised by how well they did.

The issue though is that the ap3 looks appealing but unless you catch the enemy in the open, it won't be nearly as useful. With most units having a cover save these days, it can be tough to get their points back.

If you are playing competitively, Veterans are better as they pack in more special weapons, are cheaper and are scoring.

However, as IG have such cheap units, you can take a unit of Stormtroopers and really not suffer too much in terms of overall efficiency.

For a general purpose list fighting mostly MEQs, I would say the following build would hold you in good stead:

Storm Troopers x 10: P.Gun x 2 or M.Gun x 2, P.Sword on Sarge.

That is not a unit you will see in a tournament list but it covers your bases of being a dedicated anti-MEQ unit that can also take out armor. The power sword which seems waste don these guys, is actually quite handy as each Storm Trooper has a CCW and a hot shot pistol, so they can assault in a pinch and come out OK. Our teammate at Adpeticon was charging units with this squad and surprised as with how well it did. You have ap3 pistols followed up with a lot of attacks and some power weapon hits. Plus it stops the unit from being charged which in a lot of cases is a huge advantage.

This unit can use any of the special operations to good effect. Scouts lets them get a turn one volley in, pinning is great if you deepstrike them and open up on a squad of Lootas or something similar with lower leadership, and then rerolling deepstrike is also nice to make sure they get where you want if you plan on coming down behind a tank and popping plasma or meltas into rear armor.

I hope that helps, and at any rate, it will be cool to use them as not many people do and the models look great.

Reccius's advice is solid. I've recently started using them - 2 meltaguns, 5-man squad comes out at 105 points. Give them the deepstrike special operation and kiss some backfield artillery goodbye.

If they live, great, if they don't, whatever. They generally will kill something.

The cheapy squad is a great way to run them, too, that is a good point, Gavo.

I usually run two small squads, one with melta guns and the other with plasma guns. One is for slagging tanks and the other removes terminators, long fangs, or anyhting else that needs to die right now.

With that in mind the best op is clearly the airborne one.

The deep strike Operation is my preference. I (unusually) run 3 stormtrooper squads and use them to throw my opponent off balance. Taking out backfield artillery, co-ordinated close range firefights against tough opponents, and last-turn objective contesting.

Edited for clarification

As others said DS makes them most useful. Most people wont expect a 5 man unit to appear behind them and melta their vehicles

STORMIES ARE NOT VETS. Seriously, people, they have way different roles. Get your heads out of the old codex.

As for the op, yeah, it's airborne assault. There are a couple of times when I could see using the scouts+move through cover one, specifically when you have an astropath (to make them as accurate in outflanking as they are with airborne and deepstriking), and you know your opponent likes to crowd board edges, specifically if they like to castle up specifically to avoid this kind of thing. It also works better with meltaguns because you can shoot at a tank and then, if things go poorly, still assault it with krak grenades.

Otherwise, airborne assault nearly lets you pretend that you have marbo, except with a unit of guys. They show up right behind your enemy where they least want you to be and plasma storm something to death that they really would rather have survived.

No other unit can do what they do for the points. A unit of 5 with special weapons and deepstike can sit in reserve and then drop in and troubleshoot where they are needed. With airbourne assault you can drop them into very small areas with some success and they are much cheeper than vets in transports, who have nowhere near the same reach or reliablilty on the turn they appear. you can often negate cover too by dropping them in the right spot.

Had a couple of games today using small 5 man squads. In the first they disrupted the whirlwinds that were going to rain down doom on my freshly deepstruck platoons (planetstrike), saving hundreds of points from firey death. In the second they took out what i thought was the last of my opponents scoring units (damn dante making sang guard scoring and me not knowing).

They may be a bit expensive and not the best if you use raw maths but as a tactical tool they have no comparative in the codex. Plus they look good and are fun.

Does any other army have the ability to drop melta with such pin point accuracy?

The only other one that come to mind are BA. Most people certainly won't expect it from imperial guard. People need to realize what special operations means.

If you want something more one-dimensional than an internet alpha-strike list, Stormies are pretty cool. Expensive, but you don't need a ton of them. The deepstrike rule is by far the one I use most often. It's not the ONLY one I use, but it's probably the 'best' if I had to choose one to be worthy of such an arbitrary title. The infiltrate one is pretty slick also depending upon your situation.

5-man, 2 x meltagun, deep-striking op. The op allows you to deep strike aggressively and the twin melta generally ensures that whatever vehicle/artillery/transport you point them at will die.

L. Wrex

Lycaeus Wrex wrote:5-man, 2 x meltagun, deep-striking op. The op allows you to deep strike aggressively and the twin melta generally ensures that whatever vehicle/artillery/transport you point them at will die.

I'd still recommend 2x plasma gun and perhaps plasma pistol, even if you're trying to kill a vehicle. 4-5 plasma shots are going to unpretty things to the rear of any non-Land Raider, and rear is where you can put them when they're Airborne.

It also let's them lay waste to other high quality targets that melta's can't, like marines, Terminators, and TMCs.

I also like plasma as well. The deepstriking thing means you're likely going to be able to show up in someone's rear armor (or at least side), which against most vehicles means that it's still dead, even with plasma. Plus, as mentioned, it's also much deadlier when you show up and say hello to berzerkers or monstrous creatures, etc.

Plus, you only need to be within 12" of your target in order for plasma to work. At some point I calculated the odds of being nearly 95% that you arrive within 12" of your target if you play them with airborne assault properly.

That's nearly as good as marbo, except you get 4 plasma shots instead of just one splatcannon.

I also endorse plasma. 2x Plasma guns and Plasma Pistol with Behind Enemy Lines is 120pts.

It's quite nice to outflank them or sneak them close to nasty weapon squads (i.e long fangs, devastators, IG weapon squads) and blast them with a volley of pinning plasma fire.

Not only do you do damage to the squad, on lower leadership units like IG heavy weapon teams, if they manage to survive, you've got a good chance of making them ineffective the following turn.

Also, the amount of firepower they draw is quite amusing.

I play two groups with two meltas in a chimeras right now.

If I get first turn, they toe the line and use Scout to have a 32" melta threat range first turn. The CCS follows behind to give them the orders to make the meltas count.

Without first turn, they're likely to deepstrike or outflank, depending on my assessment of the opponent. If they're likely to leave targets, or if I want to bunch them away from board edges, I'll outflank. If I think I'll need to react or disrupt, deepstrike is the way to go.

The best part is that you don't have to choose any of them ahead of the game.

Also, they definitely do draw a tonne of firepower. They are almost immediately the biggest perceived threat, which gives time to the rest of your force.

If you play them with full intention to deepstrike every time, then Plasma is probably your best bet. You'll get side or rear shots on armor, plus they have better interaction with the HS Lasguns. If you play them as an advance wave, though, Meltas will fare better against front armor.

Thanks for all the input guys! I guess I'll use the Deep Strike one then.

I think a small resurgence of Storm troopers might come up. Every one first compared them to vets but as Ailaros ( who always has good point ars) pointed out. They are not vets. They perform special tasks and add a dimension to guard armies.

Stormies arnt always more expensive. In fact they can be cheaper as you probably arnt buying a chimera. Some will say "Ohh but DKZ I get 5 more Vets and a chimera at 155 ( with meltas) compared to your 5 stormies with meltas at 105"

Big deal those 5 extra vets las guns arnt going to do anything to any one, and 5 vets die pretty darn easily. Having a 4+ AS is a huge upgrade over 5 plus, that means it usually will take more than just a couple of bolters to put down the Troopers.

Stormies can handle back field tanks ( other IG) a lot better than a chimera trying to roll its way over. Its easy to avoid melta vets too as you know where they are the whole game.


Im personally starting to run stormies, though I don't know how I feel about plasma guns for tanks, Id be worried about tanks hugging the board edge, and other IG or tanks with strong side armor. I might just up it to 3 5 man squads 2 meltas and 1 plasma.

It's definitely nice to see the comments on these become more nuanced over time. Last year, any thread on Stormies would be overwhelming negative. Now, it seems more people are tuning into the flexibility these guys bring to the table, given that you choose the Operation after you know the tactical situation (terrain/opponent/mission/deployment). One trick I read in a past thread is to infiltrate melta across the path of enemy vehicles that have deployed hoping to advance.

I'd say plasma goes best with them, but if you feel you need melta capability, they are a good option.