The Elite Heavy Stormtrooper has mostly the same stats as the regular version. He has more health, but in the end both Units have 2 health per point. In addition the Elite has better Surges, but the combination of 1 blue and 1 red dice doesn't show that many Surge results, therefore this is no great bonus. Some great Command Cards have a point maximum, that is easier to meet with the regular Version, e.g. Elite Heavy Stormtroopers cannot use Reinforcements (Reinforcement Cost max. 3).

Therefore, the elite version is relativly unattractive when compared to the regular one. Furthermore, the 8-points-slot can be filled with either a unit of regular Royal Guards or an elite E-Web. Therefore the Elite Heavy Stormtroopers will play no further part in this comparison.

The Elite Stormtrooper and the Regular Heavy Stormtrooper have the same cost per model / reinforcement cost (3 points per model).

Since passing is allowed, in my opinion, 3 figures for 9 Points is better than 2 figures for 6 Points. The Opponent has to kill more figures to get the points. The chance for using Reinforcements to full effect is better. Command Cards, that effect an entire unit, are more efficient. If you have the initiative on turn two, then a 3 Trooper activation is more effective than a 2 Trooper activation.

Elite Stormtrooper +1

Both the Elite Stormtrooper and the Heavy Stormtrooper have the Trooper keyword. Additionally, the Heavy Stormtrooper has the Heavy Weapon keyword, which is great.

Heavy Stormtrooper +1

Speed 6 is great. Speed 5 is good. Speed 4 is OK. Speed 3 is for dwarfs.

Heavy Stormtrooper -1

2 health per Point is on par with Royal Guards.

Heavy Stormtrooper +1

Heavy Stormtroopers have Composite Plating. Currently, most attacks come from 3 or fewer spaces away. Therefore, this ability has next to no effect at all.

Heavy Stormtrooper +0

Both Squad Training and Last Stand are great.

Elite Stormtrooper +2

A red die with "Surge: 1 damage" deals the same amount of damage as a green die with "Surge: 2 damage". A blue die with "Surge: 1 damage" deals less damage than a blue die with "Surge: 2 damage". Not counting the blast, the Elite Stormtroopers deal more damage. The green die has a little less average Accuracy than the +2 of the Elites.

=> More figures in the unit, more mobility, more Damage, better special rules … this one goes to the Elite Stormtroopers.

Exactly the same observations I have done, which is why I doubt I'll ever use Heavy Stormtrooper

Twin Shadow isn't very useful for the Skirmish-only Players (imho), so FFG will add the Cantina map to the legal tournament maps, to get the skirmish players to buy the expansion... ;-)

The Tusken figures are great to replace the tokens in "Raiding Party". The Tusken Raiders are also OK for some merc lists. The figure packs, that come with Twin Shadows, are great.

The Elite Heavy Stormtrooper has mostly the same stats as the regular version. He has more health, but in the end both Units have 2 health per point. In addition the Elite has better Surges, but the combination of 1 blue and 1 red dice doesn't show that many Surge results, therefore this is no great bonus. Some great Command Cards have a point maximum, that is easier to meet with the regular Version, e.g. Elite Heavy Stormtroopers cannot use Reinforcements (Reinforcement Cost max. 3).

Therefore, the elite version is relativly unattractive when compared to the regular one. Furthermore, the 8-points-slot can be filled with either a unit of regular Royal Guards or an elite E-Web. Therefore the Elite Heavy Stormtroopers will play no further part in this comparison.

The Elite Stormtrooper and the Regular Heavy Stormtrooper have the same cost per model / reinforcement cost (3 points per model).

Since passing is allowed, in my opinion, 3 figures for 9 Points is better than 2 figures for 6 Points. The Opponent has to kill more figures to get the points. The chance for using Reinforcements to full effect is better. Command Cards, that effect an entire unit, are more efficient. If you have the initiative on turn two, then a 3 Trooper activation is more effective than a 2 Trooper activation.

Elite Stormtrooper +1

Both the Elite Stormtrooper and the Heavy Stormtrooper have the Trooper keyword. Additionally, the Heavy Stormtrooper has the Heavy Weapon keyword, which is great.

Heavy Stormtrooper +1

Speed 6 is great. Speed 5 is good. Speed 4 is OK. Speed 3 is for dwarfs.

Heavy Stormtrooper -1

2 health per Point is on par with Royal Guards.

Heavy Stormtrooper +1

Heavy Stormtroopers have Composite Plating. Currently, most attacks come from 3 or fewer spaces away. Therefore, this ability has next to no effect at all.

Heavy Stormtrooper +0

Both Squad Training and Last Stand are great.

Elite Stormtrooper +2

A red die with "Surge: 1 damage" deals the same amount of damage as a green die with "Surge: 2 damage". A blue die with "Surge: 1 damage" deals less damage than a blue die with "Surge: 2 damage". Not counting the blast, the Elite Stormtroopers deal more damage. The green die has a little less average Accuracy than the +2 of the Elites.

=> More figures in the unit, more mobility, more Damage, better special rules … this one goes to the Elite Stormtroopers.

"Speed 3 is for dwarfs."

That made me laugh out loud.

Variety is the spice of battle.......

Great analysis - simple yet effective. And perfect if you could only pick one or the other!

If a unit of each is combined with two Imperial Officers, you still have 21 pts to play with and the IOs can help push the Heavys in to the fight or back (to stay at 4 away). Then you have the best of both worlds.

However I suspect that wasn't the point of your 'head to head' article.

It would be interesting to see a few 'who would win' play tests at say 18 pts (2 x Elites v 3 x Heavys) plays out. But who has 2 x core and 3 x TS?? So would take a few folks to get involved. Then see how each 'mini squad' goes against Vader! That might make some entertaining YouTube, "Training HQ with Vader at the 501st" !!

However I suspect that wasn't the point of your 'head to head' article.

True

It would be interesting to see a few 'who would win' play tests at say 18 pts (2 x Elites v 3 x Heavys) plays out.

Very true! But I think, the Heavys will be outmaneuvered, especially concerning Mission objectives ...

In addition to what I wrote above:

This comparison of the Elite Stormtrooper vs the regular Heavy Stormtrooper is done for the case that you want to use either Stormtroopers or Heavy Stormtroopers. If you already have 2 units of Elite Stormtroopers in your list and you want to add more Troopers, this is a another story.

In that case you'd have to choose from Regular Stormtrooper, Regular E-Web, Elite E-Web, Regular Heavy Stormtrooper or Elite Heavy Stormtrooper. The Elite Stormtrooper is better than all of them, still some of them are really good.

I've already explained above, why I'd favor Regular Heavy Stormtroopers over Elite Heavy Stormtroopers.

The Elite E-Web is much better than the Regular E-Web. They have mostly the same rules, but Elite E-Web is 150% as fast (Speed 3 vs Speed 2), it does more damage ( SURGE: 2 Damage vs SURGE: 1 Damage / on a yellow die on two attacks per turn this is huge) AND it is MUCH harder to kill: it has more health per point (7/8 = 0,875 vs 5/6 = 0,833) and it has the constant +1 Block . This makes it much harder to kill it in one turn. Because of the SURGE: Recover 2 Damage on 2 attacks per turn, the opponent absolutely wants to kill an E-Web in one turn.

Over all, Speed 2 is a no-go. I would never use the Regular E-Web.

The Elite E-web is just great. It has only one drawback: You need some Officers to get it into position.

To be continued, when my son is asleep ...

100% agreed.

Elite E-Web > Reg E-Web

Reg Hvy ST > Elite Hvy ST