I'm strongly considering playing Imperials competitively when things start opening back up, and (in person) tournaments are again an option . The more that I look at what I want to take for my corps choices the more I'm having trouble justifying taking Stormtroopers. I know Shoretroopers cost more, but they put out more damage per point, help with activation control (not to the degree that they used to, but still help), get free aim tokens when given an order, open up the DF-90 mortor. There is just so much more that you get out of Shoretroopers that the only reason I can come up with to take Stormtroopers is if I want a cheap activation to hold objectives. Is there something that I'm missing? Can someone sell me on Stormtroopers?

I once thought the same way.

But now I geberally try to include 1-2 units of stormtroopers in my corps. Here are my reasons:

-The mortar is a good, cheap activation, but becomes basically useless once the enemy closes within range 3. It also sucks at interacting with anything but backfield objectives.

-Shoretroopers are awesome, but you kind of need to be running aggressive tactics and giving them orders every turn to get their full value. So they are definitely worth it in gunline style lists, especially with krennic and relay DT's. In other list types I like the cheapness of stormtroopers and the fact that I dont feel like Im wasting their cost if I dont give them orders. This is espevially true in hero heavy lists and vehicle heavy lists becuase thats where my orders are generally going.

So basically, yeah shores and mortars are great, but not always the ideal tool for every job. Storms are cheap and flexible and great for 'smash and grab' objectives. Shores are way better in chain of command gunline lists.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should have mentioned that I was planning on running a gun line list. I'm glad to hear that storms are useful in some lists. Maybe I should post what I was thinking about running. Note that the list won't be legal as I envision it until Iden and Inferno Squad are released.

Director Orson Krennic
Iden Versio (Offensive Push, Idens TL-50 Repeater, Idens ID10 Seeker Droid)
Iden Versio(Loadout) (Overwatch, Idens DLT-20A Rifle)
Shoretroopers (Gideon Hask, Imperial Comms Technician, HQ Uplink)
Shoretroopers (T-21B Trooper)
Shoretroopers (T-21B Trooper)
DF-90 Mortar Trooper
DF-90 Mortar Trooper
Scout Troopers (Strike Team) (DLT-19x Sniper)
Scout Troopers (Strike Team) (DLT-19x Sniper)
Imperial Death Troopers (DLT-19D Trooper, Comms Relay, E-11D Focused Fire Config)

10 activations with a 7 point bid.

The general plan is to pop HQ uplink on Gideon's squad when I can't spare an order for them. Coordinate to one of the other Shore squads who then coordinate to a mortar. Then with Krennic using entourage to give an order to the Death troopers who then relays it to the last Shore squad, and coordinate to the last mortar. I did think about putting Gideon in a squad of Storms instead of Shores, but since Shores get a free aim token when given an order I won't mind taking a recover action with them as much as with Storms.

But even without making sure that shores get an order every turn (something the empire dose quite well) I still think that point for point Shoretroopers are just better than Stormtroopers. I can see the utility of having one squad of storms just for grabbing boxes in recover, or escorting a hostage. Perhaps if I play more vehicle heavy lists I'll appreciate storms more.

In that particular list, yes I would take Shoretroopers, because they thematically and specifically "fit" Krennic's abilities.

I don't care for Gideon necessarily, but that's maybe just my experience with and against him (I would just prefer the T21) but you have a specific plan for that squad.

I would much rather have a naked stormtrooper unit over the Mortar in most lists for the reasons mentioned above, plus they can score objectives. I still like the DLT as a weapon and find it one of the most efficient of weapons, not to mention, you may soon see the need for Impact in your lists when the AAT becomes more readily available (it is a beast, if the Droids ever get a cheaperish commander, expect double AAT tanks)

I'm assuming you've tried Aggressive tactics and prefer the Gideon slide over the surge token (or critical is doing more for you than the surge token)

Do you ever recover with Gideon or is the Uplink a one-use only usually?