Today we look at a simple but very nice add to the
Imperial faction. For those of you that like
your Black Ops teams, this guy will fit in nicely
with your Storm Commandos. For 13pts, you get
an average HP, basic trooper defense of 16 and a
decent attack of +8. Granted if you can keep
him still, you can boost it to a +12 with Careful
Shot, which is quite good.
This piece is very solid, but the problem with him
is that it came out in the same set as the Kel-Dor,
who has better HP, attack and can explode for 40
DAM. Where the ST pulls an advantage is when
running trooper squads. It can get nice boosts
from any trooper commander, mainly Piett. With
the release of Nina Calixte, the Empires super
stealth options are pretty good. The only real
big downside to this guy is his fragile 20HP.
30 Would have been better. The ST works well
as either the basis of an army or stealthed shooters
supporting the Empire's growing Jedi stable.
100pts: Too fragile here. You cant quite
get enough punch out of them to count.
150/200pts: Here they are very good. I like to
run Jedi with Nina and some of these guys in the
background to help weaken opposing forces.
With all of the help the Imperials give to Troopers
and followers in general, this is a pretty good
piece. You will just have to decide between
the ST and the Kel-Dor.
willis
maximus
Shadow Stormtrooper
Faction: Empire
Cost: 13
HP: 20
Def: 16
Att: +8
Dam: 20
SA:
Careful Shot +4
Stealth
Piett always had a special place in my heart.
It was my first solid 200pt squad and every
variation of it I've tried has gone undefeated.
With that in mind, anytime a new Imperial fig with
"trooper" in the name comes along I get a little
excited. After the Storm Commando came out, I
knew it was only a matter of time before the Shadow
Trooper came along. So, lets take a look at
the stats. I'm going to compare him to the Evo
Trooper since they are both, for the most part,
privy to the same CE's and will typically be played
in the same kind of squad. He costs the same
as an Evo Trooper at 13 points, so while you won't
be fielding as many of these guys as you could, say,
regular stormies, you can still pile up quite a few
in a 200 point game. The Shadow Trooper only
has has 20 HP so most other pieces will take him
down in one shot. He looses 10 HP under the
Evo, but gains one attack at a +8 (not too shabby.)
Defence is standard stormie defence at a solid 16.
Finally, damage is a solid 20 as well.
Moving on to Special Abilities; the Shadow Trooper
doesn't have many. While the Evo focuses on
pumping up the damage with Deceptive +10, the ST
pumps up his already impressive attack with Careful
Shot +4. On top of Thrawn's +3/+3 and Piett's
Opportunist, now were' looking at +19(!) for 30
damage. He doesn't hit super hard, but he's
hard pressed to ever miss either. Fortunately,
he also has Stealth to help counteract the fact that
he's now a 20HP sitting duck after he shoots.
Stealth is the key word here people . . . run him
with Nyna. Now he's nigh untargetable with
"super stealth" unless your opponent goes to him,
which is the biggest difference between the Shadow
Trooper and the Evo trooper. With the right
CE's, he may not hit as hard as you'd like, but the
ST is more about guarantees than raw damage output.
100pts 2/5: Even with Nyna you really can't
put enough hurt on your opponent before all your
troopers drop. I can't be 100% certain here,
but I wouldn't try it.
150pts 3/5: Now we can start fielding enough
CE's to make it worth while, although you may still
be struggling a bit. I haven't had the luck at
150 I've had at 200 fielding Piett, and I doubt the
Shadow Trooper will change that.
200pts 4/5: Take it from me: trooper squads
excel here. Piett isn't quite as prominent as
he once was, but with Nyna/Thrawn/Veers/whatever
else you want to help out, a good Imperial trooper
squad can still put some serious hurt on.
