Imperial Guard Storm Troopers

On paper: They're awesome! On the table: More of a 'one trick pony'.

Okay, so we all went nuts when we heard that Imperial Guard Storm Troopers had AP 3 weapons, next we lamented the fact that the strength stayed the same. Then we found out that they cost as much as Space marines, what?! Mere humans? Huh?

Then the dex came out and a full 10-man (stupidly expensive) squad of my storm troopers hit the table, out flanked, opened fire, hit a or so dozen times, and then proceeded to kill one lone Black Templar. Passing their LD test, the Templars (looking somewhat astonished that a battle brother died to a glorified lasgun) pivoted on the spot, charged, and 200+ points of storm troopers died. To a man.

Brows furrowed, I had to rethink this strategy...

Personally I normally run a minimum 5 man squad with a single special weapon & fairly well equipped Sgt. Two little squads out flanking (preferably far apart) seems to work best to me. I've taken down Long fangs, stealth suits, and the occasional tank with them. At just 5 guys they don't draw enough attention till they're in range, 10 guys tend to alarm people. (and) DON'T forget that they're WAY out there on their own, on other side of the table either. It's easy to do if your camo-scheme actually resembles the table's terrain! It also doesn't hurt as much to lose just 5 guys. They're almost a throw away unit, that rarely ever survives the game.

We have something like 8 IG armies locally, though only 2-3 people ever bring them on a semi-regular basis, and I'm the only one who uses storm troopers. This may have something to do with my previous post, I dunno. I also really like the models & have a bunch of them (as shown below). I prefer the older (2nd. gen.) storm troopers. Festooned with pouches, grenades, back packs & such, they look like they're outfitted for war as opposed to the Kas-R-Kin models. To me the Kas-R-Kin look like they've just been dropped off at the front (via Valkyrie of course). Curiously, the 2nd. gen. storm troopers are devoid of any Imperial heraldry. Not a single imperial eagle anywhere. Odd, but quite convenient as I decided today to paint up my remaining squad for my renegade IG.

Just wondering how common storm troopers are being used elsewhere I guess. I seriously doubt that I'm just an oddity (well in this particular case anyway).

Here's my Storm Troopers. The squad in front with the silver armor still fights for the Ordo Malleus (el-cheapo storm troopers), and as such still have the trusty old hellguns. The sniper model is Vet. Sgt. Longshot with his master-crafted hellgun (yes I'm serious, now stop looking so incredulous). The two green squads on the flanks fight with my loyalist IG army, the 110th Ryza Menial battalion (the 144th Podunk fights with this army), and the 4 primed ones in back will join my renegade IG, the 728th Sabbat Irregulars. Still need to get a Sgt. for them. I'm going to get the one with the pistol & sword. As I recall, that mini doesn't have a backpack, however I have a holstered/sheathed bolter from an old SM attack bike to have strung across his back.