Stormtrooper
Thinking these guys are the same as their Star Wars equivalents will teach you a quick and decisive lesson in getting your ass kicked.
The elite of the Imperial Guard, Stormtroopers are the best general-combat infantry that the Imperial Guard can field, and are the toughest, best-equipped, and best-trained soldiers available to an Imperial commander that isn't a SPESS MEHREEN. They're one of only three infiltrators the Guard gets, and one of only two deep strikers (other being Guardsman Marbo). While most of the Guard is armed with your typical angry flashlight and Flak Armor or Flak Vest, Stormtroopers pack Hellguns (or "Hot-Shot Lasguns" as some retard decided to call them), which fire much more penetrating shots that are capable of piercing most infantry armor with ease, and they are clad in Carapace Armor, which gives them substantially higher survivability on the battlefield. In earlier editions of the game, they were favored as "Marines Light," since they had fairly similar performance to Marines but cost considerably less due to their weaker gear. As of the new edition, they're now a dedicated elite choice, with all the pros and cons that implies.
There are many different types of stormtroopers, all depending on their homeworld. Cadia for example fields Kasrkin, whilst Armageddon fields Steel Legion Stormtroopers. Regardless of their appearance or gear, they're all incredibly potent if used correctly.
With the exception of the Kasrkin, the average Guardsman in the Street can't stand them, referring to them as "glory boys" and resenting the fact that they're a good deal less likely to die given that they're given better equipment than standard issue cardboard armor with a flashlight.
In Dawn of War
Kasrkin (a kind of Stormtrooper) are available for the Imperial Guard starting in Winter Assault, and they're one of the better choices the Guard has. They suffer the same problem that almost every unit in Winter Assault has, however, in that they're redundant - they utterly replace Guardsmen by Tier 3 in that game, and in every game of WA that makes it that far, your sole mission objective from then on is to spam Kasrkin endlessly.
In the later games - Dark Crusade and Soulstorm - their numbers were hardcapped, ergo ensuring that you can only use one squad at a time (whilst the Eldar can field six of their elites). Those overpowered faggots.
Dawn of War Pro, arguably one of the best mods for Dawn of War, fixes a lot of their redundancy issues and ensures that they have their own role on the battlefield. They are capable of infiltration, they have access to Meltaguns and Flamers (which were programmed into Winter Assault but simply never used), and they have a number of useful abilities, providing the scalpel to the Guard's sledgehammer and generally giving them quality troops for those times when force is more important than numbers. More importantly, it lets you field more than one of the goddamned things!
In Dawn of War 2
Stormtroopers are the Dawn of war 2 equivalent of DOW's Kasrkin. They use Hot-Shot lasguns with armor-pioercing effects. Stormtroopers can be upgraded with multiple "kits" That lets them be more effective to different targets and fit certain Circumstances. The kits are:
- Assault kit (which supposedly increases their damage Output AND input - and due to the high ass cost of these only use this if there is some really good cover available, at which point they will turn that bunker into a nigh-unapproachable death-sprayer)
- Anti-tank kit (which equips them with Meltaguns and Melta bombs)
- Recon kit (which gives them Infiltration)
On Tabletop
Stormtroopers are difficult to classify in tabletop. Many players eschew them, since the Imperial Guard can field cheaper Infiltrators with carapace armor (and better range as part of the bargain) via Veteran Squads, and Veterans can score as part of the bargain. On the other hand, Stormtroopers deep strike OR infiltrate by default, come with AP3 weapons (which means they are the bane of not only marines, but other infantry armies, such as Dark Eldar, Eldar, and especially Tyranids.
Where Stormtroopers come into their own, however, is as surgical strike units. A Stormtrooper Squad always comes with one of the following rules active (and you get to pick which for each Stormtrooper Squad) via the Special Operations rule:
- Reconnaissance: Scouts and Move Through Cover.
- Airborne Assault: Rerolls scatter dice when deep striking.
- Behind Enemy Lines: Infiltrate instead of Deep Strike, and all their weapons count as Pinning the first time the squad fires.
Suffice to say, Stormtroopers are amazing units when used for target elimination - nobody likes taking AP3 fire from anything. Reconnaissance makes them the kings of cityfighting, whilst Airborne Assault, whilst simple, is the best option for suicide antitank squads. The most underrated but consistently useful option has to be Behind Enemy Lines, however; in addition to the usual rules for this, Stormtroopers can take an attached transport in the form of a Chimera, and when used to Outflank, this (according to recent /tg/ discussion) lets the Chimera help, since it's part of the Stormtrooper squad and ergo its weapons count as pinning the first time the Chimera fires, like every other squad member.
A common joke amongst /tg/ is that in order to win, you must spam MOAR STORMTROOPERS.