Horus Heresy 2e Review: Legion Termite Assault Drill

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. The rules are good. 

Background.

The termite provides a way for the commander to launch an underground assault on both fortified positions and xenos subterranean creatures (the latter being the reason they were invented allegedly). This is great in essence and can scatter enemy forces upon emergence without waiting for their cargo to deploy. 

Strengths.

Termites provide an underground alternative to deep striking units in to play. One of the chief advantages here is that the player can cause them to erupt near enemy units and score hits on those units at a significant strength (but AP=4). 

Unlike drop pods, the termite can continue to move after launching its deep strike (subterranean assault move) and fire its weapons and so forth. 

I genuinely like this manner of assaulting and it works well if you have just one of them, and perhaps use it in conjunction with more traditional deep strike units to create an underground and overground pincer movement. Maybe that's just me though (I've had good success with this using my Alpha Legion). 

Weaknesses.

Rear armour is 10, and do carefully read the subterranean assault rules if you have more than one of these units as you will see that the enemy can take control of your deployment on an unlucky roll.

Difference to First Edition.

Fairly similar overall. Note the capacity of 12 here just like the rhino. 

Builds.

There are only 2 upgrades to consider - the replacement of the two sets of twin-linked bolters with either twin-linked volkite chargers, or heavy flamers. Candidly both of them work nicely against nearby enemies - and why wouldn't you have nearby enemies if you've emerged on top of, or close to them! I kind of like the flamers ever so slightly better as I think in some situations you can score more hits, but also they act as a nice defensive arrangement as well. Equally, the volkites have the superior range for after that first turn after emerging I guess. A tough choice really. Points cost effective overall in the main part for me.