Horus Heresy 2e Review: Legion Kharybdis Assault Claw

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5/5 stars, rounded down. Who doesn't love large drop pods?! 

Background.

The mother and father of drop pods. The Kharybdis is a mighty large drop pod that has an impressive carrying capacity. The background explicitly notes that it is well used as a surface-to-orbit assault vehicle to exact vengeance against enemy space craft crew. It is also useful for scouring the battlefield by using its short range weapons and undertaking a scorched earth style policy.

Strengths.

Get 22 marines to where they are needed. This is the main strength and don't overlook it.

The turret mounted deathstorm missile launchers are actually very nice here at BS=4 as well. The heat blast rule only adds to this and makes the craft an excellent short range vehicle.

Of course, the assault vehicle rule goes without saying it is awesome. But there are steep negatives, as below. The rating I've given here reflects a bit of discretionary use of the "rule of cool". 

Weaknesses.

With armour of 12 all round, this drop pod is very vulnerable and likely to be shot out of the sky rapidly (and that's before we say: sky fire). Accordingly, the price tag is somewhat steep for such a vehicle that is unlikely to stick around all game long. 

Oh. And here's the biggest negative that needed a fix upon release. It didn't have deep strike! LOL! These problems made things hilariously poor. So use a backline hiding place on deployment, and then race somewhere to unload! It might still work. Post FAQ, we happily have deep strike back! And thank you to my reader for reminding me of this :)

Builds.

There are no builds of which to speak as there are no upgrades to take, and you cannot even take multiple Claws in a single unit. Therefore this vehicle is taking up a very crammed heavy support slot that might be wanted for other things by various legions. But don't let me stop you. If you have a World Eaters drop pod army, you will still want this!