Terminator armor, the fruits of the Tactical Dreadnought Armor project, is a powerful and priceless addition to a legions arsenal. Impervious to all but the heaviest of enemy fire, legion veterans are able to march into the heart of an enemy force and destroy it with ruthless power.

A terminator squad is a terminator squad. We all know how good a strong a terminator squad can be. Sadly, legion terminator cannot be built into the god unit of 6th edition, thunder hammer/ storm shield terminators. However, we will look at what good builds are available.

Basics

The terminator squad comes with 5 men with combi-bolter and power weapon. They have two nice rules: Implacable Advance, which makes them scoring units in mission where Troops are scoring units, and Prototype Weaponry, which allows them to have the legion specific weapons.

Options

Take an additional 5 men                                                  Depends on the points you have. Generally, the basic 5 guys will get the job done.

For every 5 models the unit can have

Heavy flamer                                                                       A good option to take if you have the squad in a transport

Reaper autocannon                                                           An option to take if you are foot slogging the squad

Plasma Blaster                                                                   My personal pick for this squad.

Any terminator can replace his combi-bolter with the following:

Combi-weapon                                                                  A personal favorite for me and a lot of other people

Volkite Charger                                                                 I actually would take this for the whole squad

Any terminator can replace his power weapon with the following:

Power fist                                                                           At 5 points, this is a great option

Lightning claw                                                                  I still have a hard time seeing the use of this option anymore unless paired with a second

Chainfist                                                                            Personally, I’d leave this. You have so many other things that can take out vehicles

Thunder hammer                                                           A power fist is cheaper and does basically the same job

Any terminator can take a second lightning claw   You can create traditional assault terminators which will eat through a unit

Terminator sergeant can have a grenade harness   A nice little option to have since you can toss out 2 small blast templates

The whole squad can have Cataphractii armor       You get a 4+ invulnerable save but become Slow and Purposeful. Personally, I would take it

Builds

If you ask five people how to load out a squad of terminators, you’ll probably get five different answers. We all have our favorite combination of weapons for terminators. However, there are a couple of key points to remember about a legion terminator squad. First, they can’t Deep Strike unless the mission, legion rule, or warlord trait says they can. Second, you can not have the thunder hammer/ storm shield build, so that will probably throw a monkey wrench in how some people generally play terminators.

With that in mind, we have to remind ourselves what terminators generally do. For the most part they either have a powerful HQ choice with them, or they roam around the board rolling over squads. I should also point out that the squad does need a Land Raider transport. This increases their survivability as well as gets them to where you need and want them. Finally with those points at the forefront of our minds like look at some builds.

Option 1

5 man squad, sergeant with grenade harness, power fists, Plasma blaster, Cataphractii armor – My all-purpose squad. It rides around in its Land Raider jumping out here and there to take out a unit. With the Plasma blaster, you have the ability to take a couple of pop shots at a vehicle, or threaten anything with a 2+ armor value. Up the squad to 10 man to get another Plasma blaster.

Option 2

5 man squad, sergeant with grenade harness and power fist, Heavy flamer, Volkite chargers, and Cataphractii armor – This build is mainly used to go after Troop choices or run in to claim and hold an objective. Volkite chargers allow for additional attacks for every un-saved wound, and you don’t have to worry about the one time use of the combi-weapon. As with the previous build, you can add five more guys to get another heavy flamer or plasma blaster. Lightning claws can be used in place of the standard power weapons if you are worried about wounding.

Option 3

10 man squad, sergeant with grenade harness, Cataphractii armor, and twin lightning claws – The good old vanilla assault terminator squad. You can have them charge out of a Land Raider and watch them go all Wolverine on a squad. You get a bonus for two close combat weapons and you get to strike at your initiative. The reason for a full ten man squad is the possibility of running into someone with a 2+ armor value. With 40 attacks coming, a failed armor save will come up.

Conclusion

The moment I said terminator squad most of you went into autopilot and figured out your favorite build, and I congratulate you for that. As you have probably seen I did not figure in a particular HQ choice with these squads as I personally would take a Legion Command Squad if I took a Legion Praetor or put the Legion Centurion a completely different squad depending on what consul I gave him. I personally see terminator like I see tactical squads. Don’t over complicate them. They’re a good solid unit that will get the job done.