1 Hammer, 2 HP for 1 resource.  Worth it right there.  They have some ability too, not sure what it is - don't care.

Equivalent to a Vio'la Marksmen, but with weaker text, or a Tallarn Raiders with its advantage/disadvantage averaged out. Given it's the only 1 cost capper that the tyranids have it's great; having 2 hp just helps.

Regarding its ability, if you have things worth targeting at this planet then they will get targeted before the Termagants. If you don't, then this will get targeted first. In either case, even if it does trigger it's not exactly a big deal to be able to attack for 1, and it can't even trigger off Clogged with Corpses. Dead ability, but decent enough stats.

Name me another 1 cost for 1 command in Tyranids. Needed until it has competition for capping outside rippers

agree: till new low cost units arrive it's a 3x in almost every Tyranid deck

Really do not like this card in a Swarmlord deck, the ability has had no practical value in the games I have played with a token heavy deck.

I am thinking of leaving it out even though there are no direct alternatives for the 1 cost 1 hammer slot yet.

My thoughts being that unlike other races Tyranids can start off with a very good capper in the synapse unit. Or when it comes to the Warrior Prime or Blazing Zoanthrope a very good way to kill off capping units.

Brood Warriors I feel help mitigate the need for the card in Swarmlord decks.

A final option I am looking at with a token boosting deck is including 2 or 3 promotions as there are some units I like that fall a bit short due to the lack of hammers.

Strangler Brood, Soaring Gargoyles and Termagant Spikers being the ones I am thinking off.

You still want a 1-for-1. This is about the worst 1-for-1 in the game, but you still want three due to how the resource sums work out.

The Termagant sentry, by helped by a few termagant tokens in the same planet, lets you attack first and let the opponent decide. If he targents the sentry, the next termagant will hit. If he destroys a termagant token, the Sentry will ready and hit again. It's nos impressive, but it's still an utility for a 1 for 1 in a deck that easily creates many tokens.

RRG, p.14: 

"Sacrifice

- Sacrificing a card does not destroy the card, and destroying a card does not sacrifice it."

I think this card is an excellent illustration of the problem with Nids. No other warlords would in their right mind consider running this card as it's easily one of the worst 1-for-1s in the game. And yet, almost every Nid player automatically includes three regardless of Warlord or any other card in the deck.

Now I get why the designers would be careful with cheap command as Nids can easily get an incredible head start on the command phase just by running Lictor, but it's a little disappointing to see that they've added nothing as the game has evolved and there doesn't appear to be anything on the horizon either with a 1-cost army unit having already been released this cycle.

No other warlords would in their right mind consider running this card as it's easily one of the worst 1-for-1s in the game.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I couldn't disagree more. Is it possible you're letting a very situational ability cloud your judgement of its stats? I think it's absolutely better than 10th Company Scout, Shoota Mob, and Warriors of Gidrim. And better than Ratling Deadeye absent attack boosts. On a 1-for-1, I'd much rather have 2HP than 2ATK, because I'm playing it for its capping ability and survivability is a huge plus.

I would personally play this card, unmodified except for faction, in Ork, Dark Eldar, and Space Marine decks.  Possibly Eldar, Chaos, and Necron as well.  Only Guard and Tau have obviously better 1-for-1's.

Nope. Stat-wise I consider it below par. Sure, it survives specific cards like Chosen, Genevaders and Kannon, but most cases where it's being damaged you're facing 2+ ATK and need to pitch a card to get 1 back on the counter-swing which normally isn't worth it.

If you conducted a poll, you'll find most players would rather have a neutral over this guy.

Have to agree, its a bad card. Its essentially a blank 1-1-2, because the ability is almost never triggered. It sees play because Tyranids have nothing else at the 1-cost slot with a hammer. Absolutely would rather run Pirate/Trader, or probably almost any other 1-for-1 unit in the game.

The problem with Termagant Sentry is that it doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. All other 1-for-1s either have generically useful abilities or stats (e.g. Earth Caste Technician, Tallarn Raiders, Heretek Inventor), trade survivability for command gains (the neutrals), or trade survivability for combat gains (e.g. Ratling Deadeye, 10th Company Scout). The only two comparable cards to Termagant Sentry are Warriors of Gidrim and Splintered Path Acolyte (Gidrim fits a single warlord's deckshape best; Acolyte requires the use of Daemons, which didn't used to be a given), and even then both cards are tied to a particular deck shape but at least improve your command/resource game when their situation triggers. Termagant Sentry is a command unit with a combat oriented ability that only usually triggers when playing Swarmlord. In a faction that doesn't have access to neutral command units, or allies of any stripe.

Having 2 health is arguably better than something like Shooter Mob, but I'd still like to at least have a choice when I'm building my deck over whether I include Termagant Sentry or not. Having it be an auto-include simply due to lack of alternatives is super grating.

The problem is that if it was a blank 1/1/3 for 1 cost it would be overpowered, so I can understand why they made it a 1/1/2 with a weak ability. Having 2hp certainly gives it an edge as a command capper, especially if we see more single damage pre-combat hitters (Harriers, new Necron warlord's support, Dakka Dakka Dakka, Weirdboy, Hunting Acanthrites, Invasive Genestealers), but it definitely would be nice to see some more choices.

In a world with TT, I don't see a 3 HP Sentry coming close to reaching the OP threshold. It's still only a 1 ATK unit and it's not going to dramatically change how the opposing warlord commits or make a huge impact on the outcome of a battle.

You could leave Sentry as is, but I'd like to see Strangler Brood with 1/2/1 (exactly Shoota Boyz stats) and the same Hivemind specialisation.

To be honest if the Strangler Brood was a 1/1/1 with its current text to would be perfect. My guess is that if they do release another 1-1 it'll probably have some infestation based text.

Not the best card, but it's fine as is, though a 3rd Hp would be nice+. As is, it is an auto include in SL, sad include in OOE, and can/should be skipped in Omega.

Highlight? Still a termagant Unit, so can be sac'ed to Clogged as well.

The only 1 drop with a hammer. Honestly, I almost wish they never printed ripper swarm, and gave all the 1 drops a hammer instead.