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Where does he mention a Gauss rule? His math is perfectly correct. He doesn't add in any superfolous factors, and nor does he forget anything.

I have no patience for math. I generally go off of instinct.

Try this experiment. It's really simple. Figure out what the average is for your squads' shooting. When you roll, announce it to yourself when you roll the average. You might be surprised. Besides, the average is meant to be a guideline. Yes, Grots, CAN kill Terminators...but the math tells us they're bad at it, and other units can do it better.



Generally, I put forward this ideal. Foot-lords should have a Res Orb, Staff, and whatever other kit you want to throw on him (generally a Veil). Because on a footlord, the Staff's already a power weapon and he'll only be using it to counter assault anyway. Plus, at least he can use it to fire at pistol range. A Destroyer Lord should have a Warscythe, Phase Shifter, Res Orb, and a gaggle of Wraiths to escort him into assault. Warscythe upgrade made worth it because his jetbike status lets him pick his targets, but he needs an invuln to survive versus Power Fists. The Wraiths escorting him can not only keep up,, but save him from being shot at.

Oryn's got the right idea. I generally give my standard lord a staff and wreak havok with a destroyer lord and wraiths. Those guys are really good for harrying slower but power weapon heavy combat squads, like terminators. Now, the wraiths may not be entirely effective here, but the warscythe on the destroyer lord will tear through them all right. Also, the wraiths will be pretty hard to kill, given that they have 3+ invulns and the res orb in the squad. Also, while the attacks are weak, there are a lot of them, combined with a pretty good WS, there's always the chance one of those attacks'll get through. I tend to vary it from opponent to opponent. If I need more shooting I'll give him the staff, since those AP3 shots can do wonders against things like marines. But if it looks like I'm gonna get forced into close combat with a lot of things with invuln saves I'll give him the warscythe

They can deep strike. Just like you said, it's a dumb idea because they're stuck there for a turn. I think they can infiltrate too, which is far better. As for the good use of flayed ones. They're pure squad breakers. You get them into CC with a unit of Tau or IG, and they fail they're leadership test they can only hit on 6's. Which is always fun to watch. twisted It can work on other armies too but generally not as well.

Now see, it's scarabs I love to use for tank busting. pretty much the same kind of thing as Flayed Ones, since you're gonna need 6's to glance more vehicles whether you have S5 or S2 when the disruption fields are on, and you can get more attacks in due to the large squad size and 3 wounds per model. It may not seem like it would count for a lot when toughness on scarabs is so low, but not only can they get increased cover saves, but they can move like jetbikes, and close the distance between them and enemy armor really quick. Plus, as far as anybody at my GW says, including the staff, they can turbo boost and get the invuln save. twisted In the end, too, scarabs cost less, even when they have the fields on they cost less than a standard Flayed One, thereby making it matter way less if they get mowed down by tank fire, in which case you'd pretty much lose a throwaway unit. The best part about them is nine times out of ten your opponent will ignore them in favor of shooting more valuable-looking units, nest thing they know you've torn into his basilisk with a bunch of evil little glowing bugs. Flayed ones have always been some of my favorite anti-infantry CC units.

Flayed Ones=Anti-Infantry
Scarabs=Anti-Vehicle

I'm going to a mega battle and I'm about to try out an idea I had of putting a necron lord with a flayed one squad. He's carrying a res orb, a warscythe and a veil, so he can increase the flayed one's assault capability and mobility.