Flayed Ones

[paultwilson]

I saw a comment on The Back 40K blog by a poster called Dodger3, he summed it up in context with the rumoured leak of the 6th edition rules, I quote;


"Flayed Ones are awful. They can Infiltrate, and they can Deep Strike, and nobody can figure out why you'd ever want to Deep Strike them. And then Imotekh--the most expensive HQ in the Necron book--came with an inexplicable special rule that would allow an enemy unit to act as a Locator Beacon for Flayed Ones. This did not help, as you'd still never want to Deep Strike them, ever. They were a bad unit given a useless deployment method which was then modified by a useless special rule on a pricey character.

And then, in the 6th Leak, all three of these things (Infiltrate, Deep Strike, and Imotekh's Beacon) have synergy with each other, and in a manner that is so clear it had to be intentional. Infiltrate is now a Deep Strike, but can ONLY make use of Beacons if the unit ALSO has the Deep Strike rule. You can charge (Engage) following a non-critical Deep Strike, and Beacons ignore critical range.

That's three different special rules, which were unknown to the public at the time, harmonizing to make a completely worthless unit suddenly become able to perform near-guaranteed Turn 1 charges when synergized with an expensive HQ."

Slightly off topic I know but I think 6th edition is where Flayed ones will become useful considering that the recent codex was written with 6th Edition in mind.

I have a friend who works for GW and he says that the deep strike rules in 6th are going to be very similar to the way it works in the alleged leak.

-P-

[Scaryscarymushroom]

This is why we need homebrew codices. For awesome models that people want to love, but can't.

Players should have been able to field flayed ones as troops. (Perhaps with a special HQ.) They should have been scarier, too. I dunno about turn 1 charge, but denying CC strength and then establishing supremacy they way they did in the late days of 3rd would have been nice. Maybe they could have even had bonuses to rip open vehicles.

Oh, GW.

Whatever. There's no use whining about what could have been unless someone actually changes it.

[Lord Damocles]

They're not a bad unit. They're not a 'take every time regardless' unit ('Worthless!' they cried) either though.


They perform their role (anti-light/medium infantry assault / speedbump) reasonably well when taken in decent numbers, and small units can make a decent cheap distraction if you (Shock, Horror!) Deepstike them.


They're not what I'd have done with the rules (c'mon, in Hellforged they run along the ceiling. Fleet, anyone?), but there you go...

[scapegoatboy69]

An extra attack in some ways makes up for that (not sure what it represents ... they have 2 weapons, and ... move slowly... I can understand Daemonettes having 3 attacks base for 2 weapons and being very fast and dextrous...).

They eat people, right? Claw. Claw. OMG! That Necron just bit me! Help! I'll turn into a zombie!

A friend of mine ran a unit of 5 for a while. Their main role was to keep stuff away from his monolith.

Mandrakes actually aint that bad

As a die hard lover of the models, fluff, and sneakiness in general... I wish I could agree with ya on this. If only they could be made scoring. Or if infiltrate was a better mechanic.

[Zothos]

Why is it that when a unit does not simply own everything it touches, people say its useless?

Flayed one are meant as a harassment unit. In that role they perform extremely well. 4 attacks on the charge against others support units (long fangs, devastators, lootas) is awesome.

I guess I don't understand what people think they are supposed to do.

[Buddha777]

Why is it that when a unit does not simply own everything it touches, people say its useless?

Flayed one are meant as a harassment unit. In that role they perform extremely well. 4 attacks on the charge against others support units (long fangs, devastators, lootas) is awesome.

I guess I don't understand what people think they are supposed to do.

As I posted earlier you are correct in that is exactly what they are meant for. The problem is that at I2 and with only a 4+ save they will actually take quite a few casualties themselves before they even get to strike. Against a unit like long fangs this is especially true. So the problem isn't that people have too high expectations of flayed ones it's that they can't preform their own role as harassers well or even adequately (especially without the benefits of bloodswarm scarabs).

[Zothos]

As a Necron player I know I am not going first in assault. I win combat by having a superior number of attacks, even when I go last.

If you infiltrate 5 models and get your butt Kicked, you deserve it. I solve this by infiltrating 10 to 20.

As a Necron player I lack a lot of long range weapons to mess with my opponents deployment zone. Flayed ones perform this role admirably.

Do they work every time? No.

Are they a must have? No.

Do they perform the role they were designed to? Absolutely.

[Bonzai]

What are they supposed to do?

I would be happy if they were scoring. Infiltrate+deepstrike+troops would make them tactically much more interesting. That, and they just dont have the "oomph" that an elite should have. A squad of 20 infiltrating/ deep striking/ outflanking onto an objective would make them a REAL option as a troop choice.

[xxRavenxx]

What are they supposed to do?

They're meant to charge people, tying them up and weakening them, so they don't rampage through your necron warriors, who are absolutely terrible at close combat by comparison.

OR

Infiltrate/outflank and go harass the squishy troops that lurk at the back of the table (devastators, small tactical squads holding an objective).

They have a TONNE of uses. People are normally too busy comparing one to a thunderhammer/stormshield terminator and complaining though...

[Dwane Diblie]

What I found works is Nemesor Zahndrekh with his Phased Reinforcements and Adaptive Tactics. My best use of this was to plonk my 20 flayed ones in front of a 30 man IG unit with a command and company command squad near by. The guy asked me what their stats where and when told laughed at my I2 and proceded to concerntrate on destroying my Ghost Arks siting on objectives. Next turn I put Furious charge on them and charged away. By then end of the of the assault phase, after RP, I had only lost 5 and had destroyed his 30 man guard unit with my mighty 80 attacks. Then next turn the unit coped 8 flamers from the 2 command squads which now had nothng better to do for the rest of the game. By the time the unit was destroyed I had killed all but the commander in the Company Comand squad. So there arre ways to use them but nothing you can do to stop them from dying. Use them at the right time and they can win you the game.

Oh and I didn't take Nem for this. It was a happy coincedent I realised after I built the list. I then altered the list to include 20 Flayed ones after that realisation. I lost troops as a resault of this but have had a slight increase in wins. And I like playing the unit. (hate the models, making my own as necrons warriors with combat weapons)