Scalpel Squadron worth it?

Just curious to know what your take is on the scalpel squadron?
Is this unit worth the points? Is it more gimmicky than competitive? How do you build yours?

I love haemonculus units, and am curious to know if they are worth playing?
I have been running the Grotesquery and have been having lots of luck with it. They work well with an eldar wraithknight. I am also working on getting a corpse thief.

I use it only when I wanna play null deployment. Otherwise I don't really like it.

What Tittliewinks22 said, unless you are planning Null Deployment its not really worth it.

If you run a Freakshow, they are a nice source of Venom fire and another -1 Ld bubble. They are modes useful in null deployment lists, though.

Yeah I tend to run lists that usually null deploy. Just not sure if they are worth it?

If you null deploy then yes, definitely.

I like them. I run mine with ossefactors.

I like them too. I find that with a Hexrifle and Ossefactor on the Wracks, that I get more done. My first game vs new Tau, they did some work. Pathfinders, gone on turn 1 from Splinter Cannon fire. The Wrack shooting neutered the Crisis Suits and their Gun Drones. He too 9 suits (+18 drones) joined by a Commander Suit (+2 more drones). Granted, I rolled well on the Calcific Spears, and got a Precision Shot with one of the Hexrifles. He tried to take all the wounds on the drones, but it clearly states randomly allocated. They mostly went on the drones anyway. We used a Scatter Die and a d6 to determine direction and number of models away from the model removed by the Ossefactor(s).

I have a question. Disembark the Wracks, or leave them onboard, when facing the threat of Interceptor?

I always use them and they do well. They're a good distraction, especially if you deep strike them on target. I only purchase the single Ossefactor for each squad to keep them cheap, the Hexrifle is I think too expensive for a single shot that only wounds 50% of the time.

Your opponent doesn't know where they're going to pop up so they're difficult to counter. He is then likely to divert significant resources to taking out that pair of Venoms in his face because he doesn't want those 24 poison shots per turn, and hopefully he'll underestimate what the Wracks can do if they actually reach combat.

I tend to run 2 units of 5 Mandrakes as well, infiltrated 18" or so in cover from my opponent. When the Scalpel squadron deep strikes in and starts shooting as well, he hopefully doesn't think about my other units in the backfield moving into position.

I disembark the Wracks always, as my opponent then has twice as many targets he has to try and engage. Get them into cover if you can so they have a cover save as well as their FnP. I find that if they do reach combat, they tend to do quite well with their number of attacks against non-elite close combat units. If they stay on board a venom that gets blown up you can lose a few of them from the explosion which will likely happen.

If you want to commit on the bonus victory point, is it a good idea to take 2 scalpel squadrons (or more) and focus on a weak target, or the point cost is too high?

The wrack are not the best CC unit we have (an euphemism), but they are not THAT bad. Plus, you would have 4 venoms.

Yeah 4 venoms and 20 Wracks for 460pts + maybe some weapons seems alright.

I'd run them more often myself were it not for the 3 detachment limit on ITC format games. I don't get a lot of use out of my passengers whether they're wracks or warriors anyways because I tend to sit at max range with my venoms, so it's more about the bonus victory points and null deploy potential for me.

Agree with previous post. It is worth. It until you run into a format that restricts number of detachments you find just better choices

I like the idea if using mandrakes to pseudo null deploy, where the rest of the army is not deployed and then the mandrakes infiltrate after both sides have deployed.

Also in ITC it's hard to capture that first blood bonus