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Many people rave about them but personally i dont see what all the fuss is about. 12 points for something that doesnt shoot and doesnt seem that great at fighting either.

Am i wrong?<

Turbo-boosting tarpits have their uses. They can tie up potentially troublesome enemy units quite handily if you play to their strengths.

I don't play the Necrons,but I play against them alot. Scarubs are the worst unit for me to face. This is why, they turbo boost up the field on a flank while getting a 2+ cover save then they tie up your shooty units in cc. They can ruin my plans for victory easily. They have 3 wound each and I think 3 attacks each. They mosty are used to tie up units. Also they follow jetbike rules which makes them very good at getting where they need to be.

They could fill gaps in your gunline.
Imagine you shot the advancing enemy but there is still a unit that can charge you next turn. Then charge them with Scarabs to tie them up for a while. This would give you time to reposition.

Scarab Swarms are really annoying in my opinion. I had 30 of the buggers turbo boost turn 1 and assulting my tau in turn 2. They fair a bit worse aganist better CC armies. However in smaller games (under 2000 points) they are really useful due to the shear number of wounds that they deceptively have.

In larger battles running lots of them is less useful because you could spend your points on other more expensive/better necron units.

I'm personally a big fan of putting disruption fields on the scarabs. Not everyone agrees but I find it useful in that I can occasionally catch tanks with scarabs and use them to rip main guns off. The sheer usefulness of being able to wound anything I run into with essentially throw away units makes it a must-buy for me.

I hate it when scarabs to this to my battlewagons, since glancing hits can destroy them. They are the only thing I am truly fearful of in a necron list.

I use them for the Eldar dark reapers, to keep them busy or even kill them. The DR have viscious weapons that can (and have) decimated entire units in a single turn. However in cc they're pretty useless, making them excellent targets for scarab swarms.

turbobootings scarabs also get a 2+ cover save due to stealth. They can disrupt an enemy's attack and are extremely fast. They are pretty good.

I used a squad of them in my Necron army and I found their value neigh-indispensable.

Scarab Swarms are one of the few ‘swarm’ units that can get to where they need to be before getting blown to bits by templates and/or str 6+ weapons. The fact that they have leadership 10 and are NOT fearless makes them amazing in close combat as it’s unlikely they will win against anything but the most abysmally poor CC opponent.

Their value lies in their ability to tie up something really nasty for a couple turns (or more) while you work your magic on the rest of your opponents army. They’re even nice as a screen – 10-man Nob biker squad headed straight for you? A 10 scarab swarms set 2” apart from each other can create an extremely effective wall and tie the nobs up for a turn or (if you’re lucky) 2 while you re-adjust.

I agree with everything you just said except that scarab swarms are fearless.

Yeah very good explination all of you, especially incarna.

I think i wall use a wall of them on front of my troops, as my necron warriors can see over them. Nice hold up unit.

Put a necron lord on a bike. Give him lightning field. Put him in a large unit of necrons. Make a line straight for the nearest enemy unit. Your scarabs will take a large number of wounds, but will cause a significant number of str 3 hits on the return. If you're lucky and pick the right targets (orks are great for this) you can cause more wounds than you take and actually win a combat you would have otherwise lost.

Nice one!

Nice one!

The only armies I've seen out there that pack the power to kill scarabes on the way in with shooting are eldar (scatter laser shots kill a whole base per wound) and autocannon addict IG armies. No one else has the volume to cut though 3 wounds for 12 points with such a high cover save. And while they will eventually be broken up in hand to hand, they will be there for a while so you take out valuable enemy units (preferably shooty or very fast ones) that would otherwise cause a lot of problems for your army.

Well, first of all, Scarabs ARE fearless and are pretty bad in close combat. they typically will not win against anything that has some close combat ability or a really good save. However, they will destroy dedicated shooty units and anything with a poor save. They are great tar pit units will put a hurting an any shooty list. Except maybe Nids. Buts thats debatable I guess. Also, they can be used to shield your army from assault, which I have found very helpful.

You see, scarabs are dirt cheap. 2x4 no upgrades costs only 96 points. Turbo the first turn, charge the next, and they have to chew through 12 wounds before they can do anything else. Charge heavy weapons or dedicated CC (sword bretheren are my favorite ) Sure they die, but thats the point. IF you look at points used per turn, they come out far ahead. Say a Dev squad with 2 lascannons starts to scare you, charge them and thats 160 points that will never see the light of day again. For 48 points, you can't beat it.

Don't view them as something that will wipe enemy units; use them as a suicide/harass unit. I never leave home without them.

the only thing scarabs are good for, are distractions to close combat armys like khorne bezerkers.