8th Ed. Kroxigors

[Captain Chameleon]

okay, i see
i guess saurus are good then... they should survive against enemies like puny S-3 T-3 elves

 

[strewart]

Saurus have Toughness 4, a 4+ armour save, and a 6+ ward if you go hand weapon and shield. And there should always be at least 20 of them. Then you dish out the damage. That's how Saurus survive.

This. The rules of 8th ed have been designed to make people take larger units. Even a unit of 20 I don't think cuts it for most troop types who used to go 18 or cut off at 20 maximum. You need to be able to absorb a few casualties and still be ok in the next turn.

If you are building a list including a unit of say 20 saurus, and find yourself with 20 odd points left over, throw an extra saurus or two into the unit! Might as well, means a few more deaths before you lose a rank bonus.

 

[Bibamus]

it really depends on the rest of the army. for example if you have a life slann you can afford slammer saurus units, since the moment you lost the rank bonus you can cast regrowth where necessary, same with flesh to stone if a unit seems to be falling too fast.
lore of light might save some saurus aswell if you get to I10 or ASF, but toher than these 2 lores you are going to need bigger units since once they die, they are dead.
lore of shadows is arguably good aswell since it can reduce the S and WS of the enemy and add to the survivability of the saurus, buts its trickier and i wouldn't rely on it to validate smaller saurus units.

i allways use 2 units of 20 saurus and 16TG+Slann with life (sometimes light for a change) and i'm quite happy with the results, i can afford to lost 5 saurus before losing attacks and flesh to stone/regrowth keeps the combat balanced.

for lore of death/fire/metal/etc. i'd probably go for 25 strong units

 

[Captain Chameleon]

okey dokey
I'll keep all this in mind when organising my force