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I've been working out what to pickup for a new necron force to keep me busy uptil christmas and contemplating tactics that might be useful/fun to try. I know it is quite common for crypteks to commander a necron warriors ghost ark to scoot about the battlefield blowing stuff up but I was curious as to the effectiveness of using it as an anti-infantry gunboat (9 immortals, 1 tremortek) knocking out alot of tesla on the move with the ability to broadside a squad with the arrays and passengers shooting when up close. It'd be a heavy points investment but roam down the field behind a warrior squad replenishing their ranks whilst decimating enemy infantry.

So any Necron players has this been tried/is it worth trying. Or is there any better use for an Ark beyond cryptek/warriors sitting onboard?

EDIT; NM, found the limitation on immortals not being able to board. Is it reasonable to assume then that Warrior or Cryptek gun boats are the two best uses for Ghost Arks

Ghost Ark gunboats are indeed effective. AV13, puts out massive shots, heals your screen of warriors preventing melta from getting too close, and if it blows up you pile ten guys out to keep trucking.

You could also use it to transport a Lord and retinue for death star shenanigans. It's open topped so you can assault from it.

Warriors, ICs, and Royal courts work great. A couple of options are A full RC with SoL, Despair, or Destruction crypteks. Also just adding a couple of crypteks to an 8 man warrior squad makes for a healthy amount of firepower and resiliency for your scoring unit.

 Melcavuk wrote:
EDIT; NM, found the limitation on immortals not being able to board. Is it reasonable to assume then that Warrior or Cryptek gun boats are the two best uses for Ghost Arks

Yeah, the limitation sucks :(
It's probably warrior-only to prevent us from using them as an assault vehicle for some of the other awesome melee units.

But I don't think the 'usage' is about what you put in them, it's mostly about how you make your list.
I like Ghost Arks (because they are an awesome model) for the awesome tactics.
Their repair and cover are great for a silver tide.
As an AV13-transport I love how we Necrons can build a list where every unit is either AV13 or transported in one.

Kangodo wrote:

 Melcavuk wrote:
EDIT; NM, found the limitation on immortals not being able to board. Is it reasonable to assume then that Warrior or Cryptek gun boats are the two best uses for Ghost Arks

Yeah, the limitation sucks :(
It's probably warrior-only to prevent us from using them as an assault vehicle for some of the other awesome melee units.

But that's the very reason why people don't take Lychguard anymore: no assault transport options!
If the Ghost Ark were able to transport any infantry models (have the Repair Barge function be a purchasable upgrade that would THEN restrict the GA to Warriors only), we'd probably see a lot more variation in lists...
(when the next edition of the codex comes out, this better be one of the first things fixed)

I always never leave home without my GAs they are very nice support fireboats that also are great for zooming around and dropping warriors on objectives.

I usually use them with squads of warriors in them and a Destructek for some long range support.

Keep em cheap and just put 10 warriors inside for an astounding 40 shots in rapidfire which will bring most anything down.

 buddha wrote:
Keep em cheap and just put 10 warriors inside for an astounding 40 shots in rapidfire which will bring most anything down.

Wouldn't that be 30 shots? Or have you found a way to get both Gauss arrays on each side of the Ark to point at the same target?

Arks have 180 degree ark on each array and as most targets are large than the 2'' space vetween you can align both usually.

 buddha wrote:
Arks have 180 degree ark on each array and as most targets are large than the 2'' space vetween you can align both usually.

Necron FAQ page 2 states flayer arrays have a 45 degree arc, not 180. You cannot shoot a target directly in front of the GA at all (unless of course it extends out far enough to reach the 45 degree arc of one, or both, of the flayer arrays)

Thanks for that (I thought something seemed off).
Still, 30 relatively mobile shots that can cause glances is nothing to sneeze at... though, I'd prefer 30 S5 AP3 + 10 S4 AP5 Gauss shots on a mobile platform, myself.

It offers good shenanigans when double force org. A combo of 5 lords/overlords moves majority t to 5, and it's open topped. It's royal court deathstar in an open topped transport.

Thanksfor the great advice, despite not getting my dreeam of running and immortal gunboat I'm still really psyched to use Ghost Arks. I have my rough startup list worked out and am down to the nuances of how to best run my arks to optimise the list. Currently the list will include 20 warriors, 2 arks, 4 crypteks, 5 immortals and an overlord however how to run them is the problem. I'm down to 2 potential tactics:

10 Warriors in an Ark
4 Crypteks in Ark
10 warriors with Overlord on foot

OR

15 warrior blob with resi orb Overlord
5 warriors in ark
4 crypteks in ark.

The blob on foot would be fed into by both arks to be near unstoppable, however a 10 man ark gunboat would be more mobile firepower.


I also had a question as to which point a Fabricator Array Spyder becomes useful with the Arks, I like the model, the general stats and the idea of reinforcing the things reinforcing my warriors but wasnt sure if point for point it gives much more durability?

I have used a Ghost ark with 9 warriors and a destruction cryptek. The 36" range on the lance is really nice for the first turn, plus it is always fun to pop out an instant death precision shot!

Remember that the flayer arrays can fire at different targets, and the warriors can fire at a 3rd target. Proper positioning and you could fire at 3 things with the same model.

Here's something I ran once at 1750 which worked out rather well. Take from it what you will, but it was pretty effective-

20 Warriors + ResOrb Overlord w/G. of Fire (walking)
5 SoL Lords + 3 SoL Crypteks (riding in Ark)
5 Deathmarks + Despair-tek (Nightscythe)
8 Gauss Immortals + Storm-tek (Nightscythe)
3 Spyders (1x Fabricator) + 9 Scarabs (behind Ghost Ark)
2 Annihilation Barges
5 Warriors (in reserves, walk on late game to claim home objective)

Total = 1746

What is SoL??

N/m staff of light