Unit of the Week: Ghost Ark

[NTaW]

 

Welcome to the Necron Unit of the Week Series!

 

Each week a different unit will be highlighted for discussion until we have amalgamated a full list of our available options and their relevant tactics as 8th edition evolves. We already have a few previous entries but things change as FAQs and Chapter Approved books get released and we playtest new ideas so please feel free to reopen a topic when new options become relevant for discussion.

 

Please keep in mind this isn't to lament the status of featured units or compare them to others but to try and find their potential for all types of gameplay. Comments that do not adhere to this goal will be removed as they are not constructive to the topic.

 

This week’s unit is:

 

 

As a loose guide, here are some questions we could answer to help out any who happen upon our metallic corner of the B&C:

 

• How many do you feel work best in an army?

• Are there any stratagems or unit combos that stand out?

• Do you build your list around this unit?

• What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of this unit?

 

Now over to you!

 

[Kaldoth]

So, for me Ghost Arks are a bit of a weird unit. They have the potential to be very good, but just don't quite fit into the meta as the game stands right now.

 

On one hand, they're super durable. 14 wounds and quantum shielding makes for a really tough transport. Its also got the firepower of 10 warriors and the fly keyword so it can fall back and shoot. At 145 points, its arguably one of the best troop transports in the game. The best thing about it is the second chance for RP rolls. Given that the RP rolls granted by a ghost ark happen at the end of the movement phase, this allows you some cheeky fall back and embark shenanigans if your warriors or characters wind up in a tight spot. A squad can fall back, embark, and then the ghost ark can still shoot even if it also had to fall back. It really does open up some interesting move and shoot tactics for the Necrons.

 

The down side to the ghost ark is it's transport capacity. It's not that the capacity itself is bad, it's the way shooting works right now and who it can transport. Ten man warrior squads are incredibly easy to wipe out, so taking advantage of those RP rolls is hard to do. The only way I see using it effectively is going to be with mass warrior spam. You're going to need a lot of target saturation to take advantage of the RP bonuses ghost arks offer. And then when you compare the effectiveness of 10 gauss flayers vs 10 tesla carbines, I think we all know who wins that battle, and ghost arks can't transport immortals.... so meh :/

 

In smaller games, I think ghost arks have a place. In larger games where shooting is abundant, I wouldn't take any less than 60 warriors and two ghost arks, or 20 immortals and 40 warriors. Two squads start embarked, four squads on the ground within 3 for the RP bonus. Plan on losing two squads out the gate to enemy shooting. That will leave you four squads that you can shuffle back and forth into and out of the transports. I would go either Mephrit or Sautekh for the dynastic code.

[Tyriks]

Ghost Arks are amazing if you have Warrior blobs. Unfortunately nothing else can get in them so they don't actually function as a transport for most of army that needs one, and it can't hold anything but the smallest squad. So, as a transport it isn't very good, but it supports footslogging warriors really well with durability and a lot of shots.

[jgascoine011]

They are a very out of place unit.

They can only transport warriors, which are generally out performed by immortals

They can only buff warriors, but you need to be fielding large units of them and they only have a transport capacity of 10.

 

If you do take them, take 1 and then big blobs of warriors, 2-3 units of 20.

Have a cryptek and Overlord and/or a Lord with res orbs near by for a 5++ and a 4+++/4+++/4+++

If your opponent cant kill 20 warriors then they will be getting back up.

 

The problem is thats a lot of points.

If gauss every gets its AT buff back then it could be viable but right now tesla is just better

[Tyriks]

I've made a realization. Ghost Arks may be best used just playing very aggressively with them. They're hardly more points than 10 warriors, but you get the same shots with more wounds at higher toughness with much faster movement, Quantum Shielding and the fly keyword. Rush a few forward and they will chew up any infantry around. Your opponent will have to deal with them, which is fairly annoying with QS. If they ignore them they'll lose a lot of infantry, but if they deal with them it saves your DDAs a few shots. And since they can Fly they can't even get locked in or prevented from shooting. Just forget about the transport and RP altogether.

[NTaW]

I like that idea, Tyriks. Being able to fall back and/or use Damage Control Override to nimbly reposition and use those flayer arrays could be very useful. They would make a pretty durable battering ram leading the charge.

 

Now that I have 80 Warriors I've been thinking more and more about this unit and its use anchoring an infantry line. I also think it could be interesting to bring along with a Deceiver relocation in conjunction with a Cryptek using the Veil to add 20 Warriors as well.

[BitsHammer]

Ghost Arks I feel are good, it's the Warriors who need some help to have them hit the table more.

 

Basically I like everything about the Ghost Ark save for the Warriors they support (I am still waiting for an updated Warrior kit that has the better weapon tubes design instead of the green rods). I don't know how they could fix Warriors though as the big issue seems to be how RP works. The rule is flavorful but doesn't work well with the current ruleset unfortunately.

 

Speaking of Ghost Arks, as a Nephrekh player the phasing on advance isn't that helpful since the Arks fly, but +6" on advancing is always helpful. Keep it fully loaded, rush it up the board to cap an objective early.

[Brother Navaer Solaq]

I've made a realization. Ghost Arks may be best used just playing very aggressively with them.... Just forget about the transport and RP altogether.

 

Wow. That is a lightbulb in my head. i never thought about that. I usually used it to emulate the fish of fury tactic by having it at the front of warriors to create a block against fast infantry.

 

In 1.5k games is it worth having two or just one?

[BitsHammer]

Aggression can be a very strong tactic. It put your opponent on the back foot and forces them to deal with what's in their face onsteadnof potentially greater threats further back.

 

It's part of why alpha strike lists are so powerful as well, and a big factor behind the usefulness of the distraction carnifex.