Necron review, heavy Doomsday Ark

This looks sort of familiar doesn’t it? It is looks like an upside down Ghost Ark.

The Ghost Ark transport and the Doomsday Ark do share a similar appearance and the same broadside weapons. However, this is where the similarities end. The Doomsday Ark sacrifices troop carrying and repair capacity for a single devastating weapon. This is not really a tank but rather a self-propelled cannon. The Doomsday Ark makes the weapons of other races seem primitive. When fired at low power the doomsday cannon is destructive while at full power it eclipses the; plasma, laser and many melta weapons of the lesser races in power.

The Doomsday Ark has the standard Necron ballistic skill of 4 has armor 11 (13) the front and sides with armor 11 on the back. It is a skimmer, is open-topped has two gauss flayer arrays (which we saw on the Ghost Ark ghost ark review here ), a Doomsday Cannon, living metal and quantum shielding. This guy costs just as much as the Doom Scythe.

Doomsday Cannon- is what this vehicle is all about. It has two modes of fire, one for stationary and one on the move. When stationary it is a 72” S 9 AP 1 heavy 1 large blast. If the Ark moved, then it becomes a 24” S7 AP 4 heavy 1 blast weapon. Strength 9 and AP 1 is very impressive as is the range. If it can see you it can probably shoot you.

The Doomsday Ark intrigues me. It is hard to dislike an S 9 AP 1 template weapon, especially, when it has armor 13 (quantum shields) and a good chance to always fire thanks to living metal. A pair of these could cause quite a problem for opponents. Hell, why not take three and try to really ruin someone’s day? Well......unless the enemy are all in vehicles and the dice are against you. This is one of a few problems I have with this vehicle.

The doomsday cannon could just as easily scatter around and hit nothing. There is also the lack of a real scary secondary weapon. The gauss arrays can shoot other targets; they have a terrible firing arc. This is also a one hit wonder unit. If that doomsday cannon is gone, so is the threat. Heck if you can stun this thing it is a win. It is made to shoot, so stay hidden or keep it from shooting. Even worse is if the doomsday ark has to move then it becomes even less troublesome. Yes, strength 7 is good, just not in the one shot and a small blast variety. The shields do help with survivability, but you still need a modicum of protection. Look out for deep striking meltas (which are popular in my local). The price also means that in a 1500 point game one or two is about the most I could take and still have the points left for what I want.

Yet, it is still really tough to not like a armor 13 (11) vehicle with a S 9 AP 1 large blast weapon. I keep hearing the War of the Worlds sounds when I think of this thing firing. Plus the model doesn’t look terrible. I know it is a simple Ghost Ark flip and under-slung cannon, but I really like the look of it. I’m just not sure how effective this unit could really be.