Few units receive the sheer affection from nearly everyone in their respective faction as the Onager Dunecrawler. Launching with the initial wave of Adeptus Mechanicus models, back when Skitarii & Cult Mechanicus were separate factions, this WWI-inspired mechanical crab was the original centerpiece for the faction. Certainly, back when table sizes were larger, you could even take full squads of the Onager, moving these 130mm pie plates in herds across the battlefield, putting down pesky 7th edition Flyers better than nearly anything else. In 10th edition, however, the Onager seems to have seen better days. Broadly outcompeted for damage by the Skorpius Disintegrator, and finding itself absent from nearly all topping lists, the humble crab has all but vanished from the arsenal of the Adeptus Mechanicus, save for narrative play. I’m here today to potentially change that, and offer problems the army faces that can be solved uniquely by the Onager, not due to its weapons, but its sheer profile. Let’s dive into the story behind the Dunecrawler’s current predicament.
Via Imgur
Having been dropped in points more than a couple times this edition, the Onager sits at a cool 155, 20 points below its normal contemporary, the Disintegrator. There are a total of 4 profiles to choose from for its main armament, and moreover, unlike the Skorpius you need to choose between a Data-tether, or Smoke. The main ways the Onager sets itself apart are in its Invulnerable save of 4+, and its middling accuracy.
This leads into the discussion around those 4 choices of gun, of which only 2.5 see serious consideration. To get it out of the way, the Eradication Beamer is absolutely a blast to play with, if maybe not an ideal competitive selection. When taken, especially in Haloscreed Battle Clade with Targeting Override, providing d3 Sustained hits on a 5+ with the potential to recoup the CP on another 5+, there are moments when the dice put you in the position to positively shine—but it has some serious problems. Not only does the gun often cap out at 4 shots at Damage 3, its best-case scenario is against something like Terminators, where all its AP3 does is eat a hypothetical Armor of Contempt. If your meta is entirely Custodes & Dark Angels, this can work, but actually hitting with enough shots to take down a substantial number of bodies, after Invulnerable saves & Feel No Pain, is sketchy indeed. On the topic of hitting…
Via Convert or Die
The Onager hits on an innate 4+, which is not normally a death-knell, especially in the case of an army that can provide both BS3 and Heavy. That being said, its lack of shots, and lack of a natural buff like the Skorpius’ +1 to hit against key targets greatly diminishes its consistency, a vital aspect of tournament play. Before touching on the other guns, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the absolute best way to deploy Onagers, regardless of loadout: In Strategic Reserve. You can easily fit 2 Onagers in reserve despite their lack of Deep Strike, and due to the sheer size of their base, they actually peek out a decent ways from the edge of the board when deployed. Moreover, you can, if in Protector Doctrina, Rapid Ingress these vehicles for the ability to block key avenues with their base size, or access Heavy+BS3 alongside doubly-protected Skitarii. This can be a fantastic way to punish enemies who have failed to commit to the midboard with vehicles in a “tankfight”, or block an entire section on cluttered boards with not a single inch of room on either side for enemies to pass through.
Via International Scale Modeller
Back to the guns—if you’re intending to do the Rapid Ingress for Heavy shtick with Onagers, I highly recommend the Neutron Laser. While it normally has severe consistency issues as a mere 3 shot gun, as soon as you begin to hit on 2s it clears a great number of vehicles with ease. Peeking out the Laser from reserves and putting pressure on your opponent to hide behind angled obscuring cover can help draw them out for other weaponry, and if they fight back, you’re not scared of losing a 155pt vehicle that takes a substantial amount of firepower to actually kill. At the same defensive profile as a Skorpius, the Onager trades 1 Wound for a 4+ Invulnerable Save, shrugging half of whatever damage comes its way, on average, meaning Lascannon-type fire is a risky bet. That’s its other real niche, compared to the Disintegrator, as a supreme distraction, surviving way more than it ought to, for its points, and looking menacing on a 130mm base (bigger than a Knight’s!) for pennies.
Via The Beard Bunker
With that in mind, another fantastic innovation with the Onager is to combine Heavy Phosphor Blasters with Haloscreed’s ability to grant +2” of movement, shooting the Onager up the board in Conqueror Doctrina, and gumming up avenues in the midboard while pinging off 2W 3+ bodies, commonly known as ‘MEQs’ (Marine Equivalents). Haloscreed absolutely loves pairing Onagers with blocks of either 5 or 10 Infiltrators, making for a unique style of jail list that doesn’t rely on Skystalkers and Sterylizors. This is far more akin to what old-school Admech jail lists looked like, and utilizes the bulk and size of the Onager far more than their guns, less worried about hitting on 4s than simply making those shots count, with both Ignores Cover and often AP2 in Conqueror.
I’ve found my greatest success running Onagers in Haloscreed, in this manner, as well as in my Allied-Sister Rad-Zone list which makes use of the Immolator to provide the Neutron Laser Ignores Cover as well, as a prime tankhunting threat available via Rapid Ingress. Both of these selections used the Data-tether to full effect, as targeting a unit in Reserve actually does trigger the Data-tether roll, fun fact.
Every list that includes Onagers I’ve written and had success with in multiple games does have one dirty little secret though: They’re also on 3 Disintegrators. Yes, while the Onager does provide some reasonable means of dealing with armor pieces, the sheer math behind Disintegrators at their current points is genuinely too good to pass up, especially with how often they’re able to crack transports. They have more Stubber shots too, so the joke of ‘Codex: Cognis Heavy Stubber’ also applies, with the Onager only getting more than one in its Neutron Laser configuration. Onagers also tend to have diminishing returns, as they’re quite literally often too big to fit in deployment, heightening the degree to which they need to be placed in Strategic Reserve. The first list below is about as standard as it gets for a patently good Halo Crab list, that does start them on the board most of the time, but for a look at the list containing Rad Sisters and Neutron crabs, check the second one.
I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into the Onager Dunecrawler! It’s perhaps the most fun puzzle to solve for Admech in my opinion, as a unit seriously close to being at top tables, with the right list. How have you been using the crab? I’d love to hear what you’ve been brewing in the comments below!
