Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Skitarii (section)

==Unit Analysis==

===HQ===
Like the Harlequins, you don't have to take one. Thank the Omnissiah, because to make an effective one you'd wind up dumping several hundred points into wargear.

Fluffwise this is due to Skitarii being directed by Techpriests who have the good sense to send orders remotely from orbit instead of risking their necks on the ground. Interestingly these orders are seen as guidance from the Omnissiah to the Skitarii instead of orders from a superior. And by this we mean they feel compelled to do, instead of follow orders.

Alternate opinion: Alpha Primus/walking arsenal Haldron-44 Stroika begs to differ.

You can now take Belisarius Cawl, Celestine, or Greyfax as a HQ for any Army of the Imperium (thank you fall of cadia) - you could take skitarii in a CAD/Allied Detachment. This also means you can finally take the juicy superheavies from Forge World that these guys get access to.

===Troops===
*'''Skitarii Rangers''' - They have similar stat-lines to Tempestus Scions and have Move-Through-Cover, but also with Feel No Pain (6+) and Relentless which seems standard for Skitarii units. So they have comfortable staying power and decent move-and-shoot mobility. Since they all have Galvanic Rifles as standard, expect lots of precision hits over time, so they're excellent at removing troublesome characters or special weapon troopers from enemy units. Their range means that they can be used like more mobile Fire Warriors.
**This unit can also take up to 2 special weapons (3 if the squad is maxed out); however, the best option is the transuranic arquebus. The arquebus allows your objective campers to contribute to the fight from afar. Exceptional for removing MEQs from the board reliably, and, as mentioned above, has a ridiculously long range and an anti-transport option, but rather expensive. Also, an omnispex to deny cover-campers some of their trolling isn't a bad idea.

*'''Skitarii Vanguard''' - Your "basic" unit. Cheaper than Rangers at 9 points a model for something almost straight out of [[Fallout]]. They are similar to Rangers in statline but get a Radium Carbine (and a bad-ass looking 15th century helmet) instead of a Galvanic Rifle, so they trade reliable longer range and sniping ability for more firepower at medium range (and style, don't forget style). Against anything but Sv4+ they bring roughly 50% more hurt for the same points as Rangers, going to 200% against T6 and higher, (given it's within 18" range). Additionally, since they are so saturated with radiation, ''anyone'' engaged in melee with them reduces their Toughness by one, making Vanguards not as terrible in CC as you could expect from the shooty stormtrooper-esque squad. 
**Same options for special weapons as above, and they really should take some. Take Plasma Calivers if you want to vaporise MEQs and TEQs, and have balls-loads of points to spare. Is your opponent packing a [[Land Raider]] or a [[Monolith]]? No problem, Arc rifles will make toast out of them for half the price of a Caliver each. Phosphor blast pistol and Omnispex are a recommended combo for some [[Tau]] shenanigans.
** Alternatively, you can take the Vanguard bare bones. They are pretty cheap for what they do and can generate a gigantic clusterfuck with three shots per model that auto-wound ''twice'' on 6s, which you'll be having quite a few of. Especially Chaos Daemons will hate your guts for spamming Vanguard, but even Terminators buckle under the amount of wounds they will need to save. And if faced with a charge, just throw your Vanguard at them, take away their charge bonuses and laugh as your puny tin-men wound the mighty Spess Muhreens on 4+.
**It looks at first like you can do some really cheesy stuff by stacking rad-induced toughness reduction, but, due to the specific line in the 'Rad Saturation' rule that states the rule can only be used to bring the enemy toughness to a minimum of 1, that won't work. You can reduce enemy toughness ''to'' 1, if you stack it up right (Dark Angels, Ordo Xenos Inquisitors, Imperial Knights), but abusing this will mark you as [[That Guy]]. Like most cheapness, it's fun to try once, but then hang it up and don't be a dickhat.(Totally worth the 500+ points needed and ability to get 2 units in cc to just get a trick on one unit)
***No, you can.  ''Rad Saturation'' has a maximum reduction of reducing to 1, but ''Rad Grenades'' on the Inquisitors has no such rule.  Barring errata (neither book's errata covers this as of 2-9-2017), you should be able to choose the order the rules resolve in, so Rad Saturation reduces (to a minimum of 1) and ''then'' the Rad Grenades reduce to a minimum of 0.
**These little tin men may very well be some of the nastiest bare-bones troops in the game. At a mere 100 points, and not even taking their Doctrina Imperatives into account, you're looking at a unit that ''can'' and ''will'' obliterate anything that doesn't have an armor value provided you roll even mildly well. And so long as you take the Skitarii Maniple formation (and who wouldn't? Plasma Calivers in your WL's squad with Preferred Enemy? Yes, ''please'') that measly 18" range on your guns suddenly becomes a 30" threat bubble thanks to Scout and your regular 6" movement to any infantry unlucky enough to be outside of a vehicle. It's also worth noting that, provided the Dice Gods truly bless your rolls and damn your opponent's, they're one of the few troops units that can kill a Bio-Titan in one round of shooting.
**Actually, 25 bare bones vanguard with a psyker casting misfortune will statistically kill it for just over 300 points in one round of shooting.
**Unless you really plan on getting into melee with Vanguard and think that extra attack is going to make a difference, you may be best off leaving the radium carbine on the Alpha. One extra attack isn't really worth 1/3 of the shots at 3/4 of your already crummy range. If you are that bothered, take a Phase Taser or Taser Goad for the chance of making more wounds. 
**That said, the dude is still pretty nasty in combat and with just 10 points more you can hand him out a taser goad and a phosphor blast pistol, which will both synergize well IF you intend to charge them. Side effects included: wounding MEQ on 2+, instaggibing T3 and possibly supporting effect from the pistol. If you go this route NEVER, EVER, FOR NO OMNISSIAHDDAMN' REASON take a radium pistol: for the same cost you are choosing between a laspistol with ap5 and a chance to put out 2 wounds or a single shot heavy bolter with a strong supporting effect. Laspistol vs heavy bolter, any objections?
**Another strong melee option for the vanguard Alpha is going Pater Radium and try to just sneak around the melee. Put one of them in the squad with your Techpriest, have the dude stay out of harm's way until initiative 1 and you got 50% to deal d6 unsavable wounds on T4 or 66% on T3. Plus whatever attack he might had.

===Elite===
*'''Sicarian Ruststalkers''' - Fighty little metal men with Transonic Razors, Chordclaws and Mindscrambler Grenades, they benefit from both Dunestrider and Furious Charge, which add to make them a fast attack force.  They're also very fragile with T3, even if they have 2 wounds each and Feel no Pain.  They can exchange all their weapons for two Transonic Blades for free, which can ensure more of a hurt, but at the cost of utility and the chance for ID, while the Princeps can gain a Prehensile Dataspike for the cost of a melta and/or buy back the Chordclaw he traded away if he has double Transonic Blades.
** While the Transonic Blades seem tempting, it is better to stay away from them. One attack with Fleshbane and the uber-grenades are vastly superior to +1S on the other attacks, especially since Furious Charge already makes your attacks S5. However when the ap2 kicks in with the transonic rule the furious charge has worn off, this means that one could hit at s6 rending (first turn) and then hit at s5 ap2 (second turn).
** Worth pointing out that on the charge you'll do more glancing hits against AV10 with razors than with haywire, so use razors on vehicles with AV10 rear armour.
** Also worth pointing out that Chordclaws and Mindscrambler grenade units are still S5 on the charge meaning you glance that same AV10 on a 5+ with the same amount of attacks while being more effective against high T (fleshbane) and vehicles who have AV11+ rear (haywire grenades). Blades are outclassed in all situations.
**Surprisingly, this is an excellent anti-tank unit. Your standard 5-man squad with a Dataspike will have 8 haywire attacks (4 from mindscrambler grenades, 4 from dataspike) on the charge. Against a vehicle, you would get a little over 4 glances and 1 pen on average regardless of armor, more than enough to take out just about anything. Comparable HP damage from say, BS4 meltas vs AV 12 would require 9 of them -- though to be fair, you'd get more pens. All while costing as much as melta-equipped sternguard. The only drawback is that they'd get shot off the board immediately afterwards.
*** FAQs have clarified that you can only throw one grenade per phase including assault, so you're limited to just 5 haywire attacks. Hardly bad, but no longer the surefire armour deletion that it was previously.
*'''Sicarian Infiltrators''' - The bastard children of Alpha-5 of the Power Rangers and Pit-droids, if they were built by a bunch of xenophobic men in red robes.  Their loadouts are less impressive than the Ruststalkers with Stubcarbines and Power Swords and they're more expensive, but they get better rules: Dunestrider, Infiltrate, and Stealth means that they'll certainly reach reliable cover where they need it.  However, they can be equally handy as walls as they make enemies within 6" take -1 WS/BS/I/Ld, which can lock them in for at least a round, and replacing their guns with Flechette Blasters and Taser Goads can make them an absolute nightmare in close combat.
** In short, while their special rules are better and the fact that they actually have guns that shoot farther than grenades is good, their loadouts are less focused to specific tasks. A ton of Taser attacks are generally more useful than a few AP3 attacks. It turns out that with a little mathhammer, the Infiltrators have a better statistical chance of killing more Terminators than Ruststalkers by their SHEER WEIGHT OF NUMBER OF ATTACKS. Watch your opponent weep when he loses three terminators in one round of combat because he thought your Infiltrators were nothing more than robots with batons! However, unlike the Ruststalkers, the Taser/Flechette Infiltrators can force a lot of saves on (almost) anything, and over varying ranges as well. The Stub Carbine/Power Sword combo might sound great, but keep in mind that the Carbine, though a surprisingly strong gun, is not a pistol, which means that the amount of power sword attacks they can put out is very limited.
** However, getting an enemy into combat with Infiltrators AND a unit of Vanguard will almost certainly result in bloody murder, especially for the Taser Goad variant, since they suddenly hit most things' Instant Death threshold with -1T on them and S6 on you. Laugh and collect Tau tears as his 700 point Farsight Bomb gets shredded by a mere 300 points of your glorious tinfoil storm troopers.
** Do note that under Hyperaction Protocols they get WS7, combined with Neurostatic Aura this means for a full game turn Space Marines need 5+ to hit them.
** I've found while they are great on the charge they work best as a mind-game. No one playing marines or guard will want these things close at all, so they are great for forcing your opponent to turn and get rid of them or move away from the Static Aura. This is more than enough to give you a turn or 2 to get the rest of the vanguard into position to mess up someones day.
** To add onto the mind games, due to their Dunestrider rule it's a completely viable tactic to start them in the center of your deployment zone (or as close to the center as possible while remaining in cover and ideally out of LOS) at the start of your game. Your opponent won't want to deepstrike near them unless he's sure he can kill them off, being in the center allows for repositioning to either flank if one side starts to cave, and because of their huge threat range you can let them hang back until your opponent has, to their intense misfortune, forgotten about them and moved a key unit just that little bit too close.
** Before you think you have some juicy Overwatch shenanigans on your hands, look at precedent and understand that the Aura does not reduce an overwatching opponent's BS to 0. Their BS counts as 1 but is not reduced to 1. Doesn't matter anyway because your infiltrators are about to enter melee and the opponent is about to be taking their models off the table.

*'''Secutarii Hoplites''' - Titan honour guard, basically Skitarii before GW reinvented them to be the Martian militia; they're noted as actually being part of the "Adeptus Titanicus" faction, but Skitarii can take them as elites, so it's cool. Hoplites are the Fighty Secutarii, and are pretty much standard Skitarii Rangers without MTC and the Alpha doesn't get the extra wound. They come standard with Kyropatris Field Generators, which allows a squad of at least 5 guys to reroll armor saves of 1, and squads of at least 10 guys to receive shooting attacks at Str -1. For weapons, they get Arc Lances which shoot with the profile of a bolt pistol with Haywire, and have a melee profile of Str+1 AP4 with Concussive and Haywire; essentially, they function as an Arc Pistol and Arc Maul at the same time, but without the extra attack the pistol/maul combo would net you. They also have Mag-inverter shields, which gives 5++ and counts the unit as armed with defensive grenades when charged. As for options, they can take their 10 guys and add up to 10 more, all the standard options for the Alpha, and can take an omnispex (which is practically useless for these guys), and an enhanced data tether (which is nice). With all the haywire and how tough large squads can get, these guys are can make a very powerful anti-vehicle and anti-fort squad, albeit their threat bubble is rather short. For GEQs, their a tough nut to crack; but considering that they get less tough when the casualties start piling up, they have a built-in incentive to take a large squad, but that always comes with the downside in terms of point cost and transporting them where you need them most.

*'''Secutarii Peltasts''' - These are the Shooty Secutarii, they get the Mechanicus version Special Issue Ammunition. Same profile as the guys above, including the Kyropatris Field Generators, but the Peltasts actually capitalize on their higher BS. Their Galvanic Casters have 3 different firing modes (which the whole squad must use); Flechette Burster ''(AKA Goodbye GEQs!)'' which is 24" S3 AP- Salvo 2/4 Shred; Ignis Blaze ''(AKA Goodbye covered GEQs)'' which is 18" S3 AP5 Heavy 1 Ignores Cover, Blast (3"), Parabolic shot (which allows the Peltasts to ignore LOS, as long as the unit isn't sealed in an enclosed space like a building); and finally Kinetic Hammershot ''(AKA Goodbye MEQs and TEQs)'' which is 30" S4 AP3 Heavy 1 Rending. In addition, they have the one-use option of using a Blind Barrage during the shooting phase, which makes them forgo shooting on this turn and gives Shrouded to a friendly within 18", nothing saying that it can't be that same unit of Secutarii, but 2 units of Peltasts must use this on the same thing if you're giving it to a superheavy. As for options, they get the same things as Hoplites: turn a 10-man squad into up-to-20 men, Alpha options, Omnispex (which is ''much'' more useful to the peltasts), and Enhanced Data Tether. Without the crazy amounts of Haywire, Peltasts aren't as much of a threat to vehicles, though kinetic hammershot can threaten most monsters and AV10, and some lucky Rending roles can make them a threat up to AV13. They more than make up for in having larger squads still being tougher than Space Marine Scouts, and having either an answer or unmitigated rape to any infantry they come across (see below).
** Do note that Forgeworld (having probably never playtested them) gave them the basic skitarii profile, including Relentless, effectively making all of their shooting profiles into assault weapons. (That's 24" assault 4, 18" assault 1, and 30" assault 1). This makes the unit absurdly more effective than they look at a glance: a squad can scout 6", move 6", and then pelt the opponent at full range and BS, giving it a 42" menace range from turn 1.
** A side effect of the above is that the flechette profile is absurdly powerful: up to 80 shots at S3 with shred means the squad can get just shy of it's own cost in point back in Terminator kills on one turn of shooting. A little mathammer proves that it is 3 times more effective than the hammershot, even against MEQ. With Doctrina Imperatives kicking in, they can deal 37 wounds on MEQ and 50 on GEQ, getting up to a whopping 43 on MEQ and 58 on GEQ with a targeting relay or choosing the Alpha as a warlord to give the squad the ability to reroll ones to hit. Really, a squad with impossible firepower (More shots than Orks, at Tau range and with better accuracy than marines) , definitely more resilient than regular skitarii while costing just 1 ppm more than Rangers...I don't know how they will play out but the maths on them show something disgusting.
** In practice, both squads of Secutarii are best when fighting together, with Hoplites leading the Peltasts in. The enemy will either worry too much for their precious [[METAL BOXES]] and kill your Hoplites, or worry too much for their precious MEQs/TEQs/MCs and kill your Peltasts. Either way, the other squad will make it to kill the other critical parts of their army. Allied [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|Imperial Knights]] also help them move in unaccosted, drawing enemy fire until it's too late...
**Squads of 10 tend to die really quickly unless hidden in Transports. If you're foot-slogging them, bring them in squads of at least 15, if not 20. This is certainly pricey (190-205 or 250-270 points, respectively), but the -1 Str on incoming attacks helps a lot more than it would seem, and it's pointless to have a buff which goes away as soon as you lose a single T3 model.
**20 of these guys with BS5+, re-rolling ones (warlord) coupled with misfortune (to guarantee wounds on 6's) will deal 24 rending wounds on any target T5 or above. This is your best answer to Wraithknights, Primarchs, Riptides or whatever other beasty you may come across.
**The kyropatris generator's effect of rerolling armour saves of 1 is situational on 4+ armour, but gets ridiculous when paired with a dominus or Cawl. Yes, it works, as only 5 generators have to be in the unit to grant the reroll to all models in the unit. With this, Cawl can never die to non-AP2 wounds, as it takes 64 wounds to get one through. Which he regenerates each round. Downside, majority toughness is still 3, so there will be more wounds inflicted than on solo Cawl. Upside, he gives the squad the resilience and CC punch to act more aggessively.

===Fast Attack===
*'''Sydonian Dragoons''' - Cross Imperial Guard Sentinels with [[Bretonnia]]n knights and you get this. They come in squads of 1-6 and they are terrifyingly fast, open topped walkers with a Taser Lance designed for charging at people. It gets the ''"Dunestrider"'' rule which adds 3" to any move, run or charge it makes, in addition to having the ''Crusader'' special rule. It's also protected by it's cloud of incense, so gains a 5+ cover save while in the open, which benefits them as assaulters. The basic Dragoon has no ranged attack, but can replace its Lance with a Radium Jezzail ''(the sniper one)'' if you want them flanking up the side of the battlefield rather than charging things. But if you still want them charging, either version can purchase Phosphor Serpentas on top of their equipment, which can practically guarantee the charge if you manage to score a wound with them not to mention gives them a better chance at not losing the lance when rolling for Weapon Destroyed. Keep in mind the Serpenta is an Assault 1 weapon, so sadly no extra attack in melee for having a pistol.
** Be advised, that as melee attackers, they each have S8, I3 (I6 off the charge thanks to the Joust special rule), A4 (with the ability to generate 2 ''extra'' S8 hits with 6's) on the charge, but with no AP to speak of. They "might" be able to poke apart a Land Raider if you had a full squad of six and were lucky at rolling sixes to penetrate armour. Don't be disheartened though, that's not what Dragoons are for. With that speed they are perfect for flanking attacks and catching enemy light units or stationary artillery in the back-field. Also don't forget to claim a Hammer of Wrath when ending the charge move in BtB with enemy - while "only" S5 with no special rules, they hit automatically, so it's basically like a weaker extra attack on charge. Also they are pretty decent MC hunters, provided you take enough in a unit.
**As Dragoons are AV11, anything without S5 or krak/haywire grenades cannot do shit against them. Be prepared for those guardsmen or orks you just charged to retreat at the end of your assault phase, leaving you in the open at the mercy of your opponent's anti-tank guns. You may get lucky with a sweeping advance and wipe them out, but it still leaves you vulnerable afterwards. On the other hand daemons and fearless enemies are royally fucked if they cannot pierce AV11.
**Sydonians are basically the shock cavalry of 40k, they charge in, and get a shit ton of bonuses for doing so, however, if they fail to wipe out what their charging or fail to kill anything with S5+, they WILL feel the pain when the next initiative step kicks in.
**These guys make great superheavy/gargant hunters. So long as they are able to wipe it out turn one, or else they will get their shiny metal asses handed to them on a plate. I have seen a 135pt squad take down knights and wraithknights with only marginal luck in the dice. Seriously, when facing large, single model units bring these guys, they are a steal at 45pts a model for what they can do.
**Even if you give your Dragoons the Radium Jezzails, remember that they aren't too shabby at close combat even without the Taser Lance. 4 attacks + HoW at S5 and WS4 is very unpleasant. That's not to say they are amazing in CC without the Lances, but they can really hold their own if they need to.

===Heavy Support===
*'''Ironstrider Ballistarii''' - If you were thinking about using Dragoons for shooting, you might want to consider this as a superior alternative. They come with Twin-Linked Cognis Autocannons and the ''Precision Shots'' rule instead. You may replace the Autocannons with Cognis Lascannons if you want to go tank or TEQ hunting. Ballistarii are still blisteringly fast with Dunestrider and Crusader, but they don't have the incense cloud to protect them, so keep them at arm's length from your opponent, preferably obscured behind their own cover.
**In a pinch these could be used as fast moving Anti-Aircraft platforms. With Twin-Linked Cognis weapons at BS2, they have a ~55% chance of landing a hit on an enemy flyer, which is better than anything with BS3 & Skyfire, and since you get Lascannons a single hit is far more likely to down a vehicle in one shot than the Autocannons or Flakk Missiles you'll find everywhere else. This also leads to very accurate overwatch, but how the fuck did you let the enemy get that close to you?
** The ballistarii are the weakest unit you have in terms of survivability (Coming from an army of T3 models).  Tall, AV11 all around, no save of any kind, Open-topped, and your opponent WILL want them dead.  If you use them, keep them as far back as you can.  The Ironstrider Cavaliers formation negates this just a bit by allowing you to shoot through some Dragoons without giving your target cover and allowing your big guns some...but only a 5+ and a bad Outflank roll could leave you in a bad spot. Then again, that bad Outflank roll is very unlikely, since Acute Senses grant a reroll.
**The Ironstrider Ballistarii is presented as a cheaper alternative to the Onager Dunecrawler, trading survivability and CQC epicness for speed and balls-out firepower. A Ballistarii with a lascannon will run you 75 points, in comparison to a Dunecrawler with Neutron laser, which will cost 115 points; a 4 man squad of lascannon ballistari will be overall cheaper than a squad of 3 Neutron Dunecrawlers and have about the same anti-tank capability at the same range. While lascannons are slightly weaker than neutron lasers, lascannons don't scatter and these are cognis AND twin-linked. It's probably best to take the Ballistari against fast, but weak vehicles (Orks, Space Marines Dark Eldar) and Dunecrawlers against strong vehicles (Tau, Imperial Guard, Eldar). If you're dealing with infantry of any kind, Sydonian Dragoons trump both vehicles.
*'''Onager Dunecrawler''' - The bastard child of a Deff Dread and Defiler, the Onager is a big, ugly, heavy weapons platform above all else. They have a special ability in that they all have a 6++ save, which gets boosted by 1 up to a 4++ for every other Onager within 4" that is in the same unit. It can be kitted out with the following weapons/items:
**'''Eradication Beamer''' - Stock weapon on the Onager and overall, not a bad one. It basically gives you a range of effectiveness and most armies would want to back away their strong, expensive units from your death walker tanks so they don't get hit with S10 AP1 zaps. And if those nasty units are not getting close to your squishy metal humies, your dudes survive longer!
**'''Cognis Heavy Stubber''' - comes as a package deal with the Neutron Laser, as well as being a purchasable upgrade, and makes for a nice albeit milquetoast support gun. Snap-firing at BS2 is nothing to sneeze at, though.
**'''Icarus Anti-Air Array''' - Still decently effective against ground targets for a 125pt anti-air rape machine, you get ''all three'' of the guns described in the Icarus array above--aren't you so lucky? Priciest of the options, but fills a much-needed anti-air role otherwise absent from a stand-alone Skitarii list. Taking this means losing the ability to take Smoke Launchers, though, so at least pair up the Icarus Onagers for a 5++ Invul.
**'''Neutron Laser''' - Be wary of spending the 25pts for this upgrade because you're trading away the likelihood of reliable damage with the Eradication Beamer (if your opponent is insane or stupid enough to let it that close) for absolutely murderous damage (and a cognis heavy stubber!). Arguably the deadliest of the Onager's guns because of that straight S10 AP1 48" punch; if you're taking these, you don't need Ballistarii with lascannons, except as makeshift Anti-Air.
**'''Phosphor Blaster''' - Facing a lot of MEQs? This is a great fire support tool for your gunline for a bargain. Additionally, as long as 3 are alive and close together, 3 AV12 walkers stomping towards you should survive well enough for the price. Tau players will hate you for bringing these and melting their little battle suits.
*** Really, leave the Phosphor Blaster at home. 15 points ''and'' giving up the Eradication Beamer already stings, but once you see that Cult Mechanicus Castelans do the Phosphor thing way better, the gun looks out of place on an otherwise very cost-effective model.
*** While the above is partly true, the onager is still the best way to use HPB for its support role: with 15pts less than a single Kastelan you get a well rounded supporting machine, sporting the aforementioned HPB, a data tether, a mindscanner probe and a cognis heavy stubber for some lucky potshots. All the while, it has the possibility of going with multiple single model units and shooting fairly better than the Kastelans. Really is a matter of battleplan: you want to have some countercharging scary behemoths that can blast MEQ to kingdom come while nerfing any unit they cannot annihilate? Go Kastelan. Want to have a huge, vesatile, hard as bricks firebase with split fire? Go cohort cybernetica. Want just a way to make charges easier and prepare some camping pussies and jinking pansies for the storm of plasma/lighting arcs/anti-material transuranium rounds (getting the added benefits of +Ld1 and defensive grenades bubble)? Bring in 2-3 cheapish onagers as single units. If you lack the HS slots, just buy a couple more squads of Vanguards, you'll hardly regret it.
*** The Phosphor Blaster seems a weird choice at first but a possibly overlooked part is that it's twin linked and isn't a blast and so does not scatter, Combined with Imperatives it pulls its weight since it's going to struggle to miss its target already and even at lowered ballistic skill will still have a fair chance of hitting the target. It's arguably the most reliable weapon of all the onager guns and has the nice bonus of synergy with your other units (sicarians and dragoons re-roll charges, rangers vanguard and ironstriders worry less about camping carls making their cover saves).
**'''Cognis Manipulator''' - It's like a servo-arm...except it's on giant spidertanks and grants IWND. Sx2 (so S10) and AP1 on a 1 attack model. It is godly, but seems tuned for solo Onagers where not having a 4++ from buddies makes IWND a nice option. Painfully expensive though.
**'''Mindscanner Probe''' - This pretty much covers your lack of krak grenades.  If any enemy completes a charge against a friendly unit within 6" of your spidertank, they no longer get bonus attacks on the charge. Useful given how poorly Skitarii fare in Assault phases.
*** While the ''War Convocation'' Formation is already godly, what it does to the Onagers is unbelievable. You know the comments about the Cognis Manipulator being way too expensive to justify? Well, now you can get them for free! On a full unit! So not only does your wall of AV12 Walkers have a 4++, they also all have IWND and charge with 6 S10 AP2 Attacks total. You know, just in case whatever you shot with those Neutron Lasers happens to still be alive. Also pairs well with the Conqueror Imperatives, since BS isn't too important for their Blasts and WS6 on these guys looks really terrifying.

===Lords of War===

*'''[[Ordinatus|Ordinatus-Minoris Macro Engine]]:''' A quick look at the forgeworld store page shows these engines of annihilation can be taken as LoW choices for the 40k Admech lists. Comes in two flavours, and If you ever run them against someone, they're probably not your friend. Each Ordinatus comes with three Volkite Culverins, Blessed Autosimulacra, Anabaric Claw, Armored ceremite and a Ordinatus Dispersion shield. Oh and 14/13/13 with 14HP and is a super heavy. But if it explodes anything under will probably die as it utilises it's own destruction chart which every one of the results always has a Destroyer hit. The Dispersion shield is the big thing on this machine.  Basically it's a super Flare Shield that loses effectiveness overtime but will always have an affect. Turn one :-3 Strength to shooting attacks and rolls on the D chart, Turn two: -2 Strength to shooting attacks and D Chart and Turn three and subsequent turns -1 Strength to shooting and D charts. Basically don't shoot it with D as you'll never be stripping off those hull points.
**'''Ordinatus Sagittar''': Because fuck that model (or that unit), it didn't deserve to be on the table, even at that distance.  A 180" Strength D weapon with an Apocalyptic Blast that royally fucks over vehicles might seem OP, but that's because it is, though at its extremely expensive cost it will need some protection, though if you fight Marines often, and combined with its dispersion shield, it can easily make its points back by turn 3 so long as you keep its guns pointed where they belong, at the priciest unit within 180".
**'''Ordinatus Ulator''': The one displayed from FW Open day, This big ass sonic projector will have people kicking you in the nuts every time you shoot it. 72" Range Strength X AP2 Pinning Armourbane Instant Death Ignores Cover Ulator Sonic Wave. Place down a Massive blast template(7") at the edge of the hull. Direct it at an enemy (Has to be enemy first and can hit friendlies) and draw a straight line using the Massive blast template. Anything that gets partially touched by it takes a hit from the following Table.  (This also includes Flyers. Yes. Even Flyers.)
***The Ulator is one of the few things in the game that is effective against everything that isn't a Primarch (or that has Eternal Warrior).  You can effectively use it to fill in any hole your army develops, lost Anti-tank?  Strength 8-10 with Armourbane at AP2.  Hordes got you down?  Strength 5 ID Massive Blast template will thin them out.  Air defence gone?  Just shoot those fliers down.  Your opponent brought their Baneblade(s) (or their variants)?  You shoot them with Strength D, and on top of all of this, you literally CANNOT miss a single shot you ever fire.