

Celtic Heavy Onager
There is little to be said against the idea of throwing heavy objects at enemies.One of the simplest forms of one-armed catapult, the onager relied on twisted skeins of animal sinew which provided the power to hurl either rocks or shot. Inaccurate but powerful, it was an effective siege engine against buildings and fortifications, but was of far less use on the battlefield unless firing into massed infantry ranks. First mentioned by Philon of Byzantium in his treatise ‘Mechanics’, the onager had a sling-like cradle attached to a firing arm. This arm was inserted and twisted to propel its shot through torsion. As the firing arm was released, the sling-like cradle would unhook, firing the projectile. A padded beam was incorporated into the housing frame to restrain the arm. Larger machines could require as many as eight or ten crewmen, and the incredible recoil meant that they could not be easily or safely mounted on walls or towers. Quickly constructed wherever wood was readily available, onagers soon became a staple of ancient siege warfare.
![]() |
Unit Name Celtic Heavy Onager |
Main Unit Key Cel_Large_Onager |
Land Unit Key Cel_Large_Onager |
Naval Unit Key barbarian_transport_small |
Soldiers 40 |
Category Siege Engine |
Class Field Artillery |
Custom Battle Cost 1790 |
Recruitment Cost 790 |
Upkeep Cost 160 |
Missile Damage 230 |
├ Engine onager_large |
├ Missile Weapon rome_onager_large |
├ Projectile rock_large |
├ Missile Damage 115 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 115 |
└ Base Reload Time 27 |
Accuracy 5 |
Range 480 |
Reload 4 |
Shots Per Minute 2 |
Ammunition 15 |
Melee Attack 9 |
Weapon Damage 24 |
├ Melee Weapon rome_shortsword |
├ Melee Damage Base 20 |
├ Melee Damage Ap 4 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Large 0 |
├ Bonus vs Elephants 0 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 0 |
Charge Bonus 6 |
Melee Defence 14 |
├ Base Defence 14 |
├ Shield none |
└ Shield Defence 0 |
Armour 10 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 10 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
Health 45 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_medium |
├ Man Health 40 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 5 |
Base Morale 40 |
Abilities
No Ability
Attributes
- Cannot Run
This unit cannot run and will only move at walking pace.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Light Transport- Very poor hull strength
- Very slow speed
- Weak ramming
- Long range
- High damage with its different rounds
- Hard to destroy
- Inaccurate
- Average rate of fire
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Samnite Wars | |
Caesar in Gaul | |
Hannibal at the Gates | |
Imperator Augustus |