Editing Decimator (section)

===5th Edition===
This one that we're talking about here had a very late 5th-edition debut. Towering over even the mighty Contemptor Pattern [[Dreadnoughts]] of the [[Adeptus Astartes]], the Decimator is believed to be an attempt to bolster the ranks of such ancient devices that still serve the Traitor Legions. If this is the truth, then it is feared that many warriors of the Imperium will fall before these deadly war machines.

At least, that's what GW would have you believe back in the day. Crunch-wise, they debuted with crappier Dreadnought stats (12/11/11 armour, WS/BS/I 3) and all the usual daemon engine goodies like ignoring shaken and stunned results. They could also regenerate blown weapons and unimmobilize themselves or could stand back up in a very Necron-esque way - all part of a special rule called Unholy Vigour. For weapons, they came with Siege Claws, which were basically Dreadnought Lightning Claws that could falcon punch buildings and vehicles with 2d6 to pen and then could deliver Heavy Flamer hits on any transport occupants. These could be replaced with a Butcher Cannon, which at the time was a 4 shot S8 Reaper Autocannon; a Storm Laser for melting MEQs; a Heavy Conversion Beamer for some reason or a Soul Burner Petard, which dropped rending pie-plates. Furthermore, they could be marked by the Gods in an era where that had long been swept into the bin - a very exciting thing, although it required an Independent Character in the same army with the same allegiance. Khorne gave 2 attacks on the charge, Nurgle gave re-rolls to Unholy Vigour, Slaanesh gave defensive grenades and Tzeentch re-rolled shooting to-hits of 1. Obviously, Nurgle and Tzeentch were the mainstays.

So... a tad underwhelming at 155 points and its touted resilience wasn't that hot. There was one golden daemon diorama that featured a Decimator fighting a Blood Angels Contemptor and given the stats at the time, the Contemptor would have blown the Decimator before it even got a swing. It was a cool niche model and it actually had some utility as a gun platform at the time and its mainly what people used them for as an Elites choice in a Daemons or CSM army. In the Daemons at least it was a pretty neat dakka piece, outright better than the Soul Grinder but was then overshadowed by Flamers of Tzeentch. Bit of a mixed bag debut, really.