Decimator
Decimators are fearless Paladins that wade into the fray, unafraid of superior enemy numbers, slaying many with each swing of their Thunderaxes. Soon after entering battle they are surrounded by corpses of their foes. Decimators rely on their exacting training in the Gladitorium to judge the location and actions of each of their brothers amid the confusion of melee to avoid hitting their allies while all those within reach are cleaved with gruesome ease.[1a][2a][5]
Decimator-Primes, armed with an ominous Thunderaxe, are leaders of this unit.[1a][2a]
They are the Destroyer Paladins, the Axemen of Azyr. Enemy hordes slough away into twitching gore beneath the onslaught of a Decimator retinue. With thunderaxes whirling side by sidein well-trained harmony, Decimators can quickly annihilate hundreds of foes with a deadly efficiency.
Decimators plunge deep into enemy formations, driving all before them. Armed with the formidable thunderaxe, a lone Decimator can slay half a dozen lesser foes with each great sweep of his blade. A retinue of these Paladins can carve a gore-ridden path straight through an attacking foe’s lines. Even when they are buried beneath heaving tides of the enemy, it is possible to mark the Decimators’ progress. Where they fight, severed limbs and decapitated heads are flung skywards with each axe swipe, and many foes flee rather than face such destruction.
Decimators are more than able to triumph against powerful foes, such has Sourbreath Troggoths or Blood Warriors, but it is against enemy hordes where the broad sweeps of their deadly axes reap the greatest harvest. Swarming skaven, green tides of orruks, or droves of lesser foes have all been cut down like so much wheat before the scythe.
All Stormhosts boast retinues of Decimators, but some, like the Sons of Mallus and the Helden Sons , favour them above all other Paladin retinues. No Decimators have earned more fame thus far than those of the Astral Templars . It was in the Gnarlwood of Ghur that four chambers of the Astral Templars were ambushed, encircled by beastmen and hulking monsters beyond count. Five sorties were led to break out of the ever-closing encirclement, yet all met with failure. Only when the Decimators massed together did the Stormcasts make any headway. The Decimator formation hacked a bloody path way through the enemy – felling beast-foes and treegrowth alike. At last, by following in the Decimators’wake, the Astral Templars fought their way to freedom.
Miniatures
Sources
- 1: Paladin product description
- 2: Warscrolls
- 3: Battletome: Stormcast Eternals (2017)
- 4: Battletome: Stormcast Eternals (2015)
- 5: Battletome: Stormcast Eternals (2018) - Hammer of the Paladins, pg. 80