Greatest act of valor in Post-Heresy 40K?

[SpaceMarine93]

They say they say that "The martyr's grave is the keystone of the Imperium.", and since the end of the Horus Heresy the survival of the entire Imperium and the Human race is essentially held by countless sacrifices, daring gambles, insane heroism and unparallel valor of the men, women and superhuman who stood up to defend it from its countless unspeakable foes that beset it. But really, based on the stories of the Imperium from all the books, games, and lore of the franchise, which is the single greatest act of valor committed by anyone in the Imperium in its entire post-heresy history?

Personally, I vote for the sacrifice of the Astral Knights Astartes Space Marines Chapter: according to the lore, on 926.M41 the Vidar Sector was threatened by the Necrons, who came forth riding a planet-sized Necron-construct known as the Worldengine. A mighty Imperial taskforce of up to 15 Space Marine Chapters and elements of the Imperial Navy attacked the Worldengine, among the Space Marine chapters include 2 companies of the Blood Angels and the Astral Knights.

They engaged the Necron Worldengine with the mightiest weapons the Imperium could muster twelve times, to no avail; its energy shields were too strong. The Imperial Navy could not penetrate it by bombardment, torpedoes and drop pods bounced off the thing and even the teleportation beams were jammed. For its part, the Necron Worldengine laid waste to up to a third of the Imperial taskforce, killing millions in the process without suffering a scratch.

At that point, according to the lore, the Astral Knights made a desperate gamble - their chapter master, realizing the need to bring down the shields at any cost, ordered the chapter's battlebarge to ram the Worldengine at full speed. After the firepower of the Imperial taskforce couldn't bring it down the Worldengine's shields finally failed, for a few brief moments, when the massive warship impacted onto it and prowled through.

What follows was one of the most epic battle ever fought in WH40K: deploying onto the surface of the machine world via drop pods, for 100 hours the Astral Knights fought their way across the Worldengine, destroying every single flux generator, command nodes and weapons forge they could find, all the while attacked on all sides by an overwhelming army of Necron warriors tens of thousands strong. At the end, they finally succeeded in their objective when the Astral Knight chapter master Arthor Amhrad and the last five surviving Space Marines of the Chapter detonated melta charges in the Necron catacomb that houses the Necron's command arrays, bringing down the Void Shields in the process. The Necron Worldengine was subsequently destroyed by cyclonic torpedoes.

The Astral Knights perished, but the Blood Angels, who witnessed this, was so impressed by this that they petitioned to have a shrine build in the Astral Knights' honor at the world of Safehold, where two Blood Angels from the 2nd Company stood guard at the memorial ever since.

(For more information, read the Space Marine 5th Edition Codex)

Is there any other acts of valor/sacrifice/courage/etc committed by the Imperial forces that could rival this? From Gaunts Ghost, Ravenor, Ultramarines, Eisenhorn, Grey Knights and the other works and lore?

[Lord Relvenous]

I'd agree that the Astral Knights thing is cool, except for the fact that no amount of Space Marine wank can convince me that 800 Space Marines could destroy a fully-mobilized tomb world. We're talking billions of Necrons. Thousands of Monoliths. The Ultramarines second company got blasted off Damnos by an awakening tomb world force, and they had time to prepare defenses. The Astral Knights are assaulting a hostile planet and somehow they manage to cripple the control room that they just happen to know the location of.

Let alone the fact that somehow the Battle Barge was able to penetrate shields (and survive!) that had brushed off the full firepower of an Imperial sector fleet. Seriously, the whole thing reads as typical Mat Ward fluff. If a chapter is enough to defeat a mobilized tomb world, then the Necrons are exactly zero threat, as the World Engine is the only encountered fully mobilized tomb world. The whole 5th edition Space Marines codex reads as if it was written to insult every force other than Ward's chosen. Calgar somehow sneaks up on the Avatar of Khaine, wins an arm-wrestling match against the apartment building-sized daemon, then punches him into oblivion with one swing. The Tau are able to expand until the Ultramarines get serious, and then the Tau are only saved by greater threats (this actually is the most realistic story, but it was still written for the express purpose of showing how awesome codex marines are). Non-codex marines are wracked with guilt and sorrow that they can't live up to their spiritual liege. Necrons get their coolest toy ever broken. And so on.

[SpaceMarine93]

I'd agree that the Astral Knights thing is cool, except for the fact that no amount of Space Marine wank can convince me that 800 Space Marines could destroy a fully-mobilized tomb world. We're talking billions of Necrons. Thousands of Monoliths. The Ultramarines second company got blasted off Damnos by an awakening tomb world force, and they had time to prepare defenses. The Astral Knights are assaulting a hostile planet and somehow they manage to cripple the control room that they just happen to know the location of.

Let alone the fact that somehow the Battle Barge was able to penetrate shields (and survive!) that had brushed off the full firepower of an Imperial sector fleet. Seriously, the whole thing reads as typical Mat Ward fluff. If a chapter is enough to defeat a mobilized tomb world, then the Necrons are exactly zero threat, as the World Engine is the only encountered fully mobilized tomb world. The whole 5th edition Space Marines codex reads as if it was written to insult every force other than Ward's chosen. Calgar somehow sneaks up on the Avatar of Khaine, wins an arm-wrestling match against the apartment building-sized daemon, then punches him into oblivion with one swing. The Tau are able to expand until the Ultramarines get serious, and then the Tau are only saved by greater threats (this actually is the most realistic story, but it was still written for the express purpose of showing how awesome codex marines are). Non-codex marines are wracked with guilt and sorrow that they can't live up to their spiritual liege. Necrons get their coolest toy ever broken. And so on.

Hmm... Good point. What could pass then as the most awesome act anyone in the Imperium had done in Post-Heresy 40K then?

[evilsoup]

You're just jealous because you know you can never live up to the example of your (and my) spiritual liege, roboute guilliman.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

Please people. Whatever you're discussing, refrain from using IA or the latest SM codexes, especially the Grey Knights Codex. Preserve our sanity and sanctity of mind for us.

[Lord Relvenous]

Hmm... Good point. What could pass then as the most awesome act anyone in the Imperium had done in Post-Heresy 40K then?

Well, it really depends on what people find awesome. Some like bolter pron with Marines chopping heretics by the thousands, others like the idea of the frail humans of the IG fighting against monstrous foes and winning through sheer perseverance and guts. It's also hard to narrow it down to just one, as there are quite a few heroes that have done awesome things.

Off the top of my head: Yarrick holding Hades Hive against Thraka's forces so long that he gave the other forces of Armageddon a chance to regroup and destroy the Orks, thereby earning the eternal hatred of Thraka. That's a pretty valorous achievement, and he did it after being banished there by the Imperial Governor and past retirement age.

The final stand of the Ultramarine 1st company has great aspects to it, and involves a whole company of the deadliest killers out there forcing the Tyranids to bleed for every step, ending in the backs-to-the-control board last stand.

The Black Templars storming the Ecclesiastical palace on Terra with their Emperor's Champion at the front is a pretty cool story. Hell, all of the stories about Emperor's Champions out the Black Templar codex are ripe with valor. Those guys are badassitude incarnate.

So there's a few ideas.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Actually I think I will suggest one of the Foul Xenos, stopping the Blackstone Fortress, and sacrificing himself, to twart Abadon and the Great Adversary. Yes we miss you Farseer, (and that Talldeer bitch is nothing compaired to you, not to mention how many spirit stones were wiped out in that blackstone fortress assualt.)

[Ahriman238]

The time Private Olson finally stood up to that bastard Commissar. Thing of beauty, true courage and grace such as mankind hasn't seen the since the death of the Emperor.

Shame about what happened next.

[Darksider]

The time Private Olson finally stood up to that bastard Commissar. Thing of beauty, true courage and grace such as mankind hasn't seen the since the death of the Emperor.

Shame about what happened next.

What's that from?

[Lord Relvenous]

The time Private Olson finally stood up to that bastard Commissar. Thing of beauty, true courage and grace such as mankind hasn't seen the since the death of the Emperor.

Shame about what happened next.

What's that from?

I suspect that's an Ahriman original.

@Ahriman: Thanks for the chuckle.

[Cykeisme]

I'm against Matt Ward wank (especially the GK Codex, I seriously I have no idea how the committee in charge of the IP allowed that bs to get into a canon codex), but I don't find the Worldship thing completely in-credible.

Firstly, the Battle Barge likely only got through because the Worldship's fire was split among a whole fleet of Imperial ships. It probably only managed to break through due to massive bombardment from multiple ships on a localized section of the shield.
Secondly, once they got to the surface, it wasn't a protracted campaign spread across a theatre.. the 800 Astartes were concentrated into a single advancing line, even possibly no part of the force was out of line of sight of any other part.
Thirdly, Space Marines excel at combat in the narrow confines of shipboard environments where heavy weapons can't be properly brought to bear against them and they can wriggle into crazy close combat.
So the single force of 800 Marines was probably constantly taking casualties, with the spearhead getting whittled down and killed and replaced with other squads (or remnants of squads) constantly, while they fought deeper into the Worldship's corridors, trying to move fast enough to get past disabled Necrons that just keep getting back up (or if hurt badly enough, just get "phase out" and get teleported to a nearby resurrection center).
I can't explain how they found a command center, though, unless they somehow know how to read Necronese signs or something.

Anyway, were the Astral Knights a shipborne chapter? If it was, it's likely they might have had a significant repository of their geneseed on the Chapter Master's Battle Barge. Because even if it's ridiculous, individual Space Marine sacrifices for the better of mankind are commonplace, and especially if they believe their geneseed will be recovered. An entire chapter sacrificing its existence is something else altogether.

[Bedlam]

I'd go for this from Gaunt's Ghosts where an IG platoon gets locked out of the city they were protecting from a chaos force. Surounded, overwhemingly outnumbered, they keep fighting to make the enemy pay for their deaths, and no one knows they did it. Thats what the IG do, they die and no one notices.

"Nineteenth [Platoon] lasted seventeen minutes from the time the gates closed. They accounted for one-hundred and eighty nine enemy casualties. No one witnessed their heroism. "

[Irbis]

Hmm... Good point. What could pass then as the most awesome act anyone in the Imperium had done in Post-Heresy 40K then?

Kaldor Draigo.

He makes things HAPPEN

Well, it really depends on what people find awesome. Some like bolter pron with Marines chopping heretics by the thousands, others like the idea of the frail humans of the IG fighting against monstrous foes and winning through sheer perseverance and guts. It's also hard to narrow it down to just one, as there are quite a few heroes that have done awesome things.

Pretty much this. But, if I were to vote, there's that one scene in Cain's Last Stand...

[madd0ct0r]

there's an awesome piece of fanfic from an epic supplement describing Reaver Titan Thunderchild's last stand against an army of Ork Stompas.

sadly the forum's down for a bit and I don't seem to have a saved copy about.

[NecronLord]

I'd agree that the Astral Knights thing is cool, except for the fact that no amount of Space Marine wank can convince me that 800 Space Marines could destroy a fully-mobilized tomb world. We're talking billions of Necrons. Thousands of Monoliths. The Ultramarines second company got blasted off Damnos by an awakening tomb world force, and they had time to prepare defenses. The Astral Knights are assaulting a hostile planet and somehow they manage to cripple the control room that they just happen to know the location of.

It's probably worth noting that the necron codex mentions that this tomb world had just come out of a civil war/coup, where an agressive lord had deposed a peaceful one and then sent the world engine (it has a real name) on a purge of random planets. Their forces were doubtless weakened by the infighting to some degree.

And the highest we've ever seen on any tomb world is a million.

[The Yosemite Bear]

The time the House cat stood ground against a greater daemon and made it back off. <just kidding>

I would like to also nominate every Dreadnaught and Wraithgaurd in the Galaxy, not even the DEAD have seen the end of war.

[Tanasinn]

You're just jealous because you know you can never live up to the example of your (and my) spiritual liege, roboute guilliman.

I see what you did there.

[Sinewmire]

The Space Wolves after the first war for Armageddon.

The Emperor's Gift spoilers.
Spoiler

They shielded the bulky, unwieldy, poorly armed transports from the Inquisiton voidships by physically flying between them, so the Inquisition had to either attack the Space Wolves or let the surviving Guardsmen live.

They refused to allow the Inquisiton to murder millions on the chance they might be slightly corrupted, but didn't want to attack Imperial vessels.

They didn't face death, they faced their entire chapter's eradication from history by the Ordo Malleus.

They knew full well the Inquisition would never ever forgive them.

[Zinegata]

"Nineteenth [Platoon] lasted seventeen minutes from the time the gates closed. They accounted for one hundred and eighty-nine enemy casualties. No one witnessed their heroism."

[The Yosemite Bear]

Already mentioned, My Harliquin using a vortex grenade while being eaten by a greater daemon of She Who Thirsts in the middle of the first 40k roleplay campaign. (especially since I knew that my soul was forfit doing that...)

[Lord Relvenous]

I'd agree that the Astral Knights thing is cool, except for the fact that no amount of Space Marine wank can convince me that 800 Space Marines could destroy a fully-mobilized tomb world. We're talking billions of Necrons. Thousands of Monoliths. The Ultramarines second company got blasted off Damnos by an awakening tomb world force, and they had time to prepare defenses. The Astral Knights are assaulting a hostile planet and somehow they manage to cripple the control room that they just happen to know the location of.

It's probably worth noting that the necron codex mentions that this tomb world had just come out of a civil war/coup, where an agressive lord had deposed a peaceful one and then sent the world engine (it has a real name) on a purge of random planets. Their forces were doubtless weakened by the infighting to some degree.

And the highest we've ever seen on any tomb world is a million.

Well, at the very least they retconned it into a somewhat believable situation, I guess. As for the million number, that's extremely low for an entire tomb world, I feel. Unless the tomb worlds are more common than spit, that isn't a large military force for the entire reawakened Necron Empire (which is now fractured, or whatever). I'll readily grant that number could be stated somewhere (I don't know if it is or not, as you didn't give any specific source), but even if it is, I feel it's a mistake in minimalism similar to Traviss' (obviously of not such a great degree).

[Falkenhayn]

Brother-Captain Aurelian and Grand Master Mandulis have to be in here somewhere. Also Gregor Eisenhorn.
Spoiler

Granted the circumstances under which Eisenhorn sacrificed everyone he cared about and his own soul are a lot less pure than the GKs, but that goes with the Pre-Ward territory.