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Normally a SM fan I decided to place a poll on a completly different subject altogether.

The Astartes have their own Hero's and Legends many of whom are dead or should be, considering how they became Legends.

The Imperial Guard, or to the Astartes...Cannon fodder, are not without their own 'Hero's'

I post a Question.

Who is the Greatest, not just who is the best killer, that obviously would be old Sly Marbo.

But who is the the best allround Guard or Commisar at the Imperial Army's disposal.

I have included the Commisariate because alot of the Commisars most famous Hero's are very tough and have the ability to inspire troops to acts of greatness in the face of the enemy, so are as much a member of the Guard as everyone else

Try your best not to be biased think about them all and then cast your vote

Ollianius Pius

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Ollanius_Pius#.Txf25sLCvyk

More badass then any space marine. Ever.

Brass balls so big it took two Imperator class titans to carry them.

WHERE IS PIUS!!!!

All hail the Saint of the Imperial Guard!!!


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ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:
Brass balls so big it took two Imperator class titans to carry them.

Mars Grade my boy, they don't make them like that anymore.


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Uh....

Creed is not a Guardsman - he is a Lord General and that's a big difference.

Brother Coa wrote:WHERE IS PIUS!!!!

All hail the Saint of the Imperial Guard!!!


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ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:
Brass balls so big it took two Imperator class titans to carry them.

Mars Grade my boy, they don't make them like that anymore.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Uh....

Creed is not a Guardsman - he is a Lord General and that's a big difference.

I have amended the Poll to reflect Pius

But why would you reflect the most bad-ass Guardsman ever???

I have Included Creed because he is a Lord General in the Imperial Army


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Brother Coa wrote:But why would you reflect the most bad-ass Guardsman ever???

Just missed him out by accident :-S


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Brother Coa wrote:WHERE IS PIUS!!!!

All hail the Saint of the Imperial Guard!!!


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ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:
Brass balls so big it took two Imperator class titans to carry them.

Mars Grade my boy, they don't make them like that anymore.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Uh....

Creed is not a Guardsman - he is a Lord General and that's a big difference.

Bear in mind though that the Legend of Pius is a Grey Area that also suggests that he was An Imperial Fist Marine or a Custodes,
though it does also say that he was a Guardsman

Pius for sure

But a close second would be Guardsman Hawke from Storm of Iron.

Well since lexacanum doesnt have his story, i will tell the tale.

It was during Horuses assualt on the Imperial Palace. St. Pius was fighting and then somehow, someway he gets transported onto Horuses flagship. Not knowing what the feth is going in he makes his way to the bridge, ignoring the whispers of deamons, and probually killing traitors left and right. He gets to the bridge, and sees the emperor and horus squaring off. Then bam the emperor is struck down. Knowing his duty, knowing he is going to die, knowing he could just submit and live, he says. No. Not on my watch, and steps up in defense of the Emperor. Now hes armed with a flashlight, and wearing a t shirt. Compared to Horus, a demi god. So of course he gets struck down. But like a true Guardsman he has the courage to step up and stand against the dark. Knowing his scarifice will not be in vain.


Then GW was like, Lol a guardsman isnt cool enough, lets make it a mahreen. Which is stupid.

But Creed is a General not a solder, he is not doing that crazy stunts anymore.

And you also forgotten the legends...
Skykava, Tyborc, Fodor, Merrick and others....


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ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:
Then GW was like, Lol a guardsman isnt cool enough, lets make it a mahreen. Which is stupid.

And they made him a Preatorian.

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:Well since lexacanum doesnt have his story, i will tell the tale.

It was during Horuses assualt on the Imperial Palace. St. Pius was fighting and then somehow, someway he gets transported onto Horuses flagship. Not knowing what the feth is going in he makes his way to the bridge, ignoring the whispers of deamons, and probually killing traitors left and right. He gets to the bridge, and sees the emperor and horus squaring off. Then bam the emperor is struck down. Knowing his duty, knowing he is going to die, knowing he could just submit and live, he says. No. Not on my watch, and steps up in defense of the Emperor. Now hes armed with a flashlight, and wearing a t shirt. Compared to Horus, a demi god. So of course he gets struck down. But like a true Guardsman he has the courage to step up and stand against the dark. Knowing his scarifice will not be in vain.


Then GW was like, Lol a guardsman isnt cool enough, lets make it a mahreen. Which is stupid.

A nice story wheres it from?



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I suppose it's a bit like the Rocky movies...everyone wants to forget they made Rocky 5

I forgot where i read the original. Think it was Rouge Trader era, not sure. Of course it was more dry then my version.

81Northman wrote:
A nice story wheres it from?

Early editions of Warhammer. 1'st or second I can'tr remember.


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In short - this is Pius:

I hate it when GW alter fluff when it don't need altering.

My two favorite guardsmen would be Mad Larkin (sniper) or Lukas Bastonne.

... If I had to separate them...
Lukas Bastonne.

Typical footslogging Guardsman trooper who never leaves a man behind.

Col. Schaeffer is a serious Badass, keeping a whole unit of homicidal criminal troopers in line and staying alive to complete whatever suicide mission the IoM decides to send them on, and to repeat that over and over...

He is like donald duck at the crossroad with a machinegun......

But Larks is a wicked good shot that has seizures and met a real angel. Still a cool guy.

And Yarrick fought an ork. Ork rips his arm off, and the orks was leering thinking he won, when Yarrick cut of the orks klaw and uses it as his arm.

The Guard is full of badasses. That when viewed beside the Marines makes the guard look even more badass. Whats more badass, killing 100 orks naked or in power armor?

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:But Larks is a wicked good shot that has seizures and met a real angel. Still a cool guy.

And Yarrick fought an ork. Ork rips his arm off, and the orks was leering thinking he won, when Yarrick cut of the orks klaw and uses it as his arm.

The Guard is full of badasses. That when viewed beside the Marines makes the guard look even more badass. Whats more badass, killing 100 orks naked or in power armor?

I like the tale of Col Straken, who got half eaten by a Mirial Land Shark and killed it.

The bits he never got back have been replaced by Bionics

A truly hard man, mind you he is a Catachan Jungle Fighter

Total badass.

81Northman wrote:Normally a SM fan I decided to place a poll on a completly different subject altogether.

Well that's a relief. We wouldn't want you to run out of ideas and not be able to post new threads like this every day.

Lord Solar Macharius, I'm surprised you didn't put him on the poll in the first place. He is awesome. Well, was anyway.

Solar Macharius was one of the greatest leaders the Imperial Guard has ever known, possibly the greatest. The amount of worlds he conquered during his crusade easily trumps any attempts by the Astartes on their Crusades.

But I have to go with Ollanius Pius. Other Guardsmen have come and gone, performing heroic deeds and leading regiments and armies to victory, yet none can hold a candle to the ordinary Guardsman who stood by his Emperor at his time of need and protected him when he was at his most vulnerable.

All Hail Ollanius Pius!

Our patron saint, Pius, of the Imperial Guard. Give us not life, but death as you saw it.

Give us your courage, that we may stand against Gods with our chests out and head high.

Give us your fortitude, that we may always remember our duty and never permit defeat.

Give us your strength, that we may fight our way to the Emperor's side as you did, glorious Saint.


And give us your blessing, that we may know the strength that lies within the purely human heart.

All Hail Ollanius Pius!


EDIT: Don't forget it was said that Ollanius' Lasgun is what caused the chink in Horus' armor that the Emperor exploited.

Tricky. I'd be inclined to go with Yarrick, but technically he's not a Guardsman but a Commissar.

Ollanius was pretty ballsy for standing up against Horus, but this is a one-timer and I don't know if he ever did any other remarkable thing. If you go by an example like this, every Frateris Militia zealot with a club and a laspistol who throws himself against a CSM deserves that medal.

Think I'm going with Straken - he's the closest thing to Yarrick, what with having strangled a CSM Lord in close combat. There's none tougher than him.

Lynata wrote:Tricky. I'd be inclined to go with Yarrick, but technically he's not a Guardsman but a Commissar.

Ollanius was pretty ballsy for standing up against Horus, but this is a one-timer and I don't know if he ever did any other remarkable thing. If you go by an example like this, every Frateris Militia zealot with a club and a laspistol who throws himself against a CSM deserves that medal.

Think I'm going with Straken - he's the closest thing to Yarrick, what with having strangled a CSM Lord in close combat. There's none tougher than him.

No, the Frateris Militia do it for much the same reason people explode themselves today - religion.

Ollanius Pius was before the Emperor was widely venerated as a God.

Standing up to Horus != standing up to random joe renegade.

EDIT: I found something
The first time I hold my blood in my hands,
The first time I see a man with nothing.
Would be the first time I see my own lands,
Covered in heresy, death, and rotting.

My son stands over him corrupt and pale,
A guard Ollanius Pius stands free.
My fallen Horus lifts the deadly flail,
In one instant, the strength of man I see.

This mere man done what I was unable.
A tear flows from my eye and it is clear,
The tyrant's cold reign I must disable.
Briefly I know what it is to feel fear.

I leave the future to the strength of man,
For they alone do far more than I can.

Unit1126PLL wrote:No, the Frateris Militia do it for much the same reason people explode themselves today - religion.
Ollanius Pius was before the Emperor was widely venerated as a God.

It's still the same thing when you break it down. Veneration and conviction resulting in the individual accepting his own death in pursuit of a higher goal. Religion is just the most common catalyst to achieve this effect.

Hitler wasn't a god either, yet many of his indoctrinated followers were just as crazed as religious fanatics.

And certain death means certain death, regardless of whether it comes by the hand of Horus himself or on the tracks of a Leman Russ battle tank.

There are lots of people like Ollanius in the vast ranks of the Imperial Guard, it's just that most of them don't have the "luck" to be in the right time and the right place to have their sacrifice count for so much - or perhaps more correctly, be seen and recognized as counting for so much. I suggest that almost every single Krieg Corpsman would have done the same as Ollanius were he in his place, for example. Does the fact that, by no fault of their own, they simply didn't have the chance to do so make them lesser soldiers?

Thing is, though, that Ollanius was there, with the Emperor and gave up his life so that his Emperor might strike down the renegade Primarch. A unique situation which will, most likely, never be repeated. By delaying Horus Pius gave the Emperor the opening he needed to strike Horus down even though he was pulped into a red stain.

Any other Guardsman or Korpsman -may- have done the same, but it was Pius who did it.

Ah, so you are judging the (perceived) importance of an action only - even if it was entirely coincidental - but not potential or consistency of service? Okay, when you look at it that way I would also agree about him coming out 1st. Both perspectives affect the order of heroes considerably.

The action wasn't entirely coincidental, and itself demonstrated potential.

As far as consistency of service - he fought his way through Horus' battle barge, didn't he?

I think that yes, the DKoK would do it if they were there, but for the wrong reason. Taking an action because of religion, or self-pity (in the case of the DKoK), should not be weighed on the same level as an action taken because of, say, duty.

Religion is the easiest catalyst to action - yes. Wouldn't it make the actions of those who do not require such a catalyst that much more moving?

Unit1126PLL wrote:As far as consistency of service - he fought his way through Horus' battle barge, didn't he?

I was referring to his entire history of service, not to that single day - and I doubt he fought his way through through the barge alone. In the end, he still just "happened" to be there at the right time at the right place.

Unit1126PLL wrote:I think that yes, the DKoK would do it if they were there, but for the wrong reason. Taking an action because of religion, or self-pity (in the case of the DKoK), should not be weighed on the same level as an action taken because of, say, duty. Religion is the easiest catalyst to action - yes. Wouldn't it make the actions of those who do not require such a catalyst that much more moving?

I don't think that the DKoK acts the way it does because of self-pity but rather out of duty as well. They feel compelled to "pay off their debt". In essence, they feel bound to duty. Like Ollanius.

And a cause is a cause. What defines "religion", anyways? A lot of political and military organizations have and still are trying to instill the very same kind of fanatical loyalty, unity and sense of tradition in their members as certain churches. Is it really so important that these members believe in, say, a flag instead of a deity? Doesn't the USMC, for example, have the term Fidelis as part of its very motto, in reference to their soldiers' dedication to the Corps and the country?
I think the differences are somewhat smaller than you may want to admit. And I say that as an atheist who believes in the cause of the UN.

Tl;dr: faith comes in many shapes - but in all of them it means the individual voluntarily sacrificing himself or a part of himself (even if it's just time) for a cause he believes in. Slippery slope, I know, but I feel that this is a huge grey area and that you cannot "cut off" religion from other kinds of dedication simply based on whether or not it involves some deity. Actually, aren't there even some religions that do not have deities at all but instead focus on some general concept?

Lynata wrote:
And a cause is a cause. What defines "religion", anyways? A lot of political and military organizations have and still are trying to instill the very same kind of fanatical loyalty, unity and sense of tradition in their members as certain churches. Is it really so important that these members believe in, say, a flag instead of a deity? Doesn't the USMC, for example, have the term Fidelis as part of its very motto, in reference to their soldiers' dedication to the Corps and the country?
I think the differences are somewhat smaller than you may want to admit. And I say that as an atheist who believes in the cause of the UN.

Tl;dr: faith comes in many shapes - but in all of them it means the individual voluntarily sacrificing himself or a part of himself (even if it's just time) for a cause he believes in. Slippery slope, I know, but I feel that this is a huge grey area and that you cannot "cut off" religion from other kinds of dedication simply based on whether or not it involves some deity. Actually, aren't there even some religions that do not have deities at all but instead focus on some general concept?

I usually cut faith in the supernatural away from other faiths because it is wrong. Martyring oneself for a cause that is wrong is irrelevant in the course of history.

"Religions" which don't believe in the supernatural are called philosophies.