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Going along with my previous question about Desperate evacuation stories...

What in your opinion is the best Defend the Fort/Base/Hive City/whatever story?

Specifically: As in "We're stuck in this Place, with no way out, and Help Ain't Coming (or at least not Coming for a while), and we are totally outnumbered.....and we're probably all going to die."

These are the Last-Stand, Back-to-the-Wall, Fight-or-Die type stories where people can't leave and the enemy is overwhelming.

So they are essentially holed up in a Fort/Base etc.... waiting for the end... lack rats in a sinking ship.

I'm guessing most probable Antagonists are the Tyranids/OldCrons/Orks because they are good antagonists for that overwhelming horde feel.

I'm guessing most probable Protagonists are the lowly Imperial Guardsmen....... whether Cadian/Krieg/etc.

I don't remember the name of the story but it's in the iron warrior Omnibus. It's the siege that got the Warsmith promoted to a daemon prince and saw Honsou becoming the new leader of the Warsmith's warband of Iron Warriors. Every loyalist except one was either killed or enslaved including a contingent of Imperial Fists.

 King Pariah wrote:
I don't remember the name of the story but it's in the iron warrior Omnibus. It's the siege that got the Warsmith promoted to a daemon prince and saw Honsou becoming the new leader of the Warsmith's warband of Iron Warriors. Every loyalist except one was either killed or enslaved including a contingent of Imperial Fists.

you're thinking Storm of Iron, and I agree. hands down the best siege story written for 40k

The Siege of Vraks, duh.

But if you want the protagonists as the ones being besieged, Gaunts Ghost Necropolis (I think) is also great.

BrianDavion wrote:

 King Pariah wrote:
I don't remember the name of the story but it's in the iron warrior Omnibus. It's the siege that got the Warsmith promoted to a daemon prince and saw Honsou becoming the new leader of the Warsmith's warband of Iron Warriors. Every loyalist except one was either killed or enslaved including a contingent of Imperial Fists.

you're thinking Storm of Iron, and I agree. hands down the best siege story written for 40k

Thank you! Yes, Storm of Iron!

 King Pariah wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 King Pariah wrote:
I don't remember the name of the story but it's in the iron warrior Omnibus. It's the siege that got the Warsmith promoted to a daemon prince and saw Honsou becoming the new leader of the Warsmith's warband of Iron Warriors. Every loyalist except one was either killed or enslaved including a contingent of Imperial Fists.

you're thinking Storm of Iron, and I agree. hands down the best siege story written for 40k

Thank you! Yes, Storm of Iron!

Very good book

Siege of Castellax is also not bad. It's not of the same quality as Storm of Iron (little is), but it's still an interesting book and the mechanics of the siege war are well documented in it.

That one is Iron Warriors vs Orks... with the Iron Warriors being the defenders this time.

Helsreach comes to mind, Grimnaldus & co Vs an endless amount of Orks in the third war for armagedon

The part in Leviathan where the Sisters of battle are under attack from the Tyranids, they manage to hold out for a long time only to later have to sacrifice themselves.

Thought that was pretty heroic and very Alamo like.

Legion of the Damned is another great one.

 Trondheim wrote:
Helsreach comes to mind, Grimnaldus & co Vs an endless amount of Orks in the third war for armagedon

That's a good one, too

 General Kroll wrote:
The part in Leviathan where the Sisters of battle are under attack from the Tyranids, they manage to hold out for a long time only to later have to sacrifice themselves.

Thought that was pretty heroic and very Alamo like.

well they do better than the defenders of the Alamo - they win and some survive to be evcuated - with a little help from the Flesh Tearers (ironic much) and a Necron super weapon/

 Mr Morden wrote:

 General Kroll wrote:
The part in Leviathan where the Sisters of battle are under attack from the Tyranids, they manage to hold out for a long time only to later have to sacrifice themselves.

Thought that was pretty heroic and very Alamo like.

well they do better than the defenders of the Alamo - they win and some survive to be evcuated - with a little help from the Flesh Tearers (ironic much) and a Necron super weapon/

I thought they all died.

 General Kroll wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 General Kroll wrote:
The part in Leviathan where the Sisters of battle are under attack from the Tyranids, they manage to hold out for a long time only to later have to sacrifice themselves.

Thought that was pretty heroic and very Alamo like.

well they do better than the defenders of the Alamo - they win and some survive to be evcuated - with a little help from the Flesh Tearers (ironic much) and a Necron super weapon/

I thought they all died.

Nope - Quite a few left on the transport ships which were recovered by the Blood Angels relief fleet, lots stranded on the planet died but the last defenders of the Cathedrum survived:

"Seth watched as the alien swarm was pulversied against the shield by the torn surface of Lyios. nearby Amity and her sisters fell to their knees, offering up prayers to the God-Emperor for their survival. The old void shields lasted only minutes before thier decaying generators finally failed, and as the shimmering field fell the defenders beheld a landscape scoured clean of Tyranids.

The survivors are picked up by the Blood Angels.

Siege of Vraks is a good one but I think the numbers are off by a factor of 10. It says the casualties were about 18-19 million across 17 years whereas in WWII the casualties were 56 million across 6 years. Imo, the total casualties at Vraks should be 180 million. It was a good story though.

For other last stand stories -

Ollanius Pius standing against Horus. Put yourself in his place and tell me that's not a great last stand story.

Sanctuary 101. First confirmed encounter with Necrons where Sisters defend a convent against a Necron assault and get slaughtered to a Woman.

The Tau. Their entire species in 40k is one giant Last Stand story, complete with the Tau sallying forth and repelling attacks etc. The delicious irony is that they don't even know it.

 Otto Weston wrote:
Siege of Vraks is a good one but I think the numbers are off by a factor of 10. It says the casualties were about 18-19 million across 17 years whereas in WWII the casualties were 56 million across 6 years. Imo, the total casualties at Vraks should be 180 million. It was a good story though.
....

Its in imperial, so you gotta add another million to it. But million million sounds silly, so the inquistion banned the word, hence the short hand.

As far as Alamo types, definetly the space marine chapter that had built their fortress monastery on top of a Necron Dynasty. Emperor's swords on Belicose I believe?

The 1st one who comes to me it's a white dwarf history about Schaeffer and the last chancers.

The history just depics a penal guardsman toughts in the battles at a stronghold with Schaefer Penal troops (not just the last chancers but all the penal troops he leads) along some Sisters of battle and tribal natives against a Tyranid horde.

Massacre at Big Toof River.

I agree with Necropolis. The imperial guard regiments... The Tanith First and Only, the 1st Narmenian Armored, the 50th Royal Volpone and the Roane Deepers along with the Hive Verghast militia and a smattering of left over NorthCol regiments defend against an entire hive fallen to chaos and mobilized for war.

The battle of Terra, of course !

Storm of Iron. It's a masterpiece.

War of the Fang. (Spoilers, read the book if you haven't, trust me) The thousands sons are all hot and bothered from the burning of prospero so a few thousand years later they trick the current great wolf into leaving only one great company with a new jarl to guard the Aett (fang) by leading them to a fake magnus and some wulfen. While they're halfway across the milky way the sons strike fenris out numbering them by at least triple. However the fang was created in the golden age of man by the best tech priests available so it holds strong, but is eventually declawed when the gun batteries get taken out. In the ensuing void battle, all the Wolf cruisers are destroyed except for one gunship. It manages to escape, but a thousands sons sorcerer gets on the ship via teleportation unknown by the pilot. The Wolves step out of their walls and fight as hard as they can till the sons simply win the war of attrition and force the wolves back into their den. It then becomes a game of cat and mouse waiting for reinforcements. Fast forwarding, the wolves finally get help in the form of the great wolf that went looking for magnus, which he finds in the Aett fighting bjorn, jarl Greyloc, his wolfguard and a rune priest. Soon none remain but the great wolf himself and he too falls, but before he dies he cripples magnus so much he is banished back to the warp.

I really like this story because it showcases the old rivalry between the legions and it really fleshed out the space wolves as not barbarians, but skilled hunters and tacticians. It also has some great characters and some emotional parts, especially when redpelt (?) Loses his pack because of his cockyness.

Oh, and the Armageddon Yarrick book, but I'm too tired to write another summary

The absolute best 'Alamo-style' 40k story is the 'Last stand at Glazer's Creek'.

Ever seen the movie, Zulu?

It's basically Zulu, but with Praetorians (Imperial Guard) vs Goff Orks. The setting was Montar, hours after the Massacre at Big Toof River. The surviving Praetorians had fallen back to a farmhouse and fortified it, hoping for a chance to rest and recuperate...

(the rest of the story in WD222)

I recommend The Iron Within from the Horus Heresy range. Traitor Iron Warriors come looking for one of their old strongholds but find that its occupants want to stay Loyal, who then proceed to effortlessly troll the gak out of their traitorous ex-brothers.

It has an absolutely awesome ending, too