So, the time has come to award the prestigious Deathwatch Marine of the Century award for the years 701-800 M41. Open to all Marines who have served in the Deathwatch during that period the award recognises and celebrates excellence in warfare and the bringing of death to the enemies of the Imperium of the Emperor of Mankind.

The winners are decided by a cabal of senior Watch Captains, with input from respected Inquisitors and non-Deathwatch Marines.

Several subsidiary awards are also given - Best Kill Team, Best Novice, various technical awards including Most Devestating Close Combat Move and Best Attack Pattern, the Lifetime Achievement award and reconition for influential written works on theology and the art of killing.

Previous winners of the award have included Brother Jared 'Half Machine' Voranus who defeated no less than four Avatars of Khaine in a single battle, and the legendary Brother Sergent Karlos Jeffe, the only Marine ever to win the award twice as he cut a bloody path across the stars at the head of the renowned Kill Team Delta-Three-Zero.

The awards ceremony takes place on Holy Terra itself, and the winner, if they are still alive (most awards are posthumous) is granted a short period of meditation at the foot of the Golden Throne.

This century, one of the leading candidates serves at Watch-Fortress Erioch. Since the award would bring much needed glory to the Achilus Crusade, the campaigns leadership have assigned many rememberancers to ensure that this Marines exploits are shown in the best possible light.

But one of the Inquisitors who works with the Deathwatch has noticed that several of these rememberancers have disappeared in suspicious circumstances, and asks the players to quietly investigate.

They discover that someone has been deliberately exaggerating the Marines glory - is this an effort by the crusades officers to pervert one of the Deathwatches greatest traditions?

No, worse! This is a plot by the Alpha Legion to assassinate the Emperor himself. The Marine has been secretly turned and will strike during his vigil. And no-one will believe the kill team. This Marine is a hero, and his victory will bring great glory to all in the sector.

Can the PCs rush to Terra and interrupt the awards before the foul deed can occur?

AluminiumWolf said:

Yeah, like saying he fought 4 avatars in a single battle. Something that never did, never will, and can't even possibly happen.

Hey, 'Half Machine' was one of the most exceptional Marines to ever serve in the Deathwatch. His metal reinforced skull remains to this day one of the most revered relics of the 'Watch.

His actions at the third battle of Hustings VII, especially the running engagement around Hill 1338-2 against the so called Dark Coterie of Versh'na (to which you refer), are the stuff of legends.

AluminiumWolf said:

I nominate Brother Captain NPC, the statless campaign quest giver. Despite never taking to the field of battle and only appearing in the pregame preparation phase of the mission/game, he managed to threaten the OP's characters and their internal sense of worth and feel less cool simply by existing. Despite multiple attempts/pleas by the OP on behalf of nonexistant unhappy players to handicap him somehow (like by amputation of a limb or blinding), he carries on his brave job of doing nothing in particular yet being grimdark Dos Equis most interesting man in the segmentum to AluminumWolf.

AluminiumWolf said:

It has nothing to do with his abilities. It has to do with the fact that you wouldn't have four Avatars of Khorne, er, Khaine in one battle. Go brush up on your Bloody Handed God fluff and you'll see what we're talking about.

Are you sure you don't have your holidays mixed up? It's not April Fools.

You'll note I didn't have a PC up for the award. In part this is so exposing the Evil Scheme won't undercut the PCs achievements (by showing that the bad guys let them win), but also partly a lingering doubt that any PC could ever be awesome enough to win the coveted Deathwatch Marine of the Century award.

+++++It has to do with the fact that you wouldn't have four Avatars of Khorne, er, Khaine in one battle.+++++

It is a special Apocalypse only formation that will be published by forge world in three years time, fielded only during very rare close alliances of several craftworlds.

Punching out just one Avatar wouldn't have been enough to win the award these days.

space marines with smoking in a galà night??????

hahahahahahahaha

very funny but...

...sorry but i dislike this idea.

Gantz the slaughterer said:

LOL now that you mention it: The oscars for SM. Just dont nominate a Space Wolf : it would end up in a drunken brawl. (For which the corpse would most probably forgive him for)

This thread might make slightly more sense if you know that the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show was on last night.

Mark Cavendish, possibly the greatest sprinter road cycling has ever produced, took the award.

And then it's naturally pointed out that the Deathwatch is a secret organization and is pretty much the antithema of an awards ceremony.

CorpseGod said:

Be fair. Over the last years so many Avatars have been killed in single combat by so many individuals, that there is no longer anything special about it. They have been Worfe'd into the ground. Understanding that, most Craftworlds now unite to send several Avatars into any given battle to get killed in single combat by Space Marines. It's the only way to keep killing Avatars special. By now, killing a single Avatar is no more noteworthy as an achievement to a Space Marine than killing a Snotling.

That was precisely my reasoning. :0)