History BadassNormal / TabletopGames

* The Imperial Guard of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe, consisting of ordinary men and women, regularly take on all varieties of horrific AliensAndMonsters, including swarms of alien locusts like the Tyranids, hordes of Orks, the endless LegionsOfHell, backed by gibbering EldritchAbominations and power-armoured Chaos Space Marines, the Necrons - an undead, implacable race of zombie robots - and technologically advanced [[SpaceElves Eldar]], with little more than a flashlight and t-shirt[[note]][[FreakinLaserBeams Lasguns]] and flak jackets. A lasgun is powerful enough to dusmember a single human. Unfortunately, they're going up against overpowered EldritchAbominations where lasguns are basically laspointers.[[/note]]. And they sometimes '''win'''. The amounts of bravery needed to take against such abominations led to the Imperial Guard being described as more badass than the transhuman SpaceMarines, and also earned them the MemeticMutation: [[BrassBalls Standard issue balls o' steel.]]

* The Imperial Guard of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe, consisting of ordinary men and women, regularly take on all varieties of horrific AliensAndMonsters, including swarms of alien locusts like the Tyranids, hordes of Orks, the endless legions of the lost and the damned, backed by gibbering daemons and power-armoured Chaos Space Marines, the Necrons - an undead, implacable race of zombie robots - and technologically advanced [[SpaceElves Eldar]], with little more than a flak jacket, a lasgun, and gigantic balls of steel. And they sometimes '''win'''.

* Corvus Belli's ''Infinity'' has this in the form of the Ariadna faction. Lacking the technological advantages of their rivals, the nations of the planet Dawn make due with guerilla tactics, a mean-streak in CQC and an ungodly amount of firepower. Also, this makes them immune to the hackers of PanO or the Nomads[[labelnote:*]]. The one character this troper can think of requires you to be within CQC range. That character? ''William Wallace''.[[/labelnote]].

* Corvus Belli's ''Infinity'' has this in the form of the Ariadna faction. Lacking the technological advantages of their rivals, the nations of the planet Dawn make due with guerilla tactics, a mean-streak in CQC and an ungodly amount of firepower. Also, this makes them immune to the hackers of PanO or the Nomads[[labelnote:Explanation]]. The one character this troper can think of requires you to be within CQC range. That character? ''William Wallace''.[[/labelnote]].

* Corvus Belli's ''Infinity'' has this in the form of the Ariadna faction. Lacking the technological advantages of their rivals, the nations of the planet Dawn make due with guerilla tactics, a mean-streak in CQC and an ungodly amount of firepower. Some Ariadna lists[[labelnote:Explanation]]This troper's building one up.[[/labelnote]] are even known make use of more figures than usual. Also, this makes them immune to the hackers of PanO or the Nomads[[labelnote:Explanation]]. The one unit this troper can think of requires you to be within CQC range. That character? ''William Wallace''.[[/labelnote]].

** The Burn Legend ruleset allows normal people with martial arts training to compete, albeit at a disadvantage, against element benders, shapeshifters, and guys with the power of the Thouand Hells surging through their veins. With a few good clash rolls and some decent timing, they can even win.

** The Tanith First and Only from DanAbnett's GauntsGhosts line of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novels. They're just as squishy as any other Guard regiment, yet that doesn't stop them from pulling off feats that would get other Imperial Guard units annihilated. Most of these feats consist of winning against vastly superior numbers of Chaos forces. Individual characters and squads have been known to kill all sorts of things that could easily wipe away enemies and units that could potentially destroy entire armies of Imperial Guardsmen all by themselves. These include, but are not limited to: numerous Chaos warlords, a Dark Eldar assassin, high-level psykers, a Chaos Dreadnought, and a squad of Chaos Space Marines.

** Guardsman Hawke. In GrahamMcNeill's ''Storm of Iron'', he escapes the initial assault (blowing away a couple of Chaos Space Marines with an assault cannon as he does), hoofs it to an orbital torpedo silo, and takes out half of the Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marines besieging the Citadel. He's also the only Imperial to survive the whole war, not counting slaves hauled off to Medrengard. To put that in perspective, he had been written off by his superiors as a useless, foul-mouthed, insubordinate and ill-disciplined Guardsman barely worthy of the name prior to the attack.

* In D20Modern Urban Arcana, a high level hero without special powers can be this. Despite possessing no surnatural abilities, a Fast Hero5 Gunslinger 10 Sniper 5 is a force to be reckoned with, able to bring down demons with nothing more than [[OneHitKill one]] [[BigFuckingGun Barrett M82]] shot from more than half a kilometer away, dodge grenades (Evasion) and [[DodgeTheBullet bullets]] like there was no tomorrow (Huge class AC and Dexterity), even if he/she didn't see the shooter, because he/she just had a gut feeling (Uncanny dodge), cannot be flanked (Improved Uncanny Dodge), can use stealth to get the jump on almost anything, spend time to aim an enemy and ignore cover less than one half (Improved Dead Aim), lay down a barrage of fire (lightning shot), is almost invincible when taking cover (Defensive Position)...

* In D20Modern Urban Arcana, a high level hero without special powers can be this. Despite possessing no surnatural abilities, a Fast Hero5 Gunslinger 10 Sniper 5 is a force to be reckoned with, able to bring down demons with nothing more than [[OneHitKill one]] [[BigFuckingGun Barrett M82]] shot from more than half a kilometer away.

* This is the whole purpose of [[TheSyndicate the Guild]] in ''{{Exalted}}''. InAWorld ruled by beings so powerful that their original job description was [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beating up the gods themselves]], the Guild's purpose is to provide PunyHumans with a power base of their own. They are so successful that the Guild, rather than [[TheEmpire the Realm]], is the only true power with influence across the whole of Creation, with the wherewithal to bring entire countries to their knees if displeased.

* ''Any'' high-level martial character in any edition of ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]''. Fighters? Yes. Warlords/Marshals? Yes. Rangers? Yes. Barbarians? Yes. Rogues? Yes. Barbarian/Fighter/Frenzied Berserker? OHSHI--

** While not ENTIRELY powerless, the Sisters of Battle do qualify to some extent as they outright shun most of the more common ways to gain power in the Imperium in favor of purity.

** Although no longer canon, there is probably the biggest example in ''40k'', Ollianus Pious, a Guardsman that decided to fight a stupidly powerful being that was already at demi-god status before the [[EldritchAbomination Chaos Gods]] decided to use him as a recepticle for all of their power. He was swiftly killed for his troubles, but damn.

*** Yarrick is so BadAss, that the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]], an army of AxCrazy BloodKnight ChaoticStupid [[FearlessFool Fearless Fools]], are '''utterly terrified''' of him. The problem is, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve most Orks think Yarrick is an unkillable badass and their belief actually makes Yarrick an unkillable badass]]. On the tabletop, if Yarrick is killed by Orks, there is a good chance ''he will get back up''. What's more is, due to missing out on the mass [[MindRape]] inflicted by the [[EldritchAbomination Nightbringer]] on the galaxy at large, the Orks alone are a sentient race entirely free from the fear of their own mortality. They do not fear death at all, and indeed rush heedlessly towards it and love every second, but they [[UpToEleven still fear Commissar Yarrick]]!

*** Yarrick is so BadAss, that the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]], an army of AxCrazy BloodKnight ChaoticStupid [[FearlessFool Fearless Fools]], are '''utterly terrified''' of him. The problem is, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve most Orks think Yarrick is an unkillable badass and their belief actually makes Yarrick an unkillable badass]]. On the tabletop, if Yarrick is killed by Orks, there is a good chance ''he will get back up''.

* The armies of TheEmpire in ''{{Warhammer}}''. They fight the same [[TheLegionsOfHell daemonic hordes]], [[TheBrute massive]] [[TinTyrant armored]] followers of Chaos, and their [[{{Mooks}} less superpowered allies]] as their [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} 40k counterparts]]. They don't have lasers, aircraft, tanks, Space Marine backup, or howitzers. They hold the line with plain steel armor, swords, and occasionally matchlock muskets.

** The Tanith First and Only from DanAbnett's GauntsGhosts line of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novels. They're just as squishy as any other Guard regiment, yet that doesn't stop them from pulling off feats that would get other Imperial Guard units annihilated. Most of these feats consist of winning against vastly superior numbers of Chaos forces. Individual characters and squads have been known to kill all sorts of things that could easily wipe away enemies and units that could potentially destroy entire armies of Imperial Guardsmen all by themselves. These include, but are not limited to: numerous Chaos warlords, a Dark Eldar assassin, high-level psykers, a Chaos Dreadnought, and an entire squad of Chaos Space Marines.

** Commissar Yarrick, a perfectly human man who had his arm torn off by a massive Ork warlord and responded by tearing off said Ork's own cyborg arm, attaching it to himself, killing the hell out of the Ork and leading his army to victory before allowing himself to pass out. And he's only got harder since then.

*** Another note on Yarrick and the Orks: Yarrick is so BadAss, that the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]], an army of AxCrazy BloodKnight ChaoticStupid [[FearlessFool Fearless Fools]], are '''utterly terrified''' of him. The problem is, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve most Orks think Yarrick is an unkillable badass and their belief actually makes Yarrick an unkillable badass]]. On the tabletop, if Yarrick is killed by Orks, there is a good chance ''he will get back up''.

* Pretty much ''any'' high-level martial character in any edition of ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]''. Fighters? Yes. Warlords/Marshals? Yes. Rangers? Yes. Barbarians? Yes. Rogues? HELL yes. Barbarian/Fighter/Frenzied Berserker? OHSHI--

* ''IronHeroes'' basically thrives on this, with 9 out of 10 classes having no magical talent at all.

* The Imperial Guard of the ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe, consisting of ordinary men and women, regularly take on all varieties of horrific AliensAndMonsters, including swarms of alien locusts like the Tyranids, hordes of Orks, the endless legions of the lost and the damned, backed by gibbering daemons and power-armoured Chaos Space Marines, the Necrons - an undead, implacable race of zombie robots - and technologically advanced [[SpaceElves Eldar]], with little more than a flak jacket, a lasgun, and gigantic balls of steel. And they sometimes '''win'''.
** The Tanith First and Only from DanAbnett's [[GauntsGhosts Gaunt's Ghosts]] line of ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novels. They're just as squishy as any other Guard regiment, yet that doesn't stop them from pulling off feats that would get other Imperial Guard units annihilated. Most of these feats consist of winning against vastly superior numbers of Chaos forces. Individual characters and squads have been known to kill all sorts of things that could easily wipe away enemies and units that could potentially destroy entire armies of Imperial Guardsmen all by themselves. These include, but are not limited to: numerous Chaos warlords, a Dark Eldar assassin, high-level psykers, a Chaos Dreadnought, and an entire squad of Chaos Space Marines.

** Guardsman Hawke. In {{Graham McNeill}}'s ''Storm of Iron'', he escapes the initial assault (blowing away a couple of Chaos Space Marines with an assault cannon as he does), hoofs it to an orbital torpedo silo, and takes out half of the Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marines besieging the Citadel. He's also the only Imperial to survive the whole war, not counting slaves hauled off to Medrengard. To put that in perspective, he had been written off by his superiors as a useless, foul-mouthed, insubordinate and ill-disciplined Guardsman barely worthy of the name prior to the attack.

* The armies of [[TheEmpire the Empire]] in ''{{Warhammer}}''. They fight the same [[TheLegionsOfHell daemonic hordes]], [[TheBrute massive]] [[TinTyrant armored]] followers of Chaos, and their [[{{Mooks}} less superpowered allies]] as their [[{{Warhammer40000}} 40k counterparts]]. They don't have lasers, aircraft, tanks, Space Marine backup, or howitzers. They hold the line with plain steel armor, swords, and occasionally matchlock muskets.

* ''{{Iron Heroes}}'' basically thrives on this, with 9 out of 10 classes having no magical talent at all.

* ''{{Iron Heroes}}'' basically thrives on this, with 9 out of 10 classes having no magical talent at all. Even the magical one could half-fulfill this trope, since spellcasting could horribly backfire and they tend to learn how to fight with weapons anyway.

* ''{{Iron Heroes}}'' basically thrives on this, with 9 out of 10 classes having no magical talent at all. Even the magical one could half-fulfill this trope, since spellcasting could horribly backfire and they tend to learn how to fight with weapons anyway.

** The Catachans, being born on a planet that tries to kill you every minute you live and breath makes sure the only ones to survive are this trope.

**** As for the Demon Prince, it might have helped that the Tau have no warp presence whatsoever.