Macharian Crusade

The Macharian Crusade was one of the few examples in Imperial History where shit was done and done beautifully by a man with a spirit forged from unbreakable steel; the Lord Solar Macharius.

What makes Macharius so badass? It is because he was just a man. While the great crusade had the Emperor, his living demi-god sons the Primarchs and space marines beyond space marines to conquer the galaxy, Macharius had an army mostly of Imperial Guard and a few space marine attachments. And in the space of seven years, he and his armies conquered nearly a thousand worlds. A thousand worlds! That is around one hundred and forty-two worlds being conquered by year. This of course means he and his army were steamrolling all opposition and in a galaxy of xenos and chaos worshippers, that says much of the man.

It was only when they reached the edge of known space leading into the halo stars that the resolve of his men wavered. Pushed by seven years of non stop war, they had had enough and refused to go further. Macharius cried manly tears as he rallied against this, for he was having a great time but his men couldn't be persuaded further. And so ended one of the few times in the fluff when the Imperium actually behaved like the greatest power in the galaxy and took territory, rather then just frailing around getting chewed to pieces by heretics and aliens.