40K: Top 5 Campaigns Of The Imperium
Warhammer 40,000 is shaped by war – But which campaigns shaped the Imperium of Mankind?
There have been countless battles fought in the universe of Warhammer 40,000 and untold numbers of campaigns that have spread across the millennia from the time of the Emperor until our current state of Warhammer 40K. Here at BoLS we wanted to distill that list down to the 5 campaigns that helped to shape the Imperium of Mankind.
These 5 campaigns either set the stage for the rest of the conflicts to follow or had such a massive impact on the flow of time they couldn’t be ignored. So let’s dive into to the time stream and take a look at the 5 Campaigns of the Imperium!
The Great Crusade
We had to start with the most important campaign of all time. The Great Crusade was the “Golden Age” of Mankind. The Emperor was alive and well leading his children across the Galaxy. If ended the Age of Strife and the Unification Wars and brought order to mankind’s chaotic beginnings. This crusade set the galactic stage for everything that followed.
The Horus Heresy
We can’t really mention the Great Crusade without following it up with the “ending” that is the Horus Heresy. The Betrayal and turning of half of the Space Marine Legions didn’t just sunder the Imperium of Mankind, it crippled the Emperor and turned brother against brother. It also brought forth the powers of Chaos in a way that would fundamentally change the way the Imperium viewed everything.
Before the Hersey, Chaos was just another superstition – but the reality warping “truth” that the Daemons of Chaos were actual sentient entities that could manifest wasn’t known until The Hersey. Couple that with the major battles that were fought across the galaxy and it’s easy to see how pivotal this campaign was in shaping the Imperium.
The Beast Arises
I won’t get into any spoilers for the series as it’s still wrapping up. But this Ork Campaign has had some MASSIVE political repercussions. While this campaign is eventually defeated the waves caused by it’s collusion course with the Imperium are still rippling in “modern” 40k. This campaign directly leads to The Beheading – a horrible event that causes 100 years of anarchy.
The arrival of over 50 leaders from different chapters of Space Marines come to Terra an establish a new council of the High Lords to stop the squabbling. It was private session and none know exactly what was said but there as no further dissension.
The Macharian Crusade
The Macharain Crusade was one of the largest and most successful crusades in the history of the Imperium. Led by Lord Commander Solar Macharius, this Crusade marked a great victory for the Imperium. Nearly 1000 worlds were brought back into the fold of the Imperium. Many of these worlds were lost during the chaotic Age of Apostasy.
This crusade was important to the history of the Imperium because it was the most success campaign led by the Imperial Guard – aka the Astra Militarum. While a handful of Space Marine chapters did participate, they were not the bulk of the forces. The Macharian Crusade was the Guardsmen of the Imperium proving that they were to do more than just protect their worlds – The Astra Militarum could be conquerors, too.
The Badab War
Just as the Macharian Crusade proved that the Astra Militarum was a capable “protector” of the Imperium, the Badab War proved that the Space Marines weren’t always the reliable “defenders” that mankind thought. The Badab War didn’t start as a massive conflict. It started off with a Space Marine taking over the role of Governor of a planet and ended with a war between Renegade Space Marines and the Imperum the size of which hadn’t been seen since the Horus Heresy.
The Maelstrom is still an area of problems to this today for the Imperium. It’s a safe haven for renegade Space Marines and a constant reminder that even the Adeptus Astartes can become corrupt with power…
There are many, MANY other campaigns that we didn’t touch on. The Armageddon Wars, The Black Crusades, The Gothic Wars, The Tyrannic Wars, The Damnos Incident…the list goes on. However, these 5 campaigns impacted the Imperium of Mankind in ways many of the other ones haven’t. They set the stage for many of those other battles to occur.
The current era of 40K is “The Time of Ending” and it’s going to be interesting to see just how the events unfold. Are these the Last Days of the Imperium or are we going to see a new Golden Age?
What do you think about these campaigns? Did we leave out any of your favorite? Do you think another campaign deserves to be on this list?
