Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
By Will Bartos
Monday. Feb 26, 1:52 PM
The classic tabletop game gets an RTS done RIGHT.

Ah, Starcraft. What would I do without you? I had many a sleepless night dominating the Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg. Thank you so much for keeping me company. But… I’ve found something new. Something… you sort of copied. And, well, it’s done better. Sorry Starcraft, but I must go… at least until you get to Starcraft 2.

Corny “breakup” from the classic franchise aside, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War rewrites the RTS genre, bringing in new elements and fantastic visuals, all within the miniature universe where there is only war.

Developed by Relic, makers of the equally fantastic Homeworld series, Dawn of War takes the concepts and rules written in the books, codices, and supplements of the 40K universe, and implements them in a VERY effective form for RTS. In fact, the implementation of these rules is very well done, leaving in the nuances of the original game. Fear, squad breaking, and pinning are all intact, implemented in such a way that keeps the feel intact, yet keeping it balanced for better PC play. Dawn of War starts with four armies: Space Marines, Eldar, Orks, and Chaos. Much like any other current RTS, each army has a different feel. Space Marines are very well rounded. Chaos excels in hand-to-hand combat, but can still shoot pretty well. Orks are very good at hand-to-hand, and can have squads grow to a massive size. Eldar do well at hit-and-run strikes, and have fast, heavy weapons. Unfortunately, these are the only armies available, leaving the 40K knowledgeable very disappointed that some of the other armies did not make it.

As many fans of the tabletop game know, there are no resources on the battlefield. To avoid the “resource conflict” of many RTS games, as well as keep the focus on the massive army creation, Relic implemented requisition points. These points can be claimed by any army, and provides a requisition resource. These points can be further fortified with a listening post and two forms of heavy firearms. Other points include Critical Points, which cannot be fortified, and Relics, which provide access to better parts of the tech tree, such as Terminators for the Space Marines. Buildings and units still require power in order to create, so power plants are readily available for construction.

So lets turn to the best part of the game: the war part. While building up a base and keeping the resources coming in can be fun, 40K has always been known for massive armies. Thankfully, Relic implemented something different: the creation of squads. Instead of pumping out one unit at a time, infantry producing buildings can create squads of units, starting a small amount. These squads can be reinforced to hold more soldiers, as well as adding a sergeant and heavy weapons infantry, all without affecting squad cap. You want a lot of bodies flying around and lots of weapons fire? You get it in spades. Vehicles have their own cap, and are built one at a time, but there’s nothing like seeing 10 dreadnaughts wreaking havoc on the battlefield. I remember playing Warcraft III and being frustrated at the unit cap: not getting that huge, overwhelming force I wanted. Dawn of War allows for the giant force players want.

My only concern for the game is its length. It only offers one campaign, and it focuses on the Space Marines. While blasting around with bolters and lascannons is fun, it would have been nice to have a more robust single player campaign, incorporating all the armies into one big storyline. The single player campaign is more like a very robust tutorial, getting players used to the controls while playing a fantastic story. The multiplayer, on the other hand, is very well done, complete with a ton of maps and the ability to customize your army’s color.

Dawn of War kicks off their series with a bang, almost eliminating the resource war and keeping the focus on massive battles. Currently the game is great, but with an extended campaign involving all armies and more armies to play the game could be superb. In the meantime, Relic kicked off the franchise to a great start, and with an expansion pack or two already around, it could grow to become incredible.

Will Bartos

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