Warhammer 40000 Dawn of War Winter Assault Preview

New kids on the Block I’m quite sure each and every one of us has experienced the feeling of being overwhelmed in an altercation. We have all endured times where the odds were against us. If you turn on the TV and switch to the sports entertainment channel, you can even see four rule-breaking wrestler dudes playing the numbers game on a forsaken baby-faced hero. Unfair fights. They happen quite often. It’s when this ‘quite often’ turns to ‘all the time’ that things get really nasty. Meet the Imperial Guard, the all new playable faction from the expansion to Warhammer 40,000 : Dawn of War. Their job is to outnumber enemy armies for free. On a more serious note, The Imperial Guard’s primary focus is on attacking in large masses with ranged weapons. This faction plays with a defensive style, which seems ideal for capturing locations on the map and striking with immense firepower while having multiple vehicles for backup. Relic say that the Imperial Guard could possibly make a good learning race for newer players due to their simple but effective style of combat.

The Imperial Guard seem to favour ranged fighting but their melee units are definitely not glass-jawed. The regular soldiers are called the Imperial Guard troopers who have the ability to garrison a bunker quickly to get protection and damage bonuses. The only true melee units for the Imperial Guard are warriors known as the Ogryn who are extremely vicious when they get close to you. They are able to take a lot of punishment and dish out massive amounts of damage as well. This is nicely balanced by the fact that the ranged units of the Imperial Guard deal less damage in comparison and are very low on morale. What this essentially means is that the troops are lily-livered and won’t hesitate to run when the battle becomes too hard to handle. A few notable units of the Imperial Guard are the Commissar, who leads the troops and keeps them motivated, the Imperial Captain with blades attached to his wrists, the Basilisks which are now the most powerful artillery units in the game, Hellhounds which are generic tanks that spout flame and Sentinels, the lighter vehicles used for tracking down resources and staking claims on listening posts. However, all of these took the backseat as the ‘Baneblade’ stepped forward. This uber unit of the Imperial Guard is an enormous tank with eleven guns mounted on it, which includes a cannon that requires two troopers to fire and reload ammunition. The Imperial Guard also get the Psykers who are able to remove the souls from their enemies a la Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat. There is a catch though, the element of chance! Sometimes this ’spell’ backfires, killing the Psyker instead of the enemy unit. Therefore these units are best used against really powerful enemies when a few sacrifices are inevitable.

Back With a Bang

Warhammer 40,000 : Winter Assault does not comprise of a new faction alone. There’s much more. The old groups familiar to us have been provided with new units taken right from the table-top game. The Space Marines get the skull-headed Chaplain who is a powerful ranged commanding unit and the Chaos get the Khorne Berserker who specializes in heavy melee fighting. The Eldar have a new Firedragon that is an anti-vehicle unit and the Orks have their Mega-armoured Nobz for defensive melee combat. Relic has been listening to constant feedback from the player community in order to bring about proper balance in the game, especially after the addition of Dawn of War to the official list of this year’s World Cyber Games.

Beautiful Battles

Relic admits that Dawn of War did not utilize the powerful graphics engine to its maximum potential. It actually was one of the better looking RTS games on the market at the time of its release but then true artists are never satisfied with their creations. The intention of Relic is to make Warhammer 40,000 : Winter Assault much better looking than its predecessor. Every single infantry unit in the army of the Imperial Guard looks unique. Some wear helmets while some don’t. Some may be adorned with medals and epaulets butothers have nothing on their uniforms. The developers mention the inclusion of ’sync kills’, which are close-up encounters between units as one rips through the other. The intricate details that catch the eye when armies fight a full-scale war on the screen are very cool.

Offline Campaigns

A few people found the single player campaigns in Dawn of War to be lackluster. Even Relic mentioned something on the lines of the campaigns not living up to their own expectations but they also insist that they will change that in Winter Assault. This statement may seem bold but these developers do have a history of delivering the goods when it comes to single player gameplay. The Homeworld series is a fine example. The campaign structure is divided into two, the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’ sides of the story. The ‘good’ side lets you choose between the Imperial Guard, the Space Marines and the Eldar while the ‘evil’ side puts you in control of the Chaos and the Orks. Relic say that the campaigns in Winter Assault will be deeper and more challenging than Dawn of War with every single mission providing you with a unique experience.

Awaiting the Assault

Relic do have something really good going on with the Warhammer 40K series for the PC. Dawn of War is now an official WCG game, which implies that the world has accepted it as a competitive RTS. The player community is growing steadily and this expansion only looks like it is going to please fans. A new faction, new units, improved game-play options, better graphics and refurbished single player campaigns… all of these sound very good. Expect this expansion pack in stores this September.

Ashwath ‘AshR’ Ravee