Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade

[Rust]

The screams of the dying filled his ears.

The battlefield was a maddening array of lights and sounds. To his left, he could see the bunker-like mass of Infantry Command looming in the distance - far too close for comfort. In the pock marked and charred landscape just down the hill from the beach head, hell raged.

They had miscalculated in their assessments. The world of Kronos was teeming with targets, and Command's concern was knocking out the stench of Chaos before some daemonic monstrosity could be raised against Victory Bay. When the progress of their march took them into a forest rumored to be held by the machine men of Kronos - these so called "Necrons" - Command had thought it an acceptable diversion, to establish a front into the Wastes that were rumored to house the Necron's primary hive.

The men of the 1st Kronos Liberators - Imperial Guard - had barely set up preliminary fortifications when the forests came alive with gun metal monsters. A nest of the beasts was nearby, but the Liberators were taking catastrophic losses in the face of the unrelenting, ever present foe.

Two faint booms sounded in the distance, and artillery shells delivered from two Basilisks slammed into the ground behind the battle. Command had managed to call up mechanized support, but it was slow going in the forest. The Basilisks had reached position first thanks to their longer range and were desperately trying to weaken the advancing Necron host.

Guardsmen wept and died and fought in the charred pits of previous explosions - atop the bodies of their former comrades. He witnessed one trooper wrestle with a Necron Warrior for his weapon before one of the demented flesh robed robots - the flayed ones - came up from behind and tore into the Trooper's back with a clawed hand as wide as the man's chest.

They just have to hold until the armor arrives the Commissar thought and bellowed orders to his squad to keep fighting and hold the line. One of the men with him - Rawlings, if the Commissar recalled correctly - backed away with a rapidly expanding dark stain at his crotch. Daring a fearful glance at the political officer, Rawlings turned heel and ran, his Las Rifle clutched to his chest like a mother guarding a baby.

Tearing into one of the Spyder robots with his chain sword, the Commissar took his heavy bolt pistol and swung it around at Rawlings' back. He squeezed the firing stud and Rawlings' chest dematerialized into a spray of red mist, followed a second later by a rapidly expanding fireball as the Las Rifle's power pack ignited. To the Commissar's satisfaction, he saw the explosion render two of the Necron Warriors inert and sent a Flayed One screeching off as its macabre dress caught fire.

The Commissar made a mental note to put a commendation in Rawlings' official file. The man was a coward, but he served the Emperor in the end.

"Keep at them boys! Keep at them!" The Commissar brayed above the noise. "They can die like the rest of us!"

The Commissar would soon choke on those words as he noticed the two Warriors rendered inert by Rawlings' Las Rifle twitch back online. To the Commissar's horror, he saw Spyder machines shaking themselves back together and taking flight once more. The enemy wasn't staying dead. The enemy was not staying dead.

"Emperor save us!" Another Guardsman wailed to the Commissar's left. To the man's credit he did not run, but he lost all form of battlefield discipline, switching his rifle to full charge and sending shots firing wildly into the horde.

The Commissar blinked and suddenly there was a Necron looming over the frantic Guardsman. Given the ornate trappings it wore, the Commissar thought this was the commander. He swung his heavy bolter around and sent a single shot slamming into the Necron Lord's face. The round struck true, exploded, and killed the guardsman standing next to it due to close range shrapnel.

As the after explosion died away, the Commissar gazed in mute horror as the Necron Lord's face wasn't even dented. So absolutely shocked by this development was he that he failed to notice the bladed staff carried by the Necron Lord until it was buried up to the hilt in his chest. As the Commissar folded over, he caught movement in the treeline and saw Lem Russ Tanks and Hellhounds rushing onto the charred battlefield.

Emperor be praised! The Commissar thought weakly as the Necron Lord above him began gesturing wildly causing Warriors and Flayed Ones to turn their attention from the demoralized and broken Guardsmen. We held the line long enough.

As he fell on the gore caked ground, his eyes found the rising bulk of the Infantry Command Center, and the sign of the Aquilia that flew from its ramparts.

We held the line.... The Commissar thought...then died. Moments later, his body was crushed beneath the tracks of the advancing Hellhounds and reinforcement Guardsmen units...and their Commissars.

And the War for Kronos raged on.



So yeah. I'm playing Dark Crusade...as the Imperial Guard. It's...a learning experience. For those not familiar, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade is a stand alone expansion pack for the RTS (Real Time Strategy) title Dawn of War.

I've played through the game before as the Tau Empire. I'm now going through the game as the Manpower intensive, easily expendable Imperial Guard.

[The Fifth Horseman]

I have DoW along with the expansions. Didn't play it much, can't stand the fact it's localised with no option to switch to English.

[FlyingCarcass]

Death to the false emperor! We. Must. KILL! Sanity is for the weak!



DoW: Dark Crusade is a great game and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable RTS.

[Captain Electric]

I have every DoW game and expansion, for both DoW I and DoW II! I'm not even an RTS fan but I really got into this series of games for some reason. Before the City of Heroes community was my home, the RelicNews DoW community was my home. I even modded my own army and banners and everything, did some work for my regular teammates too. A lot of people thought of the online community as all about PvP, but me and my friends did more co-op than anything else.

I was Proteus on the RelicNews forums if anyone here was around back then. I helped organize the first big community-wide mock campaign, using photoshopped Google maps for planets hehe. Anyone remember that? I still have all of the sig banners and other stuff I made for campaigners in my Imageshack account. That was before we had Dark Crusade. BACK IN THE OLD DAYS, hurrrrr! I also did a lot of alpha testing for the Dawn of Warhammer 40,000 tabletop mod, man I loved that thing. Last I heard it was called Firestorm over Kronus(?) and had merged with some other project. I actually hear the DoW I modding forums are still alive and kicking.

Also if anyone remembers the big long interview posted with the Damnatus fan film director before it got blocked by GW Legal, I was the interviewer.

I can pick up and play the game anytime, but I miss that community a lot. After three years of being involved in the DoW and modding scene however, I was ready for a break. IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE THERE IS ONLY WAR! I love that game universe but it is kind of depressing sometimes!

[Rust]

IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE THERE IS ONLY WAR! I love that game universe but it is kind of depressing sometimes!

I actually was thinking about this the other day. Warhammer 40k really runs counter to my moral values and held beliefs, so I couldn't for the life of me understand why I liked the setting so much.

Then it hit me. It's about fundamentally good people doing the right thing, even though it may likely lead to their deaths. Saving a planet isn't a huge deal in 40k - Humanity has billions of worlds, after all - and anything smaller then a planet doesn't even register to anyone not living there. But these folks do it anyway, because it is the right thing to do.

To quote Babylon 5:

"No greater love hath a man who would lay down his life for his brother. Not for fame. Not for glory. Alone. In the Dark. Where no one will ever know or see."

[Rust]

Well that was a wild fight. Decided to knock out Chaos first and had a game that lasted nigh on two hours long (Those Blood Pulses...gah. The Tau were a compact fighting force. Trying to shuffle the Guard across in one go is folly).

Found out a Bloodletter is stopped dead in its tracks by four Heavy Weapons Squadrons (Two unupgraded, one Autocannon, one Lascannon) and a Heavy Bolter Turret for support. I had them arrayed to watch the western flank from your starting location...that set up took down I can't even count how many cultists and three Bloodletters without any kind of support or backup until my main force could cut across the map and take down the assault.

Similarly, The Basilisk is a beast. Forget the Baneblade - thing is almost too huge to maneuver. The Basilisk with the Earthshaker Round...that gets things accomplished.

[Captain Electric]

You are really putting the DoW itch in me! I actually never played too much Dark Crusade. Although I liked it a lot, I was getting close to that much needed break time mentioned above when it came out. Fast forward to a few years later and then it was time to play DoW II.

After CoH closed I did reinstall the original DoW Gold just to go back through the first Blood Ravens campaign, and I realized something. DoW I is still a great game. DoW II didn't really improve on DoW I, but was instead a very different game altogether.

Don't get me wrong, DoW II is actually my favorite game between them because of the small squad tactics, tougher marines, arena mode and oodles of specialization options for heroes. But what's funny is, sometimes I'll still get a DoW itch that only DoW I can scratch. Epic battles, great campaigns, HUGE number of mods. Also I found painting and modding my armies in DoW I way more enjoyable.

Gah! Stop!

[Rust]

Actually, I do really like that about DoW II. It doesn't make the first game "obsolete" in any way. Heck, none of the expansions really invalidate the others. DoW and Winter Assault are story driven. Dark Crusade and Soulstorm are more "Risk"esque. And DoW II is something entirely different.

Personally speaking, not too much of a fan of DoW II. I'm a macro style player, so juggling between four hotkeys for optimal positioning is not my preferred method of play. Still, it's an enjoyable experience. Have yet to finish it or its expansions (Picked up the whole franchise off the Steam Summer Sale last year for $30), but I'll get around to it eventually.

[Rust]

 Necrons vs Imperial Guard is a extraordinary difficult match up for the Guard. Nigh on Three Hours long turf fight that saw a lot of dead and the desert sands battered and pock marked. Once I figured out to forgo Grenade Launchers entirely in favor of Plasma Guns (As all Necrons are Heavy Infantry) things got easier...and then the Restored Monoliths came out to play.

Never before have I been so grateful for the Basilisks.

Between the Restored Monoliths and the Aspect of the Nightbringer though...that just went on for far, far too long. And unlike against Chaos or the Orks, I couldn't exactly establish a defensive perimeter because of the roving Monoliths.

I think I'm going to have to take out the Necrons next if I have any hopes of winning the day, or else they're just going to be nipping at my heels every turn and wearing me out. The problem is, the last battle with them was incredibly sloppy and I remember their Stronghold mission from the Tau perspective. This could become a very, very ugly fight.

I suppose I could just look online for strategies and what not, but one thing I really like about Dawn of War is that each race functions very different. With the Tau, I just loaded up on Fire Teams (Unless I was fighting Melee centric armies like Chaos and Orks, then I threw in some Kroot), Battlesuits, and my tanks and streamrolled everything. The Imperial Guard is too squishy for full on blitzes and is more matching the right squads with the right leaders (Commissars, Priests, or Psykers), using abilities and artillery, and generally a slow tide towards the objective.

I'm still working out the kinks in my battle strategy with them.


EDIT: So here's the battle field as it stands now:



I could take my chances and dive into the Necron Tomb, but I'm skittish about my chances given how the Necrons are basically all about wrecking the Guard's business (Seriously, dude made a play at the tile just below Victory Bay - the #6 - and that was festooned with defenses (That honestly I didn't even realize I'd built) and the Necrons rolled over my fixed batteries and mine fields like they weren't even there!).

At the same time, another part of me wants to build up my forces a bit - maybe even snag the Forward Base tile sitting right next to me in Ork territory. That would allow me to build prefabricated bases prior to missions, but it's one of those "Special" Missions where I'm given a gaggle of units and denied reinforcement.

Or I could swing back around via the small island in the lower part of the map and kick out the Orks, circling back up and around as I do so. This is the "Long way" of getting the Forward Base, but it gives me plenty of Honor Guard Units and Requisition Points. The issue there is it leaves Necron Lord McStompy Pants up in my business, unless he decides to go ruin the Blood Angels' day for awhile.

Any thoughts on which option I should take? It's really tempting to punt the Orks out of the game because I know I can take them (Hellhounds - gotta love em), but the Necrons really are the critical threat at the moment. But ugh...that Stronghold mission is going to suuuuuuuuck.

[PzTnT]

Well, if anyone is running soulstorm I'll suggest this mod, it's one of the best one i have ever played for any game.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/ultimate-apocalypse-mod

[Mister Bison]

Back before Dark Crusade, in fact, starting from the vanilla DoW, I already worshipped this game.

For the first time in ages, war felt, looked and sounded like War. From the dreadnaughts launching hapless fresh corpses, to the shells raining upon all sorts of living and daemonic things, hurling them left, right, front and back around the impact. Down to the leaders screaming, deities invoked, and Waaaaghs merrily going to the front with primitive but strangely effective weaponry.

Aahhh, good times. I always go and fire up a game against AI to remember the atmosphere. THQ/Relic really outdid themselves with this game. Like they did with Homeworld, it was also novative (though based on Company of Heroes), with the system of ressources coming from territory, instead of harvesters. And squads with upgrades.

Dawn of War will remain, for me, the best RTS to date. Up to Dark Crusade. Soulstorm was a bit below in term of quality. At least it was incompatible with me, shoehorning air units and dark eldars really didn't feel natural.

[Rust]

Yeah. The Sisters of Battle and the Dark Eldar didn't really bring much to the table, and if I'm going to be honest Soulstorm's too big for my tastes. Plus the fact the maps reset each time you fought, so there was zero incentive to plan a effective "bunker" strategy.

One of these days I'll do a full run of Soulstorm at least once just to say I've done it. But my RTS itch is definitely being scratched by Dark Crusade. I've knocked out the Necrons finally (It got much easier once I just ignored Grenade Launchers completely and went with full load outs of Plasma Guns with Hellhounds in reserve to deal with Monoliths and base clearing) and am working to push out the Tau. The Tau are an interesting foe to fight with the Imperial Guard. I pretty much ignore Psykers (Which is stupid, given Curse of the Machine Spirit), but they became required with the Tau and their dang stealth suits. Currently in their home city, getting ready to kick it down (Like all Strongholds, once you survive the initial push the mission itself becomes a bit of a breeze), then move onto Ork territory.

The Space Marines knocked out the Eldar, and given my loathing for that Stronghold mission, I let them have that victory.


Really, out of all the races in Dawn of War, the Eldar are the ones I have the hardest time grasping.

[Exxar]

Yeah, I'd play a lot more of Dark Crusade or even Soulstorm if the stronghold missions weren't so damn tedious for the most part.

[Rust]

Eh. I like the fact there are a few special missions in there - it keeps the game from being monotonous.

I did manage to knock out the Tau...that fight got messy. I decided to break the armor first, and the Kroot swarmed me to absolutely silly degrees. I must have rebuilt my forces (Both Armor and Infantry) at least seven times before I got a push that was successful. Ended up breaking my Infantry and Armor up and sending them in different approaches to split the defenders and open a hole.

Still, I don't even think the Necrons were this difficult and tenacious once I figured out how to fight them. The Tau are a pain with the Imperial Guard.

[Rust]

Well that was vexsome. Due to a storm last night, I lost all my progress taking a size 13 wide combat boot to Gorgutz' metallic posterior. Not feeling like re-running that gauntlet just yet (I'd just gotten my defensive line established and was sitting pretty), I decided to boot up a new campaign (Have I mentioned I am like stupidly addicted to Dark Crusade?), this time using the Eldar.

I've given the Eldar a few test drives before, but I could never "get" them. Well, if there's one good thing that has come out of me playing the Imperial Guard it's been finally paying attention to Unit Typing in regards to Squad Upgrades. For example, the Necrons are entirely Heavy Infantry...so Plasma Guns all around. The Orkz are mostly masses of regular Infantry, meaning Grenade Launchers all around.

What I wasn't "getting" about the Eldar is they've got options for every unit type in the book...but they generally only work against THAT unit type. Basically, the key to success with the Eldar seems to be picking the right units for the right situations. For Space Marines, that composition seems to be Dark Reapers and Fire Dragons with support from either Fire Prisms or Wraithguard (Actually, I left my three Wraithguard and two Fire Prisms on Guard Duty while my Infantry cleaned house). I did build at least one of every Infantry type to get a handle on them, but generally speaking...when you know what you're doing, the Eldar can be kind of fun. The ability to "Hop" your Production Facilities to the Front Lines via Waygates is definitely a fun feature.

Probably get back to the Guard again today, but it's nice to know I've got a handle on yet another faction. Dark Crusade is great because despite the seven factions, they all each play fairly differently from each other which I really like. In too many RTS games, the factions are more or less window dressing and under the hood in regards to tech trees and what have you they play pretty much the same.

EDIT: Imma gonna savor this for a bit...



Mmmm.