Dawn of War

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a Real Time Strategy game for the PC developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's popular tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dawn of War was released in September 2004.

Dawn of War features four armies:
 * Space Marines; the campaign features the Blood Ravens, and leading them are Captain Gabriel Angelos and Librarian Isador Akios.
 * Orks; several clans are featured in the campaign, and leading them is Ork Warboss Orkamungus.
 * Eldar; the campaign features the craftworld of Biel-Tan, and their leader, Farseer Macha.
 * Chaos Space Marines or simply, Chaos; the campaign features the Alpha Legion, with their leaders, Sindri Myr and Lord Bale.

Dawn of War introduces the Blood Ravens, an original chapter of Space Marines created by Relic. The Blood Ravens' history, organization, and other background information about them are described in the White Dwarf magazine (White Dwarf, 2004) as well as the novel Dawn of War (Goto, 2004).

The Single Player campaign deals with the Blood Ravens 3rd Company as they are called to assist against an Ork invasion on the planet Tartarus. This eventually pulls them into conflict with the Eldar and finally the forces of Chaos.

Notable features
Dawn of War has very different gameplay to most modern RTS games, because of its squad-based units, close combat options, morale, and point-based resourcing system, which had been featured to some point in certain games (such as Sid Meier's Gettysburg!, which included both morale and large groups of units) but was absent from most games produced as of 2000.




 * The squad system is innovative and had never really been explored in other modern RTS games, though some older RTS' had a system that was comparable. Squads can be reinforced by adding additional members, equipped with additional special weaponry, attached leaders or special units, also mostly unexplored in modern RTSes. For example, a Space Marine squad starts with 4 marines, but can be expanded up to 8 standard marines and a sergeant, and equipped with up to 4 (5 after a patch update) heavy weapons with an upgrade, or two without. These heavy weapons include: Heavy Bolters, Plasma Guns, Flamers (flamethrowers) or Missile Launchers, each of which has their own characteristics. It is also possible to attach a hero or other special units to the squad. The ability to reinforce even during battle creates interesting situations with armies being reinforced on the spot rather than new units being made in a player's base. The winner can usually expect little defense if he defeats the enemy army completely, since base fortifications are not as prominent as in most other RTS games.




 * The close combat units differ from other contemporary and modern RTS games as well. While the idea of close combat units dates back to Warcraft, one of the first "modern" real-time-strategy games, Dawn of War implements it more realistically. Most infantry units have both ranged and melee weapons rather than strictly one or the other, as is the case in most other modern strategy games. Any ranged unit engaged in close combat cannot fire and must engage its attacker in close combat in return. This makes tying-up enemy ranged squads with melee attacks, preventing them from firing, a tactical option and often a priority. Some units are better at melee attacks or ranged attacks than others. Some squad Leaders, Heroes, and Walkers also have additional close combat attacks that may send one or more attackers flying, temporarily removing them from combat and making them invulnerable to fire from supporting units. In addition, when a unit is defeated in close combat, the victorious unit will kill it off with a special (and often bloody) finishing move - such as unleashing a flurry of strikes on a stunned opponent before stabbing his blade through his enemy's heart. Units are invulnerable to damage while in their killing animations, which some players use to their advantage if the unit is taking fire while in combat; this is sometimes seen as a bug, although it should be noted that the invulnerable unit is also incapable of doing any damage to its attackers whilst engaged in the sync-kill.


 * An addition to the typical hitpoint system is morale. While units in a squad take damage individually, morale damage is applied to a squad as a whole. When morale drops to zero the squad breaks and its combat ability is greatly reduced. The player retains control of the unit and may decide whether to retreat and regain morale or stay and fight. Different weapons deal different amounts of damage to health and morale. Flamers and artillery, for example, are highly proficient at depleting enemy morale.


 * The game uses two kinds of resources: "requisition" and "power". Requisition is generated by the army headquarters and by controlling certain points on the battlefield. Only infantry can capture these points and it takes a certain amount of time for them to do so. Points can be de-captured and then captured by the enemy. There are three kinds of points:


 * Strategic Points are most common, quick to capture, and have an average line of sight. After capturing, a listening post may be built on them to protect them from de-capture; this also increases the amount of requisition generated. The listening post can be upgraded with defenses, which also further increases amount of requisition generated. If enabled, a player holding two-thirds of map's Strategic Points for 7 minutes can win a game through the Control Area Victory Condition.
 * Critical Locations are almost always in uneven number on the map. These take longer to capture and have a bigger line of sight, but cannot have listening posts built on them, thus making them harder to hold. A player or team can trigger a Take and Hold victory by holding half the critical locations on the map for 8 minutes.
 * Relics take the longest to capture and have a small line of sight. However, holding a relic gives access to the race's most advanced and powerful units. Relics may have listening posts built on them.
 * Slag Deposits Allow players to build advanced generators on them. Advanced generators produce more power than normal generators. Apart from generating power, a advanced generator can also create a decent control area around itself.

Note: Strategic Points, Relics, and Critical Locations can be depleted (they produce less requisition permanently) after a certain period of time has passed since their capture.

The power resource can be generated by building plasma generators: up to six generators can be built per headquarters. Additionally, some maps have special points called "slag deposits", at which special generators can be constructed. These are more expensive but produce power at much higher rate, as well as allowing buildings to be built nearby. As the player progresses up the tech tree reliance on power increases.

Other features include heroes, 4 completely different races, and clear distinction between infantry and vehicles, with vehicles being almost impervious to the attacks of non-upgraded infantry units, while being able to destroy many of them themselves. The engine allows for full 3D camera movement.

Gameplay
With the addition of a squad system and more realistic ranged-close combat dynamics (see above section), Dawn of War is different from the majority of strategy games. Troops have morale, which, when drained completely, causes the squad to "break" and scatter, severely decreasing firepower but granting a movement bonus. Squads can be reinforced on the spot rather than forcing the player to create new units at their base. The game contains many breaks from the norm of the genre, and introduced several new concepts.

The game is, overall, very micromanagement-oriented. With the reinforcement system, extra armament for troopers, and special skills, the player is often forced to switch back and forth between different squads and vehicles quickly, making fast decisions to keep their combat effectiveness. The strategic-point system favors aggressive gameplay; early in the game, skirmishes and battles within the first few minutes are common. The extra gameplay dynamics open up many new options for players - such as the strategy of sending in several well equipped squads against a stronger enemy force and reinforcing them as they lose their numbers, prolonging the life of the squad hopefully long enough for them to accomplish their objective (usually defense of an area until reinforcements can arrive).

Infantry units in the game more accurately reflect actual warfare; each individual squad is made up of many troopers, which act independently as individuals yet fight and move as a group. If a missile blast hits the squad, the troopers are blown away. If they survive, they get to their feet and resume firing from their position, leaving the squad scattered, as it likely would be in real life. The player could order the squad to move, thereby regrouping them, or leave them as they are, which might put them at a disadvantage, or indeed, in rare cases, an advantage (against artillery barrages, for instance). Troopers fire as they move rather than being forced to stop before they fire (though this is still the case with some heavy weaponry), unlike many other strategy games. When the squad is broken and ordered to retreat, the squad tends to act less cohesively, with troopers straying from the group more easily and not moving as tightly, actively reflecting their panicked and demoralized state.

The scope of the squad mechanics means that strategy plays an even bigger part in the game, especially with infantry warfare. Holding of strategic avenues (not necessarily Strategic Points), such as those with valuable heavy cover near a bottleneck leading to a player's base with Infantry becomes a worthwhile task, unlike in others, where the strategic value of a location without a building or resource on it is usually next to nil and not worth defending.

In other strategy games, retreat and "pulling one's losses" are not viable because unless the infantry is retreating to a place where it can find more units to help fight or take shelter in turrets or buildings, the squad will fight as well in any other location as it does at the point it is already fighting, thereby making strategic retreat and withdrawal a little-used and futile tactic. In Dawn of War, however, with the added scope of squad-based infantry combat and reinforcements, withdrawing a squad can allow it to replenish and regain its morale at the next set of fortifications or the player's base, allowing it to perhaps drive off its attackers once they attack again - this is mostly unique in the field of Real-time strategy.

Criticism
Dawn of War was mainly criticized for its short and repetitive single player campaign. All missions are fairly similar in both objectives and execution of therein, with few exceptions. Also, despite several patches, many fans still consider the game to be unbalanced in multiplayer. The evidence can be found on the Dawn of War ladder pages (Space marine and Chaos space marine always have the higher winning ratio; opposite for Orks) ..

Winter Assault
An expansion pack entitled Dawn of War: Winter Assault was released in September of 2005. There are several changes in both the singleplayer and multiplayer aspects, some of which have been criticised.

Imperial Guard

 * Imperial Guard, previously available in certain single player missions of Dawn of War. They are the countless billions of regular men outfitted with Lasguns who defend the Imperium of Man. In Dawn of War, they are extremely weak. The group you control in Winter Assault is a division of the Cadian Shock Troops.

New units

 * The Space Marines gain the Chaplain, a powerful close combat hero unit with a healing aura and the special ability to weaken an enemy squad's resolve and temporarily decrease their movement speed.
 * The Forces of Chaos gain Khorne Berzerkers, strong and fast close combat assault squad armed with a bolt pistol and a chain axe. Khorne Berzerkers have no morale whatsoever, meaning that the squad cannot be broken.
 * The Orks gain the Mega-Armored Nobz, slow-moving, but powerful and heavily armored semi-hero unit. Their speed can be boosted temporary with their own unique ability, although they take constant damage while using the ability. (Power Surge)
 * The Eldar gain the Fire Dragons, short-ranged fusion gun wielding aspect warriors best utilized against vehicles and structures, although very weak against other targets, especially in melee.

New campaigns
There are two new single player campaigns, which focus around a lost Imperial Titan. The three leftover races from the original Dawn of War (Orks, Eldar and Chaos) are available in addition to the new Imperial Guard, with each race trying to find and gain control of the Titan for their own reasons. Although the Titan as a whole is not controllable, its weapon systems can be used to assist in the destruction of the Necrons, who make a cameo in one level.

Simplification
Many of the units available in Dawn of War were simplified, reduced or limited for the Winter Assault expansion. For example, Space Marine Predator tanks were limited to carrying anti-tank weapons while Chaos Predators were limited to anti-personnel weapons. In the original Dawn of War game both sides could upgrade their tanks from anti-personnel to anti-tank. Likewise the Land Raider was converted from a heavy tank into a super-heavy tank the equal of the Imperial Guard Baneblade, and in so doing became limited to one per player. Limitations were mostly applied to the Orks who lost most of their upgrade choices and became severely limited in their weapon choices. The Eldar, on the other hand, had their "Hard Counters" removed, meaning that specialized units such as Dark Reapers were no longer as prominently effective against heavy infantry. In other words, a player could recruit more Dark Reapers, but to balance this, their main weapon and armour were drastically reduced, leaving them at a disadvantage and less use than in the original DoW.

Dark Crusade
In October 2006, a second expansion was released. The expansion features two new races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons. Including the Imperial Guard from Winter Assault, this means a total of seven playable races after the expansion. Unlike Winter Assault, Dark Crusade is a standalone expansion that does not require prior installation of Dawn of War and Winter Assault to play, allowing the user to play as all seven factions in single player both in skirmish and campaign modes. Multiplayer is limited to Tau and Necron factions if Dark Crusade is installed alone, with the other factions 'enabled' with the installation of Dawn of War and Winter Assault.

At the 2006 gamesday at Birmingham NEC the pavilion hall had a THQ stand boasting a demo of Dark Crusade demonstrating the multiplayer quality of Dark Crusade and the power of the two new races. Representatives stated the official release date as 9th of October in the U.S., 26th October in Australia and 3rd of November in Europe.

Issue 321 of the White Dwarf magazine contained an advertisement confirming the presence of Knarlocs, Pariahs and a Tau Skyray.

Story
The events of Dark Crusade take place on the planet Kronus, a world on the Eastern Fringe of the Imperium, where the local human population co-exists peacefully with the nearby Tau Empire. Unbeknowned to the locals, Kronus also happens to be a world with hidden secrets of interest to the Blood Ravens Space Marine chapter and to the Eldar Craftworld Ulthwe. To complicate things, the insidious forces of Chaos and an incoming Ork Waaagh! are approaching the planet as well. And unknown to all, Kronus also appears to be a Necron Tomb World, with its inhabitants starting to awaken.

The Campaign mode of Dark Crusade explores the unfolding events through the unique perspectives of each of the factions as they battle it out for supremacy on Kronus.

The Tau Empire
The Tau are designed to be powerful in shooting, but weak in close combat, much like they are in the tabletop game. To protect themselves, the Tau rely on slowing down enemy advances, and using the Kroot to engage enemies in close combat before they can reach other Tau units. Also, unlike the other races, the Tau have no defensive structures other than fortified Listening Posts, nor do they have the ability to lay mines like the other races, though the Tau Commander does have the ability to deploy stealthed stasis traps along the ground, which greatly slows down nearby enemy units.

Another difference between the other races is that the Tau's tech tree branches along two separate paths. During a game, the player is given the choice of one of two buildings to construct, which are called the "Mont'Ka (Killing Blow in the Tau Language) Command Post", and the "Kauyon (Patient Hunter) Command Post", respectively, of which only one type can be placed in a single battle. The placement of this building allows a different selection of units and upgrades to the player, depending on which building is chosen.

The Necrons
The Necrons appeared during the final mission of Winter Assault, where the player must defend a ruined Titan from them. The only units seen were Warriors and Monoliths; the latter are so powerful that only the Titan's cannons could destroy them easily, although it was possible to take them down with other means (specially evident during the Disorder campaign). Several Necron qualities were implemented especially for this race, such as "We'll be back!" and "Phase Out".



The Necrons have a different economy model than the other races. They do not require Requisition to gain more units, only Power. Capturing Strategic Points and building obelisks on them (the necron version of a listening post) allows them to build units faster. Necron players are able to balance their forces between units to protect their base and attack the enemy, or upgrade their central HQ to eventually become a powerful Monolith.

The Necrons, unlike other armies, use their Tomb Scarab builder units to capture strategic points, critical locations and relics, and their other Necron units cannot capture Strategic Points, Critical Locations, or Relics.

Only the monolith can summon more troops, while other buildings are needed for upgrades and unlocking Necrons to summon into battle.

The Necron Lord can be given various artifacts through the "Forbidden Archive" building, and can have up to three unique artifacts that heighten it's power.

As shown in the Games Convention in Germany, Necron troops are extremely resilient and capable of fighting back. Unlike the other races, Necrons cannot build minefields. Near the end of the Necron Tier Stages, the Monolith is able to be "re-activated".It becomes a moving base, and is extremely powerful.

Other Updates
A handful of players have managed to view playable versions of the game at media events that sport new units. These have been confirmed as Heavy Weapons Teams for Imperial Guard, a Daemon Prince for Chaos (which appeared in Dawn of War), Harlequins for Eldar, Grey Knights for Space Marines and Flash Gitz for Orks. This revelation comes after Relic earlier released some controversial screenshots, firstly revealing Grey Knights in action (speculated to be either a Space Marine unit or a campaign cameo unit similar to Imperial Guard in Dawn of War and Necrons in Winter Assault), and later Imperial Guard Heavy Weapons Teams. At THQ an article about the grey knights has been published, "Dawn of War – Dark Crusade developer Relic is offering new details of the combat styles and special abilities of the Grey Knights: a mysterious chapter of Space Marines that specialize in hunting and killing Daemons. All Grey Knights are gifted with powerful psyker abilities, and these powers give them devastating special abilities".

The Harlequins are servants of the Laughing God, and are excellent at Melee Combat and disrupting infantry. They have two powerful abilities, Harlequin's Kiss, and the Dance of Death. The Harlequin's kiss instantly kills any unit (save for commanders, vehicles, and relic units), while the Dance of Death causes the Harlequin to leap around wildly, knocking down infantry and commanders alike.

The Daemon Prince is an end-tier research ability used only for Chaos Lords and Chaos Sorcerers that allow them to "ascend" as a Daemon Prince. The Daemon Prince is insanely powerful and has a Demonic Roar ability that easily saps the morale of its opposition.

The Flash Gitz are especially "Shooty" Orks that spend most of their time modifying their terrifying Kustom Shootas. They are extremely powerful in range combat.

Heavy Weapon Teams are Imperial Guardsmen that can entrench into a stationary position to fire its prominent heavy weapons. These include Heavy Bolters, Lascannons, and Autocannons.

In addition to the new units, the previous five races will also receive a 'slight overhaul' to their tech trees, with many of the original units getting new abilities and/or appearances. For example, the Imperial Guard Hellhound tank gains an ability called "Let it Burn", where it spreads a wall of fire on the ground or the Chaos Aspiring Champions gain an a ability called "Fear Aura" when "Purge the Weak" is researched. This increases the amount of maximum health of the Chaos Space Marines or Raptors in the squad and also increases the Champion's health.

Dark Crusade is also going to feature wargear that the characters can pick up and use in combat to give them extra abilities. This wargear appears to be only available during the singleplayer part of the game, specifically during the campaign.

The expansion is also said to feature an "all new single-player experience", and a new campaign including a "meta map", similar to that in Westwood Studios's Dune games as opposed to the old, programmed, linear version. A new option allowing commanders to be customised will be added. Capturing and holdings certain regions will also provide certain bonuses both on strategic map and in battle (e.g. capturing the spaceport allows the owner to attack almost any region on the map, while satisfying the Blood God will give 2 attacks/moves per turn). Persistant armies during the campaign has been added as well. One Relic representative has said that the company aims to make Dark Crusade "the greatest expansion pack ever made". The expansion features "hard-caps" on various units, being strict limits on how many can be built. Previously some existed, such as 3 Basilisks in Imperial Guard armies. Further units have been given hard-caps, presumably to help deal with issues of imbalance and the "spamming" of too many powerful units, such as the infamous "Fire Prism" spam present in Winter Assault.

Reception
So far the expansion has recieved rather acclaimed reviews, citing its overhauled single-player campaign, balanced gameplay, stablized multiplayer and overall enjoyment. Most were quite surprised by the quality, and by the sheer size of the expansion. 

Gabriel Angelos

 * See the Blood Ravens article for more information.

In the game, Brother-Captain Gabriel Angelos is the commander of the Blood Ravens' 3rd Company. He carries a guilty conscience for destroying his homeworld Cyrene and agonizes over this continuously, though he does not often speak of it. Only his battle-brothers of the Blood Ravens truly understand his feelings on the matter. Gabriel himself, like most Imperial Soldiers, distrusts aliens immensely; it is for this reason he shows incredible disdain for the Eldar in his encounters with their leader, Farseer Macha (though in the novels, his disdain for them gradually lessens). He has also grown up with Librarian Isador Akios. He trusted him immensely. Captain Gabriel Angelos was armed with a Power Sword and Bolt Pistol, but was given a Daemon-Hammer by Inquisitor Mordecai Toth. His Bolt Pistol was also upgradable to a Plasma Pistol.

Librarian Isador Akios
Brother-Librarian Isador Akios was the present Librarian of the Blood Ravens 3rd Company, and a secondary character in Dawn of War.

Much like Captain Angelos, Isador was born and raised on Cyrene, and became a Blood Raven around the same time as Gabriel because they were brought up together. Isador met Gabriel 30 years before the events on Tartarus when Gabriel was still a battle brother. Although his homeworld was destroyed, Isador did not blame Gabriel for his actions on Cyrene, since it had to be done. While the Blood Ravens 3rd company was on the doomed planet of Tartarus, Isador slowly succumbed to the powers of Chaos, tempted by the traitorous Sorcerer of the Alpha Legion named Sindri Myr, telling him of the "Key", and tempting him to use it. When Inquisitor Mordecai Toth arrived, he detected a Chaotic taint and came up with the assumption that it originated in Gabriel. Because of this, they were blinded to Isador's corruption and thus, could not stop Isador before he finally seized the Maledictum and turned to Chaos, bringing Gabriel's trust in his old friend crumbling to the ground.

Isador was killed in a duel between himself and Gabriel, and Gabriel used his death as an example of the fate of Space Marines who fell to Chaos. Isador was armed with a Force Weapon and Bolt Pistol. He was able to be upgraded with a Plasma Pistol later on in the campaign.

Inquisitor Toth
Mordecai Toth is a member of the Ordo Malleus, having been sent on assignment with some knowledge of Tartarus's dark past and a powerful daemonic artifact sleeping there. Toth's mere presence indicates something dark afoot on Tartarus, and none dare cross Toth directly. Toth, upon landing, immediately suspects Gabriel, the Blood Raven Force Commander, of being tainted by Chaos, citing that Gabriel willingly put his own world to the torch. As an Inquisitor, Toth has authority to seize command of almost any Imperial force, including the Imperial Guard. Toth realizes later, to his horror, that it was in fact Isador, not Gabriel, who had contracted the taint of Chaos. When the truth is known, Toth apologizes, and to steel Gabriel against the battles ahead, bestows upon Gabriel his holy Daemonhammer, Godsplitter, a weapon of the Inquisition imbued to crush the sorcerer-turned-Daemon Prince Sindri Myr - and those who would associate with Chaos.

In the prologue for the novel Dawn of War by CS Goto, Toth was involved in an Ordo Xenos mission on Tartarus in the year 999.M38 where he and a Deathwatch Kill-Team secured a piece of the Wailing Doom sword of the Biel-Tan Avatar following it's duel with the Daemon Prince (which was entombed in the Maledictum stone after it's defeat). It is revealed that this fragment of the sword was forged into the Godsplitter to use against Chaos. It is also worth noting that a member of his Kill-Team was Captain Trythos of the Blood Ravens (who would later serve on as a Dreadnought of the 3rd Company by the time of Dawn of War).

In the epilogue of the book, it appears that Toth either in league with the Daemon and was possesed by it (or possibly this was merely the Daemon taking Toth's form). If this is correct, then the reasons that Toth wanted Gabriel to break the Maledictum Stone entombing the Daemon and why he became involved on Tartarus on both occasions become clear.

Toth was equipped with a Daemon-Hammer(God-Splitter), and a Plasma Pistol. In the campaign, after giving Gabriel his Daemon-Hammer, Toth was equipped with Gabriel's Power Sword.

Colonel Brom
Carus Brom is an Imperial Colonel tasked with overseeing the 37th Tartarus Planetary Defense Force Regiment, or PDF. Brom accepts commands from Gabriel with little hesitation, having a deep respect for the commander; however the mere presence of Toth is enough to make the veteran Colonel break out in hives. It is believed Brom escapes off-planet with his remaining troops during the later missions in Dawn of War's single-player campaign.

In the events of the novelized version of Dawn of War by C.S. Goto, Colonel Brom instead turned to Chaos and attacked Captain Gabriel Angelos during his attack/push to the summit where the Maledictum was located. According to the novel, Colonel Brom was not satisfied being put down on occasion by Gabriel's orders, resulting in Chaos finding its way into his heart. Colonel Brom was nevertheless killed along with the corrupted PDF and Imperial Guard who had turned traitor. Only a handful of Loyal Imperial Guards survived and joined up with the Forces of Order (Space Marines and Eldar) in the battle to the Summit.

Brom was armed with a Power Sword and Bolt Pistol. He was able to use the "Rally Squad" ability that Space Marine Sergeants were equipped with.

General Sturnn
General Sturnn is the stern and upstanding leader of the Imperial Guard contingent deployed in Winter Assault's campaign mode. He wields a pair of lightning claws, one of which has an integral Storm Bolter. He also carries a Laspistol, but only uses this for field executions (one of his special melee combat kills involves its use). Unlike other Imperial officers, he is willing to ally with aliens if it would mean reaching his objective.

Farseer Macha
A Farseer of the Eldar Craftworld of Biel-Tan. Macha was the one who sealed the Daemon in the Maledictum, and seeks to prevent its release. Later events seem to show that her destiny is rapidly becoming intertwined with that of Captain Angelos.

Macha takes a vow to kill him with the first chance she gets when he ignorantly destroys the Maledictum Stone, releasing the Daemon. Macha thinks twice of this after being put in a desperate situation in the second novel, where the Necrons are awoken. Again the humans are to blame. Macha was armed with a Witchblade and Shuriken Pistol in Dawn of War.

Lord Bale
Bale is the Chaos Lord who brought the ruinous powers of Chaos, namely the Alpha Legion, to Tartarus. He was pursuing the Maledictum for himself, and the Chaos gods. He believed he was in control; however, Sindri Myr was actually making all the important decisions. Eventually Sindri left Bale to fight Gabriel Angelos by himself so that when Bale was killed in the duel, his "Sacrifice" added to the deaths needed to obtain the Maledictum. Bale was armed with a Manreaper Scythe and a Bolt Pistol. Bale was voiced by Scott McNeil

Sindri Myr
A Chaos Sorcerer of the Alpha Legion, Sindri used his powers to subvert the Space Marine Librarian Isador to fight for Chaos, in return for the promise of power. Sindri himself killed, or had the Chaos Space Marines under his command kill, numerous Imperial citizens, Guardsmen, Space Marines, Orks, his own Chaos Marines, and even Lord Bale, to accumulate blood sacrifice for Khorne, the Chaos blood god. After releasing the Maledictum he chose himself as the carrier for the Daemon Prince, which was vanquished by Force Commander Gabriel, thus adding the last sacrifice to release the daemon from the Maledictum. As a Chaos Sorcerer, Sindri was armed with a Bedlam Staff and Bolt Pistol.

Farseer Taldeer
A Farseer of the Ulthwe Craftworld, Farseer Taldeer was part of the Eldar strike force sent to Lorn V to retrieve the Soul Stone in anticipation of an impending Necron attack. She and her group saved General Sturnn's men on two different occasions, without them knowing until much later in Winter Assault. When General Sturnn returned the favor by shielding the Eldar from a huge Ork WAAAGH!!, the two races formed a temporary (and uneasy) alliance to further their own goals. She was armed with a Witchblade and Shuriken Pistol in Winter Assault. Leading the Ulthwe again, she returns in Dark Crusade with a seemingly deeper voice, (much resembling that of Farseer Macha) and begins with a standard Eldar Power Sword and Shuriken Pistol. At the end of the campaign, when equipped with full "Wargear", Taldeer is armed with a Singing Spear,(which appears to be dual-bladed), and a Dual-Shuriken Pistol.

Davian Thule
Brother-Captain Thule is set to be the leader of the Space Marine deployment to Kronus in Dark Crusade. When he arrived on the planet, he sent a message to Governor-Militant Alexander to evacuate all civilians and Imperial Guardsmen before the Space Marines could begin their purge. However, Alexander refused, and now the Marines must fight other soldiers of the Imperium. Thule regrets having to kill his brothers-in-arms, but orders are orders - Kronus must be purged. At this time, not much is known of him other than being part of the Blood Ravens. Thule is armed with a standard-issue Chainsword and Bolt Pistol at the beginning of the campaign, and when fully upgraded carries a deamonhammer and melta-gun, along with wearing heavily ornate armor.

Eliphas the Inheritor
A Word Bearers Dark Apostle who seeks the favour of the Chaos gods, he is the Warlord of the Chaos Marines on Kronus in Dark Crusade. What is known of him is that he seeks to restore Chaos' lost honour on Kronus after it was defeated by the Ultramarines during the Horus Heresy. Eliphas was but a mere Sergeant in the Horus Heresy. Elphas was armed with a Power Sword and a Bolt Pistol in the begining of the campaign.

Lukas Alexander
Lukas Alexander was initially sent to Kronus to track down and capture Farseer Taldeer after her actions on Lorn V (Shown in Winter Assault). His forces landed in an abandoned city, and found traces of ancient relics scattered across the planet, including a "Hellstorm Cannon", a piece of weaponry from a Horus Heresy Era Titan. The city was renamed "Victory Bay", and techpriests began excavating the massive Hellstorm cannon. The Imperium then gave Lukas Alexander the title of "Governor-Militant" of Kronus, and tasked him with conquering the planet for the Imperium.

Alexander formed the 1st Kronus Regiment, which he named "The Liberators", since he believed his soldiers were fighting to free the humans who were on the planet. Unfortunately, his goals put him at odds with a Blood Ravens force who are on Kronus trying to uncover mysteries about the chapter's past. The Blood Ravens have been ordered to purge the planet in order to ensure the secrecy of their findings. They warn Alexander to leave, but he is determined to follow through with his orders and push the other factions off Kronus. Alexander is armed with Power Claws and dual-linked Bolters.

Should the Governor-Militant be successful in his task, he will become one of the most powerful men in the galaxy with an entire planet at his command, loyal Guardsmen, a Hellstorm cannon, and a debt owed by the techpriests of Adeptus Mechanicus. He will, however, have gained an enemy in the form of the Blood Ravens, who will probably be too busy defending themselves in front of the Inquisition.

Shas'O Kais
The leader of the Tau forces on Kronus in Dark Crusade, he plans to liberate the entire planet from the other six races. Using a XV22 Battlesuit like the Tau Commander Shadowsun, he is at first only equipped with a Burst Cannon in his right hand, but later in the battle, at full weapon capacity, he carries a Fusion Blaster (replacing the Burst Cannon), then replaced by a Plasma Rifle, a Heavy Flamer in his left hand and Missile Launchers mounted on each shoulder. Though there is no evidence to directly support or deny this fact, it is worth noting that he shares the same name as the Tau protagonist from the game Fire Warrior, and may indeed be the same Kais. This is however, extremely unlikely, as to do so Kais would have to have secured a means to stall the aging process, as Tau do not live as long as humans. It is also worth noting that "Kais" is the Tau word for "skillful", and so could simply be a common title for warriors or leaders, evidenced by the full name of Commander Farsight.

Other notable characters

 * Lord Crull - The Chaos lord featured in the Winter Assault campaign. He desired to capture the Titan for his own personal gain. He was defeated and probably killed on Lorn V, since there is no mention of him in Dark Crusade, nor is he ever featured in the game.
 * Warboss Gorgutz - The Ork warboss featured in the Winter Assault campaign. He unites the Ork Clans on Lorn V to fight against Lord Crull's forces. Following his defeat on Lorn V, Warboss Gorgutz renewed his Waaagh! on Kronus.
 * Warboss Orkamungus - The Ork warboss featured in the Dawn of War campaign. He is bribed by Lord Bale and Sindri to mount an invasion that will distract the Imperials from their search for the Maledictum. Soon, he was killed by Blood Ravens' forces.
 * Chaplain Varnus - The Ultramarines Chaplain featured in the Winter Assault campaign. He leads the Space Marines who escort the Titan's crew to the Titan. It is unknown if Varnus was killed on Lorn V.
 * Necron Lord - No name has been given, but all that is known is that he is the Necron Lord of Kronus and leads the Necron forces. He is unable to speak, and relies on his Pariah to speak for him.

Voice Cast

 * Brian Dobson
 * Mark Oliver
 * Michael Dobson
 * Nicole Oliver
 * Paul Dobson
 * Peter New
 * Richard Cox
 * Scott McNeil
 * Tony Gronick
 * Richard Newman
 * Tim Lewinson
 * Laura Sadiq
 * Brian Drummond

Novels
In December 2004, Black Library released a novelization of Dawn of War by Cassern S. Goto (Goto, 2004). The story expands on the story found in the Single Player campaign, with additional characters and in more detail. A follow-up novel, Dawn of War: Ascension (Goto, 2005) was released in November 2005, continuing the story of Captain Angelos and the Blood Ravens. A third book titled Dawn of War: Tempest, again by Goto, was released 2006; telling the story of Blood Ravens Librarian Rhamah and his struggle to save his chapter's gene-seed in the Eye of Terror, as well as continue the story of Angelos following the events of Ascension.

Miscellaneous

 * Dawn of War has an active modding community. Relic Entertainment released official modding tools for the community to use.
 * Dawn of War is also the name of a cancelled Real Time Strategy game set in prehistoric times by SouthPeak Interactive.