Dawn of War: Winter Assault - Hands On Preview

We recently got our hands on a preview build to Relic Entertainmentâ??s expansion to the popular RTS, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Those whoâ??ve been following TVGâ??s UK Exclusive coverage will no doubt know that the pack introduces many new features, most notably in the form of an entirely new race.

The Imperial Guard presents a significantly different challenge to those featured previously, placing a greater emphasis on defence then the more aggressive-minded races such as the Orcs and Space Marines. Naturally this goes against the grain of Dawn of War, however the Imperial Guard have a number of tricks up their sleeves when it comes to the battlefield.

Suffering from Morale issues, the low-level infantry can access the Commissar Unit which in turn makes them immune to moral damage; even better is the ability to carry out an execution with a shot in the back to inspire your troops and ensure none of them looses their heads on the battlefield.

The Imperial Guard feature a number of upgrades to take advantage of different weapons such as the â??Disruptorâ? and gain control of powerful tanks and advanced armour. The General of the Imperial Guard can make use of a special technique dubbed the â??Strafing Runâ?, which allows him to call in air-strikes on specific titles and a variety of augmentations such as the melee boosting Psyker Priest.

One big advantage is the ability to use tunnels, which are automatically created whenever a new building is constructed. This particular feature opens up an entirely new strategy to the world of Dawn of War, setting up the scope for surprise ambushes and gaining strategic areas without the enemy even noticing.

Opening up the latter stages of research introduces the ability to command a handful of vehicles, including the Hellhound Flamethrower Tank, a Sentinel Walker, the Baneblade Tank and the Basilisk Artillery Cannon â?“ providing the longest ranged weapon in the entire game. In addition they can also create Ogryns, blood-thirsty ogreâ??s that even up the stakes on the front-lines.

The entire tech-tree has undergone an overhaul resulting in lower costs and build-times, which places the emphasis on researching high-level units; combined with the unit restriction, this urges playerâ??s to look towards the high-level instead of amassing vast hordes of low-level units.

One welcoming addition is what Relic are dubbing as â??persistent decalsâ?, which essentially makes the battlefield a persistent world as corpses heap up and explosions scar the field forever. Combined with the frantic pace and all-new weather effects, Winter Assault is proving to be a good looking game and one that has its own distinctive sense of style.

Thereâ??s no doubt at this stage that the Imperial Guard helps to rectify many of criticisms of Dawn of War, presenting a more cautious based faction for those that think the original was a little too aggressive and ensuring that even the veterans will have a different strategy to go up against.

That said Winter Assault still thankfully maintains the brutality and carnage of Dawn of War, so fans of the original and real-time-strategy alike should have a must-have title when Winter Assault ships later in the month.