Planetfurry BBS

[Tygon]

Well, the new expansion pack for Dawn of War is almost around the corner and since I'll have the luck of playing it coming weeken at Games Day Germany, I though I might just make a topic about it.

Firstly and mostly, Dark Crusade will see the introductions of not one but two new races the Necron and the Tau. The Necrons are an ancient race or once living now robotic warriors that have the nasty habit of not staying dead even after you shot them down. The Tau are a young race that lugs around a lot of firepower but doesn't do very well in close combat. And yes, they have an intentionally anime-ish look about them. That comes because Games Workshop introduced the race into the tabletop game when they were expanding to Japan.

I could go into detail about what makes the races what they are, what they can do in the tabletop and while we think they will do in Dark Crusade (and frankly, I would love to) but I don't want to bore people.

Another big change is the single-player campaign. Rather than another linear campain as in the original Dawn of War or in Winter Assault the sampaign in Dark Crusade will be map based, much like the Total War games. Meaning you will have to conquer territores and hold them. In this campaign you will also be able to customize your commander not only in looks but also in abilities and weapons, according to how well you are doing. According to an interview if you want to play the compaign fully with all seven races that will be well over 150 missions to play.

I'm pretty excited about Dark Crusade. Still no Tyranids for my to play (and unfortunately in Dawn of War there never will be - the engine cannot support the hordes needed to do the Tyranids justice) but I find Necrons and Tau both cool and the new campaign sounds great.

Too bad that while I'll be playing a preview edition soon I won't be able to play it anymore after that for a while after it was relased, because of lack of a PC

[gnaP]

I play a tau army myself and cant wait to get this expansion, nothing makes me happier then shreding my opponent to bloody rags with high powered energy weapons. I really do hope the Hammerhead and Broadsides are included, nothing completes a Tau strike force like one or two rail guns to put down tanks left and right.

[Tygon]

[Dingo Fenris]

In my opinion the Tau look great and I love the Kroot eating there freshly slain foes, and the Necrons look pretty decent to, but as a Warhammer fan I'm really looking forward to an expansion with Tyranids. Though I'm not particularly sure how they would pull it off.

[Tygon]

[Joshua Fox]

Sounds pretty good.

Just bought Dawn of War (with the Winter Assault expansion pack) and got past the tutorial - had waaay too much fun watching my space marine sergeant putting a chainsaw through an Ork's chest.

Having no experience with the table-top game myself, and since the game doesn't seem all that interested in telling me how the other races work, mind giving me an idea about how these other guys operate?

[Tygon]

[Joshua Fox]

Fair nuff'. Sounds kickass either way, and I'm having a great deal of fun.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to put a few more chainswords through some very unfortunate Ork faces

[Tygon]

Hehe, have fun!

I could give you background info too... but that is something I love to talk about and I tend to get a bit wordy...

[Joshua Fox]

[Joshua Fox]

Ok, finished the space marines campaign and I think I have a pretty good hold on things. Well, most things.

1) Orks - your general psychotic (and exceptionally amusing) beserkers who "loves ta' scrap wit' dem humies" and anything else that might happen to be in the way.

2) Space Marines - the ultimate badasses of the Universe; can't help but love watching fully upgraded squads of Space Marines carving a swath through anything and everything in their way, though some of their dialogue is a bit on the weird side, especially those damned Librarians ("Do not fear the psycho"?) though everyone seems to sound angry and constipated regardless.

3) Chaos - psychotic demon-worshipers in space. Reactions to their units have ranged from, "Meh." to "HOLY F*CKING SH*T!" Always good to have a faction that eats, sleeps, breathes and drinks a diet of nothing but nutritious evil shakes 24-hours a day (or in terms of space days, 782-hours a day).

4) Imperial Guard - LOVE the vehicles (tanks + artillery = Pure Awesome); HATE the infantry. My impression of any Imperial Guard Unit without a Commissar:

Imperial Guard: "AAAAAAH! IT IS A FLUFFY KITTEN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES OR IT WILL SURELY DEVOUR US ALL!"

AUGH. Still, at least it's something for folks who like some more traditional weapons and units for RTS games. Can't for the life of me see why this is a different faction from the Space Marines, though. Great to have a new faction, don't get me wrong, but it just seems like the equivalent of putting the U.S. Navy and Army into a game as different factions - sure, different equipment, different troop types, but you wouldn't exactly expect to see them opposite each other.

And finally 5) Eldar - ... ok, I admit it, I really don't get the Eldar. Every time I've played them so far in the Winter Assault Campaign all I've been able to do is kill something or blow something else and then run for my life. The Hell? That coupled with the hugely arrogant attitude baffles me.

"Sure, we may be getting our asses handed to us every five minutes by EVERYONE, but hey, we're still the most awesome in the Universe."

Mind filling me in on these beanpole rejects? I'm seriously not getting em'.

[gnaP]

[Tygon]

Okay, let me fill some blanks here and give some more details. Firstly, you have to remember that this is based on a tabletop game which works with radically different rules than an RTS. In Warhammer 40K they are very different armies. It is true that the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard are not THAT different from each other and that they could be viewed as two branches of the same military body, but that is not true. Space Marines are not only the ultimate Elite, they also operate independently from the Imperial Guard. They have their own worlds (most of the time at least) their own supply of equipment and troops, their owns spaceships and so on. If you want help from a Space Marine chapter there is little more you can do than request it and if the Marines decide not to help, well, bad luck. Inquisitors have some more power there, but there are a few chapters who won't even listen to them. In fact, the Space Wolves are even known to first shoot at an Inquisitional ship when it enters their system and maybe then ask questions.

Regarding the Eldar, gnaP was not 100% correct. They did rule the galaxy, yes, but only after the war between the C'tan and the Old Ones left it almost barren and devoid of life. The Eldar, along with a lot of other races, fought in that war, since they were the cration of the Old Ones, but it would be said too much to call it their war.

After the C'tan and their Necron armies went to sleep the Eldar took over and were in charge for the next 65 million years. Only 10000 years ago (from the point of view of the game) did they lose that power. You see, in the warp, that alternate dimension that is used for FTL travel, thoughts and emotions can manifest themselves. The Eldar had become increasingly hedonistic. In their mindset, if you do something you do it will all your being and they where in charge of a massive empire that at this point was handling itself now so they indulged themselves in pleasures and all the nice things in life they could think of. All this pleasureseeking slowly culminated in the warp until the chaos god known as Slaanesh was born. His/her birth was a cataclyptic even that the Eldar call The Fall. It whiped out most of their race and crated a massive, permanent connection between the warp and real space where the Eldar Homeworlds had been, the so called Eye of Terror. The only Eldar who survived are those who saw what was coming and left their race beind, either to settle on primitive worlds or in the massive Spaceships known as Craftworlds.

Now, the Eldar of course have never forgotten that they once were in charge of the place and they still seek to restore the galaxy to that state. It is said that their race is dying, for even though they live extremely long, they don't have kids very often and it is a complicated process for them. The Chaos Marines' last Black Crusade wasn't a good thing for the Eldar, since the Craftworld Ultwe got attacked a lot and one of their most prominent Farseeres was killed. The recent attack on the Craftworld Iyanden by the Tyranid Hivefleet Kraken didn't help either.

To the Eldar pretty much all other races are inferior, so, yes, they are extremely arrogant. In face, in the current Eldar Codex (rulebook for them in the tabletop, they will get a new one soon) it is said that "Their arrogance is matched only by their firepower."

Of course, that doesn't change that they are fragile compared to a Space Marine and they need to be used with care or that army will fall apart under you hands.

[Joshua Fox]

[Tygon]