Out in the field, of course, you’ll be able to summon more units to the fight as well. Generally speaking, the honor guard replacements are better blunt force objects while the heroes reward better micro play both have their very potent uses out in the field. Don’t like how the Tech-priest in your Space Marine hero retinue is performing? Swap him for a veteran Dreadnought that gets bonuses from that Tech-priest’s skill tree, based on how much you’ve leveled him up. Not so in Retribution - bringing non-hero units into the fight is so important that in the campaign you’re given the option to replace your non-leader heroes with “honor guard” alternatives. The few times that the original Dawn of War and the Chaos Rising expansion did this it was awkward at best - controlling two Predator pattern tanks in the final mission of the base game with hacked-together bespoke mechanics was more awkward than fun, especially since it was just a makework prologue to the real meat of the fight. Instead of focusing entirely on hero play, Retribution brings back at least some of the things people loved about the original Dawn of War - larger resource management, non-hero buildable and commandable units and vehicles - and works them into the greater Dawn of War II formula. More importantly, the gameplay has changed significantly. Not only is the Space Marine protagonist now named - you play as Chapter Master Kyras’s hapless patsy, Apollo Diomedes, instead of a silent self-insert - but you don’t actually have to play as the Space Marines! There are six factions you can play in the single-player campaign, from the Space Marines to the Eldar to even the Tyranids, and the change is welcome even if it is… somewhat superficial.

This is pretty much the final form of the Dawn of War series - or, at least, it’s the high water mark after which the tide rolled back.Ī couple things separate Retribution from both base Dawn of War II and Chaos Rising right off the bat: first, we’re no longer following the trials and tribulations of the unnamed protagonist Force Commander from the first two games.

It’s been a while! Now that NOVA’s over we’re back in the saddle with the Dawn of War II retrospective for the second, final, and most important expansion, Retribution.

Dawn of war 2