My dad bought me Dawn of war for my 8th birthday(A dubious parental decision). 17 Years, dozens of books and thousands of miniatures later I still love Warhammer as much now as I did back then.
@@felygu9268I figured that much like the Anakin driving portions of the Pod Race in Star Wars, we are seeing things with the perception of a Space Marine rather than a regular human.
Honestly this game is what got me into 40k as much as I am today. Already had the models and had friends who played the tabletop game, but Dawn of War is what really cemented It with me.
Same! 10 out of 10 gameplay in a clear, love and adoration for the lore, made it so addicting and interesting to someone like me, who had never looked at anything about Warhammer
A few key notes: Orbital Relay - You can put troops inside of it and deep strike them anywhere (with vision) on the map Remove Active Units - By pressing the DELETE button, you can kill an entire squad/unit.
To be fair, this is something that isn't mentioned in the campaign or in the actual tutorial. I was someone that was completely new to RTS games and the only way I found out was by reading the manual where the delete key was assigned to "scuttle" (which was a term my 12 year old brain had never heard of and thought it'd be a great idea to find out in the middle of a game)
I deep striked your mom last night. Tell her the flowers are from me. She's an amazing lady, don't worry I promise I'll treat her right. Maybe we can throw the ball around sometime? :)
@Actually_Zahren tbh I didn't know this was a thing either. And I've been playing rts games since I was little. I just thought it was impossible to do unless your faction was like ra2 Yuri and had a special building for it
One trick was to build a terminator unit at base, upgrade it fully and then teleport it so the enemy had to instantly deal with a fully manned squad, sergeant and support weapons and all.
Slight correction: Dawn of War 1 actually lets you make your own symbols and flags. You "just needed" to make any design you like in a graphic program of the correct pixel size and let you throw rhem down in a local folder for "flags and symbols" as PNG files.
@@Lighthammer18 it does in soulstorm. at least with the ua mod. i actually made for the imperial guard an ss schemen and put swasistka flags on xD lol . (best part about that is i am actually even german)
I like that an apothecary quote has become the go-to comment of condolence among 40k fans "The fallen shall be forever remembered as the Emperor's finest"
That Intro lives in my Head Rent Free until i Die. Dawn of War game kept my Love for warhammer alive for almost 2 Decades before i finally could start into the Hobby a few years Ago.
The moment the Dreadnaught shows up and the heroic music plays has cemented in my mind that they are the apex of honorable service and to admired, not living corpses locked in their tomb going slowly mad over centuries to be pitied.
Did you ever hear his work on Total Annihilation? I'm sending you directly to my favourite track. ua-cam.com/video/BxAdOQtAFEs/v-deo.htmlsi=13IpT6gxkjb9yidi&t=559
I really love the Dread into in DoW 2's cinematic. Busts through a stone, grabs a banshee, says "I have come to destroy you", then torches her to death with a heavy flamer.
@@brotherjorge3 Metal boxes was not in the first Dawn of War, it was in one of the expansions (I want to say Soulstorm?). The quality of the voice acting went a little.. silly in Soulstorm, this was great.
Eh, that's probably true but as someone who doesn't know crap about this series, I've always wanted to know where to start and this video has given me a a good choice. That's definitely worth somethin'!
@@idontwantahandlethoughDOW of war is definitely a good place to start. DO NOT PLAY DOW3. It will make you cry at how horrible the game is. WH40k Space Marine is also really good if you like 3rd person shooters. It has sort of a Gears of War feel to it as it encourages close quarters combat, but still has a time and place for long range encounters, and even hybrid situations.
@@josephwilliams1915 DoW 3 could have been great had they not gone for a MOBA style game, that felt more like a warhammer version of Heroes of the Storm, or LOL. I personally tried to like it but the hero unit being the almighty game changer in fights turned me off to it, Dark Crusade is the main one i play and even hero units aren't tide changers, every unit matters and works to counter the opponent. Had they stuck with the Dark Crusade basics and style and just updated the graphics, AI, pathing, and made new units like those ancient relic titans it could have been a banger, but they strayed too far from what made the series great and it killed the game for them in only like 3 short months.
@@Darkness5423based. Even someone who wanted to like it, and played it, hated it. We can’t trash on DOW2 anymore. Since DOW3 is a horrific abomination.
I'm pretty sure that goes for every game he covers. Every time I see a video pop up of his where it says "Was it (any) good?" it sounds like a stupid question, and they're always either famously lauded, or cult classics that are loyally adored by those who played them.
Everybody gangsta until Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War OST - Force Commander starts playing. In all seriousness though every part of this game is memorable. The music, the voicelines (especially the voicelines), the gameplay, the factions, the atmosphere, everything just oozes with so much passion and personality. You know a game is great when it ends up sticking with you long after you've played it.
Some corrections: - Dark Crusade can also be played as a standalone - Skullprobes are not useless, being able to detect invisible units -Turrets can actually be ridiculously overpowered -I am surprised you haven't mentioned the Orbital relay and the whole drop poding element which was revolutionary
He did miss that with the chasm mission, that units can be placed in to move them to the other side. Also the fact that terminators can deepstrike from the chapel barracks or the orbital relay. Also dreadnought could be deep strikes. And units could be removed with the delete key. Honestly allot could be blamed on the tutorial not covering it but oof regardless
@@warriortango Yea, Assault Marines suck late game because they can't get heavy weapons like Space Marines can. They also get blasted by Whirlwinds which is an anti-synergy.
@spectre9065 yeah, I'd they could have power weapons added on or faster grenade cool down like is applied in several mods they would be able to retain how dangerous they can be early on.
@morpheusbutasasquirtle4431 the tau get what they deserve Granted fighting tau as the spacemarines was THE WORST skull probes being your primary detector when they die from the most accidental aoe is pain. Atleast the guard psykers can survive a grenade on the squad and keep spotting
Same. This and Stronghold Crusader are still two of my most beloved games of all time and I don't even like RTS that much if I am being honest. And sadly both series never went back to being great again.
Many a fond memory playing Dark Crusade as a kid. Decent replay value despite similar strategies, best played on hard to keep you on your feet and not spam the same styles.
I actually played this game a few months ago still totally holds up. I am looking forward to Space Marine 2 but if they just bought out a new updated graphical version of classic DOW with more factions, that game would be outrageously popular.
Play it with Unification mod for new races. They put SOOOO much work into it (And balancing everything) and it's still evolving. They retextextured the old races, too. Everything has a slightly shine, although the graphics aren't technically on remaster level or anything. Then there's other mods with new modes, like the assassin mission or endless survival mode. Someone even worked on new campaign bases for a few of the new races in Unification. Well worth trying this out if you haven't yet.
One thing I really liked in DOW1 is after every intro of each mission of Gabriel log, we see the Loading Screen of Tartarus Map that is supposed to be a Satellite view from Blood Ravens ship fortress slowly being covered in "Red" that is supposed to be the Orkz, while Blood Ravens and the IG end up being swallowed up by the near end of the game. The final mission the, the Satellite Map turn total chaos
Finally someone who love the loading screen, this is by far the best utilization of loading screen in a game. The player is always winning each level but the screen show how we are actually losing on the bigger scale. I never know Warhammer until Dawn Of War, and from the loading screen alone i know exactly what kind of universe is this. Violent, unwinnable, grimdark. Also did you notice that you can see the Imperial Guard too? When Toth took control of the Imperial operations in Tartarus, which is also Colonel Brom last appearance, you can see that they concentrate the Guards in forming one defensive line stretching along the three cities. This mean that despite the impending doom the guards still try to protect all three cities instead of concetrating its forces, and the impressive feat is they are still organized to connect each other.
The only thing i don't get is what the black arrows represent. The Orkz red territory have red arrows to show its expansion, but i noticed black arrows that only goes to within the Orkz. Is this the Blood Ravens?
@@satriadicky3732 I think the Black could be the Civilians. I need to check again. Also Colonel Bloom in the novel turned traitor while in the game he just disappeared. Anyways Dawn of War for me is the last trace of "Old school Warhammer 40k" with the over the top action and little bit silliness like the Orkz. Also it was pretty grim by the last few levels how the cities and the I.G got swallowed up by the Green tide
"There is no such thing as innocence; only degrees of guilt." My first warhammer game was space hulk on PC back in the day. When I was a young kid, I played a lot of RTS. My brain was so sharp back then (I miss it!). I remember playing DoW with my friend. We'd play 2v2. I'd rush dreadnaughts and tech up to drop pods. He'd play orks and hold the enemy. I can't tell you how many times I'd drop a dreadnaught in their base and they'd just leave instantly. It was SO much fun. DoW. I don't think my brain can handle an RTS at my older age. I'll always remember the voice acting and executions fondly. It was a huge change from typical brood war/WC3 RTS battles.
I rolled everybody at a LAN center with space marines, stealthed scouts, fully upgraded marine squads with mixed hvy weapons, dreadnauts, all the heros and terminators... I was always bigger in territory, further in tech and more annoying to play against. I used every race but marines smacked the hardest in the original played properly I think. I wasnt even good enough to play online competitively, I got wrecked. No idea how, I was always fast at start up and focused on a build order but the franchise attracts real tryhards I guess
Yeah, that's why I prefer turn based strategy nowadays. RTS is just too fast for my brain. Unless it's pausable real time strategy. I can usually make that work but honestly, I don't really like how easy it is to forget a unit over there and the unit over yonder, and lose them or do worse than you could have just because you were busy with something else.
"An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded." ~ Librarian, Dawn of War. The fact that I and many others can AND WILL quote this game from memory should tell you that it definitely left a lasting impression. I definitely enjoyed it and I mourn the stillbirth that was Dawn of War III to this day. The PaulStretch'd soundtrack, the trailer itself...Oh, the things that could have been. Perhaps in another lifetime.
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment," You're not wrong, its part of what made the RTS genre so good post StartCrat was the varity of voice lines given to units in different games. Warahmmer 40k has lovely level of absubertiy that is said with sincerity and conviction that makes it stick so well in our minds.. Like the whispers of the Dark Gods.
You don’t play Chaos because you want to be good, you play Chaos because the Crab 🦀 god compelled you. I remember being in college after Dark Crusade came out and 8 of us being crammed in a room doing a big LAN match.
Quick storytime: my friend was playing a skirmish match, checking out Chaos. Out of a sudden he hears "Enemies...!" - he immediately panics and starts panning the camera left and right, trying to see what's happening. Then the voice line goes one ".... We need enemies!". And that's how he knew Chaos was fun :P
My first was Dark Crusade and I had zero knowledge about WH40k and I was bad at that game.i was getting stomped constantly until I started playing "that robot race" 😂 and blasted everything from a far only much later I learned that those there battle suits with living creatures inside
Lol same, never even played the tabletop - never had the time or commitment for that. It's a shame Games Workshop took so long to warm up to video games, it's still a woefully underexploited franchise in that respect.
I particularly appreciate that religious absurdity of the machine cult in mechanicus, having missions to spread incense or sacred music through necron tombs fits the lore but is so dumb at the same time
@NaNoRarh from my perspective Vermintide 2 was a clear superior upgrade from Vermintide 1 - granted my perspective was playing it purely from a set group of friends. What made it kill the player count in your perspective?
@@89Keith Not sure if that's currently "anywhere on battlefield" or "less than 17' range" because it's fluctuated a bit over the various editions and I'm out of the loop on current tabletop rules. But yeah, there aren't many weapons which can compete against a Basilisk for range, but there are a few. Hunter-Killer and Seeker missiles come to mind, though they do need a spotter at close range to mark a target.
The modding community for this game is very active to this day, with Unification mod adding over 20 races from the 40k lore to the game, and another update coming soon with many more!
@@linusgustavsson2749 I have always found people who use the word cringe when not describing a physical reaction a character makes in a story to be the most dull and unfun people to be around. "That is cringe" is the rally cry of those who have to let everyone know they are no fun to be around.
that boring tutorial gave me first intro to the games. i do not consider it boring, but only helpful to the new players! i was 7 when i first started playing any comuter games. this librarian shoulder pad brought so many good memories
It's probably very good for the "Literally never played an RTS before" demographic, yeah. And considering how niche RTS is as a genre, that's probably a lot of people. My RTS tutorial was the campaign mode of Starcraft, but as far as "how do the controls and mechanics work" DoW's skirmish mode was good. I'm not really sure if a 7 year old (or anyone who isn't a Warhammer player who wants to play 40K with their friends, just inside a video game instead of on the tabletop) is going to default to Skirmish mode first instead of Campaign mode, though.
I actually enjoy the tutorial. It's weirdly satisfying listening and playing it out while already being thoroughly familiar with the game. Plus each race is ever so slightly different in the tutorial.
I remember playing the Tau on one map in Dark Crusade and just playing that map for hours on end. I kept upgrading and refining a single choke point, and I found it fascinating how efficient certain combinations of vehicles and troops were compared to others. I had mountains of corpses at the bottom of a hill, and it was glorious. I was actually sad when I finally decided "Eh, I have to move on from this." Dark Crusade remains my favorite RTS of all time. DOW1 is a close second though.
Me and a buddy would play together he would play IG and id either go eldar or chaos marines vs orks with the old unlimited units mod and we would just play for hours on end racking up the the ork bodies and toying with them. Man was so much fun
I loved the dawn of war dark crusade campaign. Having a planet as the battlefield with every faction battling was so cool. Not to mention you both got to protect and invade different areas on the map. And when you protected an area you would get the infrastructure you built up in the invasion stage as your starting set up. It made the campaign such a great time. Damn I miss playing that game.
I personally love Dark Crusade over Soulstorm, mainly for two reasons, bases stay behind for easy defense and makes it actually worth building multiple bases/outposts. Second there's plenty of sectors to fight for while not immediately being at someones strong hold, in soulstorm it felt like you only needed 1 or 2 sectors to reach the opposing stronghold on your starter planet. Although the racial bonuses were nice addition like Tau's moon cannon weakening sectors before you invaded. However Dark Crusade nailed everything aside from wonky pathing between units and vehicles...
Just checked my Steam data and I have ~500 hours into it. Maybe because I love both DoW and the Risk board game, Dark Crusade seems to be a nice combo.
32:27 - you can actually save the Imperial Guard here and then have the option to use and reinforce them - as far as I remember there is a mission bonus for this
The Winter Assault story is perhaps the best one in the series, you can choose to play either the forces of order (imperial guard and eldar) or disorder (orks and chaos), the ending has multiple versions depending on how you play the story which faction you play more as. Plus the orks in winter assault are perfectly characterized from start to finish
It is also a good depiction of Imperial-Eldar relationships. Both are xenophobic and egocentric, neither side trust each other. That said, both value civilization and have their respective empires broken by daemonic corruption. They have common goals, and common foes, and would both benefit from a proper alliance. Flaws in their culture prevents it from happening.
I did not pay enough attention while playing Winter Assault, I had forgotten completely that the Imperial Guard wasn't the only playable faction in the campaign. I've been meaning to revisit Dawn of War for a while now, and that's a perfect reason to revisit!
Hey, Josh! I just wanted to say thanks for making this video, as it was the catalyst in making me finally get into the 40k universe. This game looked really fun, so I bought it and all expansions. I've had a blast with the game, even just random skirmish matches are pretty fun. If anyone is thinking of getting into this the first time like me, do it! Also, the unification mod adds a ton of new content without being extremely different from the original game. I personally love that they split the chaos faction among 5 different ones to give the chaos group a very different playstyle.
48:01 I always loved this journal entry because of this. Angelos, who's above that of a lowly guardsmen, pays his respects to them when most other Space Marines wouldn't have had a second thought.
I remember playing Dawn of War, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm as a kid. I knew very little about warhammer and 40k, but I had played RTS before so it was right up my alley
This. Changed my whole perspective on what space marines should be. These badasses, not StarCraft's puny pieces of tofu. Learned much later about the table top version.
58:47 You can press DEL (by default) to instantly kill any units or buildings you have selected. This command, called "Scuttle" along with all the stuff about stances, is introduced pretty badly in the game, but referenced in the back cover of the manual and in the hotkey configuration panel to be implemented by the player through experimentation. For instance, did you know that you can set production structures to inheritable stances as well? All as invaluable in multiplayer as it is in the campaign. Note that each of the 9 races has its own variant of the tutorial, and you didn't touch on the "overwatch" mechanic either. Overwatch allows your production structures to automatically order replacements as the resources coincide, greatly simplifying unit production and further pushing the game into a tactical groove from a strategic one. Honestly there's a ton of options in this game that ought to be way more common in RTS that came after it. The Sisters of Battle are not even top 4 in Soulstorm. Neither are Necrons: that's only true in Dark Crusade, a game that remains a balance atrocity. Tau definitely could stand to be nerfed in 2v2 though. This whole thing was a great and insightful watch, thanks for making it.
im 39 and have been into Warhammer since the early 90s. I paint and thats my favorite part of course but the whole thing is a life long love affair. Cheers Josh love your channel and of course I LOVE Dawn of War. This game was an experience i will never forget.
Dawn of War was so good that its shadow has stretched to this day. Dark Crusade gaming in an Internet cafe in between lectures (and sometimes when I was supposed to *be* in lectures) were peak golden years. :’) Edit: I’ve watched this video slowly throughout a busy day & I remember painting minis *4 years before the games launch*. These voice lines exist rent free in my head. I know the entirety of that trailer by heart. I am old. Also I’m after realizing just how hard a stand alone full feature film of Dawn of war would slap.
I'm not proud about how long I was watching him talk and wondering when he was gonna take a sip out of that mug before I realized there was a mic in it.
21:57 one other advantage there is for attaching leader units to squads is that they provide whoever they're attached to with bonuses pain boys and apothecarys will increase the healing of the squad (and anyone around the squad, but still) and commander units like the warboss will also boost morale regen the imperial guard make full use of this with attached units providing buffs like priests increasing melee damage and commissars increasing morale regen (as well as having their powerful abilities)
True, but it's also worth pointing out the disadvantage of attaching the Force Commander or the Librarian when you only have a few marines ; better at range while the commander weakens the enemy in melee.
Same here. While i've never played a tabletop game at least i sunk probably days deep diving into videos, the wiki and the lore in general. Warhammer 40k is such a fleshed out, adult, brutal, wonderful, comically absurd deep Universe
Saw this game at my friend's house when i was a kid. The army painter alone was absolutely amazing. I loved seeing the space marine in his idle animation changing to whatever color you wanted, and the idea of your entire army being completely customizable. This game is an absolute gem. Still love playing it from time to time.
The cinematic intro still gives me chills. I’ll think of it occasionally and find the highest quality version to rewatch sometimes and it still holds up hard.
A few controls I could have done without but I feel it is the best tutorial I have ever seen. It teaches all possible controls. Tells you little details about your buildings; did you know a great number of Imperial Guard buildings have firing ports for Guardsmen you put inside? I keep a squad on reserve and when a listening post is completed have them move over to reinforce while the post upgrades actual weapons. Best of all? You only experience it when you wish too.
I got into rts games because of the video and that tutorial is nothing but perfect for me. It holds your hand but is not overextensive that makes it too long and leaves you at the end to play for yourself. Now i cant stop playing this and company of heroes haha
I smiled at the end hearing the lines as the screen hold at the end. DoW 1 was the best of the entire franchise, and it's one of the greatest shows of how the gaming industry was went down the hole see each sequence was worse, and they finally canned it without anyone having the brilliant idea of "Hey, maybe we should just make a new one that play like DoW1 but with better graphics and upgrades." Also, Josh I'll be eagerly waiting you to review DoW2 and 3, will not be poking about because would be rude, but part of my want for people to keep poking you about it and it comes ASAP in the series. (With due time to do properly, good stuff takes time, and your videos are aways good!)
DoW 2 was perfectly fine. The change to a tactical strategy game was more something Relic was doing across the board, which is also seen with Company of Heroes 2. Dawn of War 3 however...
@@nukclear2741 Personally I think DoW2 is the best in the franchise. My friends and I played a lot of competitive in it. I love DoW1, but it never was as fun to me as PvP was in 2.
@@nukclear2741 Hmm, to be fair, I LIKED DoW2, still like DoW1 more though, being 100% honest? Both DoW1 and DoW2 models could been good options for following the franchise, they could genuinelly do games on both styles and be making cash on it, instead they went for whatever DoW3 was supposed to be, and when it floped they just gave up.
6:15 YES! I remember watching the intro cinematic over and over and over as a kid. We had the game but I was too young to understand how to play the game so I just stuck with watching the intro. Thanks for waking that childhood memory, Josh.
18:40 There's a pretty obscure strategy game called Against Rome which was released in 2003 and used this exact system for the units. Loved it as a kid.
48:25 - Those scouts setting up in the trees in the background also adds just a little bit of motion to keep it from feeling like everyone is just sitting around. It's great.
DoW was my proper introduction to 40k. Knew a little about it before, but this was when I jumped in head first. Still love playing this game 20 years on.
ironically, i always considered warhammer a warcraft/starcraft clone with custom maps having a lot of callbacks. one day i had nothing to play and decided to give this a try and by emperor will my eyes been opened!
@@Aiveq I have seen a fair number of people do something similar with Gears of War as well. Especially after the 40k game Space Marine came out. (btw its a really awesome game if you haven't played it) For something as popular as it is, 40k really did a stellar job of avoiding attention until recently. I'm really not entirely sure how that works, but it did.
@@whyjnot420 Maybe it has to to do with being cost-intensive. Warhammer 40K (and most other Games Workshop-stuff) is a really expensive hobby. So, not really for the masses.
@@stevekramerf242 I get why it can be hard to first get into 40k. Aside from cost another major factor is simply how dense the lore is, figuring out a starting point is nigh impossible without someone or something to point you in the right direction. Figuring out how it got so popular in spite of that is where I run into trouble. addendum: "because it is awesome" is necessary but not sufficient. Being awesome is what hooks people that are exposed to it, not really what gets people into something in the first place. Since you have to have some experience with that thing before you can even call it good or bad. My best explanation is that there have been a million tiny in-roads into 40k over the years and that it simply adds up over time.
@@whyjnot420 Yeah, I think you're right. It gradually seeped into the minds of people over a few decades. And for me the starting point was easy: I bought the core rulebook (3rd edition I think), a few supplements and a few kits (mostly orks and space marines) and that was that. Dawn Of War wasn't entirely innocent in this process.
I still love Dawn of War 1 and 2. I know they was both very different but the stories to me as a new fledgling Warhammer 40k fan is what helped me fall in love with the setting of Warhammer, just like Total War Warhammer did for fantasy.
i got DOW DARK CRUSADE as my first game for my first PC back in 2007 (i was a console player before that) and i cherish EVERY evening and moment , hours after school. the vibe, music, atmosphere, gameplay, replayablity.... that was my first introduction to w40k and dark grim sci-fi and i got sucked in instantly
My dad got me into this game and Warhammer in general. I loved all the minis he painted when I was a kid. Whenever I brought friends over i’d take them to his bookshelves of figures and beg him to explain the lore of each of his minis. I still play through these old games every couple of years. always a fun fast run through the campaign.
I understand the tutorial being boring, but as someone who doesn't play rts games and on pc no less, I very much appreciate the hand holdy tutorial so I can get into this game cause I do love Warhammer.
Yeah I just played this quite recently and it's basically my first PC RTS (and so far only lol), I'd have been completely screwed without that tutorial. It IS boring but it teaches you everything you need to know, so best to just play it. I like that the campaign itself also feels like an "advanced tutorial" in the sense that it presents a lot of scenarios where your enemies have some advantage or another. Like usually they'll have a very strong pre-built base in an area of the map that gives them a bunch of terrain advantages. By the time you've finished the campaign, you're fully prepared for anything skirmish mode can throw at you.
50:45 Its possible to save them from the Eldar ambush. Word of the Emperor on Librarian as soon as the Eldar teleport, and they become another Guardsman squad under your control. 58:41 Orbital Relay allows you to drop infantry and Dreadnoughts directly in the forward base. No need for Assault Marines. Avoid building any non-dreadnought vehicles in your first base though. 1:13:20 A single Assault Terminator squad also beats the Daemon Prince via stunlock.
@@VJK102 A webway gate. 2 Eldar squads are scripted to teleport and aggro the guardsmen as soon as they arrive, so you have to use Word of the Emperor to save them.
Played this game many years ago and still come back to it every now and then for that hit of nostalgia. Was the first WH 40K video game I ever played and got me into the universe.
Rogue Trader a CRPG that was just released in December is absolutely amazing. I do love Owlcat and their CRPGS, and I had no background lore of the 40k universe until Rogue Trader, and I absolutely adored it. Now I am obsessed with 40k.
Start reading horus heresy series next. Get good idea of background lore and if thought story telling was good in that game? Prepare to be pleasantly surprised even more.
Man... This game was my childhood. My first step into the world of 40k which even today i still love. I still remember all the skirmishes with my sibling, All the many many many hours i sunk into playing Soulstorm (call me a heretic but i loved it more than Dark Crusade) campaign. You can certainly feel its age nowdays with its path finding and stuff. But even today it holds up as a great game
GREAT VIDEO, I've been playing DoW, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm every single week for 20 years now, its the only series of games that has done this to me, great video amigo. What a day 🎉🎉🎉
I remember this game was the first truly kinetic feeling RTS game. Seeing kill animations in melee, seeing a dreadnought grab a guy and fling him off screen... I had never seen anything like this before. The units felt like they had real weight to them.
Age of Mythology, which came out 2 years before DoW, was the first one for me. Seeing Cyclops pick up and throw an infantry unit was the coolest thing ever. Early 2000s were absolutely massive for gaming. And to this day, that stoic integrity of oldschool developers triumphs over modern ones. These games had soul. Attention to detail and effort to stay true to the franchise was everywhere. Modern developers lack this mentality and overemphasize the graphics, fancy moves are not a flavor but a main selling point, while they're sacrificing everything else. Which is why they suck and games like DoW are still standing tall.
My dad bought me Dawn of war for my 8th birthday(A dubious parental decision).
17 Years, dozens of books and thousands of miniatures later I still love Warhammer as much now as I did back then.
This is all the confirmation I need to buy it when my son turns 8 👌
A costly parental decision. Thank him for that, though.
My brother in christ me and my brother played dark crusade by age of 3 and 2 😂😂😂
did you thoooooooo??@@kostuvu3156
His kid will never have money for drugs at least. @@dukemagus
It's been 2 decades since I first played this game, and the opening cinematic still gives me goosebumps when the flag is raised.
The necron intro was the best in my opinion
Naaaahhh it ain’t that old, it can’t be. It can’t be…. I can’t be.
@Adamfandango OH, we are old alright. I remember having to upgrade my GPU to a 512mb. Feel it now?
The best part was the dreadnought, followed very close by the scream
Oh I remember the joy I had when I upgraded to a 8g HDD @@karmakamikaze2830
"I will call them the Astra Militarum when I'm dead, you are in the Imperial Guard" the correct take.
Caught me at just the right moment and I lost it. Incredible delivery.
The BEST Imperial Guard of any Warhammer 40K game... "Cadia broke before the Guard did!"
Damn right. I don't give a damn what the GW suits want. They're the Imperial Guard, the Eldar, the Dark Eldar, the Tau, and the Squats.
THE WALL OF GUNS!
Also the spess elf will forever be Eldars
That intro cinematic had no business going that hard. I was stunned the first time I booted up this game.
It's beyond perfect.
It's Warhammer, it has *every* business going hard.
The only thing wrong with it, is how slow the marines run. Otherwise it was perfect. When i saw it the first time back then, I was really awestruck.
that warcry that the Marine comaner does has been burned in my brain all these years
@@felygu9268I figured that much like the Anakin driving portions of the Pod Race in Star Wars, we are seeing things with the perception of a Space Marine rather than a regular human.
Honestly this game is what got me into 40k as much as I am today. Already had the models and had friends who played the tabletop game, but Dawn of War is what really cemented It with me.
The voices lines have aged well :)
During weekends we used to do lan parties and play this game till the morning:D,this is how we got into warhammer 40k univers.
my first experience with 40 k came from your naming scheme in stilaris
Same! 10 out of 10 gameplay in a clear, love and adoration for the lore, made it so addicting and interesting to someone like me, who had never looked at anything about Warhammer
Same. My dad bought me DoW on a whim when i was at school because he thought the cover art looked cool. No going back after that.
Spoilers: Yes.
Seconded. Motion passes.
The God Emperor is Pleased with you. Continue to hunt down those filthy Xenos.
Yes
Lmao. I saw this video title and immediately said. Erm...Yes!?
I mean, duh.
A few key notes:
Orbital Relay - You can put troops inside of it and deep strike them anywhere (with vision) on the map
Remove Active Units - By pressing the DELETE button, you can kill an entire squad/unit.
I cant believe he didnt try DELETE, back then this was more or less a standard thing in RTS that you kill units by pressing delete.
To be fair, this is something that isn't mentioned in the campaign or in the actual tutorial. I was someone that was completely new to RTS games and the only way I found out was by reading the manual where the delete key was assigned to "scuttle" (which was a term my 12 year old brain had never heard of and thought it'd be a great idea to find out in the middle of a game)
I deep striked your mom last night.
Tell her the flowers are from me. She's an amazing lady, don't worry I promise I'll treat her right. Maybe we can throw the ball around sometime? :)
@Actually_Zahren tbh I didn't know this was a thing either. And I've been playing rts games since I was little. I just thought it was impossible to do unless your faction was like ra2 Yuri and had a special building for it
One trick was to build a terminator unit at base, upgrade it fully and then teleport it so the enemy had to instantly deal with a fully manned squad, sergeant and support weapons and all.
Slight correction: Dawn of War 1 actually lets you make your own symbols and flags. You "just needed" to make any design you like in a graphic program of the correct pixel size and let you throw rhem down in a local folder for "flags and symbols" as PNG files.
It took years to learn that
iirc it didn't work in multiplayer but idk I did this 20 FUCKING YEARS AGO??? yikes I'm an old fossil
@@Lighthammer18 it does in soulstorm. at least with the ua mod. i actually made for the imperial guard an ss schemen and put swasistka flags on xD lol . (best part about that is i am actually even german)
I believe you have to do TGA files
G go vvvvvv g
I like that an apothecary quote has become the go-to comment of condolence among 40k fans
"The fallen shall be forever remembered as the Emperor's finest"
And an excellent way to troll the Dark Angels.
This game has so many great, quotable lines. Especially from the Space Marines faction.
Do you hear the voices too?!
@@draketheduelistRandom Dark Angel: *DID YOU JUST SAY FALLEN?!!!*
@@draketheduelist REPEEEEEEENT
The voice acting holds up so well, Sindri in particular always stood out to me, what a perfect casting.
The enemy hides in METAL BAWKSES.
@@quincykunz3481The COWARDS, the FOOLS
Unless your name is Inquisitor Toth.... then it sucks :c
@ImpactedWhisper Silence heretic! I will crush you under my inquisitorial boot!
_Glory to first man to die._
The commissars, man--the IG has the best lines/quotes.
That Intro lives in my Head Rent Free until i Die.
Dawn of War game kept my Love for warhammer alive for almost 2 Decades before i finally could start into the Hobby a few years Ago.
AAAAAAAAAAA
My favorite part
For me, it was kind of the opposite. I got into the hobby before I got the game. I love the game.
Same here. I played the demo for a year and then bought all one by one and decades later, I am filing, sticking and painting plastic for the Emperor.
The moment the Dreadnaught shows up and the heroic music plays has cemented in my mind that they are the apex of honorable service and to admired, not living corpses locked in their tomb going slowly mad over centuries to be pitied.
Blur Studio at its best
Dark Crusade was my first encounter with anything Warhammer 40k and my wallet has never recovered.
I love how iconic Jeremy Soules music is. I have never played this game but I was instantly able to recognize that signature tone.
Damn no way !!! Didn’t know that
It's a shame his career is likely dead due to allegations of sexual assault.
@@TroyificusHis attitude towards companies and fans is also pretty poor. I still remember the Skyrim concert fiasco from years ago.
His soundtrack for Total Annihilation is still awesome today, even though it came out in 1997
Did you ever hear his work on Total Annihilation? I'm sending you directly to my favourite track.
ua-cam.com/video/BxAdOQtAFEs/v-deo.htmlsi=13IpT6gxkjb9yidi&t=559
That opening cinematic to Dawn of War still gives me chills. When they dreadnought stomps out of the smoke, and that sergeant's yell, classic.
I really love the Dread into in DoW 2's cinematic. Busts through a stone, grabs a banshee, says "I have come to destroy you", then torches her to death with a heavy flamer.
INNNCOMIIIING
Agreed was amazing and still great
30:36 Basically all of WH40K can be described saying "The situation on the planet is grim"
Well except for pleasure worlds
@@jamesfreeman3617 until the grimderpness demands they randomly become the homes of slaanesh cultists
Dark too.
Well, if you ignore the dark prince. (Aka.Slanesh) infecting those worlds...@@jamesfreeman3617
@@Tsinibor
Ahh y’beat me too it
The cut scenes and voice acting are so good. Still holds up.
METAL BAWKSES!!!
@@brotherjorge3 Metal boxes was not in the first Dawn of War, it was in one of the expansions (I want to say Soulstorm?). The quality of the voice acting went a little.. silly in Soulstorm, this was great.
This game gave is the ultimate Space Marine tactic...STEEHL REEHN!
METAL BAWKSES!!! SPESS MEHRENS!!! 👍
SINDRI!!
Wasn't that the Soulstorm exansion? Still, without base DoW we wouldn't have SINDRIIIIIIIII!!!
@@xKinjax Da fools, Da Kawords.
@@arcanisdivinitis Multiple Simultaneous and Devastating Defensive Deep Strikes!
I feel like "Was it any good" did not need to be asked when it comes to DOW but I'm happy to see a video on it regardless.
Eh, that's probably true but as someone who doesn't know crap about this series, I've always wanted to know where to start and this video has given me a a good choice. That's definitely worth somethin'!
@@idontwantahandlethoughDOW of war is definitely a good place to start.
DO NOT PLAY DOW3. It will make you cry at how horrible the game is.
WH40k Space Marine is also really good if you like 3rd person shooters. It has sort of a Gears of War feel to it as it encourages close quarters combat, but still has a time and place for long range encounters, and even hybrid situations.
@@josephwilliams1915 DoW 3 could have been great had they not gone for a MOBA style game, that felt more like a warhammer version of Heroes of the Storm, or LOL. I personally tried to like it but the hero unit being the almighty game changer in fights turned me off to it, Dark Crusade is the main one i play and even hero units aren't tide changers, every unit matters and works to counter the opponent. Had they stuck with the Dark Crusade basics and style and just updated the graphics, AI, pathing, and made new units like those ancient relic titans it could have been a banger, but they strayed too far from what made the series great and it killed the game for them in only like 3 short months.
@@Darkness5423based. Even someone who wanted to like it, and played it, hated it. We can’t trash on DOW2 anymore. Since DOW3 is a horrific abomination.
I'm pretty sure that goes for every game he covers. Every time I see a video pop up of his where it says "Was it (any) good?" it sounds like a stupid question, and they're always either famously lauded, or cult classics that are loyally adored by those who played them.
The voicelines are still burned in my head when I played it pretty casually so I'd say yeah
GLORY TO THE FIRST MAN TO DIE
Game: Are you sure you want to quit?
Me: I've been playing for 10 hours, I have work tomorrow-
Game: *COWARDS DIE IN SHAME*
FEAR ME ! BUT FOLLOW !
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD ❤
The ground *trembles* with every step.
WITNESS YOUR DOOOOOM!!!
Everybody gangsta until Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War OST - Force Commander starts playing.
In all seriousness though every part of this game is memorable. The music, the voicelines (especially the voicelines), the gameplay, the factions, the atmosphere, everything just oozes with so much passion and personality. You know a game is great when it ends up sticking with you long after you've played it.
Dawn of war was my childhood. I still boot this game up once in a while and play their campaigns.
"Orks, Orks, Orks, Orks, Orks!"
Soulstorm is still played online on steam. And there is a pirate server dowonline
My armies march across Kronos at least once a month :)
Thinking of running Only War tabletop on Kronos... can add the nids for funzies!
Some corrections:
- Dark Crusade can also be played as a standalone
- Skullprobes are not useless, being able to detect invisible units
-Turrets can actually be ridiculously overpowered
-I am surprised you haven't mentioned the Orbital relay and the whole drop poding element which was revolutionary
He did miss that with the chasm mission, that units can be placed in to move them to the other side.
Also the fact that terminators can deepstrike from the chapel barracks or the orbital relay.
Also dreadnought could be deep strikes.
And units could be removed with the delete key.
Honestly allot could be blamed on the tutorial not covering it but oof regardless
In dark crusade i usually sent a tech priest with my guard line to build turrets in range of the enemy base.
Cause fuck the tau.
@@warriortango Yea, Assault Marines suck late game because they can't get heavy weapons like Space Marines can. They also get blasted by Whirlwinds which is an anti-synergy.
@spectre9065 yeah, I'd they could have power weapons added on or faster grenade cool down like is applied in several mods they would be able to retain how dangerous they can be early on.
@morpheusbutasasquirtle4431 the tau get what they deserve
Granted fighting tau as the spacemarines was THE WORST skull probes being your primary detector when they die from the most accidental aoe is pain. Atleast the guard psykers can survive a grenade on the squad and keep spotting
Never been a fan of RTS genre or had much money, but still bought it at release.
It was THAT good.
I actually specifically like computer strategy games, since I don't have the money for miniatures but love strategy games.
I absolutely love the voice acting. Specially of the Imperial Guard.
Same. This and Stronghold Crusader are still two of my most beloved games of all time and I don't even like RTS that much if I am being honest. And sadly both series never went back to being great again.
That doesn’t make sense how would know it was good if you bought it at release
@@ColonCommander demo version - played it a lot. When that happens you know it's time for a real deal.
Many a fond memory playing Dark Crusade as a kid.
Decent replay value despite similar strategies, best played on hard to keep you on your feet and not spam the same styles.
Just wait untill you will discover some great mods! ;-)
Old... Friend?
Hearing a battlehardend spacemarine like Angelos crack while saying those words...
PERFECTION!
Aye the marine characters have a lot of emotion going on which is so memorable.
Ah the nostalgia strikes again when i hear "MARINE SQUAD DEPLOYED". Insane video Josh. The Emperor protects.
CLEANSE! PURGE!
WE NEED A NEW DRIVER, THIS ONE IS DEAD!
I love how unhinged the Khorne Berzerkers are!
Nothing will beat the Grey Knights deploying and shouting "Praise the Emperor and strike down his foes."
“Space Marines, ATTACKKKKKK!”
I actually played this game a few months ago still totally holds up.
I am looking forward to Space Marine 2 but if they just bought out a new updated graphical version of classic DOW with more factions, that game would be outrageously popular.
Yeah it's crazy how amazing and spot on this game was and while I enjoyed DoW2 I wish they'd would've just returned to this games structure.
Play it with Unification mod for new races. They put SOOOO much work into it (And balancing everything) and it's still evolving. They retextextured the old races, too. Everything has a slightly shine, although the graphics aren't technically on remaster level or anything. Then there's other mods with new modes, like the assassin mission or endless survival mode. Someone even worked on new campaign bases for a few of the new races in Unification. Well worth trying this out if you haven't yet.
@@JayFFAFAlesanaES Yep!
Unification mod for more races or play Ultimate Apocalypse for tier 4 and 5 tech (TITANS and NUKES!) ;-)
@@igorthelight Uni also has Titans. Unless you mean the ridiculous Imperator Titan lol That thing isn't visible without an extra long scroll out mod.
@@JayFFAFAlesanaES Fair point! But I would still say: Unification = more races, UA/Crucible = more units per race ;-)
The "INCOMING!!!" and the "WAAAAGHHH" Always gave me goosebumps in the day, and it still does.
One thing I really liked in DOW1 is after every intro of each mission of Gabriel log, we see the Loading Screen of Tartarus Map that is supposed to be a Satellite view from Blood Ravens ship fortress slowly being covered in "Red" that is supposed to be the Orkz, while Blood Ravens and the IG end up being swallowed up by the near end of the game. The final mission the, the Satellite Map turn total chaos
Finally someone who love the loading screen, this is by far the best utilization of loading screen in a game.
The player is always winning each level but the screen show how we are actually losing on the bigger scale. I never know Warhammer until Dawn Of War, and from the loading screen alone i know exactly what kind of universe is this. Violent, unwinnable, grimdark.
Also did you notice that you can see the Imperial Guard too? When Toth took control of the Imperial operations in Tartarus, which is also Colonel Brom last appearance, you can see that they concentrate the Guards in forming one defensive line stretching along the three cities. This mean that despite the impending doom the guards still try to protect all three cities instead of concetrating its forces, and the impressive feat is they are still organized to connect each other.
The only thing i don't get is what the black arrows represent. The Orkz red territory have red arrows to show its expansion, but i noticed black arrows that only goes to within the Orkz.
Is this the Blood Ravens?
@@satriadicky3732 I think the Black could be the Civilians. I need to check again. Also Colonel Bloom in the novel turned traitor while in the game he just disappeared.
Anyways Dawn of War for me is the last trace of "Old school Warhammer 40k" with the over the top action and little bit silliness like the Orkz.
Also it was pretty grim by the last few levels how the cities and the I.G got swallowed up by the Green tide
"There is no such thing as innocence; only degrees of guilt."
My first warhammer game was space hulk on PC back in the day. When I was a young kid, I played a lot of RTS. My brain was so sharp back then (I miss it!). I remember playing DoW with my friend. We'd play 2v2. I'd rush dreadnaughts and tech up to drop pods. He'd play orks and hold the enemy. I can't tell you how many times I'd drop a dreadnaught in their base and they'd just leave instantly. It was SO much fun. DoW. I don't think my brain can handle an RTS at my older age. I'll always remember the voice acting and executions fondly. It was a huge change from typical brood war/WC3 RTS battles.
I rolled everybody at a LAN center with space marines, stealthed scouts, fully upgraded marine squads with mixed hvy weapons, dreadnauts, all the heros and terminators...
I was always bigger in territory, further in tech and more annoying to play against.
I used every race but marines smacked the hardest in the original played properly I think.
I wasnt even good enough to play online competitively, I got wrecked.
No idea how, I was always fast at start up and focused on a build order but the franchise attracts real tryhards I guess
There is no such thing as a plea of innocence in my court. A plea of innocence is guilty of wasting my time.
I see no problem with taking that difficulty down and making the game speed slower to make up for a less sharp mind
Yeah, that's why I prefer turn based strategy nowadays. RTS is just too fast for my brain. Unless it's pausable real time strategy. I can usually make that work but honestly, I don't really like how easy it is to forget a unit over there and the unit over yonder, and lose them or do worse than you could have just because you were busy with something else.
"Innocence proves nothing" Imperial motto of the Inquisition
"An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded." ~ Librarian, Dawn of War.
The fact that I and many others can AND WILL quote this game from memory should tell you that it definitely left a lasting impression. I definitely enjoyed it and I mourn the stillbirth that was Dawn of War III to this day. The PaulStretch'd soundtrack, the trailer itself...Oh, the things that could have been. Perhaps in another lifetime.
"Hope is the first step on the road to dissapointment,"
You're not wrong, its part of what made the RTS genre so good post StartCrat was the varity of voice lines given to units in different games. Warahmmer 40k has lovely level of absubertiy that is said with sincerity and conviction that makes it stick so well in our minds.. Like the whispers of the Dark Gods.
I honestly didn’t mind DoW3. I really liked it and was really good at it. The dumbest decision relic made was not making it co-op.
YEAH??? OW KAYYY.
I replace the word 'mind' with the word 'fly' and it works just as well
There is no such thing as innocence, just varying degrees of guilt.
Gosh, I could just watch you play through all the campaigns and just having your commentary. Love this.
You don’t play Chaos because you want to be good, you play Chaos because the Crab 🦀 god compelled you.
I remember being in college after Dark Crusade came out and 8 of us being crammed in a room doing a big LAN match.
I didn't want to admit it even to myself, haha. You're soooo right
just as the great crab god planned and foretold
God I miss those days.
The chaos players lost, right?
Quick storytime: my friend was playing a skirmish match, checking out Chaos. Out of a sudden he hears "Enemies...!" - he immediately panics and starts panning the camera left and right, trying to see what's happening. Then the voice line goes one ".... We need enemies!".
And that's how he knew Chaos was fun :P
Haha fav line..."The Imperial Guard are holding the line...I will call then them the Astra Militarum when I am dead"
But it's true
_Taking it is easy, holding it will be hard._
Astra miliwhat? You are in the guard, son!
The astra what? All i know is the guard
@@GenJuhru *we've won!*
This is where my Grimdark adventures began. Didn't even know they had miniatures.
Don't do it.
Buying models is financially setting piles of cash on fire like the Joker.
Don't do it.
My first was Dark Crusade and I had zero knowledge about WH40k and I was bad at that game.i was getting stomped constantly until I started playing "that robot race" 😂 and blasted everything from a far only much later I learned that those there battle suits with living creatures inside
Lol same, never even played the tabletop - never had the time or commitment for that. It's a shame Games Workshop took so long to warm up to video games, it's still a woefully underexploited franchise in that respect.
"Did you know that they've made a tabletop for DoW game?" 😂
This newcomers phrase infuriated so many fans of tabletop.
If I ever play Space Marines I'm going to paint up a Blood Ravens army, just to say that line. @@berkowk
Oh damn. Is there still a community that Supports this game? Like with guide for beginners and advanced ones? Or maybe people to play with
This, Mechanicus and Space Marine are my holy trinity of amazing 40k games.
I'd add Rogue Trader now
@@educatedlaziness3268Darktide as well.
@Thatonedude227 from what I've seen, yeah, but I haven't been able to play Darktide, computer can't handle it
I particularly appreciate that religious absurdity of the machine cult in mechanicus, having missions to spread incense or sacred music through necron tombs fits the lore but is so dumb at the same time
@NaNoRarh from my perspective Vermintide 2 was a clear superior upgrade from Vermintide 1 - granted my perspective was playing it purely from a set group of friends. What made it kill the player count in your perspective?
A childhood gem right here. Still playing it today with the Ultimate Apocalypse mod :)
Try the Unification Mod. It's basically a bigger, better, more balanced UA with more factions and game options, and much more active development.
@@CommanderRedEXE Does it have nukes and titans?
@@CommanderRedEXEbalanced, hah
It did not start at 4 PM
@@CommanderRedEXEthat mod is less balanced then tabletop eldar.
Part of why you play the Guards, basilisks. Who doesn't like some proper artillery?
It is so satisfying. 3... 2... 1... FIRE!!
thank the emperor... ACTION
Friendly reminder that in the tabletop game, the Basilisk has a max range of 20 feet. In a game where a standard play area is less than 4 feet across.
Enemies of the Imperium hear me:
You have come here to die.
@@a-blivvy-yus[laughs in Deathstrike missile]
@@89Keith Not sure if that's currently "anywhere on battlefield" or "less than 17' range" because it's fluctuated a bit over the various editions and I'm out of the loop on current tabletop rules. But yeah, there aren't many weapons which can compete against a Basilisk for range, but there are a few. Hunter-Killer and Seeker missiles come to mind, though they do need a spotter at close range to mark a target.
This one of your all-time best videos. Really enertaining and you let the game tell us its story
It's not: "Was it any good?"
It's: "It's still good even to this day ongoing X years later"
Soulstorm with the UA mod is easily my favorite RTS of all time, you covering the series made my day
I still play it today. DoW2 is fine game but its not up to my tastes the way DoW1 is. And we do not speak about the third one.
Unification and crucible mod are better
I agree. Its fucking phenomenal
@@supremercommonderwrong
@@secretagenttau2233 unification way better and crucible is ua but updated with newer and better models
Don't forget: left click the plus to reinforce; right click the plus to auto reinforce until the squad is full.
The mic inside the cup... what a champ.
Scott McNeil making use of that dinobot and silver bolt voice warms my heart.
The modding community for this game is very active to this day, with Unification mod adding over 20 races from the 40k lore to the game, and another update coming soon with many more!
Yeah I was surprised when I saw this vid. I still play it till this day with mods haha
Renegade Guard and Night Lords are closer than farther to being added in
@@shemsuhor8763 Didn't know this mod existed. I might play again if I don't have to be zoomed right in.
Really, it's on steam?
Hoping for some iron warriors
When the mood strikes, I’ve been known to bellow Commisar lines at the guys at work I manage. “Fear me, but FOLLOW!” is a real crowd pleaser
Holy shit that is cringe
Glad you don’t work with us then, I don’t think you’d make a very good fit
@@linusgustavsson2749 I have always found people who use the word cringe when not describing a physical reaction a character makes in a story to be the most dull and unfun people to be around. "That is cringe" is the rally cry of those who have to let everyone know they are no fun to be around.
@@Nempo13 That's pretty cringe.
How many of them have you shot to improve morale?
right click on the "add more squad member" and the "upgrade" of unit too, to make them automated
that boring tutorial gave me first intro to the games. i do not consider it boring, but only helpful to the new players! i was 7 when i first started playing any comuter games. this librarian shoulder pad brought so many good memories
It's probably very good for the "Literally never played an RTS before" demographic, yeah. And considering how niche RTS is as a genre, that's probably a lot of people. My RTS tutorial was the campaign mode of Starcraft, but as far as "how do the controls and mechanics work" DoW's skirmish mode was good. I'm not really sure if a 7 year old (or anyone who isn't a Warhammer player who wants to play 40K with their friends, just inside a video game instead of on the tabletop) is going to default to Skirmish mode first instead of Campaign mode, though.
Librarian's voice is also pure ASMR, so it works.
so blooody true! @@Yurikon3
I actually enjoy the tutorial. It's weirdly satisfying listening and playing it out while already being thoroughly familiar with the game. Plus each race is ever so slightly different in the tutorial.
*pauldron
I remember playing the Tau on one map in Dark Crusade and just playing that map for hours on end. I kept upgrading and refining a single choke point, and I found it fascinating how efficient certain combinations of vehicles and troops were compared to others. I had mountains of corpses at the bottom of a hill, and it was glorious. I was actually sad when I finally decided "Eh, I have to move on from this."
Dark Crusade remains my favorite RTS of all time. DOW1 is a close second though.
I still play the dark crusade campaign to this day
Me and a buddy would play together he would play IG and id either go eldar or chaos marines vs orks with the old unlimited units mod and we would just play for hours on end racking up the the ork bodies and toying with them. Man was so much fun
Ah tau... bloody annoying long range snipers. You get a critical mass, no infantry can approach as long as you can provide vision.
I loved the dawn of war dark crusade campaign. Having a planet as the battlefield with every faction battling was so cool. Not to mention you both got to protect and invade different areas on the map. And when you protected an area you would get the infrastructure you built up in the invasion stage as your starting set up. It made the campaign such a great time.
Damn I miss playing that game.
I will play the campaign again, and it will be TODAY. :D :D :D
I personally love Dark Crusade over Soulstorm, mainly for two reasons, bases stay behind for easy defense and makes it actually worth building multiple bases/outposts. Second there's plenty of sectors to fight for while not immediately being at someones strong hold, in soulstorm it felt like you only needed 1 or 2 sectors to reach the opposing stronghold on your starter planet. Although the racial bonuses were nice addition like Tau's moon cannon weakening sectors before you invaded. However Dark Crusade nailed everything aside from wonky pathing between units and vehicles...
Just checked my Steam data and I have ~500 hours into it. Maybe because I love both DoW and the Risk board game, Dark Crusade seems to be a nice combo.
Still a great campaign, several factions, all with unique dialogue and epic cinematics.
I wish this was the norm for todays rts games
Hench you mate good to see with all the gaming and vid content you still smashing the gym... My man
"I will call them the Astra Militarum when I am dead. You are in the Imperial Guard"
Aaaaaaand subscribed.
Welcome to the club.
32:27 - you can actually save the Imperial Guard here and then have the option to use and reinforce them - as far as I remember there is a mission bonus for this
You can save almost every imperial guard in the game if you hate yourself
"What are the Imperial Guard for if not to die for the Emperor?"
- Isador Akios
@@ImperiVmShade Yeah that attitude leads to chaos.
@@padmanabhanvaidyanathan7182 PURGE THE UNCLEAN
There's also a Leman Russ you can save in the first mission and repair with servitors. Makes it a breeze.
The Winter Assault story is perhaps the best one in the series, you can choose to play either the forces of order (imperial guard and eldar) or disorder (orks and chaos), the ending has multiple versions depending on how you play the story which faction you play more as.
Plus the orks in winter assault are perfectly characterized from start to finish
It is also a good depiction of Imperial-Eldar relationships. Both are xenophobic and egocentric, neither side trust each other. That said, both value civilization and have their respective empires broken by daemonic corruption.
They have common goals, and common foes, and would both benefit from a proper alliance. Flaws in their culture prevents it from happening.
I did not pay enough attention while playing Winter Assault, I had forgotten completely that the Imperial Guard wasn't the only playable faction in the campaign. I've been meaning to revisit Dawn of War for a while now, and that's a perfect reason to revisit!
@@Talvox as fun as the imperial guard are to play, the Orks are much better, and their cutscenes are much funnier
I never really liked Winter Assault. The second last mission made me rage quit, even on easy mode.
Thanks for this. I skipped winter assault as I was told it wasn't a good experience. I'll definitely give it ago now.
Hey, Josh! I just wanted to say thanks for making this video, as it was the catalyst in making me finally get into the 40k universe. This game looked really fun, so I bought it and all expansions.
I've had a blast with the game, even just random skirmish matches are pretty fun.
If anyone is thinking of getting into this the first time like me, do it! Also, the unification mod adds a ton of new content without being extremely different from the original game. I personally love that they split the chaos faction among 5 different ones to give the chaos group a very different playstyle.
That Dawn Of War cinematic intro, gives me the same feeling as when I was a kid. Pure chills.
48:01 I always loved this journal entry because of this. Angelos, who's above that of a lowly guardsmen, pays his respects to them when most other Space Marines wouldn't have had a second thought.
I remember playing Dawn of War, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm as a kid. I knew very little about warhammer and 40k, but I had played RTS before so it was right up my alley
Same
This. Changed my whole perspective on what space marines should be. These badasses, not StarCraft's puny pieces of tofu. Learned much later about the table top version.
@@TG-ge1oh oh yes Starcraft "space marines"
(The joke being that Starcraft might have been a Game Workshop production at some point.)
58:47
You can press DEL (by default) to instantly kill any units or buildings you have selected. This command, called "Scuttle" along with all the stuff about stances, is introduced pretty badly in the game, but referenced in the back cover of the manual and in the hotkey configuration panel to be implemented by the player through experimentation. For instance, did you know that you can set production structures to inheritable stances as well? All as invaluable in multiplayer as it is in the campaign.
Note that each of the 9 races has its own variant of the tutorial, and you didn't touch on the "overwatch" mechanic either. Overwatch allows your production structures to automatically order replacements as the resources coincide, greatly simplifying unit production and further pushing the game into a tactical groove from a strategic one. Honestly there's a ton of options in this game that ought to be way more common in RTS that came after it.
The Sisters of Battle are not even top 4 in Soulstorm. Neither are Necrons: that's only true in Dark Crusade, a game that remains a balance atrocity. Tau definitely could stand to be nerfed in 2v2 though.
This whole thing was a great and insightful watch, thanks for making it.
im 39 and have been into Warhammer since the early 90s. I paint and thats my favorite part of course but the whole thing is a life long love affair. Cheers Josh love your channel and of course I LOVE Dawn of War. This game was an experience i will never forget.
The voice acting in this game is still the gold standard (and imo unsurpassed, especially in the RTS genre)
I know so many mods that used the riped voice line in other game or Warhammer40K games/mods.
I personally find Broodwar having the best VA, with DoW coming close second.
'Our enemies hide in METAL BAWKSES!? The cowards, the FEWLES!'
Dawn of War was so good that its shadow has stretched to this day.
Dark Crusade gaming in an Internet cafe in between lectures (and sometimes when I was supposed to *be* in lectures) were peak golden years. :’)
Edit: I’ve watched this video slowly throughout a busy day & I remember painting minis *4 years before the games launch*. These voice lines exist rent free in my head. I know the entirety of that trailer by heart. I am old.
Also I’m after realizing just how hard a stand alone full feature film of Dawn of war would slap.
I'm not proud about how long I was watching him talk and wondering when he was gonna take a sip out of that mug before I realized there was a mic in it.
21:57 one other advantage there is for attaching leader units to squads is that they provide whoever they're attached to with bonuses
pain boys and apothecarys will increase the healing of the squad (and anyone around the squad, but still) and commander units like the warboss will also boost morale regen
the imperial guard make full use of this with attached units providing buffs like priests increasing melee damage and commissars increasing morale regen (as well as having their powerful abilities)
True, but it's also worth pointing out the disadvantage of attaching the Force Commander or the Librarian when you only have a few marines ; better at range while the commander weakens the enemy in melee.
This game was my introduction to 40k and I’ve loved it ever since
Same here.
While i've never played a tabletop game at least i sunk probably days deep diving into videos, the wiki and the lore in general.
Warhammer 40k is such a fleshed out, adult, brutal, wonderful, comically absurd deep Universe
@@Pendragon667 Yes I agree with all of this and also believe that the table top game for 40k isn't for everybody but the universe itself is
@@HonorEggs The 40K universe isn't for everyone and GW shouldn't be trying to make it for "everyone."
Saw this game at my friend's house when i was a kid. The army painter alone was absolutely amazing. I loved seeing the space marine in his idle animation changing to whatever color you wanted, and the idea of your entire army being completely customizable. This game is an absolute gem. Still love playing it from time to time.
The cinematic intro still gives me chills. I’ll think of it occasionally and find the highest quality version to rewatch sometimes and it still holds up hard.
I remember hearing that the opening movie for DoW cost as much to make as adding a new race to the game.
worth it.
However, Dawn of War itself cost as much to make as building a single tabletop army.
The intro was made by Blur. Understandable.
Isn't that the guys who remastered the halo 2 cinematic? If so, they do great work
The Dawn of War tutorial is actually a weirdly formative piece of my childhood. Got some mild shivers when you demonstrated out of pure nostalgia.
A few controls I could have done without but I feel it is the best tutorial I have ever seen. It teaches all possible controls. Tells you little details about your buildings; did you know a great number of Imperial Guard buildings have firing ports for Guardsmen you put inside? I keep a squad on reserve and when a listening post is completed have them move over to reinforce while the post upgrades actual weapons.
Best of all? You only experience it when you wish too.
I got into rts games because of the video and that tutorial is nothing but perfect for me. It holds your hand but is not overextensive that makes it too long and leaves you at the end to play for yourself. Now i cant stop playing this and company of heroes haha
“Do this. Now.”
'blessed is the mind too small for doubt' awesome!
I just clicked on this video to comment, YES IT WAS THAT GOOD AND STILL IS! Unification mod just makes everything 1000x better.
It wasn't just good
It was amazing
Still is...
The best among us
Shame they never made a Third one
@@dantefromdevilmaycry9857 😅
Is*
13:56 That fucking soundtrack still pumps me up so much today, I love the Dawn of War games so much.
I smiled at the end hearing the lines as the screen hold at the end.
DoW 1 was the best of the entire franchise, and it's one of the greatest shows of how the gaming industry was went down the hole see each sequence was worse, and they finally canned it without anyone having the brilliant idea of "Hey, maybe we should just make a new one that play like DoW1 but with better graphics and upgrades."
Also, Josh I'll be eagerly waiting you to review DoW2 and 3, will not be poking about because would be rude, but part of my want for people to keep poking you about it and it comes ASAP in the series. (With due time to do properly, good stuff takes time, and your videos are aways good!)
Like Fable, it just got consistently worse until it was unsalvageable.
DoW 2 was perfectly fine.
The change to a tactical strategy game was more something Relic was doing across the board, which is also seen with Company of Heroes 2.
Dawn of War 3 however...
@@nukclear2741 Personally I think DoW2 is the best in the franchise. My friends and I played a lot of competitive in it. I love DoW1, but it never was as fun to me as PvP was in 2.
@@SaveMeXenuthat's actually rather interesting, cause it's the opposite for me, I think 1 has the best pvp, but, hey, to each their own.
@@nukclear2741 Hmm, to be fair, I LIKED DoW2, still like DoW1 more though, being 100% honest? Both DoW1 and DoW2 models could been good options for following the franchise, they could genuinelly do games on both styles and be making cash on it, instead they went for whatever DoW3 was supposed to be, and when it floped they just gave up.
2 man game, 6 man map. goes for days
6:15 YES! I remember watching the intro cinematic over and over and over as a kid. We had the game but I was too young to understand how to play the game so I just stuck with watching the intro. Thanks for waking that childhood memory, Josh.
18:40 There's a pretty obscure strategy game called Against Rome which was released in 2003 and used this exact system for the units. Loved it as a kid.
48:25 - Those scouts setting up in the trees in the background also adds just a little bit of motion to keep it from feeling like everyone is just sitting around. It's great.
This System of ordering "Squads" is what I also loved about Shadow of Middleearth, these 2 Games are the RTS of my childhood, very good games!
Try out Company of Heroes (from the same developers as Dawn Of War!) ;-)
DoW was my proper introduction to 40k. Knew a little about it before, but this was when I jumped in head first.
Still love playing this game 20 years on.
ironically, i always considered warhammer a warcraft/starcraft clone with custom maps having a lot of callbacks. one day i had nothing to play and decided to give this a try and by emperor will my eyes been opened!
@@Aiveq I have seen a fair number of people do something similar with Gears of War as well. Especially after the 40k game Space Marine came out. (btw its a really awesome game if you haven't played it)
For something as popular as it is, 40k really did a stellar job of avoiding attention until recently. I'm really not entirely sure how that works, but it did.
@@whyjnot420 Maybe it has to to do with being cost-intensive. Warhammer 40K (and most other Games Workshop-stuff) is a really expensive hobby. So, not really for the masses.
@@stevekramerf242 I get why it can be hard to first get into 40k. Aside from cost another major factor is simply how dense the lore is, figuring out a starting point is nigh impossible without someone or something to point you in the right direction. Figuring out how it got so popular in spite of that is where I run into trouble.
addendum: "because it is awesome" is necessary but not sufficient. Being awesome is what hooks people that are exposed to it, not really what gets people into something in the first place. Since you have to have some experience with that thing before you can even call it good or bad. My best explanation is that there have been a million tiny in-roads into 40k over the years and that it simply adds up over time.
@@whyjnot420 Yeah, I think you're right. It gradually seeped into the minds of people over a few decades.
And for me the starting point was easy: I bought the core rulebook (3rd edition I think), a few supplements and a few kits (mostly orks and space marines) and that was that.
Dawn Of War wasn't entirely innocent in this process.
I still love Dawn of War 1 and 2. I know they was both very different but the stories to me as a new fledgling Warhammer 40k fan is what helped me fall in love with the setting of Warhammer, just like Total War Warhammer did for fantasy.
i got DOW DARK CRUSADE as my first game for my first PC back in 2007 (i was a console player before that) and i cherish EVERY evening and moment , hours after school. the vibe, music, atmosphere, gameplay, replayablity.... that was my first introduction to w40k and dark grim sci-fi and i got sucked in instantly
Still a PC player?
Tried some mods? ;-)
Ah the one game I cracked out for before steam existed as a thing. Having to have like 8 CDs to play this game was worth it!
having grown up watching Beast Wars, it's a trip hearing Scott Mcneil using his Dinobot and Silverbolt voices in this
I thought I was crazy there for a minute when I heard Dinobot!
Its so good
My dad got me into this game and Warhammer in general. I loved all the minis he painted when I was a kid. Whenever I brought friends over i’d take them to his bookshelves of figures and beg him to explain the lore of each of his minis. I still play through these old games every couple of years. always a fun fast run through the campaign.
I understand the tutorial being boring, but as someone who doesn't play rts games and on pc no less, I very much appreciate the hand holdy tutorial so I can get into this game cause I do love Warhammer.
Yeah I just played this quite recently and it's basically my first PC RTS (and so far only lol), I'd have been completely screwed without that tutorial. It IS boring but it teaches you everything you need to know, so best to just play it.
I like that the campaign itself also feels like an "advanced tutorial" in the sense that it presents a lot of scenarios where your enemies have some advantage or another. Like usually they'll have a very strong pre-built base in an area of the map that gives them a bunch of terrain advantages. By the time you've finished the campaign, you're fully prepared for anything skirmish mode can throw at you.
The opening cinematic alone is a work of art. A great setup for a great game
I seen the title and I went "Oh so that's where he has been all this time, makes sense".
8:00 There was a way to upload your own custom logos made in other software, and it worked in multiplayer.
Was going to point this out-it actually might be even easier, since you can use pre-existing images for your logo and just change their dimensions.
Yeah you basically just edited the gamefiles. @@bloodywilliam3083
50:45 Its possible to save them from the Eldar ambush. Word of the Emperor on Librarian as soon as the Eldar teleport, and they become another Guardsman squad under your control.
58:41 Orbital Relay allows you to drop infantry and Dreadnoughts directly in the forward base. No need for Assault Marines. Avoid building any non-dreadnought vehicles in your first base though.
1:13:20 A single Assault Terminator squad also beats the Daemon Prince via stunlock.
And what do they lead you to?
@@VJK102 A webway gate. 2 Eldar squads are scripted to teleport and aggro the guardsmen as soon as they arrive, so you have to use Word of the Emperor to save them.
YES! Glory to You Brother for this Sage Wisdom! In HIS name!!
@@steelshanks1265 His name may burn, tbh;
The Imperium is way past for its fall
@@VJK102 Not with the Lion back in Universe...
Play the base game in a virtual OS and then you can set you resolution and multi-task all you want.
Played this game many years ago and still come back to it every now and then for that hit of nostalgia. Was the first WH 40K video game I ever played and got me into the universe.
Rogue Trader a CRPG that was just released in December is absolutely amazing. I do love Owlcat and their CRPGS, and I had no background lore of the 40k universe until Rogue Trader, and I absolutely adored it. Now I am obsessed with 40k.
Start reading horus heresy series next. Get good idea of background lore and if thought story telling was good in that game? Prepare to be pleasantly surprised even more.
First dip into warhammer 40k, still one of the best Warhammer games made.
I remember when i frist played it in spring of 2005 on a lan.
The game is one of the GOATs of the RTS genre! I love how you explained everything perfectly in this video. Keep up the good work
Man... This game was my childhood. My first step into the world of 40k which even today i still love. I still remember all the skirmishes with my sibling, All the many many many hours i sunk into playing Soulstorm (call me a heretic but i loved it more than Dark Crusade) campaign. You can certainly feel its age nowdays with its path finding and stuff. But even today it holds up as a great game
GREAT VIDEO,
I've been playing DoW, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm every single week for 20 years now,
its the only series of games that has done this to me, great video amigo. What a day 🎉🎉🎉
I remember this game was the first truly kinetic feeling RTS game. Seeing kill animations in melee, seeing a dreadnought grab a guy and fling him off screen... I had never seen anything like this before. The units felt like they had real weight to them.
Age of Mythology, which came out 2 years before DoW, was the first one for me. Seeing Cyclops pick up and throw an infantry unit was the coolest thing ever. Early 2000s were absolutely massive for gaming. And to this day, that stoic integrity of oldschool developers triumphs over modern ones. These games had soul. Attention to detail and effort to stay true to the franchise was everywhere.
Modern developers lack this mentality and overemphasize the graphics, fancy moves are not a flavor but a main selling point, while they're sacrificing everything else. Which is why they suck and games like DoW are still standing tall.
I love your channels. I have been watching them regularly for the last 6 months. I would love to see your check out 2002 The Thing game on PS2.