You also quickly learn that while one or two units might turn the battle in your favour, you will not win if you do not have a mix of units.  The computer was excellent at teaching me this lesson when it rolled its larger heavily armoured units in to devastate my mostly anti-infantry lines and steal the game I thought I had won.

While this face paced game can be fun, I can see it not allowing enough variance for all player types.  Being a defensive oriented player, ie a turtler, in traditional RTS games I found the game very frustrating at first.  It seemed as if I was just constantly running units back and forth between two points as my opponent and I exchanged pot shots as well as the points themselves.  However, as I played the game, and learned a better mix of troops types, how to set up firing arcs, and how to use cover (an important skill) the game slowed and the epic battles I expected to see with Warhammer 40k armies began to happen.  I remain cautious however as the pace may cater to those who have a knack at memorizing a thousand hotkeys and the limited army and unit choices  will benefit those who have the time to sniff out the perfect counter to every opponent’s action.  I also have begun to have a few doubts as to the balance of the armies (and specific units) at this time, though considerable more play time will be needed before I cry foul about this. Even the tabletop game struggles with this.  Furthermore, I was slightly disappointed on the size and options that squads had, the original DoW stayed very true to the tabletop in the number of figures a unit had as well its war gear options.  DoW II has reduced the squad sizes as well as the options available to each unit.   This will probably go unnoticed by most players but being a table top player there is just something about numbers.  All of these potential issues however, as with many RTS games, are often improved by adding new, though well thought out and balanced, units and armies as it tends to increase the strategies available and open the game up to more styles of play.  Armies and units of course are something that the 51st millennium has no shortage of, something Relic took advantage of with the original DoW, so the future looks bright in this regard.

Overall I think the game has accomplished what it set out to do and continues to better the digital Warhammer 40k experience.  Only time will tell if this game will retain the attention of non- Warhammer 40k fans, but for those of us who are fans, this game is a must.

Rory Klawien is an avid Warhammer 40K and table top RPG player. He also plays video games and a variety of other board games when not working in the IT sector. He is partly responsible for the only stitches the EiC of GDN ever had. As we consider him an expert in the Warhammer 40K arena, we let him run long on this preview.