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Dawn of War III

2021-12-04T21:20:02Z

2601:449:8280:2630:2999:DDAE:C238:12CD: /* Orks (Bad Moons) */

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''"In darkness'', ''I shall be light''<br>
''In times of doubt'', ''I shall keep faith''<br>
''In throes of rage'', ''I shall hone my craft''<br>
''In vengeance'', ''I shall have no mercy''<br>
''In the midst of battle'', ''I shall have no fear''<br>
''In the face of death'', ''I shall have no remorse"''<br>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ZgyNoHtjw| The voice in the trailer.]

''" Wot matterz to yoo lot, iz deez gitz givvus a good fight for me, an’ wot matterz to me is; I WANT DAT STICK!!!"'' - Gorgutz

[[File:DoWIII.jpg|thumbnail|right|500px|Skulls for the skull throne!]]
Announced on 3rd of May 2016 and released on April 27nd 2017, '''''Dawn of War III''''' is the third entry in the Dawn of War series.

The game features [[Space Marines]], [[Orks]], and [[Eldar]], along with [[Imperial Guard]] as an NPC race allied with Space Marines and [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]] as playable allied units to the Space Marines. The campaign features all three factions, rotating which faction you're playing every mission [[Dawn of War II#Retribution|rather than having every faction play the same shortened campaign]]. The story features [[Gabriel Angelos]] (sadly with a different voice actor), [[Macha]], and [[Gorgutz]] as they all race to an ancient planet called Acheron which emerges from the warp every couple thousand years and holds an artifact called the Spear of [[Khaine]].

==Plot==
{{spoilers}}
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Coming back with a new look and much closer to the first game while having elements from the second, the third installment sees the return of some of the more popular characters. Among them [[Gabriel Angelos]], [[Farseer Macha]] and [[Warboss Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter]] will battle for the planet of Acheron for a powerful weapon known as the Spear of Khaine. Whilst the Eldar and Orks seek to obtain it for its tremendous power, Gabriel seeks to prevent anyone from using it, as it apparently reeks of deceit. More of the plot can be read below.

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===Part 1: Verlock Keep and Cyprus Ultima===
Long story short, it begins on the Knight World of Cyprus Ultima being overrun by [[Orks]] led by [[Warboss]] Gitsompa with Varlock Keep being on its last toes against the green tide. [[Heresy|For some reason,]] Inquisitor Holt has prevented further reinforcements from assisting the local Knight house from being overwhelmed. Thankfully for Lady Solaria (The Matriarch of Verlock Keep), <s>Captain</s> [[Chapter Master]] [[Gabriel Angelos]] of the [[Blood Ravens]] ignored the [[Inquisitor|Inquisitor's]] decree and came to assist Lady Solaria's forces. During the fighting, Warboss [[Gorgutz]] led a counter attack to prove that he is the better overall leader then Gitstompa. Unfortunately the [[Eldar]] led by [[Autarch]] Kyre, came on Cyprus to mess everything up which forced Gorgutz to think of some [[Tactical genius|Tactical Genius]] which involves building a giant cannon, sabotage and [[Sindri|Sindri'ing Warboss Gitstompa]] so that Gorgutz would become defacto leader. Meanwhile, the breach in the decree led to Inquisitor Holt feeling all [[Butthurt|butthurt]] about this and tasked Ol'Gabe to defend Starfort Helios which has been overrun by Orks now led by Gorgutz. Both Holt and Gabe talked about the reason behind the starforts, in which they were designed as a barricade against the legendary planet Acheron which houses the legendary 'Spear of [[Khaine]]' in which Holt took great interests in attaining it for himself. As you can imagine, Gabe was quite suspicious over the Inquisitor's ambition and was even more suspicious over the Spear of Khaine whose intuition led Gabe to suspect of it as a [[Chaos|Chaotic corruption]] (Oh, how right he was).

On the other hand of the spectrum, [[Farseer]] [[Macha]] led an Eldar warhost to aid Kyre who he himself is also after the Spear of Khaine. However, Macha is suspicious about Kyre's prophecy as it did not add up to Macha's own divination on what lies beyond Acheron. Macha was tasked by Kyre to kill Gabriel Angelos as he sees the Chapter Master as an obstacle to Kyre's own ambition, however Macha's relationship with Gabriel stretched all the way back [[Tartarus]]. Before she could accomplish this, [[Jonah Orion]] stood in Macha's way. Macha promptly kicked Jonah's ass and threaten to kill him if he did not tell her where <s>Macha's husbando</s> Gabriel Angelos is. However, being the shining beacon of bromance that is Gabe, the Chapter Master came to Macha's location to prevent her from killing his [[Gay|<s>boyfriend</s>]] most trusted [[Librarian]] butt budy. Macha attempted to throw her singing spear, Gabriel remembered that he was wearing terminator armour and singing spears are AP- and so managed to catch the damned weapon with his hands. Macha blasted him with Psychic shenanigans, took a thunder hammer to the face and either passed her Invuln save or benefited from the Eternal Warrior rule. Before they could end their little 'reunion' however, the planet Acheron arrived on the Cyprus system and shattered Starfort Helios, reigning space debris on where they fought (Seriously, Acheron is ECKS BAWKS HUEG, like Gas Giant size). Macha escaped whilst Gabe was left horrified over the fate of [[Chaplain]] [[Apollo Diomedes]] as it was Gabriel who ordered Diomedes to assist the resistance on Helios.

Meanwhile, Gorgutz promptly [[PROMOTIONS|jizzed himself]] with all the loot being crash landed around him due to Helios' demise. Unfortunately, other gitz such as [[Weirdboy]] Zappnoggin and [[Big Mek]] Wazzmakka are fighting over the loot. After Gorgutz promptly bash their heads in and forced them to comply under his leadership, Gorgutz then led on a joyride to Starfort Charon so he could find out what the hell is going on in Acheron. Apparently ''how'' he managed to get onto the Starfort without getting shot down isn't worth worrying about (seriously, he's just there and hopping off a crashed craft without any further explanation). After blowing up the defenses of Charon with nothing more than a bunch of [[Gretchin]] with explosive grenades (seriously, you would think that the defenses of an Imperial Starfort would be a bit more secure), Gorgutz then used the opportunity of the disabled Starfort to land on Acheron without the worry of being blown up. On the other hand, Macha met with [[Ronahn]] to discuss on the potential craziness that is Kyre. Apparently, the reason why Ronahn was here and acting as a secret spy for Kyre was because Kyre [[Derp|somehow got his hands on]] [[Taldeer|Taldeer's]] soulstone due to some altercation with Ronahn. Apparently, Kyre is using Taldeer's prophecy as not only as to stroke Kyre's fragile ego but to also keep his legitimacy stable. Despite the fact that using another [[Craftworld|Craftworld's]] soulstone for nefarious purposes, especially one from [[Ulthwé]] should be enough to send half of the Craftworld's forces to shank Kyre's ass for [[Heresy]], this did not come to pass. After some discussions, Macha, Ronahn and [[Jain Zar]] (Who came to Macha's assistance to stop Kyre's foolish action that would further weakened the Biel-Tan craftworld) all agreed that Kyre's prophecy is nothing more than a steaming pile of [[Bullshit]] and will lead their people to ruin. Unfortunately Jain Zar didn't just tell everyone to stop follow Kyre because she didn't feel like it (yes seriously, she'd rather kill Eldar than that and there's a weak explanation on her trying to get Macha to realize her potential through the conflict) which would have ended the conflict immediately and stopped Eldar from killing each other. So Macha and Ronahn devise a plan to distract Kyre's forces with the aid of Gorgutz so they could sneak around and steal back Taldeer's soulstone instead. Macha and Ronahn also managed to convince Gorgutz to aid them by essentially waving the Spear of Khaine all over Gorgutz like he is some sort of attack dog. So with Gorgutz now in the race to get his 'Super Pointy Stikk', Dawn of War 3 has essentially turned into a Monty Python sketch with all three races bonking each other's heads so they can leap frog each other to get to the Spear first.

===Part 2: Acheron===
On the other side of the theater, Gabe discussed with Captain Balthazar on board the Blood Raven's [[Battlebarge]] to retrieve Diomedes' [[Gene Seed|Gene Seed]] for he fears that he is dead. However, Inquisitor Holt being a shady motherfucking dick, threatened Gabriel not to go to the remains of Helios or else he would shoot Gabe's aircraft out of the sky. This understandably twisted Gabe's nipples to no end and secretly arranged Balthazar to [[Just as Planned|teleport]] Gabe on the remains of Starfort Helios. They agreed and Gabe was transported on the destroyed Starfort. What he saw disturbed Gabe as the remains of both the Starfort and its crew members was [[Grimdark|fused with the structures of Acheron]]. Fearing for the worst, Gabriel along with a group of [[Terminator|Terminators]] proceed to cleanse the area of both Orks and Eldar with sufficient [[Dakka]]. Once Gabriel found where Diomedes is located, to everyone's surprise, Apollo Diomedes has indeed survived due to [[Plot Armor|rolling a 1 on his To Wound/Destroyer roll and escaping unscathed]] (or maybe he just passed every Armour/Invuln save, he was wearing termie armour). After hearing the Inquisitor's actions, Diomedes was understandably [[Rage|pissed as fuck.]] Inquisitor Holt himself was displeased, but more pressing matters was at hand due to everyone wanting to get the Spear of Khaine.

On Acheron, Farseer Macha and her posse sneaked to where Taldeer is resting and proceed to [[Blood Ravens|'borrow it']] for their own uses. However, they were caught and were forced to flee, fortunately they completed their task and Kyre sighed in disappointment. Near the vault shielding the Spear of Khaine, Gabe and friends fought their way to destroy the Eldar. However, Inquisitor Holt decided that if a bunch of enemies are gathered in one spot, you might as well just nuke them and requested an orbital bombardment on the vault. Unfortunately it turns out shooting a door has a chance of blowing it open, which certainly happened and that was near where Gabriel's forces were (though he did at least warn Gabe with more than enough time for the Blood Ravens to flee), so Gabe ordered his brothers to flee and while remaining behind because he knew it would look really cool for the trailer. Apollo Diomedes and even Jonah Orion [[Rage|flipped their shit on the Inquisitor]], with Diomedes swearing he [[RIP AND TEAR|wants to rip Holt's head off and shit down his neck]] and Jonah calling Holt a fucking retard for even requesting orbital bombardment. Holt, feeling the heat of a chapter of pissed off [[Space Marines]] went and plead with Lady Solaria. [[Awesome|Solaria then laid down the sickest burn in the game, calling out Holt's cowardice in not only letting Solaria's house to die by the Ork invasion but also firing orbital bombardment near the position of Gabriel Angelos, she further states that no one would fear the incompetence and idiocy of a 'disgraced Inquisitor' threatening Holt that his ass is grass once she tells Holt's superiors on what he has done.]] Holt later put an ice pack on that burn and cried himself to sleep, but before he did, he told Solaria that Gabe may still be alive and what do you know, Gabriel ''IS'' alive since he watched the bombardment from a distance while taking advantage of that Iron Halo/Cataphractii Terminator re-roll bullshit. Gorgutz was also practically under the blast and he survives due to... [[Plot Armor|he just does.]]

Inside the vault on the true surface of Acheron, Autarch Kyre used Macha's supporters as leverage to draw her out and force her to comply to his will. Unfortunately for him, they were standing on an icy prison keeping a FUCK HUEG [[Greater Daemon]] of [[Khorne]] from escaping (yes, it is yet ''another'' reveal that [[Chaos]] is the ultimate big bad, [[Skub|Que more moaning and bitching that the plot is uninspired)]] and Macha rightly concluded that fighting would only wake it and that something was wrong with the spear. Naturally Kyre didn't listen and after an intense firefight of elf-on-elf violence, Macha then pleaded to Ronahn to let Taldeer's soulstone to be interned in a motherfucking [[Wraithknight]]. Ronahn as you can imagine, hesitated cause he is a good and dutiful brother and would never put his sister into harms way again; the situation however, was dire, thus Ronahn relented and became the co-driver with his sister. During the infighting, Kyre knew he was distracted and continued his campaign to retrieve the Spear. However, bad luck follows Kyre everywhere, and is forced to butt heads with Gorgutz army. These two both battled each other before Kyre won, grabbed the Spear of Khaine and attempt to slay Gorgutz. His plans were slightly hindered when a part of the blade broke and he was liquefied, as it turns out that the Spear was a [[Trap]] designed to spill the blood of the ambitious and greedy and to act as a blood ritual to release the daemon from its prison. Kyre did the 'Oh Shit!' look before ending up like [[Sindri Myr]] as daemon chow.

===Part 3: Tartarus 2, Electric Boogaloo===
With the daemon released, everyone promptly shat bricks. Macha and Taldeer then did a quick divination and found out that the only way to victory is get all three races to unite and spank the daemon to oblivion. Macha, somehow managed to convince Gorgutz to join her cause despite being backstabbed by Ronahn (Or as Gorgutz would like to call him, Ronny) whilst Gabriel has a....somewhat [[Love Can Bloom|intimate chat]] before he himself joined her cause. Unfortunately for Gabe, part of the ritual needed to defeat the daemon was [[Exterminatus|to blow up Acheron]]....[[Herp|with his own Battlebarge.]] Captain Balthazar overheard this and eagerly accepted his fate before [[Angry Marines|pile driving a seemingly fully loaded Battlebarge into the planet's crust]] in a spectacular display of [[Warhammer 40,000 8th edition|needless sacrifice'''s''']].

Seriously, how many Blood Ravens were on the ship? Anyway, the ship blew up the mantle and hurtled the shrine housing the Spear of Khaine into orbit. You would think that the Battlebarge would have just [[Derp|fired its weapons or even have a Cyclonic Torpedo ready,]] but it seems the Imperium has a knack for [[World Engine|wasting expensive ships by]] [[First Tyrannic War|blowing itself up for myriad of reasons.]] On the other hand, Angelos and Balthazar did mention how the Daemon was shielding Acheron and how it took a trio of listening posts to guide the Battlebarge down to the surface; nevertheless, it still is retarded, because the Inquisition normally issues [[Exterminatus]] device approved for [[Chapter Master (game)|Space Marines]] to use by placing it directly on a planet's surface, or use [[Gabriel Angelos|Nemesis weaponry]] to [[Grey Knight|bannish the daemon]] [[Matt Ward|regardless of]] [[Spiritual Liege|his Wounds stats]]; and while it is possible that the Blood Ravens having [[Celestial Lions|bad relationships with the Inquisitor]] would have prevent them from getting one, they didn't even bother to ask and instead killed dozens or hundreds of battle-brothers wile wasting ressources the Blood Ravens can't afford to lose, proving therefore that the staff [[Games Workshop|didn't even know about it]].

All three heroes were teleported onto the shrine (It would be safe to assume that all named elite heroes survived Acheron's destruction) by Macha's help to face the daemon. As explained, the previously seen ECKS BAWKS HUEG daemon the size of a Imperial Cruiser has now shrunk in size to be the same height as any old regular Greater Daemon. In a hilariously bizarre and completely un-Khornate way, the daemon AKA the Storm Prince, [[Wat|spends more time healing itself by literally drinking a fountain of]] [[Lulz|daemon kool-aid]]...[[FAIL|we wish we were joking.]] That and the fact that the daemon used [[Tzeentch|trickery of all things]] to set itself free (Spear of Khaine fiasco, daemonic doppelgangers, etc)...one must wonder how [[Khorne]] might have felt after learning that this jackass along with [[Firaeveus Carron|another failure]] continue to became such staunched followers of the Blood God. During the fight, Gabriel in a completely uncharacteristic way, acknowledged ignoring Macha's warnings back on Tartarus was a mistake which resulted in the devastation of the Blood Ravens in [[Dawn of War 2]], in which Macha in turn, uncharacteristically accepted it; but come on now, we all remember that her warnings were fully aimed at protecting the plot, not making things clear for the Blood Ravens & the Inquisitor on what they ought to do. After kicking the daemon to death, all three heroes departed to go their separate ways with Gorgutz finally getting his 'Super Pointy Stikk'/Spear of Khaine. [[What|Again, this is bizarrely uncharacteristic for all of them as we usually see an Eldar ending up backstabbing the Orks and Space Marines into muderfucking each other instead of simply...you know...keeping their promises. Maybe they decided to wait until their armies could rebuild?]]

Anyway, with the mission done, it is safe to assume that Inquisitor Holt is going to have his [[Anal Circumference|anus enlarged by fifteen meters]] over the shit he has done to Gabe and friends.

All in all, the last few missions was vaguely similar to the plot of the original [[Dawn of War]]. As both games ends with a cataclysmic fight against an agent of [[Chaos]] being freed from a millennia long prison that is disguised as an object of immense power, in which a gullible pawn thinks he can take it for his own benefit, only to be used as a sacrifice to free the daemon in a blood ritual. Both artifacts are seen by Gabriel Angelos to be malicious and needs to be destroyed with Macha warning Gabe about the true nature of both artifacts. The only difference is that Gabe actually listened to Macha for once on Acheron, thus making the ending of Dawn of War 3 more [[Noblebright]] than the original Dawn of War.

Oh yeah, the secret after credits ending depicts none other then the return of the [[Necrons]]. Which would probably be more impressive if the story hadn't pretty much stopped there with no sign of continuing.
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==Returning Characters==
===Imperials (Blood Ravens)===
* '''Chapter Master [[Gabriel Angelos]]:''' Returning with a ornate and badass looking set of Terminator Armor. Would be 100% badass if it weren't for the fact that he was capable of inexplicably jumping ([[C.S. Goto|and flipping!]]) several meters off the ground in said Terminator Armor (And the fact that he's no longer voiced by Paul Dobson *sob*). They try and explain this away by linking this ability to his hammer, but considering that Diomedes can do this too and we're not clear on how the hammer does it, it's still stupid. Spends most time battling with the other two factions to prevent them from obtaining the Spear of Khaine, as he suspects it may be corrupted. Some art has him standing at Primarch-grade height. He is loyal and thoughtful of his chapter to the point that he defended his new librarian buddy Jonah Orion from the [[Macha|jealous yandere-virgin]] as well as went against an inquisitor's order to try and give Diomedes last rites when the starfort Diomedes was on crashed into Acheron. Currently having a harem relationship with his librarian buddy Jonah Orion, Farseer Macha and Lady Solaria of the Varlock Imperial Knight house, probably Diomedes too.
* '''Chief Librarian [[Jonah Orion]]:''' Promoted to Chief Librarian after surviving the battle against the chaos corrupted Chapter Master [[Azariah Kyras]]. Now sports a goatee and wearing fancy new armor. Is currently having a bromance relationship with his Chapter Master.
* '''Chaplain [[Apollo Diomedes]]:'''' Returning as a Chaplain in terminator armor (sadly with a different vox box that actually makes him comprehensible). It was never explained why he became a Chaplain after his previous appearance. Must have felt so ashamed about serving a chaos tainted traitor so much that he couldn't bear the mantle of First Company Captain anymore. So now he's a Chaplain, sniffing out taint and making heretics...[[Asmodai|Repent]]. He is now loyal as ever to his chapter, so loyal that he nearly transforms into an [[Angry Marine]] after the stupid-made-manifest known as Inquisitor Damien Holt bombarded their Chapter Master Angelos. Most likely became a Chaplain because he was the one that took it as a job to cleanse the Chapter honor (by splitting the fucking head of his Chapter Master), and even saying at the end of the Retribution campaing that he cant serve the chapter as he was then.

===Eldar (Biel-Tan)===
* '''Farseer [[Macha]]:''' Returning for the first time since the original Dawn of War, and looking (almost) exactly as she's been depicted in /tg/ art for years (other than a fancy hair ornament and wearing more clothes than said average depictions). Ostensibly working for Lord Kyre to get the Spear of Khaine for him, but appears to be suspicious of his real motives for doing so. Is somewhat tsundere with Gabriel Angelos and still pissed about the whole Maledictum thing. (Ultimately they're both at fault. She didn't explain to him why he shouldn't do what he did, but that doesn't preclude him from ''asking'', something we know he's good at, and he says himself he should have listened to her.)

===Eldar (Ulthwe)===
* '''[[Ronahn]]:''' Also reappearing as the leader of a Ranger detachment and Kyre's spymaster, and only marginally less whiny than he was before. After losing Taldeer's soul stone on the way home to Kyre (which he is NOT happy about), he has been trying to recover his <s>waifu's</s> sister's soulstone and bring it back to Ulthwe, and so allies with Macha in a plan to undermine Kyre and get her soul stone back.
* '''[[Taldeer]]:''' Apparently Taldeer's soul stone ended up being salvaged during Retribution, as she reappears as a <s>Wraithseer</s> [[Wraithknight]] with a big fucking sword after said soul stone is taken by Kyre. One of her prophecies as recounted in the trailers seems to refer to the impending conflict over the Spear of Khaine.

===Orks (Bad Moons)===
* '''Warboss [[Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter]]:''' Returning during his absence after Soulstorm, Gorgutz is back with a bigger and badder power klaw (with a retractable chain, no less). He starts out in the service of another Warboss named Gitstompa, and apparently always planned to Sindri him (though the Eldar unwittingly turn him into the Warboss of the Bad Moons WAAAGH! after they kill Gitstompa, believing that killing him would scatter the Ork horde). He's racing against the other factions for the pointy-stick. At some point gets sort of tricked by Ronahn into fighting a heavily defended Eldar base defending the vaults entrance. Macha told him she wanted the other Eldar dead, and told them they were both trying to get the spear, but Ronahn "forgot" to mention the bit about their entrance being heavily defended, which somewhat makes Gorgutz a dumbass for actually trusting dem sneaky knife ears. In the end Gorgutz is ''technically'' the canon winner because he went away with his "pointy stikk" once the daemon was slain, though they did ''let'' him get away with it and the Spear itself was depowered due to the daemon no longer being inside of it. He’s voiced by Nathan Constance in one of the best 40K voiceover performances ever.

===Others===
* '''Brian Dobson:''' The only VA from the first and second series to return. He voices generic Space Marines, Orks and Eldar.

==New Characters==
===Imperials (Blood Ravens)===
* '''Captain Balthazar:''' A Captain of the Blood Ravens and serves as the mission briefer.

===Imperials (Others)===
* '''Lady Rebek Solaria:''' Head of House Varlock of Cyprus Ultima and pilot of the Imperial Knight, Drakaina. Drakaina is equipped with two avenger cannons that'll deal more damage when heated up. Becomes BFFs with Angelos after he saves Varlock Keep from Orks (against Inquisitor Holt's orders).
* '''Inquisitor Damien Holt:''' An Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos that seeks the wandering world, Acheron, for the Spear of Khaine. [[Chenkov|He plays the role of asshole cold blooded strategist that gives little regard to his allies like they were pawns in a chess game]] but without any actual strategy to speak of; apparently Relic decided that [[Mordecai Toth|Inquisitor Toth]] from the first Dawn of War and [[Inquisitor Adrastia]] from the second were too sane and reasonable for gamers to handle. The Imperial forces he's working with, Imperial Knights of House Varlock and The Blood Ravens, both hate his guts. The Varlock House hate him for abandoning them to a massive Ork invasion. The Blood Ravens, wary of his obsession with a Warp-tainted xenos artifact, despised the inquisitor for his willingness to waste their battle-brothers' lives for the Spear, which culminated in launching an orbital bombardment on their chapter master Gabriel Angelos to break into the Spear's complex. [[Rage|This made the Blood Ravens so mad]] that Diomedes, the Chaplain, was going to shove a BAAAANEBLADE up the inqisitor's arse only to be stopped by Jonah Orion, who reminds him that they can let the rest of the Inquisition do so later. No relation to [[Commissar Holt]].
* '''Deathwatch Kill-Team Ironmaw:''' They compose of a Dark Angel, a Blood Angel, a Crimson Fist, a [[Ultramarines|Smurf]] and are led by one of everyone's favourite [[Space Wolves|space vikings]]. In multiplayer, the Ultramarine is replaced by a space marine from the chapter you selected via army painter.

===Eldar (Biel-Tan)===
* '''Autarch Kyre:''' Leader of the Biel-Tan warhost and seeks to obtain the Spear of Khaine. The asshole that led even more Eldar to die in a pointless campaign for some legendary shiny (not to mention him ignoring the Soulstones of his fallen warriors instead of collecting them, which should tell just how asshole he is), and stole Taldeer's Soulstone for good measure (which Macha and Ronahn both note could very well lead to a war between their Craftworld should Ulthwe learn about it). He hired Ronahn as his spymaster only to be betrayed by him. He still got the spear in the end, after fighting Gorgutz for it and cheated using psyker power. Turns out the spear contained a greater daemon of khorne and was possessed by it, after the spear itself shattered as Kyre tried to strike Gorgutz with it... [[Castellan Crowe|which is just weird]], even for a plot device, because daemon weapons are empowered by the daemon's presence, not structurally weakened by it. So arrogant that even the other Eldar can't stand him.
* '''[[Jain Zar]]:''' Phoenix Lord (Lady?) of the Howling Banshees and the first of the Phoenix Lords to be featured in a video game adaptation (Granted, she's also in Eternal Crusade, but has yet to fully appear in that game). Has seen Acheron before and that Eldar have been fighting over the spear for millennia. None so far has succeeded in recovering it.

===Orks (Bad Moons)===
* '''Wazzmakka:''' Da most byotiful Big Mek dere is. He dont call her beauty for er' looks! Very fond of tellyportas.
* '''Zappnoggin:''' A Weirdboy who sounds surprisingly sane-ish for an ork whose head can explode at any time. Has rather un-orky ideas about not getting into fights that he can't win, which he says has let him live a long time (by Ork standards, anyway).

==Differences and New Things==
The game attempts to blend the best parts of the first two, featuring base building and massive armies alongside summonable elite units who can sway the course of battle. The game also features doctrines similar to those from [[/v/|Company of Heroes 2]]. Like in Company of Heroes 2, you may take up to three Doctrines, with some being connected to specific elite units. The Doctrines either unlock abilities for specific units or upgrade the existing abilities of others (like upgrading the Dreadnoughts to gain charge attacks and shields after executing slam attacks, giving Dire Avengers Holo-Fields, or giving Deffkoptas Buzzsaws). Relic's aim was to make their latest game the most accessible, including features such as a minimalistic UI, icons to represent effects like suppression, and easy-to-read descriptors for most abilities. It is the first Dawn of War game to only feature three factions at launch rather than four, though the included factions do have more units available at launch than they did in previous titles.

Another change is the new cast of voice actors (whom according to the developers comprise of VA's from their previous title [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]). This has been met with some amount of [[rage]] from fans, most notably those who wished for the return of Paul Dobson as Angelos.

Armies are now divided into standard soldiers (things like [[Tactical Squad|Tactical Marines]], [[Dire Avengers]], and [[Ork Boy|Boyz]] as well as vehicles) and elites (which includes the likes of named characters, [[Terminators]], and Imperial Knights). The former act like standard RTS units, performing most of the legwork as well as adding bulk to your army, while the latter are more powerful units with abilities that can change the tide of battle. <s>In both campaign and multiplayer, players collect said elites by farming skulls (no, we're not kidding. [[RAGE|all three factions are Khornate for some reason]])</s> Not anymore, skulls have been removed. Everyone has access to all Elites and doctrines from the get-go (save for those that are unlocked by leveling up elites). Elite units can level up based on how many enemies they killed during each game, though these level-ups don't improve them in any way, they just unlock exotic paints and new skins. Among them there are really powerful units that are showing up for the first time in the series (such as [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]], [[Wraithknight|Wraithknights]], and [[Gorkanaut|Gorkanauts]]). At the very least, the presence of troop units to back up the elites could mean that the rest of the Blood Ravens 4th Company might actually be getting off their asses and doing something this time around.

As mentioned previously, the campaign switches between [[Blood Ravens]], [[Orks]], and [[Eldar]] every mission. While the attempt to incorporate all three factions is appreciated, and it is marginally better than Retribution's approach, the constant switching between three vastly different playstyles can be very jarring.

Markedly absent is a sequel/expansion of Dawn of War II's [[Last Stand]] mode which, given that Last Stand was popular enough to become its own standalone spinoff product, is likely a deliberate omission. Thus far small fan interest exists in seeing Last Stand return.

==Pre-Release Reactions==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7JNTfrK3Yk 12 minute exclusive gameplay] released shortly after the trailer drew quite a lot of [[Skub|ire.]] With many complaining on the way it looks (having a cleaner, more colorful aesthetic in comparison to previous titles) with rumors that the team developing Dawn of War III was trying to piggyback [[Blizzard|Starcraft]] [[RAGE|of all games]] to the animation lacking the weight and grit of the previous Dawn of War games. Special mentions go to the fighting style animations of [[Gabriel Angelos|old Gabe]] [[What|whose sudden usage of backflips, frontflips and jumping like a 5 ton ballerina on crack]] [[Fail|despite wearing terminator armor]] [[RAGE|drew accusations that one of the lead creators of this game]] [[C.S. Goto|might be a small, black leprechaun with a fetish of Multilasers and backflipping Terminators.]] Hell, the goddamn Lascannons don't fire a [[Indrick Boreale|quick, charged, devastating single shot]] but instead its a [[lance|laser weapon that does more damage the longer it's trained on its target]].

Later interviews and bits of information released did little to ease the [[Skub|ire.]] Including the lead director confirming that sync-kills have been removed, Assault Marines being considered [[What|"light armor"]] units, the dynamic movement system introduced in II being removed, and fall back mechanics are also gone. At this point from a community standpoint, you were either absolutely behind these changes, or were watching something your were previously looking forward to turn into an absolute shitshow; with very little middle ground to be found. And it really doesn't help that their methods of explaining away some of the lore breaking shit seems to come directly from our [[C.S. Goto|good old friend]]. Notably they tried to explain the backflipping Terminator armor by saying that [[What|his hammer has a shard of an Avatar in it]]. This also happened to be an idea made by the Irish leper, and even if it was canon the developers never mentioned what this actually did to give Angelos the ability to backflip, making this move look like a hand-wave to shut the fans up.

Reactions to the beta did little to assuage the divide in the community. Some, like AngryJoe, thoroughly enjoyed it, while others, like TotalBiscuit, seemed to be completely turned off by it.

Voice Acting has taken a big change, with Relic opting to go for an all British cast (except for Brian Dobson) rather than using their stable of Ocean Group VAs from previous titles. The rationale behind this is that having British voice actors makes the game more authentic to 40K's British roots, and totally not because of the ongoing voice actors strike against major video game publishers in North America that Sega, and thus Relic, isn't affected by anyway.

==Post-Release==
{{editwar}}
After the game was released, the reception was [[Skub|mixed]] to say the least. Those who like the game say that the traditional "build and conquer" RTS campaign is a refreshing change for those who didn't like Dawn of War II's [[Diablo]]-style campaign, and while Paul Dobson is sorely missed, the rest of the voice cast isn't too bad. The Elites system is a natural progression from Dawn of War II, and the Ork's [[WAAAGH]]! mechanic is one of the best things ever put into a Dawn of War game. Additionally, they point out that while the power core mode is too simple, it does give a good introduction to the RTS genre for those who are brand new rather than just throwing them to the wolves like other games.

Those who don't like the game are of the opinion that Relic under Sega gutted what made Dawn of War popular in the first place and turned it into something uninspired and boring by comparison, as it simplified or stripped out many of the iconic elements of the series, such as sync-kills, the cover system and wargear. Many who liked the Dawn of War II campaign aren't fans of a more traditional RTS campaign, and some also feel that the races play too similarly aside from one or two gimmick mechanics. The game also has multiple lore inconsistencies, such as Eldar with shields and [[C.S. Goto|backflipping Terminators]], although to be fair, [[Dawn of War: Soulstorm|it isn't alone]] [[Azariah_Kyras|in this respect]]. Basically, [[Age of Sigmar|Relic significantly altered their popular product to attract a wider audience, and ended up alienating a large portion of their established fanbase. Besides that, the changes they made aren't attractive to a wider audience anyway.]] Heck, honestly, the game just looks boring. If you watch gameplay footage of Dawn of War and Dawn of War II, you really get sucked into it and time flies. If you watch gameplay footage of DoW III, you get bored in a minute or two, annoyed in five, and then leave and never want to see it again.

The decision to focus on simplification and balance in multiplayer was likely an intentional design choice considering the dev teams wanted Dawn of War to develop a competitive scene (seemingly ignoring the fact that people never really picked up Dawn of War for competitive multiplayer). However, unlike good competitive games like Starcraft, Counterstrike, and DOTA, Power Core mode did it in a very simplistic manner that made it feel like the "strategy" part of RTS had been all but sucked out.

Sales-wise, the game didn't do well in comparison to its predecessors. While the original [[Dawn of War]] has sold over 6 million copies since 2011 and the was heralded with critical acclaim upon release, and [[Dawn of War II]] took the #1 spot on western sales charts during its initial release; Dawn of War III didn't raise too much attention apart from standard fanfare, with a [[Skub|mixed response from the community]], and game critics saying it was good, but ultimately [[FAIL|flawed]]. According to [https://steamspy.com/app/285190 Steamspy's estimates], the game's digital sales barely broke a quarter million sales as of July 2017, which is not a good sign for a highly anticipated AAA game series.

[http://steamcharts.com/app/285190#All It didn't help that the playerbase declined sharply post-release], a clear sign that it just didn't make the impact people expected from the series. [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/1332350869595289198 While Relic seemed to be listening to the community's concerns,] the game was never able to recover from its downward spiral. This being said, they released mod tools, and a small but dedicated group of modders have been working on tweaking the game and adding new units.

Overall, the game is [[skub]] incarnate, being nearly unrecognizable in comparison to its predecessors. [[Nurgle|One side hates it for being too overly simple for a strategy game and deviating too far from the things that defined DoW from the beginning,]] [[Tzeentch|while another side likes it for trying something new and attempting to breathe some much-needed fresh air into the franchise.]]

[[File:DoW3 Annihilation.jpg|300px|right|thumb]]
===The Annihilation Update===
On June 13th 2017, [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/1332350869595289198 Relic announced the addition of Annihilation mode to the game], along with turrets, a new map, and skins for the super-heavies as Free-LC. On June 20th, [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2663165213085204247 the Annihilation Update dropped] and, it was actually pretty good. The removal of railroady objectives and the addition of a wide open map added a significant amount of depth to the game that was previously lacking, allowing players to take advantage of several mechanics that were previously hamstrung by power core mode. By this point however, too much of the player base had been alienated by power core mode and they weren't willing to come back and give the game another go, so the player count kept declining.

[[File:DoW3 Endless War.jpg|300px|right|thumb]]
===The Endless War Update===
On October 19th 2017, Relic released the [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2973925069475244397 Endless War Update], which added a bunch of additional content to the game. For starters, each faction has been given an additional Elites choice; the [[Dreadnought#Castraferrum_Pattern|Ironclad Dreadnought]] for Space Marines, the [[Wraithseer]] for Eldar, and the Lifta-Droppa Battlewagon for the Orks, which is basically a [[Awesome|Battlewagon armed with a massive Traktor Kannon]]. We also got three new maps, one themed for each faction, and some more Elites skins, including [[Deathwing]] Terminators, a [[Primaris Chaplain]], and [[Salamanders|Bray'arth Ashmantle]].

==The End Times Hath Come==
On February 8th 2018, [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-02-08-relic-leaves-dawn-of-war-3-behind-as-it-moves-on-to-new-projects Relic announced they were officially stepping away from Dawn of War III], citing low player counts as the chief reason.

While Dawn of War 3 has a dedicated player base, it didn't hit the targets we were expecting at launch, and it hasn't performed the way we had hoped since. It's been tough for us as professionals who want to make great games for our players, and for us as people who care a lot about what we do. When a game underperforms, plans need to change. With Dawn of War 3, we simply don't have the foundation we need to produce major content. We're working in close partnership with Sega and Games Workshop to determine the best course of action, while shifting focus to other projects within our portfolio.

Given this, the [https://community.dawnofwar.com/discussion/15957/patch-upload-as-of-05-feb-2018 February 8th patch] was likely just Relic releasing whatever work they'd finished on the proposed expansion and fixing a couple remaining bugs before bidding the game farewell. With Relic now focusing primarily on Age of Empires IV, Dawn of War III has potentially become a Franchise Killer, though Relic and Sega are apparently in talks with [[Games Workshop|GW]], so time will tell. It should be noted that while Relic has no plans to produce major content, they are still patching and maintaining the game as well as putting out occasional Free-LC skins.

===What went wrong?===

Dawn of War III suffered pretty terribly from Relic basically having lost all the staff who made the original two dawn of war games in the intervening years and had to be replaced by a bunch of people less familiar with the genre or the expectations of the series. Like a lot of companies, the focus on the brand name obscures the fact that few people actually remain with a company over a long period of time, especially when Relic transferred over to Sega after THQ bit the dust and a lot of Relic's former talent left the studio with the collapse of their former publisher. This more than anything, hit the development cycle of Dawn of War III pretty hard, as well as a confused set of developmental priorities and the loss of the people who gave the previous two games their strong art direction, leading to a much less eye-catching aesthetic. While not an Aliens: Colonial Marines scale disaster in terms of development cycle, Dawn of War III was in many ways hamstrung before it ever left the gate.

There were clearly a lot of interesting and good ideas, there was the potential for a great traditional base-building RTS game to revive a genre many publishers regard as no longer worth major investment into. It's just that the execution was left in the less than capable hands given a Brand they weren't ready to bear the burden of. Dawn of War III's failure hurts not because it's irredeemably bad but because beneath all the many, horrible flaws is a lot of wasted or unrealised potential for something that could have been as good or better than its predecessors. All it needed was that same strong sense of direction they did rather than being a confused mess thrown together by a relatively inexperienced team under corporate mandate to get ''something'' out for early 2017 on the PC market while the golden child of Creative Assembly was still putting Total War: Warhammer II together.

===Dawn of War III Is Dead! Long Live Dawn of War III!===
After Relic announced they were stepping away from the game, a small community of fans and modders tried rallying together in an attempt to resurrect Dawn of War III through Twitch streams, community game nights, and new mods. The goal was to generate enough interest to get Relic to return to the game, or at least release more mod tools so the fans could pick up where they left off. Although Dawn of War III remains a mostly-dead game, there's still a dedicated [https://discord.gg/qtJYAd Dawn of War III Discord server] which hosts regular community game nights. If you still want to play online, this is the best way to do it.

== See Also ==
* [https://www.dawnofwar.com/ The Official Dawn of War site]
* [http://store.steampowered.com/app/285190/Warhammer_40000_Dawn_of_War_III/ Dawn of War III on Steam]
* [http://modding.dawnofwar.com/ Want to make a mod for the game? Start here.]
* [[Dawn of War Mods#Dawn of War III Modding|The list of /tg/-approved mods]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24U2fT8iOowRbzBHsulCAizV The game's soundtrack, which also includes a clean version of the trailer theme]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6lUjVLPU04 WAAAAAAAAAGHH!!]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfEp-ZuwiGE&t Totalbiscuit's review of the game, which highlights a number of problems from the perspective of someone who enjoyed the previous two titles.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OCWQelkjBg ZoranTheBear and ThunderPsyker's overview of the game, offering the opinions of a newcomer to the franchise and a veteran, respectively]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDTt_GOdyY Adam Millard's analysis of why the game failed. He does an excellent job discussing the issues of Dawn of War III while remaining fairly neutral and analytical.]
* [https://steamdb.info/app/285190/graphs/ Here are the game sales stats]
* [https://discord.gg/qtJYAd The Dawn of War III Discord Server]

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Don'tWorryDieHappy.gif|Don't Worry, Die Happy
Image:DoW3 Menu.jpg|The Main Menu, which shows the elites and paint scheme you currently have equipped.
Image:DoW3 Army Painter.jpg|The Army Painter
Image:DoW3 Elites Menu.jpg|The Elites Menu
Image:This has been dark work.PNG|[https://youtu.be/CjnvZtYl2fA?t=20s One fan's reaction] [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2316393822047631108 to the announcement of incoming modding tools]
Image:PrimarisAngelos.png|The [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|REAL reason]] for Gabriel Angelos' [[Primaris Marines|changes]] (the Godsplitter bullshit is just what they tell other loyalists who [[Inquisition|get too nosy]])
File:RetributionGabriel.JPG | Gabriel's Cut Original Model found Within Dawn of War III World Builder.
File:StandardofKaurava.JPG | Wargear Found in Dawn of War II Chaos Rising showing that relic did indeed plan for Gorgutz to win Soulstorm.
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Video Games]][[Category:Dawn of War]]

Dawn of War III

2021-12-04T21:19:40Z

2601:449:8280:2630:2999:DDAE:C238:12CD: /* Orks (Bad Moons) */

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''"In darkness'', ''I shall be light''<br>
''In times of doubt'', ''I shall keep faith''<br>
''In throes of rage'', ''I shall hone my craft''<br>
''In vengeance'', ''I shall have no mercy''<br>
''In the midst of battle'', ''I shall have no fear''<br>
''In the face of death'', ''I shall have no remorse"''<br>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ZgyNoHtjw| The voice in the trailer.]

''" Wot matterz to yoo lot, iz deez gitz givvus a good fight for me, an’ wot matterz to me is; I WANT DAT STICK!!!"'' - Gorgutz

[[File:DoWIII.jpg|thumbnail|right|500px|Skulls for the skull throne!]]
Announced on 3rd of May 2016 and released on April 27nd 2017, '''''Dawn of War III''''' is the third entry in the Dawn of War series.

The game features [[Space Marines]], [[Orks]], and [[Eldar]], along with [[Imperial Guard]] as an NPC race allied with Space Marines and [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]] as playable allied units to the Space Marines. The campaign features all three factions, rotating which faction you're playing every mission [[Dawn of War II#Retribution|rather than having every faction play the same shortened campaign]]. The story features [[Gabriel Angelos]] (sadly with a different voice actor), [[Macha]], and [[Gorgutz]] as they all race to an ancient planet called Acheron which emerges from the warp every couple thousand years and holds an artifact called the Spear of [[Khaine]].

==Plot==
{{spoilers}}
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Coming back with a new look and much closer to the first game while having elements from the second, the third installment sees the return of some of the more popular characters. Among them [[Gabriel Angelos]], [[Farseer Macha]] and [[Warboss Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter]] will battle for the planet of Acheron for a powerful weapon known as the Spear of Khaine. Whilst the Eldar and Orks seek to obtain it for its tremendous power, Gabriel seeks to prevent anyone from using it, as it apparently reeks of deceit. More of the plot can be read below.

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
===Part 1: Verlock Keep and Cyprus Ultima===
Long story short, it begins on the Knight World of Cyprus Ultima being overrun by [[Orks]] led by [[Warboss]] Gitsompa with Varlock Keep being on its last toes against the green tide. [[Heresy|For some reason,]] Inquisitor Holt has prevented further reinforcements from assisting the local Knight house from being overwhelmed. Thankfully for Lady Solaria (The Matriarch of Verlock Keep), <s>Captain</s> [[Chapter Master]] [[Gabriel Angelos]] of the [[Blood Ravens]] ignored the [[Inquisitor|Inquisitor's]] decree and came to assist Lady Solaria's forces. During the fighting, Warboss [[Gorgutz]] led a counter attack to prove that he is the better overall leader then Gitstompa. Unfortunately the [[Eldar]] led by [[Autarch]] Kyre, came on Cyprus to mess everything up which forced Gorgutz to think of some [[Tactical genius|Tactical Genius]] which involves building a giant cannon, sabotage and [[Sindri|Sindri'ing Warboss Gitstompa]] so that Gorgutz would become defacto leader. Meanwhile, the breach in the decree led to Inquisitor Holt feeling all [[Butthurt|butthurt]] about this and tasked Ol'Gabe to defend Starfort Helios which has been overrun by Orks now led by Gorgutz. Both Holt and Gabe talked about the reason behind the starforts, in which they were designed as a barricade against the legendary planet Acheron which houses the legendary 'Spear of [[Khaine]]' in which Holt took great interests in attaining it for himself. As you can imagine, Gabe was quite suspicious over the Inquisitor's ambition and was even more suspicious over the Spear of Khaine whose intuition led Gabe to suspect of it as a [[Chaos|Chaotic corruption]] (Oh, how right he was).

On the other hand of the spectrum, [[Farseer]] [[Macha]] led an Eldar warhost to aid Kyre who he himself is also after the Spear of Khaine. However, Macha is suspicious about Kyre's prophecy as it did not add up to Macha's own divination on what lies beyond Acheron. Macha was tasked by Kyre to kill Gabriel Angelos as he sees the Chapter Master as an obstacle to Kyre's own ambition, however Macha's relationship with Gabriel stretched all the way back [[Tartarus]]. Before she could accomplish this, [[Jonah Orion]] stood in Macha's way. Macha promptly kicked Jonah's ass and threaten to kill him if he did not tell her where <s>Macha's husbando</s> Gabriel Angelos is. However, being the shining beacon of bromance that is Gabe, the Chapter Master came to Macha's location to prevent her from killing his [[Gay|<s>boyfriend</s>]] most trusted [[Librarian]] butt budy. Macha attempted to throw her singing spear, Gabriel remembered that he was wearing terminator armour and singing spears are AP- and so managed to catch the damned weapon with his hands. Macha blasted him with Psychic shenanigans, took a thunder hammer to the face and either passed her Invuln save or benefited from the Eternal Warrior rule. Before they could end their little 'reunion' however, the planet Acheron arrived on the Cyprus system and shattered Starfort Helios, reigning space debris on where they fought (Seriously, Acheron is ECKS BAWKS HUEG, like Gas Giant size). Macha escaped whilst Gabe was left horrified over the fate of [[Chaplain]] [[Apollo Diomedes]] as it was Gabriel who ordered Diomedes to assist the resistance on Helios.

Meanwhile, Gorgutz promptly [[PROMOTIONS|jizzed himself]] with all the loot being crash landed around him due to Helios' demise. Unfortunately, other gitz such as [[Weirdboy]] Zappnoggin and [[Big Mek]] Wazzmakka are fighting over the loot. After Gorgutz promptly bash their heads in and forced them to comply under his leadership, Gorgutz then led on a joyride to Starfort Charon so he could find out what the hell is going on in Acheron. Apparently ''how'' he managed to get onto the Starfort without getting shot down isn't worth worrying about (seriously, he's just there and hopping off a crashed craft without any further explanation). After blowing up the defenses of Charon with nothing more than a bunch of [[Gretchin]] with explosive grenades (seriously, you would think that the defenses of an Imperial Starfort would be a bit more secure), Gorgutz then used the opportunity of the disabled Starfort to land on Acheron without the worry of being blown up. On the other hand, Macha met with [[Ronahn]] to discuss on the potential craziness that is Kyre. Apparently, the reason why Ronahn was here and acting as a secret spy for Kyre was because Kyre [[Derp|somehow got his hands on]] [[Taldeer|Taldeer's]] soulstone due to some altercation with Ronahn. Apparently, Kyre is using Taldeer's prophecy as not only as to stroke Kyre's fragile ego but to also keep his legitimacy stable. Despite the fact that using another [[Craftworld|Craftworld's]] soulstone for nefarious purposes, especially one from [[Ulthwé]] should be enough to send half of the Craftworld's forces to shank Kyre's ass for [[Heresy]], this did not come to pass. After some discussions, Macha, Ronahn and [[Jain Zar]] (Who came to Macha's assistance to stop Kyre's foolish action that would further weakened the Biel-Tan craftworld) all agreed that Kyre's prophecy is nothing more than a steaming pile of [[Bullshit]] and will lead their people to ruin. Unfortunately Jain Zar didn't just tell everyone to stop follow Kyre because she didn't feel like it (yes seriously, she'd rather kill Eldar than that and there's a weak explanation on her trying to get Macha to realize her potential through the conflict) which would have ended the conflict immediately and stopped Eldar from killing each other. So Macha and Ronahn devise a plan to distract Kyre's forces with the aid of Gorgutz so they could sneak around and steal back Taldeer's soulstone instead. Macha and Ronahn also managed to convince Gorgutz to aid them by essentially waving the Spear of Khaine all over Gorgutz like he is some sort of attack dog. So with Gorgutz now in the race to get his 'Super Pointy Stikk', Dawn of War 3 has essentially turned into a Monty Python sketch with all three races bonking each other's heads so they can leap frog each other to get to the Spear first.

===Part 2: Acheron===
On the other side of the theater, Gabe discussed with Captain Balthazar on board the Blood Raven's [[Battlebarge]] to retrieve Diomedes' [[Gene Seed|Gene Seed]] for he fears that he is dead. However, Inquisitor Holt being a shady motherfucking dick, threatened Gabriel not to go to the remains of Helios or else he would shoot Gabe's aircraft out of the sky. This understandably twisted Gabe's nipples to no end and secretly arranged Balthazar to [[Just as Planned|teleport]] Gabe on the remains of Starfort Helios. They agreed and Gabe was transported on the destroyed Starfort. What he saw disturbed Gabe as the remains of both the Starfort and its crew members was [[Grimdark|fused with the structures of Acheron]]. Fearing for the worst, Gabriel along with a group of [[Terminator|Terminators]] proceed to cleanse the area of both Orks and Eldar with sufficient [[Dakka]]. Once Gabriel found where Diomedes is located, to everyone's surprise, Apollo Diomedes has indeed survived due to [[Plot Armor|rolling a 1 on his To Wound/Destroyer roll and escaping unscathed]] (or maybe he just passed every Armour/Invuln save, he was wearing termie armour). After hearing the Inquisitor's actions, Diomedes was understandably [[Rage|pissed as fuck.]] Inquisitor Holt himself was displeased, but more pressing matters was at hand due to everyone wanting to get the Spear of Khaine.

On Acheron, Farseer Macha and her posse sneaked to where Taldeer is resting and proceed to [[Blood Ravens|'borrow it']] for their own uses. However, they were caught and were forced to flee, fortunately they completed their task and Kyre sighed in disappointment. Near the vault shielding the Spear of Khaine, Gabe and friends fought their way to destroy the Eldar. However, Inquisitor Holt decided that if a bunch of enemies are gathered in one spot, you might as well just nuke them and requested an orbital bombardment on the vault. Unfortunately it turns out shooting a door has a chance of blowing it open, which certainly happened and that was near where Gabriel's forces were (though he did at least warn Gabe with more than enough time for the Blood Ravens to flee), so Gabe ordered his brothers to flee and while remaining behind because he knew it would look really cool for the trailer. Apollo Diomedes and even Jonah Orion [[Rage|flipped their shit on the Inquisitor]], with Diomedes swearing he [[RIP AND TEAR|wants to rip Holt's head off and shit down his neck]] and Jonah calling Holt a fucking retard for even requesting orbital bombardment. Holt, feeling the heat of a chapter of pissed off [[Space Marines]] went and plead with Lady Solaria. [[Awesome|Solaria then laid down the sickest burn in the game, calling out Holt's cowardice in not only letting Solaria's house to die by the Ork invasion but also firing orbital bombardment near the position of Gabriel Angelos, she further states that no one would fear the incompetence and idiocy of a 'disgraced Inquisitor' threatening Holt that his ass is grass once she tells Holt's superiors on what he has done.]] Holt later put an ice pack on that burn and cried himself to sleep, but before he did, he told Solaria that Gabe may still be alive and what do you know, Gabriel ''IS'' alive since he watched the bombardment from a distance while taking advantage of that Iron Halo/Cataphractii Terminator re-roll bullshit. Gorgutz was also practically under the blast and he survives due to... [[Plot Armor|he just does.]]

Inside the vault on the true surface of Acheron, Autarch Kyre used Macha's supporters as leverage to draw her out and force her to comply to his will. Unfortunately for him, they were standing on an icy prison keeping a FUCK HUEG [[Greater Daemon]] of [[Khorne]] from escaping (yes, it is yet ''another'' reveal that [[Chaos]] is the ultimate big bad, [[Skub|Que more moaning and bitching that the plot is uninspired)]] and Macha rightly concluded that fighting would only wake it and that something was wrong with the spear. Naturally Kyre didn't listen and after an intense firefight of elf-on-elf violence, Macha then pleaded to Ronahn to let Taldeer's soulstone to be interned in a motherfucking [[Wraithknight]]. Ronahn as you can imagine, hesitated cause he is a good and dutiful brother and would never put his sister into harms way again; the situation however, was dire, thus Ronahn relented and became the co-driver with his sister. During the infighting, Kyre knew he was distracted and continued his campaign to retrieve the Spear. However, bad luck follows Kyre everywhere, and is forced to butt heads with Gorgutz army. These two both battled each other before Kyre won, grabbed the Spear of Khaine and attempt to slay Gorgutz. His plans were slightly hindered when a part of the blade broke and he was liquefied, as it turns out that the Spear was a [[Trap]] designed to spill the blood of the ambitious and greedy and to act as a blood ritual to release the daemon from its prison. Kyre did the 'Oh Shit!' look before ending up like [[Sindri Myr]] as daemon chow.

===Part 3: Tartarus 2, Electric Boogaloo===
With the daemon released, everyone promptly shat bricks. Macha and Taldeer then did a quick divination and found out that the only way to victory is get all three races to unite and spank the daemon to oblivion. Macha, somehow managed to convince Gorgutz to join her cause despite being backstabbed by Ronahn (Or as Gorgutz would like to call him, Ronny) whilst Gabriel has a....somewhat [[Love Can Bloom|intimate chat]] before he himself joined her cause. Unfortunately for Gabe, part of the ritual needed to defeat the daemon was [[Exterminatus|to blow up Acheron]]....[[Herp|with his own Battlebarge.]] Captain Balthazar overheard this and eagerly accepted his fate before [[Angry Marines|pile driving a seemingly fully loaded Battlebarge into the planet's crust]] in a spectacular display of [[Warhammer 40,000 8th edition|needless sacrifice'''s''']].

Seriously, how many Blood Ravens were on the ship? Anyway, the ship blew up the mantle and hurtled the shrine housing the Spear of Khaine into orbit. You would think that the Battlebarge would have just [[Derp|fired its weapons or even have a Cyclonic Torpedo ready,]] but it seems the Imperium has a knack for [[World Engine|wasting expensive ships by]] [[First Tyrannic War|blowing itself up for myriad of reasons.]] On the other hand, Angelos and Balthazar did mention how the Daemon was shielding Acheron and how it took a trio of listening posts to guide the Battlebarge down to the surface; nevertheless, it still is retarded, because the Inquisition normally issues [[Exterminatus]] device approved for [[Chapter Master (game)|Space Marines]] to use by placing it directly on a planet's surface, or use [[Gabriel Angelos|Nemesis weaponry]] to [[Grey Knight|bannish the daemon]] [[Matt Ward|regardless of]] [[Spiritual Liege|his Wounds stats]]; and while it is possible that the Blood Ravens having [[Celestial Lions|bad relationships with the Inquisitor]] would have prevent them from getting one, they didn't even bother to ask and instead killed dozens or hundreds of battle-brothers wile wasting ressources the Blood Ravens can't afford to lose, proving therefore that the staff [[Games Workshop|didn't even know about it]].

All three heroes were teleported onto the shrine (It would be safe to assume that all named elite heroes survived Acheron's destruction) by Macha's help to face the daemon. As explained, the previously seen ECKS BAWKS HUEG daemon the size of a Imperial Cruiser has now shrunk in size to be the same height as any old regular Greater Daemon. In a hilariously bizarre and completely un-Khornate way, the daemon AKA the Storm Prince, [[Wat|spends more time healing itself by literally drinking a fountain of]] [[Lulz|daemon kool-aid]]...[[FAIL|we wish we were joking.]] That and the fact that the daemon used [[Tzeentch|trickery of all things]] to set itself free (Spear of Khaine fiasco, daemonic doppelgangers, etc)...one must wonder how [[Khorne]] might have felt after learning that this jackass along with [[Firaeveus Carron|another failure]] continue to became such staunched followers of the Blood God. During the fight, Gabriel in a completely uncharacteristic way, acknowledged ignoring Macha's warnings back on Tartarus was a mistake which resulted in the devastation of the Blood Ravens in [[Dawn of War 2]], in which Macha in turn, uncharacteristically accepted it; but come on now, we all remember that her warnings were fully aimed at protecting the plot, not making things clear for the Blood Ravens & the Inquisitor on what they ought to do. After kicking the daemon to death, all three heroes departed to go their separate ways with Gorgutz finally getting his 'Super Pointy Stikk'/Spear of Khaine. [[What|Again, this is bizarrely uncharacteristic for all of them as we usually see an Eldar ending up backstabbing the Orks and Space Marines into muderfucking each other instead of simply...you know...keeping their promises. Maybe they decided to wait until their armies could rebuild?]]

Anyway, with the mission done, it is safe to assume that Inquisitor Holt is going to have his [[Anal Circumference|anus enlarged by fifteen meters]] over the shit he has done to Gabe and friends.

All in all, the last few missions was vaguely similar to the plot of the original [[Dawn of War]]. As both games ends with a cataclysmic fight against an agent of [[Chaos]] being freed from a millennia long prison that is disguised as an object of immense power, in which a gullible pawn thinks he can take it for his own benefit, only to be used as a sacrifice to free the daemon in a blood ritual. Both artifacts are seen by Gabriel Angelos to be malicious and needs to be destroyed with Macha warning Gabe about the true nature of both artifacts. The only difference is that Gabe actually listened to Macha for once on Acheron, thus making the ending of Dawn of War 3 more [[Noblebright]] than the original Dawn of War.

Oh yeah, the secret after credits ending depicts none other then the return of the [[Necrons]]. Which would probably be more impressive if the story hadn't pretty much stopped there with no sign of continuing.
</div></div>

==Returning Characters==
===Imperials (Blood Ravens)===
* '''Chapter Master [[Gabriel Angelos]]:''' Returning with a ornate and badass looking set of Terminator Armor. Would be 100% badass if it weren't for the fact that he was capable of inexplicably jumping ([[C.S. Goto|and flipping!]]) several meters off the ground in said Terminator Armor (And the fact that he's no longer voiced by Paul Dobson *sob*). They try and explain this away by linking this ability to his hammer, but considering that Diomedes can do this too and we're not clear on how the hammer does it, it's still stupid. Spends most time battling with the other two factions to prevent them from obtaining the Spear of Khaine, as he suspects it may be corrupted. Some art has him standing at Primarch-grade height. He is loyal and thoughtful of his chapter to the point that he defended his new librarian buddy Jonah Orion from the [[Macha|jealous yandere-virgin]] as well as went against an inquisitor's order to try and give Diomedes last rites when the starfort Diomedes was on crashed into Acheron. Currently having a harem relationship with his librarian buddy Jonah Orion, Farseer Macha and Lady Solaria of the Varlock Imperial Knight house, probably Diomedes too.
* '''Chief Librarian [[Jonah Orion]]:''' Promoted to Chief Librarian after surviving the battle against the chaos corrupted Chapter Master [[Azariah Kyras]]. Now sports a goatee and wearing fancy new armor. Is currently having a bromance relationship with his Chapter Master.
* '''Chaplain [[Apollo Diomedes]]:'''' Returning as a Chaplain in terminator armor (sadly with a different vox box that actually makes him comprehensible). It was never explained why he became a Chaplain after his previous appearance. Must have felt so ashamed about serving a chaos tainted traitor so much that he couldn't bear the mantle of First Company Captain anymore. So now he's a Chaplain, sniffing out taint and making heretics...[[Asmodai|Repent]]. He is now loyal as ever to his chapter, so loyal that he nearly transforms into an [[Angry Marine]] after the stupid-made-manifest known as Inquisitor Damien Holt bombarded their Chapter Master Angelos. Most likely became a Chaplain because he was the one that took it as a job to cleanse the Chapter honor (by splitting the fucking head of his Chapter Master), and even saying at the end of the Retribution campaing that he cant serve the chapter as he was then.

===Eldar (Biel-Tan)===
* '''Farseer [[Macha]]:''' Returning for the first time since the original Dawn of War, and looking (almost) exactly as she's been depicted in /tg/ art for years (other than a fancy hair ornament and wearing more clothes than said average depictions). Ostensibly working for Lord Kyre to get the Spear of Khaine for him, but appears to be suspicious of his real motives for doing so. Is somewhat tsundere with Gabriel Angelos and still pissed about the whole Maledictum thing. (Ultimately they're both at fault. She didn't explain to him why he shouldn't do what he did, but that doesn't preclude him from ''asking'', something we know he's good at, and he says himself he should have listened to her.)

===Eldar (Ulthwe)===
* '''[[Ronahn]]:''' Also reappearing as the leader of a Ranger detachment and Kyre's spymaster, and only marginally less whiny than he was before. After losing Taldeer's soul stone on the way home to Kyre (which he is NOT happy about), he has been trying to recover his <s>waifu's</s> sister's soulstone and bring it back to Ulthwe, and so allies with Macha in a plan to undermine Kyre and get her soul stone back.
* '''[[Taldeer]]:''' Apparently Taldeer's soul stone ended up being salvaged during Retribution, as she reappears as a <s>Wraithseer</s> [[Wraithknight]] with a big fucking sword after said soul stone is taken by Kyre. One of her prophecies as recounted in the trailers seems to refer to the impending conflict over the Spear of Khaine.

===Orks (Bad Moons)===
* '''Warboss [[Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter]]:''' Returning during his absence after Soulstorm, Gorgutz is back with a bigger and badder power klaw (with a retractable chain, no less). He starts out in the service of another Warboss named Gitstompa, and apparently always planned to Sindri him (though the Eldar unwittingly turn him into the Warboss of the Bad Moons WAAAGH! after they kill Gitstompa, believing that killing him would scatter the Ork horde). He's racing against the other factions for the pointy-stick. At some point gets sort of tricked by Ronahn into fighting a heavily defended Eldar base defending the vaults entrance. Macha told him she wanted the other Eldar dead, and told them they were both trying to get the spear, but Ronahn "forgot" to mention the bit about their entrance being heavily defended, which somewhat makes Gorgutz a dumbass for actually trusting dem sneaky knife ears. In the end Gorgutz is ''technically'' the canon winner because he went away with his "pointy stikk" once the daemon was slain, though they did ''let'' him get away with it and the Spear itself was depowered due to the daemon no longer being inside of it.
He’s voiced by Nathan Constance in one of the best 40K voiceover performances ever.

===Others===
* '''Brian Dobson:''' The only VA from the first and second series to return. He voices generic Space Marines, Orks and Eldar.

==New Characters==
===Imperials (Blood Ravens)===
* '''Captain Balthazar:''' A Captain of the Blood Ravens and serves as the mission briefer.

===Imperials (Others)===
* '''Lady Rebek Solaria:''' Head of House Varlock of Cyprus Ultima and pilot of the Imperial Knight, Drakaina. Drakaina is equipped with two avenger cannons that'll deal more damage when heated up. Becomes BFFs with Angelos after he saves Varlock Keep from Orks (against Inquisitor Holt's orders).
* '''Inquisitor Damien Holt:''' An Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos that seeks the wandering world, Acheron, for the Spear of Khaine. [[Chenkov|He plays the role of asshole cold blooded strategist that gives little regard to his allies like they were pawns in a chess game]] but without any actual strategy to speak of; apparently Relic decided that [[Mordecai Toth|Inquisitor Toth]] from the first Dawn of War and [[Inquisitor Adrastia]] from the second were too sane and reasonable for gamers to handle. The Imperial forces he's working with, Imperial Knights of House Varlock and The Blood Ravens, both hate his guts. The Varlock House hate him for abandoning them to a massive Ork invasion. The Blood Ravens, wary of his obsession with a Warp-tainted xenos artifact, despised the inquisitor for his willingness to waste their battle-brothers' lives for the Spear, which culminated in launching an orbital bombardment on their chapter master Gabriel Angelos to break into the Spear's complex. [[Rage|This made the Blood Ravens so mad]] that Diomedes, the Chaplain, was going to shove a BAAAANEBLADE up the inqisitor's arse only to be stopped by Jonah Orion, who reminds him that they can let the rest of the Inquisition do so later. No relation to [[Commissar Holt]].
* '''Deathwatch Kill-Team Ironmaw:''' They compose of a Dark Angel, a Blood Angel, a Crimson Fist, a [[Ultramarines|Smurf]] and are led by one of everyone's favourite [[Space Wolves|space vikings]]. In multiplayer, the Ultramarine is replaced by a space marine from the chapter you selected via army painter.

===Eldar (Biel-Tan)===
* '''Autarch Kyre:''' Leader of the Biel-Tan warhost and seeks to obtain the Spear of Khaine. The asshole that led even more Eldar to die in a pointless campaign for some legendary shiny (not to mention him ignoring the Soulstones of his fallen warriors instead of collecting them, which should tell just how asshole he is), and stole Taldeer's Soulstone for good measure (which Macha and Ronahn both note could very well lead to a war between their Craftworld should Ulthwe learn about it). He hired Ronahn as his spymaster only to be betrayed by him. He still got the spear in the end, after fighting Gorgutz for it and cheated using psyker power. Turns out the spear contained a greater daemon of khorne and was possessed by it, after the spear itself shattered as Kyre tried to strike Gorgutz with it... [[Castellan Crowe|which is just weird]], even for a plot device, because daemon weapons are empowered by the daemon's presence, not structurally weakened by it. So arrogant that even the other Eldar can't stand him.
* '''[[Jain Zar]]:''' Phoenix Lord (Lady?) of the Howling Banshees and the first of the Phoenix Lords to be featured in a video game adaptation (Granted, she's also in Eternal Crusade, but has yet to fully appear in that game). Has seen Acheron before and that Eldar have been fighting over the spear for millennia. None so far has succeeded in recovering it.

===Orks (Bad Moons)===
* '''Wazzmakka:''' Da most byotiful Big Mek dere is. He dont call her beauty for er' looks! Very fond of tellyportas.
* '''Zappnoggin:''' A Weirdboy who sounds surprisingly sane-ish for an ork whose head can explode at any time. Has rather un-orky ideas about not getting into fights that he can't win, which he says has let him live a long time (by Ork standards, anyway).

==Differences and New Things==
The game attempts to blend the best parts of the first two, featuring base building and massive armies alongside summonable elite units who can sway the course of battle. The game also features doctrines similar to those from [[/v/|Company of Heroes 2]]. Like in Company of Heroes 2, you may take up to three Doctrines, with some being connected to specific elite units. The Doctrines either unlock abilities for specific units or upgrade the existing abilities of others (like upgrading the Dreadnoughts to gain charge attacks and shields after executing slam attacks, giving Dire Avengers Holo-Fields, or giving Deffkoptas Buzzsaws). Relic's aim was to make their latest game the most accessible, including features such as a minimalistic UI, icons to represent effects like suppression, and easy-to-read descriptors for most abilities. It is the first Dawn of War game to only feature three factions at launch rather than four, though the included factions do have more units available at launch than they did in previous titles.

Another change is the new cast of voice actors (whom according to the developers comprise of VA's from their previous title [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]). This has been met with some amount of [[rage]] from fans, most notably those who wished for the return of Paul Dobson as Angelos.

Armies are now divided into standard soldiers (things like [[Tactical Squad|Tactical Marines]], [[Dire Avengers]], and [[Ork Boy|Boyz]] as well as vehicles) and elites (which includes the likes of named characters, [[Terminators]], and Imperial Knights). The former act like standard RTS units, performing most of the legwork as well as adding bulk to your army, while the latter are more powerful units with abilities that can change the tide of battle. <s>In both campaign and multiplayer, players collect said elites by farming skulls (no, we're not kidding. [[RAGE|all three factions are Khornate for some reason]])</s> Not anymore, skulls have been removed. Everyone has access to all Elites and doctrines from the get-go (save for those that are unlocked by leveling up elites). Elite units can level up based on how many enemies they killed during each game, though these level-ups don't improve them in any way, they just unlock exotic paints and new skins. Among them there are really powerful units that are showing up for the first time in the series (such as [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]], [[Wraithknight|Wraithknights]], and [[Gorkanaut|Gorkanauts]]). At the very least, the presence of troop units to back up the elites could mean that the rest of the Blood Ravens 4th Company might actually be getting off their asses and doing something this time around.

As mentioned previously, the campaign switches between [[Blood Ravens]], [[Orks]], and [[Eldar]] every mission. While the attempt to incorporate all three factions is appreciated, and it is marginally better than Retribution's approach, the constant switching between three vastly different playstyles can be very jarring.

Markedly absent is a sequel/expansion of Dawn of War II's [[Last Stand]] mode which, given that Last Stand was popular enough to become its own standalone spinoff product, is likely a deliberate omission. Thus far small fan interest exists in seeing Last Stand return.

==Pre-Release Reactions==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7JNTfrK3Yk 12 minute exclusive gameplay] released shortly after the trailer drew quite a lot of [[Skub|ire.]] With many complaining on the way it looks (having a cleaner, more colorful aesthetic in comparison to previous titles) with rumors that the team developing Dawn of War III was trying to piggyback [[Blizzard|Starcraft]] [[RAGE|of all games]] to the animation lacking the weight and grit of the previous Dawn of War games. Special mentions go to the fighting style animations of [[Gabriel Angelos|old Gabe]] [[What|whose sudden usage of backflips, frontflips and jumping like a 5 ton ballerina on crack]] [[Fail|despite wearing terminator armor]] [[RAGE|drew accusations that one of the lead creators of this game]] [[C.S. Goto|might be a small, black leprechaun with a fetish of Multilasers and backflipping Terminators.]] Hell, the goddamn Lascannons don't fire a [[Indrick Boreale|quick, charged, devastating single shot]] but instead its a [[lance|laser weapon that does more damage the longer it's trained on its target]].

Later interviews and bits of information released did little to ease the [[Skub|ire.]] Including the lead director confirming that sync-kills have been removed, Assault Marines being considered [[What|"light armor"]] units, the dynamic movement system introduced in II being removed, and fall back mechanics are also gone. At this point from a community standpoint, you were either absolutely behind these changes, or were watching something your were previously looking forward to turn into an absolute shitshow; with very little middle ground to be found. And it really doesn't help that their methods of explaining away some of the lore breaking shit seems to come directly from our [[C.S. Goto|good old friend]]. Notably they tried to explain the backflipping Terminator armor by saying that [[What|his hammer has a shard of an Avatar in it]]. This also happened to be an idea made by the Irish leper, and even if it was canon the developers never mentioned what this actually did to give Angelos the ability to backflip, making this move look like a hand-wave to shut the fans up.

Reactions to the beta did little to assuage the divide in the community. Some, like AngryJoe, thoroughly enjoyed it, while others, like TotalBiscuit, seemed to be completely turned off by it.

Voice Acting has taken a big change, with Relic opting to go for an all British cast (except for Brian Dobson) rather than using their stable of Ocean Group VAs from previous titles. The rationale behind this is that having British voice actors makes the game more authentic to 40K's British roots, and totally not because of the ongoing voice actors strike against major video game publishers in North America that Sega, and thus Relic, isn't affected by anyway.

==Post-Release==
{{editwar}}
After the game was released, the reception was [[Skub|mixed]] to say the least. Those who like the game say that the traditional "build and conquer" RTS campaign is a refreshing change for those who didn't like Dawn of War II's [[Diablo]]-style campaign, and while Paul Dobson is sorely missed, the rest of the voice cast isn't too bad. The Elites system is a natural progression from Dawn of War II, and the Ork's [[WAAAGH]]! mechanic is one of the best things ever put into a Dawn of War game. Additionally, they point out that while the power core mode is too simple, it does give a good introduction to the RTS genre for those who are brand new rather than just throwing them to the wolves like other games.

Those who don't like the game are of the opinion that Relic under Sega gutted what made Dawn of War popular in the first place and turned it into something uninspired and boring by comparison, as it simplified or stripped out many of the iconic elements of the series, such as sync-kills, the cover system and wargear. Many who liked the Dawn of War II campaign aren't fans of a more traditional RTS campaign, and some also feel that the races play too similarly aside from one or two gimmick mechanics. The game also has multiple lore inconsistencies, such as Eldar with shields and [[C.S. Goto|backflipping Terminators]], although to be fair, [[Dawn of War: Soulstorm|it isn't alone]] [[Azariah_Kyras|in this respect]]. Basically, [[Age of Sigmar|Relic significantly altered their popular product to attract a wider audience, and ended up alienating a large portion of their established fanbase. Besides that, the changes they made aren't attractive to a wider audience anyway.]] Heck, honestly, the game just looks boring. If you watch gameplay footage of Dawn of War and Dawn of War II, you really get sucked into it and time flies. If you watch gameplay footage of DoW III, you get bored in a minute or two, annoyed in five, and then leave and never want to see it again.

The decision to focus on simplification and balance in multiplayer was likely an intentional design choice considering the dev teams wanted Dawn of War to develop a competitive scene (seemingly ignoring the fact that people never really picked up Dawn of War for competitive multiplayer). However, unlike good competitive games like Starcraft, Counterstrike, and DOTA, Power Core mode did it in a very simplistic manner that made it feel like the "strategy" part of RTS had been all but sucked out.

Sales-wise, the game didn't do well in comparison to its predecessors. While the original [[Dawn of War]] has sold over 6 million copies since 2011 and the was heralded with critical acclaim upon release, and [[Dawn of War II]] took the #1 spot on western sales charts during its initial release; Dawn of War III didn't raise too much attention apart from standard fanfare, with a [[Skub|mixed response from the community]], and game critics saying it was good, but ultimately [[FAIL|flawed]]. According to [https://steamspy.com/app/285190 Steamspy's estimates], the game's digital sales barely broke a quarter million sales as of July 2017, which is not a good sign for a highly anticipated AAA game series.

[http://steamcharts.com/app/285190#All It didn't help that the playerbase declined sharply post-release], a clear sign that it just didn't make the impact people expected from the series. [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/1332350869595289198 While Relic seemed to be listening to the community's concerns,] the game was never able to recover from its downward spiral. This being said, they released mod tools, and a small but dedicated group of modders have been working on tweaking the game and adding new units.

Overall, the game is [[skub]] incarnate, being nearly unrecognizable in comparison to its predecessors. [[Nurgle|One side hates it for being too overly simple for a strategy game and deviating too far from the things that defined DoW from the beginning,]] [[Tzeentch|while another side likes it for trying something new and attempting to breathe some much-needed fresh air into the franchise.]]

[[File:DoW3 Annihilation.jpg|300px|right|thumb]]
===The Annihilation Update===
On June 13th 2017, [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/1332350869595289198 Relic announced the addition of Annihilation mode to the game], along with turrets, a new map, and skins for the super-heavies as Free-LC. On June 20th, [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2663165213085204247 the Annihilation Update dropped] and, it was actually pretty good. The removal of railroady objectives and the addition of a wide open map added a significant amount of depth to the game that was previously lacking, allowing players to take advantage of several mechanics that were previously hamstrung by power core mode. By this point however, too much of the player base had been alienated by power core mode and they weren't willing to come back and give the game another go, so the player count kept declining.

[[File:DoW3 Endless War.jpg|300px|right|thumb]]
===The Endless War Update===
On October 19th 2017, Relic released the [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2973925069475244397 Endless War Update], which added a bunch of additional content to the game. For starters, each faction has been given an additional Elites choice; the [[Dreadnought#Castraferrum_Pattern|Ironclad Dreadnought]] for Space Marines, the [[Wraithseer]] for Eldar, and the Lifta-Droppa Battlewagon for the Orks, which is basically a [[Awesome|Battlewagon armed with a massive Traktor Kannon]]. We also got three new maps, one themed for each faction, and some more Elites skins, including [[Deathwing]] Terminators, a [[Primaris Chaplain]], and [[Salamanders|Bray'arth Ashmantle]].

==The End Times Hath Come==
On February 8th 2018, [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-02-08-relic-leaves-dawn-of-war-3-behind-as-it-moves-on-to-new-projects Relic announced they were officially stepping away from Dawn of War III], citing low player counts as the chief reason.

While Dawn of War 3 has a dedicated player base, it didn't hit the targets we were expecting at launch, and it hasn't performed the way we had hoped since. It's been tough for us as professionals who want to make great games for our players, and for us as people who care a lot about what we do. When a game underperforms, plans need to change. With Dawn of War 3, we simply don't have the foundation we need to produce major content. We're working in close partnership with Sega and Games Workshop to determine the best course of action, while shifting focus to other projects within our portfolio.

Given this, the [https://community.dawnofwar.com/discussion/15957/patch-upload-as-of-05-feb-2018 February 8th patch] was likely just Relic releasing whatever work they'd finished on the proposed expansion and fixing a couple remaining bugs before bidding the game farewell. With Relic now focusing primarily on Age of Empires IV, Dawn of War III has potentially become a Franchise Killer, though Relic and Sega are apparently in talks with [[Games Workshop|GW]], so time will tell. It should be noted that while Relic has no plans to produce major content, they are still patching and maintaining the game as well as putting out occasional Free-LC skins.

===What went wrong?===

Dawn of War III suffered pretty terribly from Relic basically having lost all the staff who made the original two dawn of war games in the intervening years and had to be replaced by a bunch of people less familiar with the genre or the expectations of the series. Like a lot of companies, the focus on the brand name obscures the fact that few people actually remain with a company over a long period of time, especially when Relic transferred over to Sega after THQ bit the dust and a lot of Relic's former talent left the studio with the collapse of their former publisher. This more than anything, hit the development cycle of Dawn of War III pretty hard, as well as a confused set of developmental priorities and the loss of the people who gave the previous two games their strong art direction, leading to a much less eye-catching aesthetic. While not an Aliens: Colonial Marines scale disaster in terms of development cycle, Dawn of War III was in many ways hamstrung before it ever left the gate.

There were clearly a lot of interesting and good ideas, there was the potential for a great traditional base-building RTS game to revive a genre many publishers regard as no longer worth major investment into. It's just that the execution was left in the less than capable hands given a Brand they weren't ready to bear the burden of. Dawn of War III's failure hurts not because it's irredeemably bad but because beneath all the many, horrible flaws is a lot of wasted or unrealised potential for something that could have been as good or better than its predecessors. All it needed was that same strong sense of direction they did rather than being a confused mess thrown together by a relatively inexperienced team under corporate mandate to get ''something'' out for early 2017 on the PC market while the golden child of Creative Assembly was still putting Total War: Warhammer II together.

===Dawn of War III Is Dead! Long Live Dawn of War III!===
After Relic announced they were stepping away from the game, a small community of fans and modders tried rallying together in an attempt to resurrect Dawn of War III through Twitch streams, community game nights, and new mods. The goal was to generate enough interest to get Relic to return to the game, or at least release more mod tools so the fans could pick up where they left off. Although Dawn of War III remains a mostly-dead game, there's still a dedicated [https://discord.gg/qtJYAd Dawn of War III Discord server] which hosts regular community game nights. If you still want to play online, this is the best way to do it.

== See Also ==
* [https://www.dawnofwar.com/ The Official Dawn of War site]
* [http://store.steampowered.com/app/285190/Warhammer_40000_Dawn_of_War_III/ Dawn of War III on Steam]
* [http://modding.dawnofwar.com/ Want to make a mod for the game? Start here.]
* [[Dawn of War Mods#Dawn of War III Modding|The list of /tg/-approved mods]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24U2fT8iOowRbzBHsulCAizV The game's soundtrack, which also includes a clean version of the trailer theme]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6lUjVLPU04 WAAAAAAAAAGHH!!]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfEp-ZuwiGE&t Totalbiscuit's review of the game, which highlights a number of problems from the perspective of someone who enjoyed the previous two titles.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OCWQelkjBg ZoranTheBear and ThunderPsyker's overview of the game, offering the opinions of a newcomer to the franchise and a veteran, respectively]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDTt_GOdyY Adam Millard's analysis of why the game failed. He does an excellent job discussing the issues of Dawn of War III while remaining fairly neutral and analytical.]
* [https://steamdb.info/app/285190/graphs/ Here are the game sales stats]
* [https://discord.gg/qtJYAd The Dawn of War III Discord Server]

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Don'tWorryDieHappy.gif|Don't Worry, Die Happy
Image:DoW3 Menu.jpg|The Main Menu, which shows the elites and paint scheme you currently have equipped.
Image:DoW3 Army Painter.jpg|The Army Painter
Image:DoW3 Elites Menu.jpg|The Elites Menu
Image:This has been dark work.PNG|[https://youtu.be/CjnvZtYl2fA?t=20s One fan's reaction] [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2316393822047631108 to the announcement of incoming modding tools]
Image:PrimarisAngelos.png|The [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|REAL reason]] for Gabriel Angelos' [[Primaris Marines|changes]] (the Godsplitter bullshit is just what they tell other loyalists who [[Inquisition|get too nosy]])
File:RetributionGabriel.JPG | Gabriel's Cut Original Model found Within Dawn of War III World Builder.
File:StandardofKaurava.JPG | Wargear Found in Dawn of War II Chaos Rising showing that relic did indeed plan for Gorgutz to win Soulstorm.
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Video Games]][[Category:Dawn of War]]

Dawn of War III

2021-12-04T21:17:25Z

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''"In darkness'', ''I shall be light''<br>
''In times of doubt'', ''I shall keep faith''<br>
''In throes of rage'', ''I shall hone my craft''<br>
''In vengeance'', ''I shall have no mercy''<br>
''In the midst of battle'', ''I shall have no fear''<br>
''In the face of death'', ''I shall have no remorse"''<br>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ZgyNoHtjw| The voice in the trailer.]

''" Wot matterz to yoo lot, iz deez gitz givvus a good fight for me, an’ wot matterz to me is; I WANT DAT STICK!!!"'' - Gorgutz

[[File:DoWIII.jpg|thumbnail|right|500px|Skulls for the skull throne!]]
Announced on 3rd of May 2016 and released on April 27nd 2017, '''''Dawn of War III''''' is the third entry in the Dawn of War series.

The game features [[Space Marines]], [[Orks]], and [[Eldar]], along with [[Imperial Guard]] as an NPC race allied with Space Marines and [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]] as playable allied units to the Space Marines. The campaign features all three factions, rotating which faction you're playing every mission [[Dawn of War II#Retribution|rather than having every faction play the same shortened campaign]]. The story features [[Gabriel Angelos]] (sadly with a different voice actor), [[Macha]], and [[Gorgutz]] as they all race to an ancient planet called Acheron which emerges from the warp every couple thousand years and holds an artifact called the Spear of [[Khaine]].

==Plot==
{{spoilers}}
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Coming back with a new look and much closer to the first game while having elements from the second, the third installment sees the return of some of the more popular characters. Among them [[Gabriel Angelos]], [[Farseer Macha]] and [[Warboss Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter]] will battle for the planet of Acheron for a powerful weapon known as the Spear of Khaine. Whilst the Eldar and Orks seek to obtain it for its tremendous power, Gabriel seeks to prevent anyone from using it, as it apparently reeks of deceit. More of the plot can be read below.

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===Part 1: Verlock Keep and Cyprus Ultima===
Long story short, it begins on the Knight World of Cyprus Ultima being overrun by [[Orks]] led by [[Warboss]] Gitsompa with Varlock Keep being on its last toes against the green tide. [[Heresy|For some reason,]] Inquisitor Holt has prevented further reinforcements from assisting the local Knight house from being overwhelmed. Thankfully for Lady Solaria (The Matriarch of Verlock Keep), <s>Captain</s> [[Chapter Master]] [[Gabriel Angelos]] of the [[Blood Ravens]] ignored the [[Inquisitor|Inquisitor's]] decree and came to assist Lady Solaria's forces. During the fighting, Warboss [[Gorgutz]] led a counter attack to prove that he is the better overall leader then Gitstompa. Unfortunately the [[Eldar]] led by [[Autarch]] Kyre, came on Cyprus to mess everything up which forced Gorgutz to think of some [[Tactical genius|Tactical Genius]] which involves building a giant cannon, sabotage and [[Sindri|Sindri'ing Warboss Gitstompa]] so that Gorgutz would become defacto leader. Meanwhile, the breach in the decree led to Inquisitor Holt feeling all [[Butthurt|butthurt]] about this and tasked Ol'Gabe to defend Starfort Helios which has been overrun by Orks now led by Gorgutz. Both Holt and Gabe talked about the reason behind the starforts, in which they were designed as a barricade against the legendary planet Acheron which houses the legendary 'Spear of [[Khaine]]' in which Holt took great interests in attaining it for himself. As you can imagine, Gabe was quite suspicious over the Inquisitor's ambition and was even more suspicious over the Spear of Khaine whose intuition led Gabe to suspect of it as a [[Chaos|Chaotic corruption]] (Oh, how right he was).

On the other hand of the spectrum, [[Farseer]] [[Macha]] led an Eldar warhost to aid Kyre who he himself is also after the Spear of Khaine. However, Macha is suspicious about Kyre's prophecy as it did not add up to Macha's own divination on what lies beyond Acheron. Macha was tasked by Kyre to kill Gabriel Angelos as he sees the Chapter Master as an obstacle to Kyre's own ambition, however Macha's relationship with Gabriel stretched all the way back [[Tartarus]]. Before she could accomplish this, [[Jonah Orion]] stood in Macha's way. Macha promptly kicked Jonah's ass and threaten to kill him if he did not tell her where <s>Macha's husbando</s> Gabriel Angelos is. However, being the shining beacon of bromance that is Gabe, the Chapter Master came to Macha's location to prevent her from killing his [[Gay|<s>boyfriend</s>]] most trusted [[Librarian]] butt budy. Macha attempted to throw her singing spear, Gabriel remembered that he was wearing terminator armour and singing spears are AP- and so managed to catch the damned weapon with his hands. Macha blasted him with Psychic shenanigans, took a thunder hammer to the face and either passed her Invuln save or benefited from the Eternal Warrior rule. Before they could end their little 'reunion' however, the planet Acheron arrived on the Cyprus system and shattered Starfort Helios, reigning space debris on where they fought (Seriously, Acheron is ECKS BAWKS HUEG, like Gas Giant size). Macha escaped whilst Gabe was left horrified over the fate of [[Chaplain]] [[Apollo Diomedes]] as it was Gabriel who ordered Diomedes to assist the resistance on Helios.

Meanwhile, Gorgutz promptly [[PROMOTIONS|jizzed himself]] with all the loot being crash landed around him due to Helios' demise. Unfortunately, other gitz such as [[Weirdboy]] Zappnoggin and [[Big Mek]] Wazzmakka are fighting over the loot. After Gorgutz promptly bash their heads in and forced them to comply under his leadership, Gorgutz then led on a joyride to Starfort Charon so he could find out what the hell is going on in Acheron. Apparently ''how'' he managed to get onto the Starfort without getting shot down isn't worth worrying about (seriously, he's just there and hopping off a crashed craft without any further explanation). After blowing up the defenses of Charon with nothing more than a bunch of [[Gretchin]] with explosive grenades (seriously, you would think that the defenses of an Imperial Starfort would be a bit more secure), Gorgutz then used the opportunity of the disabled Starfort to land on Acheron without the worry of being blown up. On the other hand, Macha met with [[Ronahn]] to discuss on the potential craziness that is Kyre. Apparently, the reason why Ronahn was here and acting as a secret spy for Kyre was because Kyre [[Derp|somehow got his hands on]] [[Taldeer|Taldeer's]] soulstone due to some altercation with Ronahn. Apparently, Kyre is using Taldeer's prophecy as not only as to stroke Kyre's fragile ego but to also keep his legitimacy stable. Despite the fact that using another [[Craftworld|Craftworld's]] soulstone for nefarious purposes, especially one from [[Ulthwé]] should be enough to send half of the Craftworld's forces to shank Kyre's ass for [[Heresy]], this did not come to pass. After some discussions, Macha, Ronahn and [[Jain Zar]] (Who came to Macha's assistance to stop Kyre's foolish action that would further weakened the Biel-Tan craftworld) all agreed that Kyre's prophecy is nothing more than a steaming pile of [[Bullshit]] and will lead their people to ruin. Unfortunately Jain Zar didn't just tell everyone to stop follow Kyre because she didn't feel like it (yes seriously, she'd rather kill Eldar than that and there's a weak explanation on her trying to get Macha to realize her potential through the conflict) which would have ended the conflict immediately and stopped Eldar from killing each other. So Macha and Ronahn devise a plan to distract Kyre's forces with the aid of Gorgutz so they could sneak around and steal back Taldeer's soulstone instead. Macha and Ronahn also managed to convince Gorgutz to aid them by essentially waving the Spear of Khaine all over Gorgutz like he is some sort of attack dog. So with Gorgutz now in the race to get his 'Super Pointy Stikk', Dawn of War 3 has essentially turned into a Monty Python sketch with all three races bonking each other's heads so they can leap frog each other to get to the Spear first.

===Part 2: Acheron===
On the other side of the theater, Gabe discussed with Captain Balthazar on board the Blood Raven's [[Battlebarge]] to retrieve Diomedes' [[Gene Seed|Gene Seed]] for he fears that he is dead. However, Inquisitor Holt being a shady motherfucking dick, threatened Gabriel not to go to the remains of Helios or else he would shoot Gabe's aircraft out of the sky. This understandably twisted Gabe's nipples to no end and secretly arranged Balthazar to [[Just as Planned|teleport]] Gabe on the remains of Starfort Helios. They agreed and Gabe was transported on the destroyed Starfort. What he saw disturbed Gabe as the remains of both the Starfort and its crew members was [[Grimdark|fused with the structures of Acheron]]. Fearing for the worst, Gabriel along with a group of [[Terminator|Terminators]] proceed to cleanse the area of both Orks and Eldar with sufficient [[Dakka]]. Once Gabriel found where Diomedes is located, to everyone's surprise, Apollo Diomedes has indeed survived due to [[Plot Armor|rolling a 1 on his To Wound/Destroyer roll and escaping unscathed]] (or maybe he just passed every Armour/Invuln save, he was wearing termie armour). After hearing the Inquisitor's actions, Diomedes was understandably [[Rage|pissed as fuck.]] Inquisitor Holt himself was displeased, but more pressing matters was at hand due to everyone wanting to get the Spear of Khaine.

On Acheron, Farseer Macha and her posse sneaked to where Taldeer is resting and proceed to [[Blood Ravens|'borrow it']] for their own uses. However, they were caught and were forced to flee, fortunately they completed their task and Kyre sighed in disappointment. Near the vault shielding the Spear of Khaine, Gabe and friends fought their way to destroy the Eldar. However, Inquisitor Holt decided that if a bunch of enemies are gathered in one spot, you might as well just nuke them and requested an orbital bombardment on the vault. Unfortunately it turns out shooting a door has a chance of blowing it open, which certainly happened and that was near where Gabriel's forces were (though he did at least warn Gabe with more than enough time for the Blood Ravens to flee), so Gabe ordered his brothers to flee and while remaining behind because he knew it would look really cool for the trailer. Apollo Diomedes and even Jonah Orion [[Rage|flipped their shit on the Inquisitor]], with Diomedes swearing he [[RIP AND TEAR|wants to rip Holt's head off and shit down his neck]] and Jonah calling Holt a fucking retard for even requesting orbital bombardment. Holt, feeling the heat of a chapter of pissed off [[Space Marines]] went and plead with Lady Solaria. [[Awesome|Solaria then laid down the sickest burn in the game, calling out Holt's cowardice in not only letting Solaria's house to die by the Ork invasion but also firing orbital bombardment near the position of Gabriel Angelos, she further states that no one would fear the incompetence and idiocy of a 'disgraced Inquisitor' threatening Holt that his ass is grass once she tells Holt's superiors on what he has done.]] Holt later put an ice pack on that burn and cried himself to sleep, but before he did, he told Solaria that Gabe may still be alive and what do you know, Gabriel ''IS'' alive since he watched the bombardment from a distance while taking advantage of that Iron Halo/Cataphractii Terminator re-roll bullshit. Gorgutz was also practically under the blast and he survives due to... [[Plot Armor|he just does.]]

Inside the vault on the true surface of Acheron, Autarch Kyre used Macha's supporters as leverage to draw her out and force her to comply to his will. Unfortunately for him, they were standing on an icy prison keeping a FUCK HUEG [[Greater Daemon]] of [[Khorne]] from escaping (yes, it is yet ''another'' reveal that [[Chaos]] is the ultimate big bad, [[Skub|Que more moaning and bitching that the plot is uninspired)]] and Macha rightly concluded that fighting would only wake it and that something was wrong with the spear. Naturally Kyre didn't listen and after an intense firefight of elf-on-elf violence, Macha then pleaded to Ronahn to let Taldeer's soulstone to be interned in a motherfucking [[Wraithknight]]. Ronahn as you can imagine, hesitated cause he is a good and dutiful brother and would never put his sister into harms way again; the situation however, was dire, thus Ronahn relented and became the co-driver with his sister. During the infighting, Kyre knew he was distracted and continued his campaign to retrieve the Spear. However, bad luck follows Kyre everywhere, and is forced to butt heads with Gorgutz army. These two both battled each other before Kyre won, grabbed the Spear of Khaine and attempt to slay Gorgutz. His plans were slightly hindered when a part of the blade broke and he was liquefied, as it turns out that the Spear was a [[Trap]] designed to spill the blood of the ambitious and greedy and to act as a blood ritual to release the daemon from its prison. Kyre did the 'Oh Shit!' look before ending up like [[Sindri Myr]] as daemon chow.

===Part 3: Tartarus 2, Electric Boogaloo===
With the daemon released, everyone promptly shat bricks. Macha and Taldeer then did a quick divination and found out that the only way to victory is get all three races to unite and spank the daemon to oblivion. Macha, somehow managed to convince Gorgutz to join her cause despite being backstabbed by Ronahn (Or as Gorgutz would like to call him, Ronny) whilst Gabriel has a....somewhat [[Love Can Bloom|intimate chat]] before he himself joined her cause. Unfortunately for Gabe, part of the ritual needed to defeat the daemon was [[Exterminatus|to blow up Acheron]]....[[Herp|with his own Battlebarge.]] Captain Balthazar overheard this and eagerly accepted his fate before [[Angry Marines|pile driving a seemingly fully loaded Battlebarge into the planet's crust]] in a spectacular display of [[Warhammer 40,000 8th edition|needless sacrifice'''s''']].

Seriously, how many Blood Ravens were on the ship? Anyway, the ship blew up the mantle and hurtled the shrine housing the Spear of Khaine into orbit. You would think that the Battlebarge would have just [[Derp|fired its weapons or even have a Cyclonic Torpedo ready,]] but it seems the Imperium has a knack for [[World Engine|wasting expensive ships by]] [[First Tyrannic War|blowing itself up for myriad of reasons.]] On the other hand, Angelos and Balthazar did mention how the Daemon was shielding Acheron and how it took a trio of listening posts to guide the Battlebarge down to the surface; nevertheless, it still is retarded, because the Inquisition normally issues [[Exterminatus]] device approved for [[Chapter Master (game)|Space Marines]] to use by placing it directly on a planet's surface, or use [[Gabriel Angelos|Nemesis weaponry]] to [[Grey Knight|bannish the daemon]] [[Matt Ward|regardless of]] [[Spiritual Liege|his Wounds stats]]; and while it is possible that the Blood Ravens having [[Celestial Lions|bad relationships with the Inquisitor]] would have prevent them from getting one, they didn't even bother to ask and instead killed dozens or hundreds of battle-brothers wile wasting ressources the Blood Ravens can't afford to lose, proving therefore that the staff [[Games Workshop|didn't even know about it]].

All three heroes were teleported onto the shrine (It would be safe to assume that all named elite heroes survived Acheron's destruction) by Macha's help to face the daemon. As explained, the previously seen ECKS BAWKS HUEG daemon the size of a Imperial Cruiser has now shrunk in size to be the same height as any old regular Greater Daemon. In a hilariously bizarre and completely un-Khornate way, the daemon AKA the Storm Prince, [[Wat|spends more time healing itself by literally drinking a fountain of]] [[Lulz|daemon kool-aid]]...[[FAIL|we wish we were joking.]] That and the fact that the daemon used [[Tzeentch|trickery of all things]] to set itself free (Spear of Khaine fiasco, daemonic doppelgangers, etc)...one must wonder how [[Khorne]] might have felt after learning that this jackass along with [[Firaeveus Carron|another failure]] continue to became such staunched followers of the Blood God. During the fight, Gabriel in a completely uncharacteristic way, acknowledged ignoring Macha's warnings back on Tartarus was a mistake which resulted in the devastation of the Blood Ravens in [[Dawn of War 2]], in which Macha in turn, uncharacteristically accepted it; but come on now, we all remember that her warnings were fully aimed at protecting the plot, not making things clear for the Blood Ravens & the Inquisitor on what they ought to do. After kicking the daemon to death, all three heroes departed to go their separate ways with Gorgutz finally getting his 'Super Pointy Stikk'/Spear of Khaine. [[What|Again, this is bizarrely uncharacteristic for all of them as we usually see an Eldar ending up backstabbing the Orks and Space Marines into muderfucking each other instead of simply...you know...keeping their promises. Maybe they decided to wait until their armies could rebuild?]]

Anyway, with the mission done, it is safe to assume that Inquisitor Holt is going to have his [[Anal Circumference|anus enlarged by fifteen meters]] over the shit he has done to Gabe and friends.

All in all, the last few missions was vaguely similar to the plot of the original [[Dawn of War]]. As both games ends with a cataclysmic fight against an agent of [[Chaos]] being freed from a millennia long prison that is disguised as an object of immense power, in which a gullible pawn thinks he can take it for his own benefit, only to be used as a sacrifice to free the daemon in a blood ritual. Both artifacts are seen by Gabriel Angelos to be malicious and needs to be destroyed with Macha warning Gabe about the true nature of both artifacts. The only difference is that Gabe actually listened to Macha for once on Acheron, thus making the ending of Dawn of War 3 more [[Noblebright]] than the original Dawn of War.

Oh yeah, the secret after credits ending depicts none other then the return of the [[Necrons]]. Which would probably be more impressive if the story hadn't pretty much stopped there with no sign of continuing.
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==Returning Characters==
===Imperials (Blood Ravens)===
* '''Chapter Master [[Gabriel Angelos]]:''' Returning with a ornate and badass looking set of Terminator Armor. Would be 100% badass if it weren't for the fact that he was capable of inexplicably jumping ([[C.S. Goto|and flipping!]]) several meters off the ground in said Terminator Armor (And the fact that he's no longer voiced by Paul Dobson *sob*). They try and explain this away by linking this ability to his hammer, but considering that Diomedes can do this too and we're not clear on how the hammer does it, it's still stupid. Spends most time battling with the other two factions to prevent them from obtaining the Spear of Khaine, as he suspects it may be corrupted. Some art has him standing at Primarch-grade height. He is loyal and thoughtful of his chapter to the point that he defended his new librarian buddy Jonah Orion from the [[Macha|jealous yandere-virgin]] as well as went against an inquisitor's order to try and give Diomedes last rites when the starfort Diomedes was on crashed into Acheron. Currently having a harem relationship with his librarian buddy Jonah Orion, Farseer Macha and Lady Solaria of the Varlock Imperial Knight house, probably Diomedes too.
* '''Chief Librarian [[Jonah Orion]]:''' Promoted to Chief Librarian after surviving the battle against the chaos corrupted Chapter Master [[Azariah Kyras]]. Now sports a goatee and wearing fancy new armor. Is currently having a bromance relationship with his Chapter Master.
* '''Chaplain [[Apollo Diomedes]]:'''' Returning as a Chaplain in terminator armor (sadly with a different vox box that actually makes him comprehensible). It was never explained why he became a Chaplain after his previous appearance. Must have felt so ashamed about serving a chaos tainted traitor so much that he couldn't bear the mantle of First Company Captain anymore. So now he's a Chaplain, sniffing out taint and making heretics...[[Asmodai|Repent]]. He is now loyal as ever to his chapter, so loyal that he nearly transforms into an [[Angry Marine]] after the stupid-made-manifest known as Inquisitor Damien Holt bombarded their Chapter Master Angelos. Most likely became a Chaplain because he was the one that took it as a job to cleanse the Chapter honor (by splitting the fucking head of his Chapter Master), and even saying at the end of the Retribution campaing that he cant serve the chapter as he was then.

===Eldar (Biel-Tan)===
* '''Farseer [[Macha]]:''' Returning for the first time since the original Dawn of War, and looking (almost) exactly as she's been depicted in /tg/ art for years (other than a fancy hair ornament and wearing more clothes than said average depictions). Ostensibly working for Lord Kyre to get the Spear of Khaine for him, but appears to be suspicious of his real motives for doing so. Is somewhat tsundere with Gabriel Angelos and still pissed about the whole Maledictum thing. (Ultimately they're both at fault. She didn't explain to him why he shouldn't do what he did, but that doesn't preclude him from ''asking'', something we know he's good at, and he says himself he should have listened to her.)

===Eldar (Ulthwe)===
* '''[[Ronahn]]:''' Also reappearing as the leader of a Ranger detachment and Kyre's spymaster, and only marginally less whiny than he was before. After losing Taldeer's soul stone on the way home to Kyre (which he is NOT happy about), he has been trying to recover his <s>waifu's</s> sister's soulstone and bring it back to Ulthwe, and so allies with Macha in a plan to undermine Kyre and get her soul stone back.
* '''[[Taldeer]]:''' Apparently Taldeer's soul stone ended up being salvaged during Retribution, as she reappears as a <s>Wraithseer</s> [[Wraithknight]] with a big fucking sword after said soul stone is taken by Kyre. One of her prophecies as recounted in the trailers seems to refer to the impending conflict over the Spear of Khaine.

===Orks (Bad Moons)===
* '''Warboss [[Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter]]:''' Returning during his absence after Soulstorm, Gorgutz is back with a bigger and badder power klaw (with a retractable chain, no less). He starts out in the service of another Warboss named Gitstompa, and apparently always planned to Sindri him (though the Eldar unwittingly turn him into the Warboss of the Bad Moons WAAAGH! after they kill Gitstompa, believing that killing him would scatter the Ork horde). He's racing against the other factions for the pointy-stick. At some point gets sort of tricked by Ronahn into fighting a heavily defended Eldar base defending the vaults entrance. Macha told him she wanted the other Eldar dead, and told them they were both trying to get the spear, but Ronahn "forgot" to mention the bit about their entrance being heavily defended, which somewhat makes Gorgutz a dumbass for actually trusting dem sneaky knife ears. In the end Gorgutz is ''technically'' the canon winner because he went away with his "pointy stikk" once the daemon was slain, though they did ''let'' him get away with it and the Spear itself was depowered due to the daemon no longer being inside of it.

===Others===
* '''Brian Dobson:''' The only VA from the first and second series to return. He voices generic Space Marines, Orks and Eldar.

==New Characters==
===Imperials (Blood Ravens)===
* '''Captain Balthazar:''' A Captain of the Blood Ravens and serves as the mission briefer.

===Imperials (Others)===
* '''Lady Rebek Solaria:''' Head of House Varlock of Cyprus Ultima and pilot of the Imperial Knight, Drakaina. Drakaina is equipped with two avenger cannons that'll deal more damage when heated up. Becomes BFFs with Angelos after he saves Varlock Keep from Orks (against Inquisitor Holt's orders).
* '''Inquisitor Damien Holt:''' An Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos that seeks the wandering world, Acheron, for the Spear of Khaine. [[Chenkov|He plays the role of asshole cold blooded strategist that gives little regard to his allies like they were pawns in a chess game]] but without any actual strategy to speak of; apparently Relic decided that [[Mordecai Toth|Inquisitor Toth]] from the first Dawn of War and [[Inquisitor Adrastia]] from the second were too sane and reasonable for gamers to handle. The Imperial forces he's working with, Imperial Knights of House Varlock and The Blood Ravens, both hate his guts. The Varlock House hate him for abandoning them to a massive Ork invasion. The Blood Ravens, wary of his obsession with a Warp-tainted xenos artifact, despised the inquisitor for his willingness to waste their battle-brothers' lives for the Spear, which culminated in launching an orbital bombardment on their chapter master Gabriel Angelos to break into the Spear's complex. [[Rage|This made the Blood Ravens so mad]] that Diomedes, the Chaplain, was going to shove a BAAAANEBLADE up the inqisitor's arse only to be stopped by Jonah Orion, who reminds him that they can let the rest of the Inquisition do so later. No relation to [[Commissar Holt]].
* '''Deathwatch Kill-Team Ironmaw:''' They compose of a Dark Angel, a Blood Angel, a Crimson Fist, a [[Ultramarines|Smurf]] and are led by one of everyone's favourite [[Space Wolves|space vikings]]. In multiplayer, the Ultramarine is replaced by a space marine from the chapter you selected via army painter.

===Eldar (Biel-Tan)===
* '''Autarch Kyre:''' Leader of the Biel-Tan warhost and seeks to obtain the Spear of Khaine. The asshole that led even more Eldar to die in a pointless campaign for some legendary shiny (not to mention him ignoring the Soulstones of his fallen warriors instead of collecting them, which should tell just how asshole he is), and stole Taldeer's Soulstone for good measure (which Macha and Ronahn both note could very well lead to a war between their Craftworld should Ulthwe learn about it). He hired Ronahn as his spymaster only to be betrayed by him. He still got the spear in the end, after fighting Gorgutz for it and cheated using psyker power. Turns out the spear contained a greater daemon of khorne and was possessed by it, after the spear itself shattered as Kyre tried to strike Gorgutz with it... [[Castellan Crowe|which is just weird]], even for a plot device, because daemon weapons are empowered by the daemon's presence, not structurally weakened by it. So arrogant that even the other Eldar can't stand him.
* '''[[Jain Zar]]:''' Phoenix Lord (Lady?) of the Howling Banshees and the first of the Phoenix Lords to be featured in a video game adaptation (Granted, she's also in Eternal Crusade, but has yet to fully appear in that game). Has seen Acheron before and that Eldar have been fighting over the spear for millennia. None so far has succeeded in recovering it.

===Orks (Bad Moons)===
* '''Wazzmakka:''' Da most byotiful Big Mek dere is. He dont call her beauty for er' looks! Very fond of tellyportas.
* '''Zappnoggin:''' A Weirdboy who sounds surprisingly sane-ish for an ork whose head can explode at any time. Has rather un-orky ideas about not getting into fights that he can't win, which he says has let him live a long time (by Ork standards, anyway).

==Differences and New Things==
The game attempts to blend the best parts of the first two, featuring base building and massive armies alongside summonable elite units who can sway the course of battle. The game also features doctrines similar to those from [[/v/|Company of Heroes 2]]. Like in Company of Heroes 2, you may take up to three Doctrines, with some being connected to specific elite units. The Doctrines either unlock abilities for specific units or upgrade the existing abilities of others (like upgrading the Dreadnoughts to gain charge attacks and shields after executing slam attacks, giving Dire Avengers Holo-Fields, or giving Deffkoptas Buzzsaws). Relic's aim was to make their latest game the most accessible, including features such as a minimalistic UI, icons to represent effects like suppression, and easy-to-read descriptors for most abilities. It is the first Dawn of War game to only feature three factions at launch rather than four, though the included factions do have more units available at launch than they did in previous titles.

Another change is the new cast of voice actors (whom according to the developers comprise of VA's from their previous title [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]). This has been met with some amount of [[rage]] from fans, most notably those who wished for the return of Paul Dobson as Angelos.

Armies are now divided into standard soldiers (things like [[Tactical Squad|Tactical Marines]], [[Dire Avengers]], and [[Ork Boy|Boyz]] as well as vehicles) and elites (which includes the likes of named characters, [[Terminators]], and Imperial Knights). The former act like standard RTS units, performing most of the legwork as well as adding bulk to your army, while the latter are more powerful units with abilities that can change the tide of battle. <s>In both campaign and multiplayer, players collect said elites by farming skulls (no, we're not kidding. [[RAGE|all three factions are Khornate for some reason]])</s> Not anymore, skulls have been removed. Everyone has access to all Elites and doctrines from the get-go (save for those that are unlocked by leveling up elites). Elite units can level up based on how many enemies they killed during each game, though these level-ups don't improve them in any way, they just unlock exotic paints and new skins. Among them there are really powerful units that are showing up for the first time in the series (such as [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]], [[Wraithknight|Wraithknights]], and [[Gorkanaut|Gorkanauts]]). At the very least, the presence of troop units to back up the elites could mean that the rest of the Blood Ravens 4th Company might actually be getting off their asses and doing something this time around.

As mentioned previously, the campaign switches between [[Blood Ravens]], [[Orks]], and [[Eldar]] every mission. While the attempt to incorporate all three factions is appreciated, and it is marginally better than Retribution's approach, the constant switching between three vastly different playstyles can be very jarring.

Markedly absent is a sequel/expansion of Dawn of War II's [[Last Stand]] mode which, given that Last Stand was popular enough to become its own standalone spinoff product, is likely a deliberate omission. Thus far small fan interest exists in seeing Last Stand return.

==Pre-Release Reactions==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7JNTfrK3Yk 12 minute exclusive gameplay] released shortly after the trailer drew quite a lot of [[Skub|ire.]] With many complaining on the way it looks (having a cleaner, more colorful aesthetic in comparison to previous titles) with rumors that the team developing Dawn of War III was trying to piggyback [[Blizzard|Starcraft]] [[RAGE|of all games]] to the animation lacking the weight and grit of the previous Dawn of War games. Special mentions go to the fighting style animations of [[Gabriel Angelos|old Gabe]] [[What|whose sudden usage of backflips, frontflips and jumping like a 5 ton ballerina on crack]] [[Fail|despite wearing terminator armor]] [[RAGE|drew accusations that one of the lead creators of this game]] [[C.S. Goto|might be a small, black leprechaun with a fetish of Multilasers and backflipping Terminators.]] Hell, the goddamn Lascannons don't fire a [[Indrick Boreale|quick, charged, devastating single shot]] but instead its a [[lance|laser weapon that does more damage the longer it's trained on its target]].

Later interviews and bits of information released did little to ease the [[Skub|ire.]] Including the lead director confirming that sync-kills have been removed, Assault Marines being considered [[What|"light armor"]] units, the dynamic movement system introduced in II being removed, and fall back mechanics are also gone. At this point from a community standpoint, you were either absolutely behind these changes, or were watching something your were previously looking forward to turn into an absolute shitshow; with very little middle ground to be found. And it really doesn't help that their methods of explaining away some of the lore breaking shit seems to come directly from our [[C.S. Goto|good old friend]]. Notably they tried to explain the backflipping Terminator armor by saying that [[What|his hammer has a shard of an Avatar in it]]. This also happened to be an idea made by the Irish leper, and even if it was canon the developers never mentioned what this actually did to give Angelos the ability to backflip, making this move look like a hand-wave to shut the fans up.

Reactions to the beta did little to assuage the divide in the community. Some, like AngryJoe, thoroughly enjoyed it, while others, like TotalBiscuit, seemed to be completely turned off by it.

Voice Acting has taken a big change, with Relic opting to go for an all British cast (except for Brian Dobson) rather than using their stable of Ocean Group VAs from previous titles. The rationale behind this is that having British voice actors makes the game more authentic to 40K's British roots, and totally not because of the ongoing voice actors strike against major video game publishers in North America that Sega, and thus Relic, isn't affected by anyway.

==Post-Release==
{{editwar}}
After the game was released, the reception was [[Skub|mixed]] to say the least. Those who like the game say that the traditional "build and conquer" RTS campaign is a refreshing change for those who didn't like Dawn of War II's [[Diablo]]-style campaign, and while Paul Dobson is sorely missed, the rest of the voice cast isn't too bad. The Elites system is a natural progression from Dawn of War II, and the Ork's [[WAAAGH]]! mechanic is one of the best things ever put into a Dawn of War game. Additionally, they point out that while the power core mode is too simple, it does give a good introduction to the RTS genre for those who are brand new rather than just throwing them to the wolves like other games.

Those who don't like the game are of the opinion that Relic under Sega gutted what made Dawn of War popular in the first place and turned it into something uninspired and boring by comparison, as it simplified or stripped out many of the iconic elements of the series, such as sync-kills, the cover system and wargear. Many who liked the Dawn of War II campaign aren't fans of a more traditional RTS campaign, and some also feel that the races play too similarly aside from one or two gimmick mechanics. The game also has multiple lore inconsistencies, such as Eldar with shields and [[C.S. Goto|backflipping Terminators]], although to be fair, [[Dawn of War: Soulstorm|it isn't alone]] [[Azariah_Kyras|in this respect]]. Basically, [[Age of Sigmar|Relic significantly altered their popular product to attract a wider audience, and ended up alienating a large portion of their established fanbase. Besides that, the changes they made aren't attractive to a wider audience anyway.]] Heck, honestly, the game just looks boring. If you watch gameplay footage of Dawn of War and Dawn of War II, you really get sucked into it and time flies. If you watch gameplay footage of DoW III, you get bored in a minute or two, annoyed in five, and then leave and never want to see it again.

The decision to focus on simplification and balance in multiplayer was likely an intentional design choice considering the dev teams wanted Dawn of War to develop a competitive scene (seemingly ignoring the fact that people never really picked up Dawn of War for competitive multiplayer). However, unlike good competitive games like Starcraft, Counterstrike, and DOTA, Power Core mode did it in a very simplistic manner that made it feel like the "strategy" part of RTS had been all but sucked out.

Sales-wise, the game didn't do well in comparison to its predecessors. While the original [[Dawn of War]] has sold over 6 million copies since 2011 and the was heralded with critical acclaim upon release, and [[Dawn of War II]] took the #1 spot on western sales charts during its initial release; Dawn of War III didn't raise too much attention apart from standard fanfare, with a [[Skub|mixed response from the community]], and game critics saying it was good, but ultimately [[FAIL|flawed]]. According to [https://steamspy.com/app/285190 Steamspy's estimates], the game's digital sales barely broke a quarter million sales as of July 2017, which is not a good sign for a highly anticipated AAA game series.

[http://steamcharts.com/app/285190#All It didn't help that the playerbase declined sharply post-release], a clear sign that it just didn't make the impact people expected from the series. [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/1332350869595289198 While Relic seemed to be listening to the community's concerns,] the game was never able to recover from its downward spiral. This being said, they released mod tools, and a small but dedicated group of modders have been working on tweaking the game and adding new units.

Overall, the game is [[skub]] incarnate, being nearly unrecognizable in comparison to its predecessors. [[Nurgle|One side hates it for being too overly simple for a strategy game and deviating too far from the things that defined DoW from the beginning,]] [[Tzeentch|while another side likes it for trying something new and attempting to breathe some much-needed fresh air into the franchise.]]

[[File:DoW3 Annihilation.jpg|300px|right|thumb]]
===The Annihilation Update===
On June 13th 2017, [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/1332350869595289198 Relic announced the addition of Annihilation mode to the game], along with turrets, a new map, and skins for the super-heavies as Free-LC. On June 20th, [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2663165213085204247 the Annihilation Update dropped] and, it was actually pretty good. The removal of railroady objectives and the addition of a wide open map added a significant amount of depth to the game that was previously lacking, allowing players to take advantage of several mechanics that were previously hamstrung by power core mode. By this point however, too much of the player base had been alienated by power core mode and they weren't willing to come back and give the game another go, so the player count kept declining.

[[File:DoW3 Endless War.jpg|300px|right|thumb]]
===The Endless War Update===
On October 19th 2017, Relic released the [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2973925069475244397 Endless War Update], which added a bunch of additional content to the game. For starters, each faction has been given an additional Elites choice; the [[Dreadnought#Castraferrum_Pattern|Ironclad Dreadnought]] for Space Marines, the [[Wraithseer]] for Eldar, and the Lifta-Droppa Battlewagon for the Orks, which is basically a [[Awesome|Battlewagon armed with a massive Traktor Kannon]]. We also got three new maps, one themed for each faction, and some more Elites skins, including [[Deathwing]] Terminators, a [[Primaris Chaplain]], and [[Salamanders|Bray'arth Ashmantle]].

==The End Times Hath Come==
On February 8th 2018, [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-02-08-relic-leaves-dawn-of-war-3-behind-as-it-moves-on-to-new-projects Relic announced they were officially stepping away from Dawn of War III], citing low player counts as the chief reason.

While Dawn of War 3 has a dedicated player base, it didn't hit the targets we were expecting at launch, and it hasn't performed the way we had hoped since. It's been tough for us as professionals who want to make great games for our players, and for us as people who care a lot about what we do. When a game underperforms, plans need to change. With Dawn of War 3, we simply don't have the foundation we need to produce major content. We're working in close partnership with Sega and Games Workshop to determine the best course of action, while shifting focus to other projects within our portfolio.

Given this, the [https://community.dawnofwar.com/discussion/15957/patch-upload-as-of-05-feb-2018 February 8th patch] was likely just Relic releasing whatever work they'd finished on the proposed expansion and fixing a couple remaining bugs before bidding the game farewell. With Relic now focusing primarily on Age of Empires IV, Dawn of War III has potentially become a Franchise Killer, though Relic and Sega are apparently in talks with [[Games Workshop|GW]], so time will tell. It should be noted that while Relic has no plans to produce major content, they are still patching and maintaining the game as well as putting out occasional Free-LC skins.

===What went wrong?===

Dawn of War III suffered pretty terribly from Relic basically having lost all the staff who made the original two dawn of war games in the intervening years and had to be replaced by a bunch of people less familiar with the genre or the expectations of the series. Like a lot of companies, the focus on the brand name obscures the fact that few people actually remain with a company over a long period of time, especially when Relic transferred over to Sega after THQ bit the dust and a lot of Relic's former talent left the studio with the collapse of their former publisher. This more than anything, hit the development cycle of Dawn of War III pretty hard, as well as a confused set of developmental priorities and the loss of the people who gave the previous two games their strong art direction, leading to a much less eye-catching aesthetic. While not an Aliens: Colonial Marines scale disaster in terms of development cycle, Dawn of War III was in many ways hamstrung before it ever left the gate.

There were clearly a lot of interesting and good ideas, there was the potential for a great traditional base-building RTS game to revive a genre many publishers regard as no longer worth major investment into. It's just that the execution was left in the less than capable hands given a Brand they weren't ready to bear the burden of. Dawn of War III's failure hurts not because it's irredeemably bad but because beneath all the many, horrible flaws is a lot of wasted or unrealised potential for something that could have been as good or better than its predecessors. All it needed was that same strong sense of direction they did rather than being a confused mess thrown together by a relatively inexperienced team under corporate mandate to get ''something'' out for early 2017 on the PC market while the golden child of Creative Assembly was still putting Total War: Warhammer II together.

===Dawn of War III Is Dead! Long Live Dawn of War III!===
After Relic announced they were stepping away from the game, a small community of fans and modders tried rallying together in an attempt to resurrect Dawn of War III through Twitch streams, community game nights, and new mods. The goal was to generate enough interest to get Relic to return to the game, or at least release more mod tools so the fans could pick up where they left off. Although Dawn of War III remains a mostly-dead game, there's still a dedicated [https://discord.gg/qtJYAd Dawn of War III Discord server] which hosts regular community game nights. If you still want to play online, this is the best way to do it.

== See Also ==
* [https://www.dawnofwar.com/ The Official Dawn of War site]
* [http://store.steampowered.com/app/285190/Warhammer_40000_Dawn_of_War_III/ Dawn of War III on Steam]
* [http://modding.dawnofwar.com/ Want to make a mod for the game? Start here.]
* [[Dawn of War Mods#Dawn of War III Modding|The list of /tg/-approved mods]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24U2fT8iOowRbzBHsulCAizV The game's soundtrack, which also includes a clean version of the trailer theme]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6lUjVLPU04 WAAAAAAAAAGHH!!]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfEp-ZuwiGE&t Totalbiscuit's review of the game, which highlights a number of problems from the perspective of someone who enjoyed the previous two titles.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OCWQelkjBg ZoranTheBear and ThunderPsyker's overview of the game, offering the opinions of a newcomer to the franchise and a veteran, respectively]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDTt_GOdyY Adam Millard's analysis of why the game failed. He does an excellent job discussing the issues of Dawn of War III while remaining fairly neutral and analytical.]
* [https://steamdb.info/app/285190/graphs/ Here are the game sales stats]
* [https://discord.gg/qtJYAd The Dawn of War III Discord Server]

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Don'tWorryDieHappy.gif|Don't Worry, Die Happy
Image:DoW3 Menu.jpg|The Main Menu, which shows the elites and paint scheme you currently have equipped.
Image:DoW3 Army Painter.jpg|The Army Painter
Image:DoW3 Elites Menu.jpg|The Elites Menu
Image:This has been dark work.PNG|[https://youtu.be/CjnvZtYl2fA?t=20s One fan's reaction] [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2316393822047631108 to the announcement of incoming modding tools]
Image:PrimarisAngelos.png|The [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|REAL reason]] for Gabriel Angelos' [[Primaris Marines|changes]] (the Godsplitter bullshit is just what they tell other loyalists who [[Inquisition|get too nosy]])
File:RetributionGabriel.JPG | Gabriel's Cut Original Model found Within Dawn of War III World Builder.
File:StandardofKaurava.JPG | Wargear Found in Dawn of War II Chaos Rising showing that relic did indeed plan for Gorgutz to win Soulstorm.
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Video Games]][[Category:Dawn of War]]

Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter

2021-12-04T21:07:25Z

2601:449:8280:2630:2999:DDAE:C238:12CD: /* On the Issue on Dawn of War 3 */

[[Image:Gorgutz.jpg|thumb|right|[[Awesome|The one and only.]]]]
{{Topquote|Listen up, ya grots an' squigs! Dey'z comin' for us like we'z some kinda humie gitz! But we ain't! We're da Orks, and dis is gonna be one GREAT FIGHT! So get yer choppas and yer shootas ready, boyz, 'cos dere's some killin' ta do!|Gorgutz rallies the troops, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade}}

'''Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter''' is an [[Ork]] [[Alpha Legion |Bloodaxe / evilsun / badmoon / cant make his fucking mind up which clan he's with]] [[Warboss]]-turned-[[Warlordz|Warlord]], and one of the primary recurring characters of [[Dawn of War]], having featured in every expansion since his introduction in [[Dawn of War#Winter Assault|Winter Assault]] and making a big return in [[Dawn of War III]]. Because he was such a big hit the first time, he is the leader of the Ork faction in each expansion. While not short of [[Gork|traditional Ork virtues]], Gorgutz is [[Mork|unusually crafty for an Ork]], and always ensures he has some method of escaping in the event that whatever [[WAAAGH]] he is leading happens to be defeated, conveniently reappearing some time later at the head of another WAAAGH (and in another expansion) somewhere else in the galaxy. He and [[Kaptin Bluddflagg]] are probably tied with [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] for the most fucking awesome Ork characters ever; although its worth noting that Gorgutz is humble enough to acknowledge Ghazghkull is far bigger and more powerful than him (for now anyway).

Gorgutz takes the appellation "'Ead 'Unter" thanks to his fondness for collecting the decapitated heads of significant foes. When questioned why he collects his foes' heads, he replied that heads look better impaled upon sharp sticks than feet do. A true philosophical [[Creed |genius.]]

As listening to any of his dialogue would probably indicate, Gorgutz is also exceptionally witty, which must surely be frustrating when the overwhelming majority of the company he keeps isn’t clever enough to understand, or appreciate, his wordplay. If he still had hands capable of such a precise gesture, you just know he’d be rubbing his temples and muttering “I’m surrounded by gitz.” He probably relishes fighting more intelligent races just as much for a chance at some proper verbal sparring as much as for the fight itself.

It is worth noting that Gorgutz was voiced by Brian Drummond. Who is notable as the voice of [[Anime|Vegeta in Dragonball Z]] and is the creator of [[Meme|OVER 9000]]!! Whether this is hilariously awesome or fail is a matter of some contention, though [[/tg/|experts]] espouse that it's both (and thus both fail ''and'' hilariously awesome). Fittingly enough, Gorgutz' HP does indeed go over 9000 when he's upgraded with wargear, which is either a [[This Guy|clever reference]] or [[That Guy|derp]] depending on who you ask.

And now, as of Dawn of war 3, Gorgutz is canonically the victor of Soul Storm. WAAAAAGH! indeed. He ends up being the one who gets the Spear of Khaine at the end of Dawn of War 3. However, the status on how ''true'' that is (Especially giving the sheer unreliability of WH40K fluff with the whole 'everything is propaganda and subjective in nature' shlick) has caused an immense of [[Skub]] and [[Rage]] among [[Vance Stubbs]] fans.

Hilariously, Michael Dobson, who voiced [[Crull]] in Winter Assault also provided the voice for Nappa in DBZ, so you have Nappa and Vegeta back together screaming threats and insults at one another via proxy.

==On the Issue on Dawn of War 3==
[[File:ORKZ ARE DA BEST.png|thumb|right|If you listen closely, you can hear the outrage of countless [[Vance Motherfucking Stubbs]] fans.]]

As mentioned, [[Dawn of War III]] has been a cauldron of [[Skub]], [[Rage]], [[Butthurt]] and [[Wat]] wrapped in one nice package. Some people take issue with Gorgutz's depiction in the game, saying that he should not be serving another Warboss, asking why he doesn't have an empire, saying he should not have left his empire if he did have one and that there's no way the Magpies could've survived if he won.

Dawn of War III does answer why all of this happens however, as it states that he did win, but left Kaurava (which he calls a dump and doesn't seem to care for at all) to go find other things to steal, as he stopped caring about Kaurava the second he learned that Acheron exists. He also started working for another Warboss specifically so that he could backstab him and take his forces. The question of why he doesn't bring his own empire with him to Acheron, or why he didn't just challenge Gitstompa in the first place is only answered with 'he didn't want to' but considering that these are the Orks, and that everything Gorgutz does is dictated by 'what Gorgutz wants', it's not as much of an ass-pull as it would be for anyone else.

Bitter, ruined guard anuses aside, the performance by Nathan Constance for Gorgutz is potentially one of the best examples of voice acting in the 40k universe, really bringing this controversial green bastard to life. Key lines involve the ordering of gretchins to their miserable deaths by clogging up machines with their bodies, and telling his minions that he WANT[S] DAT STICK!!!

==Anuvva retelling==
[[Image:Gorgutz Closeup.png|thumb|right|WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!]]
<span style='color:green;font-size:115%'>Gorgutz was da biggest and da strongest Ork on dat dere iceworld of Lorn V and he thought it would be fun to smash up dose spiky boy [[Chaos]] gits. Just as he wuz getting started on dat dough dem scrawny [[Imperial_Guard|Imperial Guard]] boyz showed up an’ Gorgutz realised dat deir leada had enough [[General_Sturnn|Grit]] ta make a much better head fur ‘is pointy-stick. 'As to be the 'ead as dat is where tha skull iz, and you’d look pretty stupid with someones foot on yer stik.</span>

<span style='color:green;font-size:115%'>Tings went quite well, dere was some good fighting and poncy [[Eldar]] and some of dose [[Necron]]-boyz showed up to get deir stompin’ but dere were not enuff heads on Gorgutz’s stik so he decided to head for Kronos.</span>

''(According to the plotline for Dawn of War: Dark Crusade General Alexander was sent to Kronus in pursuit of Farseer Taldeer. This means Gorgutz did not get her head and probably did not get General Sturnn’s or Alexander would have had that as a second reason for the pursuit. He did get Crull's skull, though, because Eliphas wanted to take it back from him. It's complicating still, because both Taldeer's and Sturnn's heads can be seen on a pointy fence sticks just outside his base.)''

<span style='color:green;font-size:115%'>Kronus wuz fun. Not only were dere more pointy Chaos boyz to fight, dere were also [[Space Marines]] and some of those [[Tau]] wusses. Wuz great fun watching a Squiggoth and a Greata Knarlox 'avin' a fight. Dose Eldar came back, an' dere was more Necron boyz to fight. Only problem wuz dat some of those Imperial Guard wimps had followed and Gorgutz had enuff normal humie heds already. Den dose Space Marines spoiled the fun more by beating up da Imperial Guard insteda leaving dem for Gorgutz’s boyz and den by being rather too good at beating up Gorgutz’s boyz as well. 'ad to blow up da base and go froo da tunnels.</span>

''(According to the plotline for Dawn of War II it was the Blood Ravens who attacked and conquered Victory Bay and as the Kronus Campaign is remembered as going well and their goal of recovering relics seemed to have been achieved the Blood Ravens likely won on Kronos. Boo. At least Gorgutz had a little fun.)''

<span style='color:green;font-size:115%'>Dere were some super tough Orks on a planet in the Kor-ruvva system but dey were da ones dat kept on running back to dere Ork-hold in sum mountains whenevva dey got a little beat up. Gorgutz decided to go and see if they could be made more Orky. Dis was a mixed success as all-dough dey managed to beat up sum Space Marine gitz de Imperial Guard boyz were ravva tuff an’ had a lot of dem big dakka tanks. Still, if dose Orks could be beaten up by humies dey were not much loss so after killing their leada' Gorgutz wandered off to find da next fight.</span>

''(According to the plotline for Dawn of War II the Blood Ravens remember [[Indrick_Boreale|Commander Boreale's]] campaign in the Kaurava system with shame, which they would if rather than the Blood Ravens dealing with the Ork problem the Orks dealt with them. [[Vance_Motherfucking_Stubbs|Vance Stubbs]] though shipped a hundred [[Baneblade|Baneblades]] to other provinces, which makes about 4 for every territory on the map and even De mighty Gorgutz could only beat up three at a time, which left the other one to beat up the rest of his army, unless dose tankbustaz boys were in da right places. Which they were, given that Gorgutz is the canon winner.)''

Gorgutz never reappeared in Dawn of War II, having been replaced by two Warboss Bonesmasha's, and then the Kunnin' Kaptin Bluddflagg. We can only hope that Gorgutz hires out Kaptin Bluddflagg in Dawn of War III. On that note, there's no word on Bluddflagg yet, but Dawn of War III has been announced. <span style='color:green;font-size:115%'> Guess who'z back, ya grots and squigs!</span> Dawn of War III revealed that he's coming back along with Gabriel Angelos and Farseer Macha, and with all three races supposedly having their own story play out through the campaign you can already count on ol' Gorgutz completely stealing the show. Also, it seems that he is now a Bad Moon, replaced his regular Ork Power Klaw with what looks like a [[Defiler|Defiler's]] [[Awesome|close combat weapon]] <strike>and has evidently re-grown his left hand</strike> <span style='color:green;font-size:115%'>I NEVA LOST MY LEFT ARM IT WAS UNDER ARMUR YA GROTZ ZOGGING 'ELL I FOUGT DAT STUPID WAZ DA ONLY GIT I AD TA DEAL WIV.</span>, or at the very least got a cybork replacement.

== Combat Ability ==

[[Image:GORGUTZ 'EAD 'UNTER.png|thumb|right|His DoW 3 Appearance.]]
When Gorgutz gets all his wargear in Dark Crusade and Soulstorm he is absolutely fucking deadly in combat as he has an absolutely FUCKHUEG hit point count (somewhat bigger in Dark Crusade than in Soulstorm as his Banner increased his health in the former game but not the latter) which can be made even larger by getting the tougher bosses upgrade, he will be ridiculously fast (for someone with such stubby legs like him any way), do FUCKHUEG amounts of damage to all armor types in melee, deal huge amounts of damage at range (270 something per hit... that is if he could hit while moving... damn 15% on the move accuracy), does constant Morale damage with his skull rack and will count as two Waaagh! Banners with the banner (duh), but in Soulstorm he will also decrease the recruiting time of your units, which is awesome as it allows you to crank out Orks more quickly.

Gorgutz is capable of beating any-other fully-upgraded commander in Dawn of War with five exceptions: Either Necron Lord, should they take Lightning Field, Will do the bulk of Gorgutz' meaty damage back to him and ergo fuck Gorgutz' shit up (especially if he has Phylactery as well) and he can simply obliterate Gorgutz if he uses the essence of the Nightbringer ((Actually the fully upgraded necron lord will pretty easily kill pretty much any of the other commanders in a fair fight, especially with the right artifacts, and especially in soulstorm where he becomes even more ridiculously overpowered)), and [[Eliphas]] is capable of flat-out demolishing even Gorgutz due to his knockback immunity and access to Daemonic strength and higher raw damage. [[Firaeveus Carron|Carron]] isn't quite as capable of fucking up Gorgutz' shit, because he isn't as powerful in melee (Eliphas is ''considerably'' stronger damage-wise, in exchange for Carron being able to inflict a lot more morale damage), but he can still mess Gorgutz up, coming away with slightly more HP at the end of a fight between the two (again, knockdown immunity). In a raw range-vs-range fight, Gorgutz can beat [[Shas'o Kais]] if he has his Kustom Shoota if Kais lacks upgrades, but will lose to him if he has either the launcher or Iridium Armor, and will reliably get utterly trashed in ranged combat by [[Commander Or'es'Ka]].

Ironically, the Daemon Prince forms of both Carron and Eliphas are incapable of defeating Gorgutz in close-combat due to Gorgutz' high anti-Daemon damage. Finally, [[Caerys]] in Soulstorm is capable of being a cheesy cunt, since her upgraded pistol can one-shot kill Gorgutz if he gets under 20% HP, which makes sense considering it [[Eldrad|belonged to a huge dick]]. Of course, if you are lucky you can kill her before it ever gets to that.

He will be able to practically steamroll entire bases on his own and will be an excellent commander killer, and in a pinch he can really help out when you take on those pesky relic units. He has two indestructible modes, ranged and attached to Flash Gitz, or melee and attached to Nobs. Both are totally rapetastic.

== So which Klan is he actually with? ==

It's rare to see Orks abandon one klan in favour for another (although it does happen from time to time) but Gorgutz is unique in the sense that he changes his allegiance every single time he's seen in game. In his first appearance (Winter Assault) people assumed he was an Evil Sun due to his colour scheme (mainly speedy red) and his obsession to make his suit go faster, but in his next appearance (Dark Crusade) he all but ditches the red colour scheme for a far more generic look, he can still paint on some red to his mek suit to make himself go faster but no self respecting Evil Sun would only paint himself "partially" red; his sneaky and rather un-orky act of running the fuck away in defeat made everyone believe he was definitely a Blud Axe.

Only for Dawn of War 3 to come around and change him into a Bad Moon for seemingly no reason.
We can start by listing all the Klans to see how he measures up:

''' 1) Snakebites '''

Gorgutz couldn't be any less of a Snakebite if he tried; he wears a big mek suit all the time and has absolutely no interest in "Da Old Ways", although he does subjugate some feral Orks into his WAAAGH during Dark Crusade and sees their niche if nothing else.

''' 2) Death Skulls '''

While Gorgutz does partake in a proper orky amount of looting, no Death Skull Warboss wouldn't try to at least get an enemy vehicle working or two; also he has no interest in trying to properly salvage the titan in Winter Assault (instead just pounding it into scrap to piss Crull off) so him being a Death Skull is unlikely.

''' 3) Goffs '''

Its pretty obvious that Gorgutz isn't a goff; he wears colours all the time and no self respecting goff Warboss would run away like a bitch the way he does when defeated.

''' 4) Freebooter '''

He does hire some freebooter mercenaries to bulk up his WAAAGH from time to time (and he is also capable of working with other species until backstabbing them) but makes no effort to steal away any valuables and quite frankly doesn't have the dress sense to make a proppa freebooter.

''' 5) Bad Moons '''

Despite his colour scheme in DOW 3 he doesn't show to many Bad Moon traits; he doesn't seem massively rich (though he was able to get a Mekboy to give his armour a seriously neat arm upgrade) his fighting style prefers melee rather than the bad moons signature FIRE EVERYTHING strategy. Bad moon orks are also known to grow teeth at a much faster rate than regular orks, a trait that Gorgutz lacks.

''' 6) Evil Suns '''

While Gorgutz does love going fast and does paint his armour suitably red (most of the time) it seems that his love for speed is more for practical reasons (such as getting into close range quicker because his gun sucks dick even when fully upgraded) rather than your average Evil Sun obsession with going faster for the sake of going faster. He also never rides around in his own bike or buggy; when being an Evil Sun Warboss a fast moving vehicle should at least be at your side at all times

''' 7) Blud Axes '''

Gorgutz does everything the blud axe way:
Is he in trouble? He retreats!
Does it take stabbing a previous Warboss in the back to take his WAAAGH? Just abandon him to the enemy and destroy his weapons!
Does he want a brand new pointy stick? Team up with an Eldar!
Does he see a commissar with a nice hat? I WANT THAT HAT!
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[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Dawn of War]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Orks]]

{{Ork-Gitz}}

BMP

2021-12-04T20:46:43Z

2601:449:8280:2630:2999:DDAE:C238:12CD: /* IRL */

The '''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty''' or "'''BMP'''" for short, is a series of simple but reliable Infantry Fighting Vehicles produced by the Soviet Union, widely known for writing the modern rulebook on IFVs. Its main gun changed over time, but a consistent trademark was an ATGM (at least, for IRL Soviet crews) in combination with a lighter vehicle weapon that could target vehicles and infantry. Throughout the Cold War, the Pact's shock armies were characterized by regiments of mechanized infantry following on the heels of the tank forces: a thought which put the fear of god into any Western trooper on the ground.

The vehicle combines the role of a light tank and APC, allowing it to transport troops, provide heavier fire support for assaulting infantry and engage enemy armour as needed.

==In Team Yankee==

===BMP-1===
[[File:BMP-1 Stat Card.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Bimping our way to Victory!]] [[File:BMP-1.jpg|300px|right|thumb|BMP-1]]
The BMP comes in two different flavours for the motor-rifle company; the anti-armour BMP-1 and the autocannon toting BMP-2. Both have the traditional national profiles, with Soviet crews having superior discipline while EG crews are capable of performing orders with some reliability.

[[M1 Abrams|Against NATO's latest offerings]], the BMP-1's Sagger missile AT19 is totally unable to penetrate. However, the BMP-1 distinguishes itself from the rest of the Soviet mechanized fleet by providing cheap, massed 3+ FP. While incapable of defeating tanks, its raw stats can comfortably destroy literally anything else with enough shots.

However Free Nations and Oil Wars have introduced more competitive lightly armored options: if your local meta loves their Leopard 1s and AMX-30s, the Sagger is more than capable of automatically penetrating, and you will only need to pass a 3+ test to kill or bail.

Ultimately, a solid anti-armour vehicle suited to probing weak points in the enemy line, flanking and engaging enemy soft-skins. Depending on your meta, the BMP-1 might be strictly better than the BMP-2 whose superior penetration has little benefit in a lightly-armoured meta.

===BMP-1 Recon===

The BMP-1 Recon platoon is an active recon unit that expands your deployment zone and packs the same armaments as its groundfighting counterpart.

While Soviet players would probably find the BMP-2 to be better for armed recon, BMP-1s allow you to bring light HEAT weapons to the field in small numbers. For one point per vehicle in a platoon of 2-4, you are paying NATO costs for recon without the scout ruling. In most cases, you will have the option to field even more BMP-2s through your motorized infantry. Complementing your autocannons with some 73mm cannon support, killing whatever is too dangerous to risk a remount.

East German, Polish and East German players will find that the BMP-1 is the total opposite of the [[BRDM-2]]: it costs twice the price but has the muscle to punch through light vehicles. This is a case where units are chosen by playstyle: neither is an amazing unit and both have their pros and cons but are a totally essential component of any list, competitive or casual.

===BMP-1 OP (Observation Post)===
[[File:TS117.jpg|300px|left|thumb|]]
The BMP-1 OP is dedicated artillery spotter available to all PACT forces and can only be purchased as an attachment to an artillery battery.

Equipped with a PKT machine gun, the BMP looks identical to a regular BMP-1 with the turret housing improved optics for observation instead of a cannon, with a machine gun for self-defence against infantry. In addition to improving calls for fire by one, you also get an additional unit leader which can designate targets for fire.

While it is highly recommended in all PACT artillery units but the Dana, it is absolutely essential for the Soviets if their list includes artillery. With 5+ skill, you WILL fail calls for fire when your illiterate platoon commanders use the wrong protocols. 4+ skill may not be 'good' in the slightest, but it is the only way for your artillery to have even a modicum of reliability.

You may purchase a BMP-1 OP for one point with any artillery battery.

(if you want to have a little diversity in your force you can always use the BTR-50 model from Fate of a Nation or NAM as a stand in. Wait ... a 2/2/1 amphibious APC armed only with a PKT? Battlefront, are you sure you didn't mean to use an actual BTR-50 for this card?)
{{clear}}

===BMP-2===
[[File:BMP-2 Stat Card.png|300px|left|thumb|]] [[File:BMP-2.jpg|300px|right|thumb|BMP - 2]]
''Updated for Team Yankee V2''

On the other hand, the BMP-2 pays a price premium for a more versatile kit. Toting an AT21 ATGM and a 3/2 ROF autocannon, it has a weapon for every situation. While autocannons may be poor choices to kill, they can force mass bails with many failed FP tests. They fare rather poorly against infantry as well, lacking the LAVs' ROF 3 on the move. Their autocannons do boast anti-helicopter though, so you could use them as part of your AA net if needed. Unique to the game, the BMP-2 provides a cheap source of mechanized, massed ATGM fire. As expected, these are best used in a defensive role to trade against enemy tanks. With NATO's firepower advantage, expect to take losses before firing a volley of missiles (unless you pass a blitz order, of course). A versatile unit capable of handling any situation, but expensive.

Looking at the armament, you might consider the BMP-2 a squishier, faster and cheap ATGM carrier: it may be expensive for a transport but holy shit, is it cheap for an ATGM carrier. Positioned on open ground in the greatly feared 'parking lot' formation, it is literally impossible for NATO units to trade effectively in a head-on engagement. The BMP-2 may be expensive, but its also the most cost-effective transport: unlike NATO transports which only carry ATGMs if the infantry are sacrificed to the Machine God, Soviet transports have free ATGMs capable of popping a Leopard 2 in numbers. A very dependable unit for your arsenal. YMMV now considering the entrance of the new British and US super heavies which are immune to AT21, BMP-1s may be a cheaper alternative to take out those pesky Bradleys.

Like most 'light' vehicles, this unit is hard countered by heavy artillery like the 2S3 Akatsiya and the M109. Expect a parking lot to dish out horrendous damage, but also be vapourized if hit by 155mm artillery.

===BMP-2 Recon===
[[File:TS111.jpg|300px|left|thumb|]]
The BMP-2 Recon platoon is a unit unique to the Soviets in their battalions and can be taken in the Recon slot, alongside the BMP-1 and BRDM-2.

For 1.5 points per unit, you can purchase a platoon of BMP-2s with 2 or 4 vehicles. As with the BMP-1 Recon, you are paying a premium over the BRDM-2 for superior armaments. Spearhead is essential, and autocannons are weapons which excel at close range where they can punch through the side armour of some tanks like the Chieftain: you do NOT have HEAT, and your AT is enough to comfortably go through all light vehicles and have a chance of bailing tanks. However, a player wishing to get autocannons close in would probably just deploy a company of Motorstrelki in the expanded deployment zone and toss their BMP-2s into the fray.

A passable option for some players, but somewhat redundant in a Soviet list.
{{clear}}

===Warsaw Pact variants===
Unlike Daddy Gorbachev's fighting men, Warsaw Pact nations do not get access to mass BMP-2s. Only one BMP-2 mounted infantry company may be purchased in each BMP motor rifle battalion. The Czechs and Poles are also able to bring one BMP-2 mounted infantry company in any of their T-72M tank battalions. Wheeled motor rifle battalions and T-55AM2 tank battalions may NOT bring any BMP-2 mounted infantry. The Bulgarian version of the BMP-2 got a 23mm autocannon instead of the 30mm, but its stats are identical. India's BMP-2 has a launcher for the MILAN ATGM instead of the 9M113.

4+ skill in the PACT nations synergizes with multiple small units of BMPs, blitzing into range and using their cannons or ATGMs against light armour. Polish and East German BMP mounted troops share the same cost as the Soviet list.

Nevertheless, the BMP-2 is an undercosted and deadly vehicle that punches FAR beyond its weight. Highly recommended, if you are playing a mechanized (BMP) infantry list. The cost discounts and stat buffs make these units even more dangerous than their Soviet counterparts...with the limit of only one company of them.

Otherwise, the BMP-1 is a vehicle that can go toe to toe with anything but the latest NATO main battle tanks. It might have a weak-ish missile and an outdated gun, but it's only a little more expensive than a BTR. Consider your list building needs before writing either unit off: PACT players do not have the chance to count on overpowered units to save their poor list building choices and really do have to know their units and roles inside out to play properly. Do not discount the utility of the 73mm gun for lobbing HE for direct-fire infantry support, either, especially in built-up areas.

==IRL==
The [[wikipedia:BMP-1|BMP-1]] was a revolution in armored warfare as it pioneered the Infantry Fighting Vehicle, combining the Armored Personnel Carrier with the light [[tank]] to create a vehicle that could not only safely carry troops under fire, but also use its own firepower to support them. Armed with a 73mm cannon and ATGM, the BMP, introduced in 1966, was able to take out contemporary enemy tanks and light vehicles on its own, but wasn't expected to fight enemy infantry. Why? Because BMP was designed specifically for a special kind of war that never happened, being radiation-shielded so that in the event of a nuclear attack, Soviet infantry could still advance in the depth of enemy territory in hazardous conditions, no matter the odds (that thing floats and is able to traverse rivers with ease, but isn't as heavily armoured as it could be), cross it, then get out of their metal box and hold the line until fuel and ammo could be brought and BMP itself decontaminated. You wouldn't expect to meet a lot of infantry in an irradiated zone, now would you? The BMP seemingly has major flaw in the fact that the rear doors are the fuel tanks, but this is not exactly true. You see, the BMP has a main tank in the hull, the door tanks are used for road marches and long range non combat movement and are supposed to be cut off from fuel lines(the mid to high octane fuel used by military vehicles acts as a decent radiation buffer),drained and filled with sand before operations, for extra protection and fire safety, a standard practice in soviet vehicles and their limited spaces, yet not exactly mastered when used by someone who received them from abroad: there is a story of entire Egypt tank company abandoning their tanks during Six-Day War because they used internal tanks for the march instead of outer ones and were caught with their pants down when the actual fighting begun. The BMP-1 has terrible main gun elevation meaning if anyone is high enough the vehicle can't shoot them. It was/is the perfect height however to accidentally fire into the backs of the infantry it had just carried to the front, as was also discovered during the Six-Day War.

Eventually though, the BMP-1 couldn't keep up with the demands placed by evolution of materiel, the Soviets started looking for a successor (or not exactly, they first went with a stopgap upgrade to the BMP-1 allowing it to shoot the more modern SACLOS 9M113 "Konkurs" missile which adressed the most pressing matter of its weapons no longer doing jack shit to a MBT) and it was eventually succeeded by the BMP-2 in 1980. The BMP-2, while broadly similar to the BMP-1, replaced the now obsolete 73mm AT cannon with a quick-firing 30mm autocannon meat to deal with any marauding infantry/light vehicle/low-flying helicopter (thus fixing the no anti-infantry weaponry and elevation issues) and kept the 9M113 "Konkurs" to have a chance in case any of the big boys came out to play. The BMP-2 would in turn go through various upgrades and improvements as time went on. It is notable that both the BMP-1 (though those in Russian service have been updated to the BMP-1M standard, with the 9M113 antitank missile replacing the obsolete 9M14 Malyutka) and BMP-2 (and the newer, even more modern BMP-3, which has a 100mm gun in its turret for infantry support, armor comparable to current production Brads, and ERA tiles on the front of the turret and hull) are still in use today. Because, tovaritch, if thing is still of working you no need fix it! Panjemajo? BMP-1 has been very widely exported around the world, BMP-2 less so, BMP-3 rarely seen outside of Russian military parades and it is uncertain how many have actually been manufactured.

Oh and if the BMP looks a bit familiar to you Imperial Guard treadheads, yes, it was indeed the inspiration behind the [[Chimera Transport|Chimera]]. And by "inspiration," we mean that (in true GW fashion) if there was a company that made 28mm BMP models you would be able to proxy them for Chimeras almost perfectly, as there really isn't any appreciable difference between the two vehicles.

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{East German Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Polish Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Czech Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}
[[Category:Team Yankee]]
[[Category:Vehicles]]