Warhammer40k: Dawn of War II: Retribution Beta Impressions

In the 41st Millennium, there is only war…In the Retribution beta, there is only war and Balancing!For those of you who have yet to experience the multiplayer for the upcoming Retribution game. I suggest you stop reading this and quickly get yourself a beta key before the open beta expires later this month.

Featuring six playable Races/Factions, Relics Retribution beta is probably the most ambitious beta event to date. With new units to try and new maps to fight over, it's a wonder why Relic has waited only till recently to open up its beta doors for Retribution.

"We Shall beat them not by our weapons, but by our numbers!" 
by nameless Commisar Lord

The Biggest feature of this new stand alone expansion would be the inclusion of the new Imperial Guard faction. Playing them brings you back down to earth. You realise just how helpless, numerous and overpowered they can be in a head to head match.

The Imperial Guards or IGs as they are more commonly known in the DOW2 fan base are known for their numbers. A single squad fully upgraded can easily be enforced with 10 units of soldiers excluding the Commissar and Sergeant units. What make matters even worse is that they are extremely cheap to reinforce in case you happen to lose some during a fight.

What this means is that IGs are a tough nut to crack, starting extremely fragile and becoming a force powerful enough to make your fat "Great Unclean One" scream in terror.

Who Has The Biggest Gun?

When it comes to playing IG, it's always about bringing out the loudest and biggest toys the Imperium of Man has to offer.

In the IG's initial arsenal of units, you have your standard Guardsmen, Catachan Devils (imagine Rambo but 10 more of him), The Sentinel (by-pedal walker) and Heavy weapons team.



Orgryns are powerful melee units. A little slow in the head though.



These are enough to basically 'Hold the Line' in any situation. Once hitting Tier 2, you're introduced to more powerful units including the Orgryns (the only melee units IG has to offer).

In Tier 3, you're given access to the Leman Russ and the biggest tank in the Imperium of Man. The Baneblade.

"And we shall guide them into battle for the Glory of the Imperium!"

Given the number of units at your disposal, what is then required are suitable commanders (hero units) to lead them charging into battle.

The Inquisitor....sexy, powerful, dangerous and dress in 'Black'. What more do you want? 

Introducing the Inquisitor, The Lord Commissar and The Lord General. Each commander plays differently from the other, featuring a whole new set of wargear as well as tactics/strategies that amplifies their strengths on the fields of battle.

First we have the Offensive commander, The nimble and fast moving Inquisitor that features psychic spells to stop your enemies completely or slow them down so that your troops can shred them with ranged firepower. She excels at fighting lone enemy commanders, however, she can be upgraded to fight hordes of enemy squads if needed. Her weakness is that she’s extremely fragile compared to other commanders of her class.

The Defensive Commander, The Lord General. A unique Commander which instead of equipping wargear, has a entourage of bodyguards which also grants him abilities to support and buff your own infantry. Extremely weak in melee, he’s probably the only hero to be able to wield a sniper rifle with only a single hand and snipe enemies hundreds of meters away.

As described in his class, this commander is mainly for defense. This means you will find yourself playing a more defensive game against enemies which are deadlier than yours during the early portions of battles.



The Commissar; It's fortunate that in Dawn of War 2, there isn't such a thing called 'Friendly Fire'



Finally we have the Lord Commissar, the IG's Support commander. Don't let the support class description fool you; the Commissar can easily hold his own against even a Warboss if upgraded. His strengths are that of fighting in the face of the enemy, by shouting profanities at them with his tongue (some even say It's sharper than his power sword) and cutting them down with either power fist or sword.

Being the support commander that he is, he either inspires his troops with executions(similar to WWII Red Army executions) or bring terror to enemies with 'One shotting’ a single unit in an enemy squad. Furthermore, his wargear provides him with essential buffs that either heal or increase the damage output of normal guardsmen. Overall he’s probably my favourite commander of the three (and probably the most overpowered in my opinion)

Each commander also comes with unique Global abilities that range from Hellfire strikes (Airstrikes that cause a place to burn for a few seconds), artillery barrages, calling in more reinforcements or quickly placing a heavy turret onto the battlefield.

In any case, playing the Imperial Guards is a fun and unique experience which is worth trying even if you're not a fan of this faction (or even if your not a fan of DOW2).

Weapons of Mass Destruction

In the 40k universe, it's all about war. With war comes technology, and with technology comes bigger and badder toys at your disposal. Relic understands this well and has decided that each faction/race deserves what they call 'Epic unit'. All races now have either a ranged vehicle or melee walker that is capable of dishing out a lot of pain and take it in return(Editors note- basically a tank).

The Baneblade, one of the biggest tank the Imperium of Man has to offer in the Warhammer40k universe

As mentioned before, the Imperial Guards have the Baneblade. A tank so big that it can easily hold 11 different weapons and withstand any sort of damage....as long as it's supported by infantry.

The Space Marines are now given the widely demanded 'Land Raider' featuring twin heavy flamers, a single storm bolter turret and a Grenade launcher. Built to withstand even more damage than the average tank, its main purpose on the field is to act as a mobile fortress or base. Allowing your troops to heal and reinforce when near.

Another cool feature that it brings is the ability to retreat to the Raider instead of dashing hundreds of meters towards your base(Editors note- similar to what Company Of Heroes did with the Brits in Opposing Fronts).

The Orkz, get the Battlewagon. A vehicle which looks like it was stolen out of someone's construction site and then heavily modified for warfare. You able to garrison units as well as reinforce but it lacks the staying power of the land Raider. It makes up for this with faster movement speed and some wacky Orkish abilities that would leave you shouting "Waargh" every time.

All factions get new epic units like the Tyranids epic 'Katana' claw swinging Swarmlord

The Tyranids get the Swarmlord. A monster class unit which looks similar to that of the Hive Tyrant except its twice as big, carrying 4 Katana looking claws and looks like it just got up from the wrong side of the Hive. The Swarmlord gives off a nice speed boost synapse as well as allowing your troops to reinforce in the battlefield. Its claws can be used to shred either armour or infantry and can leech health off  of them as well.

The Eldar are given the Authriach, a melee heavy fighter unit which acts as both an assaulter and  a supporter given what sort of situation you find yourself in. Be it instant healing or speed/damage boost, their female fighter can quick jump into anyone's aid (literally)

The Chaos Space Marines receives a new support class unit called the Noise Marines. Sporting large Sound blasters (literally shooting high pitch noise at the enemy - Editors note - I'm sure you don't mean the sound card :) ) that can disable any ranged infantry potential to open fire upon them and disrupt their attack (devastating against Imperial Guardsmen).

These guys can also be upgraded to act as long range support units, similar to that of the Space Marine Plasma Devastator squad.

GFWL VS Steam

Having dropped Games for Windows Live for Steamworks was well received by fans, and it proved to be the right one as well.

During the first week of the beta, patches were quickly implemented and distributed via Steam. This was an improvement from the days of waiting on Microsoft to approve updates before they were allowed to be distributed to players. Furthermore, the biggest improvement are the non-existence of 'Nat Failure' errors. No longer will anyone suffer the fate of seeing the dreaded "Cannot join due to Nat Failure" screen.

Relic has also announce that players are now able to customise their own badges or logos for their custom armies. Further improving their Army painting options(I'm sure someone is bound to create a 'Penis' badge sooner or later). Relic has also included a 'show custom badge' option to turn off ingame badges, for those who can't take a joke.

Strategy and Tactics

With six playable races now and with each given an 'Epic' unit of their own, the tides of war have turned and for the better. The battles now feel bigger than it ever was when the game first launch back in 2009. Feeling a lot closer to what it was back when Dawn of War was released back in the early 2000s. It definitely is a darker 41st Millennium.

Overall from playing the Beta, I can see where Relic is heading with its product. A faster and more stable game with quick support from the developers as well as staying true to its PC gaming fan base.

It's hard to say what the future will hold for the franchise at this point, however from what I've experience in the beta, it could be a brighter Millennium.


Read the review here