Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault

[InnocentBystander]

Well assuming DoW keeps with codex rules fairly well, can I expect 1 control group of IG soldiers to be, most likely, worth 1 infantry point (or half 1 even?). IE, if I have 1 squad of banshees, they'll have 2 squads of guardsmen (of some variety), which means I have to get my banshees to grab 2 groups into melee combat to show them a good time?

What kinda range do they have compared to your average SM?

[Hotfoot]

IIRC, a single guardsman costs less than an Ork, but more than a grot. Take that how you will.

Firepower range is equal to that of SM, but actual firepower is not as strong.

[Shinova]

1 squad of Guardsmen will probably be cheaper than SM and may or may not cost only 1 pop. But definetly cheaper, and cheaper to reinforce and stuff. So for each Banshee or marine squad, the opponent could have two or three Guardsmen squads.


I wonder what their heroes will be.

[Hotfoot]

Chances are Commisars as Warlock analogs, but beyond that, I'm not certain. Commisar Yarrick comes to mind, but they've stayed away from named hero units thus far.

[SAMAS]

Hate to burst your bubble, but that's /concept/ art, just using the in-game engine.

Actually, it's likely 1st-stage testing, using the Cadian models as stand-ins. According to Relic, they're rebuilding the Guard from the ground up(Likely Valhallan-based, going by the name).

So it may be three Baneblades, or they may have decided it was too much by now.

[SAMAS]

This, of course, begs the question of why in the Emperor's name the Space Marines tool around in a glorified pickup truck (Land Raider) when there are nice, shiny Baneblade tanks just begging to be used. SCREW APC CAPABILITY.

Because big-ass tanks like the Baneblade aren't the Marines' style. The Land Raider is designed to run up through enemy fire and drop a squad of Terminators(sometimes other Marines) into the middle of an enemy troop formation.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I wonder what their heroes will be.

My bets are on a Command Squad consisting of the actual "hero" colonel (who would obviously be much much weaker than the other races' heroes), but comes with a unique squad to compensate. Say, a medic, a standard bearer, a vox-op, and a special weapons guy. Commissars are a must, but there's a zillion different ways they could be implemented. My bets are on a system similar to the SM's Apothecaries. If so, a secondary commander could perhaps be a captain + squad, a command Leman Russ or Salamander, or perhaps a hardened veteran squad. Whatever it is, it will probably match one of the Guard's themes: mass infantry or mass armor. In tabletop Guard really do not have the uberunit commander sorts that other armies possess. Even a Heroic Senior Officer is not very impressive:

WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W3 I4 A3 Ld9 Sv5+

Compared to a Space Marine with Terminator Honours:

WS4 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 Ld9 Sv3+

The single most powerful Guard model has 2 more wounds (as befitting a commander model), an extra attack, but has worse strength and toughness, not to mention a pathetic armor save, compared to a marginally upgraded standard Space Marine. Add to this that Guard have no special rules of any major note (Doctrines aside), while Marines have And They Shall Know No Fear, not to mention Drop Pods.

EDIT: Termie Honours actually raise Leadership to 9! Editted accordingly.

[Raxmei]

Hopefully they'll preserve the awesome power of Guard infantry. Some of the most effective tabletop armies are all infantry. They can pack in a lot of firepower and many armies find they literally can't kill enough Guardsmen to make a difference.

I'd rather see Basilisks than Baneblades myself. Superheavies are pretty rare, whereas Basilisks are a much more common vehicle with a sensible use.

Could you imagine what Starcraft fans would say if Tyranids were brought in as a new race? Tyranids appeared in 40k before Starcraft, but people who are only familiar with DoW might think they were copying the Zerg.

[White Haven]

Yeah, and that's a damn shame. Sometimes I wonder how Blizzard avoided getting denutted over them, especially the Zerglings and Hydralisks.

[Temjin]

Actually, it's likely 1st-stage testing, using the Cadian models as stand-ins. According to Relic, they're rebuilding the Guard from the ground up(Likely Valhallan-based, going by the name).

So it may be three Baneblades, or they may have decided it was too much by now.

While I'm glad that the generic Cadians probably won't be in the game, I'm still kinda disappointed. I'd love to be able to play a Mordian force.

[Petrosjko]

I actually saw a couple of posters over at the DoW boards claiming that the Eldar were copied from the Protoss, back when I browsed there. That got cleared up in a hurry.

[White Haven]

Idiots. Warhammer is /hardly/ a new universe.

[Petrosjko]

I had a friend who was a major Starcraft fanatic for years. After he got into DoW and I explained the larger backstory to him, he said he'd never be able to look at Starcraft the same way.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Hopefully they'll preserve the awesome power of Guard infantry. Some of the most effective tabletop armies are all infantry. They can pack in a lot of firepower and many armies find they literally can't kill enough Guardsmen to make a difference.

I'd rather see Basilisks than Baneblades myself. Superheavies are pretty rare, whereas Basilisks are a much more common vehicle with a sensible use.

Could you imagine what Starcraft fans would say if Tyranids were brought in as a new race? Tyranids appeared in 40k before Starcraft, but people who are only familiar with DoW might think they were copying the Zerg.

Eh... Basilisks have some pretty extreme range. Not really suitable for DoW's close and visceral firefights. The Guard mod uses an immobile Earthshaker cannon as their superunit with a really, really slow recharge rate (it can, as you might expect, fire anywhere on the map). And at any rate, fluffwise there are likely more Baneblades and its variants in existance than there are suits of Tactical Dreadnought armor, and SMs get Terminators.