Winter Assault is part two of my 2022 Dawn of War binge and this review only concerns the campaign. Winter Assault tackles my 3 biggest issues with Dawn of War's campaign which were:

1. Only playing as one race (Space Marines),
2. Lack of mission variety (Every mission was build a base from scratch and wipe everything),
3. Wonky unit pathing (Too often my units got stuck between each other, the terrain or my buildings and I would have to build new ones).

I presume that the pathing was fixed by improving the AI and its certainly improved for the 4 races from Dawn of War. You get to play as the 4 non-Space Marine factions in 2 campaigns, Order (Imperial Guard and Eldar) and Disorder (Orks and Chaos Space Marines) with the missions in each swapping between the factions.

The Imperial Guard are the new faction and they SUCK. They have no tools to deal with vehicles on an infantry-level which is odd because they're an infantry-based faction, they require constant micromanaging because of the big squad size, small unit health and reliance on leaders, and they have the same pathing issues from Dawn of War. They are not complimented by the Eldar, who also have issues of fragility and they have an abundance of units that excel at one task only, meaning loads of units that are ineffectual. Both Order factions don't even have fun personalities and combined with the poor balancing it makes the Order campaign a slog.

On the other hand, the Disorder campaign is fantastic. The Orks are a well-balanced faction with the right tools for every situation, I never had pathing issues in spite of the large squad sizes, their dialogue and unit names are hilarious and their side of each mission is a linear rampage with little base management, something sorely missing from the first game. They're paired perfectly with the Chaos Space Marines who are the perfect amount of mustache-twirling, Saturday morning cartoon villainy that I can't help but find them endearing. They aren't as strong as the Space Marines or Orks but their units are fun to use and there's a nice variety. The interactions between the Disorder faction leaders were hilarious and their sibling-like rivalry is the perfect tonal contrast with the gravity of the situation, its like playing a black comedy. Unlike Order, I wanted to get both endings for Disorder because of how much I liked the factions.

So to summarize, the Order campaign was a frustrating slog where you control two underpowered factions with all the personality of a wet rag and the Disorder campaign was a total joy where you control two competent factions with absurd amounts of levity. I give Winter Assault a 3 out 5, while it rectifies a lot of my issues with Dawn of War, it introduces others but is otherwise enjoyable enough to keep me hooked on the franchise.

Warhammer 40, 000 Dawn of War: Winter Assault is the first masterpiece expansion of the series.

In this game you can play a “good” and “bad” campaign in which you either play as the newly introduced Imperial Guard, or the vile forces of Chaos and the Ork horde.

In the good campaign, the Imperial Guards are searching for a “Titan war machine” that is taken by the heretics of Chaos somewhere on a cold, freezing planet. Meanwhile, the Eldar are also present and try to avoid the awakening of one of the most dangerous foes of the universe, the Necrons. They are, of course, hindered and mistrusted by the patriotic Imperial Guard and the Space Marines, like usual.

In the bad campaign, you defend the Titan war machine from the Imperial Guard with the Chaos Space Marines, and with the Orks, fulfill your own agenda (which mostly consists out of shoot and smash stuff).

You play as the Imperial Guard this time, the main fighting force of the Imperium of Man. The Imperial guard is known for its low endurance, cowardliness and is overall hard to control and master.

This innovative approach of playing is really challenging and fun. You use your commissars to keep your soldiers in line, need to upgrade your tech drastically and need to bring in you elite units like the Kasrkin and the Ogryns, as fast as possible.

I really like the harsh culture, discipline, and emotion of the Imperial Guard, they are really well implemented. Soldiers whimper and cry when they are killed, the cut scenes and lore show commissars executing their own soldiers for being cowards and the zero-tolerance policy is just amazingly done. It really gives the feeling of a real, present-day army, in which not everyone is the fearless Space Marine that does not fear death. It also shows the struggle with keeping the morale high and the cause to fight for.

The Imperial Guard can become really, really powerful when the right upgrades, leader attachments and combinations are made. A single squad of Guardsmen without any leader feels like cannon fodder, and in most cases, they are. The first time attacking an Orc Nob Squad with a single squad of Guardsmen got me thinking: “These poor souls don’t stand a chance”. But combine them with some cold-blooded commissars and back them up by some Sentinels and Kasrkin and they will become invincible. You really play in numbers, rather then strength.

The multiplayer is also greatly improved in Winter Assault and is way more balanced than the first Dawn of War game. There are also new units for the Eldar, the Orks and the Chaos Empire. One for each faction.

The sound and graphics did not change much from the first game, although the Imperial Guard units come with their own models and new animations. I liked the laser attacks from the Karskins and Sentinels, and the hail fire from the Ogryns. The icy and snowy planet environment is also really well done and gives you the feeling of fighting in Russia during WWII.

The fresh style of playing, the careful strategic use of your units and resources made this game absolutely amazing.

Warhammer 40, 000: Winter Assault is an amazing expansion of the main game and a real classic to this day.

Definitely worth your time.