After the success of Dawn of War, THQ and Relic released the first expansion pack: Winter Assault, which saw the addition of a totally new race: The Imperial Guard together with a new unit for each of the existing races.

The singleplayer campaign saw you controlling the Imperial guard across a variety of missions and eventually fighting the Necrons who we would see appear in the 2nd expansion pack. The multiplayer changed highly from the original also with a new tech system and a new style of gameplay to adapt to. The teching speed was increased, putting emphasis on tier 2 and the units available there instead of the large tier 1 battles that were regularly seen in the original.

New features:

Imperial Guard - The Imperial Guard are another human race whose style is much like the Russian force of world war II. With masses of conscripted troops driven to fight by fierce commanding officers willing to kill their own for obedience. This force led by fear is backed up by powerful and well armoured tanks such as the Basilisk and Hellhound, coupled with their strong buildings and ability to garrison, the Imperial Guard brought a very defensive nature to Dawn of War.

Space Marine Chaplain - The Chaplain gave the Space Marines a third hero, one with powerful close combat ability and a good ranged attack. With its battle cry ability the chaplain can demoralise enemy squads and slow their retreat.

Chaos Khorne Bezerkers - A extremely strong close combat unit with an insatiable blood lust. The Khorne Bezerkers gave Chaos a boost in tier 2 with the squad easily outmatching Assault Marines, Storm boys and Banshees in combat.

Orks Mega Armoured Nobs - A more powerful and hardy form of the basic nob squad, the Mega Armoured Nobs shrug off a high amount of damage and can pack a punch against all types of infantry, vehicle and building.

Eldar Fire Dragons - Filling the fairly weak anti vehicle department of the Eldar, the Fire Dragons are an anti vehicle infantry squad with good armour and with the Fleet of Foot ability, a deadly base assaulting unit.

Not only did Winter Assault bring new units and a new race to the game, but a host of new maps were created, mainly with a snow theme to broaden the gaming experience and allow battles to take place on new arenas.

With all these new additions Winter Assault saw a positive move forward for the Dawn of war franchise and all in all created a superb expansion pack.

Screenshots

Chaos Sorceror

Chaos Lord

Mek vs Farseer

Ork Heros