There's a new story trailer for Warhammer 40k Dawn of War 4, and you've got to watch it. Right now. Stop reading, scroll down, click on the play button. Why are you still here? The Dark Angels are going to be a playable faction, the primarch Lion El'Jonson is a playable hero, and our hype levels just went to the moon.
We've known for a little while now that Dawn of War 4's story is being written by John French, one of the best Warhammer 40k authors out there. Past trailers have shown Imperial forces, led by the Blood Ravens Space Marine chapter sorely embattled by the bestial Orks and eldritch Necrons - but now the secretive and sinister Dark Angels are joining the fray, with the mighty Lion El'Jonson in the vanguard.
Obviously, just because this trailer is shiny, doesn't mean that Dawn of War 4 is going to be one of the best Warhammer 40k games ever - the Dawn of War 3 trailer was a masterpiece but the game came out undercooked. But this is still really, really cool.
According to an accompanying press release, both the Blood Ravens and Dark Angels "are a fully playable faction in all game modes". During the campaign you can pick between both Chapters' story missions, with the Blood Ravens "often engaged in smaller conflicts that require tactical finesse and sometimes involve stealth", while the Dark Angels "deploy their full might to the biggest battlefields".
And yes, Jonson is going to be a playable character - the first time that a Warhammer 40k primarch has been playable in the Dawn of War series.
If you're not familiar with 40k lore and Jonson just looks like an extra large Space Marine, here's the skinny. The Primarchs were the 'templates' for the Space Marine legions, each one a masterwork of genetic alchemy and warpcraft that the Emperor of Mankind created to lead the armies of the Great Crusade way back in the year 30,000. Two of them were lost for reasons unknown, nine turned traitor during the Horus Heresy, and the nine who remained loyal either died in that war or were lost to myth. But recent events in the 40k canon have seen two loyal Primarchs return to aid the Imperium in its darkest hour.
Lion El'Jonson bears the shield of the Emperor, the weight of his past mistakes, and a massive grudge against everyone who opposes the Imperium, all with equal gravity. He's a very interesting character, not bound to the laws of reality as he once was, able to walk between worlds through a parallel dimension that resembles an ancient forest - he now fights as the 'Knight of Nihilus', leading battles the length and breadth of the dark half of the Imperium where loyal forces are isolated from aid by the warpstorm known as the Great Rift. We expect he's going to be really, really powerful in the game.
Gameplay wise, the two chapters will "share core strategies, tactics, wargear, and weaponry", while still "maintaining the distinctive flavor and abilities of their Chapter". In tabletop 40k the Dark Angels have a substantially wider range of units available to them, including mounted Knights of the Ravenwing, terminator armored Deathwing Knights, several aircraft and anti-grav vehicles with weird technology, and more besides.
At the moment there's no indication how much of that unique arsenal will carry across into Dawn of war, but the Dark Angels will have two playable Commanders in the campaign, Company Master Astoran and Chaplain Ezrael, seen riding a tricked out war motorbike in the trailer.
It's going to be very interesting to see the Dark Angels and the Blood Ravens interact through the story. The Blood Ravens don't know when their Chapter was founded and are dedicated to hunting out secrets and artefacts that might give them clues, while the Dark Angels hide a terrible secret in their past that they will go to untold lengths to keep concealed. So while the Dark Angels can be counted on to slay the enemies of the Imperium, they may not be the reprieve that the Blood Ravens are hoping for…
The press release adds more detail to what we can see in the trailer. The game starts with the Blood Ravens, led by Captain Cyrus and Chief Librarian Jonah Orion, entering the Kronus system and starting a space battle with the Ork forces of returning baddy Warboss Gorgutz. That goes south for both sides, who find themselves landing on the planet where a second, rebellious Ork commander, Guzcutta, is waiting for them.
Things go from bad to worse when Technoarcheologist Delta-9's surveys of Necron tomb complexes attract the attention of the Chronomancer Thothmek - who, yes, is an android alien wizard who can control time - and triggers the Necron tombs' awakening protocols. A perfect storm - and the perfect moment for the Dark Angels to smash in in drop pods and save the day.
If you're as excited as we are for Dawn of War 4, you'll get a grand welcome in the Wargamer Discord community - why not use the LFG channel to arrange some multiplayer Dawn of War remastered? To get a weekly roundup of all the biggest news and best features on Wargamer, make sure you sign up to our site newsletter.