History VideoGame / DawnOfWar

** The Imperial Guard campaign in ''Retribution'' has some wargear from Imperial Guard commanders in the previous games, namely Hand of the Governor-Militant (''Dark Crusade'') and Shield of Sturnn (''Winter Assault'').

** The Imperial Guard campaign in ''Retribution'' has some wargear from Imperial Guard commanders in the previous games, namely Fist of the Governor-Militant (''Dark Crusade'') and Sturnn's Shield (''Winter Assault'').

* FriendlyEnemy: [[spoiler: If Tarkus is the traitor, he constantly refers to your strike force as "brothers", offers tactical advice and quotes from the Codex Astartes during the mission where you have to hunt him down. He's basically acting completely normally, which utterly infuriates your sergeants.]]

''{{Warhammer 40000}}: Dawn of War'' is a RealTimeStrategy game by Relic Entertainment, the same people who eventually would be behind ''{{Company of Heroes}}'' (which liberally borrows many game mechanics and is the [[XMeetsY WWII version]]) and who previously brought us ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' and ''ImpossibleCreatures''.

An expansion titled ''Chaos Rising'' adds Chaos Space Marines to the multiplayer and as antagonists in the campaign, along with [[ArtifactOfDoom powerful wargear that can be used by your Space Marines]], though they may lead to [[KarmaMeter corruption]]. A second expansion named ''Retribution'' expands on the single player campaign system by reintroducing campaigns for all the playable factions, even (by the love of the videogame gods) the Tyranids, as well as bringing back the Imperial Guard as a playable faction.

** ConstructAdditionalPylons

*** Though somewhat justified in that most factions airdrop, teleport or otherwise summon more or less complete buildings into the battlefield, and simply need some final adaptations etc to become functional.
** UnitsNotToScale: To a degree, although in ''Dawn of War II'' you get a much more believable difference in size. Transports, however, are always apparently BiggerOnTheInside (The scale offset is consistent with the tabletop, though).

* ApocalypticLog: The opening cutscene for ''Dark Crusade''.
** Also a few of the location descriptions in the same expansion.

** In ''Dawn of War II'' and ''Chaos Rising'', the campaign has a limit of four squads per mission (out of a total of six) and multiplayer has a 100-unit cap that effectively limits your force to about 9-10 squads. ''Retribution'' uses the multiplayer system for its campaign, with a lower 30-unit cap that can be increased by capturing certain buildings.
* ArtificialLimbs: Lord General Castor of the Imperial Guard has an augmetic right arm, which he uses to hold and operate two-handed guns [[FiringOneHanded in one hand]] while holding [[SwordAndGun an officer's saber in the other]].

** Not only that, other memes have snuck their way into the Imperial Guard's voice acting, though these are more {{Shout Out}}s than anything else. The Inquisitor sometimes comments on how her [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus chief weapons are surprise and fear!]] Sometimes, when upgrading your regular guardsmen, you will also hear the announcer report "[[LegendOfZelda It's dangerous to go alone. Take this.]]" Also, when retreating your Catachan Devils, they'll shout "[[{{Predator}} Get to the Valkyrie!]]"
** Some of the loot you get in the Ork campaign in ''Retribution'' has names and descriptions similar to certain memes, and they're all written in Orky English, which at times bears more than a passing resemblance to [[LOLCats kitty pidgin]]. One of their beamy deffguns is even known as the "Box Smasha", described as being used for taking away the humans' "metal boxes", which means that the meme [[hottip:*: (Chaos Lord Firaeveus Carron's hatred of [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier Rhinos]], disdainfully referring to them as '''"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO3MttgvHUY Metal Boxes]]"''')]] has gone full recursive.
-->'''Chopped Up Armour description''': ''Dis looks chopped! I can tells from some of da hack marks, and from seeing quite a few chops in me time.''
-->'''Double Shootah Description''': ''Double Shootah All Dah Wayz! Worr, that's so intense...''
** The ''Retribution'' expansion has a Tau Crisis Suit Commander as a hero unit in The Last Stand mode, available through [[DownloadableContent DLC]]. He has a couple of associated Steam achievements, one of which is called "DynamicEntry", in reference to [[http://www.lolsauce.com/RandomBS/Dynamic%20Entry.jpeg this popular customized tabletop model.]] The achievement requires the he duplicate the action in that picture on a hundred different units, and is rewarded with [[GunsAkimbo an additional piece of wargear]] for doing so.

* AwesomeButImpractical: An undeniable case would be sync kills in ''Dawn Of War II'' - they look very cool, and the unit performing it cannot die until the animation is finished, but they still can change your sweeping advance from annihilating to just devastating against retreating units, or make it easier for the unit to be killed by retaliation due to being forced to be completely stationary for a couple of seconds instead of retreating.

** [[spoiler: Kyras]] is once again the Big Bad of ''Retribution''. It is revealed that he has been collaborating with [[spoiler: the daemon released from the Maledictum in the first game, and they both have secretly manipulated the events of the entire series up to that point.]]

** Near the end of the Order campaign in ''Winter Assault'', your side pragmatically realizes that the other side will probably turn on them once they've found the Titan. Rather than endanger their own people, they leave their temporary allies sealed behind a forcefield facing a tide of enemies and wave good-bye. However, Sturnn is sufficiently BadAss to fight his way out and turns up to help fight the Necrons in the final mission.

** The Blood Ravens lost half their chapter in ''Soulstorm'', leaving the chapter dangerously undermanned. Relic declared the Imperial Guard to be the winners although it is never mentioned in canon.

--> ''"This isn't the backwater of Calderis, Commander, so a certain amount of discretion is advised."''

** [[FluffyTheTerrible Daisy the Battlewagon]] in ''Retribution'' is definitely going to have you performing this trope on it, since it has almost as much health as the FinalBoss. Luckily, it doesn't do as much damage and isn't periodically invulnerable.
* DeathFromAbove: Assault Marines (who even shout ''"Death from above!"'' when they deploy), and their Orky Stormboyz counterparts. Equipped with: pistol, melee weapon, jump-pack, and berzerker rage. Warp Spiders from the Eldar do largely the same thing, but with teleportation instead. Also, Whirlwinds (''"His wrath falls from the heavens!"''), Basilisks (''"Shatter their sky!"'') and the various bombardments that commander units can call down.

** ''Dawn of War II'' has a particularly nasty one in form of Tankbustaz, who, if none of your units are in their line of sight but some of them are in a certain range, will rain down rokkitz upon your head until you can engage them directly. One of these tucked away in a hard-to-reach place while you are beset by enemies can easily make a battle much harder.

* ExpansionPack: Three of them for the original: ''Winter Assault'', ''Dark Crusade'' and ''Soulstorm'', [[FanonDiscontinuity as much as some would like to forget it]].
** The sequel has ''Chaos Rising'', which, as if the name didn't give it away, adds Chaos to the list of playable races, and ''Retribution'', which includes playable Imperial Guard and one campaign, playable as any of the 6 races with different dialog and slightly altered missions.

* FacelessMooks: Pretty much every faction has them, most notably the Eldar, whose only unhelmeted unit is the Harlequin.

** Perhaps one of the most epic Sync kills in ''Dawn Of War II'' is the Avatar of Khaine vs the Great Unclean One. If the Avatar is sync killing the GUO, it will stab it in the chest; causing it to laugh and use its puke of doom on the Avatar, which responds by shoving its gigantic sword into the Great Unclean One's mouth and out the back of its head. If the GUO is sync killing the Avatar it will jab its meat cleaver sword into the Avatar's back, turn its sword upright and lift it into the air and use gravity to [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impale the Avatar all the way through the sword]]
*** In ''Dawn of War'' the humanoid Relic Units also had their fair share of epic sync kills. If a Bloodthirster sync kills an Avatar, they will have a brief session of dodge and weave that ends with the Bloodthirster batting the Avatar's head off with its axe. If the Avatar is the sync killer, it gets knocked down, but before the Bloodthirster can capitalize on this, the Avatar impales it with his giant sword. If the Nightbringer sync kills the Avatar (never the other way around due to the Nightbringer's invulnerability) after (now this troper is just going off of memory) a brief fight the Nightbringer scythes the Avatar's head off. While technically not a Relic Unit, if the Daemon Prince defeats the Greater Knarloc (pretty hard to do considering the differences in DPS and HP) it will leap up into the air with its sword pointed downward and impale the Knarloc's head and pin it to the ground before pulling its sword out and walking away.
** In ''Dawn of War II'', if a Chaos Aspiring Champion of Khorne (or the Force Commander) sync kills a Carnifex (really hard to do) he will do a ColossusClimb and stand on the Carnifex's tusks and start to whail on its face with his pistol and melee weapon before finishing it off with a blast to the mouth. This sync kill is featured in ''Retribution'' in the mission where you have to [[spoiler:escape Typhon as Exterminatus is being performed on it]]. When you get to a certain point the Deranged Chaos Champion (since this is his full title [[UpToEleven he must be crazy even by Chaos' standards...eep]]), will start roaring to the sky, enraged by the fact that people would be trying to [[spoiler: escape from Kyras's gift of death]] before doing this in the Typhon Arena.

* FriendlyEnemy: [[spoiler: If Tarkus is the traitor, he offers tactical advice and quotes from the Codex Astartes during the mission where you have to hunt him down, which utterly infuriates your sergeants.]]

* GlassCannon: The Dark Eldar's Dais of Destruction in ''Soulstorm''. Extremely high firepower plus a beam capable of ''literally'' wiping out an entire army in one shot. Not exactly "glass", but still by far the most fragile of the relic units.

** Diomedes has a major one in ''Retribution's'' Space Marine campaign. [[spoiler: After finally realizing Kyras was a villain the whole time AND barely surviving the start of the Inquisition's Exterminatus campaign, he's ready to just sit down and die, figuring the Blood Ravens are officially doomed anyway. It takes the rest of his squad telling him to man up for him to return to his senses and start bringing down Kyras.]]

** the Vindicare Assasin is [[{{CowboyBebop}} Spike eff'in Spiegal]]!

* HollywoodTactics: The ''Dawn of War'' intro, in which a squad of Space Marines with Heavy Bolters charges into melee with Orks. The sequel's intro has some tactical issues also.

** "Destroy HQ" can count, especially in campaign missions; if you can send a small force of jetpacking {{Lightning Bruiser}}s into the (handily marked) centre of the enemy's massive base to destroy their HQ, you're done. No matter if it was a SuicideMission, the remainder of your forces are outnumbered ten-to-one, and the enemy have enough resources to build 50 more HQs.

* KarmaHoudini:
** Gorgutz, who has managed to escape in each game upon defeat rather than face death, perhaps due to PopularityPower.
** [[spoiler: Jonah Orion]] gets this if he turns traitor, the explanation being that [[spoiler: he was possessed by a demon, whom he defeats by taking control of his own dying body, leading to the only one of the traitors to qualify for DeathEqualsRedemption.]]

* KleptomaniacHero: The BloodRavens have a habit of recovering, or otherwise "finding" relics from other chapters, among other sources. This quality of the [[FanNickname Bloody Magpies]] is a bit exaggerated in the {{Fanon}}

--> "Behold...''THE IMMOLATOR!''" \\
"It all goes down in ''FLAAAAMES!''"

*** This may be a bit of a stretch, but Lord General Castor also, at some points, says that perhaps the enemy will appreciate their ''"Devotion to the Emperor, and ruthless efficiency."''
*** Most notably right after saying that the Eldar had spotted them and don't fear them.

* BugWar: The main plot of ''Dawn of War II'', with a classic redux of ''SpaceHulk'' in ''Chaos Rising''.

* CanonImmigrant: The BloodRavens chapter of Space Marines were created by Relic specifically for use exclusively in the ''Dawn of War'' series. Since the series began, they have been acknowledged as a small part of the wider [=WH40K=] canon, being mentioned in a few novels and having their [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience color scheme]] displayed in the core rulebook.

* ChurchMilitant: The Sisters of Battle in ''Soulstorm''. The Imperial Guard get the Priest, who wields an [[ChainsawGood Eviscerator]], improves squad attack power, and can temporarily make the squad he's attached to completely immune to damage.

* CombatPragmatist: The Blood Ravens' approach to warfare is very much like those of good RTS players. Unlike the Space Wolves' or Blood Angels' ferocious charges, the Blood Ravens focus on [[AwesomenessByAnalysis analyzing and targeting weak points in enemy lines]], applying pressure where needed to break apart far larger forces with minimal casualties. The best example of this comes from ''Dawn of War II's'' campaign, where a strike force consisting of 11 Marines, 3 Scouts and 1 Dreadnought was able to hold off a sector wide Tyranid invasion by striking at key targets until a much larger relief force arrives.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: On "Harder" and "Insane" Skirmish difficulties the computer doesn't really get any smarter, it just gets bonuses to its resource acquisition rates. On "Hard" campaign difficulty, the computer gets extra HP on its units (this is carried over to ''Dawn of War II'') although both are reversed in favor of the player in "Easy" or "Standard" for Skirmish and "Easy" or "Normal" for campaign. This was done because [[http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blogs/?p=654 Jonny Ebert, lead designer of ''Dawn of War II'', believes that allowing the computer to cheat is necessary to close the gap between them and the player(s)]]...

* CriticalExistenceFailure: There [[DummiedOut was]] a chance that when the Imperial Guard Sanctioned Psyker uses one of his special abilities that it will backfire with [[YourHeadAsplode messy results]]. Virtually all heavy weapons cause LudicrousGibs in ''Dawn of War II''.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the case of daemonic units (Bloodthirsters, Bloodletters, the Avatar), who are maintained with a warp presence, and once they take a certain amount of damage, their otherwise unharmed physical bodies simply fall apart.
** A bit silly for the Tyranid Carnifex, who will tumble onto its stomach, curl up into a ball, explode outwards, and leave a wreck. (The game engine treats Carnifexes as vehicles.)

* CultureClash: In ''Dawn of War II'', this is invoked by Administrator Derosa when you first arrive on Meridian.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: In ''Dawn of War II'', squads deployed in a mission are automatically assigned numerical hotkeys (which the player can override if desired) and placed in positions on a unit selection bar on the right side of the screen (which the player cannot override.) Typically four player chosen squads are deployed to any given mission. However, there are times when a particular mission might deploy specific squads instead of player chosen ones, or other squads might deploy mid-mission which the player then gets command of. This can be difficult when the player usually assigns certain squads to certain hotkeys and expects them to occupy specific slots on the unit selection bar, confusing the control scheme somewhat.

* DarkSecret: The Blood Ravens have [[BadassCreed a motto]], "Knowledge is power, guard it well." They fulfill this, first by having a scholarly bent that drives them to seek out and record information, particularly as relates to the [[MysteriousPast lost knowledge of their chapter's origins]], and second by guarding that information jealously, hence a great deal of secrecy. In particular, some of the uncovered knowledge about their chapter is implied to be things that the Blood Ravens [[DarkSecret would rather nobody know]]. Captain Thule, for example, found relics and information about the early days of the chapter on Kronus, which he promptly destroyed and would share with no one except Captain Angelos.

** [[FluffyTheTerrible Daisy the Battlewagon]] in ''Retribution'' definitely counts. It has almost more health than the game's final boss. Luckily, it doesn't do as much damage and isn't periodically invulnerable.

* DifficultButAwesome: Cyrus. Mastering him seems to be required to beat Primarch. Bringing him along makes the last Calderis mission in ''Chaos Rising'' MUCH easier if you want to [[KarmaMeter remain pure]].
** Anybody with unbreakable 'Infiltrate'. There are quite a few characters (at least one per race) that can act as this.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Among other things, the original ''Dawn of War'' let you have four Land Raiders, equip Ork mobs with anti-eveything weaponry, and generally use far more high-end units.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: [[spoiler:The Inquisition does this to Typhon by performing Exterminatus.]] [[AsYouKnow As most 40K players know]], this is a wee bit unpleasant for those still on the surface of a planet subjected to it.
** Cyrene before the events of ''Dawn of War'', thanks to Captain Angelos. Mentioned again, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it manner, in the sub-sector map in the intro to the ''Dawn of War II'' campaign.
*** [[spoiler: Which pays off in a BookEnds ending in ''Retribution''.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Regardless of who the traitor is in ''Chaos Rising'', and regardless of the fact that he will freely give Galen the vox codes for his company, he explicitly tells Galen not to use the vox to set up an ambush, saying that if he winds up being exposed, he'll gladly expose Galen (and presumably all the other traitors they know of).

** The Force Commander's sync kill against the Khorne Bloodthirster in the first game deserves special mention. He performs a ColossusClimb on the thirty-foot daemon, stands on its shoulders, pounds it into the ground with repeated whacks from his hammer, then vaults over its disintegrating corpse (which is [[IncendiaryExponent on fire]]). In other words, a most excellent CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

*** In ''Dawn of War'' the humanoid relic units also had their fair share of epic sync kills. If a Bloodthirster sync kills an Avatar, they will have a brief session of dodge and weave that ends with the Bloodthirster batting the Avatar's head off with its axe. If the Avatar is the sync killer, it gets knocked down but before the Bloodthirster can capitalize on this the Avatar impales it with his giant sword. If the Nightbringer sync kills the Avatar (never the other way around due to the Nightbringer's invulnerability) after (now this troper is just going off of memory) a brief fight the Nightbringer scythes the Avatar's head off. While technically not a Relic Unit, if the Daemon Prince defeats the Greater Knarloc (pretty hard to do considering the differences in DPS and HP) it will leap up into the air with its sword pointed downward and impale the Knarloc's head and pin it to the ground before pulling its sword out and walking away.
** In ''Dawn of War II'', if a Chaos Aspiring Champion of Khorne (and the Force Commander) sync kills a Carnifex (really hard to do) he will do a ColossusClimb and stand on the Carnifex's tusks and start to whail on its face with his pistol and chainaxe before finishing it off with a blast to the mouth. This sync kill is featured in ''Retribution'' in the mission where you have to [[spoiler:escape Typhon as Exterminatus is being performed on it]]. When you get to a certain point the Deranged Chaos Champion (since this is his full title [[UpToEleven he must be crazy even by Chaos' standards...eep]]), will start roaring to the sky, enraged by the fact that people would be trying to [[spoiler: escape from Kyras's gift of death]] before doing this in the Typhon Arena.
** While not a sync kill, this is undoubtably epic. In the last mission of ''Retribution''; after you have hammered at [[spoiler: [[FinalBoss Daemon Prince Kyras]]]] for quite a while and brought him down to one last sliver of health, your commander (Bluddflagg for the Orks for example) will note that he's weakened and tell you to finish him off with your big damaging global power ([[ColonyDrop Rok bombardment, which drops a bunch of Asteroids]], for the Orks to continue this example.) Bluddflagg will say "Look, 'es reelin boys. Now it's time ta zap 'im wiff da biggest rok we 'ave." and you'll get one free usage of Rok bombardment. Once you target [[spoiler: Kyras]] with this, you'll get a cutscene where Roks will start raining on [[spoiler: Kyras]], causing him to shudder until an absolutely massive rok falls on top of his head and completely destroys it. Once the dust clears you'll see the bloody stump where his head used to be and watch his corpse slump back into the lava pit. A similar thing happens with the other factions (with the Space Marines using orbital bombardment for example.) But man is it satisfying to watch [[spoiler: Kyras's]] head explode.

* FriendlyEnemy: If Tarkus is the traitor, he will be this in the mission where you take him down.

An expansion titled ''Chaos Rising'' has been released, adding Chaos Space Marines to the multiplayer and as antagonists in the campaign with [[ArtifactOfDoom powerful wargear potentially usable by the Space Marines that may lead to corruption]]. A second expansion, named ''Retribution'' is now released, it expands on the single player campaign system by among others introducing campaigns for Orks, Eldar, Chaos and (by the love of the videogame gods) the Tyranids, and brings back the Imperial Guard.

Besides these official games, the ''Dawn of War'' series has spawned numerous mods, from simple tweaks to damage and health values, to ambitious projects that add new units and factions (complete with voice acting and unit models), or even attempts to make the game more closely mirror the rules of the TabletopGame it is based on.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Though it's technically Acceptable Breaks from Fluff since you know.. [[CaptainObvious it's Warhammer 40000!]]

** The Tyranid ending in Retribution is done like this. [[spoiler: Ultimately, the Exterminatus fleet is driven away by the Hive Fleet, 94% of the Imperial Guard stationed in Subsector Aurelia die before the surviving forces withdraw, and the loyalist Blood Ravens are all killed while making a final stand.]]
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Separate headcount for vehicles and infantry as well as some stronger units limited to one or two at a time in ''Dark Crusade''.
** And in the sequel, the campaign has a limit of four squads per mission (out of a total of six) and multiplayer has a 100-unit cap that effectively limits your force to about 9-10 squads.

** Some of the loot you get in the Ork campaign in Retribution has names and descriptions of certain memes, and they're all written in Orky English, which at times bears more than a passing resemblance to [[LOLCats kitty pidgin]]. One of their beamy deffguns is even known as the "Box Smasha", described as being used for taking away the humans' "metal boxes", which means that the meme [[hottip:*: (Chaos Lord Firaeveus Carron's hatred of [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier Rhinos]], disdainfully referring to them as '''"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO3MttgvHUY Metal Boxes]]"''')]] has gone full recursive.

-->'''Double Shootah Description''': '''Double Shootah All Dah Wayz! Worr, that's so intense...''
** The ''Retribution'' expansion has a Tau Crisis Suit Commander as a hero unit in the Last Stand, available through [[DownloadableContent DLC]]. He has a couple of associated Steam achievements, one of which is called "DynamicEntry", in reference to [[http://www.lolsauce.com/RandomBS/Dynamic%20Entry.jpeg this popular customized tabletop model.]] The achievement requires the he duplicate the action in that picture on a hundred different units, and is rewarded with [[GunsAkimbo an additional piece of wargear]] for doing so.

* ATeamFiring: The Orks of ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' generally don't really 'aim', but ''Dawn of War II'' has an ability for the 'Shoota Boyz' squad called "Aiming? Wot'z dat?" if they are upgraded with a [[{{BFG}} Big Shoota]], which allows them to suppress an enemy squad (because their previous aiming abilities apparently made their fire not all that threatening. Strangely, it reduces their damage until the squad is suppressed, so MoreDakka was apparently working for them pretty well.)

* AwesomeButImpractical: An undeniable case would be sync kills in ''Dawn Of War II'' - they look very cool, and the unit performing cannot die while using it, but they still can change your sweeping advance from annihilating to just devastating against retreating units, or make it easier for the unit to be killed by retaliation due to being forced to be completely stationary for a couple of seconds instead of retreating.
* AwesomeYetPractical: Relic Units in the original Dawn of War, particularly the [[TankGoodness Baneblade, the Land Raider]], and [[PhysicalGod the Avatar of Khaine]], which bring a ton of support firepower with them, though some players prefer to have the Avatar stay at their base for defense since it increases their max population.

* BackToBackBadasses: Upon administering the poison to kill a Tyranid Splinter Fleet, the Blood Ravens are surrounded on all sides, and fall back to the temple ruins to hold off the Swarm in a last stand.
* BadAssNormal: Sergeant Merrick of the 85th Vendoland in ''Dawn of War II'' and its expansions. This guy survived a [[BugWar Tyranid invasion]], fought through TheCorruption, and survived an EarthShatteringKaboom.

* BadBoss: Bale, [[ShootTheMessenger has a cultist that delivers bad news]]. Abbadon, when he appears in ''Retribution'', also fits, no surprise given [[AllInTheManual all the fluff goes into what a jerk he is]], threatening to kill Eliphas every time he talks to him.

* BeneficialDisease: In ''Retribution'', the healing of chaos units is done through the powers of Nurgle, by means of supernatural disease: Nurgle's Rot. The infected units get back to the fight as their senses get numbed to the pain and their wounds get sealed by cancerous growths.

* {{BFG}}: Several of them, but the [[GatlingGood Assault Cannon]] used by the [[SuperSoldier Space Marine]] Terminators deserve special mention. In ''Dawn of War II'', the Devastator Space Marines gain access to Plasma Cannons, which certainly qualify (even by Space Marine standards!). Also, the sniper rifle Cyrus carries is almost as big as he is.

* BiggerIsBetter: [[FunetikAksent Shoota Boyz]] actually say this when upgraded with 'Big Shootas'. And it is a clear improvement.

* BiggerBad: Aside from the Chaos Gods, the [[PhysicalGod Nightbringer]] is mentioned fairly heavily with the narrations with the Necrons in ''Dark Crusade.'' [[spoiler: Kyras could be considered this during ''Chaos Rising'', we hear about him, and dealing with him is left as a SequelHook. Abaddon could also be considered this, being Eliphas' BadBoss that stays in the background.]]

* BlingOfWar: Some of the higher level armor that the player can equip in ''Dawn Of War II'' goes into this territory, such as having inlays of elaborate gold sculptures. The Force Commanders from ''Dawn of War'' and its expansions have this by default.

* BoringYetPractical: For all the awesome units the Space Marines get as ''Dawn Of War II'' goes on, you'll nearly always find yourself having a use for your tactical squad.

** Similarly, the DeadlyDodging that helps beat Daisy the Battlewagon more easily, though if you have something that can stun it, you can just keep CherryTapping it [[DamageSpongeBoss forever]].
* BottomlessMagazines: Everything that can shoot, can do so indefinitely. Cleverly subverted in ''Dawn of War II'', where units frequently stop shooting to reload (although they still never run out of replacement magazines).
** Several weapons in ''Dawn of War II''[='=]s campaign do not require reloading and can keep firing indefinitely, though this is usually offset by shorter range or having to set it up.

** The victor of ''Retribution'' is uncertain, but we know that neither Eliphas nor the Tyranids won since Blood Ravens appear in the subsequent ''[[Warhammer40000SpaceMarine Space Marine]]'' and mention the Aurelian crusade.[[hottip:*: However, there's nothing stated about when in the Relic timeline ''Space Marine'' happens, and Titus uses the term 'Aurelian Crusade' when addressing the Blood Ravens. Which is the canon term for the events of ''Dawn of War II''[='=]s original campaign. For all we know, ''Space Marine'' might have taken place between ''Chaos Rising'' and ''Retribution''. Or more likely, right after ''DOW II''. ]]

* ChainsawGood : Many units have a Chainsword but of note is the Imperial Guard ''Priest'', armed with an [[{{BFS}} Eviscerator]] model.
* DarkSecret: The Blood Ravens have [[BadassCreed a motto]], "Knowledge is power, guard it well." They fulfill this, first by having a scholarly bent that drives them to seek out and record information, particularly as relates to the [[MysteriousPast lost knowledge of their chapter's origins]], and second by guarding that information jealously, hence a great deal of secrecy. In particular, some of the uncovered knowledge about their chapter is implied to be things that the Blood Ravens [[DarkSecret would rather nobody know]]. Captain Thule, for example, found relics and information about the early days of the chapter on Kronus, which he promptly destroyed and would share with no one except Captain Angelos.

* ChurchMilitant: The Sister of Battle in ''Soulstorm''. The Imperial Guard get the Priest, who wields an [[ChainsawGood Eviscerator]], improves squad attack power, and can temporarily make the squad he's attached to completely immune to damage.

* ClownCarBase: Generally averted with actual base ''structures'', which are more often landing pads, teleport termini, warp rifts, etc, from which units arrive on the battlefield, but played straight with some transport units in ''Dawn of War II'' which can also reinforce nearby infantry squads. Presumably soldiers are disembarking from the transport to reinforce understrength squads on foot, but those transports never run out of replacements to deploy as necessary unless the player is [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas out of resources]].

* CombatPragmatist: The Blood Ravens approach to warfare emulates the tactics used by RTS players. Unlike the Space Wolves or Blood Angels' ferocious charges, Blood Ravens focus on analyzing and targeting weak points in enemy lines, applying pressure where needed to break apart far larger forces with minimal casualties. The best example of this comes from Dawn of War 2, where a Combat Patrol sized unit of chapter veterans was able to hold off a sector wide Tyranid invasion by striking at key targets while a relief force was dispatched.

** A bit silly for the Tyranid Carnifex, who will tumble onto its stomach, curl up into a ball, explode outwards, and leave a wreck. (The engine treats Carnifexes as vehicles.)

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Doesn't usually apply, considering that everyone in the 40K universe is inherently badass to a degree. But [[spoiler: Martellus]], a minor character from ''Dawn of War II'', earns special mention by becoming a major character in ''Chaos Rising''. In the first game, the most he ever did was [[spoiler: pilot Thunderhawk Two to deploy power generators and Tarantula sentry guns for you. In ''Chaos Rising'', it turns out he actually survived the final battle against the Tyranids and held his own against Ork looters for at least a year. [[SchrodingersGun If none of your other squad leaders become corrupted]] he turns to Chaos and serves as ThatOneBoss by driving a huge and powerful tank - [[FridgeBrilliance which he probably built himself, considering he's a Techmarine.]] According to ''Retribution'', this is not {{Canon}} and Martellus goes on to become a playable character in the Space Marine campaign.]]
* CultureClash: In Dawn of War 2, this is discussed by the Administrator of Meridian, who argues that the city planet is far more strict than the wildernesses the player had been exposed to so far.
* CrucifiedHeroShot: The pilot of the Sisters of Battle's Penitent Engine MiniMecha. Given it's [[FaithMilitant the Sisters of Battle]], this is probably not a coincidence.
* {{Cutscene}}: Mostly using the in-game engine, but there are [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome rather magnificent]] CGI cinematics at the beginning of both games.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: In ''Dawn of War II'', squads deployed in a mission are automatically assigned numerical hotkeys (which the player can override if desired) and placed in positions on a unit selection bar on the right side of the screen (which the player cannot override.) Typically four, player chosen, squads are deployed to any given mission. However, there are times when a particular mission might deploy specific squads instead of player chosen ones, or other squads might deploy mid-mission which the player then gets command of. This can be difficult when the player conventionally assigns certain squads to certain hotkeys and expects them to occupy specific slots on the unit selection bar, confusing the control scheme somewhat.

* DeathOfAThousandCuts: While really hard to do, possible in ''Dawn of War II''. Very upsetting should your tank go down to some of the more basic units in the game via ScratchDamage although it is very easy to retreat from them.

** Daisy the battlewagon in Retribution definitely counts. The boss almost has more health than the game's final boss. Luckily, its damage is considerably less.
* DeathFromAbove: Assault Marines (who even shout ''"Death from above!"'' when they deploy), and their Orky counterparts Stormboyz. Equipped with: pistol, melee weapon, jump-pack, and berzerker rage. Warp Spiders from the Eldar do largely the same bit, with teleportation. Also Whirlwinds (''"His wrath falls from the heavens!"''), Basilisks (''"Shatter their sky!"'') and the various bombardments that commander units can call down.

** The Tau are made of this. A hardcore shooty army, complete with {{Mini Mecha}}s, will completely give up, retreat, and abandon the ''entire freaking campaign'' if you can kill their Ethereal in their stronghold mission. Of course though, by the time you fight your way past all the [[ThatOneLevel invisible units, heavy long-ranged firepower and rapid redeployment idiocy]], the Ethereal makes for an [[AnticlimaxBoss incredibly underwhelming fight]].

* DiscontinuityNod: In ''Dawn of War II'' it is revealed that the Kaurava system campaign (''Soulstorm'') is remembered as a shameful and {{epic fail}}ure for the Blood Ravens and that it should never be mentioned again. [[spoiler: If Cyrus turns out to be the traitor in Chaos Rising, he actually mentions this as a motivation for his FaceHeelTurn to Chaos]]
** Bringing up the [[spoiler: daemon from the Maledictum]] seems to have {{Jossed}} the [[DisContinuity C.S. Goto novels]].

** That said, what they lack in minds they overcompensate in [[DumbMuscle brute strength and durability]] and are some of the toughest troops in Multiplayer.

** Captain Angelos from ''Dawn of War'' gets a special variant called a Daemonhammer, named [[NamedWeapons God-Splitter]], against Daemons.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Among others, the original DawnOfWar let you have four Land Raiders, equip ork mobs with anti-eveything weaponry, and generally use far more high-end units.

** Cyrene, in events before ''Dawn of War'', thanks to Captain Angelos. Mentioned again, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it manner, in the sub-sector map in the intro to the ''Dawn of War II'' campaign.

* EnemyMine: In both ''Dawn of War'' and ''Winter Assault''. In ''Retribution'', Inquisitor Adrastia is willing to enlist the help of the Eldar and hire Bluddflagg on as a mercenary in order to prevent Exterminatus.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Regardless of who the traitor is in ''Chaos Rising'', and regardless of the fact that he will freely give Galen the vox codes for his company, he explicitly tells Galen not to use the vox to set up an ambush, saying that if he winds up being exposed, he'll gladly expose Galen (and presumably anyone else).

** The sequel has ''Chaos Rising'', which, as if the name didn't give it away, adds Chaos to the list of playable races, and ''Retribution'', which includes playable Imperial Guard and one campaign, playable as any of the 6 races with slightly different dialog.

** '''Double extra averted''' in ''Dawn of War II''. You get equippable wargear in the campaign mode that dramatically changes the look and function of your squads, and as you advance in multiplayer rank, your units get more and more bling.

** Avitus is The Cynic (scornful of civilians and guardsmen, concerned only with killing the enemy)

* [[TownWithADarkSecret Chapter With A Dark Secret]]: The Blood Ravens have [[BadassCreed a motto]], "Knowledge is power, guard it well." They fulfill this, first by having a scholarly bent that drives them to seek out and record information, particularly as relates to the [[MysteriousPast lost knowledge of their chapter's origins]], and second by guarding that information jealously, hence a great deal of secrecy. In particular, some of the uncovered knowledge about their chapter is implied to be things that the Blood Ravens [[DarkSecret would rather nobody know]]. Captain Thule, for example, found relics and information about the early days of the chapter on Kronus, which he promptly destroyed and would share with no one except Captain Angelos.

* {{Bishonen}}: [[http://dow2.info/Commander:Force_Commander The Force Commander]] in ''Dawn Of War II'' who is frequently [[FanNickname nicknamed]] 'Music/VanillaIce' due to a certain resemblance to the rapper while he was younger. [[http://next-thing.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pg2_a_vanillaice_300.jpg For comparison...]] This has also made him something of a [[TheScrappy scrappy]], as his appearance is considered very unfitting for a BadAss SpaceMarine commander in the [[GrimDark Grim Darkness]] of the Far Future (die-hard fans are already crying [[IncrediblyLamePun Hairesy]]).
** Well it's kind of justified in that the Force Commander is specifically said to be incredibly gifted, hence why he's so young for a Space Marine in such a position. Thaddeus, your Assault Squad Sergeant is also relatively young and fresh-faced.

* BonusBoss: The Ork Warboss and Eldar Avatar of Khaine in ''Dawn of War II''. Notable in that they're VERY hard, far harder than the FinalBoss! Also notable in that beating them give 30 Gamerpoints each in achievements, as well as 2 suits of Terminator armor.

** Several weapons in ''Dawn of War II's'' campaign do not require reloading and can keep firing indefinitely, though this is usually offset by shorter range or having to set it up.

** The victor of ''Retribution'' is uncertain, but we know that neither Eliphas nor the Tyranids won since Blood Ravens appear in the subsequent ''Warhammer40000SpaceMarine'' and mention the Aurelian crusade.[[hottip:*: However, there's nothing stated about when in the Relic timeline ''Space Marine'' happens, and Titus uses the term 'Aurelian Crusade' when addressing the Blood Ravens. Which is the canon term for the events of ''Dawn of War II[='=]s original campaign. For all we know, ''Space Marine'' might have taken place between ''Chaos Rising'' and ''Retribution''. Or more likely, right after the ''DOW II''. ]]

* BoringYetPractical: In Dawn of War II, as Space Marines, for all the awesome units you get as the game goes on, you'll nearly always find yourself having a use for your tactical squad.

** The victor of ''Retribution is uncertain, but we know that neither Eliphas nor the Tyranids won since blood ravens appear in the subsequent game Warhammer40000SpaceMarine and mention the Aurelian crusade.
*** There's nothing stated about when in the Relic timeline Space Marine happens, and Titus uses the term 'Aurelian Crusade' when addressing the Blood Ravens. Which is the canon term for the events of Dawn of War II's Original Campaign. For all we know, Space Marine might have taken place between Chaos Rising and Retribution. Or more likely, right after the OC.

* InstantWinCondition: "Control Area" and "Take and Hold" victory conditions. The default mode of play for multiplayer in ''Dawn of War II'' is "Victory Point Control". Players can attempt to destroy the base(s) of the enemy instead, but that is very unlikely if they aren't winning already as said bases are ''very'' durable.

''{{Warhammer 40000}}: Dawn of War'' is a RealTimeStrategy game by Relic Entertainment, the same people who eventually would be behind ''{{Company of Heroes}}'' (which liberally borrows many game mechanics and is the [[XMeetsY WWII version]]) and who previously brought us ''{{Homeworld}}'' and ''ImpossibleCreatures''.

* ArtificialStupidity: the Assassination victory condition causes loss if your HeroUnit dies, [[MeatShield so the computer will always attach it to the first squad it builds]]. However, it never switches them, keeping them attached to their weakest unit for the rest of the game.

* ChuckYeager: The Chaos Hell Talon from ''Soulstorm'' always talks like this, sounding like a servitor, rather than screaming loudly like every other Chaos unit. Amusingly, this is because it ''is'' piloted by a servitor according to its fluff from the ''Imperial Armor'' books.

''Dawn of War II'', the recently-released sequel, is a reboot of sorts. The player is a newly-promoted Force Commander, leading a few squads of Space Marines against an Ork invasion threatening the Blood Ravens' recruitment worlds, and therefore the future of the chapter itself. Once again, the [[ManipulativeBastard Eldar]] are working behind the scenes to instigate the conflict, hoping to buy time against the incoming [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranid hive fleet]]. While still an {{RTS}} the game eliminates [[ConstructAdditionalPylons base-building]] altogether and greatly simplifies [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas resource-gathering]], while focusing more on squad-based tactics rather than huge pitched battles, and also incorporating {{RPG}} elements in the form of unit experience, wargear, and skill selection. The game is built on the same engine used in Relic's WorldWarII [=RTS=], ''CompanyOfHeroes'', with plenty of graphical enhancements and gameplay tweaks, mirroring ''Dawn of War's'' history with the ''ImpossibleCreatures'' engine.

See ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' for the tropes used in the universe itself, although Dawn of War naturally has its own spin on some of those.

Examples:

** ''[[CrowningMomentOfFunny "And shut down that comm chatter!"]]''[[hottip:*:Delivered by Shas'O Kais, the commander of the Tau in ''Dark Crusade'', the FlatEarthAtheist race with a strong resistance to the Warp, [[DontExplainTheJoke including telepathic communication]].]]

* RalphWiggum: The Ogryn definitely count if their selection and order quotes, and [[StopPokingMe general battlefield chatter]] are anything to go by:
--> ''"Sir, yes... uhh... sir!"''
--> <'''Kills Ork'''> ''"Bye bye, Ork!"''
--> <'''Capturing a point'''> ''"We got the, uh... *{{Beat}}* [[BuffySpeak thing!]]"''
** That said, what they lack in minds they overcompensate in [[DumbMuscle brute strength and durability]] and are some of the toughest troops in Multiplayer.

** In ''Dawn of War II'', if a Chaos Aspiring Champion of Khorne (and the Force Commander) sync kills a Carnifex (really hard to do) he will do a ColossusClimb and stand on the Carnifex's tusks and start to whail on its face with his pistol and chainaxe before finishing it off with a blast to the mouth. This sync kill is featured in ''Retribution'' in the mission where you have to [[spoiler:escape Typhon as Exterminatus is being performed on it]]. When you get to a certain point the Deranged Chaos Champion (since this is his full title [[BeyondTheImpossible he must be crazy even by Chaos' standards...eep]]), will start roaring to the sky, enraged by the fact that people would be trying to [[spoiler: escape from Kyras's gift of death]] before doing this in the Typhon Arena.

* OmnicidalManiac: Taken to BeyondTheImpossible levels with [[spoiler: Chapter Master Azariah Kyras]] in ''Retribution''.