Spoilers: Yes.

"I will call them the Astra Militarum when I'm dead, you are in the Imperial Guard" the correct take.

Honestly this game is what got me into 40k as much as I am today. Already had the models and had friends who played the tabletop game, but Dawn of War is what really cemented It with me.

That intro cinematic had no business going that hard. I was stunned the first time I booted up this game.

My dad bought me Dawn of war for my 8th birthday(A dubious parental decision). 17 Years, dozens of books and thousands of miniatures later I still love Warhammer as much now as I did back then.

It's been 2 decades since I first played this game, and the opening cinematic still gives me goosebumps when the flag is raised.

Slight correction: Dawn of War 1 actually lets you make your own symbols and flags. You "just needed" to make any design you like in a graphic program of the correct pixel size and let you throw rhem down in a local folder for "flags and symbols" as PNG files.

When the mood strikes, I’ve been known to bellow Commisar lines at the guys at work I manage. “Fear me, but FOLLOW!” is a real crowd pleaser

A few key notes: Orbital Relay - You can put troops inside of it and deep strike them anywhere (with vision) on the map Remove Active Units - By pressing the DELETE button, you can kill an entire squad/unit.

The voice acting holds up so well, Sindri in particular always stood out to me, what a perfect casting.

38:15 To the left of the stance toggle is a bombard command, which forces artillery units to bombard a designated _area_ (not a building or unit) in spite of their stance. The cease-fire stance keeps them not just from hurting your allies but also from aggroing enemies from half way across the map, because the whirlwind's attack range is MASSIVE.

The cut scenes and voice acting are so good. Still holds up.

I like that an apothecary quote has become the go-to comment of condolence among 40k fans "The fallen shall be forever remembered as the Emperor's finest"

30:36 Basically all of WH40K can be described saying "The situation on the planet is grim"

Dark Crusade was my first encounter with anything Warhammer 40k and my wallet has never recovered.

Gosh I'd forgotten about that tutorial. It's a textbook example of how to tell someone everything, without them remembering anything.

This game gave is the ultimate Space Marine tactic...STEEHL REEHN!

That Intro lives in my Head Rent Free until i Die. Dawn of War game kept my Love for warhammer alive for almost 2 Decades before i finally could start into the Hobby a few years Ago.

As a StarCraft guy I never was into Warhammer but this game was played on every LAN Party in the mid-2000s and it was dope.

Many a fond memory playing Dark Crusade as a kid. Decent replay value despite similar strategies, best played on hard to keep you on your feet and not spam the same styles.

I love how iconic Jeremy Soules music is. I have never played this game but I was instantly able to recognize that signature tone.

Never been a fan of RTS genre or had much money, but still bought it at release. It was THAT good.

I remember booting this game up on my old computer almost 20 years ago. The intro itself blew my mind, but the gameplay sealed the deal. I have loved Warhammer 40k ever since.

2 man game, 6 man map. goes for days

The voicelines are still burned in my head when I played it pretty casually so I'd say yeah GLORY TO THE FIRST MAN TO DIE

I feel like "Was it any good" did not need to be asked when it comes to DOW but I'm happy to see a video on it regardless.

Gosh, I could just watch you play through all the campaigns and just having your commentary. Love this.

This one of your all-time best videos. Really enertaining and you let the game tell us its story

That opening cinematic to Dawn of War still gives me chills. When they dreadnought stomps out of the smoke, and that sergeant's yell, classic.

"There is no such thing as innocence; only degrees of guilt." My first warhammer game was space hulk on PC back in the day. When I was a young kid, I played a lot of RTS. My brain was so sharp back then (I miss it!). I remember playing DoW with my friend. We'd play 2v2. I'd rush dreadnaughts and tech up to drop pods. He'd play orks and hold the enemy. I can't tell you how many times I'd drop a dreadnaught in their base and they'd just leave instantly. It was SO much fun. DoW. I don't think my brain can handle an RTS at my older age. I'll always remember the voice acting and executions fondly. It was a huge change from typical brood war/WC3 RTS battles.

58:47 You can press DEL (by default) to instantly kill any units or buildings you have selected. This command, called "Scuttle" along with all the stuff about stances, is introduced pretty badly in the game, but referenced in the back cover of the manual and in the hotkey configuration panel to be implemented by the player through experimentation. For instance, did you know that you can set production structures to inheritable stances as well? All as invaluable in multiplayer as it is in the campaign. Note that each of the 9 races has its own variant of the tutorial, and you didn't touch on the "overwatch" mechanic either. Overwatch allows your production structures to automatically order replacements as the resources coincide, greatly simplifying unit production and further pushing the game into a tactical groove from a strategic one. Honestly there's a ton of options in this game that ought to be way more common in RTS that came after it. The Sisters of Battle are not even top 4 in Soulstorm. Neither are Necrons: that's only true in Dark Crusade, a game that remains a balance atrocity. Tau definitely could stand to be nerfed in 2v2 though. This whole thing was a great and insightful watch, thanks for making it.

Hench you mate good to see with all the gaming and vid content you still smashing the gym... My man

Dawn of war was my childhood. I still boot this game up once in a while and play their campaigns.

Old... Friend? Hearing a battlehardend spacemarine like Angelos crack while saying those words... PERFECTION!

Ah the one game I cracked out for before steam existed as a thing. Having to have like 8 CDs to play this game was worth it!

The mic inside the cup... what a champ.

Ah the nostalgia strikes again when i hear "MARINE SQUAD DEPLOYED". Insane video Josh. The Emperor protects.

You don’t play Chaos because you want to be good, you play Chaos because the Crab 🦀 god compelled you. I remember being in college after Dark Crusade came out and 8 of us being crammed in a room doing a big LAN match.

great overview. love this game. loved all the battle animations and sound design

I love this game. I spent hours in the campaign when I was younger. Thanks for reminding me of those simpler times!

One thing I really liked in DOW1 is after every intro of each mission of Gabriel log, we see the Loading Screen of Tartarus Map that is supposed to be a Satellite view from Blood Ravens ship fortress slowly being covered in "Red" that is supposed to be the Orkz, while Blood Ravens and the IG end up being swallowed up by the near end of the game. The final mission the, the Satellite Map turn total chaos

Some corrections: - Dark Crusade can also be played as a standalone - Skullprobes are not useless, being able to detect invisible units -Turrets can actually be ridiculously overpowered -I am surprised you haven't mentioned the Orbital relay and the whole drop poding element which was revolutionary

Oh damn. Is there still a community that Supports this game? Like with guide for beginners and advanced ones? Or maybe people to play with

Everybody gangsta until Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War OST - Force Commander starts playing. In all seriousness though every part of this game is memorable. The music, the voicelines (especially the voicelines), the gameplay, the factions, the atmosphere, everything just oozes with so much passion and personality. You know a game is great when it ends up sticking with you long after you've played it.

I actually played this game a few months ago still totally holds up. I am looking forward to Space Marine 2 but if they just bought out a new updated graphical version of classic DOW with more factions, that game would be outrageously popular.

Part of why you play the Guards, basilisks. Who doesn't like some proper artillery? It is so satisfying. 3... 2... 1... FIRE!!

The cinematic intro still gives me chills. I’ll think of it occasionally and find the highest quality version to rewatch sometimes and it still holds up hard.

"Orks only respect strength and I intend to show them we have it in ample supply" 30:01 What a badass line man !

It's not: "Was it any good?" It's: "It's still good even to this day ongoing X years later"

Haha fav line..."The Imperial Guard are holding the line...I will call then them the Astra Militarum when I am dead"

right click on the "add more squad member" and the "upgrade" of unit too, to make them automated

As someone who was introduced to this wonderful universe thru the og dawn of war series as a preteen in 2007 but without any likeminded friends to share the passion for it. It makes me very very happy to find all these likeminded people online who share my love for this absolute gem of a game.

"An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded." ~ Librarian, Dawn of War. The fact that I and many others can AND WILL quote this game from memory should tell you that it definitely left a lasting impression. I definitely enjoyed it and I mourn the stillbirth that was Dawn of War III to this day. The PaulStretch'd soundtrack, the trailer itself...Oh, the things that could have been. Perhaps in another lifetime.

This is where my Grimdark adventures began. Didn't even know they had miniatures.

One thing about Dark Crusade's campaign is that it despite being more "generated" in a sense that you would fight for control on a given maps depending on their place on the planet, the major points on the map still were robust, directed encounters significant for the story.

Watching one of my buddies play Soulstorm on his pc when we’d hang out was my first introduction to warhammer. Haven’t had the space to own and paint models, but I still love my ‘Crons

This, Mechanicus and Space Marine are my holy trinity of amazing 40k games.

A childhood gem right here. Still playing it today with the Ultimate Apocalypse mod :)

I like how the opening cinematics of DOW and Dark Crusade depict a tactical situation that has gone completely down the toilet.

Man I still remember firing up Dawn of War 1 for the first time when it launched so many years ago. They caught my attention with the opening cinematic, but when that glorious main menu screen music started up I was instantly hooked.

The modding community for this game is very active to this day, with Unification mod adding over 20 races from the 40k lore to the game, and another update coming soon with many more!

32:27 - you can actually save the Imperial Guard here and then have the option to use and reinforce them - as far as I remember there is a mission bonus for this

This System of ordering "Squads" is what I also loved about Shadow of Middleearth, these 2 Games are the RTS of my childhood, very good games!

I'm not proud about how long I was watching him talk and wondering when he was gonna take a sip out of that mug before I realized there was a mic in it.

Soulstorm with the UA mod is easily my favorite RTS of all time, you covering the series made my day

"I will call them the Astra Militarum when I am dead. You are in the Imperial Guard" Aaaaaaand subscribed.

I played this game with friends in the computer lab at college over LAN while waiting for 3d animation projects to render. Very fond memories of it

I'm only half way through the video and I am now resolved to replay every campaign haha

I remember playing the Tau on one map in Dark Crusade and just playing that map for hours on end. I kept upgrading and refining a single choke point, and I found it fascinating how efficient certain combinations of vehicles and troops were compared to others. I had mountains of corpses at the bottom of a hill, and it was glorious. I was actually sad when I finally decided "Eh, I have to move on from this." Dark Crusade remains my favorite RTS of all time. DOW1 is a close second though.

Scott McNeil making use of that dinobot and silver bolt voice warms my heart.

This is the game which introduced me to Warhammer 40k.

20 years ago?! Fuck...I'm old.

that boring tutorial gave me first intro to the games. i do not consider it boring, but only helpful to the new players! i was 7 when i first started playing any comuter games. this librarian shoulder pad brought so many good memories

Don't forget: left click the plus to reinforce; right click the plus to auto reinforce until the squad is full.

The opening cinematic alone is a work of art. A great setup for a great game

Amazing video dude. Just a point about the 59 min mark where you said that you made a lot of units on the wrong side of the chasm and couldn't get rid of them; you actually can. If you select a unit or building and press the delete key they get destroyed. Awesome vid and keep up the good work.

I loved the dawn of war dark crusade campaign. Having a planet as the battlefield with every faction battling was so cool. Not to mention you both got to protect and invade different areas on the map. And when you protected an area you would get the infrastructure you built up in the invasion stage as your starting set up. It made the campaign such a great time. Damn I miss playing that game.

The Winter Assault story is perhaps the best one in the series, you can choose to play either the forces of order (imperial guard and eldar) or disorder (orks and chaos), the ending has multiple versions depending on how you play the story which faction you play more as. Plus the orks in winter assault are perfectly characterized from start to finish

I love your channels. I have been watching them regularly for the last 6 months. I would love to see your check out 2002 The Thing game on PS2.

Hey, Josh! I just wanted to say thanks for making this video, as it was the catalyst in making me finally get into the 40k universe. This game looked really fun, so I bought it and all expansions. I've had a blast with the game, even just random skirmish matches are pretty fun. If anyone is thinking of getting into this the first time like me, do it! Also, the unification mod adds a ton of new content without being extremely different from the original game. I personally love that they split the chaos faction among 5 different ones to give the chaos group a very different playstyle.

21:57 one other advantage there is for attaching leader units to squads is that they provide whoever they're attached to with bonuses pain boys and apothecarys will increase the healing of the squad (and anyone around the squad, but still) and commander units like the warboss will also boost morale regen the imperial guard make full use of this with attached units providing buffs like priests increasing melee damage and commissars increasing morale regen (as well as having their powerful abilities)

I remember playing Dawn of War, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm as a kid. I knew very little about warhammer and 40k, but I had played RTS before so it was right up my alley

That's either a very tall Colonel or those are the stompiest Space Marines I've seen in over 20k years...

Hey Josh, bingedwatched all your "was it good"s and i love them. i'd like to share some inspiration for any future video of this kind: Z, Warwind, Popolous: The Beginning, Black & White, Kingpin: Life of Crime, Kiss - Psycho Circus, Blood 2, Psychonauts and Urban Chaos. Greetings !

It wasn't just good It was amazing

This game was my introduction to 40k and I’ve loved it ever since

I love how in the redemption cutscene the gun of our character changes into a bolter

I love your videos. I just went beck to all the ones i watched to support you via comment. So basicly an offering to the gods of algorythm

The Dawn of War tutorial is actually a weirdly formative piece of my childhood. Got some mild shivers when you demonstrated out of pure nostalgia.

48:01 I always loved this journal entry because of this. Angelos, who's above that of a lowly guardsmen, pays his respects to them when most other Space Marines wouldn't have had a second thought.

I played this game with my older brother when I was about 3-4 years old, unfortunately he passed away when i was 4 and i continue playing this game throughout my childhood, it brings back good memories

Small tip the video forgot: If you right click the unit upgrade or reinforce button, it actually puts them into an auto queue, meaning you don’t have to spam clicking, and it lessens your micro game.

Dawn of War was so good that its shadow has stretched to this day. Dark Crusade gaming in an Internet cafe in between lectures (and sometimes when I was supposed to *be* in lectures) were peak golden years. :’) Edit: I’ve watched this video slowly throughout a busy day & I remember painting minis *4 years before the games launch*. These voice lines exist rent free in my head. I know the entirety of that trailer by heart. I am old. Also I’m after realizing just how hard a stand alone full feature film of Dawn of war would slap.

I remember hearing that the opening movie for DoW cost as much to make as adding a new race to the game.

That music man brings goosebumps jesus christ.

The game is one of the GOATs of the RTS genre! I love how you explained everything perfectly in this video. Keep up the good work

im 39 and have been into Warhammer since the early 90s. I paint and thats my favorite part of course but the whole thing is a life long love affair. Cheers Josh love your channel and of course I LOVE Dawn of War. This game was an experience i will never forget.

The voice acting in this game is still the gold standard (and imo unsurpassed, especially in the RTS genre)

This game is full of memories for me but mainly I remember it for being the first and only game my dad ever played with me. He absolutely isnt a gamer but for some reason he spent hours with me on this and the joy I found in that as a 10 year old will always stick with me 😊

Excellent Video!