Players are driven into, and subsequently experience, story missions by declaring an attack on an opponent’s “Stronghold.” Completing a stronghold mission eliminates that race from the game. Capturing territories will grant players either an elite “Honor Guard” unit that will accompany their Commander into battle or a special ability, such as the ability to strike at any province during your turn. Auto-resolution runs greater risks and may result in larger casualties. Declaring an attack prompts the player, who receives a choice of playing out a scenario against the opposing army for the territory, or having the game auto-resolve the scenario. The campaign is similar to Risk: players have their commander that acts as an attacking force and must go out and engage other adjacent territories. Rather than playing through multiple story-linked missions, players instead choose a Commander and take control of a specific army in order to take control of the planet, Kronus. Another major departure from previous Dawn of War titles is the overhaul to the single-player campaign.

Released October 9, 2006, Dark Crusade introduces players to two new races from the Warhammer 40,000 universe: The Necrons and the Tau. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the second expansion pack for Relic’s hit game Dawn of War.

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