The sheer number of factions, plus the fact that they all played completely differently from one another, provided us gleeful gamers an almost limitless variety of matchup possibilities. Together with its three expansions (remember the days of full-fledged expansions? Gasp!), Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War gave players a total of nine factions-the Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Necrons (yikes!), Sisters of Battle, Tau Empire, and of course, the multitudinous Orks. Not only did they introduce an ingenious squad system, which not only indicated each squad’s health and morale at a glance, but it also gave gamers a sense that they were fighting large scale conflicts with a vast array of troop and vehicle types.

When Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War originally debuted, way back in 2004, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. But for some reason, I really get my knickers all up in a twist when it comes to ruining gaming franchises. If someone is sitting on a piece of workout equipment at the gym for ages, mouth agape while twiddling their uber-important little lives away via texts, I just laugh it off and wait patiently. Although I frequently get cut off in traffic, I almost always shrug it off and keep on rolling.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Ultimate Apocalypse The Hunt Begins Mod