14 DAY TRIAL // Warhammer 40,000 has never been better represented in a video game than in the Dawn of War strategy series, and, when developer Relic and publisher THQ announced that the second expansion, Retribution, would be receiving a beta stage, a lot of people jumped at the chance to see how the game plays now, how the Imperial Guard is able to hold its own against the other five races and how the new units slot in familiar strategy.
The beta only included multiplayer content, but it allows for players to experience the fully human forces of the Imperial Guard and long time fans can practice a bit with them before getting into the matches with the full release.
The first Imperial hero is the Inquisitor, which is focused on the offensive, but to me felt very weak in the early game, although with the right upgrades and a bit of micro management, the hero can become very good at killing high-end enemy units, as long as adequately supported.
The Commissar needs a lot of infantry nearby to really have a chance in the fight and the strongest of the heroes seems to be Lord General, who gets access to a set of tools that have the ability to make even the simple Guard regiment a force to be reckoned with, including a cooldown limiting ability that makes keeping the quick moving Tyranid at bay very easy.
The first tactic I have tried out for the Imperial Guard involves cranking out quite a few basic guard squads and just try and overwhelm the enemy with numbers and a bit of clever kitting.
This allows tactical flexibility and squads can quickly be diverted to cap resources and strategic points, but the squads are very fragile, even when they are thoroughly upgraded, so knowing when to take them out of the fight is crucial and one small mistake can have huge consequences.
The trick is to mix it up with a Catachan squad to deal with massed enemy infantry early on and then specialize some Stormtrooper squads, one for vehicles and another for infiltration.
And even then, winning with the Imperials is still a matter of perfect micro managing and good use of special powers on the hero.
Here's a match from the beta: