Most people know what this game is about. The store page is pretty accurate in describing what it is.

Is it good?
Depends. Some people enjoy making a massive army and steam rolling the enemy. Others enjoy having a smaller amount of units and managing them using their unique abilities. If you fall into the second of these two, then give this game a go. If you prefer large armies, I'd say pass on this.

The Warhammer 40k universe is incredibly well presented in this game. The gameplay is mostly focused on smaller squads and managing their abilities. The combat is great with it's array of animations (which you can catch repeating a little too often sometimes) and solid sounds to back it up.

The single player campaign is good, although I think most people will be attracted to the multiplayer more than the campaign.

What I would add to this game if I could would be to add more races (I miss Tau and Necrons) and have more maps to play on.

A solid buy if you enjoyed previous DoW games. Just be aware it does differ from the first and although the addition of Tyranids is awesome, they've left out other races.

I'll admit, Dawn of War II cames as a bit of shock to me. I rushed out to buy this game right away because of how much I loved the first Dawn of War series. When I got this one, I was surprised to see that the mechanics had been totally changed and the campaign is basically a squad based action RPG. Which, I'm fine with. The game was a lot of fun and well worth a playthrough. But calling this game an Real-Time Strategy game would be EXTREMELY misleading. Even calling it Company of Heroes reskinned for Warhammer 40,000 isn't very accurate, because Company of Heroes incorporates resource management and base building.

Rather than dwelling on what this game isn't, I want to focus on what it is. It has a compelling story, great visuals and a very interesting leveling up system for your team. While the battle interface isn't fluid, it's managable and allows you to keep track of your team in chaotic firefights. The bosses usually require varied strategy to defeat, and you need to consider your loadout carefully before each mission. Going up against a tank boss without equipping Avitus with a missile launcher will make the battle much harder. A word of caution is that I experienced frequent frame-rate drops during battles. As I can run Doom 2016 at maximum settings without so much as a stutter, I have to believe that the problem has to do with the game as opposed to my machine.

I didn't play much of multiplayer. Mostly I did the arena survival mode, which was a fun little time waster. Be warned, however, expect to get yelled at... a lot, by other players in this mode for not holding up your part of the battle. I understand that there's a skirmish mode in this game, but its pretty lackluster and shallow. Multiplayer seems to largely be an extension of that.

Overall, I'd recommend this game if you want to try an ARPG that uses RTS elements. I've logged a lot of hours on this game through multiple playthroughs and I don't regret it at all. If you're looking for the spiritual successor to Dawn of War, look elsewhere. This will not satisfy the RTS itch you're trying to scratch.

Dawn of War II is a science-fiction real time strategy game based in the Warhammer 40k universe.

When most people think of RTS games, games such as Starcraft and Warcraft typically come to mind. You have workers to build up your base so that you can train more powerful soldiers. Resources must be harvested, but there is a finite amount of them. Indeed, this is how the first Dawn of War functioned. However, the sequel takes a much different approach.

In the single player campaign, you are given 6 unique squads, and 6 only, to take on missions. No base building whatsoever. These squads can be upgraded with weapons and armour, and can level up to gain bonus abilities. It is a extremely well-executed combination of an rpg and a rts. The story is fairly linear, but you are free to explore the planets and do side missions at your realative leisure (that is, until the space bugs show up. Then you need to be quick or else the bugs will eat the planet).

The multiplayer is also a genre-masher. Each race has three different "heroes" which act similarily to champions in DotA or LoL. They level up, can be upgraded, and can oftentimes turn the tide of a battle. All of your other units are spawned from you one and only building, so if it dies you're out of luck. There aren't any workers, and you must collect resources by capping points. A capped point will grant you the resource constantly. The more points you have, the more resources you'll consistently obtain.

The other huge change in DoW II is the "Last Stand" game mode. Three players, each controlling one of the heroes, must survive wave after wave of enemies (top-down horde mode pretty much). You're heroes level up, get more powerful, and eventually die because Last Stand is hard.

If you enjoy RTS games, but are tired of the same-old same-old style that most RTS's follow, then I would recommend this game (or DoW II: Retribution the stand-alone sequel).

The reason I got Steam.

In short i spend 2600 hours in this game (2 years) and never regret buying and playing it
-Awesome game, awesome campaign!!
-Brings WH40K to life
-Buy it if you love tactical RTS or just a WH40K fan...its totaly worth it

The Long Version~

Welp been a fan of WH40k for awile now and still is. As you can see the 2600 hours that i played this was one of the longest games i played and if you like more tactical and up close RTS rather than mass production and watching everything explode, then this game is for you.

In my opinion they also improved alot of the Warhammer 40K models/characters to look more badass, Space marines look more heavy/bulky and...well they just made every faction look more believable and cool looking compared to DOW1

In terms of following lore they did try their best and improved alot compared to DOW1. but really how can you balance things in a legit game when 1 Marine has the potential to take out a small army in lore wise

Its a good game.

I'm 93 and this game saved my life. My wife, of 75 years has joined the heavenly choir. My 6 children are now fully grown and dotted all over the world, my 18 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren likewise, and so I live a solitary life. Except perhaps when the dutiful Mrs Emmanuel pops over after her night-shift to check I'm all right. Sometimes she even stays for tea and crumpets!

That aside, my day to day life is quiet and somewhat boring. That was until Mrs Emmanuel's granddaughter Emma, who had come to stay with her grandma for a few days, introduced me to Dawn of War 2. My dulled ancient brain had never known such delights as what Emma showed me that night, I can tell you. The thrills we shared on that sofa I will never forget. I didn't really know what she meant by 'Blowing Filthy Xenos away' but she blew all night long. My goodness I was drained by the time the morning light peaked through the curtains, but I'd had the time of my life and Emma had introduced me to something that my dear wife could never have done.

I now play as much as my arthritic hands will allow, and hope that one day Emma may return again so that I can show her how my technique has improved and perhaps repay her kindness by giving those Xenos another good licking!

When Dawn of War II came out, it was an absolutely groundbreaking title. It offered some of the most competitive multiplayer at the time, and the later addition of The Last Stand mode offered hours of entertainment to both casual gamers and pro-players alike.

Now, if in 2015 the size of the multiplayer community has dwindled only to a fraction of what it was, you can still find other players out there (steam forums help in this regard) and enjoy some good games, or just plunge straight through the campaign.

Dawn of War II was worth every cent at the time it was released. As part of a Steam Sale, however, there's no reason for you not to pick this up and give it a go. Especially if you're already fan of the first Dawn of War, or just appreciate the universe of Warhammer 40,000 in general.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=315394833
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is the next installment to the critically acclaimed Dawn of War franchise. It was developed by Relic Entertainment who has done a fine job handling the series with respect and care, and giving the Warhammer 40k universe justice.

Dawn of War II is a Real Time Strategy game set "in the grim darkness of the far future" on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40k tabletop universe. The player will take on the role of a Blood Raven Force Commander who leads a small task force in a desperate attempt to save one of their last few remaining recruitment worlds from the destructive power of the Aliens who seeks to destroy it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=315394042
PROS:
+ Good Visuals: -The game could have used better textures but it still looks nice as it is. Combat animation and movements are great which complements the very well done character and unit models. The game should be 5 years old by the time this review is made, but it has that kind of visuals that ages very well.

+ RPG Type Campaign: -Also a CON (see below). Although the Dawn of War games are known to be a Real Time Strategy Game, this Dawn of War II's Single Player Campaign mixes an RPG element into it (character progression and wargear customization). The original RTS formula is not lost however, because the Multiplayer experience, whether against players or the AI, is still a traditional RTS experience.

+ Wargear and Character Progression (Level Up): -There is an healthy amount of drops and loots in this game which works well on different combinations and situations. This vastly increases the re-playability of the game since the player may experiment with different character builds with different items to attain different results in their missions. This is specially true on the harder difficulties.

+ Variety in Difficulty: -Single player offers a good choice on difficulty by having a fun and satisfying normal mode, and a very brutal higher tier difficulties for players who like to challenge themselves in fighting notoriously hard game modes.

CONS:
- Path-finding Problems: -I noticed that some of the unit's individual AI have a hard time grasping orders. They sometimes run out of cover, charge the enemy even though they are given specific orders for range combat, and even sometimes get delayed response to orders like throw grenades or bombs despite being in range.

- RPG Type Campaign: -Some fans of the old games might not appreciate the RPG element since what really made the original Dawn of War games fun for them would be the base building, management and troop training rather than squad based tactical combat.

- Recycled Maps: -Map variation in both Multiplayer and specially Single Player is woefully lacking with a majority of maps repeating on missions. Company of Heroes, a game developed by the same studio and using the same RTS principles, had more map variety and originality and it was released 3 years BEFORE Dawn of War II.

CONCLUSION:
With its flaws its still a good addition to the Dawn of War franchise. Although it has deviated from its original formula of a traditional RTS in favor of a more RPG-esque single-player experience, I can still say that I found it fun.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=315735768

3 Awesome and largley different game modes

Campaign > control 4 squads, level up, find better Loot. You arent stuck with the same 4 squads either as they can be swapped for others ( dont like Scout marines, no problem, Dreadnaught?), some interesting boss battles aswell.

Last Stand > 3 player controlled heros must survive against hordes of enemies, 20 waves with special boss waves, fight the Eldar , Space Marines, Imperials, Tyranids , Orks and Chaos. Level each Hero to 20, unlocking more gear as you level, Play as An ork Mek Boy, Space Marine, or Eldar Farseer.

Multiplayer PVP or Ai > Small scale warfare heavily focused on tactics and stratergy, an example of what it can be like is 'Avatar of Khaine is very strong but a good opponent could kill him with a handful of troops if he isnt supported', each race can choose between 3 commanders, eldar for example can have a Seer Council Warlock, Farseer or Warp spider commander, Each commander has its own wargear to purchase in game.

All modes are enjoyable, and the game is very well made with a great ammount of detail for an RTS, that being said , last stand and campaign double up as RPG games, I often feel like playing them if I want a change from Torchlight 2 or something similar. 9/10 would highly recommend.

- Con - more could have been done for people who play the game offline, a lot of newer games seem to be very restricting to people who don't want to be online, this is no exception, although The campaign and PvsAI alone is solid enough to merit its very reasonable price tag.

No inquisitor...

Of course i didn't buy Dawn of war 3 for £5 and play it for a whole day

I brought DoW 3 and played it for 5 minutes before i realised it was heretical in nature.