There has been some confusion around the place as to what exactly this expansion pack to the awesome Dawn of War series is and does. Simply put, it's a standalone expansion including two new races and single player campaigns. If you only own Dark Crusade, you may only play online with Tau or Necron, the two new races, however you can still battle the five other races. It's also brilliant!

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The Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War series are RTS set across various war zones, where numerous races and factions taken from the Warhammer 40k universe battle it out in nicely rendered, brutal and bloody battles. Dawn of War's first outing began with four unique races, including Space Marines, Chaos Marines, Orcs and Eldar and allowed for online play with any of these parties. An expansion, Winter Assault, introduced new campaigns and the Imperial Guard race, which became available for multiplayer.

Now, Dark Crusade has landed, set on the scarred planet Kronus, where seven unique armies fight for total control. The conglomerate race, Tau, high-tech aliens fighting for the Greater Good alongside the Kroot, have been included with this new expansion and to balance the good with the bad, the genocidal undead Necron robots have arisen from within the world of Kronus in order to reclaim their tomb planet and put the living to rest.

Selecting a race from the single player campaign will result in some of the most enthusiastic and epic narration in a video game you'll see, as each race's story is introduced, explaining exactly why the hell there are seven different races fighting for control of one boring and ultimately uninteresting planet. A map displays the various provinces on Kronus, which need to be invaded and captured in turn-based strategy, with Requisition points being added per round per province, allowing for areas to be fortified before battle. Various enemy strongholds exist on the map, which when destroyed, result in that races annihilation. Some provinces provide bonuses, which include Honor guard units that protect your General in battle or the ability to begin battles with a full complement of buildings and requisition points.

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Dark Crusade's core game-play exists in the skirmishes that take place once you've selected the best province to attack. With the focus being on the production of battle units, building structures is kept simple, with only one or two buildings required for the more complex units to be produced. As soon as battles start, you're forced to capture and hold strategic and critical points as well as Relics, which are needed for production of the best units. These points are located across the battlefield and are necessary in order to acquire Requisition points, which in turn are used to build units and buildings. Removing the need for constant resource collection, battles become the focus of attention – and, as every faction and every unit offers something unique to the battle, each race's strengths and weaknesses needs to be understood to fight effectively. Minor examples include, adding commander units to a weakening squad to bolster Morale allowing them to battle more effectively or use detecting units to reveal any invisible "infiltration" units attacking squads from cover. Fights can be huge and with specific unit control, setting up suppressing fire before driving through with melee units and armoured vehicles becomes crucial in turning the tide of battle and eliminating enemy forces.

As well as attacking there's also a defence mechanism. Provinces that have been won on your part may be attacked by other factions commanders, however all buildings located on your land that you've previously built are still in place from your last battle allowing immediate development of a defending force. Existing buildings keeps defence battles quick and fun, but challenging, as the invading army may already be ready to destroy your forces as soon as you begin.

And the Tau lost because the larger troops didn't want to damage their newly polished armor.

The two new races, Tau and Necron, are balanced nicely and are two of the most tactical armies in the Dawn of War series. Tau relies on ranged combat and stealth, with many of its units sporting light armour, "infiltration" ability and ineffective melee tactics, even it's armoured vehicles are light compared to the likes of Space Marine and Orc battalions. However, stealth units and Kroot infantry make for exciting game play, as ranged forces pin incoming infantry with the Kroot leaping into attack from behind suppressing fire to meet enemies one on one, whilst a barrage of missiles is lobbed overhead to pick off artillery support in the background. The Necron add entirely different elements, with their slow, resurrecting swarms of undead wading into battle supported by slightly less menacing war machines but backed by the mighty, slowly evolving, attacking and moving Necron fortress.

Multiplayer sports a huge number of maps and various win objectives. And, considering the seven different races available for online combat, co-op can be an intricate and advanced state of war.

Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the first RTS I've played in nearly 6 six years and it's damn good fun. Visually satisfying and viscerally violent, audibly pleasing and diverse, it's exciting watching Orcs being ripped to shreds by laser fire and Chaos Marines chainsaw through Eldar. With a huge variety of play modes, difficult set-piece battles, varying armies and units, I find myself turning on the computer to challenge myself day after day and to quench my bloodlust. This is one of the best digital Warhammer renditions ever and a worthy expansion to the series.