Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Relic's 2004 real-time strategy game that launched the Dawn of War series.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a real-time strategy game made by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ, released on September 20, 2004 in North America and September 24 in Europe. It is based on Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 miniature wargame.

Quick Facts

Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: THQ; Relic Entertainment (Definitive Edition)
Director: Alex Garden
Producer: Jonathan Dowdeswell
Designer: Jay Wilson
Programmer: Dominic Mathieu
Artist: Andy Lang
Composer: Jeremy Soule

Lore & Background

Matches revolve around capturing and holding strategic points with infantry squads; the points supply resources for new units and buildings and unlock parts of each army's tech tree. A battle is won by holding enough control points for a set time or by destroying every enemy HQ. Three expansions followed: Winter Assault (2005), Dark Crusade (2006) and Soulstorm (2008), and a Definitive Edition remaster of the game and its expansions came out on August 14, 2025. The series had sold more than 7 million copies by January 2013.