Warhammer

[Nathan]

I played the beta of DoW and found that it was in general very well balanced but there were a couple of units that were too strong (Avatar, Bloodthirster, Obliterators) and early rushes could too easily win the game.

I plan to buy it once I hear from a reliable source that the balance issues have been sorted out.

Until then though, I'm more than happy to go on playing Rome: Total War, the most balanced game I have ever seen.

[Nav]

It takes quite a while to build those units, and usually by the time you've collected enough strategic points your existing forces are enough to lay waste to your opponent anyway. The one thing that does annoy me is the lack of any means to create shortcuts for groups of units. It takes too long to select a specific group, so the only real way to attack is to make one big force and bludgeon your way to your goal.

I like the strategic point system though, and how you can build turrets and make each one into a little beachhead. The game only costs £18 on play too, if you don't want to pay full price.

[Nathan]

I prefer Rome: Total War anyway I think, although I'll probably buy DoW when I have the spare cash, I liked it enough for that. The only problem I have with it (and most RTS games) is that you have to follow a set build pattern or you're dead. RTW is all about maneuvring your army and not about building, so you can concentrate more on the fight without having to worry about keeping the build queues in your base full up. DoW suffered to a lesser extent than, say, age of empires because of damage modifiers like cover and flanking and rear attack, morale also added a depth of strategy, and there's nothing cooler than watching a Dreadnaught skewering an eldar wuss-trooper, but it's so annoying fighting a hard battle through the game only to find your whole army suddenly smashed to bits by 5 obliterator squads.