Deep under the central desert of Kronus, a vast honeycomb of skull-lined tunnels and funeral chambers house the awakening Necron menace. Eons ago, these were the boulevards and squares of a great necropolis built to house the bones of the races who had fallen to the Necrons, and ultimately were where the Necrons themselves retire to spend eternity. Over millions of years, sand and rock had covered it all until ill-fated excavations awoke the deathless.
Play any of seven races, striving for control over Kronus. Take other races' strongholds by winning challenging battles on various maps individually associated with the respective strongholds.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the second expansion to the PC-based RTS game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's po[CENSORED]r tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dark Crusade was released on October 9, 2006. The expansion features two new races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons. Including the Imperial Guard from Dawn of War's first expansion pack Winter Assault, this means a total of seven playable races in this expansion.
Unlike Winter Assault, Dark Crusade is a standalone expansion that does not require prior installation of Dawn of War or Winter Assault to play, allowing the user to play as all seven factions in both single player Skirmish and Campaign modes.
Parallel to the release of Dark Crusade, THQ also released a triple pack of Dawn of War, Winter Assault, and Dark Crusade, dubbed Dawn of War Anthology. The case is embossed with images of all the faction leaders of the campaign dressed in their respective wargear.