Developer Proxy Studios and publishers SlitherineGames’ Warhammer 40k Gladius has a recent DLC being the Escalation Pack where they add in more units for each of the factions available in the game, here are our reviews on it.

Do note that this review will be focusing on the Escalation Pack and its newly introduced units rather than a review of the base game.

In the Escalation Pack, the game introduces one new unit for each of the available playable factions in the game that features either a pretty unique playstyle or fills in the gap in each of the faction’s unit choices. Here are the lists of the new units from the DLC:

• Chaos Space Marines – Forgefiend
• Tyranids – Hive Guards
• Adeptus Mechanicus – Skitarii Rangers
• Space Marines – Scouts
• Astra Militarum – Devil Dog
• Necrons – Ghost Ark
• Craftworld Aeldari – Hornets
• Orks – Megatrakk Scrapjets
• T’au – Tiger Shark

Initiating Deep Striking

While five of the faction’s are from another DLC pack, which means that in this DLC, we don’t actually get to try out those five new units from the DLC factions. Which is kind of weird to include in units from the other DLC factions along with the available factions from the base game.

The four factions that are available in the base games are the Space Marines, the Astra Militarum, the Necrons and the Orkz.

Starting the list of with the Astra Militarum and the newly added Devil Dogs unit. From the Warhammer 40k franchise, the Devil Dog aren’t actual dogs, instead they are variant of the Hellhound flame-thrower tanks. In Warhammer 40K Gladius, they are a fast tank unit with a deadly cannon that melts through armour like how it reminds me of the Sisters of Battle would raise hellfire with their Immolator tanks back in Dawn of War: Soulstorm.

And when we say fast, we meant really fast, even to the point where faster than the Scout Sentinels which are known to be fast units. Not only are they fast units but they also hit extremely hard against other vehicle-type units.

If you would rather branch out to the path of building an army of tanks and techpriests, the Devil Dog is a nice pick-up to your army considering the fact that they can be unlocked relatively early on in your tech tree. Nothing wrong with the alternative of bolstering your army up with cheaply mass-produced infantry men, there’s just something cool about ravaging the battlefield with huge ass tanks.

On the other side of the Imperium of Mankind, the Space Marines get their signature scout units in the Escalation pack. The Space Marine scouts who in my opinion excels as what their names would suggest.

You can use them during the early game to uncover your surrounding areas by using the scout move skill which reveals surrounding tiles to check if they’re any resources that you can claim as your own without spending too much resources yourself, along with their built in invisibility skill they’re perfect for recon missions. They’re also pretty good at long range poking and prodding since they have an attack range of 3 tiles.

For glory and for WAAAGH, the Orkz faction also gets access to their own early game vehicle being the Megatrakk Scrapjets which is a favourite amongst Speed Freeks and grounded Flyboyz alike. In Orkz-like fashion, the Megatrakk Scrapjets are best used for up close and personal situations. The Scrapjets can also be used from a distance as you revel at the marvels of seeing rokkits fly.

Last but certainly not least are the Necrons with the debut of the Ghost Ark which transports Necron Warriors to the battlefield.

More of a support unit rather than a siege machine like the rest of the other units added in the escalation pack, the Ghost Ark lets you both repair fallen Necron units as well as harbor them across the battlefield, which is insanely strong if you’re in a situation where the war of attrition is required as you can top up your unit’s health to continue the fight.

As the dusk settles, the Dawn of War begins

The Escalation pack offers a lot of early-game options for just about most of the factions and while it doesn’t exactly change the overall base gameplay, it’s nice to have some additional units to play around for each of the factions and offers a breath of fresh air, with can help a lot with replayabilty.

For those who are interesting in getting the Warhammer 40k Gladius – Escalation Pack, you can check it out from the Steam store.