THQ continues Dawn Of War expansion with Soulstorm

THQ has once again returned to Games Workshop's well for a drink, announcing yet another expansion for the company's popular Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War real-time strategy franchise. The series, which launched in 2004 for the PC and already includes expansions Winter Assault and Dark Crusade, is based on the popular tabletop miniatures war game, though thankfully the electronic version is far less expensive.

In development at Relic, Soulstorm is expected to launch in spring 2008. In addition, like Dark Crusade, Soulstorm will be a stand alone expansion, allowing players to jump right into the grim darkness of the far future without having to pick up the other games in the series to do so.

Previous expansions added new armies like the Imperial Guard, Tau, and Necron, and Soulstorm looks to continue this tradition by introducing two new factions, bringing the series' total to nine playable races. While THQ remains tight lipped on one of these new races, the other will be the Dark Eldar. The game will also add new units across the seven other races, including air units, a first for the series. Finally, the scale of the game is swelling as well, with THQ noting that players will do battle across an entire star system. For the Emperor!