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Awesome / Dawn of War

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As you would expect, being based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe results in many awesome moments sprinkled throughout Dawn of War.

WARNING: Unmarked spoilers ahead!

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    Dawn of War 
  • The opening cinematic can be viewed as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for the franchise as a whole. Particularly when the dying Space Marine Brother-Sergeant - the last of his squad - crawls to the top of the hill and defiantly plants the Chapter's banner. That sums up Warhammer 40,000: brutal, violent, awesome, and pointless.
    • And then, as the Sergeant takes his last few breaths, drop pods start falling. Eagle eyed viewers can see that the Sergeant lingers just long enough to see the pods arrive and then passes, content in knowing that his brothers will carry on the fight.
  • There's Gabriel Angelos' shameless, sarcastic mocking of Inquisitor Mordecai Toth when he finds the site of a Chaos sacrifice. The only thing that could have made it any more awesome would be if Toth had actually been present to hear it.
    Gabriel: So the good Inquisitor senses no Chaos on Tartarus. How fortunate for the Imperium that such keen-eyed eagles stand vigil over her gates.
  • The treatment of Chaos sorcerer Sindri towards : Isador after he convinces him to betray the Blood Ravens. In typical Chaos fashion, he claims that he could simply betray Sindri and keep the Maledictum for himself. Sindri's response is to effortlessly force him to his knees using only his mind, take the Maledictum, and calmly walk away while remarking that Angelos and the Blood Ravens have arrived, and he must now kill them all, with the strong implication that Isador has only then realised what a horrible thing he's just done. THAT is what a disciple of Tzeentch does.
    • Sindri: BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSIIIIOOOOOONNN!
    • What makes Sindri different from every other villain in the series? He wins. Drive the Orks into a full WAAAGH? Check. Lure in a Space Marine company? Check. Get one of them to betray his brothers? Check. Drown the planet in slaughter and madness? Check. Cover the system in a Warp Storm? Double Check. Dispose of that dead weight Bale without lifting a finger? Triple check. Become an immortal Daemon Prince? Definitely check. Empower the Maledictum and release the daemon within? Undoubtedly check. Not even Eliphas managed to achieve that level of success.
      • Gone Horribly Right: One MINOR detail, considering one line, though. Get eaten by the Daemon he freed? Check. Oops.
  • The scene where he corrupts Isador. We see the astral projection of the sorceror stalking around the librarian and whispering to him, then another one, then another, and finally an entire crowd of Sindri's clones surrounds poor Isador, their maddening chorus pouring over him from every direction, until at last he breaks and announces his decision to claim the Maledictum for himself. Inventive and creepy as hell. Doubles as Nightmare Fuel.
  • Gameplay wise The Force Commander can beat a Bloodthirster with his Daemonhammer. When he finally kills the beast he smashes it's knee with his hammer, climbs up it, and smashes it's brains out.
  • Gabriel has so many it would be futile to list them all, but this exchange with the Daemon of the Maledictum counts:
    Daemon: Yes... Flee, and know that I will soon come to claim you all!
    Gabriel Angelos: Then come and find your judgement waiting. You have escaped captivity, only to face annihilation. I know you now.

    Winter Assault 

Imperial Guard/Space Marines

  • The cutscene where a Bloodthirster attacks the Ultramarine Chaplain, who immediately kills him spectacularly.
  • General Sturnn's simple assessment of a Guardsman's duty in the Imperial Guard ending.
    Sturnn: To each of us falls a task, and all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we stand the line, and we die fighting. It is what we do best: We die standing.
    • The line just before that one is an incredible tribute to Sturnn and his men. Bear in mind, this is a Space Marine Chaplain speaking: he has seen centuries of combat and insane acts of courage and devotion to the cause are what he does for a living. Yet he pays probably the highest compliment he will ever give to someone outside his chapter to Sturnn's Guardsmen!
    Varnus: Still, it was... an honor to fight alongside you. Barring my Space Marines... I could not have asked for better.
    • Sturnn in general is a walking badass factory. He has no special powers or significant augmentations or supernatural might, he is just an old man who has seen decades of the most horrendous type of warfare and survived. This is a man who has been sent to a frozen rock at the arse end of the galaxy to fight an Ork horde and a Chaos warband to retrieve a weapon that might not even exist anymore, and he treats it like another day at work ("I see only one truth, and that truth is war"). When he discovers the presence of the Eldar he is willing to give them shelter, and just as willing to destroy them if it suits his purposes. And when he discovers the Necrons his reaction is to rally the troops and give them hell, because no Xeno filth is going to drive them from their prize.
    • The Titan gets one in the Imperial Guard's final mission. The rush to get the weapon systems online is brutal and hectic but once they do, everything else on the map dies with contemptuous ease. That includes six Necron Monoliths. And this is a long dead Titan, still embedded into Lorn V. Truly, there is no greater testament to the glory of the Imperium.
    • In fact, the Titan itself deserves a Moment of Awesome of its own - its dormant husk stretches across half the map, and those guns that effortlessly blow away all comers? They're basically the Titan's point defenses, tertiary at best.
  • The final mission allows you to wield 8 Leman Russes and a Baneblade. 8 Leman Russes and a Baneblade. And since it's possible to obtain them before the Necrons come in, you don't even need the Titan's guns to win the Imperial Guard way.
  • Chaplain Varnus and his Ultramarines were badass through and through. The fact that they manage to hold on against hundreds, if not thousands of cultists, until you arrive to save them is pretty impressive. Then after one of his men rushes out to be impaled by the Bloodthirster, Chaplain Varnus beats the shit out of it singlehandedly.
    • Controlling the Ultramarines in the final mission.

Gorgutz & The Orks

  • Warboss Gorgutz is a walking, talking Moment of Awesome. This scene is the pinnacle of EVERYTHING Orky.
    Crull: The Titan Dominatus is one of the greatest war machines EVER constructed!
    Gorgutz: WRONG, ya git! Da gratest waaagh masheen is da Ork WAAAGH! We don't need no damn tin contrapshun ta be strong! We IZ strong! Listen to 'em! Screamin' wit' wun voice across da whole planet! WAAAGH!
    • Best thing about this Badass Boast is that he backs it up: the Orks are the only faction note  who don't use the Titan to defeat the Necrons. They do it the right 'n proppa Orky way - going over to those metal gits and kicking their teef in! Which is exactly what the Old Ones created them to do.
    • His fight with Crull.
    • He still gets one even if he loses, as all his boyz rebel and descend upon him, while he fights them all and declares he'll kill every single one of them.
    • The pinnacle of awesome for the Orks as a whole comes in when the Necrons appear. All the other factions resort to using the Titan's weapons against the Necrons. But the Orks? They just go right in and kick the Necrons' asses the old fashioned way. And they win! Gorgutz was right when he said the Orks don't need a Titan to be strong. They're plenty strong without it.

Chaos

Eldar

  • Not as awesome as Sturnn's ending speech, but Farseer Taldeer gets a good one as well. The Eldar may be dying out, but they aren't going easy.
    Farseer Taldeer: The Necrons came expecting to find souls for the claiming, and instead found defeat. We can leave now. Go, through the portals, sound the evacuation! We are finished with this world... [...] We have won the day, but the day is not won on battles alone. The Necrons will continue their march. And in every turn of every crooked corner of this universe they will find us lying in wait, and they shall find us unafraid.

    Dark Crusade 

Necrons

  • The Necrons are finally playable, packing probably the most ludicrous Relic unit in the game: it's one thing to have a Land Raider or Daemon Prince fighting by your side. Having your entire home base come bursting from the ground to go rampaging across the battlefield, raining gauss blasts upon your foes and spawning endless hordes of skeletal robots is quite the experience.
  • Eliphas the Inheritor's attempt at psychic communication with the Necron Lord, only to get some hissing/beeping noises from it. Eliphas, the Chaos Lord, who has crossed more Moral Event Horizons than can be counted, reacts to this with surprise and revulsion, and perhaps a tinge of horror.
    Eliphas: Your soul is gone!
    • When the Necrons beat the Word Bearers back, the Nightbringer orders them to purge the entire peninsula of Chaos taint. Suffice it to say, they do.
  • Can't forget how Macabee, a Necon Phariah, calmly and coldly taunts the Necrons enemies, without even a hint of sarcasm in his cold emotionless voice.
    • Davian Thule and the Space Marines.
    Thule: We will drive you from there, Necrons!
    Macabee: You will only follow your Emperor into death.
    Thule: The Emperor protects us! We will not fail!
    Macabee: You will.
    Thule: This fight isn't over yet!
    Macabee: But your life is.
    • When the Necrons assault the Tau:
    Aun'el: Return to the graves that spawned you, monsters!
    Macabee: Gladly, but first we must help you to yours.
    • When the Necrons attack the Imperial Guard:
    Governor-Militant Alexander: The Necrons are here! Drive them back to their tombs, men!
    Macabee: It is your men who go to their tombs, Governor.

Gorgutz Headhunter & The Orks

  • Once again, pretty much anything Warboss Gorgutz says or does.
    Gorgutz: LISTEN UP, YA GROTS AN' SQUIGS! They'z comin' for us like we'z some kind o' humie gitz. But we ain't! We'z da Orks and dis here's gonna be one great fight! So get yer choppas and yer shootas ready, boyz, 'cos there's some killin' to do! Headcrushaz, ya ready?
    Headcrushaz: WAAAGH!
    Gorgutz: Footstompaz, yer Squiggoths an' such ready?
    Footstompaz: WAAAGH!
    Gorgutz: Burnaboyz, you wanna fight?
    Burnaboyz: WAAAGH!
    Gorgutz: Rokkitrangerz, you in it or what?
    Rokkitrangerz: WAAAGH!
    Gorgutz: And what 'bout you'z Quikmekz? You gonna let these other runts get all the good fightin' done?
    Quikmekz: WAAAGH!
    Gorgutz: Dat's right! We're gonna crush 'em! Dis here is a right and proper... WAAAAAGH!
    All Orks: WAAAGH!
    • His own defeat is even a Crowning Moment for him, as he activates a bomb to wipe out both his and the enemy army while he escapes and tells a fellow escapee to shut it.
    Gorgutz: Use da 'splosives!
    Ork: Da wat?
    Gorgutz: Da bomb, ya git! Da bomb!
    • It's possible to solo the entire Necron stronghold in a few minutes with Gorgutz. Just give him the health-boosting wargear, run to the bomb dropoff, and run like frak for the catacombs and then the exit.
  • The Ork base in Dark Crusade is a Moment of Awesome for the entire Ork species; it may be insanely self-destructive, but these are ORKS we're talking about. It's possible, if you destroy the Boss Banners from a safe distance (e.g. with Earthshaker rounds), to leave the Orks almost entirely intact yet implacably opposed to everyone. They can then knock down other people's banners. Basilisk Crew get a Moment of Awesome, Gorgutz blows it up and claims a Moment of Awesome, and all of the Ork clans get a Moment of Awesome for being sufficiently badass to rebel even when the Imperial Guard are in town.
  • Every single one of Gorgutz' lines when assaulting the Ork stronghold in Dark Crusade is a delicious win cake sprinkled liberally with awesome. No matter their motives or lack thereof, the most any of the commanders succeed in doing with their taunting of the Warboss is mildly annoying him.
    Gorgutz: Took ya long enuff to get to me, didn't it?
    Eliphas: Chaos moves at its own pace, alien, not yours.
    Gorgutz: How 'bout dyin'? Ya do dat any fasta'? I gotz to plan the rest of me day.
    Eliphas: Ah, I shall miss this banter once you are dead, Ork.
    • His quotes against the Necrons in Dark Crusade:
    Gorgutz: You looks like an oomie dats needs some feeding, metal boy!
    Macabee: We exterminated all life on this planet before, and we shall do so again.
    Gorgutz: Dat woz before me Waaaagh! got 'ere. Now, we is da wuns doin' da 'sterminating!
    • His exchange against Shas'O'Kais is pure Ork glory:
    Shas'O'Kais: Ork! You don't have a chance. Surrender, for the Greater Good!
    Gorgutz: You don't know much about Orks, do ya Greyskin?
    • And he's particularly annoyed by Farseer Taldeer:
    Taldeer: Your infantilism is boundless, Ork.
    Gorgutz: And she still won't shut it.

Imperial Guard

  • The Imperial Guard kill an Avatar of Khaine - the physical embodiment of the Eldar god of war - with massed lasgun fire while the Avatar is distracted by a lone Sentinel, should the Imperial Guard defeat the Eldar at their stronghold. Bear in mind that the lasgun is the weakest standard weapon in the setting, being about as effective as a World War II-era 7.62mm rifle in terms of firepower.
  • Lukas Alexander's speech when you attack Victory Bay, the Imperial Guard stronghold.
    Alexander: Enemies of the Imperium, hear me. You have come here to die. The immortal Emperor is with us and we are invincible. His soldiers will strike you down. His warmachines will crush you under their treads. His mighty guns will bring the very sky crashing down upon you. You cannot win. The Emperor has given us his greatest weapon to wield. So make yourselves ready. We are the first Kronus regiment, and today is our VICTORY DAY!

Chaos Space Marines

Eldar

  • Should the Eldar win, they perform seemingly random things that collectively ensure the planet remains a backwater and no major power has an interest in it - creating a civil war between the Tau and their human subjects, wasting the other Imperial bases, destroying the Titan cannon which the Guard wanted, and burning the fallen Space Marines so their gene-seed can not be retrieved. Taldeer even leaves a token force to sow discord among the Orks. All of this, incidentally, means that no advanced culture can accidentally reawaken the Necrons anytime soon, which is what prompted the Eldar to come here in the first place. Oh, speaking of which... that Titan cannon she has destroyed? In the Chaos campaign, it is revealed that it holds a bound Daemon of Nurgle. Just as planned.
  • Not to mention Taldeer taunting Thule. She just gets one epic burn in after the other.
    Thule: We have yet to meet our betters, alien! Certainly not on this forsaken world! All we have seen here are deluded tyrants, heretics, and alien scum!
    Taldeer: You should have looked beyond your mirror, then.

Tau

  • The exchange between Shas'O Kais and Davian Thule in Dark Crusade when the Tau assault the Blood Ravens' stronghold is awesome, both for O'Kais, showing compassion even for his merciless enemies, and for Davian Thule, showing defiance in the face of the Xenos onslaught.
    Shas'O Kais: Surrender, human. If not for you, then for the Greater Good.
    Thule: The Greater Good is coming to you from my bolter, alien!
    Shas'O Kais: Do the deaths of your men mean so little to you? Are you that mad?
    Thule: Do the deaths of yours mean so much to you? Are you that weak?
    • Shas'O Kais also gets a comeback himself later on.
    Thule: You will not squelch our faith so easily, alien.
    Shas'O Kais: The Tau Empire will respect your faith, human, if you would only see reason.
    Thule: Our faith is in the Emperor of Man, alien. To bow to you is heresy.
    Shas'O Kais: Then you follow the path to destruction.
    Thule: Better destruction than bondage.
    Shas'O Kais: So says the slave to the free man.
    • Kais brings down Eliphas the Inheritor in a storm of shame when attacking the Chaos Stronghold. Eliphas tries to contact him through telepathy, apparently unaware of the fact that Tau have an innate resistance to the Warp.
    Eliphas: Alien, you come here to your doom.
    Shas'O Kais: I've got a buzzing in my comms. Switching channels.
    Eliphas: I am no static, alien, I am... Alien? Do you hear me?

    Shas'O Kais: Fire Warriors, move forward. I want these Gue'la maniacs eliminated.
    Eliphas: You come to your death, Tau.
    Shas'O Kais: And shut down that comm chatter!
    • Kais is doing possibly the most insane, insulting thing possible to the forces of Chaos, whose machinations have led to the ruin of the galaxy: he's ignoring it.
    • Hell, ANYTHING involving Kais qualifies. This is a commander who will accept your surrender gracefully even if you've just raped the Moral Event Horizon. Of course, this being 40K, he never gets the chance to demonstrate this.
  • His Ethereal buddy Aun'el is no slouch himself — his Rousing Speech at the start of the Tau stronghold is magnificent.
    Aun'el Shi O'res: Soldiers of the Fire Caste! Kroot and Vespid allies! Today, we stand as a bulwark against the selfish, the soulless and the mad! Today, we must drive our enemies from our city and our world! Today, more than ever before, we fight for the Greater Good! And we, will, TRIUMPH!

    Soulstorm 

Eldar

  • In the wake of defeating up to 8 other armies in direct combat, something the Eldar continuously attempt to avoid having to do, they decide to leave the Kaurava system under the tenuous control of the Imperium (though anyone attempting to colonize Kaurava III soon finds themselves ambushed until they get the message), wrecking all the surviving remnants from the war before they vanish. Essentially a system-wide version of "Screw you guys, I'm going home", at the very least a Crowning Moment for Manipulative Bastards everywhere.

Warboss Gorgutz & The Orks

  • When the Orks beat the Dark Eldar, they lock them in their own cages and have a throwing competition from the low-gravity moon they were based on.
  • After yeas of being denied, Gorgutz finally won a Dawn of War Campaign. Kaurava, is now his!

Space Marines

  • After defeating the Imperial Guard and Sisters of Battle, the Space Marines... actually treat the survivors decently, sending the Sisters to their convent worlds and the Guard to other assignments (shame so few survived Inquisitorial debriefings, but that's the Inquisition for you).

Imperial Guard

  • The entire Imperial Guard campaign is one massive Moment of Awesome for Governor-General Vance 'Motherfucking' Stubbs. Unlike all the other factions, who arrived at the Kaurava system in full strength, the Imperial Guard had been so poorly managed prior to Stubbs' transfer that they have lost control of the entire system, not helped by the loss of half of their entire garrison to the Warp Storm (Not to mention that a shipment of 100 baneblades meant for reinforcing his regiment was transferred to another front with the worst timing possible). At the start of the conflict, they only have control of a single province, Dussala precinct on Kaurava I, which contains their central command. Stubbs not only managed to quickly reorganize and reform the survivors into an effective fighting force, but also fight off 8 other armies at the same time!
    • General's Stubbs speech during assault on his stronghold.
      Stubbs: Commissar, I would like to see this city built up again. I would like to see towers and spires of gleaming white. I would like to see our men on parade routes, not tours of duty! I WOULD LIKE TO SEE EVERY CITY ON THIS PLANET, EVERY COLONY ON THIS BESOTTED, MISERABLE SYSTEM TURNED TO THE SERVICE AND INDUSTRY OF THE IMPERIUM IN THE EMPEROR'S NAME!
    • The conquest of the Orks deserves special mention. According to the narrator, they have infested the system for millennia, with the Imperium unable to do anything about it during all this time. Not only did General Stubbs manage to defeat the Orks once and for all, he did so when the Orks were at the height of their power under the leadership of Warboss Gorgutz and when the IG was massively under-strength.
    • The Imperial Guard assault on the Sisters of Battle's stronghold. Stubbs was smart enough to understand that no matter how much his troops repent and confess, the Sisters are so fanatical that they will kill him and purge his entire regiment just to be sure that the system is free of the taint of Chaos. He therefore decides that the only way for him and his men to live will be to take the least predictable course of action possible... to march the entire 252nd Conservator Regiment into the Sama District and attack the Adepta Sororitas' headquarters directly, going as far as to have his tanks and artillery take on a Canoness and a Living Saint in battle. Much to everyone's surprise, a poorly organized and undermanned regiment under the command of a recently transferred general actually managed to defeat their much better equipped and trained opponents. To further rub in the insult to the Sisters of Battle, Stubbs declared that the fact that his regiment was able to pull off this stunt was clearly a sign from the God Emperor himself that he is on the IG's side.
    • The ending takes the cake though. After defeating all the other factions, Stubbs goes on to rebuild the entire system, stronger than ever, turning it into a proud Imperial Hub where famed Guard academies produce superior infantry that are only second to Karskin. Under his command, Kaurava thrived and prospered (Except Kaurava III; Stubbs got the message that making a strong presence there is ill-advised), and it's one of the most unambiguously positive endings in the entirety of 40k. Shame it's non-canon.
      • To demonstrate just how awesome this ending was, until Word of God revealed who the canon victor was, many Dawn of War fans considered this to be the true ending!

Sisters of Battle

  • For those not into Sister-bashing, defeating the Chaos, Dark Eldar and Ork strongholds as them is awesome. Through grit, faith and sheer moxy the Sisters fight the enemies of man and cleanse the system of threats the Imperial Guard couldn't handle.

    Dawn of War II & Expansions 

Dawn of War II

  • Nearly everyone in the trailer gets a Crowning Moment, but special mention must go to the Space Marine sergeant, who is the only member of his squad to survive a skirmish with some Eldar. Near the end of the fight, he rushes an Eldar Farseer, who shocks him with lightning. Despite a fellow Space Marine only withstanding the lightning for a few seconds before going down, the sergeant ignores the pain and then disembowels her with his chainsword, before telling her that the planet is theirs. Her dying response? "No, this planet is theirs..." and the sergeant looks up to see the sky fouled by a Tyranid hive fleet. He is immediately pounced upon and smashed against a stone cliff by a Lictor that emerges from behind him. Looking impossibly weary, he gets back up, grits his teeth, and charges the thing armed only with his bloodstained chainsword, screaming a valiant war cry. Consider:
    1. He's been badly wounded from the Farseer's attack.
    2. Lictors are Tyranid monstrosities, horrifically dangerous in close combat and inhumanly stealthy.
    3. Even if he beats the Lictor, he's almost guaranteed to die fighting against its brethren even if he wins.
    4. He's just some rank and file sergeant and not a Captain, Librarian or Chaplain. Incredibly badass.
    • Actually, he appears to have the face of the Force Commander you play as in the single-player campaign. In fact, it's very likely that he IS the Force Commander you play, having been freshly promoted for the act of resilience and general bad-assery you just witnessed.
    • There was a Dreadnought backing up the sergeant, and it survived, as well as having possibly the best crowning moment of awesome in that trailer: When the sergeant is running towards the Farseer, being chased by two Banshees, the Dreadnought bursts through the rocks near them, picks them both up with its power claws, crushes one, slams her into the rock, and sets the other's head on fire with its flamethrower while saying "I have come to destroy you!" in a badass amplified voice.
    • Appreciation must also be given to the Lictor itself, rising behind the sergeant like some sort of horrific demonic nightmare (which is quite a feat in a galaxy containing literal demonic nightmares), screeching its own war cry as its innumerable brethren descend onto the planet in the background.
    • Some appreciation for the Eldar as well, from the Ranger's Boom, Headshot!, to the Warp Spider who used Teleport Spam to Dodge the Bullet off a Heavy Bolter and pulled a Stealth Hi/Bye, to the Farseer taking out a Space Marine with one blast of her mind-bullets.
  • The final mission, The Last Stand. Your strike force is on a mission to poison the Tyranid hive mind with a deadly biotoxin. They succeed, but their Strike Cruiser has been destroyed as has Martellus's Thunderhawk, they only have a single Force Commander, a four man Tactical squad, a three man Assault squad, a three man Devastator squad, a three man Scout squad, a single Dreadnought and a couple of eight man Imperial Guard Stormtrooper squads from the 85th Vendoland. They seem doomed to a Bolivian Army Ending as thousands of Tyranids of all sizes from Rippers to Carnifexes close in on them. Enter none other than Gabriel Angelos himself, who personally comes down, God-Splitter in hand with dozens of Space Marines, as well as much of the Chapter fleet to bail you out. Then Gabriel himself joins you as the Marines engage the Tyranids to keep them at bay while you mow your way through hundreds of Tyranids to fight the oversized Hive Tyrant Alpha controlling the entire swarm.
    • The best part is easily when you think you're fighting the titular Last Stand, facing down an army of Tyranids with nothing but your squads and a few squads of allied Guardsmen. You've struck the Hive Fleet a terrible blow, but it seems certain that you will fall to the swarm in the process. Suddenly, orbital bombardment strikes down the enemy forces, the music begins to swell, and finally you hear Gabriel's transmission and realise that The Cavalry has arrived.
    Gabriel Angelos: Hear me, forces on Typhon. You shall not fall this day.
  • All the squad leaders have them in their backstories. Tarkus, for instance, during the battle in the Necron stronghold in the Thur'Abis plateau in Dark Crusade, defeated a Tomb Spyder by sticking a grenade into it while he was holding it, allowing the bomb they'd brought into the tomb to go off. He lost his hand and scarred his face, but received Terminator honors for his service.
    • Tarkus screwing up a Farseer's predictions with said honors. Instead of staying behind to defend Chapter relics like she assumed he would, he protected his comrades and the relics. By wearing them. It's amazing how a Terminator squad in the right place can turn back the tide. This moment echoes Davian Thule's own Moment in how it makes a once difficult fight far easier, though you are quite likely to have done a lot more damage to Idranel by the time Tarkus has gotten to you than you probably did to the Hive Tyrant when Thule rescues you.
  • Davian Thule, returned as a Dreadnought, has two things to tell a Hive Tyrant, after which he beats it to death with ease.
    Davian Thule: I am Davian Thule. And I shall be your death, alien.
  • By the end of Dawn of War II, your Space Marines will have gone from Elite Mooks with standard bolters and chainswords, barely able to fight off the Ork hordes, to veteran heroes of the Chapter clad in holy relics and Terminator armor, wielding plasma weaponry and Thunder Hammers. Your squads will have faced down Hive Tyrants, a massive Ork Warboss, and an Avatar of Khaine all on their lonesome. Chaos Rising makes it even better, such as when you hold off the forces of Chaos attempting to sack the Imperial palace, while the governor rallies her troops by proclaiming that "the Emperor's Angels of Death fight with us today!" or when you defeat the Chaos Lord hounding the sector, a Lord who expects to not be able to take you on and retreats at every opportunity, until the end. The best, if you're pure, is when you unveil the Chaos corruption in the heart of the Blood Ravens by assaulting the Honor Guard's main base without killing a single pure Blood Raven. By yourself. In the process, you slay several Chaos Terminators, use the Chapter's orthodoxy against them to avoid fighting loyalist forces, and hold off the Captain of the Honor Guard, a 400 year old veteran acclaimed by the Chapter Master himself as the finest warrior in the Chapter, while you destroy his main command post. And of course, there's the ending, where (despite taking forever) you eventually defeat a Great Unclean One as the forces of the Litany of Fury defeat the Black Legion.
  • Gabriel's battle cry at the end of Dawn of War II, when you spot the Hive Tyrant Alpha that serves as the Final Boss.
    Gabriel: There it is! TO WAR!

Chaos Rising

  • In the Jonah Orion betrayal, the real Jonah gets one, when, too battered and beaten to resist in any other way, he restrains his daemonic parasite's healing powers long enough for his brothers to finish it off. The daemon declares that killing him will only ensure that he pulls Jonah screaming into the Warp, but Tarkus, touched by his sacrifice, answers that the man who has nothing can still have faith.

Retribution

  • Gabriel Angelos sets the tone for Retribution with a speech of manly awesome. And this is just setting the scene! Also worth noting is that the last sentence is narrated over Gabriel charging at Ascended Kyras and swinging God-Splitter into his face.
    Gabriel: I am Gabriel Angelos, Captain of the Blood Ravens. My chapter is in ruins, the sector is at war. Its worlds under siege. Chaos spreads, consumes us all. Here, we will make our final stand. Here, there will be... Retribution.
  • Jonah's entrance, wherein he slaughters an entire company of Eldar guardians with his psyker abilities.
    Jonah Orion: No more Blood Ravens fall this day. NO MORE!
  • Abaddon the Despoiler speaks in the Chaos Space Marine campaign.
  • Retribution sees several characters get CMOAs:

Space Marines

  • Captain Apollo Diomedes at the start of the Blood Ravens third mission. Bear in mind that he was portrayed as a blind, inactive Yes-Man in Chaos Rising, who was to stubborn and foolish to recognize his own Chapter Masters corruption. Whilst he still doesn't recognize Kyras' corruption yet, he shows us here why he was promoted to the leader of the Honor Guard. After hearing that fellow Blood Ravens are massacring the innocent civilians of Argus, one of the Blood Ravens recruitment worlds, Diomedes leads his strike force down to the surface. Confronting the attacking Blood Ravens, he personally orders the attackers to stand down. When the groups leader, Sergant Lystandros, makes it clear that they will not listen to him, Diomedes quickly takes the matter in hand. What does he do? He tells the Space Marines under his command that if Lysandros and his followers do not stand down when ordered to, they are to be considered traitors to the Imperium and eliminated!
    • Bear in mind that the Blood Ravens numbers have been wittled down by several decades worth of fighting and are currently under investigation by the Inquistion for heresy. For Diomedes to make such an order, takes real courage.
    • Not only that, a large number of the traitors on Argus are Scout Marines i.e. the future of the chapter. Diomedes' will NOT tolerate heresy.
    • Diomedes' opening comment before issuing the said command is just as epic.
      Diomedes: I see ... Then I will have to do what even Angelos will not.
    • Which in turn, leads to one of the best comeback lines in all of 40k!
      Sergeant Lysandros: You would not dare!
      Diomedes: By the Emperor, I dare! I will do what I must! I do not know how you lost your way, but I will not see this desecration of our recruiting world carried out. You will stop. One way ... or the other.
  • Just before the exterminatus, Diomedes' and his followers are confronted by an apparition of Kyras. With the cat out of the bag, Kyras offers Diomedes the opportunity to join him in the service of Chaos. Having heard the confession he needed to hear straight from the horses mouth, Apollo Diomedes', though rattled by the confirmation, tells Kyras (without a moment's hesitation) that he can stick his offer. In as calm and polite a manner as possible for a Space Marine, Apollo Diomedes does what so many others before him failed to do; tell an evil overlord that if given the choice, he would rather die as himself than become a servant of a fickle evil entity like them. Is it any wonder he became a Chaplain in Dawn of War III?
  • The Ancient gets one on the Judgment of Carrion: After learning that Chapter Master Kyras is a heretic, Captain Apollo Diomedes suffers a Heroic BSoD. The Ancient reveals himself as Sergeant Tarkus and threatens to shoot him to snap him out of it. This being the setting it is, Diomedes is visibly moved that Tarkus would care so much.
  • Apollo Diomedes gets one in the final battle: When Gabriel is seemingly killed by Daemon Prince Kyras, Diomedes leads the remaining loyalist Blood Ravens with this rally cry: "FOR GABRIEL! FOR THE EMPEROR!"
    • It's not just Captain Diomedes though. After fighting their way through Kyras' army, he and his fellow maines basically tells the almost godlike Daemon Prince to shut the fuck up. Diomedes' aforementioned speech rouses his team into a vengeful cry for all their brothers who Kyras has betrayed, killed, or corrupted with his actions:
    Apollo Diomedes: No more talk, Kyras. You have much to answer for; for all you have done to the Blood Ravens much shall be avenged this day! FOR GABRIEL! FOR THE EMPEROR!
    Cyrus: FOR THE CHAPTER!
    Tarkus: For those who have fallen! FOR THOSE WHO CAN NOT BE REDEEMED!
  • Gabriel Angelos gets one at the end: After being crushed and burned by Daemon Prince Kyras, Gabriel survives those injuries, even if he now has enough Cybernetics to put Marneus Calgar to shame. Not only that, he becomes the new Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens.

Chaos Space Marines

  • Lord Eliphas the Inheritor has slaughtered every Alpha Legionnaire that pledged fealty to Azariah Kyras, he now stands before the Daemon Prince with his mighty daemon sword, drenched in blood and gore. Fires of rage, a gift from Khorne, engulf Eliphas' body, searing the flesh of his enemies. A sea of corpses surround the Champion of Chaos. The Daemon Prince looks upon Eliphas and offers him an alliance. Eliphas laughs, "Do not be so quick to make foolish offers, Daemon. Araghast once thought that I would be an asset to his cause; look now to what has become of him."
  • Eliphas gets another one at the end of that fight. After Kyras' body slumps lifelessly through the Pit of Maledictus back to the Warp, Neroth comes before him panicking about the Exterminatus. Eliphas calmly answers that he will do nothing; the Exterminatus will run its course. He basically signs off Neroth and all the others to their death, and allows Kyras' sacrifice to Khorne to proceed uninterrupted, while taking credit for it. And thus did the Blood God elevate him to a magnificent example of Daemonhood. The screen closes up on his face, and we have the pleasure of listening to one of the most nightmarish evil laughs in all of video game history.
  • Speaking of which. Although not appearing in the flesh, Abaddon is able to effortlessly reduce Eliphas into practically pissing himself in fear every time he opens his mouth to put Eliphas in his place.
    Eliphas: Oh, but the tribute will be mine, sorcerer. Remember who it is you serve.
    Abaddon: You both serve me and that will not be forgotten! How you do so is entirely of your choosing, but fail me and your choices will narrow to how loudly you scream for the rest of eternity.
    Eliphas: L-Lord Abaddon! Victory is within my grasp! I have intercepted a message from Kyras, he is on Typhon!
    Abaddon: Hmph. Go then to Typhon and witness yourselves how Kyras will destroy the Blood Ravens.
    Eliphas: Kyras is but one man!
    Abaddon: As are you!!

Eldar

Imperial Guard

Orks

  • Kaptain Bluddflag and his krew of Freebooterz defeating Kyras, especialy after Kyras has previously gone into a fit of hysterical laugh about the Inquisition trying to defeat him with Orks.
    • Also, the manner in which they deliver the finishing blow. For Eldar, Chaos and Tyranids their ultimate ability is a spell they cast on the spot, while Space Marines and Imperial Guards fire a beam of energy from orbit, which shouldn't be too hard to target. Orks though? They throw a rock. A very big rock, and they somehow send it down from orbit with enough precision to hit Kyras right in the head!
  • During the exterminatus Bluddflag takes notice of the chaos champion trying to stop them. He doesn't let all literal hell breaking loose stop him from looking for a good fight!
    Bluddflag: "A hummie boss, an it looks like he wants ter fight. Good. ME TOO!"

Tyranids

  • Defeating Kyras in the Tyranid campaign is a pretty awesome moment, sadly unappreciated due to their lack of witty banter. Bear in mind, the Tyranids don't have any Power Armor or psykers or most anything that makes the other races awesome; it's just you the Hive Lord, a warparty of your fellow Tyranids and a potent mix of Organic Technology and ruthlessly efficient evolution a couple million years in the making against Kyras as a massive Daemon Prince and the armies of Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons he commands. Also bear in mind that just before the dreaded Exterminatus Kyras basically laughs in your face, dismisses you as a threat or being in any way scary and tells you the title they gave your species — the Great Devourer — was probably just an exaggeration. By taking him down, you're not just doing your duty for Hive Mind and Hive Fleet — you're also demonstrating to that Smug Snake that when people call you the Great Devourer and other such names, it is not a joke.
    Kyras: I will not be stopped by you! You will choke on me, Great Devourer!
  • Near the end of the Tyranid campaign, the Hive Mind summons the Swarmlord to fight beside you. This is the Tyranid equivalent of one of the Primarchs returning.

Azariah Kyras

  • Azariah Kyras declares himself an adherent of Khorne prior to the final mission of Retribution with the most 40K speech of all time, ever. This will be the only way you will ever hear the words "Let the galaxy burn!" after listening to it. Especially unexpected given this is delivered before you start up the mission much like the rest of the game's usually much drier Mission Control briefings.
  • Kyras' Evil Plan deserves some credit, considering that it's essentially a sector-wide Batman Gambit. He plays every single faction like a damn fiddle to ensure that the sector will be destabilized, then so that their pursuit of him will remove the last remaining obstacle to the Exterminatus fleet arriving and unwittingly sacrificing the whole sector to Khorne. And he reveals all this to your Player Character in an epic Hannibal Lecture about how they've been tricked into doing his will, capped off by him mockingly bidding them farewell as the Exterminatus of Typhon begins.

    Dawn of War III 
  • From the trailer, Wraithknight versus Imperial Knight. Cue the Wraithknight bisecting the Imperial Knight with a single blow of its sword, before being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by a second Knight's chainsaw.
  • The Badass Creed spoken throughout the trailer:
    In darkness... I shall be light.
    In times of doubt... I shall keep faith.
    In throes of rage... I shall hone my craft.
    In vengeance... I shall have no mercy.
    In the midst of battle, I shall have no fear.
    In the face of death, I shall have no remorse.

    Individual Unit Moments 
  • The Space Marine Force Commander's Finishing Move against the Bloodthirster.
  • The Space Marine Librarian's sync-kill on the Avatar of Khaine is brilliant, if only because he isn't much of a melee combatant compared to his comrades.
  • Similarly, on the rare occasions Tau Fire Warriors beat enemies in melee combat, they will dispatch them by placing the barrel of their rifle to the enemy's face and firing. Ouch.
    • Any moment where shooty squads manages a sync kill is an awesome moment and unlike their stabby squad, they make it quick through a point blank execution shot to the face.
  • Both of Gorgutz' Finishing Moves are things of beauty: he either grabs the enemy with his giant metal claw and smashes them repeatedly against the ground like a petulant child, blood flying everywhere, or he forces them into the ground and pounds them until they're paste. It's even better when he uses it against Crull (see above) and before that a random nearby Ork after his fighta-bomba crashes.
  • Any Imperial Guardsman when running headlong towards the enemy position in a suicidal charge, screaming:
    Imperial Guardsman: I DIE FOR THE EMPEROR!
  • Watching a Dreadnought pick up an infantry unit, and blend it.
    • If you equip the Dreadnought with two power claws and let him finish a Wraithlord in Dawn of War II, he strangles it to death. Well, crushes its neck if we are to go into particulars, but still.
  • And let's not forget the Imperial General, who can finish off any infantry unit (including a nine-foot-tall, thousand-pound Chaos Lord) by impaling them with his power claws, hoisting them into the air and then hurling them several dozen feet away. Keep in mind that this is not some power-armored giant, just a normal human looking past his prime. Badass.
  • In Dawn of War II, the Chaos Lord disemboweling an enemy with his Lightning Claws is a thing of sheer beauty.
    • Another Chaos Lord example is him slashing his enemy with both his sword and the bayonet of his combi-bolter, knocking them down, and then bringing down his sword so hard their blood flies everywhere.
    • Another Chaos Lord example involved his Blood Maul, impaling his target in the gut, smacking them down, and then crushing their skulls into dust. Ouch.
  • The Force Commander from Dawn of War II has 2 amazing sync kills, one against a Carnifex, and one against a Warboss. Incidentally, the second sync kill is featured in the ''Dawn of War II'' teaser.
  • Flash Gitz, being the incarnation of More Dakka, rarely get a chance to sync kill their enemies. However, one of them involves the Git sticking the enemy with his bayonet and swinging the gun so the victim goes flying into the air. Then he shoots once, hitting the guy and catapulting him even further. Especially awesome since Orks are kings of A-Team Firing, hitting anything with one shot is an absolute rarity.
  • Grey Knights' Finishing Move against the Horror. A Grey Knight will first shoot the Horror with his bolter before thrusting his halberd into the Horror's mouth. The same thrust pushes the victim down to the ground as well.
  • Wraithlord sync kills a Defiler by pulling Defiler's head off and throwing it away.
  • Tomb Spyder drills its claws into a Dreadnought's body as a finisher.
  • An Ork Nob squad has 4 to 5 Nobz equipped with two-handed choppas or hammers. With all of their upgrades, they can brutally murder anything up to the super-heavy class with just a spiky mallet. One sync kill is the Nob headbutting his opponent to the ground, and then just crushing their rib cage with their hammer.

    Badass Unit Speeches 
  • The Sanctioned Psyker's scream of "Witness your DOOM!" whenever they use the Lighting Arc move.
  • Grey Knights are here to kick ass and aren't afraid to say so:
    Grey Knight: THIS IS THE JUDGEMENT OF THE RIGHTEOUS, SCUM!
    Grey Knight: ALL SINNERS, FEEL THE EMPEROR'S WRATH!
    Grey Knight: BROTHERS! STRIKE FOR THE CHAPTER AND THE INQUISITION!
    Grey Knight: THE HERETICS WILL SUFFER THE ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT!
  • And other Adeptus Astartes units are no slouch, either.
    Space Marine: Cleanse! Purge! KILL!
    Space Marine: Initiating attack protocol twenty-three!
    Space Marine: FOR THE EMPEROR!
    Space Marine: SPACE MARINES, ATTACK!
    Space Marine: NO RETREAT! NO SURRENDER!
    Dreadnought: Die! Die! DIE!
    Terminator: [laughs grimly] They do not have a prayer...
  • Chaos is filled to the brim with Large Hams:
    Possessed Marine/Aspiring Champion: SANITY IS FOR THE WEAK!
    Possessed Marine/Aspiring Champion: IT IS AS THOUGH A THOUSAND MOUTHS CRY OUT IN PAIN!
    Possessed Marine/Aspiring Champion: DO YOU HEAR THE VOICES TOO?!
    Possessed Marine/Aspiring Champion: I FEEL THE WARP OVERTAKING ME! IT IS A GOOD PAIN.
    Possessed Marine/Aspiring Champion: KILL! CRUSH! RIP THEM LIMB FROM LIMB!
    Khorne Berzerker: WHY AREN'T WE KILLING YET?!
    Khorne Berzerker: WHERE IS THE BLOOD I WAS PROMISED?!
    Khorne Berzerker: BREAK THEIR BACKS!
    Khorne Berzerker: BLOOD! BLOOD...BLOOD...BLOOD!
    Raptor: WE SOAR ON WINGS OF FIRE!
    Raptor: WE WILL TEAR THE FLESH FROM THEIR BONES!
    Aspiring Champion/Obliterator: ENEMIES! WE NEED ENEMIES...
    Chaos Space Marine: REJOICE IN THE COMING OBLIVION!
    Chaos Space Marine: MAIM! KILL! BURN! MAIM, KILL, BURN!
    Daemon Prince: I AM DESTRUCTION INCARNATE.
    Daemon Prince: DESPAIR...FOR I AM THE END OF DAYS!
    • Chaos Rising makes them even more awesome, as they gain a sense of subtlety that makes them seem sinister.
    Chaos Space Marine: Mark it in blood and fire!
    Chaos Space Marine: No mercy! No pity! No hope!
    Chaos Space Marine: As Horus did at Istvaan, let none survive!
  • The Basilisk crews give some pretty good lines when ordered to use their "Earthshaker Round" ability.
    Basilisk pilot: SHATTER THEIR SKY!
    Basilisk pilot: MAIN GUN READY! FIRE!
  • Basically anything a Relic Unit says if they can talk is always awesome.
    Avatar of Khaine: I am Khaela Mensha Khaine.
    Avatar of Khaine: I walk again... A God among mere mortals...
    Avatar of Khaine: By my bloody hand, the enemy shall not live past this day.
    Living Saint: By my light, we will purge this wretched, tainted land!
    Living Saint: Battle Sisters, follow me! We shall march... TO GLORIOUS VICTORY!
    Living Saint: I died for the Emperor... and by His will, rose again!
    Living Saint: Lift up the hearts of the righteous!
    Living Saint: I SMITE the terrors of darkness!
    Living Saint: I bring salvation... through ANNIHILATION!
    Asdrubael Vect (Dais of Destruction): BEG FOR MERCY!!! Not that it will help you...
    Baneblade pilot: Ready to unleash ELEVEN BARRELS OF HELL!
    Baneblade pilot: All guardsmen! FOLLOW ME TO GLORY!!!
    Baneblade pilot: FAILURE is the WEAKNESS of the enemy!
    Baneblade pilot: Doubt is for the dying!
    Baneblade pilot: All guns ON MY MARK!
    Baneblade pilot: Who's DYING NOW?!
    Baneblade pilot: Keep firing till they see the glow of our barrels!
    Baneblade pilot: I think some fool just shot at us!
  • Also, pretty much anything the Commissar says.
    Commissar: Victory... is assured!
    Commissar: By the Emperor, it will be done!
    Commissar: Fear me! But follow!
    Commissar: A charge is of cowardice! You are sentenced to death!
    Commissar: If you will not serve in combat, then you will serve on the firing line!
    • He also says that last line during the assault on the Imperial Guard stronghold in Dark Crusade, shooting a Guardsman for speaking out of turn.
  • When you play as the Eldar, Fire Prism quotes won't let you forget that you just got yourself a Game-Breaker unit.
    Fire Prism pilot: This battle calls for massive firepower
    Fire Prism pilot: Identify the enemy you wish to annihilate.
  • Commissar Lord Bernn roaring this "Faster, Harder, MEANER, Better!"

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