The journey towards 7.0 (Part4) news - Unification Mod - Dawn of War: SoulStorm for Dawn of War

In the last blog, we discussed the introduction of Farsight's Enclaves as a new Xenos faction in the mod.
Today however, we will go a bit back to the past, a past that needs to return to the light of the present.

The Steel Legion is without doubt one of the oldest race mods, as it was originally released for Winter Assault, and whilst is has aged gracefully it has aged indeed. Those of you with good memories may recall that there has long been promised a 'Steel Patch' for Unification in which we did something about this - the bad news is that this is cancelled, the good news is that it became part of 7.0!

Unlike the current trend that has Regiments being gutted in the lore and the Tabletop, we believe there is still much life inside the Legion of Steel, which is what we hope to make right in their rework. Definitely more of a evolution than revolution of the original iteration, the attributes that people liked in Steel Legion(like the beloved Rough Riders and of course, Yarrick being alive and well) remain, but reworked, updated and complemented with new additions.
This naturally includes the visuals, where all original models have been remastered to fit in the new age of DOW modding and be finally in line with the rest of their Regimental counterparts, while retaining and respecting their characteristic art style that makes Armageddon(before you ask, tons of bugs squashed and fixes implemented to them long ago already).

Steel Legion ever since each early days, has two branching paths at the beginning. The Mechanised Armoured Fist and the Armoured Tank Company. Evidently this specialisation system has remained in the rework and more refined, in order to be distinct between the two but (hopefully) equally enjoyable.

The Mechanised Doctrine focuses more on utilising the strengths of Armageddian Infantry as a priority, with vehicles as support.
With new additions to the roster as well as to the research tables, Infantry approaches have become more viable and interesting. Especially with the introduction of more exotic troop options, like for example, the Bulgryns, Ratlings and Ork Hunters, visualizing even further the Legion's fondness of utilizing special auxiliaries, abhuman or not when other Regiments scoff at them. For to be a Legionnaire, what matters only is to live and fight for Armageddon!

This Doctrine in addition makes exclusive use of special vehicles, like the Wyvern Suppression Tank and reworked Salamander tanks as well as Chimeras, which now pick their upgrade packages depending on the doctrine. Lastly, with this doctrine, you will able to field more unique named heroes, like the Missionary Uriah or Canoness Setheno from Helsreach(and Yarrick's mentor) to support the Lord Commissar in his crusade.
Like in real life, combined arms win the day, even against the toughest of foes.

The Armoured Company on the other hand, as its name suggests, focuses entirely on, well, tanks.
Starting with Sentinels and Chimeras(with their corresponding upgrade packs) to Lemans and Baneblades. All Leman variants are now exclusive to the Armoured Company(only the default variant remains shared) and can be deepstriked from the Airport building at Tier 4. Since they forgo infantry support aside the starting Legionaries and Stormtroopers, the Armoured Company can field more Leman Tanks(4) compared to other Guard Regiments. They can also all support a Commissar riding them(as he now is shared among the two branches), gaining the sight buffs with him inside.

More Lemans however are not the only thing Armoured gets. No true Armoured Column is not complete without anti-air and anti-infantry support, which the Hydra fills that spot. As the Basilisk has been made an exclusive to the Mechanised Doctrine, Armoured now gets the Manticore MLRS, which works just as you expect.
Additionally, while comparable to Mechanised, this doctrine gets less named heroes, it does compensate with the Tank Ace in his Leman Vanquisher being finally his own hero with his upgrades and abilities. And yet, the equation is not complete without the pinnacle of the Armageddian Tank Forces, a symbol of their pride, Yarrick's very own Baneblade, the Fortress of Arrogance. Replacing Yarrick on foot with an one-off research at Tier 4, it does not share any cap with any other Baneblade. But as expected, you get what you pay for.

Both Doctrines get access to the newly added Thunderbolt Fighter, something truly missing from the Steel Legion in years as well as to the same Titans and Super Heavy(special vehicle that requires a Critical Point and a considerable amount of resources but independent of relic units-a new type of unit characterisation added in 6.9).

That being the Ryza Pattern Baneblade, complimenting the Stormsword/Stormblade choice. For the Tier 1 Titan, the SL get the mighty Iron Saint, an elite Shadowsword piloted by a veteran crew led by the famous Major Pious Korren. A Shadosword of its reputation, is expected to be capable of matching enemy titans, more so than regular cousins of it. A similar treatment was also given to the Imperial Fists Falchion, which now is independent of the rest of the Fellblades Cap but became their Tier 2 choice.

Now as for the Tier 2 choice for the Steel Legion, that will leave up to you to guess. But we think is obvious now what it is.

As some final words, no rework would be complete without a revisit to the Voice Overs. If you have been following us over the years, you know that we do pay special attention to the Voice Overs the units in the mod have. And the Steel Legion is no exception. While the original were sufficient for their time, the time finally came to do their character justice. Especially for the newer additions. And this VO project could not have been done without the initiative and work of the famous and beloved VA, Trench Dog(aka Ki McKenzie) and his assembled team of fellow talented actors and contributors-all of whom fully accounted for, for none one's contribution goes unnoticed here.

A special however mention should be given to three people that by now, I think you know already their names.
Our resident Krieger, Tracer for his catalytic role in completing the VO project and lore assistance, the General that has no loose ends, Shepherd and lastly but most importantly, the lovable and always eager to innovative in this Community Staypuft, Fuggles2k.

It goes without saying that the entire team and all its members played a big role in developing but I need to say as Kekoulis myself, that had not been these three fine gentlemen helping and supporting me on the development aspect of the rework, suffice to say we most likely would not have the "Steel Patch" concluded even for 7.0.

Before we conclude, as per tradition, please enjoy Mr TheLaughingMax's previews of the Steel Legion from the beta. One for each Doctrine.
Please note what you will see is still a Work in Progress and not final.

And with that, we have reached the end of this blog. As you can already tell, the journey is coming to its conclusion, with the next and most likely last blog post be the Renegade Guard at last. While probably expected by many already, it is arguably the biggest rework/remake of a faction we have done so far and are very excited to finally unveil the curtains. Furthermore, you can expect more smaller posts, until the release, containing more snippets from the new factions, including the today's topic, Steel Legion. For Armageddon Stands!

Thank you again for your support and enthusiasm for all this time and we hope you will enjoy fully what is coming. Until then, take care everyone!

-Team Unification