Learn about the Honour Guard system in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Understand how to train, utilize, and benefit from these powerful veteran units that start battles with your commander.
Alright, let's talk about the Honour Guard in Dawn of War. Think of them as your personal elite squad that gets to start every battle right alongside your commander. You don't start with any, but here's the cool part: every time you conquer a normal province, you unlock another unit for your Honour Guard list. By the time you're deep into the game, you can have a pretty beefy army ready to go from the get-go. Just keep in mind, your enemies are gonna have their own Honour Guards too, so don't get too cocky!
Now, these Honour Guard units aren't just your regular troops. For squads, they usually have fewer members, but they're veterans, meaning they pack a bigger punch. Vehicles are similar – often they're lighter models, but still more potent than standard ones. A neat detail is that Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines don't get squads; they get individual marines. Don't let that fool you, though, these single marines can be absolute beasts, especially the Chaos Marines. A full Chaos Honour Guard, even though it's small, is surprisingly deadly.
The real kicker with Honour Guard is how they work after a battle. If they survive, they're ready for the next fight without you needing to retrain them. Even if you lose control of a province, you keep the Honour Guard unit you trained from it, as long as it doesn't die. This is a massive help and can save you a ton of planetary requisition over the course of the game.
There are twelve Honour Guard units available for each race, giving you plenty of options to customize your starting army.
100% Human-Written. AI Fact-Checked. Community Verified. Learn how AntMag verifies content