Taking the role of the Ultramarines in this DLC you are given control of the most iconic of all Space Marine chapters, these boys in blue might be the generic but theoretically this is their strength, they can do everything really well and to an extend this felt true throughout the DLC. If you read my other reviews of the DLC for this game you will probably note that I have a certain solution to all problems in them called “Throw a Dreadnaught at it” and this exist to a certain extent but not nearly as prevalent as in the other DLCs.

First let is consider what makes the Ultramarine from Blood Angels and Salamanders; Blood Angels are assault troops revealing in close combat with vicious Death Company elites leading the way (with Dreadnaughts to deal with anything tough), next is the Salamanders who have burner units galore, nothing in cover is safe which is really good up close and personal (with Dreadnaughts to deal with anything tough). This all boils down to Salamanders and Blood Angels being two flavours who does exactly the same thing, The Ultramarine are not assault troops, while far far superior to Imperial Guard they fall short compared to the other space marines, instead they excel in laying down mass fire with defence in depth using heavy bolters, whirlwinds and Land Raiders with Helios standing right next to the front line making any attack on the Ultramarine lines a bloodbath for the attacker.

With this in mind you would think that Ultramarines are truly great at countering the Orks who likes melee and for the most part this is true, any enemy who dares engage you will be dealt with swiftly however there are several missions where the Orks will just sit in their buildings and that is here the Ultramarine toolkit falls apart. This is the challenge of this DLC not to get bogged down with units taking defensive positions and the answer? Dreadnaughts, especially the Hellfire Dreadnaught was the star of any team.

The missions feel more diverse than the base game and the number of turns you have is (for me anyway) a bit too tight, this gives a serious difficulty increase compared to the base game, so beware of this and if you were struggling in the base game consider lower the difficulty a bit. A lot of the maps are quite large with some very defined and narrow lanes, which is great for when you need to hold against and onslaught to obtain your goal and a challenge when your gun lines has to assault well dug in Orks.

The enemy targeting is better than in the base game, but also to some extend frustrating as it will often ignore your strongest units completely and go for whatever you have in the backline. You could say it is smart, but what it mostly does is slow you down instead of causing a full defeat. So you will have to closely manage keeping your vulnerable units (infantry and tanks) safe and in cover and do your best to expose your tankier units (Dreadnaughts) to enemy fire.
The other downside to the enemy targeting priority is that bikes, land speeders, flies etc. have very little place in your battleline, these units are fragile and easily destroyed but have a high cost. This is a shame as there are some very interesting options, but they die far far too easily for the cost and it will be a serious challenge to keep them alive long enough to be truly experienced.

Finally let us talk about Dreadnaughts, this is the first time I didn’t feel these were the answer to all problems, but they are the only real answer to anything truly tanky, so you will use them extensively against all forms for vehicles, tanks, walkers etc. This is not the entire story, since much of the game is about assault objectives in ruins, cities etc you will need infantry and artillery to grab the objects and deal with dug in Orks once the Dreadnaughts have softened them up a bit. Dreadnaughts also have problems quickly eliminating large mobs of Orks, so for this you will need your gunlines to do serious work to have any chance of achieving your objectives. All of this is a good thing, for once it didn’t feel like the only answer was a Dreadnaught even if it is always part of the answer. A nice change of pace.

The immersion in this one is someone less, there missions seem mostly like the side show to the more important stuff happening elsewhere and of course there is no voice acting for the mission briefing which would have elevated the story quite a bit.

Overall, the missions felt tight, more balanced than earlier, less flavourful but more varied and less impact full for the story of Armageddon. If the key point for you is the tactical combat you should get this DLC, it is fun and interesting and you will have to make some hard choices about which units you will sacrifice and which you wouldn’t.

And now the final score.

Art: 6 (nothing new under the sun)
Combat: 7 (fast paced, most of the time, however sometimes it can bog down)
Interface: 5 (it's the same, so no change).
Level design: 9 (Soo close to perfect, for the sheer variety).

Taking the role of the Ultramarines in this DLC you are given control of the most iconic of all Space Marine chapters, these boys in blue might be the generic but theoretically this is their strength, they can do everything really well and to an extend this felt true throughout the DLC. If you read my other reviews of the DLC for this game you will probably note that I have a certain solution to all problems in them called “Throw a Dreadnaught at it” and this exist to a certain extent but not nearly as prevalent as in the other DLCs. First let is consider what makes the Ultramarine from Blood Angels and Salamanders; Blood Angels are assault troops revealing in close combat with vicious Death Company elites leading the way (with Dreadnaughts to deal with anything tough), next is the Salamanders who have burner units galore, nothing in cover is safe which is really good up close and personal (with Dreadnaughts to deal with anything tough). This all boils down to Salamanders and Blood Angels being two flavours who does exactly the same thing, The Ultramarine are not assault troops, while far far superior to Imperial Guard they fall short compared to the other space marines, instead they excel in laying down mass fire with defence in depth using heavy bolters, whirlwinds and Land Raiders with Helios standing right next to the front line making any attack on the Ultramarine lines a bloodbath for the attacker. With this in mind you would think that Ultramarines are truly great at countering the Orks who likes melee and for the most part this is true, any enemy who dares engage you will be dealt with swiftly however there are several missions where the Orks will just sit in their buildings and that is here the Ultramarine toolkit falls apart. This is the challenge of this DLC not to get bogged down with units taking defensive positions and the answer? Dreadnaughts, especially the Hellfire Dreadnaught was the star of any team. The missions feel more diverse than the base game and the number of turns you have is (for me anyway) a bit too tight, this gives a serious difficulty increase compared to the base game, so beware of this and if you were struggling in the base game consider lower the difficulty a bit. A lot of the maps are quite large with some very defined and narrow lanes, which is great for when you need to hold against and onslaught to obtain your goal and a challenge when your gun lines has to assault well dug in Orks. The enemy targeting is better than in the base game, but also to some extend frustrating as it will often ignore your strongest units completely and go for whatever you have in the backline. You could say it is smart, but what it mostly does is slow you down instead of causing a full defeat. So you will have to closely manage keeping your vulnerable units (infantry and tanks) safe and in cover and do your best to expose your tankier units (Dreadnaughts) to enemy fire. The other downside to the enemy targeting priority is that bikes, land speeders, flies etc. have very little place in your battleline, these units are fragile and easily destroyed but have a high cost. This is a shame as there are some very interesting options, but they die far far too easily for the cost and it will be a serious challenge to keep them alive long enough to be truly experienced. Finally let us talk about Dreadnaughts, this is the first time I didn’t feel these were the answer to all problems, but they are the only real answer to anything truly tanky, so you will use them extensively against all forms for vehicles, tanks, walkers etc. This is not the entire story, since much of the game is about assault objectives in ruins, cities etc you will need infantry and artillery to grab the objects and deal with dug in Orks once the Dreadnaughts have softened them up a bit. Dreadnaughts also have problems quickly eliminating large mobs of Orks, so for this you will need your gunlines to do serious work to have any chance of achieving your objectives. All of this is a good thing, for once it didn’t feel like the only answer was a Dreadnaught even if it is always part of the answer. A nice change of pace. The immersion in this one is someone less, there missions seem mostly like the side show to the more important stuff happening elsewhere and of course there is no voice acting for the mission briefing which would have elevated the story quite a bit. Overall, the missions felt tight, more balanced than earlier, less flavourful but more varied and less impact full for the story of Armageddon. If the key point for you is the tactical combat you should get this DLC, it is fun and interesting and you will have to make some hard choices about which units you will sacrifice and which you wouldn’t. And now the final score. Art: 6 (nothing new under the sun) Combat: 7 (fast paced, most of the time, however sometimes it can bog down) Interface: 5 (it's the same, so no change). Level design: 9 (Soo close to perfect, for the sheer variety).