Crusade

Crusade is an announced replayable campaign mode built around a turn-based world map across Kronus. A player moves a persistent Strike Force through neutral and enemy territories with limited Action Points, while harder encounters become tactical skirmishes and unit progress carries between battles. Territory conquest also feeds Requisition into captured regions and the Strike Force. The mode is framed as an open-ended companion to the story campaign. Two same-day announcements conflict on availability, so no launch promise is made here, and both sources are kept so the disagreement stays visible.

Crusade is presented as a returning mode with roots in the Dark Crusade expansion. Dawn of War IV’s design adds a strategic layer in which territorial decisions on Kronus lead into traditional battles, with persistent units and performance-sensitive rewards connecting the layers. The stated intent is replayability and added context beyond isolated Skirmish missions. This is a design lineage, not a balance log. The official announcements disagree about whether Crusade belongs at launch or in the free post-launch plan, so only its announced status is reported here, never an invented schedule.

The documented approach is to plan each strategic turn around limited movement, territory rewards and the enemy’s chance to respond. Some assaults resolve from relative force strength, while more demanding encounters become skirmishes; surviving units retain experience, levels, skills and Wargear across rounds. Conquest earns Requisition for territory defences, economies and Strike Force improvement. These systems make map choices and battle outcomes persistent. The article does not publish a universal route, optimal territory, Commander ranking or solved sequence, so high-level guidance must remain at the decision framework.