2009 ought to be a good year for the mainstream RTS fan - especially those who prefer a more "sci-fi" flavor of things. The first installment of the long-awaited sequel to Blizzard's classic StarCraft will almost certainly be hitting shelves this year (though, it is Blizzard, so there's always the chance it might not). Beyond StarCraft II, though, Relic has served up quite a fine alternative with Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II.

In fact, you'll hardly ever see a base in the single-player campaign. In the campaign, you take command of a small force of Imperial Space Marines from the Blood Raven chapter as they fight off brutal Orks, defend the planets of the Imperium from the crafty Eldar, and try to halt the advance of the relentless Tyranid Swarm.In the absence of quantity, Dawn of War II gives your Blood Ravens a fairly wide range of abilities at their disposal. Your heavy gunners can focus fire on a target for a short period of time, your Force Commander can charge into the foes, crushing anything in his path, and your assault troops can use their jump-jets to crash onto the enemies and quickly engage them in melee. Victory in Dawn of War relies just as much on careful usage of these abilities and various items like grenades and medical kits as it does strategic planning. The fact that you never have to worry about more than four units at a time means that it's easy to control your forces in the heat of combat - I never once felt overwhelmed by micromanagement even in the fiercest of firefights.