While not the first Warhammer RTS to hit the market, NAMCO BANDAI’s Warhammer: Mark of Chaos did a pretty good job of emulating the feel and style of the popular tabletop strategy title. While the game was not without its flaws, it was still a fun title for Warhammer enthusiasts looking for a solid, non-40K Warhammer RTS. Now, NAMCO BANDAI is launching the first retail expansion pack for March of Chaos, titled Battle March.

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos – Battle March adds mostly requisite features to the original title, like a new campaign, new classes, and a new multiplayer mode. Battle March’s new campaign has you playing from the evil point of view, in the shoes of the orcs and the dark elves as they vie to destroy humanity. While the new elements are intriguing, the expansion still falls prey to the main issues that plagued the original, namely linear gameplay and a dearth of gameplay options. Plus, the expansion oftentimes feels like it treads the same ground as the original game, which will lead many players to find that the game doesn’t add much to the formula, even with the added features.

Battle March’s new campaign puts you in control of Gorbash, an orc who is freed from slavery by a dark elf to become a Warboss and defeat the forces of the Empire. The game does a great job of presenting the Warhammer universe in a faithful way, including the colorful orc units complete with cockney drawls and poor grammar. Fans of Warhammer will definitely be pleased with the way the game handles the dark humor and subject matter.

For those who skipped out on the original Mark of Chaos, the game presents a different approach to the real-time strategy genre. Whereas resource gathering and building factors in quite heavily with other titles in the genre, that doesn’t play a part in Mark of Chaos. You deal mostly with managing your predetermined units on the field, using their specific strengths in order to properly dispose of your enemies without getting destroyed first.

The focus shift from resources to action is a welcome change for the RTS genre, and worked fairly well in the original Mark of Chaos. Unfortunately, in the new orc campaign in Battle March, the formula’s problems are more apparent, like the linearity of the missions. There’s not a lot of room to play differently in Battle March, as most of the stages will simply walk you from point A to point B without much exploring in between.

Additionally, the campaign missions feel far too similar to what players of the original game have already done. The game essentially retreads the same areas and situations as the original game, albeit with the added orcish twist. While the orc units do have a funny charm when compared to the Empire characters, it’s still annoying to play through the same dull missions.

Graphically, the game hasn’t been changed in the one and a half years since the original launched, which is not a good thing as far as PC titles go. The character models are very simplistic, and the environments have lost their luster.

The sound effects are also not far removed from the original game, although the music is pretty good and the voice work isn’t bad. The orc voice acting can get a bit grating, unfortunately, as they’ll often repeat themselves.

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos – Battle March offers the additions that you’d expect from an RTS expansion, like new races, modes, and so on. However, the new features don’t really feel like they add much to the formula, making the expansion feel quite stagnant, even if you’re a fan of the Warhammer universe.

Battle March comes bundled with the original Mark of Chaos game.

Gameplay: 6.5
While the game does present a different take on the RTS genre, the whole experience is very linear and the new campaign elements are pretty dull.

Graphics: 5.0
Battle March’s graphics haven’t been improved from the original one-and-a-half year old game.

Sound: 7.0
The music works well for the game, and the voice acting is mostly well done, albeit repetitious.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 5.0
Battle March doesn’t bring a lot to the table, feeling mostly like a rehash of the original game.

Multiplayer: 7.0
The new World Domination mode is a nice touch, offering a bit of a “Battlefield” vibe to the game, but there are some issues with lag and connection problems.

Overall: 6.5
Battle March adds some new features here and there, but doesn’t really add much incentive for players to jump back in, and the dated feel will probably prevent newcomers from taking the plunge.