Blood-soaked battles never end in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe, and Soulstorm, the third expansion to the Dawn of War real-time strategy (RTS) game series, perfectly exemplifies that. Relic entertainment, the developers of Dawn of War and its last two expansions, will hand the reigns to Iron Lore (creators of Titan Quest), though fans needn't worry, as the original developers will collaborate on this very impressive looking project.

"Soulstorm" refers to a region of space suffering from a massive warp storm. This storm attracts the curious-minded and power-hungry, but also wreaks havoc on navigation, leaving members from all the varying factions stranded on different planets across the system.

Gamers will enjoy two all-new factions, the Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle, bumping the total number to nine unique sides. Like Dark Crusade, Soulstorm will be a stand alone expansion, so players won't need to own any of the previous games to play any of the nine factions in single player campaigns of skirmishes. However, those who want to take the battle online will only be able to command the Sisters of Battle or Dark Eldar unless they install the previous games.

The Dark Eldar, as the name indicates, is a more evil version of the main Eldar race. They're essentially space pirates and mercenaries that use plundered relics and weaponry to further their own sadistic goals. The race relies on fast hit-and-run tactics and poisons to disable their foes, and its units have a high degree of mobility, ranging from hover-craft to wings that allow them to hover in mid-air. Dark Eldar will also be the only race capable of harvesting souls. They can swoop into an area with fallen bodies and collect souls as resources, so losing troops to them could potentially make them extremely powerful. Meanwhile, the Sisters of Battle represent the most fanatical arm of the empire. These armored nuns act as inquisitors, usually sent in to cleanse areas in the name of their God-Emperor. They also harvest a unique resource called faith, which is self generated. Faith power goes into powerful miracles called Acts of Faith that range from forming a protective barrier in battle or raining fire on the enemy. However, the Sisters don't accumulate standard resources while generating Faith, so players will need to balance between powering up their Acts of Faith and building their forces.

Not only will players have two new races to toy around with, but Soulstorm will also introduce air units for all factions. In addition, the battlefield will also see some major growth. While Dark Crusade introduced an open-ended world map to the single-player campaign, Soulstorm blows things out into four planets and three moons. Controlling certain territories grants special bonuses, like the ability to attack twice in one turn, and even greater benefits come with controlling entire worlds.

Soulstorm will also introduce a multiplayer achievement system to Dawn of War, but not using Games for Windows Live. Individual factions will feature their own sets of achievements, like the Hot Streak, earned by winning 10 online matches in a row. The introduction of achievements should pump up online competition to greater levels.

Nothing in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe is ever done at a small scale, and it looks like Soulstorm will keep that tradition going by mega-sizing practically every aspect of the game. Expect Soulstorm to keep the fires of war burning across the galaxy in the early half of 2008.