Two sticks and a rock edition
>Halo.... tabletops?
Yeah, as in that Halo, with the cool guy that kills aliens and there is two of them, Halo: Fleet Battles which came out last year and Halo: Ground Command which is coming out this summer (pic related).
In Halo: Fleet Battles you control several classic ships like the Marathon and the Assault Carrier and pit it against the opposing fleet, the game has numerous ships including classics like the CPV-class destroyer and (old)new comers like the Epoch-class light carrier, with the likes of the Infinity and the spirit of fire coming in the near future.
Halo: Ground Command is a tabletop Wargame where you can reenact the great battles of the halo universe, the starter box is based on the Fall of Reach and is coming out this summer with a steady stream of releases planned to follow immediately, the starter pack comes with on3 Spartan-2, one officer, two Warthogs (with interchangeable weapons), and assorted soldiers, as well as an Elite Ultra, three Ghosts, and two hunters, and assorted grunts, preorders can be found at the spartan games website.
> So, what's the point of this thread?
Discussion of the rules and mechanics, predictions, general questions about the game, wish lists, pretty pictures, lore discussion is also welcomed, for all your Halo 5 bitching please go this way >>>/v/
>>46741599
Can you tell me about the game's mechanics, specifically Ground Command? How do they work on, say, a general attack roll?
Is it a game definitely in that "Spartan Games" kind of ruleset?
>>46741659
I'm glad you ask, somebody was explaining how the game played on the spartan games forum:
>1) Hijack! - yes, certain units can take over vehicles. Elites and Spartans mainly from what I remember. This is so cool I don't know where to begin. Oh - you are driving that Wraith right in to my force - I'll GTA that thanks!
>2) Weapons have specialist rules within them. So the Scorpion has Piercing weaponry which I believe reduces the DR rating of the type of unit listed. So I think the Scorpion was "Piercing 2, Armour" so against other tanks, it's a beast.
>3) There is 'Suppression' in the game also. Certain weapons have better suppression ratings: HMG etc. Suppression is you roll 2D6 and add how many casualties you've taken/suppression ratings and if it's over 10 you get a cooldown marker. Which I believe stops you from over watching etc.
>4) Certain weapons have cool down. So it's quite a tactical choice of when to use it. Fuel Rods, Snipers, etc have it.
>5) Spartans are insanely good but not OP. They did eat dust in a couple of games with sustained attacks and unlucky dice rolling. There is a reason they are 180 points! They can re-roll up to 7 misses in combat so DON'T LET THEM GET THERE! grin emoticon
>6) Air Drops are possibly my favourite aspect of the game and provide something VERY unique compared to ANY other table top game at this scale. You can reinforce depleted units with units from your dead pile, you can drop NEW weapons off and much much more. Example - Unit of Warthogs has taken 2 loses. You can call in a Pelican to drop 1 off next turn to reinforce it. This is awesome. It means the field is always changing and you have to react and think on your feet. Or is your Spartan up against an armoured column? Cool - call in air drop so he can change his weapon to a Spartan Laser! Good bye tank!
>>46741728
Cont.'d
>Some more info from Bruce H over on Facebook:
>Right you start by making a force, you must have a HQ and a minimum of 2 basic infantry units
>(Only infantry hold objectives)
>You can then put 9 build rating of each (Armour/air support/infantry etc) on top but you must stay within the points
>There are exceptions to this for example I was told the UNSC can take an armoured force that starts with 3 scorpions
>It is unit activations, units work together how they are bought, so an example would be a marine infantry unit which consists of 4 bases, these bases move together and fire at the same target combining their attack dice from the relevant target (AP/AT/AA)
>A dedicated AT weapon like a missile launcher can fire at a separate target from the rest as long as the rest fire at infantry while the rocket targets a vehicle etc
>Damage track works just like in fleet battles
>Reaction is like a permanent over watch, everything can try to react when the enemy does something infront of them, they must roll over their react stat, if the unit attempting to react hasn't been activated yet it'll be easier as once activated they use the 2nd (higher) number on their react stat
>Command dice allow for extra boosts to units during games, the starter set will have commanders that use 3 dice and this will be the tournament standard I was told. Lightning bolts can be used to give +1 dice to the combat pool of a unit during an attack, shield symbols can be used to -1 from an enemies combat pool... I can't remember what the Spartan helmets do sorry
It is worth noting that the Ground Command is a 15mm and fleet battles is on a 1:20,000 scale
>>46741813
Why does Spartan make so many games? What is the logic behind the chaos? I can't trust anything they make because they drop everything.
how is air combat going to work with this? Can I transport troops around the board with a pelican? Will there be ODST? How about scarabs?
>>46741795
>Right you start by making a force, you must have a HQ and a minimum of 2 basic infantry units
>(Only infantry hold objectives)
Sounds like 40k rules for army composition and objectives. In all honesty that doesn't sound bad because 40k is a system that would actually work better at 15mm scale.
>Damage track works just like in fleet battles
Could you explain?
>>46741834
>>46741659
Eventually they plan to synergy the game along with a quick space fighter game currently in development so that you can play ground battles as the boarding actions and the space fighter as the wing actions.
>>46741914
The Number of successes that are needed to cause a damage point, in fleet battles after 3 damage points the ship taken out of the game (because she is dead) but in ground command you can bring them back as reinforcements
>>46741879
The logic seems to do with granularity, different resolutions of the battlefield to garner the attentions of all kinds of gamers with their game settings.
You've got Dystopian Wars and Firestorm: Armada for people who like playing fleet games, Dystopian Legions and Firestorm: Planetfall for the wargame crowd l, then you have the 32mm combat game for the skirmish crowd.
For Halo it looks like they're adopting the same system but adjusting the scale to better fit the Halo setting.
Still, they've got better at supporting all of them, but it's a huge load to deal with for anyone. Frankly they should never have exceeded their grasp and try to have three games for every setting they play in. Two per would be more reasonable but they seem dedicated to making three for each one.
>>46741894
Yes there will be ODST, and Scarabs (of several types, the one from halo wars and the classic version are already confirmed) your pelicans and phantoms can "resupply your troops" by allowing you to change the weapons on your troops (for example change your Spartan laser for a rocket launcher or vice versa) or bring new troops into the fray
>>46741894
More on the air combat here:
>Aerial Support Missions
"No game of Halo is complete without the menacing shadow of a Pelican Dropship or Phantom Troop Carrier streaking overhead! In Halo: Ground Command, these flyers operate in a separate phase
of the game where they can execute a variety of Missions such as delivering Supply Drops, reinforcing infantry or armoured units that have suffered casualties, bringing in reserves, engaging in combat air patrols and, of course, executing devastating ground attacks."
>>46741795
>a to-scale supercarrier would be nearly 5 ft long
ho jesus
Some of the new ships coming to Fleet Battles and also some more on Halo: Ground Command:
>Brutal Melee Fighting
"Melee in Halo: Ground Command is fast and bloody, with both sides getting a chance to tear each other limb from limb. To achieve this, we use a brutal rule mechanic that makes fighting in Melee simple and quick with winners holding their ground and defeated forces forced back, possibly into the guns of waiting ambushers!"
Spartan Neil said that you could have a Hunter go on melee and take a whole bunch of your soldiers
Halo: Ground Command Starter set
UNSC 1,000 Point Battle Force – including 1x Officer, 1x Medic, 1x Radio Operator, 2x Snipers, 2x Spotters, 2x 2-man HMG Teams, 2x 2-man Missile Teams, 27x Troopers, 2x Warthogs (Gatling, Gauss and Rocket Weapons for each) and a 1x Spartan.
· Covenant 1,000 Point Battle Force – including 1x Elite Ultra, 2x Elite Minor, 3x Elite Majors, 6x Grunts with Fuel Rods, 24x Grunt Minors, 3x Ghosts with Grunt Operator and 2x Hunters.
>>46742473
>27x troopers
So is that 27 stands or 9 stand of 3 models each?
>>46742527
Probably stands.
>>46742527
>>46742599
>>46742739
You can pre order the game here:
http://shop.spartangames.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=HGBB01
Prepainted or blank plastic?
>>46743164
Blank plastic is what seems to be.
>>46743164
The drivers of the warthogs here
>>46742739
Are unpainted, so maybe that (or maybe they're just prototypes)
Can't wait for armies of pink Spartans
Good night people, I might redo the thread if it's gone by the morning.
>>46743285
Thanks dude, this looks really cool - first thing halo I've been excited for in ages
>>46741599
did they ever mention if these models in the starter are plastic or are they resin/metal?
Obviously expansion packs would be metal/resin but just curious how the starter will be.
>>46741879
Because they're run by a fucking magpie. The team is tiny, something like 20 people give or take a few, and they run as many systems as GW did at the height of their Specialist Games glory. Some, like HALO and Armada, are supported fairly well, if with permanent delays in everything, while some, like Legions and currently Dystopian Wars, are brushed aside for whatever new shiny comes up and catches their attention.
Firestorm Taskforce had NO new releases since initial starter release, and no new stats, despite their promise you will be able to use existing Armada ships in the game.
At the same time, they also made Dystopian Wars fast play alternative rules...and demoed another new game, of what appears to be 6mm Wierd War 2 tank combat at Salute along with Halo ground.
tl;dr Spartan Games makes great miniatures, but stay away from the games to avoid dying of old age before you get an update.
Shit, it is so alive
>>46746141
Resin
>>46748171
>Shit, it is so alive
Because anyone with any pattern recognition at all knows not to listen to Spartan Games, because >>46747271
>>46748710
I'm the OP and I meant still alive, as in the thread still alive after I woke up, anyways M$ is not about to let their precious IP be mishandled by SG, they even have liason whose only job is to work with spartan games
BTW, SG had this to say on the release schedule:
>On the topic of future releases, this month, Spartan are taking a break from releasing any new Halo units, so they can work hard on the final stages of HGC. We’re likely to see 1 new release per race per game per month going forwards, but it might go up to 2, if they have things ready to go.
>>46749025
OP, if i may ask, how many races will be included? will it just be the two big juggernauts, or will there also be the flood as a faction. I'd also hope that forerunner remnants would be a faction but the only way i could think of them fitting in is as an objective defending faction, or perhaps some form of natural opposition, anything else would be too far unbalanced.
On the one hand I hate Spartan's game ADHD (especially the fuckup that was Taskforce).
On the other when they do force out constant releases the pattern is usually "how quickly can we wreck this game" and so you get some combo of:
Retardedly designed centrepiece unit (Statue of Liberty, Kebab Removal Slavbot, An Actual Gundam)
New faction that is strictly better than another faction's gimmick (Black Wolf)
Strictly better replacement for existing unit
Strictly worse replacement for existing unit
"Fix" for a problem that doesn't exist
"Fix" for a problem that does exist but which doesn't work
Repack of your faction into boxes with shit you don't want
TOTAL REBALANCE AND REDESIGN OF YOUR FACTION
>>46749174
Or, for FSA, over 9000 subfactions most of which probably aren't playable but all of whose literally 3 models look absolutely amazing
>>46749190
Fucking alliances. Let's make all the really interesting ships part of a fucking kitchen sink of a force instead of making the main six fleets memorable.
>>46749085
Flood, at least on Fleet Battles, will be a faction and work by having bases and add-ons that can be put on top of existing ships as well as new ship formation and overlays, further more it is speculated (read: conjectures) by people on the known that they will be have low ranged stats but high boarding stats.
The Sangheili post-war as their own faction is likely next as spartan games is already working on the early stages of rendering models (look at the pic above with the black background), whether they would replace the covenant or just work as their own faction along side new post-war covenant and UNSC models, however Neil did confirm that they already have a physical model of a post war version of the ORS that they might or might not release and there is plenty leeway on the lore to keep a straight up covenant alongside a Sangheili faction if they so chose (the San'Shyuum are alive post war and the Sangheili are looking for them).
Further than that there is nothing, but in the lore both the brutes and Jackals have their own ships and it would be cool to eventually have those in game, so there is that.
>>46749259
True, but i can't see brutes fielding ships in anything other than maybe a support ship for the storm, since they already kinda nuked themselves out of the space age TWICE.
Jackal pirates are also a cool thought, i imagine if they actually design things like missions then Forerunner super-sentinels, jackal pirates and even things like insurrectionists would make great scenario ships.
>>46749289
Speaking of Forerunners and to my ever lasting lament, they are coming, this from an interview:
>Forerunners / Prometheans: They are coming, and they will be deadly. Reading into what was said, it is very likely that the Forerunner models will be previewed at GenCon later this year. When Neil mentioned that, he indicated to a very large ship, so we’re likely to see something along the lines of a Key Ship or the Forerunner Dreadnought as seen in H2/H3. Also Neil mentioned about the inclusion of Guardians as seen in H5, and he indicated that the models will be roughly the size of a SDV and that it will be fun to “see them tearing through ships”.
So depending how things go we could easily see 4 factions once we get to the past war era for the fleet game. When is Gen Con anyways?
>>46749397
Basically get ready for this
>>46749397
>>46749424
That's neat, shame that they're starting off with the bigger ones though, i wouldn't mind seeing things like plain forerunner battleships like those seen docked in Halo Wars and featured in Legends, or even something like the Ur-didact's original ship from the Cryptum novels before he was put into the sarcophagus.
>>46749174
>New faction that is strictly better than another faction's gimmick (Black Wolf)
The fuck are you talking about nigger?
>>46741599
Even though the basic Scorp is a bad tank design, that model is awesome.
>>46749431
In all honesty Forerunners anything should be massively better than even the strongest because they use actual universes to power even their light bulbs, so to see them reduces to this bums me out.
>>46749479
I can hear that, even if they are miniature universes they condense to impossibly small sizes. It's also a shame since crap like the ur-didact's regenerating ship that literally reshaped itself and healed damage since it was made of the same crap they made hugarok from won't happen either. I guess a lot of it was lost when the domain went down though i guess.
>>46749493
What can I say M$ & $G heard what the fans wanted and gave it to them whether it made a lick of sense or not.
>>46749493
The worst part is it's 343i Forerunner. There's only so much you can mentally retcon.
>>46749434
I seem to remember the cycle of EIC/those blimp guys/Black Wolf were all busted as fuck ruleswise
Also Australia doing beam weapons, Turkey and Poland with skimmers
>>46749828
Exactly, the Knights were one thing, but now with this ships, I guess I should wait and see before I blow gasket
>>46749453
I honestly can't wait for them to release the model of the M820 Hannibal Scorpion
>>46749861
Ottomans and poland were nerfed to uselessness in 2.0, and poland wasnt even good in 1.1.
>>46749952
I wouldn't mind seeing if they release the Grizzly super-scorpion or the Rhino.
>>46750342
I really want to see the Rhino, that shit had 320mm, that shit makes the tanks in WH40K feel inadequate
>>46750420
hell yeah, and the later expansion for it to fire plasma only made it a little scarier since now it horribly sears the flesh of your targets too!
>>46750496
Having an armored column composed of Rhinos and have that go against a bunch of Scarabs, and maybe have done Longswords running bombing runs on them
>>46750801
I thought it was Shortswords that were the dedicated bomber while the Longsword was the Multirole fighterbomber.
>>46750835
Damn I fucked up
>>46750943
nah man, with how much 343's played with halo i wouldn't be surprised if they've messed with things till there's inconsistencies.
>>46750943
But in my defense in halo 3 Longswords did bombing runs against the keyship
>>46750964
yeah, quick research tells me that longswords are the more common multirole ship used for most things while shortswords are their long range tactical bomber, but shortswords can't really drop nuclear ordinance too well so longswords it is then.
>>46751179
I still want to see more than just Longswords, speaking of, I wonder if you could change the weapons on the Scarabs like you can on the hogs, maybe have some AA scarab, or even Kraken.
>>46751260
Oh yeah, it would be neat seeing things like the dedicated Pelican gunships and sparrowhawks too.
>>46751288
Speaking of when they asked Spartan Neil about having the vulture from halo wars he said they had something better in mind, so I'm expecting a flying battleship
>>46751374
Definitely, seeing as post-war they'd actually have the resources to spare to actually make the vulture more cost effective and even deadlier than it already is now that they don't have to spam out frigates at an exhausting rate so they don't go extinct.
>>46751410
I imagine they should have shields post war, maybe we could use them for both ground command, and the mini space fighter game they keep going on about? Would the scales even match?
>>46751472
They wouldn't properly match for space combat as they were specifically designed for atmospheric combat, and even with extreme modification they'd still be too slow to really do much of anything, a well placed archer, pulse laser or a couple fighters and it wouldn't last long.
>>46751505
:/ you are right, regardless I would love to see my an updated version with shields and even more guns and missiles
>>46751610
I wouldn't be surprised if the new one is just upscaled and instead of the rotary cannons and barrage missiles they've just bolted on a pair of fucking archer pods and an onager.
>>46751505
How would you like to see the Sparrows?
>>46751642
I'd definitely like them as some sort of upgraded option for ground combat air support. Say, as the Covenant might have some rules crunched in so that they can use banshees to do a strafing run or so and can upgrade to seraphs for X points, The UNSC could have hornets and their upgraded sparrowhawks to do basically the same thing, or maybe have banshees and hornets anti infantry and seraphs and sparrowhawks be anti-vehicle. Doesn't really matter to me, i'd just like to see them represented more than their current fragile existence.
>>46751636
>MFW my vultures shoot an archer missile barrage after noble team snuck up from the back and disabled the enemy AA
>>4675174
>TFW Vultures armed with anti-ship weapons actually make sense as they'd be more mobile and cost effective versions or a ground based planetary defence system
>>46751818
>MFW this is not a thing yet
>>46751873
Would make for a hell of a fire support show too, since there isn't too much that exists planetside that can withstand ship-based weapons, and the few things that can are either forerunner or flood. I mean, canonically vultures were able to take on scarabs on their own with their existing weapons, and they just got bigger guns. On that note, i wonder if they'll ever have another accidental alpha strike incident with MAC bombardment.
>>46751911
Accidental alpha strike?
>>46752053
Somewhere within the lore is the incident of an operation where a UNSC operation on a city to remove heavy insurrectionist presence turned into ambush where they had to retreat to a nearby area. They called in for a bombardment of the insurrectionist base from their frigate in orbit, But the loading system for the missile launcher was cyclical, and while they loaded an archer designed for ground bombardment, the one in the tube was designed to destroy other warships. The resulting explosion wiped out the city and a good chunk of the UNSC force as well. There's also another incident of the same thing happening with MAC cannons and friendly fire, although in that case it was the accident of missed or overpenetrating slugs going into planetary atmosphere and causing devastation planetside.
>>46741599
>screws up the meme
Eh kills aliens and doesnt afraid of anything.
>>46752119
Shit, that's crazy, I'm sure some CO had to do some serious chewing after somebody made error
>>46743239
"It's not pink, it's lightish red!"
-Franklin Delano Donut
>>46751288
You know seeing the Pelican Gunship would fucking awesome, that thing had a 70mm autocannon mounted top and a Spartan laser mounted on the bottom
>>46752237
Demoted to marine and assigned to hold a fancy weapon in Master Chief's Squad.
>>46753550
>H4 "Pelican" Gunship
I need to see the scarab model
that thing is gonna be huge
>>46753650
That supercarrier was just for show, a big piece brought out to generate hype. A scarab would be comparatively smaller, though it would still dominate the board.
>>46753600
>>46753561
Come on guys, you know that's it was cool I man it had all this weapons:
>H GAU/53 70mm MBHRC autocannon
>M369 90mm SBHVC/DM gun turret
>M8C Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Cannon
>M410 dual heavy machine gun (2)
Plus the game is based on the reach models so we can all have what makes us happy.
>>46754944
To be honest the only thing I didn't like about it was the cockpit. The long loading ramp and all the fuckin guns were rad. I would have preferred the side guns to be remote controlled rather than being sideseats, but I guess they are intended for Spartans rather than marines.
>>46755401
If I were to be honest I thought the guns to the side were stupid, I mean is OK if they are controlled by somebody else, but having them with no protection was stupid, even bombs exploding too close to you could kill you.
Didn't care much about the cockpit, I never put much attention to it, but everything else was rad.
I personally can't wait for the Insurrection as a faction
>>46755547
The cockpit was some retarded bubble shit only accessible from the outside, rather than entered via a crew door in the interior. They seemed to have forgotten that the Pelican was actually intended to be a long range craft that was even used in space, so making it so you could only get back into the troop bay by diving out into the void was dumb as fuck. They've fixed it since the H4 campaign though.
>>46755758
Well that was a stupid choice, what the hell were they thinking, well at least that's not an issue now, full disclosure tho I do like the Phantom and the Spirit design in halo 5
>>46755615
Honestly, I imagine they would want to first establish all the post war factions before they do that, and that's gonna be a long time before that happens
>>46755882
Not playing Halo 5 until next month, since I'm getting an xbone then anyway now that used ones have dropped to 170.
Still fucked off about the armour choices in H5. Half of it is really good, but half of it is meth-smoker tier retardation, and you can't alter shoulders/arms/legs/torso separately from each other. I'm blaming the time constraints that Microsoft keeps insisting on, it's like Halo 2 all over again.
>>46755963
>Half of it is really good, but half of it is meth-smoker tier retardation
Still a better percentage than 4.
>>46755963
It is their cash cow, which why I don't think M$ is gonna let SG screw the halo tabletops for them
>>46756073
Enforcer helmet/Pathfinder shoulders/Gungnir chest was pretty top tier. Again, it kinda ran the gamut from real good to real bad.
As much as people jizz over the Reach armour, it had a similar problem. Once the game was about a year old everyone was running around with xbawkshuge chest armour, skinny legs and shitey fucking helmets like the HAZOP and the Military Police. I feel like a lot of the problem is that most people have a crap grasp of aesthetics. It's not helped by the bad armour being there though.
>>46756215
It's the pretty much constant problem of modern game design. Producers get nervous and aren't willing to just let designers do their thing, and you end up with an inferior product. It happened in CE/2/3 - CE did really well, so they got all possessive over 2 (which resulted in a weirdly cutoff story), after which they learnt their lesson and we got the fantastic Halo 3. Same thing is happening again. Halo 4 was bretty good, so they got their claws into 5 (resulting in no splitscreen because they wanted to force xbone sales, which failed), and hopefully they'll learn their lesson again by 6.
>>46756326
Well, in all honesty I'm afraid to their own devices spartan games will forget about Halo: Fleet Battles or Ground Command and not support it for like a year
I'm excited to know that more people are talking about this, I'm the only guy at my FLGS that knew about before Saturday and I think I'm going to be the only one buying in until I can convince someone to try a demo game
>>46756467
Microsoft's backing it, they'll keep an eye on it to make sure it's not mishandled.
>>46757531
Exactly, and spartan games knows they better not do that because they could get sue into Oblivion
Can't wait for this
For my marines I can't decide whether to paint them as the tan sort of army troopers from reach or more the regular green marines, maybe even grey or urban camo. What do you guys plan on doing for yours?
>>46761471
Probably that sick blue from halo wars, if I can mix it up right
If not the combat evolved bright green
>>46761685
but they wore grey fatigues with brown armor in CE, anon.
>>46761471
I think I might go army colors, or maybe even green.
>>46756467
Apparently they plan to release the Hillsborough class destroyer soon
>>46761912
Which game did they have the green chest plates in?
I could have sworn it was CE
>>46758667
>>46757531
Dontchu worry, sweetheart, there's so many ways you can neglect a game without actually not supporting it they'll find a way.
>>46766263
Halo 2 that's when they had the green and tan colors
If would have been nice if they did 28mm scale
>>46770134
But then the battles wouldn't be as big, tho to be honest there were rumors of a 28mm skirmish one back when Ground Command was announced last year, but nothing since do that might have dropped in place of the mini fighter one
>>46770408
>>46770134
I'd prefer 28mm too, actually. Something along the lines of Infinity (which I'm an avid player of) would work really well within the Halo universe; the only thing would be including vehicles on a smaller scale. It'd be better off avoiding 40k scale armies at 28mm, so I could see it working more like Halo multiplayer, with groups of Spartans/Elites fighting against one another.
>>46770134
>>46770408
>>46771159
But the halo action clix game was a huge failure anons
>>46772199
I know all too well, Anon
:(
>>46772199
>Actionclix
I refuse to acknowledge the existence of such a "game"
What do you guys think'll come out first, falcons or pelicans, cause I think Falcons would be a lot easier to integrate into play, pelicans seem like too heavy an asset to be able to play often. Honestly whichever comes out first I'll buy, Halo is my jam
>>46770134
I'm pretty sure you can get plenty NotMasterchiefs at 28mm.
Let us have nice things every once in a while.
>>46774249
Pelicans are necessity for the game so I give it lime month after release until it's at least announced, they might do like an aerial expansion and throw in the Falcon and the Sparrowhawk
>>46774888
Yes to be honest if people want small skirmishes they might as well play the game.
>>46771159
28mm is fugging sweet, but you can't have company-size battles in it. Also, the price, goddamn.
>>46741599
So, since we have a general, can I ask something: What the fuck Halo 5? I thought Halo 4 was okay when it came to lore, but 5 was a fucking travesty. I hope to god that they keep a five mile long pole between the table top and those gamesWhy didn't Cortana just turn John into a AI as soon as she had the chance? That woulda been way more interesting
>>46779333
Because she loves him and wanted him to have the option to become one
Either that or its actually really fucking hard to do and she never had him in the right position to do it
>>46771159
You know why they shouldn't have made it 28mm "like Infinity"? Cause Infinity exists. And 40k. There's no fucking point in getting into a pissing contest with an elephant.
Stoked we're finally getting ground forces. Nobody wanted space battles, multiple stores in my area ordered product some time ago, and it sits there still.
>>46779333
Because she's based on a woman's brain. Don't think about it, just roll with it.
>>46779607
Exactly, 15mm is fine because it is under represented and it would allow halo room to grow
>>46779607
Yeah, I know. That's the problem with a lot of new wargames, they have to contend with the big guns which often overpower the better games.
how is fleet battles balanced? the covenant ships are hundreds of years ahead of the UNSC
>>46782733
UNSC ships usually outnumber Covenant ships 3:1. UNSC relies on swarm tactics in space to take on Covvie ships.
Though in background fluff, Covenant actually work a lot like the IoM, and don't actually understand a whole lot of their own technology. They rely on the Engineers to work most of it, reverse-engineering Forerunner designs and sculpting them to their purposes. Covenant ships are actually pretty wasteful, they rely on raw power as a brute force hammer rather than the UNSC's directed scalpel. Still, even in regular engagements the Covenant usually outnumbered the UNSC 3:1 anyway because they always had numbers on their side.
Plus, tabletop balance does not narrative balance make for a wargame. See FFG's Deathwatch marine stats vs. tabletop Tactical Marine stats.
>>46782733
Historically, the UNSC needed a 3:1 numerical advantage to have a good chance at victory. 1:1 odds gave the Covenant a good chance at victory. Halo Fleet Battles gives the UNSC a 2:1 advantage, which is about 50% chance for either side to win.
This has potential for an awesome apocalypse game
>2 tables playing, one ground command, one fleet battles
>unsc fleet gets a handful of ODP's vs large covenant fleet
>ground team has to defend orbital generators
>if the generators go down, the ODP's cant fire
>if the fleet goes down, the covenant fleet can glass the other table
>>46782733
FUCKHUEG mass drivers that punch straight through energy shields and capital ship, with a shot. Straight up. I imagine the missile frigates are practically useless though.
Entirely unrelated but since this IS a halo thread.
My group recently started a game with Vorked's system, and while good overall I really really really wish someone helped that man better organize that mess.
>>46783261
That's actually pretty cool
>>46779333
>I will fix the galaxy by vomiting magic Forerunner EMP all over every sentient-inhabited planet to make sure they never get into trouble again :^)
>meanwhile, canon human settlers chilling on Reach in 2589
Still waiting for the half-assed retcons, 343!
>>46779844
Fleet Battles might have sold if it had showed up about a decade ago, rather than a year after FFG had the space fights market good and cornered.
>>46784843
I can agree with that. This all seems crazy late to the halo craze party. If they release a 2player box set, I'll buy it for nostalgias sake, not because I think I'll ever find an opponent with their own army.
>>46783675
Pierce their shield, light their fires is how it'll be, likely.
>>46782931
TT marines suffer from power creep rendering generalist troops useless.
>>46774249
Pelicans.
Theyve stated that airdrops play a huge part in the game and the pelican is the most iconic ship for that.
Reinforcements, weapon drops, replenishing dead units, all revolve around air support and dropships
>>46783718
He's got a sub reddit now
>>46779333
Disregard everything beyond Reach. There is no way salvaging it.
>>46787063
I stopped playing after Reach. It was a fitting end to the series and a great sendoff for it.
I still think of Reach as a love letter to the fans, allowing them to play in a definitive moment in the setting while also working up to getting the Pillar of Autumn off the ground and kicking off the events of the first game, effectively saying it wouldn't have been possible without the fans.
Anything beyond is just excessive, and now it's run by the fanboys. It's the Age of Sigmar to the Halo franchise. Does that make Spartan Game's Halo the Total War Warhammer of the franchise?
>>46787206
>343 Forerunner design is "ok so the Halo rings were big right? We need something BIGGER, like a battleship the size of ten Death Stars that shoots rays that disintegrate people into robots make of light that also shoot disintegrating light bullets"
Shit, it really is Age of Sigmar's "bigger is better, flashier is better" gimmick in some ways
>>46787715
>and mechs!
>and jetbikes!
>and anime armor!
>and bigger guns of everything!
>and a bigger space ship!
>and biggerer and betterer bad guys!
Nearly everything got huge and flashier. Even Master Chief is pulling a whole bunch of crazy stunts when before his most impressive trick was falling from a great height and not dying.
Of course, AoS had the decency to change their costume to fit, post-Bungie Halo is still wearing the setting's old skin while doing this, acting superficially like the old but also like the new, an imposter in masquerade of impersonation after an abrupt change of tone.
>>46787715
I can work with this argument.
Hell, on an entirely unrelated note, Red Alert 3 had the same tone problem.
>>46785418
I for think that would happen, rather the infantry in general will suffer from power creep
>>46741599
>>46741813
How come models are so shitty? Can't they just use a 3d print of the game resource?
>>46764211
Bad Dragon.jpg
>>46787715
Is not bigger, than 10 death stars and the halos are way bigger than the death star.
What the hell you on about nigger?
>>46788207
Master chief had been doing crazy shit since day one in the books
This casuals....
>>46789647
The models are pretty nice
>>46788370
Was really jarred and bummed by that too, because beforehand it was basically cold war 2.0 with a whole lotta cool shit added, but then it came to 3 and suddenly "ANIME! ROBOTS! JAPANESE! STUPID SHIT! EXTREME STEREOTYPES!"
>>46789647
Are.... Are you OK anon? These models are superbly detailed for 15mm. And they DID use the 3D models from the game. 343 has been sending them the 3d models then Spartan modifies them to make the models feasible in tabletop form.
They've actually had to remove details in some places because the details were apparently so fine and intricate they were getting covered up by paint.
i'm really interested in how they will display the different stages of the war, and how the FLood will play, if they are introduced. I'd love to be able to activly take over my foe's units and replace them with combat forms. Shit would be cash.
WOuld it be a one for one infection rate? would there be a way to take over corpses? SO if you fight a flood opponent you may have to leave markers on the board where your units were killed?
>>46795063
Done correctly the flood could be an awesome and really unique army in tabletop form. The ability to steal not only your opponent's vehicles, but their units and equipment (albeit with various debuffs) as well as buying the more bizarre flood forms from the start like the bigger brutes will be very interesting to see on the tabletop.
Not to mention seeing a wave of infection forms surging across the board would be beautiful/fucking terrifying
>>46789647
I shit on Spartan for literally everything they do EXCEPT models. They generally have cool models, and since they are using Bungie's strong designs these are even better.
>>46795617
Hopefully they get released with a installation 04 campaign.
>>46795617
Yes man, THat's what I'm saying!
what kind of debuffs-buffs would the flood get?
maybe stuff like
-Stronger Melee
-Shit aiming
-durability +/-
-infection period, it takes a turn to raise the dead
-chance for infection to fail when attacking living opponents,(Shields give immunity?)
>>46796396
That's valid. They make good shit, but their business philosophy and poor handling of their IPs seen like huge liabilities.
>>46798605
This were we to trust M$
I don't know why people worry so much about 'support'. As long as rule problems get fixed and the models are still available why do you need new stuff frequently?
>>46798878
i think it's to draw in new people, and keep the community alive and vigorous.
>>46797744
I think weapon penalties would be appropriate as well. Shit reaction ability for firing, poor accuracy, high chance to run out of ammo or jam human weapons, high chance to overheat covenant ones, etc.
Perhaps make the penalties more severe for weapons "bought" at the start of the game to represent them being dragged around and ammo being used up, whereas "fresh weapons" from recently turned enemies perform better and have more ammo
>>46798878
Because new things are nice anon.
>>46798878
Because it means more tools to play around with.
>>46779333
Calling it now, based on bungies wish to replace Master chief with Master Douchebag:The final boss of Halo 6 is a uploaded version of Master chief working with Cortana. You dont know it till the last moment, however, as when you bend down to take off his helmet, its revealed that he had been uploaded.
>>46795617
A rule for that thing where you shoot one infection form and it's got a chance for bursting the others around it would also be cool for that.
I hope they pull up some of the old concepts from Halo wars. I'd love to see the UNCS's armoury expanded and fleshed out. It would also make sense that as the war chewed up more and more human worlds that certain production facilities would be lost, or that the Brass would try to 'retool' the arsenal towards what they think works best, or what they have the most of/ca make the most of.
>>46801518
i'd really really love to see some shit like this in particular, Armored Fighting vehicles that fill the spaces between MBT's and Warthogs.
>>46801518
I'd love to see the original airbase design that had shortswords docked with it
>>46801575
Which is that? got any source pictures?
>>46801748
Here you go
>>46801748
Baller, Though that could do to be a bit longer, Yeah?
>>46801518
Yes and I hope that they expand on the vehicles
>>46801544
Dunno about IFVs man, like they haven't said much, but I dunno if they are even including anything to do with transport values or something. Like is there going to be a transport warthog? If they include that then maybe more hope for a Cougar revival, but honestly I doubt it.
>>46803389
I mean it is early, and I'm sure they will add them at least to pad the releases
>>46741599
Oh yay. Another game for knights to ruin
>>46804769
They'll attract the Tau players
>>46804769
>Oh yay. Another game for knights to ruin
Knights weren't that bad once they finally brought in Soldiers, were they?
>>46804797
You say that like it could in any way be a good thing.
Tau players ruin everything
>>46804932
I know. It's the high tech atheist faction
>>46804923
The worst thing about them is 343i's designs.
>technological masterminds
>giant glowing weakspots
>>46804961
>what is game design
>>46804769
To be honest, I like the knight's design, even if its 343's bullshit over detailed tech. Their background as uploaded humans is also quite silly
